Study Berakhot folio 18B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
He was referred to in the verse as son of a living man. The Talmud wonders: Is that to say, the fact that the Bible referred to him with that appellation, that all others are children of the dead? Rather, the verse should be explained as follows: The son of a living man who lives forever, who eve
The rabbis disagreed over the interpretation of the rest of the verse: “And who descended and slew the lion in the pit on the snowy day.” Some say that this means that he broke blocks of hail and descended and immersed himself in the water to purify himself. Others say that he learned all of the Sif
In contrast to the righteous, who are referred to as living even after their death, the verse states explicitly: “The dead know nothing.” These are the wicked, who even during their lives are called dead, as the prophet Ezekiel said in reference to a king of Israel who was alive: “And you are a slai
The Talmud relates a story on this topic: The sons of R' Ḥiyya went out to the villages to oversee the laborers. They forgot what they had learned and were struggling to recall it. One of them said to the other: Does our deceased father know of our anguish? The other said to him: From where would h
The other said back to him: And do the dead truly not know? Isn’t it written: “Only in his flesh does he feel pain, in his soul does he mourn” (Job 14:22)? Based on this verse R' Yitzḥak said: Gnawing maggots are as excruciating to the dead as the stab of a needle to the flesh of the living. The d