A mishnah on yesterday’s daf states that a donkey foal is included in the sale of its mother, though a calf is not included in the sale of a cow. Rav Pappa explains that this is because people drink cows’ milk but not donkeys’ milk. So when a seller mentions the animal for sale is nursing, in the case of a cow we might assume they are simply touting the milk supply, but in the case of a donkey we might assume they are signaling their willingness to include the foal in the sale. The Gemara then makes an interesting aside:
And why does the mishnah call a donkey foal a seyah? It is because it follows after and obeys pleasant talk (siha).
The Hebrew word for donkey foal sounds similar to the word for conversation. The Gemara muses that this is because, unlike older members of their species, young donkeys are receptive to verbal commands. (Donkeys aren’t called asses for nothing.) This aside inspires a pun-driven tangent about Numbers 21:27–28. Let’s look first at the biblical verses before turning to the rabbinic interpretation:
Therefore they that speak in parables say: Come to Heshbon! Let the city of Sihon be built and established! For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it has devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon.
Just a few verses earlier, the Israelites had sent a message to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, requesting permission to pass unmolested through their territory. It was not granted. Indeed, Sihon responded by mustering an army to attack the Israelites. But this proved a grave miscalculation on his part; the Israelites handily routed them and captured their territory, including the town of Heshbon which, it turns out, had recently been Moabite territory (before Sihon captured it for the Amorites). That is why, according to these verses in Numbers, those who speak in parables would talk of a flame coming from Sihon and devouring Moab.
It’s hard for the rabbis to resist offering a homiletical interpretation on an obscure but obviously weighty verbal pronouncement like this. Harder still when “those who speak in parables” is found right in the verse. The pun at hand drives their interpretation: Sihon, the name of the Amorite king, sounds like the words seyah (young donkey) and siha (talk). Let’s see how they put that together in a creative reading of this verse:
“Those who speak in parables (hamoshlim)” — these are the people who rule over (hamoshlim) their evil inclination.
“Come to Heshbon” — Come and let us calculate the account (heshbon) of the world, i.e., the financial loss incurred by the fulfillment of a mitzvah in contrast to its reward, and the reward for committing a transgression in contrast to the loss it entails.
“Let it be built and established” — If you make this calculation, you will be built in this world and you will be established in the World to Come.
“City of Sihon” — If a person fashions himself like this young donkey that follows after pleasant talk, i.e., if one is easily tempted to listen to his inclination, then what is written after it?
“For a fire is gone out of Heshbon … it has devoured” — A fire will go out from those who calculate the effect of their deeds in the world, and will consume those who do not calculate.
This creative reading of the verse opens with the observation that the word for speaking in parables (moshlim) has a second meaning: to rule over. (Hence the modern Hebrew word for government, memshalah). The name of the city, Heshbon, is also a Hebrew word that means calculation — and is often used by the rabbis to mean moral calculus. The rabbis cleverly take a verse that was a historical report of political wins and losses and turn it into a warning about submitting to the “pleasant talk” of one’s yetzer hara, evil inclination.
So how do you avoid listening to the whispered enticements of the evil inclination and choose mitzvot that will establish you in the World to Come? If you’ve been studying Talmud a while, you may already know the answer: Torah. Hence, this discussion closes with a warning:
Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: With regard to anyone who separates himself from matters of Torah, a fire consumes him, as it is stated: “And I will set My face against them; out of the fire they come forth, and the fire shall devour them.” (Ezekiel 15:7)
Not only is Torah the path to setting one’s soul on the right course for the World to Come, separating oneself from Torah is tantamount to being consumed in a conflagration. Lest you think this is just a metaphor, the rabbis are more explicit:
When Rav Dimi came (from the land of Israel to Babylonia) he said that Rabbi Yonatan says: Anyone who separates himself from the matters of Torah falls into Gehenna.
Gehenna is the closest thing Jewish tradition has to a hell, though it does not have the same theological resonance as that word does in Christianity. But it certainly was, for the rabbis, a place of purification and perhaps punishment as well. And at least according to some, fire and brimstone too.
Read all of Bava Batra 79 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on September 12, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
Help us keep Jewish knowledge accessible to millions of people around the world.
Your donation to My Jewish Learning fuels endless journeys of Jewish discovery. With your help, My Jewish Learning can continue to provide nonstop opportunities for learning, connection and growth.
