One day R. Tarfon who, as we are told in the Mishna of Abot, was a very worthy man, passed in front of a vineyard at the time of the ripening of the figs and ate some of them. In the vineyard there was a guardian who watched over the figs, for many had been stolen during the year and he did not know who had taken them. So now,

having caught R. Tarfon plucking a fig and eating it, the guardian thought he was the thief. So he thrust the good R. Tarfon into a sack with the intention of throwing him into the water.

When he had brought him near the water and was on the point of throwing him out of the sack, he heard R. Tarfon exclaim: "Woe unto you, R. Tarfon! for you are going to die."

When the guardian heard that the man in the saek was R. Tarfon, he put the sack on the ground and ran away, whereupon R. Tarfon freed himself from the sack.

Concerning this R. Abba said in the name of R. Hananiah, son of Gamaliel, that ever since that day R. Tarfon grieved all his life long over the fact that he had used the Torah to save his life. For when the guardian heard that the man in the sack was R. Tarfon, who was renowned for his Torah, he let him go free for the sake of his learning. It is not proper to save oneself through the merit of one's learning. We deduce this from the case of Belshazzar, by an argument a fortiori. He had made a profane use of the sacred vessels of the temple, and in consequence thereof his life was cut off. How much more so the man who makes profane use of the Torah,

which is the holy of holies! He will surely lose his life. Therefore he grieved over it, especially as he could have induced the guardian to let him go by giving him money and there was no necessity of using the Torah, for R. Tarfon was a very wealthy man.

Moreover we find a saying of his in the Chapters of the Fathers that no one should earn his living from the Torah, which means that no one should derive any benefit

from his learning. This is why R. Tarfon grieved so much that he should have made use of the Torah to save his life from the watchman.