The First Cryptographer
Bava Batra 58; also, an Ekev dvar Torah
In yesterday’s daf (Bava Batra 58), we met the world’s first cryptographer, Rav Bena’ah.
To quote myself in explanation of the joke, thus essentially breaking the code.
Yes, he's a cartographer. In today's daf, Rabbi Benaah would enter crypts and maps out their dimensions, so that people walking overhead wouldn't accidentally become tamei. Thus, he was a crypt + o + grapher.
The gemara states:
רַבִּי בְּנָאָה הֲוָה קָא מְצַיֵּין מְעָרָתָא. כִּי מְטָא לִמְעָרְתָּא דְאַבְרָהָם, אַשְׁכְּחֵיהּ לֶאֱלִיעֶזֶר עֶבֶד אַבְרָהָם דְּקָאֵי קַמֵּי בָּבָא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ: מַאי קָא עָבֵיד אַבְרָהָם? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: גָּאנֵי בְּכַנְפַהּ דְּשָׂרָה, וְקָא מְעַיְּינָא לֵיהּ בְּרֵישֵׁיהּ.
§ Having mentioned Rabbi Bena’a, the Gemara relates an incident in which he was involved. Rabbi Bena’a was marking burial caves for the purpose of helping to prevent the contracting of ritual impurity. When he arrived at the cave of Abraham, i.e., the Cave of Machpelah, he encountered Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, who was standing before the entrance. Rabbi Bena’a said to him: What is Abraham doing at this moment? Eliezer said to him: He is lying in the arms of Sarah, and she is examining his head.
By the way, this is parashat Ekev, and I have a nice explanation for the practice of some saying המהולל בפה עמו, instead of the grammatically accurate בפי. It isn’t because of the gematria פז, which is a nice ex-post-facto rationalization. See here:
