Q&A: Studying Talmud
Studying Talmud
Question
Hello, Rabbi,
I was asked by someone who has become newly observant what the plain meaning of this statement is:
“And You cast off my soul from peace; I forgot goodness. What is meant by: ‘And You cast off my soul from peace’? Rabbi Abbahu said: this refers to lighting a Sabbath lamp. ‘I forgot goodness’—Rabbi Yirmiyah said: this refers to the bathhouse. Rabbi Yohanan said: this refers to washing one’s hands and feet with hot water. Rabbi Yitzhak Nappaha said: this refers to a fine bed and fine linens upon it. Rabbi Abba said: this refers to a bed made up and an adorned wife for Torah scholars.”
Answer
The prophet is lamenting some deprivation, and the verse mentions two things that he lacks: peace and goodness. The Talmud explains that “peace” means the Sabbath lamp, and Rashi on Shabbat 25b explains that the verse is saying that the prophet bewails the lack of a lamp on the Sabbath (he has nothing with which to light it), which causes a lack of peace (he walks in the dark and stumbles). “Goodness” is a different lack: washing, or a made bed and a wife.