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Daf Yomi for kids · Talmud Bavli · Masechet Arakhin

Arakhin 16 for kids: Words and Little Troubles

ערכין ט״ז

💬 This daf asks how words can hurt, even when they sound kind. It also teaches how to correct someone without embarrassing them and asks what counts as a small hardship.

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Stories from Arakhin 16

Words to know

Rashi and Tosafot on Arakhin 16 in simple English

Rashi on Arakhin 16a, in English Tab translation (21)
  1. A matter said before three people — If the person concerned said it before three people, repeating it is not malicious speech. By speaking before three, that person showed no concern about its being repeated, knowing it would eventually spread from friend to friend.
  2. Blessing one’s friend loudly will be counted as a curse — The blessing becomes a curse for the friend being praised.
  3. And people hear — Violent people hear that the host is wealthy and seize his money. Another explanation: guests come to stay with him until his money is used up.
  4. He will come to speak of his faults — When someone praises another too much, he may add, “Except for this bad trait.” Or listeners may respond by pointing out that person’s faults.
  5. Stinginess — He begrudges others the use of his belongings and does not lend them to his neighbors.
  6. I will destroy him — As explained earlier, this refers to leprous marks.
  7. Let none be absent from the house of Joab — This was because Joab killed Abner.
  8. Be willing — Swear that Elisha sent you, and take two talents.
  9. When he grew strong, his heart became arrogant — This speaks of Uzziah.
  10. One who kept his house to himself — He did not lend his household utensils to others.
  11. Why was it placed next to it? — In the portion beginning “And you shall command,” the account of the priests’ ordination is placed next to the priestly garments.
  12. They dipped the tunic in blood — This hinted that the tunic would bring atonement for bloodshed.
  13. There is no ephod or teraphim — When there is no ephod, the sin of teraphim—idolatrous images—prevails.
  14. A sin of sound — The robe’s bells make a sound, so the robe atones for malicious speech, a sin committed with the voice. Yet you say that leprous marks come for it?
  15. His actions had consequences — People quarreled because of him. If you ask why the same objection is not raised about bloodshed and forbidden sexual relations—also said above to bring leprous marks, though the priestly garments atone for them—the answer is that the garments atone not for the sinner but for others who are harmed by his sin. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and forbidden sexual relations defile it, as the verses state. We do not find that others are punished for someone’s malicious speech.
  16. Done in secret — The incense is offered quietly in the Sanctuary. As taught in tractate Yoma, people withdraw even from the area between the Entrance Hall and the altar during the offering. Malicious speech, too, can be spoken in secret.
  17. Bloodshed remains difficult — We said above that the priestly garments atone for others. But the heifer whose neck is broken also atones for others, not for the killer: if the killer is found afterward, he is still executed, as taught in tractate Sotah from the verse, “The land cannot be atoned for.”
  18. Malicious speech remains difficult — This conflicts with the earlier teaching that the priestly garments atone for it.
  19. The killer is unknown — The heifer atones in that case.
  20. He is liable to death — Until the killer is executed, others do not receive atonement, as the verse says, “The land cannot be atoned for.”
  21. In private — Incense, offered in secret, atones for malicious speech spoken in secret.
Tosafot on Arakhin 16a, in English Tab translation (4)
  1. Anything said before three people is not malicious speech — This means a case like saying, “There is a fire at so-and-so’s house,” where it can be understood that the speaker meant no harm. But if someone makes a disparaging remark about another person, it is malicious speech even if he would say it to that person’s face.
  2. When he grew strong, his heart became arrogant — This is written about Uzziah. Chronicles says of Azariah the priest that he “served as priest in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem.” Why single him out this way, when the passage lists other high priests who served in the First Temple? Perhaps because, when Uzziah came, Azariah took a stronger stand than the others in challenging his claim to perform a priestly service.
  3. The sash atones for thoughts of the heart — It was worn at the place of the heart. The sash was a very long linen belt, and a midrash also says that the priest wrapped it around himself twice, opposite his heart.
  4. That is when his actions had an effect — Rashi explains that his speech caused people to quarrel. Why, then, does the Gemara not ask the same question about bloodshed and forbidden sexual relations? Above it says that leprous marks come for these sins, while here it teaches that the priestly garments atone for them. Rashi answers that the garments atone not for the sinner but for others, who may be punished because of bloodshed or forbidden sexual relations. We do not find such punishment of others for malicious speech. But this is unconvincing: tractate Shevuot says that others can be punished for any sin if they could have protested, and if they could not, they are not punished even for bloodshed or forbidden sexual relations. Rabbi Yitzhak answers that bloodshed poses no difficulty: it carries a court-imposed death penalty, for which the priestly garments atone, while leprous marks can still come upon the killer. Another explanation is that the Gemara’s distinction between actions that had an effect and those that did not applies to bloodshed and forbidden sexual relations too. Actual killing has an effect: the garments do not atone for it, and leprous marks come upon the killer. Publicly shaming someone does not have that effect, though the Sages compare it to shedding blood; the garments atone for it. Likewise, actual forbidden sexual relations have an effect, whereas delaying women’s bird offerings does not, though the Sages say it is counted as if the men had lain with them.
