SATURDAY PRAYER: NETZACH-YESHIVAT HAVERIM יְשִׁיבָה חברים – BABYLONIAN TALMUD p191

READING: BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN OF SATURDAY

We have learned in a Boraitha according to the opinion of R. Aqiba: “Aaron also became
leprous, as it is written: ‘And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold she was leprous,’ which
implies that at the moment when he turned toward Miriam he was cured of his leprosy and
perceived it in Miriam.”
Said Resh Lakish: He who suspects an innocent man is punished in the flesh, as it is written [Ex.
iv. 1]: “But behold, they will not believe me,” and it was known to the Holy One, blessed be He,
that Israel will believe, and the Lord said unto Moses: “They are believers and they are children
of believers, but thou, I know, wilt finally not believe.” They are believers, as it is written [ibid.
iv. 3 1]: “And the people believed.” They are children of believers, as it is written [Gen. xv. 6]:
“And he believed in the Lord.” Thou wilt finally not believe, as it is written [Numb. xx. 12]:
“Moses and Aaron, because ye have not confided in me;” and whence do we know that he was
punished in the flesh, as it is written [Ex. iv. 6]: “And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Do
put thy hand into thy bosom; and he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out,
behold, his hand was leprous, white as snow.”
Rabha said, according to others, R. Jose b. Hanina: Reward for merit, destined for a man, comes
to him more quickly and in a greater degree than retribution for wickedness, for in the case of
Moses we see it written [Exod. iv. 6]: “And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it
out, behold, his hand was leprous, white as snow.” But the reward was, as it is written [ibid. 7],
“And when he pulled it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.” The
reason that the verse repeats “pulled it out of his bosom,” is to show, that the hand had become
cured while in the bosom (and thus the reward was given more quickly and effectively). It is
written [Ex. vii. 12]: “Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staves.” Said R. Elazar: “This was a
miracle within a miracle, for Aaron’s staff did not swallow up the staves (of the Egyptian magicians), which had become serpents, while it was itself a serpent, but after it was become a staff again.”