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Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala

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Title: Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala

Editor: Maurice H. Harris


        
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEBRAIC LITERATURE; TRANSLATIONS FROM THE TALMUD, MIDRASHIM AND KABBALA ***

HEBRAIC LITERATURE; TRANSLATIONS FROM THE TALMUD, MIDRASHIM AND KABBALA

Tudor Publishing Co.
New York
1943







SPECIAL INTRODUCTION


Among the absurd notions as to what the Talmud was, given credence in
the Middle Ages, one was that it was a man! The mediaeval priest or
peasant was perhaps wiser than he knew. Almost, might we say, the Talmud
was Man, for it is a record of the doings, the beliefs, the usages, the
hopes, the sufferings, the patience, the humor, the mentality, and the
morality of the Jewish people for half a millennium.

What is the Talmud? There is more than one answer. Ostensibly it is the
_corpus juris_ of the Jews from about the first century before the
Christian era to about the fourth after it. But we shall see as we
proceed that the Talmud was much more than this. The very word "Law" in
Hebrew--"Torah"--means more than its translation would imply. The Jew
interpreted his whole religion in terms of law. It is his name in fact
for the Bible's first five books--the Pentateuch. To explain what the
Talmud is we must first explain the theory of its growth more remarkable
perhaps than the work itself. What was that theory? The Divine Law was
revealed to Moses, not only through the Commands that were found written
in the Bible, but also through all the later rules and regulations of
post-exilic days. These additional laws it was presumed were handed down
orally from Moses to Joshua, thence to the Prophets, and later still
transmitted to the Scribes, and eventually to the Rabbis. The reason why
the Rabbis ascribed to Moses the laws that they later evolved, was due
to their intense reverence for Scripture, and their modest sense of
their own authority and qualification. "If the men of old were giants
then we are pigmies," said they. They felt and believed that all duty
for the guidance of man was found in the Bible either directly or
inferentially. Their motto was then, "Search the Scriptures," and they
did search them with a literalness and a painstaking thoroughness never
since repeated. Not a word, not a letter escaped them. Every redundancy
of expression was freighted with meaning, every repetition was made to
give birth to new truth. Some of the inferences were logical and
natural, some artificial and far-fetched, but all ingenious. Sometimes
the method was inductive and sometimes deductive. That is, occasionally
a needed law was promulgated by the Jewish Sanhedrin, and then its
authority sought in the Scripture, or the Scripture would be sought in
the first instance to reveal new law.

So while the Jewish code, religious and civil, continued to grow during
the era of the Restoration of the second Temple, to meet the more
complex conditions of later times, still the theory was maintained that
all was evolved from original Scripture and always transmitted, either
written or oral, from Moses from Mount Sinai. It was not, however, till
the year 219 after the Christian era that a compiled summary of the
so-called oral law was made--perhaps compiled from earlier summaries--by
Rabbi Jehudah Hanassi (the Prince), and the added work was called the
Mishnah or Second Law. Mark the date. We have passed the period of the
fall of Judea's nationality. And it was these very academies in which
the Jewish tradition--the Jewish Law was studied, that kept alive the
Jewish people as a religious community after they had ceased to be a
nation. This Mishnah, divided into six _sedarim_ or chapters, and
subdivided into thirty-six treatises, became now in the academies of
Palestine, and later in Babylonia, the text of further legal
elaboration, with the theory of deduction from Scripture still
maintained.

Although the life of denationalized Israel was much narrower and more
circumscribed, with fewer outlets to their capacities, nevertheless the
new laws deduced from the Mishnah code in the academies grew far larger
than the original source, while the discussions which grew around each
Halacha, as the final decision was termed, and which was usually
transmitted with the decision, grew so voluminous that it became
gradually impossible to retain the complex tradition in the
memory--remarkable as the Oriental memory was and is. That fact, added
to the growing persecutions from Israel's over-lords, and the consequent
precarious fate of these precious traditions, made it necessary to write
them down in spite of the prejudice against committing the oral law to
writing at all. This work was undertaken by Rav Asche and his disciples,
and was completed before the year 500. The Mishnah, together with the
laws that later grew out of it, called also Gamara, or Commentary, form
the Talmud. While the Palestinian school evolved a Gamara from the
Mishnah which is called the "Palestinian Talmud," it was the tradition
of the Babylonian academies, far vaster because they continued for so
many more centuries, that is the Talmud _per se_, that great work of
2,947 folio leaves. Were we to continue the tradition further, we might
show how often this vast legal compilation was the subject of further
commentary, discussion and deduction by yet later scholars. But that
takes us beyond our theme and is another story.

In forming an estimate of these laws, we must first remember that they
belonged to the days when religion and state were one. So we shall find
priestly laws mixed up with police laws, sanitary regulations side by
side with regulations of sanctity, the injunctions teaching political
economy and morality almost in the same line. It should rather then be
compared to codes of law than to religious scriptures, though often
there the comparison would be incomplete, since the religious atmosphere
pervaded even the most secular circumstance of the life of the Jew.
There was no secular. The meanest function in life must be brought in
relation to the great Divine. This must be understood in studying the
Talmud, this must be understood in studying the Jew. As law, it compares
favorably with the Roman code--its contemporary in part. In the
treatment of a criminal it is almost quixotically humane. It abhors the
shedding of blood, and no man can be put to death on circumstantial
evidence. Many of its injunctions are intensely minute and
hair-splitting to the extreme of casuistry. Yet these elements are
familiar in the interpretation of law, not only in the olden time, but
in some measure even to-day. There are instances where Talmudic law is
tenderer than the Biblical; for example, the _lex talionis_ is softened
into an equivalent.

