An Arab Guide

And Rabbah bar Bar Ḥanah said: Once we were traveling in the desert and we were accompanied by a certain Arab who would take dust and smell it and say, “This is the road to such and such a place, and that is the road to such and such a place.” We said to him, “How far are we from water?” And he said to us, “Bring me dust.” We brought [it] to him, and he said, “Eight parasangs [three to three and a half miles].” [Later, we said this] a second time, and gave him [dust, and] he said to us that we are at a distance of three parasangs. I switched [the type of dust to test him,] but I could not [confuse] him, [as he was an expert in this matter].

[That Arab] said to me, “Come, I will show you the dead of the wilderness, [i.e., the Jewish people who left Egypt and died in the wilderness.]” I went [and] saw them; and they had the appearance of one who is intoxicated, and they were lying on their backs. And the knee of one of them was elevated, and [he was so enormous that the] Arab entered under his knee while riding a camel and with his spear upright, and he did not touch him. I cut one corner of the sky-blue [garment that contains ritual fringes] of one of them, and we were unable to walk. [The Arab] said to me: Perhaps you took something from them? Return it, as we know [by tradition] that one who takes something from them cannot walk. I then returned [the corner of the garment,] and then we were able to walk.

When I came before the sages, they said to me [in rebuke]: Every Abba [is] a donkey, and every bar Bar Ḥanah [is] an idiot. For [the purpose of clarifying] what halakhah did you do that? [If you wanted] to know whether [the halakhah] is in accordance with [the opinion of] Beth Shammai or in accordance with [the opinion of] Beth Hillel, [as to whether there are four or three threads and joints in ritual fringes, in that case there was no need to take anything with you, as] you should have [simply] counted the threads and counted the joints.

[Rabbah bar Bar Ḥanah continues his account. That Arab also] said to me, “Come, I will show you Mount Sinai.” I went [and] saw that scorpions were encircling it, and they were standing [as high] as white donkeys. I heard a divine voice saying, “Woe is Me that I took an oath; and now that I took the oath, who will nullify it for me?”

When I came before the sages, they said to me [in rebuke:] Every Abba [is] a donkey, and every bar Bar Ḥanah [is] an idiot. You should have said, “Your [oath] is nullified.” [The Gemara explains:] And [Rabbah bar Bar Ḥanah did not nullify the oath because] he reasoned: Perhaps [God] is [referring to the] oath that [He will not] flood [the earth again.] But the sages [would argue that] if [that were] so, why [say:] Woe is Me? [Rather, this must be referring to God’s oath of exile upon the Jewish people.]

[Rabbah bar Bar Ḥanah continues his account. The Arab also] said to me, “Come, I will show you those who were swallowed [by the earth due to the sin] of Korah” [see Numbers 16—Ed.] I saw two rifts [in the ground] that were issuing smoke. [The Arab] took a shearing of wool, and dipped it in water, and inserted it on the head of a spear, and placed it [in] there. And when he removed [the wool, it] was scorched. He said to me, “Listen [to] what you hear”; and I heard that they were saying, “Moses and his Torah are true, and they [i.e., we in the earth,] are liars.” [The Arab further] said to me, “Every thirty days Gehenna [hell] returns them to here, like meat in a pot [that is moved around by the boiling water as it cooks]. And [every time] they say this, ‘Moses and his Torah are true, and they [i.e., we in the earth,] are liars.’”

[This Arab also] said to me, “Come, I will show you [the place] where the earth and the heavens touch each other.” I took my basket [and] placed it in a window of the heavens. After I [finished] praying, I searched for it but did not find it. I said to him, “Are there thieves here?” He said to me, “This is the heavenly sphere that is turning around; wait here until tomorrow and you will find it.”