Rashi on Arakhin 16b, in English Tab translation (35)
  1. In public — the robe atones for an act of speech.
  2. He separated — leprosy came upon him because of malicious speech.
  3. Chatter — speech uttered quietly, called folier in Old French.
  4. He must bring an offering of chatterers — because birds chirp constantly.
  5. One might think he must not hit him — when rebuking him.
  6. Slap him — with the back of the hand.
  7. His face changes — because he is rebuked in public and humiliated.
  8. Splinter — a minor sin of yours. The other person can answer, “Remove your own greater sin.” Thus they cannot rebuke one another, since all have sinned.
  9. Who knows how to rebuke — respectfully, without causing the other person’s face to change from embarrassment.
  10. I complained about him — when I saw him do something improper.
  11. Rebuke for its own sake — for the sake of Heaven.
  12. Humility not for its own sake — he acts humble and refrains from rebuking the other person, not for the sake of Heaven but to avoid being hated by him.
  13. As the Master said — in the first chapter of tractate Avoda Zara: Humility is the greatest of them all. The verse says, “He anointed me to bring good news to the humble,” not “to the pious.”
  14. Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him — to Shmuel: “See, Master, how Rav Huna causes me distress: he strikes and beats me.”
  15. When he left — after Ḥiyya bar Rav left, Rav Huna told Shmuel, “I distress him because he did such-and-such improper things.” This is humility not for its own sake: Rav Huna did not say it to his face, but spoke disparagingly of him behind his back.
  16. Until where — how far must a person go in rebuking another?
  17. Until he is struck — until the other person becomes angry and strikes the one rebuking him.
  18. Until he is cursed — until the other person curses the one rebuking him. Jonathan rebuked Saul until Saul became angry.
  19. Strikes — the host strikes the guest or his own wife.
  20. Until he throws back — the host throws the guest’s belongings behind him to cast them out of the house.
  21. As for throwing out his belongings or striking the guest himself — everyone agrees that the guest can no longer stay. Shmuel holds that as long as the host does not strike the guest, the guest need not leave; he stays until his belongings are thrown out.
  22. To trouble himself — to get into a quarrel.
  23. Why so much — why must he put up with so much?
  24. Guest — one who changes his lodging.
  25. Discredits — the host.
  26. And he is disgraced — he himself is disgraced, for people say, “How difficult these two must be if they cannot live together.”
  27. By his journeys — he followed his usual route from one campsite to the next and did not change his lodgings.
  28. An incidental stop — such as a traveler who happened to spend the night there because the sun set. One who says “from his tent” counts only regular lodging; one who says “by his journeys” counts even a chance stay.
  29. The least suffering — the smallest degree of suffering; there is none less than this.
  30. And it does not suit him — it does not fit him properly and causes him discomfort.
  31. To mix — a cup of wine with hot water.
  32. His shirt was turned around — he put it on incorrectly and must take it off and turn it around.
  33. He reached for three and drew out two — he must go back and take a third, which is a bother.
  34. And why all this? — That is, for what purpose do these count as suffering?
  35. He has received his world — all the rest due to him in the world to come. If even one of these things happens to him, it counts as suffering.
Tosafot on Arakhin 16b, in English Tab translation (5)
  1. And humility not for its own sake — He presents himself as humble and avoids rebuking someone, not for the sake of Heaven but so the person will not hate him. Others explain that he bears insults in silence out of pride, so people will call him humble. But the commentary’s explanation—that he withholds rebuke from those who need it—does not seem right to me, for that would make him wholly wicked.
  2. Heaven forbid that Rav’s son be humiliated because of me — This is humility not for its own sake: Rav Huna let Rav’s son embarrass him out of respect for Rav.
  3. And the one who says “until reprimand”—doesn’t the verse mention striking and cursing? — One might also ask the one who says “until cursing”: Doesn’t the verse mention striking? Perhaps the Gemara’s answer applies: Saul acted as he did because of his affection for Jonathan. Alternatively, this sage does not derive a ruling from “Saul cast his spear,” since that is a separate verse, not part of the verse beginning “Saul’s anger flared.”
  4. A person should never change from his father’s or his ancestors’ trade — The proof is that his mother descended from Dan, and he took up the trade of his mother’s ancestors.
  5. This is the correct reading: “As the Master said, his mother was from Dan and his father from Naphtali” — For Chronicles says, “His mother was from the descendants of Dan.”

Sources

Kid summary and story cards written by Tab from the William Davidson Edition English (Sefaria, CC BY-NC 4.0).

Tab translation (machine-assisted) of Rashi and Tosafot, from the Vilna Edition Hebrew (public domain) on Sefaria. May contain mistakes.

In the app, the Gemara text comes from Sefaria (William Davidson Edition, CC BY-NC 4.0; Hebrew/Aramaic Vilna Edition). Rashi and Tosafot Hebrew: Vilna Edition (public domain) via Sefaria.

Also spelled: Arachin, Erchin 16.