Study Berakhot folio 33A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מחזיר לו?! אמר לו: לאו. ואם היית מחזיר לו, מה היו עושים לך? אמר לו: היו חותכים את ראשי בסייף. אמר לו: והלא דברים קל וחומר, ומה אתה שהיית עומד לפני מלך בשר ודם, שהיום כאן ומחר בקבר — כך אני שהייתי עומד לפני מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא, שהוא חי וקיים לעד ולעולמי עולמים — על אחת כמה וכמה.
The officer said to him: No. The pious man continued: And if you would greet him, what would they do to you? The officer said to him: They would cut off my head with a sword. The pious man said to him: Isn’t this matter an a fortiori inference? You who were standing before a king of flesh and blood, of whom your fear is limited because today he is here but tomorrow he is in the grave, would have reacted in that way; I, who was standing and praying before the Supreme King of kings, God Who lives and endures for all eternity, all the more so that I could not pause to respond to someone’s greeting.
מיד נתפייס אותו הגמון, ונפטר אותו חסיד לביתו לשלום.
When he heard this, the officer was immediately appeased and the pious man returned home in peace.
אפילו נחש כרוך על עקבו, לא יפסיק. אמר רב ששת: לא שנו אלא נחש. אבל עקרב — פוסק.
We learned in the Mishnah that even if a snake is wrapped around his heel, he may not interrupt his prayer. In limiting application of this principle, Rav Sheshet said: They only taught this Mishnah with regard to a snake, as if one does not attack the snake it will not bite him. But if a scorpion approaches an individual while he is praying, he stops, as the scorpion is liable to sting him even if he does not disturb it.
מיתיבי: נפל לגוב אריות — אין מעידין עליו שמת. נפל לחפירה מלאה נחשים ועקרבים — מעידין עליו שמת!
The Talmud raises an objection based on what was taught in a Tosefta: Those who saw one fall into a lions’ den but did not see what happened to him after that, do not testify that he died. Their testimony is not accepted by the court as proof that he has died as it is possible that the lions did not eat him. However, those who saw one fall into a pit of snakes and scorpions, testify that he died as surely the snakes bit him.