Yet the legal does not form the whole of the Talmud, nor perhaps the
part that would most interest the casual reader or the world at large.
It is the dry, prosaic half. There is a poetic half, let us say a
homiletic half, what we call Agada, as distinct from the legal portion
called Halacha. The term Agada, "narrative," is wofully insufficient to
describe the diverse material that falls under this head, for it
comprehends all the discursive elements that come up in the legal
discussions in the old Babylonian and Palestinian academies. These
elements are occasionally biographical,--fragments of the lives of the
great scholars, occasionally historical,--little bits of Israel's long
tragedy, occasionally didactic,--facts, morals, life lessons taught by
the way; occasionally anecdotic, stories told to relieve the monotony of
discussion; not infrequently fanciful; bits of philosophy, old
folk-lore, weird imaginings, quaint beliefs, superstitions and humor.
They are presented haphazard, most irrelevantly introduced in between
the complex discussions, breaking the thread that however is never lost,
but always taken up again.

From this point of view the Talmud is a great maze and apparently the
simplest roads lead off into strange, winding by-paths. It is hard to
deduce any distinct system of ethics, any consistent philosophy, any
coherent doctrine. Yet patience rewards the student here too, and from
this confused medley of material, he can build the intellectual world of
the early mediæval Jew. In the realm of doctrine we find that "original
sin," "vicarious atonement," and "everlasting punishment," are denied.
Man is made the author of his own salvation. Life beyond the grave is
still progressive; the soul is pre-existent.

A suggestion of the wit and wisdom of the Talmud may be gathered from
the following quotations:--

  A single light answers as well for a hundred men as for one.
  The ass complains of cold even in July.
  A myrtle in the desert remains a myrtle.
  Teach thy tongue to say, "I do not know."
  Hospitality is an expression of Divine worship.
  Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend has a friend;
    be discreet.
  Attend no auctions if thou hast no money.
  Rather flay a carcass, than be idly dependent on charity.
  The place honors not the man, 'tis the man who gives honor to the place.
  Drain not the waters of thy well while other people may desire them.
  The rose grows among thorns.
  Two pieces of coin in one bag make more noise than a hundred.
  The rivalry of scholars advances science.
  Truth is heavy, therefore few care to carry it.
  He who is loved by man is loved by God.
  Use thy noble vase to-day; to-morrow it may break.
  The soldiers fight and the kings are heroes.
  Commit a sin twice, it will seem a sin no longer.
  The world is saved by the breath of the school children.
  A miser is as wicked as an idolater.
  Do not make woman weep, for God counts her tears.
  The best preacher is the heart; the best teacher time;
    the best book the world; the best friend God.

The philosophy in the Talmud, rather than the philosophy of it, has been
made the subject of separate treatment just as the whole of the Agada
has been drawn out of the Talmud and published as a separate work.

What is the Talmud to the Jew to-day? It is literature rather than law.
He no longer goes to the voluminous Talmud to find specific injunction
for specific need. Search in that vast sea would be tedious and
unfruitful. Its legal portion has long been codified in separate
digests. Maimonides was the first to classify Talmudic law. Still later
one Ascheri prepared a digest called the "Four Rows," in which the
decisions of later Rabbis were incorporated. But it was the famous
Shulchan Aruch (a prepared table) written by Joseph Caro in the
sixteenth century, that formed the most complete code of Talmudic law
enlarged to date, and accepted as religious authority by the orthodox
Jews to-day.

I have already referred to the literature that has grown out of the
Talmud. The "Jewish Encyclopedia" treats every law recognized by nations
from the Talmudic stand-point. This will give the world a complete
Talmudic point of view. In speaking of it as literature, it lacks
perhaps that beauty of form in its language which the stricter demand as
literature _sine qua non_, and yet its language is unique. It is
something more than terse, for many a word is a whole sentence. Written
in Aramaic, it contains many words in the languages of the nations with
whom Israel came in contact--Greek, Roman, Persian, and words from other
tongues.

Like the Jew, the Talmud has had a history, almost as checkered as that
of its creator. Like him it was singled out for persecution. Louis IX.
burned twenty-four cart-loads of Talmuds in Paris. Its right of survival
had often been wrested through church synods and councils. It has been
banned, it has been excommunicated, it has been made the subject of
popish bulls; but it was in the sixteenth century that the Benedictine
Monks made a particular determined effort to destroy it. Fortunately
they knew not the times. It was the age of Humanism, the forerunner of
the Reformation, and the Talmud found its ablest defender in the great
Christian humanist, John Reuchlin. He was the one first to tell his
co-religionists, "Do not condemn the Talmud before you understand it.
Burning is no argument. Instead of burning all Jewish literature, it
were better to found chairs in the universities for its exposition." The
cause of liberality and light gained the day, and the printing-press
decided the perpetuation of the Talmud.

