Study Sotah folio 49A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
שמבזבזין דין אביהם לעתיד לבוא. אומרים לפניו: רבונו של עולם, מאחר שאתה עתיד ליפרע מהן, למה הקהיתה שיניהם בם?
who plunder, i.e., destroy, their fathers’ future judgment. When God sits in judgment of their parents, these children say before Him: God! because You were destined to exact punishment from our fathers in the World-to-Come for their wickedness, why did You blunt their teeth with the death of their children in their lifetimes? In this way, the death of their children atones for the fathers.
אמר רבי אילעא בר יברכיה: אלמלא תפלתו של דוד, היו כל ישראל מוכרי רבב, שנאמר: ״שיתה ה׳ מורה להם״. ואמר רבי אילעא בר יברכיה: אלמלא תפלתו של חבקוק, היו שני תלמידי חכמים מתכסים בטלית אחת ועוסקין בתורה, שנאמר: ״ה׳ שמעתי שמעך יראתי ה׳ פעלך בקרב שנים חייהו״. אל תקרא ״בקרב שנים״, אלא ״בקרוב שנים״.
§ R' Ile’a bar Yeverekhya says: If it were not for the prayer of David for Israel to have sustenance, all Israel would be sellers of fat [revav], i.e., involved in debased occupations, as it is stated: “Place for them mastery, O YHWH” (Psalms 9:21), that is, may God grant them dignity. And R' Ile’a bar Yeverekhya also says: If it were not for the prayer of Habakkuk, two Torah scholars would have to cover themselves with a single cloak due to poverty and engage in Torah study dressed that way, as it is stated: “YHWH, I heard Your report and was afraid; O YHWH, revive Your work in the midst of the years” (Habakkuk 3:2). Do not read: “In the midst [bekerev] of the years [shanim],” but in the closeness [bikrov] of two [shenayim]. In other words, Habakkuk prayed that God would nullify His decree of two Torah scholars having to share a single cloak.
ואמר רבי אילעא בר יברכיה: שני תלמידי חכמים המהלכין בדרך ואין ביניהן דברי תורה — ראוין לישרף באש, שנאמר: ״ויהי המה הלכים הלוך ודבר והנה רכב אש וגו׳״, טעמא דאיכא דיבור, הא ליכא דיבור — ראוין לישרף.
And R' Ile’a bar Yeverekhya says: In the case of two Torah scholars who are walking along the way and there are no words of Torah between them, but they are conversing about other matters, they are deserving of being burned in fire. As it is stated with regard to Elijah and his disciple Elisha: “And it was as they walked along, talking, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which parted them both asunder” (II Kings 2:11). The reason they were not burned by the chariot of fire is that there was speech exchanged between them, which presumably was words of Torah, but if there had been no speech, they would have been deserving of being burned by the chariot.