Taanit 21B

ביום אחד או בארבעה ימים ⁠— אין זה דבר.

If all 3 died on one day or over 4 days, this is not a plague of pestilence.

דרוקרת, עיר המוציאה חמש מאות רגלי הואי, ויצאו ממנה שלשה מתים ביום אחד. גזר רב נחמן בר רב חסדא תעניתא. אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק: כמאן ⁠— כרבי מאיר,

In explanation of the counterintuitive ruling that many deaths in one day is not indicative of a plague, the Talmud relates: Drokart was a city that sent out 500 infantrymen, and 3 dead were removed from it on one day. Rav Naḥman bar Rav Ḥisda decreed a fast on account of the plague. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: In accordance with whose opinion did you declare this fast? It must be in accordance with the opinion of R' Meir.

דאמר: ריחק נגיחותיו ⁠— חייב, קירב נגיחותיו ⁠— לא כל שכן?!

This is related to the definition of a forewarned ox, an animal that has gored enough times to be considered a dangerous beast that requires careful supervision, as R' Meir said: The owner of an ox is liable to pay full damages if its acts of goring were separated, i.e., if it gored 3 times on 3 consecutive days, as claimed by the Rabbis. If its acts of goring were near each other, performed on a single day, is it not all the more so that this animal should be classified as a forewarned ox? However, Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak continued, this represents a minority opinion. Just as R' Meir’s reasoning is rejected for halakha in the case of an ox, so too it is rejected with regard to a plague.

אמר ליה רב נחמן בר רב חסדא לרב נחמן בר יצחק: ליקום מר ליתי לגבן. אמר ליה: תנינא, רבי יוסי אומר: לא מקומו של אדם מכבדו, אלא אדם מכבד את מקומו. שכן מצינו בהר סיני, שכל זמן שהשכינה שרויה עליו, אמרה תורה: ״גם הצאן והבקר אל ירעו אל מול ההר ההוא״, נסתלקה שכינה ממנו, אמרה תורה: ״במשך היבל המה יעלו בהר״.

Upon hearing this impressive argument, Rav Naḥman bar Rav Ḥisda said to Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak: Let the Master arise and come to live with us as our community leader. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to him: We already learned in a baraita that R' Yosei says: It is not the place of a person that honors him; rather, the person honors his place, as we found with regard to Mount Sinai, that as long as the Shekhina rested upon it, the Torah said: “Neither let the flocks nor the herds feed before that mount” (Exodus 34:3). Once the Shekhina departed from the mountain, the Torah said: “When the shofar sounds long they should come up to the mount” (Exodus 19:13). This indicates that the sanctity was not inherent to the place but was due to the Shekhina resting there.