Anah's Mules and the Holy Stubbornness of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair

"And Oholibamah bore Jeush and Jalam and Korah." It is written, "For I have stripped Esau bare" (Jeremiah 49:10) - like peeling onions. Why so? "I have uncovered his hidden places" - in order to expose the bastards within him. And how many bastards did he produce? Rav said: three. Levi said: four; this Korah here is a bastard. (Genesis 36:12) "And Timna was a concubine" (written at sign 159). (Verses 20, 24) "This is Anah who found the mules in the wilderness" (written at sign 7) - "This is Anah who found the mules." Any creature whose ears are small, its mother is a mare and its father a donkey; and whose ears are large, its mother is a she-donkey and its father a horse. Rabbi Chanina would instruct the household of the Nasi: buy those whose ears are small, because its mother is a mare and its father a donkey. What did Anah do? He brought a she-donkey and mated it to a horse, and a mule came forth from them. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I did not create anything harmful in My world. What did he do? He brought a viper and mated it to a lizard, and from them came forth a venomous spotted creature. Never has anyone said that a man bitten by such a creature lived; never has anyone said that a man kicked by a white mule lived. But we see that some do live? Say rather, some are wounded and survive. But we see that they are healed by such-and-such a remedy? Where the creature is red and the tops of its feet are white. Rabbi Yehoshua said: why were they called "yemim"? Because their terror (eimah) is cast upon creatures. Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair was once going to redeem captives. The river Ginai met him. He said to it: Ginai, divide your waters for me, that I may pass through you. It said to him: you are going to do the will of your Maker, and I am going to do the will of my Maker; you may accomplish it or you may not, but I will surely accomplish mine. He said to it: if you do not divide, I decree upon you that water shall never again pass through you. It divided for him. There was with them a certain man carrying flour for Passover. He said to it: divide also for this one, who is occupied with a commandment. It divided for him. There was an Arab traveling with them. He said to it: divide also for this one, that he not say, is this how they treat those who travel with them? It divided for him. Rav Yosef said: how much greater is this man than Moses and the six hundred thousand, and so on. He came to a certain inn. They set barley before his donkey, but it would not eat. They sifted it, and it would not eat; they winnowed it, and it would not eat. He said: perhaps it has not been tithed. They tithed it, and it ate. He said: this poor creature is going to do the will of its Maker, and you would feed it untithed produce! And is such produce liable to tithe? Did we not learn: one who buys grain for seed or for animals, or flour for hides, or oil for a lamp, or oil for anointing vessels, is exempt from doubtfully tithed produce? It was said concerning that teaching: Rabbi Yochanan said, they taught this only where he bought it from the outset for an animal, but if he bought it from the outset for a person and then changed his mind to give it to an animal, he is obligated to tithe. Rabbi heard he had arrived and went out to meet him. He said to him: will you dine with me? He said, yes. Rabbi's face lit up. He said to him: do you suppose I am one who has vowed to take no benefit from Israel? The children of Israel are holy; one wishes to give and has not, and another has and does not wish to. And it is written, "Do not eat the bread of one who has an evil eye" (Proverbs 23:6), and you wish to and you have. Now I am in haste, for I am going to perform a commandment; when I return I will come in to you. When he returned he happened to enter through that gate where white mules were standing. He said: the angel of death is in this man's house, and shall I dine with him? Rabbi heard and went out to meet him. He said to him: I will sell them. He said to him, "You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind" (Leviticus 19:14). I will declare them ownerless. You would increase the harm. I will hamstring them. There is the prohibition of causing pain to living creatures. I will kill them. There is the prohibition of wanton destruction. He pressed him greatly; a mountain rose between them. Rabbi wept and said: if in their lifetime the righteous are so great, how much more so after their death. They said of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair: in all his days he never broke bread over a piece that was not his own, and from the day he came to his own understanding he never benefited even from his father's meal. It is settled for the Rabbis that five kinds of seed in six handbreadths do not draw nourishment from one another. From where do we know this? That a matter settled for the Rabbis is itself authoritative, as Rabbi Yochanan said: "You shall not move your neighbor's boundary, which the first ones marked out" (Deuteronomy 19:14) - the boundary that the first ones marked out you shall not move.