Thinking Talmudist Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist podcast.

All right. Welcome back, everybody. Good afternoon. Thinking Talmudist podcast. It is so wonderful. We're going to continue the episode that we spoke about previously about Vespasian, the Roman leader who was approached by the great sages. And if you remember previously, Reb Yochanan ben Zakkai wasn't able to leave Jerusalem. Remember, he made believe he was dead. They put him into a casket.
And then the biryone, the thugs that were protecting the walls of the city, didn't want to let him out. But he said, the guy's dead. And finally, he went. He ran to the Roman. And then he asked them, why didn't you come earlier? So we'll see. Very interesting story that the Gemari here continues. The narrative is resumed. What happens? Ad hochi osi, pristika ale miromi. In the meantime, a messenger of Vespasian arrived from Rome. Amorelei. He said to Vespasian,
Kum dimis le kesar ve amre hanu chashivi de roimi leisivach b'reisho. Arise, for Caesar has died. And the dignitaries of Rome said that they have decided to appoint you as the leader. You're the leader. You're the new leader. Vespasian was wearing only one of his shoes at the time. And he attempted to put his other shoe on. And it wouldn't go on. He tried putting on a second shoe. It didn't work. So who's standing around in front of him? The great sages.
The great Torah sages. And he attempted to take the other shoe off. And it didn't come off. He asked Rabbi Yochanan Menzacke, who was standing right in front of him. My, hi, what's going on over here? What's going on? Why can't I put my shoe on? Why can't I take my other shoe off? Don't be perturbed. Don't be disturbed by this. Your shoe does not fit because you just got good news. You just received good news.
And the joy of hearing good news makes a person's body swell. As the verse states, good tidings fatten the bones. He says, let someone who you dislike come and pass in front of you. And this will cause the swelling to subside. As the verse states, a broken spirit dries the bone. When your high spirits are broken by seeing this person that you dislike, your feet will return to their normal size. You'll be able to either put on the other shoe or take off the first shoe.
And the shoe went on without a problem. And Spasian said to him, He says, why didn't you come here until today? It's been years and years. You've never come to me. You've never come to share your wisdom with me. Why haven't you done so till today? Spasian said to him, Did I not tell you the answer to this question before? He says, I also answered you. He says, I'm going back to Rome and I'm going to send another person to my place.
But ask me now for anything that I can give you. He's now becoming the Caesar. He's going to become the leader. He says, tell me anything that you want. So he says, Give me the small town of Yavne and its sages. Give me the family of Rabbi Gamliel. Give me the family of Rabbi Gamliel. And give me a doctor to cure Rabbi Tzadok. Why was this? What did he want over here? He says, He wanted the Romans to spear Yavne.
He didn't want to bring their attention to all the Jewish people because they're not going to go for. He said something small, which was Yavne. Take a small victory and from there Torah was restored. What was the second request? The family of Rabbi Gamliel. Rabbi Gamliel was a descendant from the royal family of King David. He wanted there to be a continuation from King David's dynasty. So that was very, very important. And lastly, you remember we mentioned that Rabbi Tzadok fasted for 40 years
to protect the temple from being destroyed. And what happened as a result? His intestines shrunk to such a degree that he was unable to digest solid food. So he wanted him to be healed. Okay, so now the Gemara comments on Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkah's request. Rabbi Yosef, or as some say, it was actually Rabbi Akiva, recited the following verse about Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkah. He, God, turns wise men backwards and makes their thinking foolish. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkah should have said to Vespasian,
let them alone this time. Meaning, referring to the Jewish people, to Jerusalem. Spirit of Jerusalem, why do you ask for such small things? Why did you just ask for the city of Yavne? You asked for Rabbi Tzadok to be healed. You asked for Rabbi Gamliel and his family to be saved. What's going on here? Why didn't you just ask for Jerusalem? The Gemara explains why Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkah did not request the salvation of Jerusalem.
Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkah thought that Vespasian might not fulfill such a great request. And then even a small salvation of the little city, the little town of Yavne, would not be saved. So therefore he asked for a small one. One of the requests made by Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkah was for doctors to cure Rabbi Tzadok. And the Gemara relates how Rabbi Tzadok was eventually cured. What was that? As Vasa the Messiaen lay, the doctors who cured Rabbi Tzadok, what was the treatment they administered to him?
Yoma kama ashkiyuha maya d'pori. The first day they fed him water in which bran had been soaked. L'mocha maya d'sipuka. The next day, which is sort of like an IV they gave him, they fed him water in which a mixture of coarse bran and flour had been soaked. L'mocha maya d'kimcha. The next day they fed him water in which some flour was mixed and they gradually increased the thickness of the liquid. Ad d'rovach maya purta purta.
