Avodah Zarah 17b ~ What Gender is that Bee?

From here.

Rabbi Elazar ben Perata was in trouble. When the  Romans heard him being called him by the title "Rabbi" they arrested him.Teaching Torah was banned, and to be identified as a Rabbi, a teacher of Torah, invoked the death penalty. To save his life, Rabbi Elazar denied the charge. Instead, he claimed, he was simply a teacher (rabban) of weavers.  So the Roman authorities tested him on his knowledge of weaving:

עבודה זרה יז, ב

 אייתו ליה תרי קיבורי אמרו ליה הי דשתיא והי דערבא איתרחיש ליה ניסא אתיא זיבוריתא אותיבא על דשתיא ואתאי זיבורא ויתיב על דערבא אמר להו האי דשתיא והאי דערבא

They brought him two coils of wool and said to him: Which is the warp, and which is the woof?  A miracle occurred, as a female bee came and sat on the warp, and a male bee came and sat on the woof. Rabbi Elazar ben Perata said to them: This is the warp, and that is woof.

Rabbi Elazar understood the message the two bees were sending. The male was sitting on the woof, which is threaded into the warp. The female bee was on the warp, which is fixed in the loom and receives the woof. 

What is going on here?  Is it in fact the case that male and female bees are distinguishable? It turns out that they are. Sort of.

Queens, Drones, and Workers

A hive contains three kinds of bees. First, there are thousands of worker bees. These are the ones that you see flying around collecting nectar from flowers, or annoying you in the Sukkah.  All worker bees are female. The hive also has one Queen, whose sole task is to lay eggs.  Obviously, the queen is female. She stays in the hive and is attended to by special worker bees who become nurse bees.  And then there are the male drone bees, whose only job is to mate with a virgin queen. They leave the hive and fly to drone congregation areas, where, in midair, they mate (or attempt to mate) with a virgin queen.  Then they fall to the ground and die.

 The male drones are about twice the size of the female worker bees.  According to a helpful article (Differences in drone and worker physiology in honeybees) published in 2005, the weight of an emerging worker is 70-100mg.  In contrast, the weight of an emerging drone is around 260mg - over two-and-a-half times heavier. Drones also have bigger eyes and rounded, more stocky bodies. 

“Drone bees are the hapless males within a colony. They seemingly have little or no purpose within the colony: they take no part in hive building or maintenance; they don’t defend the colony (drones do not possess a sting); they don’t gather food or nurture the larvae.”

— Barnsley Beekeepers Association

A typical hive contains one queen, about 60,000 worker bees, and a few hundred drones.  You are likely to have seen hundreds of worker bees over the years.  You are, however, far less likely to have seen a drone.  In fact, you may never have seen one. But they are out there.

Rashi vs. Tosafot

According to Rashi, Rabbi Elazar was able to distinguish between a smaller female worker (זיבוריתא) and a larger male drone (זיבורא). The worker sat on the warp, and the drone sat on the woof. Since the woof is inserted into the warp, Rav Elazar deduced that the woof was indicated by the male drone. Because there is indeed a difference in size and gross morphology between the workers and the drones, it is entirely possible that Rav Elazar could identify each. Assuming that he had great eyesight and was an experienced apiarist.

Drone Bee Phallus. From here.

Tosafot disagrees.  There is no way, claims Tosafot, that Rabbi Elazar's eyesight was that good. Now not knowing anything about bees, you might agree. After all, the penis of a drone bee is very, very small. But as we have seen, to determine the gender of a bee you don't have to get that close.  You just have know what you're looking for in terms of the body size and morphology.   

Tosafot therefore suggests that the Talmudic words זיבוריתא and זיבורא do not refer to a female and a male of the same species. Instead, the words refer to two different species, which Rabbi Elazar could identify from a distance. The species זיבוריתא, written in a female form, was sitting on the warp. The species זיבורא, written in a male form, was sitting on the woof, since the woof goes into the warp.

There are thousands of species of bees and their larger cousins, the hornets.  It is entirely possible that Rabbi Elazar noted that the two insects on the loom were two different species called by two similar but distinct names. Tosafot is incorrect to claim that the gender of a bee cannot be determined from a distance.  But the alternative theory is also scientifically plausible.

We have already learned that honey has some amazing medicinal properties.  Today we learn that bees too, can save a life.  So next time you are bothered by bees, act kindly. After all, they saved Rabbi Elazar's life.

