Study Bekhorot folio 31A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
With regard to an am ha’aretz who accepts upon himself the stringent practices of a ḥaver, A baraita states: And with regard to all of them, when they retract and return to being amei ha’aretz, they are never accepted as ḥaverim; this is the statement of R' Meir. R' Yehuda says: If they retracted i
There are those who say another version of this discussion: If they performed their actions as ḥaverim even in private, when they initially accepted the status of ḥaverim, then they are accepted when they wish to return to that status. Conversely, if they performed their actions as ḥaverim only in
R' Shimon and R' Yehoshua ben Korḥa say: Both in this case and in that case they are accepted, as it is stated: “Return, you backsliding children; I will heal your backslidings” (Jeremiah 3:22). R' Yitzḥak of the village of Akko says that R' Yoḥanan says: The halakha is in accordance with the opini
§ A baraita states: Initially, the rabbis would say with regard to one who is a ḥaver and became a tax collector that he is rejected from his status as a ḥaver. Even if he later resigns from his position as a tax collector, he is not accepted. In later generations they went back to saying that if
The Talmud relates that one time the rabbis needed Rav Huna bar Ḥiyya for a certain matter. Rabba and Rav Yosef and 400 pairs of rabbis ascended to his home. When he heard that they were coming, he tied for them 400 chairs [takhtekei] to sit on. Eventually the rabbis heard that he had become a tax