Bava Kamma - Haggadic Elements

Haggadic Elements

• (a) A "ḥasid" (pious man) noticed a man throwing stones and rubbish from his own garden into the public thoroughfare. The ḥasid rebuked him, saying, "Why do you throw these things from a place that is not yours into a place that is yours?" The man laughed; but he soon learned the true meaning of the question. For he had to sell his property, and one day, walking in the street, he met with an accident through these very stones (50b).
• (b) Joshua, on dividing the land of Canaan amongst the tribes of Israel, made the tribes agree to ten conditions, the most important of which are the common use of the forests as pasture for cattle, and the common right of fishing in the Sea of Tiberias (81a).
• (c) Ezra introduced ten rules ("teḳanot"), among them the reading of a section of the Pentateuch on Sabbath afternoon ("minḥah"), on Monday and on Thursday, and the holding of the sittings of the court (bet din) on Mondays and Thursdays (82a).
• (d) Two officers were once sent by the Roman governor to Rabban Gamaliel to be instructed in the Jewish law. When they had finished the study they declared to Rabban Gamaliel that the laws (referring probably to the civil code of laws) were all just and praiseworthy, with the exception of two that make a distinction between Jew and heathen. The rabbi thereupon ordered the inequality to be removed (Bab. 38a, and Yer. iv. 4b).
• (e) Rabbi Johanan used to give to his servant part of everything he was eating or drinking, saying, "Is not his Creator also my Creator?" (Job xxxi. 15; Yer. viii. 6c).
• (f) At the funeral of King Hezekiah a scroll of the Law was laid on the bier, with the words, "This fulfilled what is written in this " (Bab. 17a).

Some noteworthy explanations of Biblical texts may be added. The words "ḳa'asher yeba'er hagalal" (I Kings xiv. 10) are quoted as meaning (Babli 3a; see Rashi, ad loc.) "as the tooth destroyeth" (A. V. "as a man sweepeth the dung"). "Erek appayim" ("slow to anger," Ex. xxxiv. 6) is interpreted "long-suffering to both the righteous and the wicked" (ib. 50b), on account of the dual form. A Biblical verse is quoted according to its sense and not literally, as, for example (ib. 81b; compare B. M. 76a), "mihyot ṭob al tiḳḳare ra'" (when thou art kind, thou shalt not be called bad); then the question is raised, "Is it written so?" and the verse Prov. iii. 27 is cited.