{ "title": "Tanna debei Eliyahu Zuta", "language": "en", "versionTitle": "merged", "versionSource": "https://www.sefaria.org/Tanna_debei_Eliyahu_Zuta", "text": { "Seder Eliyahu Zuta": { "": [ [], [ "One time I was walking on the way. A man found me, and went with me on the way of mitzvot, and he had mikra (ie: written law) but no mishnah (ie: oral law). And he said to me, \"Rabbi, mikra was given to us from Mount Sinai. Mishnah was not given to us from Mount Sinai.\" And I said to him, \"My son, mikra and mishnah were both of them said from the mouth of God.\" And what is the difference between mikra and mishnah? Rather he told him a parable: To what is this matter similar? To a human king (lit: a king of flesh and blood) who had two servants, and he loved them with a great love. And he gave to one a kab (a measure) of wheat and to the other kab of wheat. And he also gave to each one of them a bundle of flax. The wise one of them took the flax and wove a beautiful cloth, and took the wheat and made it into fine flour, and sifted it, and ground it, and kneaded it, and baked it, and set it on the table, and spread the beautiful cloth over it, and left it there until the king should come. And the fool of them did nothing. After some time the king came into his house, and said to them, to his two servants, \"My sons, bring to me what I gave you.\" One of them brought out the bread of fine flour, on the table, with the beautiful cloth spread over it. And the other of them brought out the wheat in a pile and the bundle of flax upon it. Woe for that shame! Woe for that disgrace! Which one is more favored? You must admit it is the one who brought out the bread on the table with the beautiful cloth spread over it... And I further said...\"...Rather, when the Holy One Blessed Be He gave the Torah to Israel, it was only given to them as wheat from which to bring forth fine flour, and as flax from which to weave a garment...\"
Based on this, they said: The whole time that the Temple is standing, it is an altar of atonement for the Jewish people in all the places of their dwelling; and when the Temple is not standing, the Torah scholars are an atonement for the Jewish people in all the places of their dwelling. As it is stated (Leviticus 2:14), \"When you bring a meal-offering of first grains to the Lord, of newly ripened crops, roasted over fire, ground [full and moist] kernels, you shall bring your first grain meal-offering\"; and it states (II Kings 4:42), \"A man came from Baal-shalishah and he brought the man of God some bread of the first grains, etc.\" But was Elisha a priest who eats the first fruits? Is it not that there was no Jerusalem there, nor Temple, nor altar, nor high priest. Rather there was only the prophet Elisha and his students who were sitting before him. However, based on this, they said: Anyone who attaches themselves to the sages and their students and supports them is considered by the verse as if he is offering first fruits and doing the will of his Father in the Heavens. " ] ] }, "Additions to Seder Eliyahu Zuta": { "Hakdamah": [], "Mavo": [ "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "The beginning of sin is evil thoughts, the second [cause] for it is mockery, the third is arrogance, the fourth is cruelty, the fifth is idleness, the sixth is the evil eye, the seventh is baseless hatred.", "The beginning of fear/awe [of God] is shame, the second [cause] for it is humility, the third is a clean (honest) profession, the fourth is compassion, the fifth is the observance of commandments, the sixth is the pursuit of peace, the seventh is love of people." ], "Pirkei Derech Eretz": [ "", "Said Rabbi Yochanan: Once I was walking on a path and I came across a man who was collecting firewood. I spoke to him but he did not respond to me. Afterwards he approached me and said \"Rabbi, I am dead and not alive\", I said to him: \"If you are dead - why do you need the firewood?\". He responded: \"Rabbi, listen carefully to what I am saying to you, when I was alive, my friend and I were doing a sin in my palace and when we came here we were sentenced to punishment by fire, when I gather wood they burn my friend, and when my friend gathers wood they burn me\". I asked him: \"Till when do you have to endure this punishment?\" He told me: \"When I came here I left my wife pregnant and I know she is pregnant with a son, therefore, please take caution with him and from the time he is born until he is five years old take him to he house of his rabbi to learn biblical verse (mikrah) because when he can say Barchu Et Hashem HaMevorach then I will be saved from the punishment of Gehenna\". ", "Said Rabbi Yochanan: Once I was walking on a path and I came across a man who was collecting firewood. I spoke to him but he did not respond to me. Afterwards he approached me and said \"Rabbi, I am dead and not alive\", I said to him: \"If you are dead - why do you need the firewood?\". He responded: \"Rabbi, listen carefully to what I am saying to you, when I was alive, my friend and I were doing a sin in my palace and when we came here we were sentenced to punishment by fire, when I gather wood they burn my friend, and when my friend gathers wood they burn me\". I asked him: \"Till when do you have to endure this punishment?\" He told me: \"When I came here I left my wife pregnant and I know she is pregnant with a son, therefore, please take caution with him and from the time he is born until he is five years old take him to he house of his rabbi to learn biblical verse (mikrah) because when he can say Barchu Et Hashem HaMevorach then I will be saved from the punishment of Gehenna\". " ], "Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer": [ "", "", "... …and the Holy One said to Israel, ‘my children – now take from me the cup of consolation.’ They replied to Him ‘Master of the World! You were angry with us and brought us out from within Your house and exiled us among the nations of the world [and that is like a vessel cast aside among the nations of the world] and now you’ve come to appease us?! He said to them, ‘I will give you an allegory, to what is this thing to be likened? To a man who married his sister’s daughter. He grew angry with her and sent her out of his house, and after some days came to appease her. She said to him ‘you were angry with me and threw me out of your house and now you’ve come to appease me?!’ He said to her, ‘you are are my sister’s daughter, maybe you will say in your heart that from the day that you went out of my house [another woman entered in, by your life] even I have not entered my house.’ Thus the Holy One said to Israel, ‘my children, from the day I destroyed My house below I have not gone up and sat in My house above. Rather, I sat in the dew and the rain. If you do not believe me place your hands in My head [and see the dew which is on My head, if it were not an explicit verse it would be impossible to say] as it says “…for my head is full of dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” (Shir HaShirim 5:2) And the Holy One clothed Zion with her strength, in reward for “The Eternal's strength and His vengeance were my salvation…” (Shemot 15:2) which they said at the sea, [and from where do we learn that the Holy One clothes her in her strength?] as it says “Awaken, awaken, put on your strength, O Zion…” (Yeshayahu 52:1)" ], "Pirkei HaYeridot": [] } }, "versions": [ [ "Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology", "https://www.sefaria.org" ], [ "Sefaria Community Translation", "https://www.sefaria.org" ] ], "heTitle": "תנא דבי אליהו זוטא", "categories": [ "Midrash", "Aggadah" ], "schema": { "heTitle": "תנא דבי אליהו זוטא", "enTitle": "Tanna debei Eliyahu Zuta", "key": "Tanna debei Eliyahu Zuta", "nodes": [ { "heTitle": "סדר אליהו זוטא", "enTitle": "Seder Eliyahu Zuta", "nodes": [ { "heTitle": "", "enTitle": "" } ] }, { "heTitle": "נספחים לסדר אליהו זוטא", "enTitle": "Additions to Seder Eliyahu Zuta", "nodes": [ { "heTitle": "הקדמה", "enTitle": "Hakdamah" }, { "heTitle": "מבוא", "enTitle": "Mavo" }, { "heTitle": "פרקי דרך ארץ", "enTitle": "Pirkei Derech Eretz" }, { "heTitle": "פרקי דר' אליעזר", "enTitle": "Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer" }, { "heTitle": "הירידות", "enTitle": "Pirkei HaYeridot" } ] } ] } }