- 5783/2022
- Rabbi Nickerson
- Rosh Hashanah
Rabbi NIckerson shared the following handout:
The Visitor
Babylonian Talmud - Kiddushin 81b
Pelimo used to say every day, “An arrow in Satan’s eyes!”
One day – it was the eve of Yom Kippur – Satan disguised himself as a poor man and went and called out at his [Pelimo’s] door.
Bread was brought out to him [Satan]. He pleaded, “On such a day when everyone is within, shall I be out?” Thereupon, he was taken in and bread was offered him.
“On a day like this,” he urged, “when everyone sits at the table, shall I sit alone?” He was led and sat down at the table. As he sat, his body suddenly was covered with suppurating sores, and he behaved repulsively. They told him, “Sit properly!”
They gave him a glass [of liquor] and he coughed and spat phlegm into it. They scolded him.
He fell and died.
Then Pelimo heard people crying out: “Pelimo has killed a man! Pelimo has killed a man!”
He fled and hid in the bathroom.
Satan followed him and he fell before him. When Satan saw how [Pelimo] was suffering, he disclosed his identity.
He asked Pelimo: “Why have you been cursing me?”
Pelimo asked, “Then how should I speak?”
[Satan] said to him, “[You should say] ‘May the Merciful One rebuke Satan.’”
Around-the-Rosh-Hashanah-Dinner-Table Discussion Questions
1. What are the issues/ideas that you feel can’t easily be ‘brought to the table’ and discussed right now? Which one would you want to address first? Why?
2. Is there a certain topic, place, or setting where you feel like you’re on the ‘outside’ while everyone else around you seems to be on the ‘inside’? In contrast, in what settings do you feel a sense of unity and collaboration?
What is Satan trying to teach Pelimo in this story