RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:GAMALIEL II:TAVI:TAVITA:GOODNESS

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:GAMALIEL II:TAVI:TAVITA:GOODNESS

 

Shalom:

 

In Talmud Bavli Tractate Beracoth 16b, we read in the Mishna portion of how Rabban Gamaliel  II [2nd Century CE], seemed to have contravened a halachic ruling and his students query him on this.

 

''When Rabban Gamaliel's slave Tavi  (aka Tabi, Aramaic for 'good') died, Rabban Gamaliel accepted condolences for him. (As was the custom, Gamaliel stood and his friends walked by him giving him words of condolences). His students said to him:"You, our teacher, have taught us that one may not accept condolences for the loss of a Canaanite slave. Why have you done so?'' Rabban Gamaliel answered:'' My slave Tavi is not like all of the other Canaanite slaves for he is a worthy individual.''

 

The reason that the earlier sages asked a Jew not to mourn for a non-Jew is because one may think that the deceased is a Jew, and that his children are Jews. Patrilineal descent existed in Talmudic times. However, in Talmud Yerushalmi one may mourn for his servants and well as his students, and Halakah treats them as sons, in Judaism, and hence the laws of condolences treats them as relatives.

 

What made Tavi worthy?  In Talmud Bavli Tractate Sukkah 20b as well as in Tractate Yoma 87a, Tavi, a non-Jew was a Torah scholar.  And that Rabban Gamaliel taught Tavi Torah (Talmud Bavli Tractate Megillah 75a)

 

There is a humorous story on Daf 16b of Beracoth of how when Rabbi Eliezer's maid died, his students chased him all over his house, up the stairs, down the stairs, to try to give him condolences which he would not accept because of the original halakah. He said to his students,'' Just as we do not express condolences  when one's donkey or ox dies, we do not express condolences when one's maid dies.''

 

This leads into a prayer, which is found in our prayer books, which I do 3 times a day. It helps humble me, and reminds me what Jews were like in 200 CE and what Jews are like now. Our nature has not changed. Rabbi Judah ha Nasi recites a pray asking God to keep evil away from him, whether brought on by non-Jews or Jews. Now the interesting part, is that Emperor Marcus Aurelious, called Antonious in the Talmud, had Rabbi Judah ha Nasi, awarded with real armed Roman (actually Goth and German)  soldier body guards. (Talmud Tractate Avodah Zarah 10a,10b). And even with these guards, Judah still needed God's help in keeping him safe from non-spiritual jealous Jews. I am but a bug compared to Rabbi Judah ha Nasi. We Rabbis today are reminded that if Jews then tried to do Rabbi Judah harm, (and he was the redactor of the Mishna), we should never be shocked when Jews today try to disparage and even harm us rabbis.

 

 

Now back to Tavi. He obeyed the mitzvah of dwelling in a Sukkah during the holiday of Sukkoth, but does so in a non-halachic way. Tavi sleeps under the bed. Hence the bed, and not skhahk, is over him. Talmud Yerushalmi asks why Tavi just didn't sleep outside the Sukkah if his dwelling in the Sukkah did not meet halachic requirements. But they didn't deny him, as a non-Jew, the right to dwell in a Sukkah. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Sukkah 1a),

 

But here is the kicker, in the next Mishna in Tractate Sukkah, 2.1, Rabban Gamaliel refers to Tavi as a  ''talmid chacham." He is labeled a Torah Scholar and now the lines of distinction between a servant and a talmid, a servant and a Jew, and servant and a son, are dissolved via Rabban Gamaliel. This again is an example of Judaism taking from cultures around it and putting a Judaic spin on it. The Aristocratic Greeks had house slaves whom they taught and respected. The name for these slaves are ''threptos'' and the meaning is 'slave bred in the household of his master.' Note the word 'bred.'

 

We also know the Tavi wore tephillin. While slaves were required to say the Amidah, and even the  Beracoth ha Mazon, Tavi went beyond the sages rulings, and without their denial, wore tephillin.

