- Greatness of providing food to travelers, five ways
Rebbe Yochanan quoted Rebbe Yose ben Kisma: גדולה לגימה – providing food to travelers is great, שהרחיקה שתי משפחות מישראל – because [its failure] distanced two families from Yisroel. Descendants of עמון and מואב cannot marry Jews, because they failed to provide bread and water to the traveling Jewish nation. Rebbe Yochanan himself describes the importance of לגימה in five ways: (1) מרחקת את הקרובים – it distances those who are near, as explained above. (2) מקרבת את הרחוקים – It brings near the distant, because Yisro, as reward for inviting Moshe to come have bread, merited descendants on the Sanhedrin. (3) מעלמת עינים מן הרשעים – It “closes [Hashem’s] eyes” to the wicked, as seen on the previous Daf, that מיכה’s sins were overlooked, because he provided food to travelers. (4) משרה שכינה על נביאי הבעל – It causes the Shechinah to rest even on prophets of Baal: עדו הנביא’s friend merited a true prophecy after persuading עדו to come to his house to eat. (5) שגגתה עולה זדון – Its mistaken failure is accounted as willful, because Rav said: אלמלי הלווהו יהונתן לדוד שתי ככרות לחם – if Yehonasan had escorted Dovid with just two loaves of bread when he fled from Shaul, then נוב, city of Kohanim, would not have been killed, דואג האדומי would not have been banished from עולם הבא, and Shaul and his three sons would not have been killed.
- Derashos in איכה, including אתם בכיתם בכיה של חנם
The Gemara darshens many pesukim of איכה, including בכה תבכה בלילה – she weeps, weeps in the night. Rebbe Yochanan says the two “weepings” are about the destruction of the first and second Beis Hamikdash. “At night” means על עסקי לילה – because of matters which occurred at night, because when Klal Yisroel wept “on that night” of the מרגלים’s report, it was the ninth of Av. Hashem said: אתם בכיתם בכיה של חנם – you wept a weeping without cause, ואני אקבע לכם בכיה לדורות – and I will establish this day for you as a day of weeping for generations, because both בתי מקדש will be destroyed on תשעה באב. Alternatively, the weeping is described as “at night,” because כל הבוכה בלילה קולו נשמע – whoever cries at night, his voice is heard more easily. Alternatively, the constellations and stars weep along with him. Alternatively, שכל הבוכה בלילה השומע קולו בוכה כנגדו – whoever weeps at night, whoever hears his voice weeps along with him. Rabban Gamliel’s neighbor would weep at night over her dead son, and he heard her and also wept until his eyelashes fell out. His students realized and removed her from his neighborhood.
- They sought to list “one more” as having no share in עולם הבא
Rav Ashi says the אנשי כנסת הגדולה compiled the list of those with no share in עולם הבא. Rav says: בקשו עוד למנות אחד – they sought to enumerate one more (Shlomo) on this list. באה דמות דיוקנו של אביו ונשטחה לפניהם – His father [Dovid]’s image came and prostrated itself before them, ולא השגיחו עליה – but they paid no heed to it. A fire came down from Heaven and licked at their benches, but they paid no attention to it. A בת קול came forth saying: חזית איש מהיר במלאכתו לפני מלכים יתיצב בל יתיצב לפני חשכים – Do you see a man diligent in his work? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before darkened ones. It said: מי שהקדים ביתי לביתו – “He who built My house (the Beis Hamikdash) before his own house, and moreover, built the Beis Hamikdash in seven years, but his own in thirteen years, should stand with the righteous kings in Gan Eden, not the wicked ones in גיהנם.” They ignored this as well, until another בת קול said: המעמך ישלמנה כי מאסת כי אתה תבחר ולא אני וגו' – is it from you that [punishment] is paid, that you despise him? Shall you choose and not I, etc.?
