Each man kills the thing he loves

Bava metzia 84a

One day R. Johanan was bathing in the Jordan, when Resh Lakish saw him and

leapt into the Jordan after him. Said he [R. Johanan] to him, ‘Your strength

should be for the Torah.’13 — ‘Your beauty,’ he replied, ‘should be for women.’ ‘If

you will repent,’ said he, ‘I will give you my sister [in marriage], who is more

beautiful than I.’ He undertook [to repent]; then he wished to return and collect his

weapons, but could not.14 Subsequently, [R. Johanan] taught him Bible and

Mishnah, and made him into a great man. Now, one day there was a dispute in

the schoolhouse [with respect to the following. Viz.,] a sword, knife, dagger,

spear, hand-saw and a scythe — at what stage [of their manufacture] can they

become unclean? When their manufacture is finished.15 And when is their

manufacture finished? — R. Johanan ruled: When they are tempered in a

furnace. Resh Lakish maintained: When they have been furbished in water. Said

he to him: ‘A robber understands his trade.’16 Said he to him, ‘And wherewith

have you benefited me: there [as a robber] I was called Master, and here I am

called Master.’17 ‘By bringing you under the wings of the Shechinah,’ he retorted.

R. Johanan therefore felt himself deeply hurt,18 [as a result of which] Resh

Lakish fell ill. His sister [sc. R. Johanan's, the wife of Resh Lakish] came and

wept before him: ‘Forgive him19 for the sake of my son,’ she pleaded. He

replied: ‘Leave thy fatherless children. I will preserve them alive.’20 ‘For the sake

of my widowhood then!’ ‘And let thy widows trust in me,’21 he assured her. Resh

Lakish died, and R. Johanan was plunged into deep grief. Said the Rabbis, ‘Who

shall go to ease his mind? Let R. Eleazar b. Pedath go, whose disquisitions are

very subtle.’ So he went and sat before him; and on every dictum uttered by R.

Johanan he observed: ‘There is a Baraitha which Supports you.’ ‘Are you as the

son of Lakisha?’22 he complained: ‘when I stated a law, the son of Lakisha used

to raise twenty-four objections, to which I gave twenty-four answers, which

consequently led to a fuller comprehension of the law; whilst you say, "A Baraitha

has been taught which supports you:" do I not know myself that my dicta are

right?’ Thus he went on rending his garments and weeping, ‘Where are you, O

son of Lakisha, where are you, O son of Lakisha;’ and he cried thus until his mind

was turned. Thereupon the Rabbis prayed for him, and he died.

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(13) I.e., devoted to study.
(14) His mere decision to turn to the study of the Torah had so weakened him that he lacked the
strength to don his heavy equipment.
(15) Before that they are not complete articles or utensils, and only such can become unclean.
(16) This was quoted only proverbially, though in later times it was taken literally, and Resh

Lakish was held to have been a robber. Actually, he had been a circus attendant, to which his
necessitous circumstances had reduced him, and these weapons were used in the course of that
calling. (Graetz, Geschichte, IV, 238, n. 6). Weiss, Dor, III, p. 83, n. 2, understands the phrase
literally, but translates vt,xk as ‘thief-catcher.’ If that be correct, Resh Lakish at one time helped
the Roman government, just as R. Eleazar b. R. Simeon and R. Ishmael b. R. Jose had done
(17) Heb. hcr is equally applicable to a captain of a gang and a Rabbi (Rashi).
(18) By the remark of Resh Lakish that he had not benefited him.
(19) Lit., ‘do’.
(20) Jer. XLIX, 11.
(21) Ibid.
(22) The full name of Resh Lakish was R. Simeon b. Lakish. Weiss, Dor, II, 71 deduces from the
use of Lakisha here that Lakish was not a patronym but the name of a town, ic or rc meaning ‘a
citizen of,’ i.e., R. Simeon, a townsman of Lakish. But Bacher, Ag. der Pal. Am. I, 340, 1 defends
Lakish as a patronym.