The Tale of Ben Sira (Prose Version)

Who performs great deeds that cannot be fathomed, and wondrous things without number (Job 9:10). If it mentions great deeds which cannot be fathomed, what is added by wondrous things without number? The sages interpreted the former to refer to all the creatures in the world, and the latter to refer to three children who were born though their mothers had not lain with a man—namely, R. Zera, Rav Papa, and Ben Sira. [ . . . ]

How were they conceived without having lain with a man? It was said that their mothers went to the bathhouse and became impregnated with Jewish seed, conceived, and gave birth. How did Ben Sira’s mother conceive? They said that she was Jeremiah’s daughter.¹ Once Jeremiah went to the bathhouse and saw that the men were all masturbating. He wanted to flee, but they did not let him go. It was in the reign of King Zedekiah, and they were Ephraimites. The whole generation of Zedekiah was wicked in that time; that is why it is written of him: He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight (2 Kings 24:19). They grabbed him and said, “Why were you spying on us? Now, you go do the same!”

Jeremiah said to them, “Leave me, and I swear to you by the divine decree that I will not tell of this to anyone.”

They replied, “Did not King Zedekiah see Nebuchadnezzar eating a live rabbit, and he swore by divine decree that he would not tell what he saw, but once he left him, he annulled his oath? So you must do as we are doing. If you do, then fine; but if not, we will sodomize you.”

Jeremiah complied immediately out of fear, and afterwards he performed ninety-one fasts to atone for it. The Holy One kept that drop of semen secure until Jeremiah’s daughter came, and it entered her uterus. Seven months later she had a son, and it was born with teeth and speech.

When she saw that she had given birth, she was ashamed, for she feared they would say the child was illegitimate.²

When the child saw this, he opened his mouth and said, “Mama, Mama, why are you ashamed? I am Ben Sira, I am the son of Sira!”

His mother asked, “Who is this Sira? And is he a non-Jew or a Jew?”

The child said, “Mama, Sira is my father Jeremiah!”

Why was Jeremiah called Sira? Because he was the prince [sar] of princes, and in the time to come he will be the cupbearer to all the princes and kings. If this seems strange, compute the gematria [numeric value] of the Hebrew names Jeremiah and Sira; each is 271.

She said, “If so, my son, you should have said in the first place, ‘I am the son of Jeremiah.’”

He replied, “I would have said so, except that it would be improper to say that Jeremiah had a child by his own daughter.”

She replied, “But is it not written: That which has been, is what will be? (Ecclesiastes 1:10). Who ever heard of a daughter getting pregnant from her father?”

He replied, “Mother, there is nothing new under the sun! Consider the daughters of Lot who were made pregnant by their father; was he not a completely righteous man? So, too, my father was a completely righteous man.” [ . . . ]

When word of Ben Sira’s wisdom arrived in Nebuchadnezzar’s court, the sages there said, “Ben Sira’s wisdom will be our destruction! Let us spread word of him to the king, so that he may send for him. We will ask him a difficult question, and if he cannot answer it, we will have him put to death.” Thereupon they went to the king and said, “Our lord the king! We have heard that there is a certain sage in the land of Israel. Go and send for him, and let us pose a question to him. If he can answer it, fine; if not, let him be put to death.” [ . . . ]

They furthermore asked him, “Why does an ox have no hair under his snout?”

He replied, “When Joshua and the Israelites circled the city of Jericho, they brought Joshua a donkey to ride on, but it broke under his weight. They similarly brought a horse, a mule, and all other kinds of animals, but they all broke under his weight, until they brought an ox. He rode on it and it supported him, and thus he circled Jericho. When Joshua saw that this was so, he wanted to kiss the ox, but the ox lifted its head, and Joshua kissed him under his snout. Thus, there is no hair at the place where he kissed him.”

They all said, “Bravo!”

They furthermore asked, “Why do the horse, mule, and donkey all urinate together with their fellow animals, and why do they smell their dung?”

He replied, “When these three species were created, they were all put in Adam’s custody, and he worked them very hard. The mule said to the horse and the donkey, ‘All the other animals have respite from their toil, but we have no respite! We should ask God, when will our toil be over? If there is no satisfactory answer, let our seed perish from the earth!’ They said to him, ‘You have spoken well.’ They immediately went to the Holy One and said to him, ‘Master of the Universe! When will our toil ease up?’ He said, ‘When you produce enough urine to run the mills, and when your dung smells like spices, then will I put an end to your toil.’ But they were only given this answer to dissuade them from refraining from procreation. Now, the mule, who had advised them to abstain from procreation, was cursed with sterility by God, so it could no longer procreate. As for the others, when they heard that their toil would have a limit, they were appeased. They passed this on as a sign to their offspring: ‘Wherever you see water, you should urinate together, to make a mighty river enough to drive a mill. And when you produce dung, smell it, for if it has a fragrance of spices, you will be freed from your servitude.’ And so they continue to do it.”

They said to him, “Bravo!”