These pages mark the conclusion of the first tractate/volume of the Talmud, Berachot. (Page 64a is actually the page to be studied on Shabbat March 7.) We began on page 2a with the question of when we can recite the Shema in the evening and we conclude with how to greet someone as they leave - "leych le-shalom (go to peace) and NOT "leych be-shalom" (go with peace).
There are 2 stories on these pages that I think say more about the rabbis themselves and the lessons they wanted to teach then all the details about dreams, assorted blessings to be recited and even the extent to which students will invade their teacher's privacy in order to learn (for the sake of "it is Torah and I have to learn"!)
The first story concerns Rav Sheshet - a leading rabbi in Babylonia who also happened to be blind. He was a man of extraordinary wisdom and scholarship and the fact that he was blind made Rav Sheshet into a legendary figure. A story is told in these pages of a sectarian who made fun of Rav Sheshet for wanting to be in the presence of the king in order to "see" him. Why would Rav Sheshet care about saying that blessing for "seeing" a king when he is blind! Rav Sheshet taught that seeing could mean being in the presence as well and then punished the sectarian by either causing his eyes to be gouged out or "looking" at him and thereby making him into a pile of bones.
We are supposed to be shocked by this story but it is one of many that we will see throughout the Talmud that highlight the super powers of select rabbis. The rabbis teach that the more saintly and the more wise the rabbi, the more potential for that rabbi to have such powers. All these stories teach that though the rabbis lived under foreign rule and dealt with persecution and oppression, the Torah would always be there to provide a foundation and to be a source of comfort and strength.
Which leads to the other story in these pages about Rabbi Akiba. He lived under the Roman emperor Hadrian who enacted even fiercer decrees against the Jewish population of Judea than his predecessors. He forbade the public study of Torah and Rabbi Akiba ignored him. Akiba said that just as fish have to swim in water to survive despite the threat of nets and hooks, so too Jews need to study Torah. Akiba was arrested and was tortured to death. As he was about to die he was grateful that he finally was able to "love the Lord your God with all your soul". When he died the rabbis say that the angels in heaven questioned God, "such is his reward for studying and teaching, to be tortured to death?" And God answers that Rabbi Akiba's reward is the world to come.
Such is the main feature of rabbinic theodicy - explaining why bad things happen to good people. There is no other way to inspire people to be good in the face of such evil all around other than to provide comfort in the world to come.
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