Study Bekhorot folio 31A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
תנו רבנן: וכולן שחזרו בהן אין מקבלין אותן עולמית, דברי רבי מאיר. רבי יהודה אומר: חזרו במטמוניות — אין מקבלין אותן, בפרהסיא — מקבלין אותן.
With regard to an am ha’aretz who accepts upon himself the stringent practices of a ḥaver, A baraita states: And with regard to all of them, when they retract and return to being amei ha’aretz, they are never accepted as ḥaverim; this is the statement of R' Meir. R' Yehuda says: If they retracted in private, while in public they continue to act as ḥaverim, they are not accepted, but if they retract in public [befarheseya], they are accepted, as they can be trusted.
איכא דאמרי: אם עשו דבריהן במטמוניות — מקבלין אותן, בפרהסיא — אין מקבלין אותן.
There are those who say another version of this discussion: If they performed their actions as ḥaverim even in private, when they initially accepted the status of ḥaverim, then they are accepted when they wish to return to that status. Conversely, if they performed their actions as ḥaverim only in public, they are not accepted.
רבי שמעון ורבי יהושע בן קרחה אומרים: בין כך ובין כך מקבלין אותן, משום שנאמר: ״שובו בנים שובבים״. אמר רבי יצחק איש כפר עכו אמר רבי יוחנן: הלכה כאותו הזוג.
R' Shimon and R' Yehoshua ben Korḥa say: Both in this case and in that case they are accepted, as it is stated: “Return, you backsliding children; I will heal your backslidings” (Jeremiah 3:22). R' Yitzḥak of the village of Akko says that R' Yoḥanan says: The halakha is in accordance with the opinion of that pair, R' Shimon and R' Yehoshua ben Korḥa, i.e., those who return are accepted in both cases.
תנו רבנן, בראשונה היו אומרים: חבר ונעשה גבאי — דוחין אותו מחבירתו, פירש — אין מקבלין אותו. חזרו לומר: פירש — הרי הוא ככל אדם.
§ A baraita states: Initially, the rabbis would say with regard to one who is a ḥaver and became a tax collector that he is rejected from his status as a ḥaver. Even if he later resigns from his position as a tax collector, he is not accepted. In later generations they went back to saying that if he resigns from his position as a tax collector he is like any other person and may be accepted once again as a ḥaver.