Study Sotah folio 47A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Rav and Shmuel had a dispute with regard to this episode. One says there was a miracle, and one says there was a miracle within a miracle. The Talmud explains: The one who says there was a miracle claims that there was already a forest in that place but there were no bears, and the miracle was the
R' Ḥanina says: Due to 42 offerings that Balak, king of Moab, brought when he tried to have Balaam curse the Jewish people, 42 children were broken off from Israel, in that incident involving Elisha. The Talmud asks: Is that so? Was that the reward for his offerings?
But didn’t Rav Yehuda say that Rav says: A person should always engage in Torah study and in performance of mitzvot, even if he does so not for their own sake, as through such acts performed not for their own sake, one will come to perform them for their own sake. He proves the value of a mitzva d
The Talmud returns to discussing the incident involving Elisha: “And the men of the city said to Elisha: Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad and the land miscarries” (II Kings 2:19). The Talmud asks: But if the water is bad and the land caus
§ A baraita states: Elisha fell ill 3 times. One was a punishment for inciting the bears to attack the children; and one was a punishment for pushing Gehazi away with both hands, without leaving him the option to return; and one was the sickness from which he died, as an expression of illness is st