The Scholar Who Died Young and the Sanctity of Marriage

An incident concerning a certain man who read much and studied much and served Torah scholars much, and he entered his eternal home in the middle of his days. And his wife became as one bewildered, and she would go around to the doors of her husband's fellows and say to them: My masters, my husband read much and studied much and served Torah scholars much; for what reason did he die in the middle of his days? And there was no one who answered her anything. Once I was walking in the marketplace and I entered her courtyard; she came and sat opposite me and was weeping. I said to her: My daughter, for what reason are you weeping? She said to me: My master, my husband read much and studied much and served Torah scholars much, and he died in the middle of his days. I said to her: My daughter, in the time of your menstruation, how was he with you? She said to me: My master, God forbid — he did not touch me even with his little finger. And after all those days in which I saw blood, I sat seven clean days, so as not to come to doubt. I said to her: My daughter, your husband spoke well to you, for thus the Sages said concerning men and women with discharges and menstruants and women after childbirth, that after seven they are pure, as it is said (Leviticus 15:28), "And if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and afterward she shall be clean." But in those days of white garments, how was he with you? Perhaps you brought him the knife that was in your hand and he touched it even with his little finger? She said to me: My master, by your life, I washed his feet and anointed him with oil and slept with him in one bed, I in my garments and he in his garments, but he did not turn his attention to anything else. I said to her: Blessed is the Omnipresent who slew him, before whom there is no favoritism, for thus it is written in the Torah (Leviticus 18:19), "And to a woman in her menstrual impurity you shall not draw near." One might think he may embrace her and kiss her and speak frivolous words with her — the verse teaches, "you shall not draw near"; one might think he may sleep with her in her garments on one bed — the verse teaches, "you shall not draw near," so that a person should not say to himself, when she is in her menstruation her flesh is forbidden but her bed is permitted. Therefore He went back and explained through Ezekiel (Ezekiel 18:6), "And he did not defile his neighbor's wife and did not draw near to a menstruant woman," likening a menstruant woman to a married woman, that you be as careful concerning her as concerning all the deaths stated in the Torah. And it says (Amos 3:2), "Only you have I known of all the families of the earth" — these are Israel from among the seventy tongues — "therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities" — these are the Torah scholars from within the house of Israel. Further I said to her: My daughter, come and learn from what is written in the Torah, that the reward of a commandment is a commandment and the reward of a transgression is a transgression. A person has spoken much false speech and lying speech with his father and with his mother, with his wife and with his children, with his teacher who taught him Scripture and Mishnah and wisdom; in the end he does so with every person. A person has sworn many false oaths with all these; in the end he does so with every person. A person has conducted himself with arrogance of spirit with all these; in the end he does so with every person. A person has been brazen toward his father or his mother or toward one greater than he; in the end he does so with every person. The plagues are shown on his body; if he returns and repents, they heal him, and if not, he remains in his presumed state until the day of his death. A person loved robbery and increased it everywhere; the plagues are shown on his body; if he returns and repents, they heal him, and if not, he remains in his presumed state until the day of his death. A person loved his money and increased it everywhere; the plagues are shown — warp and woof — in his fine garments; if he repents, they are healed, and if not, they take his fine garments and burn them before him. A poor person comes and stands at the door of a householder and says to him, Lend me one kav of wheat or of barley, and the householder says to him, I have neither wheat nor barley, but in truth he has; the plagues are shown in the walls of his house until they reach the ground, and when they remove his vessels from his house to the street of the city, people say to one another, Is this not the one who said, I have neither wheat nor barley — and behold, he has? Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, who sanctifies His great Name openly to all the world. Therefore He says (2 Chronicles 20:37), "When you joined with Ahaziah, the LORD broke your works, and the ships were wrecked." The craftsmen and the gluttons and the brazen-faced — of them He says (Psalms 37:17), "For the arms of the wicked shall be broken." Those who plow evil and twist words and deepen speech and make their tongue smooth — of them He says (Psalms 35:6), "Let their way be darkness and slipperiness." Those who strike their fellows in secret and profane the Name openly and demean their fellows with words and cast strife are destined to be like Korah and his company, and of them He says (Numbers 16:33), "And the earth covered them and they perished from the midst of the assembly." Those who hoard produce and lend at interest and make the ephah small and inflate prices — of them He says (Amos 8:7), "The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, I will never forget all their deeds." All these do not bequeath to their children, and if they do bequeath to their children, they do not bequeath to their children's children. Dice players and those who lend at interest and those who raise small livestock in the Land of Israel, and the priests and Levites who seized their portion, and the heretics and the violent and those who profane the Name of Heaven and the flatterers — of them He says (Ecclesiastes 1:15), "What is crooked cannot be made straight." But those who are insulted and do not insult, who hear their disgrace and do not reply, who do the commandments out of love and rejoice in sufferings — of them He says (Judges 5:31), "And those who love Him are like the sun going forth in its might." Those who are despised and lowly in their own eyes and humble their spirit and subdue their inclination — of them He says (Isaiah 49:7), "Thus says the LORD... to the despised soul, to the abhorred of the nation, to the servant of rulers: kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall bow down." Those who are trustworthy and return a deposit and return a lost object and conceal secrets — of them He says (Psalms 101:6), "My eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me." One who does the will of his wife and leads his children in the straight path and marries off a wife to his young sons before they reach their season, before they come to sin — of him He says (Job 5:24-26), "And you shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall visit your dwelling and not sin; and you shall know that your seed is many and your offspring like the grass of the earth; you shall come to the grave in ripe old age as a sheaf comes up in its season." One who marries the daughter of his sister, and loves his neighbors, and brings his relatives near, and lends a coin to a poor person in his time of distress — of him He says (Isaiah 58:9), "Then you shall call and the LORD will answer." A person saw a seminal emission — he is obligated in immersion from the Torah; if he says, Who saw me? There is nothing in it — and he put it out of his mind — again he saw an emission and says, Who sees me? There is nothing in it — and likewise a third time, he transgresses what is written in the Torah (Leviticus 15:16), "And if a man's seminal emission goes out from him, he shall wash all his flesh in water and be impure until evening," and he transgresses what is written (Job 33:29), "Behold, all these God does twice, three times with a man." In the end he becomes a man with a discharge through his own ways, as it is said (Leviticus 15:2), "Any man who has a discharge from his flesh." And what does "any man, any man" teach? Rather, one man for a discharge from his flesh and one man for a nocturnal emission; and if he returns and repents, they heal him, and if not, behold, he is one with a discharge until the day of his death, as it is said (Leviticus 15:3), "And this shall be his impurity in his discharge." From here they said: A woman who saw a drop of blood like a mustard seed and said, Who saw me? There is nothing in it — and put it out of her mind two or three times, transgresses what is written in the Torah (Leviticus 15:19), "And a woman who has a discharge, blood being her discharge in her flesh," and transgresses what is written, "Behold, all these God does." In the end she becomes, through her own ways, a woman with a discharge for many days, as it is said (Leviticus 15:25), "And a woman who has a flow of her blood for many days not in the time of her menstruation." And what does "in her flesh" teach? It teaches that she conveys impurity from within as from without. Rabbi Yishmael says: This passage was stated at the outset only to teach about the daughters of Israel, that they convey impurity by a drop of blood like a mustard seed, and she needs to count seven clean days, and after she has counted seven clean days she needs immersion like a full menstruant, in order to leave the category of transgression. Rabbi Meir says: This passage was stated only for the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying, for even if a woman eats all kinds of food and drinks all kinds of drink, her husband does not become disgusted with her; but if he were accustomed to her at all times, even in her menstrual days, he would become disgusted with her and would nullify being fruitful and multiplying. Therefore it is said in the Torah, "seven days she shall be in her menstruation," so that she be as beloved to her husband on the day of her immersion as on the day of her entering the bridal canopy. If she returns and repents, they heal her at once, and if not, behold, she remains in her presumed state until the day of her death, as it is said, "And a woman who has a flow of her blood," and so forth. Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, who gave the Torah to Israel so that they might learn from it proper conduct, so that the iniquities of Israel not increase, for whoever transgresses what is written in the Torah uproots himself from this world and from the world to come.