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Text Excerpt
והיא נתעברה מעומד. דבר אחר: שלתיאל – שנשאל על אלתו אל. זרובבל – שנזרע בבבל. ומה שמו? נחמיה בן חכליה שמו.
and the mother of Shealtiel conceived while standing. Alternatively, “Shealtiel” is interpreted as meaning that God [El ] requested [nishal ] dissolution of His oath, as it were, and allowed Jeconiah to father a child. In the continuation of that passage in Chronicles, where the verse refers to the grandson of Jeconiah, Zerubbabel [Zerubavel ], the Talmud interprets that his name teaches that he was sown [nizra], i.e., conceived, in Babylonia [Bavel]. And what was his true name? Nehemiah, son of Hachaliah, was his true name.
יהודה וחזקיה בני רבי חייא הוו יתבי בסעודתא קמי רבי, ולא הוו קא אמרי ולא מידי. אמר להו: אגברו חמרא אדרדקי כי היכי דלימרו מילתא. כיון דאיבסום, פתחו ואמרו: אין בן דוד בא עד שיכלו שני בתי אבות מישראל, ואלו הן: ראש גולה שבבבל ונשיא שבארץ ישראל, שנאמר: ״והיה למקדש ולאבן נגף ולצור מכשול לשני בתי ישראל״.
Having mentioned the sons of R' Ḥiyya, the Talmud relates: Yehuda and Ḥizkiyya, sons of R' Ḥiyya, were sitting at a meal before R' Yehuda HaNasi, and they were not saying anything. R' Yehuda HaNasi said to his servants: Add more wine for the young men, so that they will say something. Once they were inebriated, they loosened their tongues and said: The son of David, i.e., the Messiah, will not come until two fathers’ houses are destroyed from Israel, as those two families are preventing the redemption. And they are the head of the exile who is in Babylonia, i.e., the family of the Exilarch, and the Nasi who is in Eretz Yisrael, i.e., the family of R' Yehuda HaNasi (see 5a), as it is stated in reference to the Messiah: “And he should be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel” (Isaiah 8:14).
אמר להם: בניי, קוצים אתם מטילין לי בעיניי? אמר לו רבי חייא: רבי, אל ירע בעיניך. ״יין״ ניתן בשבעים אותיות, ו״סוד״ ניתן בשבעים אותיות. נכנס יין – יצא סוד.
R' Yehuda HaNasi said to them: My children, do you throw thorns in my eyes? How can you say this in the presence of the Nasi himself? R' Ḥiyya said to him: my teacher! do not view their behavior in a negative light. Wine [yayin] is given in letters of 70, i.e., the numerical value of the letters in the word yayin is 70, and secret [sod ] is given in letters of 70, i.e., the numerical value of the letters in the word sod is 70. When wine enters, secrets emerge.
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.