Taanis 21a

תענית כ״א ע״א

Taanit 21a

Learn Taanis 21a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Stories of merit and shaky buildings (רבי יוחנן and אילפא, נחום איש גם זו), and the definition of a plague (דבר)

Overview

The amud opens with the last words of an earlier statement: one practice could not be kept in מחוזא because the city had so many soldiers. Then come stories about shaky buildings. אילפא and רבי יוחנן left their learning to do business, and while they sat under a crumbling wall, רבי יוחנן overheard angels sparing them only because one of them still had a great future. רבי יוחנן went back to learning and became head of the academy. אילפא later proved he had not forgotten his Torah by explaining a hard ברייתא through רבי מאיר's rule that it is a מצוה to carry out the words of the dead. Next, נחום איש גם זו, who was terribly afflicted, kept a falling house standing by his merit. He explained that his suffering was his own request after a poor man died while he made him wait. The גמרא then explains his name with the story of the stolen gift of jewels, where he said גם זו לטובה and everything turned out for the good. Finally the גמרא returns to the משנה and uses a ברייתא to define a plague (דבר) by the size of a city and the pattern of deaths over three days.

Opening lines

The steps (29)

1. ConclusionWhy one practice could not be kept in מחוזא
2. StatementTwo poor scholars decide to go into business
3. StatementEating under a crumbling wall when angels arrive
4. StatementThe angels discuss whether to kill them
5. Proofרבי יוחנן figures out the future is his
6. Conclusionרבי יוחנן returns to Torah and becomes the leader
7. Statementאילפא's friends say he missed his chance
8. Statementאילפא hangs from the mast and challenges everyone
9. QuestionAn old man tests אילפא with a case about a dying man's instructions
10. Responseאילפא explains the case according to רבי מאיר
11. Statementנחום איש גם זו's great suffering
12. Statementנחום tells his students to take out his bed last
13. ConclusionThe house falls right after נחום is carried out
14. QuestionThe students ask why a righteous man suffers
15. ResponseI brought it on myself: the poor man who died
16. Statementנחום asks for his body to be afflicted
17. ConclusionWoe to us, and woe to me if not
18. QuestionWhy was he called נחום איש גם זו?
19. ResponseBecause he always said 'this too is for the good'
20. StatementThe jewels are stolen at the inn
21. StatementThe king finds earth and wants to kill them
22. Statementאליהו suggests it is the earth of אברהם
23. StatementThe earth works, and נחום is sent home with treasure
24. StatementThe innkeepers ask נחום about his honor
25. StatementThe innkeepers bring their own earth and are punished
26. StatementBack to the משנה: what counts as a plague
27. StatementA large city: nine deaths over three days
28. StatementNine deaths in one day or over four days is not a plague
29. StatementA small city: three deaths over three days