Study Shabbat folio 97A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ואלא הא גמר גזירה שוה! גזירה שוה לא גמר. אלא מהיכא הוה? מ״ויעפילו״ הוה.
The Talmud asks: However, didn’t R' Akiva derive this by means of a verbal analogy? The Talmud answers: R' Yehuda ben Beteira did not learn a verbal analogy. R' Yehuda ben Beteira had no tradition of this verbal analogy from his teachers, and therefore he disagreed with R' Akiva’s conclusion. The Talmud asks: However, according to R' Yehuda ben Beteira, from where was Zelophehad’s liability derived? Why was he executed? The Talmud answers: Zelophehad was among those who “presumed to ascend to the top of the mountain” (Numbers 14:44) in the wake of the sin of the spies.
כיוצא בדבר, אתה אומר: ״ויחר אף ה׳ בם וילך״ — מלמד שאף אהרן נצטרע, דברי רבי עקיבא. אמר לו רבי יהודה בן בתירא: עקיבא, בין כך ובין כך אתה עתיד ליתן את הדין. אם כדבריך — התורה כסתו ואתה מגלה אותו?! ואם לאו — אתה מוציא לעז על אותו צדיק.
On a similar note, R' Akiva revealed an additional matter not explicitly articulated in the Torah. You say that when Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses, both Aaron and Miriam were struck with tzara'at, as it written: “And God became angry at them and He left, and the cloud departed from above the tent, and behold, Miriam was leprous like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous” (Numbers 12:9–10). The verse’s statement that God became angry at both of them teaches that Aaron, too, became leprous; this is the statement of R' Akiva. R' Yehuda ben Beteira said to him: Akiva, in either case you will be judged in the future for this teaching. If the truth is in accordance with your statement, the Torah concealed Aaron’s punishment and you reveal it. And if the truth is not in accordance with your statement, you are unjustly slandering that righteous man.