 

But the lines between slave/master and student/teacher blur even more. Rabban Gamaliel said to Tavi his servant: ' Go and get me good food from the market.' He went and bought him tongue. He said to him: 'Go and get me bad food from the market.' He went and bought him tongue. Said he to him: 'What is this? When I told you to get good food you bought me tongue, and when I told you to get bad food you also bought me tongue! ' Tavi replied: ' Good comes from it and bad comes from it. When the tongue is good there is nothing better, and when it is bad there is nothing worse.' Rabban Gamaliel made a feast for his disciples and placed before them tender tongues and hard tongues. They began selecting the tender ones, leaving the hard ones alone. Said he to them:'' Note what you are doing! As you select the tender and leave the hard, so let your tongues be tender to one another .'' Tavi teaches Gamaliel about Lashon ha ra, literally bad tongue, and Gamaliel passes the oral teaching to his students. (Midrash Leviticus Rabbah  33:1 )

 

Now let us parse some Talmud Yerushalmi. The story is told in the Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Talmud  Yerushalmi Tractate Ketuboth 23a]. Rabban Gamaliel accidentally knocked out a tooth of his favorite servant, Tavi. He conferred with Rabbi Yehoshu'a, saying, "I think I have found a reason to free my servant, Tavi , because I knocked out one of his teeth and the Torah [Exodus 21:27] requires a master to free a servant who suffered mayhem at his hands). Rabbi Yehoshu'a reminded him that he was only required to do so by law if two competent witnesses testified against him in court. But, of course, Rabban Gamaliel could free Tavi from servitude whenever he wished. However, Tavi did not want to be released. Rabbi Yehoshu'a did not say that Rabban Gamaliel could not free Tavi, only that he did not have to. We know see the lines of servant/master becoming friend/friend.

 

Now we will see the lines of Gentile/Jew being blurred further. Rabban Gamaliel, as reported in Tractate Pesachim 7:2  , asked Tavi ''to roast a lamb for Passover on the grill.'' Now remember, the Temple is destroyed, and the Rabbis decreed we cannot eat roast lamb on Pesach any more, and we have its shank bone on our ceremonial Passover plate to remind us of this offering at the Temple. Gamaliel skirts this ruling by saying that his lamb is being cooked by the heat of the grill which is hot from the fire, and not by actual roasting. In any event, a non-Jew, does not prepare the Passover lamb. Also remember that before the Ezra Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, the 4th question for Jewish children at a Passover seder was ''Why on all other nights do we eat meat that is   roasted, stewed or cooked, but on this night we only eat meat that is roasted.'' Tractate Pesachim 10:4. After the Temple's destruction, this question was dropped and the one about reclining was added.

 

Now Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Niddah 2:1 tells us of Gamaliel's maid servant, Tavita (Tabita, also Aramaic for ''good'').

Supposedly she was special as was Tavi. ''It happened that Tavita, Rabban Gamliel's serving girl, was carrying wine
for drinks.  She inspected herself to see if her period had begun before lifting  up each jug of wine. When her period started, she said to Rabban Gamliel:  My lord, I have seen a blood stain on my garment. Rabban Gamliel was upset at the possibility that the wine had been rendered ritually unclean. She said to him:  Do not be concerned. I was inspecting myself before lifting each jug.  ''

In Leviticus Rabbah referred to above, 19:4, Rabban Gamaliel becomes so joyful he yells:'' May your life be given to you, even as you have restored mine to me!'' Remember that Rabban Gamaliel II was Nasi of the Talmudic academy in Yavnah, and could not be known for serving tainted wine. Tavita, a non-Jew, does not have to watch for laws of family purity for herself. She does so out of respect for her master. But in Tavita's case the lines between a giver of sustenance and life  by her master, and her granting him life, become blurred as well.

 

The lessons here, spread through out both Talmuds, and Midrashim, is that Goodness is not just a trait one develop  by being a pious Jew. Goodness comes when we treat one another, regardless of our backgrounds, or status, with goodness. No one can be denied the opportunity to do mitzvoth. If a Canaanite slave can do mitzvoth, certainly Jewish women, and well as Jewish homosexuals, physically or mentally challenged, spouses of Jews, Anusim, etc., can be active,equal, members of a true Talmudic rabbinic congregation and society.

 

Shalom:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

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