בבא בן בוטא

Baba ben Buta, in Gitin, chapter of damages [(57a)], acquitted a certain woman who was accused of adultery, stating that seed does not become spoiled and is repelled from the light. [He entered and was absorbed in the garment and does not congeal]. The whiteness of an egg becomes spoiled [it dries and congeals].

Thus he received from his teacher, Shammai the Elder. And he was a great sage and an elder. And in the first chapter of Bava Batra [(3b)], Herod killed all the Rabbis and spared Baba ben Buta to consult him, and he revealed to them his eyes, and in the end, he regretted and asked him, "What is your remedy?" He replied, "Like the house of the light of the world are the Rabbis; let them engage in the light of the world and build the Temple, which is the light of the world for atonement." At the end of Keritot [(25a)], in the Mishnah [(3)], it is stated that every day he would donate a guilt offering except for one day after Yom Kippur, and this is called the guilt offering of the pious.

And in Keritot there, he swore concerning this abode [i.e., he swore in the Temple (see above, Zechariah ben the butcher)]. And in Nedarim, chapter of Rabbi Eliezer [(56b)], he was a judge and humble and made peace between a man and his wife. [That one from Babylon married a woman from Eretz Yisrael and told her to cook him two leeks (i.e., a small matter), and she understood literally and boiled it for him.

And further, he said to her, "Bring me two cucumbers (i.e., watermelons), bring me two lights (translation: cucumbers)." And her husband became angry with her and said, "Let them be cursed upon Baba (i.e., the ground)," and she thought her husband was telling her to curse Baba ben Buta, and Baba ben Buta was sitting and judging.

He said to her, "What have you done?" She said, "Thus my husband commanded me." He said to her, "My daughter, you have done the will of your husband; may the Holy One, Blessed be He, bring forth from you two sons like Baba ben Buta." It is written in the Talmud that his spark was in Rabbi Meir, as it is stated in Rabba, chapter of Judges, concerning a certain man who was a jester because his wife would listen to the sermon of Rabbi Meir; he commanded her to go and spit before him, and the man ruled like Baba ben Buta, and this man and this woman are Korach and his wife, who were jesters against Moshe and Aharon]. And although he was a student of Shammai [(as stated above)], in ordination, he acted like Hillel in chapter two of Beitzah [(20a)].

He brought three thousand sheep and placed them on the Temple Mount; whoever wishes may bring offerings and ordain, knowing that the halacha is like Hillel. Jerusalem Talmud there, halacha four, and Chagigah, chapter two, halacha three. Baba is Yotam and his remedy; see Chagah, Gittin, 1961.