Daf Ditty Eruvin 29: Onion Johnny We are all as delicate as onions. Outside, pinkish-brown, striated with age, our dried up, papery carapace ready to be peeled away to expose new skin beneath. Tears flow as I remove each layer, tough becoming ever more soft, richer in aroma and paler in hue. Then the tender centre, the unblemished flesh like that of a new-born child - the child I yearn to hold in my arms. The Onion Johnny by Yvonne Clark1 1 https://www.londonindependentstoryprize.co.uk/post/the-onion-johnny 1 2 The Master also said that the minimum measure of olives and onions that may be used for an eiruv is enough to eat them with the food of two meals. The Gemara asks: May one establish an eiruv with onions? Wasn’t it taught in a baraita that Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: Rabbi Meir once spent Shabbat in the town of Ardiska, and a certain person came before him and said to him: Rabbi, I made an eiruv of Shabbat borders [eiruv teḥumin] with onions, so that I might walk to the town of Tiv’in. 3 Ardiska was located between the man’s eiruv and his destination of Tiv’in, which was beyond his Shabbat limit as measured from his hometown. And Rabbi Meir made him remain within his four cubits. He forbade him to leave his four cubits, as he held that an eiruv made with onions is not an eiruv, and therefore the person had left his Shabbat limit without an eiruv teḥumin. The Gemara answers: This is not difficult. This ruling, which states that onions may not be used for an eiruv, is referring to onion leaves, which are harmful; whereas that ruling, which states that onions may be used for an eiruv, is referring to onion bulbs, which are edible. As it was taught in a baraita: If one ate an onion and died early the next morning, we need not ask from what he died, as his death was certainly caused by the onion. And Shmuel said: They only taught this with regard to the leaves; but with regard to onion bulbs, we have no problem with it. And even with regard to the leaves, we only stated this concern. 4 The Sages taught in a baraita: A person should not eat onion because of the toxins in it. There was an incident with Rabbi Ḥanina, who ate half an onion and half of its toxins, and he fell deathly ill, and his colleagues prayed for mercy for him, and he survived. He was rescued only because the time needed him, as his generation was in need of his teaching, but otherwise he would not have recovered. RASHI …poison in the onion… Tosafos תופסות ה"ד נפמ י שחנ ובש שחנ י נפמ ה"ד תופסות Tosfos gives two explanations of what this is. 'פ ה' סרא לש ףרש לצב ףרש לש סרא ה' 'פ Explanation #1 (Rashi): This is poison on the onion's sap. ו 'ר ח' יפ ' דומעה וכותבש לגעתמש וכותב ןימכ לועבג ןיצבקתמו וב ערז לצבה ותוא דומעה ארקנ שחנ לש :לצב לש שחנ ארקנ דומעה ותוא לצבה ערז וב ןיצבקתמו לועבג ןימכ וכותב לגעתמש וכותבש דומעה ' יפ ח' 'ר Explanation #2 (R. Chananel): This is the central core inside that is round inside it, like a stem, and the onion seeds gather in it. That pillar is called the “snake of the onion”. Steinzaltz (OBM) writes:2 Avoiding Dangerous Foods When Establishing an Eiruv When discussing what types of food items can be used for the eiruv, the Gemara emphasizes that foods that are dangerous to eat should not be used. Rav Hamnuna said: One may not establish an eiruv with raw beets, as Rav Hisda said: Raw beet kills a healthy person. The Gemara asks: Don’t we see people eating it and they do not die? The Gemara answers: There, it is referring to a beet that was only partially cooked, which is dangerous. The Gemara follows this discussion with another quote from Rav Hisda that cooked beets are good for the heart, good for the eyes, and certainly good for the intestines. The beets commonly referred to in the Talmud are Beta vulgaris cicla, a garden vegetable. Its leaves can be cooked and eaten and have a flavor similar to spinach. Another vegetable that may 2 https://www.steinsaltz-center.org/home/doc.aspx?mCatID=68446 5 not be valid for the eiruv because of the potential danger involved in eating it is the onion. The Gemara relates that while the onion itself can be used for the eiruv, its leaves are potentially dangerous and cannot be used. A baraita is brought that teaches that onions should not be eaten because of "the snake that is in it." The baraita continues with a story that Rabbi Hanina ate half an onion with half of the "snake" that was in it and became