“Food, Glorious Food!” — BT Baba Batra 8a — #48

Rabbi [Yehudah ha-Nasi] opened his storehouse during times of famine, saying, “Students of Scripture, Mishnah, Gemara, halakhah, or aggadah may enter, but unlearned people may not.” R. Yonatan b. Amram pushed his way in. He said, “Master, feed me.” [Rabbi] said to him, “My son, do you read [i.e., study Torah]?” [R. Yonatan] said to him, “No.” “Have you studied [other sacred texts]?” He said to him, “No.” “If so, why should I feed you?” [R. Yonatan] said to [Rabbi], “Feed me as a dog or raven.” [Rabbi] fed him. After he left, Rabbi sat in distress. “Who is he? I gave my bread to an unlearned person.” R. Shimon bar Rabbi said to [his father], “Perhaps he was Yonatan b. Amram, your disciple, who does not wish to benefit from the honor [of being a student of] Torah?” They investigated and found [that it was R. Yonatan b. Amram]. Rabbi said, “Let everyone enter.”

INTRODUCTION

Feeding the hungry is a fundamental Jewish obligation. Torah establishes the institutions of pe’ah (leaving the corners of the field for the poor to harvest) and shemittah (the sabbatical year, which cancels the debts of the poor) as societal supports for the poor. The prophets berate the people for failing to adequately feed those in need. Isaiah famously and passionately says, Is this fast [of Yom Kippur] the fast I desire, a day for people to starve their bodies?…[Rather] it is to share your bread with the hungry, and to take the wretched poor into your home…If you offer your compassion to the hungry and satisfy the famished creature, then shall your light shine in darkness and your gloom shall be like noonday (58:5,7,10).

At the same time, Pirkei Avot 4:7 teaches in the name of R. Tzaddok, Do not make the Torah into a crown with which to aggrandize yourself or a spade with which to dig. In other words, don’t use Torah to pump up your ego or as a tool to enrich yourself. 

Both teachings, although unspoken, are integral to the story of Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nasi, who fulfills the mitzvah of feeding the poor, but apparently is not inclined to provide food for everyone who is hungry. He feeds only those who study Torah deeming them worthy of his largess, but the unlearned he considers unworthy.

COMMENTARY

R. Yonatan b. Amram, a disciple of R. Yehudah ha-Nasi, enters Rabbi’s storehouse because he is suffering from hunger. As Rabbi, determined to feed only students of Torah, queries him concerning his credentials, we quickly realize that Rabbi doesn’t recognize him. Apparently R. Yonatan has donned a disguise. R. Yonatan says he does not study and never has. Rabbi thereupon asks, “Then why should I feed you?” R. Yonatan responds, “Feed me as you would a dog or a raven”—whereupon Rabbi gives him food. This exchange leaves Rabbi distressed because he believes he has violated his own standards and provided bread to an ignoramus. His son, R. Shimon, alleviates his distress by suggesting that the “ignoramus” may actually be R. Yonatan and therefore Rabbi fed a Torah scholar. Why would R. Yonatan disguise himself and lie to his teacher? In order to avoid violating R. Tzaddok’s dictum that one should not make Torah a spade with which to dig (profit from Torah learning)? Rabbi thereupon revamps his policy and permits everyone who is hungry to come and obtain the food they need.

Talmud does not explain or analyze Rabbi’s change in policy. What made him change? Perhaps   the exchange with R. Yonatan made him realize that he feeds dogs and ravens readily, yet withholds food from human beings. Or perhaps Rabbi felt that R. Yonatan was so committed to R. Tzaddok’s teaching, thereby refusing to acquire food on the basis of his Torah learning, that he had been forced to lie to his own teacher in order to eat; and perhaps others might do the same, or even go hungry. Or perhaps, Rabbi came to realize that his policy distinguishing between the learned and the unschooled was inherently immoral. Rabbi has constructed a tiered system of people’s right to food based on Torah scholarship—this is not something Torah would countenance.

R. Yonatan’s surprising behavior (coming in disguise) and shocking request (treat me as you would animals) provokes Rabbi to reconsider what he is doing, and affords him the room to change without public embarrassment.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER AND DISCUSS

1. Had R. Yonatan confronted Rabbi directly and impugned his policy, what do you think Rabbi’s response might have been?
2. In the early 1980s, then-President Ronald Reagan sought to reduce the amount of money in the Federal budget allocated to welfare programs. His tactic was to refine rhetoric, changing the meaning of “safety net” and distinguishing between the “needy” and the “truly needy,” suggesting that some poor and needy people are not “truly needy” and therefore should not receive welfare or food stamps. Do you see a similarity with Rabbi’s initial system for distributing food?
3. In numerous passages in the Talmud, the Rabbis express contempt for amei ha-aretz, Jews who do not study Torah. Examples of their animosity: One shouldn’t marry the daughter of an am ha-aretz, socialize with them, trust them, or accept their testimony in court. There are even terrible hyperbolic statements that suggest the acceptability of violence against them. Clearly, for the Rabbis, being Jewish requires deep intellectual engagement with sacred texts, and those who do not share the same value system are considered ideological enemies. In this context, the story about R. Yehudah ha-Nasi and R. Yonatan speaks to how we treat the “other,” and particular those whom we consider ideological opponents. Can you find modern parallels?