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NEXT TIME ON TALMUDOLOGY:  MATERNAL IMPRINTING

Avodah Zarah 12b ~ Vinegar, Leeches and Rav Huna

עבודה זרה יב ,ב

ת"ר לא ישתה אדם מים לא מן הנהרות ולא מן האגמים לא בפיו ולא בידו אחת ואם שתה דמו בראשו מפני הסכנה מאי סכנה סכנת עלוקה

The Sages taught: A person should not drink water from rivers or from ponds either by drinking from the water directly with his mouth, or by collecting the water with one hand alone. And if he drank in this manner, his blood is upon his own head, due to the danger. What is this danger? It is the danger of swallowing a leech.

There are about 680 identified species of leeches (so far). Most are found in freshwater, and are found on every continent except Antarctica. You should stay away from them.

In western developed countries, our drinking supplies are safe to drink (mostly). But around the world leeches are still found in water that is used for human (and animal) consumption.  Today's page of Talmud reminds us of the danger that leeches once imposed. That danger is still very much present.

The Nile Leech. And others

The Koren Talmud notes that one species of leech, the Nile leech (Limnatis nilotica) can still be found in bodies of water in Israel.  Indeed leeches are found across the Middle East. Ten years ago, a case report was published in the Turkish Journal of Parasitology which described what happened when Limnatis nilotica  got into the nose of a poor five year-old girl in Turkey.

“ The doctor who was trying to aspirate the blood in the patient’s mouth noticed the bloody formation moving slightly. This formation was removed by an otolaryngologist under local anesthesia and was brought to the parasitology laboratory and identified as a leech.”

— Agin, H. et al. Türkiye Parazitoloji Dergisi, 32 (3): 247 - 248, 2008

The girl had nose bleeds and had vomited blood over three days.  She required an urgent blood transfusion, and while trying to remove blood from the girl's nose the doctor "noticed the bloody formation moving slightly." The bloody moving formation was carefully removed and sent to the pathology laboratory where it was identified. It was a leech. Here is a picture of the villain:

Leech obtained from the case. From Agin, H. et al. Severe Anemia Due to the Pharyngeal Leech Limnatis nilotica in a Child. Türkiye Parazitoloji Dergisi, 32 (3): 247 - 248, 2008

This is certainly not an isolated incident.  In fact, there are so many reports of leeches in the medical literature, that an Iranian group published a meta-analysis of leeches "as a live foreign body." 

Selection of published literature on leech infestations. From Saki, N. et al. Meta Analysis of the Leech as a Live Foreign Body: Detection, Precaution and Treatment. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 2009: 12 (24); 1556-1563

The more you read, the more the meta-analysis gets scary. Here is another table, detailing the 28 patients the Iranians had seen at their hospital in Ahwaz, Iran. (Fun fact about Ahwaz: in 2011 the World Health Organization declared it to be the most air-polluted city in the world. Ahwaz: If our leeches don't kill you, our air will.)

Detail of 28 leech infested patients seen over a ten year period at Ahwaz Jondishapour Universtiy of Medical Science, Ahwaz, Iran. From Saki, N. et al. Meta Analysis of the Leech as a Live Foreign Body: Detection, Precaution and Treatment. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 2009: 12 (24); 1556-1563

The longest leech they found was a whopping 10 cm (over 4 inches) that had taken up residence in the back of the mouth. Why didn't the patient feel that massive creature? Well, leeches are crafty; they secrete an analgesic so the victim doesn't feel the bite. At most, you might feel a little wiggling.  

Vinegar. Really?

Today's page of Talmud not only cautions us to be careful when drinking from a spring or river. It also suggests a treatment for leech attachment: 

אמר רבי חנינא הבולע נימא של מים מותר להחם לו חמין בשבת ומעשה באחד שבלע נימא של מים והתיר רבי נחמיה להחם לו חמין בשבת אדהכי והכי אמר רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע ליגמע חלא

 Rabbi Hanina says: In the case of one who swallows a water leech [nima], it is permitted to perform labor on Shabbat and heat water for him to drink on Shabbat, as his life is in danger. And in fact there was an incident involving one who swallowed a water leech, and Rabbi Neḥemya permitted them to heat water for him on Shabbat. In the meantime, until the water is ready, what should he do? Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said: He should swallow vinegar.

