Another matter, “a man, if he will have on the skin of his flesh” – that is what is written: “Punishments are prepared for cynics”8Sinners. (Proverbs 19:29); sentences were prepared for cynics. The way of the world is that a person rides a donkey; sometimes it disobeys him and he strikes it, sometimes it is agreeable to him, and he strikes it. However, here, it is for the cynics that punishments and blows are prepared.
This is analogous to a noblewoman who entered the king’s palace.9She married him. When she saw the whips hanging, she was afraid. The king said to her: ‘Fear not, those are for the slaves and the maidservants, but you will eat, drink, and rejoice.’ When Israel heard the portion of leprosy, they were afraid.
Moses said to them: ‘Fear not, these are for the nations of the world, but you will eat, drink, and rejoice,’ as it is stated: “There are many pains for the wicked, but one trusting in the Lord, kindness surrounds him” (Psalms 32:10). Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] and Rabbi Yishmael ben Rabbi Yosei were sitting and studying the scroll of Lamentations on the eve of the ninth of Av that coincided with Shabbat, as it was getting dark, in the late afternoon.
They did not complete one alphabetical acrostic.10The chapters of Lamentations are arranged in alphabetical acrostics. They said: ‘We will complete it tomorrow.’ When Rabbi ascended [to his house], he stumbled and hurt his small finger. He read in his regard: “There are many pains for the wicked.”
Rabbi Yishmael said to him: ‘Had we not been engaged in the matter: “The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was captured in their traps” (Lamentations 4:20), I would have said this; now that we were engaged in it, all the more so.’11Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi had implied that his suffering was due to his own sins. Rabbi Yishmael ben Rabbi Yosei interpreted the verse in Lamentations (4:20) they had just studied as indicating that the leader of the generation can suffer due to the sins of the people of the generation.
Thus, he said that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi had been injured due to the sins of the generation. When he entered his house, he placed a dry sponge on his wound and tied a reed over it on the outside. Rabbi Yishmael ben Rabbi Yosei said: We learned three matters from his actions: The sponge does not absorb, but rather, it protects the wound.12It does not absorb the pus and thereby heal the wound. If it would do so, it would be forbidden to place it on the wound on Shabbat, due to the rabbinic prohibition of applying medicine on Shabbat.
One may tie over it a reed from the house because it is prepared.13It is not muktze. And one may read the sacred Writings only from the afternoon onward;14The Rabbis prohibited reading from the books of Writings on Shabbat (see Mishna Shabbat 16:1) so that people would not become engrossed in reading them and fail to attend the public lecture that the Sages would give. This prohibition expired in the afternoon, by which time the lecture would be finished.
This is proven from the fact that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi did not have enough time in the afternoon to finish studying Lamentations. however, one may study its midrash and expound the verses. If it is necessary for a matter to be checked, one may take it and check it.15One may take the scroll to reexamine the verse. Shmuel said: Any shard of earthenware,16A shard that broke from a vessel before Shabbat is not muktze because it may be used to cover another small vessel. any reed.
Rabbi Ze’eira said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel: The stopper of a barrel and the shards of [a broken barrel], it is permitted to handle them on Shabbat. But if one cast them into the garbage dump, it is prohibited to handle them. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Tanḥum of Basra in the name of Rabbi Yirmeya: Even one who was wicked but repented, the Holy One blessed be He accepts him, as it is stated: “But one trusting in the Lord, kindness surrounds him” (Psalms 32:10).