In the second stage of its persecution the censor figures. His
Philistine pen passed ruthlessly over everything that seemed to hint at
criticism of the Church; but not content with expunging the heretical
and the inferentially heretical, the censor at times went even so far as
to erase sentiments particularly lofty, in order that the Talmud should
not have the credit of expounding noble doctrine, nor the Jew the
advantage of studying it.

But the latest stage of its persecution belongs to more modern days,
when inquisitions were out of date and monkish claws were cut. The
traducer would spitefully engage the services of some renegade Jew, to
gather from the Talmud all portions and passages that might seem
grotesque and ridiculous, so that the world might form an unfavorable
impression of the Talmud and of the people who treasure it. This has
been done with so much success that up till very recently the Gentile
world, including the Christian clergy, knew of the Talmud only through
these unfortunate perversions and caricatures. Imagine the citation of a
chapter from _Leviticus_ and one from _Chronicles_, of some vindictive
passages in the _Psalms_, of a few skeptical bits in _Ecclesiastes_ and
_Job_, and one or two of the barbaric stories in _Judges_, to be offered
to the world as a fair picture of the Bible, and you will understand the
sort of treatment the Talmud has received from the world at large and
the kind of estimate it has been given opportunity to form.

What is the value of the Talmud for the Jew? Certainly its greatest
value was rendered in the Middle Ages, when literature was scant and
copies of the few books in existence were rarer. When the Jew was shut
out of the world's pleasure and the world's culture and barred up in
Ghetto slums, then it was that the Talmud became his recreation and his
consolation, feeding his mind and his faith. In this way it not only
became in the Middle Ages a picture of the Jew, but largely formed his
character. It made him a keen dialectician, tempered with a thoughtful
and poetic touch. It fostered his patience and his humor and kept vivid
his ideals. It linked him with the Orient, while living in the Occident
and made him a bridge between the old and the new.

To the world at large it has great value archæologically. Here are
preserved ancient laws, glint lights on past history, forgotten forms in
the classic tongues, and pictures of old civilization. No one criticism
can cover the whole work. It is so many-sided. It includes so many
different standards of worth and value. If we take it as a whole, it is
good, it is bad and indifferent; it is trash and it is treasure; it is
dust and it is diamonds; it is potsherd and it is pearls; and in the
hands of impartial scholars, it is one of the great monuments of mental
achievement, one of the world's wonders.

Maurice H. Harris




THE TALMUD

       *       *       *       *       *

Where do we learn that the Shechinah rests even upon one who studies the
law? In Exodus xx. 24, where it is written, "In all places where I
record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee."

_Berachoth_, fol. 6, col. 1.

One pang of remorse at a man's heart is of more avail than many stripes
applied to him. (See Prov. xvii. 10.)

Ibid., fol. 7, col. 1.

"Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord!" (Deut. vi. 4.) Whosoever
prolongs the utterance of the word one, shall have his days and years
prolonged to him. So also _Zohar_, syn. tit. ii.

Ibid., fol. 13, col. 2.

Once, as the Rabbis tell us, the Roman Government issued a decree
forbidding Israel to study the law. Whereupon Pappus, the son of
Yehudah, one day found Rabbi Akiva teaching it openly to multitudes,
whom he had gathered round him to hear it. "Akiva," said he, "art thou
not afraid of the Government?" "List," was the reply, "and I will tell
thee how it is by a parable. It is with me as with the fishes whom a
fox, walking once by a river's side, saw darting distractedly to and fro
in the stream; and, addressing, inquired, 'From what, pray, are ye
fleeing?' 'From the nets,' they replied, 'which the children of men have
set to ensnare us.' 'Why, then,' rejoined the fox, 'not try the dry land
with me, where you and I can live together, as our fathers managed to do
before us?' 'Surely,' exclaimed they, 'thou art not he of whom we have
heard so much as the most cunning of animals, for herein thou art not
wise, but foolish. For if we have cause to fear where it is natural for
us to live, how much more reason have we to do so where we needs must
die!' Just so," continued Akiva, "is it with us who study the law, in
which (Deut. xxx. 20) it is written, 'He is thy life and the length of
thy days;' for if we suffer while we study the law, how much more shall
we if we neglect it?" Not many days after, it is related, this Rabbi
Akiva was apprehended and thrown into prison. As it happened, they led
him out for execution just at the time when "Hear, O Israel!" fell to be
repeated, and as they tore his flesh with currycombs, and as he was with
long-drawn breath sounding forth the word one, his soul departed from
him. Then came forth a voice from heaven which said, "Blessed art thou,
Rabbi Akiva, for thy soul and the word one left thy body together."

_Berachoth_, fol. 61, col. 2.

The badger, as it existed in the days of Moses, was an animal of unique
type, and the learned are not agreed whether it was a wild one or a
domestic. It had only one horn on its forehead; and was assigned for the
time to Moses, who made a covering of its skin for the tabernacle; after
which it became extinct, having served the purpose of its existence.
Rabbi Yehudah says, "The ox, also, which the first man, Adam,
sacrificed, had but one horn on its forehead."

_Shabbath_, fol. 28, col. 2.