As it turns out, Rav Huna's advice to drink vinegar can be found in today's medical literature. The Ahwaz team offers this suggestion:

If the leech is in the nares or upper pharynx, it be detached by applying 30% cocaine, 1:10,000 adrenalin or dimethyl phthalate to it. Another method is irrigation with strong saline, vinegar, turpentine or alcohol.

Rav Huna's treatment with vinegar seems to be supported in the medical literature. So next time you travel to Ahwaz, take some along with you.    

Avodah Zarah 10b ~ Gangrene and Ulcers

עבודה זרה י, ב 

דההוא קיסרא דהוה סני ליהודאי אמר להו לחשיבי דמלכותא מי שעלה לו נימא ברגלו יקטענה ויחיה או יניחנה ויצטער אמרו לו יקטענה ויחיה

There was a certain Roman emperor who hated the Jews. He said to the important members of the kingdom: If one had a nima rise on his foot, should he cut it off and live, or leave it and suffer? They said to him: He should cut it off and live. 

Just what is a Nima?

Rashi understands that nima means dead flesh: בשר מת ומצערו  Dead flesh that pains him.  The Schottenstein Talmud follows Rashi and translates it as dead flesh. 

The Koren English translation has this note on the word nima: 

From the Greek νομή, nomē, meaning an expanding wound or gangrene. Another version of the text has nomi, matching the version of the word in other places.

Liddel and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon gives some more details. Among its many meanings νομή, means spreading, as in spreading baldness or spreading ulcers. Goldschmidt's German translation (the first translation of the entire Babylonian Talmud, published 1897-1935) translates nima as Geschwür, meaning ulcer. The Soncino English translation, which often follows Goldschmidt, also translates nima as an ulcer. 

 But while nima is translated either as gangrene or an ulcer, the two are most certainly not the same.  

Ulcers

Four stages of a pressure ulcer

Ulcers describe a breakdown in the skin (or mucous membranes that line your mouth and gut) in which there is inflammation and in which dead tissues slough off.  You may have had a mouth sore, which is a kind of ulcer. Other commonly seen ulcers are pressure sores (typically at the base of the spine and buttocks in bed-ridden patients) and ulcers that form on the feet of those with diabetes.  The mainstay of treatment is to eliminate any pressure on the ulcer, to keep it meticulously clean, and to remove any dead tissue, a process known as debridement. Surgery is sometimes needed (for example, in cases of ulcerative colitis, in which ulcers form in the colon and rectum,) but in most cases can be avoided.

Gangrene

Gangrene is the death of tissue, caused by a loss of the blood flow.  It is far less common than ulcers, and far more serious.  (You can see all kinds of pictures of gangrene here.) It is mostly seen on the feet, but I've seen gangrene of the hands and fingers as well. When mountain climbers (and the homeless) loose fingers and toes, it's from gangrene.  

There are two kinds of gangrene. In wet gangrene, bacteria invade tissue which have little or no blood supply. They feed on the tissue and produce a great deal of pus; hence the description "wet".  Left untreated, the patient will likely become septic and die.  Amputation is often the only treatment option. Dry gangrene has a slower onset, and the tissue looks mummified or cracked; hence the term "dry". It does not usually cause infection or death. After several days, it becomes obvious where the black dead tissue ends and the pink health tissue begins. At that time, the tissue can be amputated; commonly, it just falls off (like here, but don't look if you are eating).

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From the context of our passage, it is not possible to be certain which of the two conditions is described in the word nima.The Jew-hating Roman Emperor was advised to amputate a foot with a nima on it. Since we don't treat ulcers with amputation, this lends support to those in the nima is gangrene camp: Rashi, Koren and Schottenstein. But perhaps, back in Talmudic days, foot ulcers were amputated. This would support those in the nima is an ulcer camp: Golschmidt and the Soncino. Either way, the description of the Jewish people as a nima really hurts.  Just like the nima did.

Avodah Zarah 8 ~ 2,000 Pages Done!

Page eight of Avodah Zarah, is the 2,000th page of the Talmud.  There are only 711 pages left until the completion of this Daf Yomi cycle. We commemorated 1,000 pages learned back in April 2015. Now let's do the same for this new milestone.

