Elisha HaNavi and the Bears
Youths whose water business dried up when Elisha HaNavi healed Yericho’s water mock him, and bears from a forest attack them. Was the forest a miracle too?
Elisha HaNavi miraculously solved the drinking water issue in Yericho. The water there was poisonous and bitter. A group of young entrepreneurs earned a living by supplying the city with bottled water. However, their services were no longer required after Elisha miraculously purified the water. Apparently, people back then weren’t interested in buying bottled water, if free tap water was readily available.
These erstwhile entrepreneurs disparaged Elisha as he was leaving Yericho. They blamed him for destroying their lucrative source of income. The verse refers to these youths as “katanim.” This term generally translates as minors. However, these youths were halachically adults. The Gemara (Sotah 46b), therefore, wonders why the pasuk ascribes the label of “katanim” to them. The answer given is that the term refers more accurately to “little,” meaning they had little faith. They didn’t trust that Hashem would find them an alternate source of income. Faced with a bleak outlook for prosperity, they ridiculed Elisha.
The youths were punished for their indiscretion. Miraculously, bears came from a nearby forest and attacked the youths. The Gemara proceeds to cite a dispute between Rav and Shmuel about the exact nature of the miracle. There were certainly no bears there before. However, the argument is whether Hashem miraculously created a forest as well or it was pre-existing. The Gemara then inquires: what purpose would miraculously creating a forest serve? All that was needed was for the bears to attack the youths. The Gemara answers that the bears in the story would have been too afraid to attack the youths, unless they had refuge nearby in their home turf.