SEVEN KINDS OF PUNISHMENT COME UPON THE WORLD FOR SEVEN CARDINAL TRANSGRESSIONS. IF SOME GIVE THEIR TITHES AND OTHERS DO NOT, THERE COMES A FAMINE THROUGH DROUGHT.1Aboth 5:11 (Sonc. ed., V, 8, p. 65) adds: ‘then some suffer hunger while others have plenty’; retribution on the principle ‘measure for measure’. If some offer the heave-offering2Num. 18, 8ff. and others do not, there comes a famine through tumult.3Of war. If some set apart the dough-offering4Ibid. XV, 20f. and others do not, there comes a famine of extermination. If all resolved not to give their tithes, they thereby caused the heavens to close from sending down dew or rain, and men toil but have no sufficiency. R. Josiah said: For the sin of [withholding] the dough-offering no blessing enters into the fruit; and men toil but have no sufficiency. For the sin of [withholding] the heave-offering and the tithes, the heavens are closed from sending down dew or rain; and the people are delivered into the hand of their enemies.
Pestilence comes upon the world for the sin of [withholding from the poor] the gleanings,5Lev. 19, 9f, XXIII, 22. the forgotten sheaf,6Deut. 24, 19-21. the corner of the field, and the poor-tithe.7ibid. XIV, 28f. The tithe of the poor took the place of the second tithe in the third and sixth years of the sabbatical cycle. It is related that a widow lived in the vicinity of a landowner, and her two sons went into his field to glean, but he refused them permission. Their mother said, ‘When will my sons return from the field? Perhaps they will bring home8lit. ‘I will find in their hand’ something to eat’. The sons said, ‘When can we return to our mother? Perhaps she will have with her something to eat’. She found nothing with them and they found nothing with her to eat. They put their heads between the knees of their mother and all three died in one day. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘You have taken their lives; as surely as you live, I will exact your lives from you’. For it is stated, Rob not the weak, because he is weak, neither crush the poor in the gate; for the Lord will plead their cause, and despoil of life those that despoil them.9Prov. 22, 22f.
THE SWORD COMES UPON THE WORLD FOR THE DELAY OF JUSTICE,10This term includes inter alia the unnecessary delay caused by the Rabbi or judge in giving his decision on a question of religious law. This paragraph is from Aboth loc. cit. AND FOR THE PERVERSION OF JUSTICE, AND BECAUSE OF THOSE WHO TEACH THE TORAH NOT ACCORDING TO THE TRADITIONAL MEANING.When they seized Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel and R. Ishmael [33a] [b. Elisha, the High Priest,] and led them to execution,11These Rabbis were two of the ‘Ten Royal Martyrs’ who were executed by the Romans at various times for their insistence on teaching the Torah in spite of the interdict. [Bacher, Ag. d. Tannaiten I, p. 234, n. 3, holds that this martyr, Simon, was not Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel.] Rabban Simeon was perplexed in his mind12It was not the fear of death, but rather the mode of his impending execution, viz. decapitation, that troubled his mind. Cf. Büchler, Studies in Sin and Atonement, pp. 195ff. and said, ‘Woe to us that we are to be put to death like desecrators of the Sabbath, or idolaters, or immoral persons, or murderers’. R. Ishmael b. Elisha said to him, ‘May I say a word to you?’ He said, ‘Speak’; and R. Ishmael said,13There is an obvious gap here. In the parallel passages, Mekilta, Mishpaṭim, Neziḳin XVIII, Semaḥoth VIII, below p. 365, and II ARN XLI, R. Ishmael suggests that his sad fate might be attributed to his having delayed justice. It is on this score that the story finds its place here. The passage to be inserted reads: ‘Did a woman ever come to you to ask about her monthly impurity, or a man about his vow, and they were kept waiting, because you were asleep or having a meal, or perhaps you had no free time, or perhaps the attendant would not allow them to enter?’ ‘Perhaps when you were sitting down to a meal, poor persons came and stood at your door, and you did not allow them to enter and eat with you’. Rabban Simeon replied, ‘I swear by Heaven that I never did so; but I set watchers who sat at the door, and when poor persons came they brought them to me and they ate and drank with me, and blessed Heaven’s name’. Then R. Ishmael said, ‘Perhaps when you were sitting and expounding [the Torah] on the Temple mount, and all the multitudes of Israel were sitting before you, your mind was puffed up’. Rabban Simeon answered, ‘Ishmael, my brother, a man must be prepared to accept his fate’.14The reason suggested—his elation and pride at the sight of men standing and listening to his teaching—apparently accounted for his fate, and Rabban Simeon acknowledged God’s justice. They both pleaded with the executioner; one said, ‘I am a priest, son of a High Priest; put me to death first so that I do not witness the death of my colleague’. The other said, ‘I am a prince, the son of a prince; put me to death first so that I do not witness the death of my colleague’. The executioner said, ‘Draw lots’. They did so, and the lot fell upon Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel. The executioner took the sword and cut off his head. R. Ishmael b. Elisha took it up, held it to his bosom, wept and exclaimed, ‘Holy mouth, faithful mouth! Holy mouth, faithful mouth! Mouth that gave forth beautiful gems, precious stones and pearls! Who has buried you in the dust and filled your tongue with dust and ashes? Concerning you was it stated, Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is near unto Me’.15Zech. 13, 7. He had not yet finished his words when they took the sword and cut off his head. Of them Scripture states, My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.16Ex. 22, 23. This verse describes the punishment imposed for delaying the rights of widows and orphans.17This passage is only introduced here incidentally, quoting the full exposition of the verse cited from Ex. 100f. Mekilta loc. cit., and B.M. 38b (Sonc. ed., p. 232), also Rashi on the verse.From the simple meaning of the words, And I will kill you with the sword, do I not know that the wives will be widows and the children orphans? It signifies that they will be ‘widows and not widows’, as when there are no witnesses forthcoming [to testify to the death of their husbands] to permit them to remarry; as [happened at the destruction of] Bethar,18The scene of the last stand of the Jews under Bar Kochba against the Romans in 135 C.E. where not a single person escaped [to testify to the death of any individual] to permit the wives to remarry. Similarly, from the simple meaning of the words, And your wives shall be widows, I know that the children will be orphans. It signifies that they will be ‘orphans and not orphans’; for their property will remain in the presumed ownership of their fathers, and the children will not be permitted either to inherit the property or to transact any business with it.
EXILE COMES UPON THE WORLD BECAUSE OF IDOLATRY, IMMORALITY, AND THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD, AND BECAUSE OF NEGLECT OF THE YEAR OF RELEASE OF THE LAND.19Cf. Ex. 23, 10f; Lev. 25, 2-5. Cited from Aboth loc. cit.‘Because of idolatry’, as it is stated, And I will destroy your high places.20Lev. 26, 30. [And it is also stated, And you will I scatter among the nations.]21ibid. 33. The verse is inserted by the commentators to prove the punishment of exile which will befall them. The Holy One, blessed be He, said [to Israel], ‘Since you take delight in idolatry, I will exile you to a place where idolatry is practised’. Therefore it is stated, And I will destroy your high places, etc.‘And because of neglect of the year of release of the land.’ Whence do we know this? For it is stated, Then shall the land be paid her sabbaths.22ibid. 34. The Holy One, blessed be He, said [to Israel], ‘Since you do not give rest to the land, it will take its rest without you;23Because you will be in exile and there will be nobody to till the land. Or, ‘it will drive you out’. and according to the numbers of months that you failed to give it rest, it will rest of itself’. Therefore it is stated, Then shall the land rest, and repay her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall have rest.24ibid. 34f.‘And because of immorality.’ How is this to be understood? R. Ishmael b. R. Jose said: As long as Israel are dissolute in morals the Divine Presence departs from their midst, as it is stated, That He see no unseemly thing in thee, and turn away from thee.25Deut. 23, 15.