Once a Gentile came to Shamai, and said, "Proselytize me, but on
condition that thou teach me the whole law, even the whole of it, while
I stand upon one leg." Shamai drove him off with the builder's rod which
he held in his hand. When he came to Hillel with the same challenge,
Hillel converted him by answering him on the spot, "That which is
hateful to thyself, do not do to thy neighbor. This is the whole law,
and the rest is its commentary." (Tobit, iv. 15; Matt. vii. 12.)

Ibid., fol. 31, col. 1.

When Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his son, Rabbi Elazar, came out of
their cave on a Friday afternoon, they saw an old man hurrying along
with two bunches of myrtle in his hand. "What." said they, accosting
him, "dost thou want with these?" "To smell them in honor of the
Sabbath," was the reply. "Would not one bunch," they remarked, "be
enough for that purpose?" "Nay," the old man replied; "one is in honor
of 'Remember' (Exod. xxii. 28); and one in honor of 'Keep' (Deut. v.
8)." Thereupon Rabbi Shimon remarked to his son, "Behold how the
commandments are regarded by Israel!"

Ibid., fol. 33, col. 2.

Not one single thing has God created in vain. He created the snail as a
remedy for a blister; the fly for the sting of a wasp; the gnat for the
bite of a serpent; the serpent itself for healing the itch (or the
scab); and the lizard (or the spider) for the sting of a scorpion.

Ibid., fol. 77. col. 2.

When a man is dangerously ill, the law grants dispensation, for it says,
"You may break one Sabbath on his behalf, that he may be preserved to
keep many Sabbaths."

_Shabbath_, fol. 151, col. 2.

Once when Rabbi Ishmael paid a visit to Rabbi Shimon, he was offered a
cup of wine, which he at once, without being asked twice, accepted, and
drained at one draught. "Sir," said his host, "dost thou not know the
proverb, that he who drinks off a cup of wine at a draught is a greedy
one?" "Ah!" was the answer, "that fits not this case; for thy cup is
small, thy wine is sweet, and my stomach is capacious."

_P'sachim_, fol. 86, col. 2.

At the time when Nimrod the wicked had cast our Father Abraham into the
fiery furnace, Gabriel stood forth in the presence of the Holy
One--blessed be He!--and said, "Lord of the universe, let me, I pray
thee, go down and cool the furnace, and deliver that righteous one from
it." Then the Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto him, "I am One in my
world and he is one in his world; it is more becoming that He who is one
should deliver him who is one." But as God does not withhold His reward
from any creature, He said to Gabriel, "For this thy good intention, be
thine the honor of rescuing three of his descendants." At the time when
Nebuchadnezzar the wicked cast Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the
fiery furnace, Yourkami, the prince of hail, arose before God and said,
"Lord of the universe, let me, I pray thee, go down and cool the fiery
furnace, and rescue these righteous men from its fury." Whereupon
Gabriel interposed, and said, "God's power is not to be demonstrated
thus, for thou art the prince of hail, and everybody knows that water
quenches fire; but I, the prince of fire, will go down and cool the
flame within and intensify it without (so as to consume the
executioners), and thus will I perform a miracle within a miracle." Then
the Holy One--blessed be He!--said to him, "Go down." Upon which Gabriel
exclaimed, "Verily the truth of the Lord endureth forever!" (Ps. cxvii.
2.)

_P'sachim_, fol. 118, col. 1.

One peppercorn to-day is better than a basketful of pumpkins to-morrow.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 10, col. 1.

One day of a year is counted for a whole year.

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 2, col. 2.

    If a king be crowned on the twenty-ninth of Adar (the last month
    of the Sacred year), on the morrow--the first of Nissan--it is
    reckoned that he commences his second year, that being the new
    year's day for royal and ecclesiastical affairs.

For the sake of one righteous man the whole world is preserved in
existence, as it is written (Prov. x. 25), "The righteous man is an
everlasting foundation."

_Yoma_, fol. 38, col. 2.

Rabbi Meyer saith, "Great is repentance, because for the sake of one
that truly repenteth the whole world is pardoned; as it is written
(Hosea xiv. 4), 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely,
for mine anger is turned away from him.'" It is not said, "from them,"
but "from him."

Ibid., fol. 86, col. 2.

He who observes one precept, in addition to those which, as originally
laid upon him, he has discharged, shall receive favor from above, and is
equal to him who has fulfilled the whole law.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 39, col. 2.

If any man vow a vow by only one of all the utensils of the altar, he
has vowed by the corban, even although he did not mention the word in
his oath. Rabbi Yehuda says, "He who swears by the word Jerusalem is as
though he had said nothing."

_Nedarim_, fol. 10, col. 2.

Balaam was lame in one foot and blind in one eye.

_Soteh_, fol. 10, col. 1, and _Sanhedrin_, fol. 105, col. 1.

One wins eternal life after a struggle of years; another finds it in one
hour (see Luke xxiii. 43).

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 17, col. 1.