Pagination in Manuscripts of the Talmud

“The first complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud, the edito princeps, was printed from 1519/20-23. The Bomberg Talmud became a standard for the editions that followed, almost all subsequent editions adhered to his layout and foliation.”

— Marvin Heller. Earliest Printings of the Talmud. In Mintz and Goldstein. Printing the Talmud 2002. p 73

It should be noted that counting  Avodah Zarah 8 as the 2,000th page of the Talmud is a fairly recent development. By which we mean it has only been around since the saintly Daniel Bomberg and his 1519 edition.  Here, for example, is a page showing tomorrow's daf, from the handwritten manuscript found in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.  It was completed in 1337. (Avodah Zarah 8 begins with the second word on the second line.) The pagination and layout is entirely different to the standard format of the Talmud we are used to seeing.

Avodah Zarah 7b-8a. Circa 14-15 century. From Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale. Suppl. Heb 1337.

Visualizing 2,000 pages

1 Back on August 3, 2012 we opened the new cycle of Daf Yomi with Berachot 2. That day just happened to be ט׳ו באב.

10 pages looks like this:

100 looks like this

1,000 pages looks like this. We reached the 1,000th page of Talmud on April 29th, 2015.

And here are 2,000 pages, represented as dots:

Fun Facts about 2,000

The last big deal we made out of two-thousand was Y2K, the year our secular calendar tiptoed into the twenty-first century.  But 2,000 is an interesting number in itself. Like all numbers, it can be written as the sum of two primes: 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5=2,000. It is a Harshad number, which is to say, it is an integer that is divisible by the sum of its digits.  

2,000 seconds is equal to 33 minutes, 20 seconds. To count from 1 to 2,000 would take you about thirty-three minutes. And a cube with a volume of 2000 cubic inches would be around 1 feet tall.

Alpayim (אלפיים, lit. "2,000") was also the name of a literary magazine published in Israel between 1989 and 2009. You can see a picture of one of its covers above.

2,000 in the תנ׳ך

The number 2,000 in the Hebrew Bible, the תנ’ך, appears in a number of places.

1. In the Book of Joshua, the people are warned to stay at least 2,000 cubits away from the Ark which they are following.

יהושע 3:4

אַ֣ךְ ׀ רָח֣וֹק יִהְיֶ֗ה בֵּֽינֵיכֶם֙ ובינו [וּבֵינָ֔יו] כְּאַלְפַּ֥יִם אַמָּ֖ה בַּמִּדָּ֑ה אַֽל־תִּקְרְב֣וּ אֵלָ֗יו לְמַ֤עַן אֲשֶׁר־תֵּֽדְעוּ֙ אֶת־הַדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תֵּֽלְכוּ־בָ֔הּ כִּ֣י לֹ֧א עֲבַרְתֶּ֛ם בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְ מִתְּמ֥וֹל שִׁלְשֽׁוֹם׃ 

but keep a distance of some 2,000 cubits from it, never coming any closer to it—so that you may know by what route to march, since it is a road you have not traveled before.

2. In the sad story of the פלגש בגבעה, there is a civil war. Thousands die and a note is made of 2,000 killed, in addition to the other deaths. 

שופטים 20:45

וַיִּפְנ֞וּ וַיָּנֻ֤סוּ הַמִּדְבָּ֙רָה֙ אֶל־סֶ֣לַע הָֽרִמּ֔וֹן וַיְעֹֽלְלֻ֙הוּ֙ בַּֽמְסִלּ֔וֹת חֲמֵ֥שֶׁת אֲלָפִ֖ים אִ֑ישׁ וַיַּדְבִּ֤יקוּ אַחֲרָיו֙ עַד־גִּדְעֹ֔ם וַיַּכּ֥וּ מִמֶּ֖נּוּ אַלְפַּ֥יִם אִֽישׁ׃

They turned and fled to the wilderness, to the Rock of Rimmon; but [the Israelites] picked off another 5,000 on the roads and, continuing in hot pursuit of them up to Gidom, they slew 2,000 more.

3. King Solomon took thirteen years to complete the building of the first Temple. Among its contents was a large circular metal tub that sat on twelve statues of oxen.  It held the volume of 2,000 baths.

