Monday, March 07, 2005

Daf Yoma 5b: Don't Cry Over Spoiled Wine

An interesting story about Sin and Suffering over in Bavli Brachot 5b:
רב הונא תקיפו ליה ארבע מאה דני דחמרא
על לגביה רב יהודה אחוה דרב סלא חסידא ורבנן
ואמרי לה רב אדא בר אהבה ורבנן ואמרו ליה לעיין מר במיליה
אמר להו ומי חשידנא בעינייכו
אמרו ליה מי חשיד קב"ה דעביד דינא בלא דינא
אמר להו אי איכא מאן דשמיע עלי מלתא לימא
אמרו ליה הכי שמיע לן דלא יהיב מר שבישא לאריסיה
אמר להו מי קא שביק לי מידי מיניה הא קא גניב ליה כוליה
אמרו ליה היינו דאמרי אינשי בתר גנבא גנוב וטעמא טעים
אמר להו קבילנא עלי דיהיבנא ליה
איכא דאמרי הדר חלא והוה חמרא
ואיכא דאמרי אייקר חלא ואיזדבן בדמי דחמרא
Translation:
Once four hundred jars of wine belonging to R. Huna turned sour.
Rab Judah, the brother of R. Sala the Pious, and the other scholars
(some say: R. Adda b. Ahaba and the other scholars)
went in to visit him and said to him:
The master ought to examine his actions.
He said to them: Am I suspect in your eyes?
They replied: Is Hashem suspect of punishing without justice?
He said to them: If somebody has heard of anything against me, let him speak out.
They replied: We have heard that the master does not give his tenant his [lawful share in the] vine twigs.
He replied: Does he leave me any? He steals them all!
They said to him: That is exactly what the people says:
If you steal from a thief you also have a taste of it!
He said to them: I pledge myself to give it to him [in the future].
Some report that thereupon the vinegar became wine again;
others that the vinegar went up so high that it was sold for the same price as wine.
I found it interesting that the beginning of the conversation roughly paralleled that of Iyyov and his friends. He claims Hashem has punished him without cause, and they feel that he must have done something wrong. All of Sefer Iyyov is a back and forth, with Iyyov in the end being justified over his friends, by God.

Of course, this is different, because they actually had something specific in mind that he did, but the attitude was that of the friends of Iyyov. And of course, Chazal might have a different view of Sefer Iyyov than one would derive from a pashut peshat perspective...

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