This saying is applied by Rabbi the Holy to Rabbi Eliezar, the son of
Durdia, a profligate who recommended himself to the favor of heaven by
one prolonged act of determined penitence, placing his head between his
knees and groaning and weeping till his soul departed from him, and his
sin and misery along with it; for at the moment of death a voice from
heaven came forth and said, "Rabbi Eliezar, the son of Durdia, is
appointed to life everlasting." When Rabbi the Holy heard this, he wept,
and said, "One wins eternal life after a struggle of years; another
finds it in one hour." (Compare Luke xv. 11-32.)

Whosoever destroyeth one soul of Israel, Scripture counts it to him as
though he had destroyed the whole world; and whoso preserveth one soul
of Israel, Scripture counts it as though he had preserved the whole
world.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 37, col. 1.

The greatness of God is infinite; for while with one die man impresses
many coins and all are exactly alike, the King of kings, the Holy
One--blessed be He!--with one die impresses the same image (of Adam) on
all men, and yet not one of them is like his neighbor. So that every one
ought to say, "For myself is the world created."

Ibid., fol. 37, col. 1.

"He caused the lame to mount on the back of the blind, and judged them
both as one." Antoninus said to the Rabbi, "Body and soul might each
plead right of acquittal at the day of judgment." "How so?" he asked.
"The body might plead that it was the soul that had sinned, and urge,
saying, 'See, since the departure of the soul I have lain in the grave
as still as a stone.' And the soul might plead, 'It was the body that
sinned, for since the day I left it, I have flitted about in the air as
innocent as a bird.'" To which the Rabbi replied and said, "Whereunto
this thing is like, I will tell thee in a parable. It is like unto a
king who had an orchard with some fine young fig trees planted in it. He
set two gardeners to take care of them, of whom one was lame and the
other blind. One day the lame one said to the blind 'I see some fine
figs in the garden; come, take me on thy shoulders, and we will pluck
them and eat them.' By and by the lord of the garden came, and missing
the fruit from the fig trees, began to make inquiry after them. The lame
one, to excuse himself, pleaded, 'I have no legs to walk with;' and the
blind one, to excuse himself, pleaded, 'I have no eyes to see with.'
What did the lord of the garden do? He caused the lame to mount upon the
back of the blind, and judged them both as one." So likewise will God
re-unite soul and body, and judge them both as one together; as it is
written (Ps. 1, 4), "He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the
earth, that He may judge His people." "He shall call to the heavens from
above," that alludes to the soul; "and to the earth, that He may judge
His people," that refers to the body.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 91, cols, 1, 2.

    Rabbi Yehudah, surnamed the Holy, the editor of the Mishnah, is
    the personage here and elsewhere spoken of as the Rabbi by pre
    eminence. He was an intimate friend of the Roman Emperor
    Antoninus Pius.

One thing obtained with difficulty is far better than a hundred things
procured with ease.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, ch. 3.

In the name of Rav, Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abba says, "Whoso buys a scroll
of the law in the market seizes possession of another's meritorious act;
but if he himself copies out a scroll of the law, Scripture considers
him as if he had himself received it direct from Mount Sinai." "Nay,"
adds Rav Yehudah, in the name of Rav, "even if he has amended one letter
in it, Scripture considers him as if he had written it out entirely."

_Menachoth_, fol. 30, col. 1.

He who forgets one thing that he has learned breaks a negative
commandment; for it is written (Deut. iv. 9), "Take heed to thyself ...
lest thou forget the things."

_Menachoth_, fol. 99, col. 2.

A proselyte who has taken it upon himself to observe the law, but is
suspected of neglecting one point, is to be suspected of being guilty of
neglecting the whole law, and therefore regarded as an apostate
Israelite, and to be punished accordingly.

_Bechoroth_, fol. 30, col. 2.

It is written (Gen. xxviii. ii), "And he took from the stones of the
place;" and again it is written (ver. 18), "And he took the stone."
Rabbi Isaac says this teaches that all these stones gathered themselves
together into one place, as if each were eager that the saint should lay
his head upon it. It happened, as the Rabbis tell us, that all the
stones were swallowed up by one another, and thus merged into one stone.

_Chullin_, fol. 91, col. 2.

    Though the Midrash and two of the Targums, that of Jonathan and
    the Yerushalmi, tell the same fanciful story about these stones,
    Aben Ezra and R. Shemuel ben Meir among others adopt the
    opposite and common-sense interpretation which assigns to the
    word in Gen. xxviii. ii, no such occult meaning.

The psalms commencing "Blessed is the man" and "Why do the heathen rage"
constitute but one psalm.

_Berachoth_ fol. 9, col. 2.

The former Chasidim used to sit still one hour, and then pray for one
hour, and then again sit still for one hour.

Ibid., fol. 32, col. 2.

All the benedictions in the Temple used to conclude with the words
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel unto eternity;" but when the
Sadducees, corrupting the faith, maintained that there was only one
world, it was enacted that they should conclude with the words "from
eternity unto eternity."

_Berachoth_, fol. 54, col. i.

    The Sadducees (Zadokim), so called after Zadok their master, as
    is known, stood rigidly by the original Mosaic code, and set
    themselves determinedly against all traditional developments. To
    the Talmudists, therefore, they were especially obnoxious, and
    their bald, cold creed is looked upon by them with something
    like horror. It is thus the Talmud warns against them--"Believe
    not in thyself till the day of thy death, for, behold, Yochanan,
    after officiating in the High Priesthood for eighty years,
    became in the end a Sadducee." (_Berachoth_, fol. 29, col. 1.)
    In Derech Eretz Zuta, chap. i., a caution is given which might
    well provoke attention--"Learn or inquire nothing of the
    Sadducees, lest thou be drawn into hell."

