Talmud. Various Authors
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of them forgot to make an Erub. Would he prove a bar to the others or not?" Answered R. Joseph: "The statement of R. Jehudah in the name of Samuel was made in order to make the law more lenient and not to make it more rigid."
When R. Na'hman heard the dictum of R. Jehudah in the name of Samuel quoted above, he said: "How fine is this Halakha!" Then he heard another dictum of R. Jehudah in the name of Samuel stating, that one who had imbibed a quarter of a lug of wine, must not decide any legal questions. Said R. Na'hman: "This Halakha is preposterous! I know that my head is not quite clear until I drink a quarter of a lug of wine." Said Rabha to him: "Why should master say this? Has he not heard the dictum of R. A'ha bar Hanina, viz.: it is written [Proverbs xxix. 3]: 'He that keepeth company with harlots wasteth his wealth,' and this means, that one who declares one Halakha to be fine and another to be bad loses the beauty (wealth) of the Thorah." Answered R. Na'hman: "Thou art right. I shall do this no more."
Rabba bar R. Huna said: One who is tipsy should not pray; but if he had done so his prayer is nevertheless acceptable. One who is intoxicated, however, and prayed, his prayer is considered as a blasphemy. What is meant by tipsy? If a man were compelled to speak to the king and had still sense enough to do so, he is merely tipsy; but one who would not be able to do this is considered intoxicated.
Said Rami bar Abba: "One who after drinking had walked a mile or slept a little is again considered sober." Said R. Na'hman in the name of Rabba bar Abbahu: This is the case if he had drunk only a quarter of a lug of wine; but if he drank more, then the walk tires him still more, and the interrupted doze inebriates him still more.
Will a walk of one mile then neutralize the effects of the wine? Have we not learned, that Rabbon Gamaliel while travelling at one time rode upon an ass from the city Akhu to Khazib and was followed by R. Ilayi. R. Gamaliel noticed some loaves lying on the road, so he said to Ilayi: "Take the loaves up," and meeting a Gentile later said to him: "Mabgai, take the loaves away from Ilayi." Ilayi then asked the Gentile: "Whence art thou?" and he answered: "From the cities of Burganin." "What is thy name?" asked Ilayi again. "I am called Mabgai," was the answer. "Dost thou know R. Gamaliel?" was the next question, "or does R. Gamaliel know thee?" "Nay," answered the Gentile. Thus it is obvious, that R. Gamaliel knew the name of the Gentile by inspiration [and three things may be deduced from his actions, viz.: "Firstly, that bread must not be passed by (but should be gathered up); secondly, that we must be guided by the majority of wayfarers (i.e., on account of the majority of wayfarers being Gentiles, the bread is presumed to belong to them and hence R. Ilayi was told to give it to the Gentile); and thirdly, that leavened bread belonging to a Gentile, even if remaining over from the Passover, may be made use of by Israelites after the Passover."]
Upon his arrival at Khazib, R. Gamaliel was asked by a man to nullify a vow. Said R. Gamaliel to his companions: "Have we drunk a quarter of a lug of Italian wine?" and they answered: "Yea, we did." "Then," quoth R. Gamaliel, "let us walk on, the man following us until the effects of the wine wear off," and they walked on for three miles. When they came to the steps leading up to the city of Tyre, R. Gamaliel dismounted, wrapped himself in a robe, sat down and nullified the man's vow, and from these actions we have learned many things; namely: "A quarter of a lug of Italian wine inebriates a man; when a man is inebriated, he must not decide any legal questions; a walk neutralizes the effects of wine; and a vow must not be nullified while riding, standing, or walking, but in a sitting position."
Thus we see, that a three miles' walk is required to destroy the effects of wine, how can it be said, that one mile is sufficient? In a case of inebriation through Italian wine it is different, because that wine is very strong, but for ordinary wine a walk of one mile is all that is necessary.
