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Save "Sin and redemption: two views
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Sin and redemption: two views
תניא א"ר נתן אין לך כל מצוה קלה שכתובה בתורה שאין מתן שכרה בעה"ז ולעה"ב איני יודע כמה צא ולמד ממצות ציצית מעשה באדם אחד שהיה זהיר במצות ציצית שמע שיש זונה בכרכי הים שנוטלת ד' מאות זהובים בשכרה שיגר לה ארבע מאות זהובים וקבע לה זמן כשהגיע זמנו בא וישב על הפתח נכנסה שפחתה ואמרה לה אותו אדם ששיגר ליך ד' מאות זהובים בא וישב על הפתח אמרה היא יכנס נכנס הציעה לו ז' מטות שש של כסף ואחת של זהב ובין כל אחת ואחת סולם של כסף ועליונה של זהב עלתה וישבה על גבי עליונה כשהיא ערומה ואף הוא עלה לישב ערום כנגדה באו ד' ציציותיו וטפחו לו על פניו נשמט וישב לו ע"ג קרקע ואף היא נשמטה וישבה ע"ג קרקע אמרה לו גפה של רומי שאיני מניחתך עד שתאמר לי מה מום ראית בי אמר לה העבודה שלא ראיתי אשה יפה כמותך אלא מצוה אחת ציונו ה' אלהינו וציצית שמה וכתיב בה (במדבר טו, מא) אני ה' אלהיכם שתי פעמים אני הוא שעתיד ליפרע ואני הוא שעתיד לשלם שכר עכשיו נדמו עלי כד' עדים אמרה לו איני מניחך עד שתאמר לי מה שמך ומה שם עירך ומה שם רבך ומה שם מדרשך שאתה למד בו תורה כתב ונתן בידה עמדה וחילקה כל נכסיה שליש למלכות ושליש לעניים ושליש נטלה בידה חוץ מאותן מצעות ובאת לבית מדרשו של ר' חייא אמרה לו רבי צוה עלי ויעשוני גיורת אמר לה בתי שמא עיניך נתת באחד מן התלמידים הוציאה כתב מידה ונתנה לו אמר לה לכי זכי במקחך אותן מצעות שהציעה לו באיסור הציעה לו בהיתר זה מתן שכרו בעה"ז ולעה"ב איני יודע כמה
It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Natan says: There is no mitzva, however minor, that is written in the Torah, for which there is no reward given in this world; and in the World-to-Come I do not know how much reward is given. Go and learn from the following incident concerning the mitzva of ritual fringes. There was an incident involving a certain man who was diligent about the mitzva of ritual fringes. This man heard that there was a prostitute in one of the cities overseas who took four hundred gold coins as her payment. He sent her four hundred gold coins and fixed a time to meet with her. When his time came, he came and sat at the entrance to her house. The maidservant of that prostitute entered and said to her: That man who sent you four hundred gold coins came and sat at the entrance. She said: Let him enter. He entered. She arranged seven beds for him, six of silver and one of gold. Between each and every one of them there was a ladder made of silver, and the top bed was the one that was made of gold. She went up and sat naked on the top bed, and he too went up in order to sit naked facing her. In the meantime, his four ritual fringes came and slapped him on his face. He dropped down and sat himself on the ground, and she also dropped down and sat on the ground. She said to him: I take an oath by the gappa of Rome that I will not allow you to go until you tell me what defect you saw in me. He said to her: I take an oath by the Temple service that I never saw a woman as beautiful as you. But there is one mitzva that the Lord, our God, commanded us, and its name is ritual fringes, and in the passage where it is commanded, it is written twice: “I am the Lord your God” (Numbers 15:41). The doubling of this phrase indicates: I am the one who will punish those who transgress My mitzvot, and I am the one who will reward those who fulfill them. Now, said the man, the four sets of ritual fringes appeared to me as if they were four witnesses who will testify against me. She said to him: I will not allow you to go until you tell me: What is your name, and what is the name of your city, and what is the name of your teacher, and what is the name of the study hall in which you studied Torah? He wrote the information and placed it in her hand. She arose and divided all of her property, giving one-third as a bribe to the government, one-third to the poor, and she took one-third with her in her possession, in addition to those beds of gold and silver. She came to the study hall of Rabbi Ḥiyya and said to him: My teacher, instruct your students concerning me and have them make me a convert. Rabbi Ḥiyya said to her: My daughter, perhaps you set your sights on one of the students and that is why you want to convert? She took the note the student had given her from her hand and gave it to Rabbi Ḥiyya. He said to her: Go take possession of your purchase. Those beds that she had arranged for him in a prohibited fashion, she now arranged for him in a permitted fashion. The Gemara completes its point about the reward of mitzvot and points out how this story illustrates the concept: This is the reward given to him in this world, and with regard to the World-to-Come, I do not know how much reward he will be given.