Until slowly but surely his intestines widened and he was able to eat normal food again. He was able to eat solids again. But it's an amazing adjustment. Slowly but surely, from within, they were able to give life to the intestines anew. The Gemara now returns to the central narrative that we discussed previously. Ozal Shadraeli Titus Vespasian went to Rome and he sent Titus to take charge of the military campaign against Jerusalem. And he said, O Lord, save me. In this connection, scripture states,
And he shall say, Where is their God, the rock in which they sought refuge? Where is their God? This is Titus Arosho. This is reference to the evil Titus. The verse refers to the incident recorded soon in which Titus came to believe that he had killed God, so to speak. This is referring to the evil Titus who profaned and blasphemed the one above. So what did he do? And he took a sword and slashed the curtains, the paroches.
And blood was bubbling out of the curtain of the temple. Titus thought that he had killed himself. This was a euphemistic reference to God. Because of the derogatory nature of the statement, the Gemara disguises its true meaning. Titus reasoned, Whose blood is this, if not God's blood? That I slash a curtain and blood comes out of the curtain? That must be that I killed God, so to speak. Shinema, as the verse states, Your God's enemies roared in the midst of your meeting place,
which is the Holy Temple. They established their signs as true signs. Titus interpreted the bleeding as a sign that he had killed God. The sages comment on God's restraint in the face of Titus's unconscionable behavior. Abba Hanan said, Who is like you, O strong one God, that you're able to withstand destroying Titus? Hashem can't do that. Hashem can't eliminate him. Hashem can. It's not a difficult thing for Hashem. But Hashem is patient. Hashem takes it all in and waits.
You hear the insult and the blasphemy of this evil Titus, and yet you remain silent. In the academy of Rabbi Shmuel it was taught, Who is like you among the mighty ones, Hashem? And this is homiletically interpreted to mean, Who is like you among the mute ones? In the face of Titus's blasphemy, you remain silent. How great. God is lenient with the wicked in this world, and he rewards them for their few good deeds,
so that they will receive their full punishment in the world to come. This is one of the most fundamental principles in our understanding of how this world operates. You see, we always wonder, we look at the world and we're like, How come the evil people have good, and the good people have terrible things happen to them? How does this work? And here the Talmud opens up a little bit of an eye into what's really transpiring.
Hashem prefers to give the reward, all the reward for the evil people, right here in this world. They get it all here. They get their money. They get their fame. They get their success. They get all of their, they get it here. Hashem says, you've done a few good things, I'm going to pay you here. You're not getting anything there. Over there you get all your punishment. That's eternal. Here is temporary. While a righteous person, you're getting all your reward there for eternity.
Not temporary. Sometimes people are very smart about investing. They say, you know what? I'm making all this money while I'm working. I'm going to invest in my 401k. I'll earn a little bit less now, but later I'll have more when I retire. It's smart. It's a smart way of operating. Well, how about in the spiritual 401k? I like to call it the 613k. The mitzvahs that we perform. The mitzvahs that we perform. I might be missing out on a party.
I might be missing out on an event. I might be missing out on this or that. But you know what? You're not missing out on anything. It's your investment for the eternal. Yeah, you know what? Sometimes I can be busy with other things that are more enjoyable than putting on tefillin. I can be busy with other things that are more enjoyable than observing Shabbos. I can be busy with other things that are more enjoyable than lighting my menorah.
But it's an investment I'm making for my future. For my eternal future. And that's where we put our emphasis on. That's what we put our focus on in this world. We put our focus on what is long-term best for us. That has to be, by the way, for our children as well. We have to think about the long-term ramifications. I was talking last night. I was having a conversation about parenting. And what I was trying to tell this young father
is that don't focus on how you want the child to be right now. Focus on how you want the child to be in 20 years from now. Because sometimes parents choose battles with their children right now for immediate results right now. And that's perhaps not the best thing for them right now. And this is something that we need to be very, very careful about. We need to be careful not to look at the short-term. Right now this is what I want.
I want my child right now to pray with me in synagogue. I want my child right now to do acts of kindness. I want my child right now. But by forcing them or being difficult with them, harsh with them, we may take out all their joy in doing good things later. And in the big picture, it'll do more damage than it'll do good. My dear friends, God willing, next week we'll resume this Talmud and we will continue to talk about what happened with Titus and our Holy Temple.
My dear friends, have a magnificent Shabbos. Thank you so much.

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