Rabbi Yehudah tells us that Rav says a man should never absent himself
from the lecture hall, not even for one hour; for the above Mishnah had
been taught at college for many years, but the reason of it had never
been made plain till the hour when Rabbi Chanina ben Akavia came and
explained it.

_Shabbath_, fol. 83, col. 2.

    The Mishnah alluded to is short and simple, viz, Where is it
    taught that a ship is clean to the touch? From Prov. xxx. 19,
    "The way of a ship in the midst of the sea." (i.e., as the sea
    is clean to the touch, therefore a ship must also be clean to
    the touch).

It is indiscreet for one to sleep in a house as the sole occupant, for
Lilith will seize hold of him.

Ibid., fol. 151, col. 2.

    Lilith (the night-visiting one) is the name of a night spectre,
    said to have been Adam's first wife, but who, for her refractory
    conduct, was transformed into a demon endowed with power to
    injure and even destroy infants unprotected by the necessary
    amulet or charm.

"Thou hast acknowledged the Lord this day to be thy God; and the Lord
hath acknowledged thee this day to be His peculiar people" (Deut. xxvi.
17, 18). The Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto Israel, "Ye have made
Me a name in the world, as it is written (Deut. vi. 4), 'Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God is one Lord;' and so I will make you a name in the
world, as it is said (1 Chron. xvii. 21), 'And what one nation in the
earth is like Thy people Israel?'"

_Chaggigah_, fol. 3, col. 1.

Why are the words of the Law compared to fire? (Jer. xxiii. 29.)
Because, as fire does not burn when there is but one piece of wood, so
do the words of the Law not maintain the fire of life when meditated on
by one alone (see, in confirmation, Matt, xviii. 20).

_Taanith_, fol. 7, col. i.

"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo"
(Deut. xxxiv, i). Tradition says there were twelve stairs, but that
Moses surmounted them all in one step.

_Soteh_, fol. 13, col. 2.

Pieces of money given in charity should not be counted over by twos, but
one by one.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 8, col. 2.

"Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?"
(Job xxxix. 1.) The wild goat is cruel to her offspring. As soon as they
are brought forth, she climbs with them to the steep cliffs, that they
may fall headlong and die. But, said God to Job, to prevent this I
provide an eagle to catch the kid upon its wings, and then carry and lay
it before its cruel mother. Now, if that eagle should be too soon or too
late by one second only, instant death to the kid could not be averted;
but with Me one second is never changed for another. Shall Job be now
changed by Me, therefore, into an enemy. (Comp. Job ix. 17, and xxxiv.
35.)

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 16, cols. 1, 2.

A generation can have one leader only, and not two.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 8, col. 1.

"Like the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces" (Jer. xxiii. 29). As
a hammer divideth fire into many sparks, so one verse of Scripture has
many meanings and many explanations.

Ibid., fol. 34, col. 1.

    In the Machser for Pentecost (p. 69) God is said to have
    "explained the law to His people, face to face, and on every
    point ninety-eight explanations are given."

Adam was created one without Eve. Why? That the Sadducees might not
assert the plurality of powers in heaven.

Ibid., fol. 37, col. i.

    As the Sadducees did not believe in a plurality of powers in
    heaven, but only the Christians, in the regard of the Jews, did
    so (by their profession of the doctrine of the Trinity), it is
    obvious that here, as well as often elsewhere, the latter and
    not the former are intended.

"And the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt" (Exod. viii. i; A.
V. viii. 6). "There was but one frog," said Rabbi Elazar, "and she so
multiplied as to fill the whole land of Egypt." "Yes, indeed," said
Rabbi Akiva. "there was, as you say, but one frog, but she herself was
so large as to fill all the land of Egypt." Whereupon Rabbi Elazar ben
Azariah said unto him, "Akiva, what business hast thou with Haggadah? Be
off with thy legends, and get thee to the laws thou art familiar with
about plagues and tents. Though thou sayest right in this matter, for
there was only one frog, but she croaked so loud that the frogs came
from everywhere else to her croaking."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 67, col. 2.

    Rabba, the grandson of Channa, said that he himself once saw a
    frog larger than any seen now, though not so large as the frog
    in Egypt. It was as large as Acra, a village of some sixty
    houses (_Bava Bathra_, fol. 73, col. 2.)

    Apropos to the part the frog was conceived to play or symbolize
    in the Jewish conception of the mode and ministry of Divine
    judgment, we quote the following:--"We are told that Samuel once
    saw a frog carrying a scorpion on its back across a river, upon
    the opposite bank of which a man stood waiting ready to be
    stung. The sting proving fatal, so that the man died; upon which
    Samuel exclaimed, 'Lord, they wait for Thy judgments this day:
    for all are Thy servants.' (Ps. cxix. 91.)" (_Nedarim_, fol. 41,
    col. 1.)

"According to the days of one king" (Isa. xxiii. 15). What king is this
that is singled out as one? Thou must say this is the King Messiah, and
no other.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 99, col. 1.

