daf bit: Bava Kama 60

[cellio]

The mishna discusses liability in the case of one who sets a fire (and the thorns nearby catch, and then the stacks of corn). Commenting on this in the g'mara, Rabbi Shmuel ben Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: calamity comes upon the world only when there are wicked people in the world, but it always begins with the righteous. When does fire break out? When there are thorns nearby. Rabbi Yosef added: once permission has been granted to the Destroyer [I assume this is the angel of death], he does not distinguish between righteous and wicked, and, further, he begins with the righteous, as it says: I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. (60a)

(I have to wonder, in saying that the righteous are consumed first, whether the rabbis are engaging in exegesis -- drawing meaning from the text -- or eisegesis -- reading meaning into it based on the many martyrs and victims of foreign conquest.)

The g'mara goes on to discuss safe travel practices to avoid bumping into the Destroyer. When there is a famine in the city the Destroyer walks boldly down the center of the road so you should stick to the sides, but when all is well he has to slink around beside the road so you should walk in the center. I wouldn't have thought that trying to dodge the Destroyer would do any good.

Comments

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

eisegesis --- what a great word. And a near-palindrome, to boot.

To your last point, I don't know this sugya but it sounds like "the Destroyer" here is not a malach sent to claim a particular person, but instead a wanton destructive force that catches what it can. Perhaps a form of demon?

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*reads in fascination*

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

OK, should have started with Jastrow. Page 851:

destroyer, esp. Mashḥith, name of a demon of destruction. Deut. R. s. 3; Yalk. Deut. 853.

So it sounds like the word is both a generic for "destroyer" or "one who slaughters" but was also used as the name of a specific demon, which would seem to fit the usage here.