Sukkah, Daf Kaf Het, Part 2
Introduction
This section continues with more legends about some significant figures in the tannaitic period.
תנו רבנן: שמונים תלמידים היו לו להלל הזקן, שלשים מהם ראוים שתשרה עליהם שכינה כמשה רבינו, ושלשים מהן ראוים שתעמוד להם חמה כיהושע בן נון, עשרים בינונים.
Our Rabbis have taught: Hillel the Elder had eighty disciples, thirty of whom were worthy of the Divine Spirit (Shekhinah) resting upon them, as it did on Moses our Master, thirty of whom were worthy that the sun should stand still for them as it did for Joshua the son of Nun, and twenty were average.
The baraita tells of the great quantity of students that Hillel the Elder (founder of Bet Hillel) had. Interestingly, some of these students were average. Good thing it doesn’t list their names.
גדול שבכולן – יונתן בן עוזיאל, קטן שבכולן – רבן יוחנן בן זכאי. אמרו עליו על רבן יוחנן בן זכאי שלא הניח מקרא ומשנה, תלמוד, הלכות ואגדות, דקדוקי תורה ודקדוקי סופרים, קלים וחמורים וגזרות שוות, תקופות וגימטריאות, שיחת מלאכי השרת ושיחת שדים ושיחת דקלים, משלות כובסין, משלות שועלים, דבר גדול ודבר קטן. דבר גדול – מעשה מרכבה, דבר קטן – הויות דאביי ורבא. לקיים מה שנאמר +משלי ח+ להנחיל אהבי יש ואצרתיהם אמלא. וכי מאחר שקטן שבכולן כך, גדול שבכולן – על אחת כמה וכמה.
The greatest of them was Yonatan ben Uzziel, the least of them was Rabban Yohanan b. Zakkai. They said of R. Yohanan b. Zakkai that he did not leave [unstudied] Scripture, Mishnah, Talmud, halakhot, and aggadot, minutiae of the Torah, minutiae of the Scribes, kal vehomers, analogies, calendrical computations, gematrias, the speech of the Ministering Angels, the speech of demons, and the speech of palm-trees, launderers’ parables and fox parables, great matters or small matters; Great matters mean the "works of the chariot," small matters the discussions of Abaye and Raba; in order to fulfill what is said, "That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and that I may fill their treasuries." And if the
smallest of them was so great, how much more so was the greatest?
R. Yohanan ben Zakkai was a true polymath, occupying himself with all of the branches of Jewish learning. Rashi defines most of these terms. Below follows his explanations:
Mishnah: The teachings of the tannaim divided into the six orders.
Talmud (or Gemara): The explanations that later tannaim offered to the words of earlier tannaim. Note that R. Yohanan ben Zakkai is a tanna (from the mishnaic period). Therefore, Talmud cannot refer to what we call Talmud. Other scholars have noted that "talmud" can also mean "midrash" interpretations of verses.
Aggadot: stories and legends.
Minutiae of Torah: Deriving laws from extra letters found in the Torah (we shall see an example of this on the bottom of the page).
Minutiae of the Scribes: This refers to the rabbis, called "scribes" who made exacting laws to keep a person from sinning. Elsewhere laws such as these are called "fences around the Torah."
Kal vehomers and analogies: These are two common techniques used to derive halakhah from the Torah.
Calendrical computations: Such as when to add a month to a year.
Gematriot: Special letter codes, including but not limited to the numerical evaluation of letters.
The speech of the ministering angels, demons and palm trees: Rashi says he doesn’t know what these things are. With regard to demons, this may refer to the "magic bowls" that Jews used to write in order to control demons, or to prevent them from causing damage. This is similar to amulet writing. "The speech of palm trees" may refer to King Solomon’s ability to speak with the trees (see I Kings 5:13).
Parables: Used by the ancients to communicate their messages.
The works of the chariot: Maaseh Merkavah, a word used to refer to speculative mysticism. The "chariot" is God’s chariot described in the first chapter of Ezekiel.
The discussions of Abaye and Rava: Abaye and Rava lived in the middle of the talmudic period. Clearly R. Yohanan ben Zakkai could not have known these discussions. What the baraita seems to say is that all of the intricate discussions that these two amazing amoraim had were already known to R. Yohanan ben Zakkai.
אמרו עליו על יונתן בן עוזיאל, בשעה שיושב ועוסק בתורה – כל עוף שפורח עליו מיד נשרף.
They said of Yonatan b. Uzziel that when he used to sit and occupy himself with the study of the Torah, every bird that flew above him was immediately burnt.
Yonatan b. Uzziel’s fire for Torah was so great that if he studied Torah and a bird flew overhead, the bird would be burned up. Rashi says that this was because the ministering angels would gather over head to learn his Torah. These angels were fiery seraphim.
I had a friend who once told me a joke about this he learned in his Yeshiva. He said as student once asked, if Yonatan ben Uzziel was so great that a bird flying overhead would burn up when he studied Torah, what would happen when Hillel himself studied Torah? The Rosh Yeshiva scratched his head, thought for a moment and then turned to the student and said, "Hillel’s Torah study was so great, that when he would learn, a bird would fly overhead and not be burned." Not everyone likes this joke, but it’s one of my all time favorites.