ill to the extent that he was close to death. His colleagues then prayed on his behalf and he recovered, since the generation needed his teaching and leadership. The "snake" that the Gemara understands to be the danger lurking in the onion is subject to much speculation. The Ritva suggests that it is a worm that is found in the leaves of the onion that is potentially lethal. According to most traditions, however, it refers to a sprouting onion, which looks very much like a snake. It is difficult to come to a clear conclusion regarding the Gemara's contention that eating onions generally, or their leaves specifically, presents a danger, since experience shows that onions are eaten with no ill effects. Nevertheless, onions contain the chemical n-propyl disulfide (C2H12S2). Ingestion of even relatively small amounts of raw onions can, theoretically, cause toxicity from this chemical, which denatures hemoglobin leading to the destruction of red blood cells (see below for the chemistry). In our case, which discusses making up two full meals solely from onions, there is certainly the possibility of poisoning (?) People with specific sensitivity may even be in danger of death. 6 3 .the Allium cepa, one of the earliest cultivated plants ( ָלָבּצ .ONION (Heb It is mentioned only once in the Bible as one of the vegetables eaten in Egypt for which the Israelites longed when they were in the wilderness: We remember the fish, which we were wont to eat in 5 ה נ,וָּזֶרכתא ְ ַ - ֲָ,רהָשׁגאַהדּ ֶ - ַמלבֹּנאכ ְרִצְ ִ,םַי ִ,םַי ְרִצְ ַמלבֹּנאכ Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and ב,םתאאהו ֲתאָקּיאִחְשּׁהוטּ ,םֶ ִֻתיְַאַ ;םִֵחנִִֵּ ָ - ;the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic ֶה רָחצ ְֶתאִוי - ִי,םְָלצַהבּ ְוֶאת - ִי.ַהםוּשּׁמ Num. 11:5 Onion growing was widespread in Egypt and drawings of it are found on the pyramids. The onion, with its concentric skins, symbolized in Egypt the stellar and planetary system, and was an object of idol worship, some swearing by its name (see below Pliny, Historia naturalis, 19:101). The word appears in family names. Among the Nethinim (see *Gibeonites and Nethinim ) who went from Babylon to Ereẓ Israel, a family of the children of Bazluth is mentioned: the children of Bazluth, the children of 52 בנ ֵיְבּנ - ַב ְצלוּת }ס{ ֵיְבּנ - ;Mehida, the children of Harsha ְמ ָיִח,אד }ס{ ֵיְבּנ }ר{ ְָ.אַחשׁר }ס{ Ezra 2:52 3 https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/onion 7 and the Jerusalem Talmud (Ḥag. 2:2; 77d) mentions a Miriam bat Alei Beẓalim ("onion leaves") which may be a reference to Miriam the mother of Jesus. The onion is frequently mentioned in rabbinic literature. R. Judah used to say "Eat baẓal [onions] and sit ba-ẓel [in the shade], and do not eat geese and fowl" (Pes. 114a), i.e., do not desire luxuries but be content with little. They made a distinction between "rural onions" (TJ, Shev. 2:9, 34a) and "urban onions which were the food of city folk" (Ter. 2:5). A species very near to the onion was called beẓalẓul (Kil. 1:3), which is possibly the shallot, the Ashkelon onion, and therefore sometimes called "scallion" which was praised by Theophrastus, Strabo, and Pliny. The onion was usually pulled up before it flowered and some of the plants were left to flower and produce seed (Pe'ah 3:3 and TJ, Pe'ah 17c). Many species of Allium of the same genus as the onion grow wild in Israel, where the climate and soil are very suitable for onion plants. To the Liliaceae family of onion belong some of the most beautiful of Israel's flowers. 8 Miriam, the daughter of Onion-Leaves Dina Stein writes:4 The figure of Miriam the daughter of Onion Leaves connects the story of the pious men of Ashkelon and the story of Shim'on ben Shatah. She holds both the gate of Gehenna and logical axis that holds the world at bay. She also serves as the fulcrum of the narrative, connecting its seemingly disparate parts. I suggest that precisely the coarse stitching by which her figure is made to bind the narrative, and the dual explanation regarding her sin, together reveal the cultural imagination underlying the tale of Shim'on ben Shatah. There were two pious men in Ashkelon. They used to eat together (lit. as one), and drink together, and toil over Torah together. One of them died and he was not properly mourned. The son of "bowels," the tax collector died and the entire town ceased working in order to mourn him.