Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma

(9) Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma said: Once, I was walking along the road, when a man bumped into me.

He gave me a, "Shalom," and I returned the greeting.

He said to me, “Rabbi, where are you from?”

I said to him, “I am from a great city of sages and scribes”.

He said to me, “Rabbi, would you consider living with us in our place? I would give you a million dinars of gold, and precious stones and pearls.”

I said to him: “My son, even if you were to give me all the silver and gold, precious stones and pearls that are in the world, I would not dwell anywhere except in a place of Torah. For when a man passes away there accompany him neither gold nor silver, nor precious stones nor pearls, but Torah and good deeds alone, as it is said, “When you walk it will lead you. When you lie down it will watch over you; and when you are awake it will talk with you” (Proverbs 6:22). “When you walk it will lead you” means in this world. “When you lie down it will watch over you” in the grave; “And when you are awake it will talk with you” in the world to come. And that is why it is written in the book of Psalms by David, king of Israel, “I prefer the the Torah from Your mouth to thousands of pieces of gold and silver” (Psalms 119:71), And it says: “Mine is the silver, and mine the gold, says the Lord of Hosts” (Haggai 2:8).

The Rabbis taught: When Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma fell ill, Rabbi Ḥanina ben Teradyon went to visit him.

Rabbi Yosei ben Kisma said to him: Ḥanina, my brother, do you not know that this nation has been given a Heavenly mandate to rule? For they have destroyed God’s Temple, and burned God's Sanctuary, and killed God's pious ones, and destroyed God's best people, and yet still they thrive. And yet I heard about you that you sit and engage in Torah study, [and gather assemblies in public,] and have a Torah scroll placed in your lap [in violation of Roman decree].

Rabbi Ḥanina ben Teradyon said to him: Heaven will have mercy and protect me. Rabbi Yosei ben Kisma said to him: I am speaking reason to you, and you say to me: "Heaven will have mercy"? I wonder if the Romans will not burn both you and your Torah scroll by fire...

They say that just a few days later, Rabbi Yosei ben Kisma died, and all of the Roman notables went to bury him, and they eulogized him with a great eulogy.

Upon their return, they found Rabbi Ḥanina ben Teradyon, who was sitting and engaging in Torah study and gathering assemblies in public, with a Torah scroll placed in his lap. They seized him, and wrapped him in the Torah scroll, and encircled him with bundles of branches, and they set fire to it. And they brought tufts of wool and soaked them in water, and placed them on his heart, so that he would not die quickly.

There an incident in the synagogue of Tiberias involving a door bolt that had a thick knob [gelustera] at its end? [The question was whether it may be moved on Shabbat as a vessel, or whether it is considered muktze as raw material.]

Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yosei argued over this case until , in their anger, they tore a Torah scroll.

They tore it?! Is such a thing conceivable?! Rather, you must say that a Torah scroll became torn through their anger.

Rabbi Yosei ben Kisma was there at the time, and said: I would be surprised if this synagogue does not become a place of idolatrous worship. And that is just what happened.