Rabbi Levi contends that Manasseh has no portion in the world to come,
while Rabbi Yehudah maintains that he has; and each supports his
conclusion in contradiction of the other, from one and the same
Scripture text.

Ibid., fol. 102, col. 2.

The words, "Remember the Sabbath day," in Exod. xx. 8, and "Keep the
Sabbath day," in Deut. v. 12, were uttered in one breath, as no man's
mouth could utter them, and no man's ear could hear.

_Shevuoth_, fol. 20, col. 2.

The officer who inflicts flagellation on a criminal must smite with one
hand only, but yet with all his force.

_Maccoth_, fol. 22, col. 2.

I would rather be called a fool all my days than sin one hour before
God.

_Edioth_, chap. 5, mish. 6.

He who observes but one precept secures for himself an advocate, and he
who commits one single sin procures for himself an accuser.

_Avoth_, chap. 4, mish. 15.

He who learns from another one chapter, one halachah, one verse, or one
word or even a single letter, is bound to respect him.

Ibid., chap. 6, mish. 3.

    The above is one evidence, among many, of the high esteem in
    which learning and the office of a teacher are held among the
    Jews. Education is one of the virtues--of which the following,
    extracted from the Talmud, is a list--the interest of which the
    Jew considers he enjoys in this world, while the capital remains
    intact against the exigencies of the world to come. These
    are:--The honoring of father and mother, acts of benevolence,
    hospitality to strangers, visiting the sick, devotion in prayer,
    promotion of peace between man and man, and study in general,
    but the study of the law outweighs them all. (_Shabbath_, fol.
    127, col. 1.) The study of the law, it is said, is of greater
    merit to rescue one from accidental death, than building the
    Temple, and greater than honoring father or mother.
    (_Meggillah_, fol. 16, col 2.)

"Repent one day before thy death." In relation to which Rabbi Eliezer
was asked by his disciples, "How is a man to repent one day before his
death, since he does not know on what day he shall die?" "So much the
more reason is there," he replied, "that he should repent to-day, lest
he die to-morrow; and repent to-morrow, lest he die the day after: and
thus will all his days be penitential ones."

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 15.

He who obliterates one letter from the written name of God, breaks a
negative command, for it is said, "And destroy the names of them out of
that place. Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God" (Deut. xii. 3,
4).

_Sophrim_, chap. 5, hal. 6.

Rabbi Chanina could put on and off his shoes while standing on one leg
only, though he was eighty years of age.

_Chullin_, fol. 24, col. 2.

A priest who is blind in one eye should not be judge of the plague; for
it is said (Lev. xiii. 12), "Wheresoever the priest (with both eyes)
looketh."

_Negaim_, chap. 2, mish. 3.

The twig of a bunch without any grapes is clean; but if there remained
one grape on it, it is unclean.

_Okzin_, chap, i, mish. 5.

Not every man deserves to have two tables.

_Berachoth_, fol. 5, col. 2.

    The meaning of this rather ambiguous sentence may either be,
    that all men are not able to succeed in more enterprises than
    one at a time; or that it is not given to every one to make the
    best both of the present world and of that which is to come.

Abba Benjamin used to say "There are two things about which I have all
my life been much concerned: that my prayer should be offered in front
of my bed, and that the position of my bed should be from north to
south."

Ibid., fol. 5, col. 2.

    There are several reasons which may be adduced to account for
    Abba Benjamin's anxiety, and they are all more or less connected
    with the important consequences which were supposed to depend
    upon determining his position with reference to the Shechinah,
    which rested in the east or the west.

    Abba Benjamin felt anxious to have children, for "any man not
    having children is counted as dead," as it is written (Gen. xxx.
    1), "Give me children, or else I die." (_Nedarin_, fol. 64, col.
    2.)

    With the Jew one great consideration of life is to have
    children, and more especially male children; because when a boy
    is born all rejoice over him, but over a girl they all mourn.
    When a boy comes into the world he brings peace with him, and a
    loaf of bread in his hand, but a girl brings nothing. (_Niddah_,
    fol. 31, col. 2.)

    It is impossible for the world to be without males and females,
    but blessed is he whose children are boys, and hapless is he
    whose children are girls. (_Kiddushin_, fol. 82, col. 2.)

    Whosoever does not leave a son to be heir, God will heap wrath
    upon him. (Scripture is quoted in proof of this, compare Numb.
    xxvii. 8 with Zeph. i. 15.) (_Bava Bathra_, fol. 116, col. 1.)

"There are two ways before me, one leading into Paradise, the other into
Hell." When Yochanan, the son of Zachai, was sick unto death, his
disciples came to visit him; and when he saw them he wept, upon which
his disciples exclaimed, "Light of Israel! Pillar of the right! Mighty
Hammer! why weepest thou?" He replied, "If I were going to be led into
the presence of a king, who is but flesh and blood, to-day here and
to-morrow in the grave, whose anger with me could not last forever,
whose sentence against me, were it even unto death, could not endure
forever, and whom perhaps I might pacify with words or bribe with money,
yet for all that should I weep; but now that I am about to enter the
presence of the King of kings, the Holy One--blessed be He forever and
ever!--whose anger would be everlasting, whose sentence of death or
imprisonment admits of no reprieve, and who is not to be pacified with
words nor bribed with money, and in whose presence there are two roads
before me, one leading into Paradise and the other into Hell, and should
I not weep?" Then prayed they him, and said, "Rabbi, give us thy
farewell blessing;" and he said unto them, "Oh that the fear of God may
be as much upon you as the fear of man."