מלאכים א, 7:26

וְעָבְי֣וֹ טֶ֔פַח וּשְׂפָת֛וֹ כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֥ה שְׂפַת־כּ֖וֹס פֶּ֣רַח שׁוֹשָׁ֑ן אַלְפַּ֥יִם בַּ֖ת יָכִֽיל׃

It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like that of a cup, like the petals of a lily. Its capacity was 2,000 baths.

4. In the war between the Israelite King Hezekiah and the Assyrian King Shalmaneser of Assyria, Hezekiah is taunted by the Assyrian leader:

מלאכים ב, 18:23

וְעַתָּה֙ הִתְעָ֣רֶב נָ֔א אֶת־אֲדֹנִ֖י אֶת־מֶ֣לֶךְ אַשּׁ֑וּר וְאֶתְּנָ֤ה לְךָ֙ אַלְפַּ֣יִם סוּסִ֔ים אִם־תּוּכַ֕ל לָ֥תֶת לְךָ֖ רֹכְבִ֥ים עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃

Come now, make this wager with my master, the king of Assyria: I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you can produce riders to mount them.

5. Among the donations made to rebuild the Temple during Nechemia's rein was a collective donation of 2,000 pieces of silver.

נחמיה 7:71

וַאֲשֶׁ֣ר נָתְנוּ֮ שְׁאֵרִ֣ית הָעָם֒ זָהָ֗ב דַּרְכְּמוֹנִים֙ שְׁתֵּ֣י רִבּ֔וֹא וְכֶ֖סֶף מָנִ֣ים אַלְפָּ֑יִם וְכָתְנֹ֥ת כֹּֽהֲנִ֖ים שִׁשִּׁ֥ים וְשִׁבְעָֽה׃ 

The rest of the people donated: gold—20,000 drachmas, silver—2,000, and 67 priestly robes.

6. In the Book of Chronicles, we are reminded of a battle in which tribes of Reuven, Gad and (half of) Menashe prevailed against the Hagarites. Here is what they plundered:

דברי הימים א, 5:21

וַיִּשְׁבּ֣וּ מִקְנֵיהֶ֗ם גְּֽמַלֵּיהֶ֞ם חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים אֶ֙לֶף֙ וְצֹ֗אן מָאתַ֤יִם וַחֲמִשִּׁים֙ אֶ֔לֶף וַחֲמוֹרִ֖ים אַלְפָּ֑יִם וְנֶ֥פֶשׁ אָדָ֖ם מֵ֥אָה אָֽלֶף׃

They carried off their livestock: 50,000 of their camels, 250,000 sheep, 2,000 asses, and 100,000 people.

All of this suggests that the number 2,000 might not need be read literally. It seems to mean instead "a really big number."

2,000 in the Talmud – and in Avoda Zarah

Perhaps the most famous use of the number 2,000 in the Talmud is the distance beyond which a person may not travel on Shabbat.

עירובין נא, א

׳הני אלפים אמה היכן כתיבן דתניא ׳שבו איש תחתיו׳ אלו ארבע אמות ׳אל יצא איש ממקומו אלו אלפים אמה

These two thousand cubits, where are they written in the Torah? It was taught in a baraita: “Every man shall remain in his place” (Exodus 16:29); these are the four cubits, [which constitute the minimum Shabbat limit for one who ventured beyond his prescribed limit]. “Let no man go out of his place”(Exodus 16:29); these are the 2,000 cubits of the Shabbat limit for one who remains in his place.

On today's 2,000th page, the number 2,000 makes a cameo appearance where it can be found in Rashi explaining the word תחום:

תחום. אלפים אמה סביבות העיר

The boundary: this is 2,000 cubits around the city

Unfortunately, a really interesting appearance of the number 2,000 comes the day after reaching our important milestone.  On Avodah Zarah 9a we learn that that the number 2,000 is part of a critical eschatological calculation:

עבודה זרה ט, א

תנא דבי אליהו ששת אלפים שנה הוי העולם שני אלפים תוהו שני אלפים תורה שני אלפים ימות המשיח

The school of Eliyahu taught: The world is destined to exist for six thousand years. For 2,000 years the world was waste, as the Torah had not yet been given. The next set of 2,000 years are the time period of the Torah. The last set of 2,000 years are the period designated for the days of the Messiah.

Too bad that discussion didn't come a page earlier. That would have made for a wonderful coincidence.  Ah well. Congratulations to all those who have travelled this far.  And welcome aboard to all those whose journey is just starting.