daf bit: Beitzah 32

[cellio]

R. Natan b. Abba taught in the name of Rav: the rich men of Babylon will go down to Gehenna, for once Shabtai b. Marinus came to Babylon and implored them to provide him with a place for trading and they refused; further, they did not give him any food. He said: these are the descendants of the mixed multitude (that left Mitrayim with Israel), for it is written: "he will show you mercy and have compassion on you...as he has sworn unto your fathers" (Deut 13:18). This teaches that whoever is merciful to his fellow man is a descendant of Avraham (because it says "unto your fathers"), and whoever is not merciful certainly does not have Avraham as an ancestor (father). (32b)

The implication that if you're merciful to others then God will be merciful to you is not clear from the cited passage, though we get this idea elsewhere. It's also not clear how Rav's causality runs: is it that they are unmerciful, thus won't receive mercy, thus must not be descendants of Avraham, or is it that they are not descendants of Avraham and therefore aren't merciful (and thus won't receive mercy)? I think it's the former, though the torah never actually says that "not Avraham = no mercy" -- just that "Avraham = mercy".

Comments

[richardf8]

You are absolutely right, from a Socratic standpoint.

But this is Talmudic reasoning, and a Midrash Aggadah to boot. Logical fallacies are often rhetorical strategies, and I do believe that that is what is happening in this case.