5785/2024

Avodah Zarah 10b

Avodah Zarah 10b tells of the tragic hero Ketiah bar Shalom (from the William Davidson edition of the Talmud):

There was a certain Roman emperor who hated the Jews. He said to the important members of the kingdom: If one had an ulcerous sore [nima] rise on his foot, should he cut it off and live, or leave it and suffer? They said to him: He should cut it off and live. The ulcerous sore was a metaphor for the Jewish people, whom the emperor sought to eliminate as the cause of harm for the Roman Empire.

Ketia, son of Shalom, said to them: It is unwise to do so, for two reasons. One is that you cannot destroy all of them, as it is written: “For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, says the Lord” (Zechariah 2:10). He clarified: What is it saying? Shall we say that the verse means that God has scattered them to the four winds of the world? If so, this phrase: “As the four winds,” is inaccurate, since it should have said: To the four winds. Rather, this is what the verse is saying: Just as the world cannot exist without winds, so too, the world cannot exist without the Jewish people, and they will never be destroyed. And furthermore, if you attempt to carry out the destruction of the Jews, they will call you the severed kingdom, as the Roman Empire would be devoid of Jews, but Jews would exist in other locations.

The emperor said to Ketia: You have spoken well and your statement is correct; but they throw anyone who defeats the king in argument into a house full of ashes [lekamonya ḥalila], where he would die. When they were seizing Ketia and going to take him to his death, a certain matron [matronita] said to him: Woe to the ship that goes without paying the tax. Ketia bent down over his foreskin, severed it, and said: I gave my tax; I will pass and enter. When they threw him into the house of ashes, he said: All of my property is given to Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues. How was this inheritance to be divided? The Gemara relates: Rabbi Akiva went out and taught that the verse: “And it shall be for Aaron and his sons” (Exodus 29:28), means half to Aaron and half to his sons. Here too, as Rabbi Akiva is mentioned separately, he should receive half, while his colleagues receive the other half.

The Gemara returns to the story of Ketia. A Divine Voice emerged and said: Ketia, son of Shalom, is destined for life in the World-to-Come.

Not Just Haman and Hitler

Multiple rich lessons emerge from our Gemara. First, Hitler and Haman are not alone as evil dictators seeking our destruction.  It is only through heavenly and righteous people's (like Ketiah bar Shalom) interventions that averted calamities like the Holocaust. No wonder why the Gemara (Sanhedrin 97b states that there will arise a king whose decrees are as harsh as Haman.   

Quoting a Pasuk

How was Ketiah bar Shalom, a non-Jew, able to cite and cogently interpret a pasuk? It seems that Hashem took hold of Ketiah bar Shalom (as He did to Bilaam’s donkey) and spoke through him!  He thereby magnificently articulates the indispensable and eternal role of Am Yisrael. 

Olam Haba

Rav Shlomo Miller wonders how Ketiah bar Shalom qualified for a place in Olam Haba if the Rambam (Hilchot Melachim 8:11) states that even a nochri who observes all of his mitzvot earns a share in Olam Haba only if he believes Hashem revealed these mitzvot to Moshe Rabbeinu. 

Rav Miller cleverly answers based on Sanhedrin 104a teaching bera mezakeh avuha, a child enables his father to achieve a share in olam haba (as Avraham Avinu did for Terach). In addition, Sanhedrin 19b states that one who raises a child is as if he fathered him. Rav Miller argues that Ketiah bar Shalom is a father to Am Yisrael since he saved us. As his children, we enable him to share in Olam Haba. 

We suggest that Ketiah bar Shalom's last acts of an auto-Brit Milah (reminiscent of Avraham Avinu's Brit, see Rashi to Breishit 17:25, but more heroic) and transferring his estate to "Rabi Akiva and his friends" dramatically demonstrate his profound allegiance to Hashem,  Am Yisrael and Torat Yisrael,  thereby qualifying him for a share in olam haba.

Finally, it could be that Hashem acts lifnim meshurat hadin (see Brachot 7a) to allow Ketiah bar Shalom a place in Olam Haba.  Just as in Sanhedrin 103a, where Hashem creates a tunnel through which Menashe could dodge the middat hadin and enter Olam Haba, so too Hashem forges a special passage for worthy people like Ketiah bar Shalom to enter Olam Haba.

The Tiferet Yisrael (Boaz, Avot 3:1) writes similarly about Edward Jenner and other righteous gentiles: 

Even if not for the holy mouths of Chazal that said this to us, we would already know this based on logic, as “God is righteous in all His ways, and is pious in all His actions” (Tehillim 145:17). And we see a number of their pious ones who aside from [the fact that that] they acknowledge the Creator of the world and believe that the holy Torah is divine, and perform kindness to Jews as well, some of them have done especially good things for everyone in the world. Like the pious Jenner who invented the smallpox vaccine, which saves tens of thousands of people from illness, death, and the plague. And Drake, who brought the potato to Europe, preventing famine a number of times. And Gutenberg, who invented the printing press. And a number of them who were not recompensed at all in this world, like the pious Reuchlin, who risked his life to prevent the burning of the Talmud that was commanded by the Emperor Maximilian in the year 5662 due to the incitement of the heretic Pfefferkorn, the grinder of bones, [who made] a knot of evil with the priests. And Reuchlin threw himself against this, and with his arguments he changed the heart of the Caesar to retract his order, and because of this, they chased him and his enemies the priests heaped bitterness on him, and made him poor to the point that he died in his poverty and with a broken heart.  

Our Gemara serves as a potent support for the Tiferet Yisrael. 

Making Ourselves Indispensible

Another lesson emerges that Jews have learned well throughout the generations: Many powerful people profoundly hate us. To survive such precarious situations, we must avoid being perceived as warts. In other words, we must ensure the world views us as necessary.  While we may irritate Jew-haters, they won't try to eradicate us if they feel they need us. For instance, Achashverosh eliminates Haman and saves us because he realizes he needs Mordechai’s wise guidance (see Megillah 16a).  

In more modern times, Holocaust survivors found ways to make the evil Nazis recognize that they needed them as tailors or musicians. Israelis feel the urgency to invent so that the nations of the world (at least some) feel compelled to support the Jewish State.

The Fall of the Roman Empire

Finally, our Gemara is Chazal’s explains why the Roman Empire fell. If the culture of its leaders is to kill someone who proves the leader wrong, then such a kingdom has no future.  The leader thereby sacrifices the well-being of his community to satisfy his massive ego. 

By contrast, our Sages welcomed and embraced criticism. Rabi Yochanan famously rejected talmidim, who only supported but did not critique his teachings (Bava Metzia 84a). 

Conclusion 

The survival of Am Yisrael in the face of constant and unremitting threats is the most remarkable phenomenon. Our Gemara offers a peek into Hashem’s (and righteous people's) workings to ensure we continue our glorious march through history, bearing and living Hashem’s beautiful Torah.