Rabbah bar Bar Chanah and the Fat Geese
Rabbah bar Bar Chanah meets geese so fat their feathers fall out, and Rebbi Elazar says Yisrael will have to give a reckoning for their suffering.
The Gemara relates an interesting episode (Bava Basra 73b). Rabbah bar Bar Chanah came across geese in the desert who were excessively fat. Their feathers were falling off because of their corpulence. Underneath them, rivers of oil (excess fat) flowed. Following Rabbah bar Bar Chanah’s query about whether he was destined to receive any part of them as his reward in the World to Come, one of the birds raised its wing and another its thigh, intimating that they represented his reward. Rebbi Elazar commented that Yisrael would have to give reckoning for this.
What did Rebbi Elazar mean by his enigmatic statement? The Rashbam explains that he was referring to Klal Yisrael committing sins, thereby delaying Mashiach’s arrival. As a result of the delay, these geese were getting fatter and fatter, causing them increased suffering. Klal Yisrael will be taken to task for causing these geese to suffer.