## Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah Chapter 8

###### Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:1
[Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Derekh%20Eretz%20Rabbah/r/8:1)

הנכנס לבית אל יאמר להם תנו לי ואוכל עד שיאמרו לו הם אכול. מזגו לו את הכוס שוהה ושותה. וכמה ישהה. בחמין שלשה פעמים. ובצונן ד'. א״ר יהודה בד״א בכוס שבגליל. אבל בכוס שביהודה שוהה כל צרכו ושותהו.

**The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:**
A guest should not say to his host, ‘Serve me that I may eat’, but [must wait] until he is invited to eat. If they poured out a goblet [of wine] for him he must drink it with pauses.¹ How many pauses should he make? In the case of warm [beverages] three and with cold four. R. Judah said: This applies only to goblets of Galilee,² but with goblets used in Judah³ he drinks with as many pauses as he likes.⁴

footnotes:
¹ Not in one draught. Cf. above, p. 554.
² Which were small.
³ Which were large.
⁴ Without appearing haughty.


###### Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:2
[Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Derekh%20Eretz%20Rabbah/r/8:2)

לא יאמר אדם לחבירו בא ואכול מה שהאכלתני שזו דרך הרבית. ובירושלים היו הולכין את אפסחתי׳ למפלא שלהן.

**The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:**
A man should not say to his fellow, ‘Come and eat [with me in return] for the food you gave me’, because this is a kind of usury.⁵ In Jerusalem, however, they used to exchange invitations one with another.⁶

footnotes:
⁵ He may give him a more elaborate meal than he had eaten at the other’s house.
⁶ So GRA. They did not take the question of usury into consideration.


###### Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:3
[Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Derekh%20Eretz%20Rabbah/r/8:3)

לא ישלח אדם לחבירו חבית של יין ויתן על פיה שמן שזו דרך המיתה. ומעשה באדם אחד שעשה משתה לבנו. כיון שבאו בני חבורה והסבו נכנס להביא יין. ראה את החבית שמליאה שמן וחנק את עצמו ומת. מכאן אמרו חכמים אל ישלח אדם לחבירו חבית של יין ויתן על פיה שמן שזו דרך המיתה.

**The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:**
A man should not send to his fellow a barrel of wine and put oil at its mouth,⁷ because this may lead to fatal consequences. It once happened that a man arranged a banquet in honour of his son; when his guests arrived and sat down at the table, he went to get the oil.⁸ When he discovered that the barrel was full of wine he strangled himself and died.⁹ Hence the Sages said: A man should not send to his fellow a barrel of wine and put oil at its mouth, because it may lead to fatal consequences.

footnotes:
⁷ Leading him to believe that the whole barrel contained oil.
⁸ So GRA and H. V reads ‘wine’, with a similar change in the next sentence.
⁹ From shame, since he had nothing else prepared to set before his guests.


###### Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:4
[Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Derekh%20Eretz%20Rabbah/r/8:4)

לא יאמר אדם לחבירו טול שמן מפך ריקם מפני שמהנהו טוב חנם. ולא יסרב אדם בחבירו לסעוד ויודע בו שאינו סועד. ולא ירבה לו בתקרובת ויודע בו שאינו מקבל. לא ישקה אדם יין ישן לשם חדש שזה דרך גזל.

**The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:**
A man should not say to his fellow, ‘Take oil’ from an empty jar,¹⁰ because the latter would be grateful to him without cause.¹¹ A man should not urge his fellow to dine with him knowing that he will not do so; and he should not offer him many gifts when he knows that he will not accept them.

footnotes:
¹⁰ When he knows that the man will not do so.
¹¹ He gains the gratitude of the man through something which he had no intention of doing. This is the reason in all the cases mentioned.


###### Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:5
[Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Derekh%20Eretz%20Rabbah/r/8:5)

היה משקה יין לחמרים. אל יאמר להן סלקו את זה ותנו לזה שזה דרך הגזל.

**The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:**
A man should not pass off new wine for old¹² when giving his friend a drink because that is a kind of robbery. If he was giving drink to ass-drivers, he may not say to them, ‘Take away this man’s cup and pass it to someone else’ because this is a kind of robbery.¹³

footnotes:
¹² So GRA. V reverses the adjectives. H omits this sentence.
¹³ The suggestion is that he had had his drink when he had not.


###### Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:6
[Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 8:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Derekh%20Eretz%20Rabbah/r/8:6)

היה עומד בשוק אצל מוכרי תבואה. אל יאמר להם בכמה חפץ זה. והוא אינו רוצה ליקח. שמשביח טעותו של מוכר:

**The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:**
If a man was standing by sellers of produce in a market-place, he may not say to them, ‘What is the price of this article?’ when he has no intention of buying it,¹⁴ because he encourages the mind¹⁵ of the seller [that he will sell it].

footnotes:
¹⁴ To pretend interest in a purchase when he has no money is deception; cf. B.M. 58b (Sonc. ed., p. 347).
¹⁵ This, too, is deception. The translation is according to H and NY. V reads ‘mistake’.