The fabula of the narrative runs as follows:
|
Rabbi El'azar the son of Shim'on is appointed to catch Jewish thieves for the Roman government. Rabbi Yehoshua the Bald meets him and calls him by the insulting epithet "Vinegar, son of Wine," implying that he is a most unworthy son of a great father. He defends his actions somewhat disingenuously. When, however, a certain laundry man refers to him by the same designation, he becomes furious and has the man arrested. After calming down, he feels regretful and goes to have the man released but does not succeed. Standing under the crucified laundry man, he begins to cry, whereupon a passing Jew sees him and says that he should not be concerned, for the crucified one and his son had both had intercourse with a married woman on the Day of Atonement, thus committing several capital crimes. The Rabbi rejoices and placing his hands on his guts, says, "Be joyful, my guts. If you are so accurate when you have no certain information, imagine how accurate you are when you are certain. I am certain that neither rot nor worms will ever prevail over you." In spite of this expression of self-assurance, the text tells us, the Rabbi was still not certain, so he actually tests the claim that his guts are impervious during his lifetime, by having several basketsful of fat removed from his stomach with their blood vessels and placed in the sun to see if they rot (which they don't). After some significant "digressions," which I will be treating at length later on, the story continues by telling us that the Rabbi, still unsure of himself, takes upon himself a penance that results in illness such that every morning sixty felt mats soaked with blood and pus are removed from beneath his body. His wife, fearing the other Rabbis' reprobation of her husband, prevents him from attending the House of Study, until finally, disgusted by his ascetic behavior, she leaves him. He then returns to the rabbinic community, where his first activity is to permit sex for sixty doubtful menstruants, leading to the birth of sixty male children who are named after him. His wife returns to him (though we are never told when, how, or why) and upon his death, he tells her that the other Rabbis are still angry with him and will mistreat his corpse, which should be left in the attic, where it does not rot for twenty years or so. Finally, one day a worm is seen exiting from the ear of the corpse. The Rabbi's father communicates from beyond the grave that he would like his son buried beside him, and after some further misadventures his desire is fulfilled, and the corpse is buried. We have then some codas to the story which, as we shall see, powerfully amplify its meaning.
|
|
|
