Avodah Zarah, Daf Yod, Part 6
Introduction
Today s section discusses who Keti ah b. Shalom was.
קטיעה בר שלום מאי הוי? דההוא קיסרא דהוה סני ליהודאי.
אמר להו לחשיבי דמלכותא מי שעלה לו נימא ברגלו יקטענה ויחיה או יניחנה ויצטער
אמרו לו יקטענה ויחיה
What about this Keti’ah b. Shalom? There was once a Caesar who hated the Jews. One day he said to the prominent members of the government, Someone who has a wart on his foot, should he cut it away and live [in comfort] or leave it on and suffer discomfort?
They replied: He should cut it away and live in comfort.
Again, we find the Romans speaking cryptically. But this one is pretty easy to understand, I think. By the way, there is probably a pun here the word for cut away and keti ah sound very similar.
אמר להו קטיעה בר שלום חדא דלא יכלת להו לכולהו דכתיב (זכריה ב, י) "כי כארבע רוחות השמים פרשתי אתכם". מאי קאמר? אלימא דבדרתהון בד’ רוחות האי כארבע רוחות לארבע רוחות מבעי ליה! אלא כשם שא"א לעולם בלא רוחות כך א"א לעולם בלא ישראל
ועוד קרו לך מלכותא קטיעה.
א"ל מימר שפיר קאמרת מיהו כל דזכי (מלכא) שדו ליה לקמוניא חלילא
Then Keti’ah b. Shalom spoke to them: First, you cannot do away with all of them, for it is written, For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven (Zechariah 2:10). Now, what does this verse mean? If it means that [Israel] was to be scattered to the four corners of the world, then instead of saying, as the four winds, the verse would have said, to the four winds? Rather just as the world cannot exist without winds, so the world cannot exist without Israel.
And what is more, your kingdom will be called a crippled kingdom.
The king replied: You have spoken very well; however, he who contradicts the king is to be cast into a circular furnace.
Keti ah b. Shalom manages to convince the king that he cannot and should not kill all of the Jews. Interestingly, this Roman general interprets a verse midrashically.
The king submits to Keti ah b. Shalom s advice, but still sentences him to death.
כד הוה נקטין ליה ואזלין אמרה ליה ההיא מטרוניתא ווי ליה לאילפא דאזלא בלא מכסא
נפל על רישא דעורלתיה קטעה אמר יהבית מכסי חלפית ועברית.
When they were taking him away, a Roman matron said to him: Pity the ship that sails without paying the tax. He fell on the head of his foreskin and cut it off and said, You have paid the tax. Pass through.
Keti ah now performs another activity that matches his name he circumcises himself, theoretically in order to convert. This is the tax that he must pay in order to get to heaven.
כי קא שדו ליה אמר כל נכסאי לר"ע וחביריו
יצא ר"ע ודרש (שמות כט, כח) "והיה לאהרן ולבניו" מחצה לאהרן ומחצה לבניו.
As he was being cast [into the furnace] he said, All my possessions [are to go to] R. Akiva and his colleagues.
R. Akiva went out and interpreted, And it shall be to Aaron and his sons –one half is Aaron’s and one half his sons .
Keti ah gives away all his property to R. Akiva and his colleagues. R. Akiva finds a quite self-serving midrash to justify taking half of the property. Just as half the show-bread will go to Aaron, so too half of Keti ah s property will go to R. Akiva. The rest of it will be divided by everyone else.
יצתה בת קול ואמרה קטיעה בר שלום מזומן לחיי העוה"ב
בכה רבי ואמר יש קונה עולמו בשעה אחת ויש קונה עולמו בכמה שנים
A bat-kol then exclaimed: Keti’ah b. Shalom is destined for [eternal] life in the world to come!
Rabbi wept, saying: Some acquire eternity in a single hour, others acquire it after many years!
A heavenly voice goes out and states that Keti ah has earned his right to heaven in a single moment. While others toil all of their lives to earn their space in heaven, Keti ah does so with one single act.
אדרכן שמשיה לרב
כי שכיב אנטונינוס א"ר נתפרדה חבילה
כי שכיב אדרכן אמר רב נתפרדה חבילה
Antoninus attended on Rabbi.
Artaban attended on Rav.
When Antoninus died, Rabbi exclaimed: The bond has been undone.
When Artaban died, Rab exclaimed: The bond has been undone.
This is the end of the Antoninus/Rabbi cycle of stories. Antoninus serves Rabbi in other words, he acts as a disciple. A Persian general by the name of Artaban served Rav, the leader of Babylonian Jewry. But these types of relationships ended with their deaths.