Study Berakhot folio 18B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
״בן איש חי״: אטו כולי עלמא בני מתי נינהו? אלא: ״בן איש חי״ — שאפילו במיתתו קרוי חי. ״רב פעלים מקבצאל״ — שריבה וקבץ פועלים לתורה. ״והוא הכה את שני אראל מואב״ — שלא הניח כמותו לא במקדש ראשון ולא במקדש שני.
He was referred to in the verse as son of a living man. The Talmud wonders: Is that to say, the fact that the Bible referred to him with that appellation, that all others are children of the dead? Rather, the verse should be explained as follows: The son of a living man who lives forever, who even in death is referred to as living. Man of Kabze’el who had done mighty deeds, as he accumulated and gathered many workers for the sake of the Torah. Who killed the two lion-hearted men [Ariel] of Moab, as after his death he left no one his equal, in either the First Temple or the Second Temple periods, as the Temple is called Ariel (see Isaiah 29:1), and the two Ariel refers to the two Temples.
״והוא ירד והכה את הארי בתוך הבור ביום השלג״, איכא דאמרי: דתבר גזיזי דברדא, ונחת וטבל. איכא דאמרי: דתנא סיפרא דבי רב ביומא דסיתוא.
The rabbis disagreed over the interpretation of the rest of the verse: “And who descended and slew the lion in the pit on the snowy day.” Some say that this means that he broke blocks of hail and descended and immersed himself in the water to purify himself. Others say that he learned all of the Sifra, the halakhic midrash on the book of Leviticus of the school of Rav, on a winter’s day.
״והמתים אינם יודעים מאומה״ — אלו רשעים, שבחייהן קרויין ״מתים״, שנאמר: ״ואתה חלל רשע נשיא ישראל״. ואי בעית אימא, מהכא: ״על פי שנים עדים או על פי שלשה עדים יומת המת״, חי הוא! אלא, המת מעיקרא.
In contrast to the righteous, who are referred to as living even after their death, the verse states explicitly: “The dead know nothing.” These are the wicked, who even during their lives are called dead, as the prophet Ezekiel said in reference to a king of Israel who was alive: “And you are a slain, wicked prince of Israel” (Ezekiel 21:30). And if you wish, say instead that the proof is from here: “At the mouth of two witnesses or 3 witnesses the dead should be put to death” (Deuteronomy 17:6). This is puzzling. As long as the accused has not been sentenced to death, he is alive. Rather, this person who is wicked is considered dead from the outset.