Here

And then this Bear, Pooh Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, F.O.P. (Friend of Piglet's), R.C. (Rabbit's Companion), P.D. (Pole Discoverer), E.C. and T.F. (Eeyore's Comforter and Tail-finder)--in fact, Pooh himself--said something so clever that Christopher Robin could only look at him with mouth open and eyes staring, wondering if this was really the Bear of Very Little Brain whom he had know and loved so long.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

ד. ב. ר.

yerushalmi brachot, 5:1.

תלמוד ירושלמי מסכת ברכות פרק ה דף ח טור ד /מ"א

תני לא יעמוד אדם ויתפלל לא מתוך שיחה ולא מתוך שחוק ולא מתוך קלות ראש ולא מתוך דברי' בטילין אלא מתוך דבר של תורה וכן אל יפטר אדם מתוך חבירו לא מתוך שיחה ולא מתוך שחוק ולא מתוך קלו' ראש ולא מתוך דברים בטילים אלא מתוך דבר של תורה שכן מצינו בנביאים הראשונים שהיו חותמין את דבריהן בדברי שבח ובדברי נחמות

A tanna taught: A person should not get up and pray out of (ie, immediately after)conversation nor out of joking/laughter nor out of levity nor out of idle things, rahter out of a word of Torah. And similarly, a person should not take leave from his friends out of (ie, immediately after)conversation nor out of joking/laughter nor out of levity nor out of idle things, rahter out of a word of Torah. FOr so we have found in the early Prophets, that they would conclude their words with words of praise and consolation.

אמר ר' אלעזר חוץ מירמיהו שחתם בדברי תוכחות אמר לו רבי יוחנן עוד הוא בדברי נחמות חתם ואמר ככה תשקע בבל לפי שהיה ירמיה חוזר ומתנבא על בית המקדש יכול בחורבן בית המקדש חתם תלמוד לומר עד הנה דברי ירמיהו במפולת של מחריביו חתם לא חתם בדברי תוכחות והכתיב והיו דראון לכל בשר בגוי' היא עסיקינן והכתיב כי מאוס מאסתנו השיבינו תחת כי מאוס מאסתנו

a lengthy discussion of whether all the prophets in fact closed their books with positive thoughts, specifically Jeremiah.

אף אליהו לא נפטר מאלישע אלא מתוך דבר של תורה ויהי המה הולכי' הלוך ודבר במה היו עוסקין רבי אחווא ביר' זעירא אמ' בקרית שמע היו עוסקין היך מה דאמ' אמר ודברת בם רבי יודה בן פזי אמר בבריאת עולם היו עוסקין הי כמה דאמ' בדבר ה' שמים נעשו רבי יודן בריה דרבי אייבו אמר בנחמות ירוש' היו עוסקין כמה דאמר דברו על לב ירושלם ורבנן אמרין במרכבה היו עוסקין היך מה דאת אמר והנה רכב אש וסוסי אש וגומר

Even Eliyahu did not take leave of Elisha except out of a dvar Torah. (Prooftext:)
"And it was, they were walking, walking and talking." (II Kings 2:11)
What were they talking about?
R. Ahvah b"r Zeira said, they were dealing with the recitaion of the Shema, [prooftext]: "and you shall talk about them."

{Odd here: the things to be talked about acc. to Shema are Torah in general, so why say that because they were following the Shema's prescription they were talking about Shema itself? This prooftext sounds like it is better suited to show how the previous prooftext means words of Torah and not just any words. Alternatively, all these derashot are based on the unusual word "vedaber" in the original passuk, which implies that they were learning something havig to do with the word daber itself.}

R. Yudah b. Pazi said, they were dealing with the creation of the world, as it says, "by the word of God the heavens were made." (Psalms 33:6)

R. Yudan son of R. Ayyvu said, they were dealing with the consolations of Jerusalem, as it says, "speak to the heart of Jeruslaem." (Isaiah 40:2)

and the Rabbis say, they were dealing with the heavenly charriot (merkavah, a chapter in Ezekiel traditionally assocaited with esoteric mysticism), [prooftext]: and here a charriot of fire and a horse of fire (came to take Elijah away)" (II Kings 2:11)


random no-to-connected-connection: I wonder if this series of midrashim can somehow be related to the general opinion that "d.b.r" is a "harsh" root. (beli neder, I may try and dig up sources on that later. I think I wrote about it on this blogbefore, though...) Here, instead, d.b.r. is divrei torah (albeit by some pretty harsh cahracters!).
Literary motive for this musing: the discussion of whether Jeremiah ends with good or bad news focusses on whether the destruction prophesied is for JEws or their enemies, similar to the discussion of d.b.r, in which destruction for our enemies is still considered good for the Jews (so yadber amim tachtenu is goodm therefore must not bet he same shoresh per se...) more on all that later, MAYBE, but anyway I liked the yerushalmi itself.

2 Comments:

At 3:07 PM, Blogger jacob said...

Just a thought: How do you know "Oskin bekriat shema" doesnt mean they were actually reciting the shema? (The fact that they were walking is somewhat troublesome but holech has many meanings that could solve this)

 
At 4:14 PM, Blogger miriam said...

jacob's thought: "How do you know "Oskin bekriat shema" doesnt mean they were actually reciting the shema?"

1- if so, how does it prove that
אף אליהו לא נפטר מאלישע אלא מתוך דבר של תורה
?
'niftar mitoch divrei torah' sounds to me like they were having a torah discussion (as does the pshat of oskin, btw).

2- this "oskin" is clearly parallel to the rest of them, which mean "dealing with"/studying, not "reciting breiat haolam," i think.

thanks
m

 

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