Today’s Daf opens with a really troubling passage, “Small pumpkins are discernible when they burst forth from their sap.” This aphorism comes in a discussion of whether minors may be counted for a Zimun. According to the commentary, this expression has meaning because as soon as pumpkins begin to sprout, one can discern whether the pumpkin is good or not. Since I am no gardener, I have no idea whether this is true or not. I do know as a society we are all too often willing to write off children as “bad kids” far too soon. Like everything else in our society, whether one is a “bad kid” or a “good kid” has a lot to do with race and class. Studies show that extraneous factors reflect on everything like whether children are suspended in school, the valuation of housing, and sentencing for crimes, just to name a few. In other words, who is a “good kid” and who is a “bad kid” is a matter of judgment, and like all human judgements, subject to implicit or explicit biases.
Our judgments about who are “good kids” and who are “bad kids” turnout to be spectacularly unreliable. For instance, both Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein were considered “dumb” in their early education. Edison’s mind tended to wander and Einstein had a speech impediment and failed elementary school. Charles Schulz flunked eighth grade and his high school yearbook rejected every cartoon he submitted. Richard Branson and David Boies are both severly dyslexic. Richard Branson dropped out of school in the eighth grade. I still do not understand how David Boies can be dyslexic and considered one of the greatest litigators of all time. Of course, not all kids will go onto be great authors, physicists or business people. I only note that if we were that wrong with the likes of Einstein and Boies, think about how wrong we are with the millions of “bad” kids who “can’t learn” or who are “hooligans” or otherwise write offs.
The Talmud should have recognized that circumstances do not make the person. On the very same page where we learn that pumpkins can be judged at a very early age, we get a vignette about Yannai. Yannai was Alexander Yannai or Alexander Jannaeus in Greek and Latin literature. You can read about Yannai in Josephus. Yannai was both King of Israel and High Priest from 103 B.C.E. to 76 B.C.E. as part of the Hasmonean dynasty (the family of Judah Maccabee from the Chanukah story). Traditionally, the kingship and the priesthood were separate, but Yannai could brook no challenge to his authority. He combined the posts and sparked several civil wars (and lots of foreign wars). When the Rabbis challenged Yannai’s fitness to serve as High Priest, Yannai mascaraed the Rabbis. Yannai and his queen, however, were left without anyone to constitute a quorum for the Zimun after the massacre. The queen had secretly saved her brother, Shimon ben Shatach, from the massacre and she brought him forward after Yannai prommised not to persecute him. Yannai told Shimon ben Shatach what a great honor Yannai was giving him. Shimon ben Shatach responded that all of his honor came from the Torah, not from the King/ Cohen Gadol. Yannai tells his wife that Shimon ben Shatach does not accept authority. If only we knew what a bad pumpkin Yannai was when he sprouted!
Shimon ben Shatach’s story raises an interesting concept of Jewish law. Shimon ben Shatach did not actually eat with Yannai and the Queen. Should he be counted for Zimun? After all, the commandment to say Bircas Haazon comes from Deuteronomy 8:10, “And you will eat, be satisfied, and bless the Lord”. Shimon ben Shatach did not eat. How could he bless the lord as part of Zimun? We learn that Bircas HaMazon is different than almost all other blessings. We can recite other blessings on behalf of other people because we believe in Arvoot, shared responsibility, because we are all responsible for one another. Arvoot does not apply to Bircas HaMazon because Arvoot is rabbinically derived, whereas, Bircas HaMazon is biblically required. Nevertheless, Arvoot is a beautiful concept and should argue hard against writing off “bad kids”. Ultimately we conclude that if you do not eat at least an olive’s volume of bread, you can count for a Zimun, but you cannot lead Bircas HaMazon.
Bircas HaMazon consists of three blessings required by the Torah and a fourth blessing mandated by the Rabbis. The three blessings required by the Torah are (i) a blessing for the nourishment, (ii) a blessing for Israel, and (iii) a blessing for Jerusalem. The Rabbis added a fourth blessing known as the HaTov veHaMetiv (who is good and confers good on us). The Rabbis instituted this fourth blessing in commemoration of the bodies of the slain Jews of Bethar. Bethar was the rebel base of Bar Kochba in his rebellion against the Romans. When the Romans conquered Bethar, the Romans slaughtered “hundreds of thousands” of Jews and then denied them a proper burial. Years later, through a combination of bribes and prayer, Rabban Gamliel received permission to bury the bodies. Miraculously, the bodies had not decayed at all.
Much of the remainder of the Daf considers the origins of the text of the four blessings. We also learn that we must bless food before eating from the story of Saul’s coronation at 1 Samuel 9:13. Saul came to Jerusalem looking for Samuel. He asked a group of women where he could find Samuel and they responded that he could be found where people are waiting to eat, because they would not eat until the food is blessed. In addition to learning that we must bless food before we eat it, we also learn two additional lessons: Saul asked a simple question. He received a very lengthy answer. The Gemara notes that “women are talkers” and that Saul was very handsome because he was tall and the women wanted to look at him. As a short man, I object!
We end today’s Daf with a discussion of why we say a blessing when bad things happen. We say upon a death or a misfortune, “Blessed is the true judge” .
For the record, the Rabbis conclude that a child can be included for a Zimun provided the child knows to whom we are praying. However, custom is that we do not consider people under the age of 13 (and ultra-observant Jews don’t consider women at all) for purposes of a Zimun. We also consider whether one who has not eaten bread (think gluten intolerance) can be counted for a Zimun.