Study Yoma folio 87B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אתא רבי חייא — הדר לרישא. עייל בר קפרא — הדר לרישא. אתא רבי שמעון ברבי — הדר לרישא. אתא רבי חנינא (בר) חמא, אמר: כולי האי נהדר וניזיל? לא הדר. איקפיד רבי חנינא, אזל רב לגביה תליסר מעלי יומי דכפורי ולא איפייס.
R' Ḥiyya, Rav’s uncle and teacher, came in, whereupon Rav returned to the beginning of the portion and began to read it again. Afterward, bar Kappara came in, and Rav returned to the beginning of the portion out of respect for bar Kappara. Then R' Shimon, son of R' Yehuda HaNasi, came in, and he returned again to the beginning of the portion. Then, R' Ḥanina bar Ḥama came in, and Rav said to himself: should I go back and read so many times? He did not return but continued from where he was. R' Ḥanina was offended because Rav showed that he was less important than the others. Rav went before R' Ḥanina on Yom Kippur eve every year for 13 years to appease him, but he would not be appeased.
והיכי עביד הכי? והאמר רבי יוסי בר חנינא: כל המבקש מטו מחבירו אל יבקש ממנו יותר משלש פעמים! רב שאני. ורבי חנינא, היכי עביד הכי? והאמר רבא: כל המעביר על מדותיו — מעבירין לו על כל פשעיו!
The Talmud asks: How could Rav act this way? Didn’t R' Yosei bar Ḥanina say: Anyone who requests forgiveness from another should not ask more than 3 times? The Talmud answers: Rav is different, since he was very pious and forced himself to act beyond the letter of the law. The Talmud asks: And how could R' Ḥanina act this way and refuse to forgive Rav, though he asked many times? Didn’t Rava say: With regard to anyone who suppresses his honor and forgives someone for hurting him, God pardons all his sins?
אלא: רבי חנינא חלמא חזי ליה לרב דזקפוהו בדיקלא, וגמירי דכל דזקפוהו בדיקלא — רישא הוי. אמר: שמע מינה בעי למעבד רשותא ולא איפייס, כי היכי דליזיל ולגמר אורייתא בבבל.
The Talmud explains: Rather, this is what happened: R' Ḥanina saw in a dream that Rav was being hung on a palm tree, and he learned as a tradition that anyone about whom there is a dream in which he was being hung on a palm tree will become the head of a yeshiva. He said: Learn from this that providence has decreed that he must eventually become the head of the yeshiva. Therefore, I will not be appeased, so that he will have to go and study Torah in Babylonia. He was conscious of the principle that one kingdom cannot overlap with another, and he knew that once Rav was appointed leader, he, R' Ḥanina, would have to abdicate his own position or die. Therefore, he delayed being appeased, so that Rav would go to Babylonia and be appointed there as head of the yeshiva. In this way, the dream would be fulfilled, as Rav would indeed be appointed as head of a yeshiva, but since he would be in Babylonia, R' Ḥanina would not lose his own position.