Rabbi Yishmael

(3) On that very day they said: What is the status [of the lands] of Ammon and Moav on the Seventh [the Sabbatical year of agrarian rest]? Rabbi Tarphon decreed: [those residing in those lands must pay] tithes for the poor. And Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria decreed: [they must bring] ma'aser sheini [the second tithe of produce, which must be taken to Jerusalem and consumed there]. Rabbi Yishmael said, "Elazar ben Azaria, the onus is upon you to prove your assertion, for you rule stringently, and anyone who rules more stringently, the onus is upon him to bring proof!"

(8) One who provides for his wife through a third party, he may not [provide] her with less than two kav [a specific unit of volume] of wheat or four kav of barley [a week]. Rabbi Yossi said, "Only Rabbi Yishmael, who resided near Edom, apportioned [this double allowance of] barley. And he must give her half a kav of beans, half a log [a specific unit of volume] of oil, a kav of dried figs, or a maneh [the weight of 100 dinar] pressed figs. And if he doesn't have [these], he apportions a corresponding amount of fruits of another type. And he must provide her with a bed, a mattress, and a reed mat. He must also give her a kerchief for her head, a girdle for her loins, and shoes every festival, and clothing [valued] at fifty zuz [a secific unit of money] every year. He must not give her new garments in the summer season nor worn-out ones in the rainy season; rather, he must give her clothing [valued] at fifty zuz in the rainy season, so that she wears the worn-out ones in the summer season. And the worn-out ones [from the previous year] belong to her.

(4) If one suspends vines over part of a fruit-tree, he may bring [sow] seed under the rest of it. If, [however], new [vine shoots] have spread [over the rest of the area], they must be turned [bent] back [to where they were suspended]. There was an incident that Rabbi Yehoshua went to Rabbi Yishmael to Kefar Aziz, and he [Rabbi Yishmael] showed him a vine that was suspended over part of a fig-tree. He said to him [he asked Rabbi Yehoshua], "May I bring seed under the rest?" He [Rabbi Yehoshua] said to him, "It is permitted," and he took him up to Beit Hamaganya, and he showed him a vine suspended over part of a branch [beam] of a sycamore tree, which had many branches. He [Rabbi Yehoshua] said, "Under this [the branch over part of which the vine had been suspended] it is prohibited, and [under] the rest is permitted.

(12) Rabbi Yishmael says: Be yielding to an elder, pleasant to a youth and greet every person with joy.

The baraita relates an incident illustrating this point. There was an incident involving ben Dama, son of Rabbi Yishmael’s sister, in which a snake bit him. And following the attack, Ya’akov of the village of Sekhanya, who was a heretic, a disciple of Jesus the Nazarene, came to treat him, but Rabbi Yishmael did not let him do so. And ben Dama said to him: Rabbi Yishmael, my brother, let him treat me, and I will be healed by him. And I will cite a verse from the Torah to prove that accepting medical treatment from a heretic is permitted in this situation. But ben Dama did not manage to complete the statement before his soul departed from his body and he died. Rabbi Yishmael recited with regard to him: Fortunate are you, ben Dama, as your body is pure and your soul departed in purity, and you did not transgress the statement of your colleagues, who would state the verse: “And who breaks through a fence, a snake shall bite him” (Ecclesiastes 10:8), i.e., one is punished for ignoring an ordinance of the Sages.