~ Is the student exceptional in any way?

~ Is the prostitute exceptional in any way?

~ What are the surprises both the student and the prostitute gave to one another?

~ How do the words of the student change the prostitute?

~ Is the student changed in any way?

~ Why is Rabbi Hiyyah's concern assuaged by the note?

~ What happens to her money? How is this significant?

~ What happened to the unused bedspreads? How is this significant?

~ How do the last words of Rabbi Hiyyah mark the change of the relationship between the student and the prostitute?

~ Who is the hero in the story?

~ What does this story tell us about teshuvah?

There was a certain harlot called Thaïs and she was so beautiful that many for her sake sold all that they had and reduced themselves to utter poverty; quarrels arose among her lovers, and often the doorstep of this girl’s house was soaked in the blood of young men.
When Abba Paphnutius heard about it, he put on normal clothes and went to see her in a certain city in Egypt. He handed her a silver piece as the price for committing sin. She accepted the price and said, “Let us go inside.” When he went in, he sat down on the bed which was draped with precious covers and he invited her, saying, “If there is a more private chamber, let us go in there.” She said, “There is one, but if it is people you are afraid of, no one ever enters this room, except, of course, for God, for there is no place that is hidden from the eyes of divinity.” When the old man heard this, he said to her, “So you know there is a God?” She answered him, “I know about God and about the eternal kingdom and also about the future torments of sinners.” “But if you know this,” he said, “why are you causing the loss of so many souls so that you will be condemned to render an account not only of your own sins but of theirs as well?”
When Thaïs heard this, she threw herself at the feet of Paphnutius and begged him with tears, “Give me a penance, Father, for I trust to find forgiveness by your prayers. I beg you to wait for just three hours, and after that, wherever you tell me to go, I will go, and whatever you tell me to do, I will do it.” So Paphnutius arranged a meeting place with her and she went out and collected together all the goods that she had received by her sins and piled them all together in the middle of the city, while all the people watched, saying, “Come here, all of you that have sinned with me, and see how I am burning whatever you gave me.”
When it was all consumed, she went to the place that the Father had arranged with her. Then he sought out a monastery of virgins and took her into a small cell, sealing the door with lead and leaving only a small opening through which food could be passed to her and he ordered her to be given daily a little bread and a little water by the sisters of the monastery. When Thaïs realized that that the door was sealed with lead, she said to him, “Father, where do you want me to urinate?” and he replied, “in the cell, as you deserve.” Then she asked him how she should pray to God, and he said to her, “You are not worthy to name God, or to take his divine name upon your lips, or to lift up your hands to heaven, for your lips are full of sin and your hands are stained with iniquity; only stand facing toward the east and repeat often only this: “You who made me, have mercy upon me.”
Benedicta Ward, Harlots of the Desert: A Study of Repentance in Early Monastic Sources (Oxford: A.R. Mowbray, 1987), pp. 83-84 - this is a Christian story that originated among circles of Egyptian monks during the fourth or fifth century C.E.

~ What are the similarities between the two stories?

~ Compare the reasons of the student and the saint to go visit the prostitute.

~ Compare the levels of sin between the student and the prostitute in the midrash. Compare the levels of sin between the priest and the prostitute in the Christian story. Who needs redemption, and why?

~ Compare the autonomy of the two prostitutes.

~ Compare what the two women do with their belongings, and why.

~ Compare how the two women are reintegrated to society. What do the walls of Thais's cell represent? Is she ever cleansed of her sins? Is there a continuity with her past? What about the unnamed prostitute in the midrash?

~ What does this story teach us about repentance?

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