Eretz Yisrael Is Above All Other Countries
Berachos, beginning of 47a —
רבין ואביי הוו קא אזלי באורחא, קדמיה חמריה דרבין לדאביי ולא אמר ליה ניזיל מר. אמר, מדסליק האי מרבנן ממערבא, גס ליה דעתיה. כי מטא לפתחא דבי כנישתא, אמר ליה ניעל מר. אמר ליה, ועד השתא לאו מר אנא? אמר ליה, הכי אמר רבי יוחנן, אין מכבדין אלא בפתח שיש בה מזוזה.
The Schottenstein Gemara translates this piece as follows:
Ravin and Abaye were once traveling on the road. Ravin’s donkey went ahead of Abaye’s donkey, and [Ravin] did not say to [Abaye], “Let master go ahead”. Abaye said to himself: Ever since this Rabbi came from the west (i.e. from Eretz Yisrael), he has become haughty. When they came to the entrance of a synagogue, [Ravin] said to him: Let master go in first. [Abaye] said to him: And until now, was I not the master? Why did you go ahead of me on our journey? [Ravin] replied: Thus said R’ Yochanan: We accord honor only at an entrance that has a mezuzah.
The Hebrew version of Schottenstein, the ‘Soncino’ translation, ‘Mesivta’ and others all render it the same way.
The difficulty lies not in the stressed words themselves, but in understanding how they possibly go along with everything else we know …
See, the verb “Salik” means to go up, and Babylon (modern-day Iraq), where the story occurs, is geographically lower than the Land of Israel.
Hence, the simple reading of “Ever since this scholar came up from the West he has grown proud” is indefensible. Rabbi Yaakov Emden, in his glosses, notes the same problem with the text and goes to great lengths to solve it.
This difficulty is also noted by Rabbi Yosef Chaim, author of “Ben Ish Chai”, who proposes only a homiletic explanation.
Here’s how he puts the problem:
והא דקאמר מדסליק האי מרבנן ממערבא, קשא הוה ליה למימר מדנחית ממערבא, כי ארץ ישראל גבוה ובבל שפלה.
In my opinion, I have a solution. The expression “went up” is commonly used by the Gemara with no mention of the exit and destination points, and it always connotes a trip departing from Babylon to the Land of Israel.
Note Chulin 137b “when Isi son of Hini went up”; Pesachim 3b “a certain Aramean who used to go up”; “Rav etc., when he went up there” (ibidem 4b), and others.
I therefore humbly suggest breaking up the text. The sentence is divided into two, the second part being the “topic sentence”, like this:
אמר, מדסליק האי מרבנן,
ממערבא גס ליה דעתיה.
Loose Translation:
- Abaye’s inner reaction: Ever since this scholar’s regular trips from Bavel to the Land of Israel,
- His heart has grown proud of gaining the known merit of Eretz Yisrael.
Refer to Kesubos 65a (and other locations in Chazal) on the merit gained by those residing in Eretz Israel, even temporarily. Even the air of Israel is held to increase wisdom.
The tone of Abaye’s thinking, accordingly, changes from being solely critical, to actually judging Ravin favorably, at least to an extent.
(Incidentally, additional comments on the Schottenstein translation of this passage can be made. The word “up” is suspiciously missing; “Hai Merabbanan” is a lesser title than ‘Rabbi’; “Mata” is singular tense; and so on.)
May G-d lead us on the path of truth, and reveal his Torah’s true meaning to us!
P.S. I catch the Soncino Edition translation online at halakhah.com. There’s also a collaborative work in progress of translating the Talmud at themercava.com/explore. I recommend checking out both.
Have something to say? Write to Avraham Rivkas: CommentTorah@gmail.com