 | | The students may go away from their homes for study of Torah without permission for thirty days and laborers for one week:
With permission, how much? As much as he wants. But what is the correct behavior? Rav said, one month here [studying] and one month at home, for it says, "In the matter of the labor brigades, one goes and one comes month by month for the months of the year" [1 Chron. 27:1]. Rabbi Yohanan says, one month here and two at home, for it says, "One month they will be in Lebanon and two months at home" [1 Kings 5:28].
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The issue here is that although a wife is sovereign to permit her husband to spend as much time away from her as they mutually agree upon, it is recognized that an unequal power relationship exists between them. The husband will very likely be able to prevail upon her to "permit" him to go away for longer periods of time, and then, in the words of Rashi, he will be "sinning" against his wife.
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The Talmud establishes, therefore, if not a strictly legalistic proscription, a strong moral one on being away from home for longer than thirty days. Two of the most dominant of talmudic authorities are cited to that effect, the only difference between them involving how much time the husband will spend at home once he returns. According to the Babylonian Rav, the married man would spend one-half of his time studying Torah, but according to the Palestinian, Rabbi Yohanan, he would spend two-thirds of his time with his wife.
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The continuation of the talmudic text on the next page switches gears in a startling contradiction of the previous section:
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| | [The students may go away from their homes for study of Torah without permission for thirty days . . .]; these are the words of Rabbi Eliezer:
Rav Bruna said that Rav said: The halakha is in accordance with the view of Rabbi Eliezer. Rav Ada the son of Ahva said that Rav said: Those are [only] the words of Rabbi Eliezer, but the sages hold that the students may go away for the study of Torah for two or three years without permission. Rava said that our Rabbis have relied upon Rav Ada the son of Ahva and indeed practice in accordance with his view.
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We find here a relatively late Babylonian tradition, which, in contrast to all earlier authorities, reverses the ruling of Rabbi Eliezer that the married scholar may not absent himself for more than thirty days from his wife and permits absences of several years.
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This reversal demonstrates power-
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| | 19. To be sure, this is not the only possible interpretation of this passage, but it is, interestingly enough, the interpretation of Rashi and the Tosafists, the canonical commentators on the Talmud.
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| | 20. "Two or three" is a conventional Semitic expression for "several."
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