Kiddushin - Daf 71
- כל ארצות עיסה לארץ ישראל, וא"י עיסה לבבל
Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel: כל ארצות עיסה לארץ ישראל – All lands are like dough (i.e., a mixture of genealogically pure and impure people) compared to Eretz Yisroel, וארץ ישראל עיסה לבבל – and Eretz Yisroel is like dough compared to Bavel. The Gemara relates that in Rebbe’s days, they attempted to make Bavel like dough compared to Eretz Yisroel. Rashi explains that they wanted families in Eretz Yisroel to be assumed to have good yichus, and those in Bavel would need to be investigated before marrying someone from Eretz Yisroel. Rebbe, who descended from a Babylonian family, said: קוצים אתם משימים לי בין עיני – You are putting thorns between my eyes! He sent them to Rebbe Chanina bar Chama, who related a tradition he had from Rebbe Yose identical to Shmuel’s statement. A similar attempt was made in Rebbe Pinchas’s days, and he instructed his servants to run carrying him out of the Beis Medrash after he announces two things. He first said that birds do not Biblically require shechitah, and while they were preoccupied with this novelty, he declared Bavel’s genealogical superiority. His servants fled with him before his students could catch him and ask him to disclose the identity of families with tainted yichus.
- The discretion in transmitting and pronouncing Hashem’s Names
Rebbe Yochanan said that Hashem’s four-letter Name is transmitted by the Sages to their students once every seven years. Another version says twice every seven years, but Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said the first version is reasonable, since the Torah says: "זה שמי לעולם" – This is My Name forever,” לעלם כתיב – it is spelled (without a vav) to be read l’aleim, to hide. Rava once sought to speak publicly about this Name, until an elder told him that it must remain hidden. Rebbe Avina explained that the Torah says "זה שמי" – this is My Name, and then "זה זכרי" – this is My mention, implying two different Names, because Hashem says: לא כשאני נכתב אני נקרא – I am not pronounced in the way I am written. נכתב אני ביו"ד ה"י ונקרא באל"ף דל"ת – I am written with yud, hei, etc., and am pronounced with alef, dalet, etc. A Baraisa teaches that the twelve-letter Name was originally transmitted to everyone, but when people who used the Name carelessly increased, it was transmitted only to לצנועים שבכהונה – discreet Kohanim, והצנועים שבכהונה מבליעים אותו בנעימת אחיהם הכהנים – and the discreet Kohanim would murmur it during the melody of their fellow Kohanim. Rav says that the forty-two-letter Name is only transmitted to one who is discreet, humble, reached middle age, does not get angry, nor drunk, and does not harbor resentment when wronged. He concludes by describing the reward of one who is careful with this Name.
- זיל בתר שתיקותא
Ulla once went to Rav Yehuda’s house in Pumbedisa and saw that his son Rav Yitzchak had not yet married. When he questioned Rav Yehudah, he responded that he did not know where he could find a wife of reliable genealogy. Ulla said: אטו אנן מי ידעינן מהיכא קאתינן – Do we know where we come from? Perhaps we are descendants of those who the Torah condemns for adulterous behavior and are also genealogically unfit! Rav Yehudah then asked Ulla what he should do, and he told him: זיל בתר שתיקותא – Go after silence, i.e., a family whose members are silent in arguments, כי האי דבדקי בני מערבא – as the people of the West [Eretz Yisroel] examine people’s lineage, כי מינצו בי תרי בהדי הדדי – when two people would quarrel with each other, חזו הי מנייהו דקדים ושתיק – they would see which of them would be silent first, אמרי האי מיוחס טפי – and they would say, “This one is of better lineage,” because those with tainted lineage are generally resentful at being rejected by others, and are therefore quarrelsome. Similarly, Rav said: שתיקותיה דבבל היינו יחוסא – the “silence” of people of Bavel is the proof of their pure lineage.
