Passage 57 (על פי כתב יד)
סנהדרין ק:
אמר רב יוסף אף על גב דגנזו רבנן להו. אשה טובה מתנה טובה, בחיק
ירא אלהים תנתן. אשה רעה צרעה לבעלה, מאי תקנתיה, יגרשנה
מביתו ויתחרפ מצרתו. אשה יפה אשרי בעלה מספר ימיו כפלם.
העלם עיניך מאשה חן פנך במצודה. אל חס אצל בעלה
למסור עמו יין ושכר. כי בחתאר אש פיה ריבים ההשחתו ועצומים
כל הרוגיה. רבים היו פצעי המרגלילים לדבר ערוה. כניצוץ
מבעיר גחלת. ככלוב מלא עוף כן בתיהם מלאים מרמה. מנע
רבים מחור ביתך ולא הכל תביא ביתך. רבים יהיו דורשי שלומך
גלה סוד לאחד מאלף. מסוכנת חקור שמור פתחי פיך. אל תצר
צרת מחר מחר צרת מחר כי לא תדע מה ילד
יום, שמא למחר אינו
ונמצא מצטער על עולם שאינו שלו. כל ימי עני רעים בן סירא אומר
אף לילות, בשפל גגים גג ובמרום ההרים
כרמו, ממרט גגים לגבר
ומפער כזמרים.
Sanhedrin 100b (manuscript
reading)
R. Joseph (290-320) said: Even
though the rabbis withdrew the Book of Ben Sira, we expound all the good passages
contained in it. For example (Ben Sira
26:3): A good woman is a precious gift, who shall be given to a God-fearing
man. An evil woman is a plague to her husband. How shall he mend matters? Let him divorce her; so she shall be healed
from his plague. Happy is the man whose
wife is beautiful; the number of his days is doubled. Avert your eyes from a
charming woman, lest you be caught in her snare. Do not seek the society of her husband in
order to drink wine with him. For many have been slain by the countenance of a
beautiful woman, and numerous are those slain by her. Many are the wounds of itinerant peddlers who
seduce to adultery. As the spark that kindles the ember... as a cage is full of
birds, so are their houses full of deceit.
Keep the multitude away from your house, and do not bring everyone into
your home. Though many inquire after your
well-being, reveal your secret to one in a thousand.
Guard the doors of your mouth
from her who lies in your bosom. Do not fret over tomorrow's trouble, for you
do not know what a day may bring forth. For tomorrow he may be no more, and
thus he is grieving over a world that is not his.
All the days of the poor are
bad (Proverbs 15:15). Ben Sira said: His nights too. His roof is among the lowest
roofs, and his vineyard is on the highest mountain. The rain of the other roofs
drains onto his, while the earth from his vineyard is carried to other
vineyards.
Passage 71 קהלת רבה י:יב
ויותר ממה בני הזהיר. מהומה, שכל המכנים
בתוך כיתו יותר
מכ"ד ספרים מהומה הוא מכניס בביתו
כגון ספר בן סירא וספר
בן תלגא. והג הרבה גיגע בשש, להגיתן ולא ליגיעת כשד
ניתנו.
Koheleth Rabbah 12:12
And furthermore (mehemah), my
son, be admonished (Eccl.12:12): [Read the word as] mehumah
(confusion), because whoever brings into his house more than the twenty-four
books [of the Bible] introduces confusion into his house, as e.g., the book of
Ben Sira and the book of Ben Tagla. And
much study is a weariness of the flesh: They were given for discussion and not
for intensive study.
No less important for an
evaluation of the status of the Book of Ben Sira in talmudic literature are the
many verses from that book cited in the Talmud and Midrash. M. H. Segal has
assembled most of the passages; there is no need to repeat them here. The formulae used to introduce the verses,
and the manner in which they are expounded, are indicative of the rabbinic
attitude toward the Book of Ben Sira.
Occasionally, verses or half-verses are introduced as tannaitic sayings
or as popular proverbs, with not even a hint that they originate with Ben
Sira. A representative selection of
introductory formulae to the Ben Sira citations in talmudic and midrashic literature,
arranged in probable chronological order, follows:
1. [J. Berachoth 11b; J. Nazir
54b; Bereshith Rabbah 91:3; Koheleth Rabbah 7:11; and cf. Berachoth 48a] אמר ליה /שמעון בן שטח/ בספרא דבן סירא כתיב...
[Simeon b. Shetah] (1st century B.C.) answered him: It is written in the
Book of Ben Sira...
2. [Aboth 4:4. R. Levitas cites Ben Sir 7:17. Presumably,
he was fond of citing that passage. Cf. Aboth 4:19 where Samuel (220-250) “says”
Proverbs 24:17-18] ...רבי לויטס איש יבנה
אמר...
R. Levitas of Jamnia (110-135) said:...
3. [Pesahim 113b. Ben Sira 25:4
follows] תנו רבנן...ארבעה אין הדעת סובלתן,
אלו הן...
Our rabbis taught...Four types of people are unbearable...
4. [Baba Metzia 112a. A paragraph
of Ben Sira 34:23 follows] ...לכתחניא...
As is was taught...
5. [Tanhuma Mikketz, 10. Ben Sira 38:1 follows. Cf. T. Taanith 66d
where the verse is cited in the name of R. Eleazar (without any mention of Ben
Sira); and cf. Shemoth Rabbah 21:7 where the same verse is introduced as
follows: א''ר אלעזר בן פדת המשל אומר . . .]
א"ר אלעזר כתוב בספר בן סירא...
R. Eleazar (250-290) said: It is written in the Book of Ben Sira...
6. [J. Hagigah 77c] רבי לעזר בשם בר סירא...
R. Eleazar said in the name of Bar Sirah...
7. [Hagigah 13a] ואמר רב אחא בר יעקב...כתוב בספר בן סירא...
R. Aha b. Jacob (300-330) said...It is written in the Book of Ben
Sira...
8. [Baba Kamma 92b.] אמר [בבא בר מרי] [לרבא] זה דבר זה כתוב בתורה שנוי
בנביאים ומשולש בכתובים ונתון במתניתין ותנינא בברייתא...
ומשולש בכתובים דרכיב...
Rabbah b. Mari (320-350) told Raba (320-350): This matter is written in the Torah, repeated
in the Prophets, and repeated a third time in the Hagiographa, and was taught
in the Mishnah, and was taught in a
Baraitha...and repeated a third time in the Hagiographa, as it is
written...
9.[Bereshit Rabbah 73:12] בר סירא אמר...
Bar Sira said...
10. [Tanhuma, Va-Yishlah, 8] אמר בן סירא...
Ben Sira said...
11. [Baba Bathra 98b] כדתיב בספר בן סירא...
As it is written in the Book of Ben Sira...
12. [Tanhuma, Hukkath, 1] ממלא אמר בן סירא...
Ben Sira said a parable...(Sid Zalman Leiman, “The Talmudic and
Midrashic Evidence for the Canonization of Hebrew Scripture” [PhD Dissertation;
University of Pennsylvania, 1970], 197-203)
