Talmud humor
Oct. 23rd, 2010 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuI was catching up on Avodah Zarah today. This is the tractate that covers the laws regarding idolators. After two pages discussing the technical definition of a whore's fee, it shifted into a discussion of sending gifts to idolatrous friends on their festivals.
It once happened that Raba sent a gift to Bar-Sheshak [a non-Jewish friend of his] on a pagan festival, saying, "I know that he is not an idolator". But when he visited him, he found him sitting up to his neck in a bath of rosewater with naked harlots standing before him. [Bar-Sheshak] said to him, "Do you [Jews] have anything like this in the World to Come?" [Raba] replied, "What we have is even better than this."
[Bar-Sheshak] asked, "What could be better than this?"
[Raba] answered, "You fear the king, but for us there will be no fear of the King."
[Bar-Sheshak] said to him, "Why should I fear the king?" While they were sitting together, the king's messenger arrived, bearing the message, "Arise, the king requires your presence."
As he was on his way out, [Bar-Sheshak] said to [Raba], "May the eye burst that wishes to see you come to harm!" Raba responded, "Amen," and Bar-Sheshak's eye burst. (BT AZ 65a)
It once happened that Raba sent a gift to Bar-Sheshak [a non-Jewish friend of his] on a pagan festival, saying, "I know that he is not an idolator". But when he visited him, he found him sitting up to his neck in a bath of rosewater with naked harlots standing before him. [Bar-Sheshak] said to him, "Do you [Jews] have anything like this in the World to Come?" [Raba] replied, "What we have is even better than this."
[Bar-Sheshak] asked, "What could be better than this?"
[Raba] answered, "You fear the king, but for us there will be no fear of the King."
[Bar-Sheshak] said to him, "Why should I fear the king?" While they were sitting together, the king's messenger arrived, bearing the message, "Arise, the king requires your presence."
As he was on his way out, [Bar-Sheshak] said to [Raba], "May the eye burst that wishes to see you come to harm!" Raba responded, "Amen," and Bar-Sheshak's eye burst. (BT AZ 65a)