Pesachim 56A

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Text Excerpt

ואוכלין מתחת הנשרים בשבת, ונותנין פאה לירק. ומיחו בידם חכמים.

and they would eat fallen fruit from beneath palm trees that shed fruit that had fallen on Shabbat; and they would designate the produce in the corner for the poor in a field of vegetables, which is exempt from this obligation even by rabbinic law. And the rabbis reprimanded the people of Jericho for doing these 3 things.

גמ׳ תנו רבנן: ששה דברים עשה חזקיה המלך, על שלשה הודו לו, ועל שלשה לא הודו לו: גירר עצמות אביו על מטה של חבלים ⁠— והודו לו. כיתת נחש הנחשת ⁠— והודו לו. גנז ספר רפואות ⁠— והודו לו.

Talmud: Apropos the people of Jericho, who were reprimanded for some of their actions and not reprimanded for others, the Talmud cites a similar baraita. A baraita states: King Hezekiah performed 6 actions. With regard to 3 of them, the rabbis of his generation conceded to him; and with regard to 3 of them, the rabbis did not concede to him. Due to King Hezekiah’s father’s wickedness, he dragged the bones of his father Ahaz on a bier of ropes and did not afford him the respect due to a king, and the rabbis conceded to him. He ground the copper snake that Moses fashioned in the desert because Israel worshipped it, and the rabbis conceded to him. He suppressed the Book of Cures, and they conceded to him.

ועל שלשה לא הודו לו: קיצץ דלתות של היכל ושיגרן למלך אשור ⁠— ולא הודו לו. סתם מי גיחון העליון ⁠— ולא הודו לו. עיבר ניסן בניסן ⁠— ולא הודו לו.

And with regard to 3 actions, the rabbis did not concede to him. He cut off the doors of the Sanctuary and sent them to the King of Assyria, and they did not concede to him because he thereby demeaned the Temple. He sealed the waters of the upper Gihon stream, diverting its water into the city by means of a tunnel, and they did not concede to him, because he harmed the local populace in the process and should have relied upon God (Me’iri). He intercalated the year, delaying the advent of the month of Nisan during Nisan, and they did not concede to him. The Talmud explains that he declared the 1st of Nisan to be the 30th of Adar and only then intercalated the year (see II Chronicles 30:2).

Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.