Gazing at a Rasha

This is a reaction to a recent article in the Jewish Link, about whether one may look at the visage of an evildoer.

Here, and in my articles, I often focus on scholastic relationships between Talmudic Sages, but it isn’t always clear how, and it isn’t always clear that, clarifying such biographical details is in any way relevant.

To illustrate how important this type of understanding is to understanding the dynamic of the sugya, and then downstream to halachic decisions, let’s we’ll consider a recent Torah article. I don’t mean to pick on the author, who is knowledgeable in Torah and who erred in his haste, by not considering scholastic generations, because that’s not the standard procedure for analyzing a sugya. Further, this issue of ignoring Talmudic biography, so that every Sage is in the same room at the same time, is common enough. There are many recent articles I could have selected.

The author quotes Megillah 28a:

, שָׁאַל רַבִּי אֶת רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן קׇרְחָה: בַּמָּה הֶאֱרַכְתָּ יָמִים? אָמַר לוֹ: קַצְתָּ בְּחַיַּי? אָמַר לוֹ: רַבִּי, תּוֹרָה הִיא וְלִלְמוֹד אֲנִי צָרִיךְ. אָמַר לוֹ: מִיָּמַי לֹא נִסְתַּכַּלְתִּי בִּדְמוּת אָדָם רָשָׁע. דְּאָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: אָסוּר לְאָדָם לְהִסְתַּכֵּל בְּצֶלֶם דְּמוּת אָדָם רָשָׁע, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר…

Thus, Rabbi (Yehuda HaNasi) asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha what he did to merit long life. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha replied that he never gazed at the likeness of a wicked man. Further, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha quoted Rabbi Yochanan that it’s forbidden to gaze at the face of a wicked man.

The author poses an interesting question: “What is being added by Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Karcha exactly—above and beyond the quote of Rabbi Yochanan?” He suggests (and I mostly concur) that Rabbi Yochanan spoke figuratively, not halachically, while Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha maintains that one should follow this advice no matter the social cost. That’s why it’s not brought lehalacha. Alternatively, that Rabbi Yochanan only spoke of looking at the face, whereas Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha, as a middat chassidut meriting longevity, had nothing at all to do with the evildoer. (I’d guess the author partly bases himself on Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha speaking of דְמוּת, while Rabbi Yochanan speaks of צֶלֶם דְּמוּת. However, that’s just in printing; the seven manuscripts either have צֶלֶם דְּמוּת or דְּמוּת consistently in both statements.)

My problem is that I cannot imagine Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha, an elderly Tanna who was speaking to Rebbi (who is Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi), a sixth-generation Tanna, actually quoted Rabbi Yochanan (bar Nappacha), an early second-generation Amora. (Admittedly, there’s an obscure fifth-generation Tanna, Rabbi Yochanan. But, given that Rabbi Eleazar (ben Pedat) responds to our Rabbi Yochanan, we’re dealing with the Amora.) Rabbi Yochanan was orphaned at birth, and was raised in Rebbi’s house until the age of 15, when Rebbi passed away. This same sugya has Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha, on his deathbed, bless Rebbi to attain half his own years. I don’t see how Rabbi Yochanan would have been old enough to declare such a halachic prohibition and have an elderly Tanna quote it.

Indeed, the citation of Rabbi Yochanan is דְּאָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן, with a leading daled instead of shin. It is Aramaic, and thus are certainly not Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha’s words. Instead, we must understand that the Talmudic Narrator is speaking here. This Narrator is anonymous, and might be intermediate Amoraim like Rav Pappa, late Amoraim like Ravina and Rav Ashi, or even by a Savoraim after the closing of hora’ah – redacting the gemara and assembling sources to connect ideas.

Thus, the Talmudic Narrator tries to support Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha. We might reverse the author’s question, and ask “What is being added by Rabbi Yochanan exactly—above and beyond the story involving of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha?” I can imagine a few possibilities.

(A) We might say that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha regarded it as a middat chassidut, something that was not-obligatory but still meritorious. That it why he merited long life. Meanwhile, Rabbi Yochanan adds to it an actual prohibition.

I don’t like that because, seemingly, the Talmudic Narrator quotes Rabbi Yochanan to bolster the Tanna’s prior statement, not to disagree. That is what דְּאָמַר means.

(B) We might say that Rabbi Yochanan adds nothing at all. He’s not supposed to! If so, both Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha and Rabbi Yochanan regarded it as a middat chassidut.

But wait! Didn’t Rabbi Yochanan use language of prohibition? The full quote is:

דְּאָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: אָסוּר לְאָדָם לְהִסְתַּכֵּל בְּצֶלֶם דְּמוּת אָדָם רָשָׁע, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״לוּלֵא פְּנֵי יְהוֹשָׁפָט מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה אֲנִי נוֹשֵׂא אִם אַבִּיט אֵלֶיךָ וְאִם אֶרְאֶךָּ״.

… as Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is prohibited for a person to gaze in the image of the likeness of a wicked man, as it is stated that the prophet Elisha said to Jehoram king of Israel: “Were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judea, I would not look toward you, nor see you” (II Kings 3:14).

[Note that the Steinsaltz English translation does not make this into a separate sentence, but as a lowercase ‘as’, thus concurring with the author that the Tanna quoted Rabbi Yochanan! Maybe that’s where the article author got it from.]

I think the answer is that language of prohibition, like asur, does not always mean that something is Biblically or even Rabbinically forbidden. In the context of homiletic statements, or hashkafic statements, or positive / negative character trait statements, the contemporary audience understood full well that these declarations of prohibition, or obligation, or liability, were not meant literally. (See here for an example, where it is not even Rabbinically forbidden to eat without a bracha, despite a statement that says otherwise.)

If so, Rabbi Yochanan could he homiletically stating it is asur, but it is almost the same as the middat chasidut of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha.

(C) Finally, it is possible that the Talmudic Narrator does not intend a proof from Rabbi Yochanan, but from the extended discussion which includes Rabbi Eleazar. Thus, the gemara there continues:

רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אָמַר: עֵינָיו כֵּהוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וַיְהִי כִּי זָקֵן יִצְחָק וַתִּכְהֶיןָ עֵינָיו מֵרְאוֹת״, מִשּׁוּם דְּאִסְתַּכַּל בְּעֵשָׂו הָרָשָׁע.

Rabbi Elazar said: One who gazes at the likeness of an evil man, his eyes become dim, as it is stated: “And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see” (Genesis 27:1). This happened because he gazed at the wicked Esau.

So, Rabbi Yochanan adds nothing, but Rabbi Eleazar shows that there’s a negative physical impact of looking at an evildoer. This aligns nicely with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha avoiding ever looking at an evildoer and therefore living to a ripe old age.