The master said: "One must not pass by bread." Said R. Johanan in the name of R. Simeon ben Jochai: This was said in the earlier generations when the daughters of Israel had not yet resorted to witchcraft, but in the latter generations when they began to practise it, bread may be passed by, lest it be bewitched.
We have learned in a Boraitha: Whole loaves of bread may be passed by, because they may be bewitched, but pieces of bread should not, as there is no fear of their being bewitched.
R. Shesheth said in the name of R. Elazar ben Azariah: "I could exempt the entire world from divine judgment since the destruction of the Temple to the present day; for it is written [Isaiah li. 21]: "Therefore, hear now this, O thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine." (Hence if all the world is drunken, they should not be judged.)
An objection was made: "We have learned, that a drunken man's purchase is a valid purchase, his sale is a valid sale; if he has committed a capital offence, he should be executed; if he committed a crime involving the punishment of stripes, he must be given the stripes. The rule is, that he is in all respects considered as a sober man with the exception that he is absolved from prayer." R. Shesheth means to say by stating that he can absolve the entire world from divine judgment, that he can exempt the world from the judgment concerning their prayers. Said R. Hanina: All this is said concerning a man whose drunkenness does not equal that of Lot's, but if it is of the degree of Lot's drunkenness, he is exempt from all judgment.
R. Hyya bar Ashi said in the name of Rabh: "One whose mind is not thoroughly at ease must not pray, as it is written: "In his affliction shall he not judge." 1
It was the custom of R. Hanina to omit saying his prayers on a day when he was in a bad humor, and Mar Uqba would not take his seat on the judge's bench on a day when a hot south wind would blow, saying, that it was too hot to judge with a clear mind. R. Na'hman bar Itz'hak said: When a Halakha is to be decided by a man, his head should be as clear as it is on a day when a north wind which drives away all dark clouds is blowing and the sky is clear and the weather fine.
Abayi said: "When my mother would tell me to hand her some kutach, it so confused me, that I could not study that whole day." Rabha said: "If a flea bit me, I could no longer learn."
The mother of Mar, the son of Rabhina, made her son seven suits of clothes, one for each day of the week.
R. Jehudah said: "The night was made only for sleep." R. Simeon ben Lakish, however, said: "The moon was made only in order to facilitate study at night."
R. Zera was told that all his conclusions were very sagacious, and he replied, that they were all studied during the day.
The daughter of R. Hisda said to her father: "Why does Master not sleep a while?" and he answered: "Very long days will yet come, when study will be impossible" (meaning the days in the grave).
R. Na'hman bar Itz'hak said: "We are all day-laborers." R. A'ha bar Jacob would borrow hours from the day and repay them at night.
R. Eliezer said: One who travelled on the road should, upon his return, not recite his prayers for three days, as it is written [Ezra viii. 15]: "And I gathered them together to the river that runneth into the Ahava, and we encamped there three days: and I looked about among the people." (Which signifies, that one should deliberate for three days and then pray.)
The father of Samuel when on the road would not pray for three days. Samuel himself would not pray in a room where there was any beer, saying, that the odor of the beer confused him. R. Papa would not pray in a house where there was Harsena (a dish made of fish and vinegar) saying, that the odor disturbed him.
R. Hanina said: A man who is angry with another and when under the influence of liquor can be persuaded to a reconciliation possesses one of the qualities of his Creator, as it is written [Genesis viii. 21]: "And the Lord smelled the sweet savor," etc.
R. Hyya said: "One who drinks wine and is not excited thereby, has some of the qualities of the seventy sages in the days of Moses." The inference of R. Hyya is based upon the word Yaïn (wine), which according to the Hebrew method of counting, namely, Yod = 10 and another Yod = 10 and Nun = 50, altogether 70; and also upon the word Sod (secret) Samach = 60, Vav = 6 and Daled = 4, altogether 70; hence when the wine enters, the secrets escape and the man who does not become excited through wine and can retain his secrets, possesses the wisdom of the seventy sages.
R. Hanan said: "Wine was created only to comfort the mourners and to pay the wicked