_Berachoth_, fol. 28, col. 2.

Rabbi Ami says, "Knowledge is of great price, for it is placed between
two divine names, as it is written (I Sam. ii. 3), 'A God of knowledge
is the Lord,' and therefore mercy is to be denied to him who has no
knowledge; for it is written (Isa. xxvii. 11), 'It is a people of no
understanding, therefore He that hath made them will not have mercy on
them.'"

_Berachoth_ fol. 33, col. 1.

    Here we have a clear law, drawn from Scripture, forbidding, or
    at any rate denying, mercy to the ignorant. The words of Rabbi
    (the Holy) are a practical commentary on the text worth quoting,
    "Woe is unto me because I have given my morsel to an ignorant
    one." (_Bava Bathra_, fol. 8, col. 1.)

    But who is the ignorant one from whom this mercy is to be
    withheld? Here the doctors disagree. He, says Rabbi Eliezer, who
    does not read the Shema, "Hear, O Israel," etc., both morning
    and evening. According to Rabbi Yehudah, he that does not put on
    phylacteries is an ignorant one. Rabbi Azai affirms that he who
    wears no fringes to his garment is an ignorant one, etc. Others
    again say he who even reads the Bible and the Mishna but does
    not serve the disciples of the wise, is an ignorant one. Rabbi
    Huna winds up with the words "the law is as the others have
    said," and so leaves the difficulty where he finds it.
    (_Berachoth_, fol. 47, col. 2.)

    Of him "who transgresses the words of the wise, which he is
    commanded to obey," it is written, "He is guilty of death and
    has forfeited his life." (_Berachoth_, fol. 4, col. 2, and
    _Yevamoth_, fol. 20, col. 1.) Whoso, therefore, shows mercy to
    him contradicts the purpose and incurs the displeasure of God.
    It was in application of this principle, literally interpreted,
    that the wise should hold no parley with the ignorant, which led
    the Jews to condemn the contrary procedure of Jesus Christ.

    It was this prohibition to show mercy to the ignorant, together
    with the solemn threatenings directed against those who
    neglected the study of the law, that worked such a wonderful
    revolution in Hezekiah's time; for it is said that then "they
    searched from Dan to Beersheba, and did not find an ignorant
    one." (_Sanhedrin_, fol. 94, col. 2.)

When the Holy One--blessed be He!--remembers that His children are in
trouble among the nations of the world, He drops two tears into the
great ocean, the noise of which startles the world from one end to the
other, and causes the earth to quake.

_Berachoth_, fol. 59, col. 1.

We read in the Talmud that a Gentile once came to Shamai and said, "How
many laws have you?" Shamai replied, "We have two, the written law and
the oral law." To which the Gentile made answer, "When you speak of the
written law, I believe you, but in your oral law I have no faith.
Nevertheless, you may make me a proselyte on condition that you teach me
the written law only." Upon this Shamai rated him sharply, and sent him
away with indignant abuse. When, however, this Gentile came with the
same object, and proposed the same terms to Hillel, the latter proceeded
at once to proselytize him, and on the first day taught him Aleph, Beth,
Gemel, Daleth. On the morrow Hillel reversed the order of these letters,
upon which the proselyte remonstrated and said, "But thou didst not
teach me so yesterday." "True," said Hillel, "but thou didst trust me in
what I taught thee then; why, then, dost thou not trust me now in what I
tell thee respecting the oral law?"

_Shabbath_, fol. 31, col. 1.

Every man as he goes on the eve of the Sabbath from the synagogue to his
house is escorted by two angels, one of which is a good angel and the
other an evil. When the man comes home and finds the lamps lit, the
table spread, and the bed in order, the good angel says, "May the coming
Sabbath be even as the present;" to which the evil angel (though with
reluctance) is obliged to say, "Amen." But if all be in disorder, then
the bad angel says, "May the coming Sabbath be even as the present," and
the good angel is (with equal reluctance), obliged to say "Amen" to it.

Ibid., fol. 119, col. 2.

Two are better than three. Alas! for the one that goes and does not
return again.

_Shabbath_, fol. 152, col. 1.

    As in the riddle of the Sphinx, the "two" here stands for youth
    with its two sufficient legs, and the "three" for old age, which
    requires a third support in a staff.

There were two things which God first thought of creating on the eve of
the Sabbath, which, however, were not created till after the Sabbath had
closed. The first was fire, which Adam by divine suggestion drew forth
by striking together two stones; and the second, was the mule, produced
by the crossing of two different animals.

_P'sachim_, fol. 54, col. 1.

"Every one has two portions, one in paradise and another in hell."
Acheer asked Rabbi Meyer, "What meaneth this that is written (Eccl. vii.
14), 'God also has set the one over against the other'?" Rabbi Meyer
replied, "There is nothing which God has created of which He has not
also created the opposite. He who created mountains and hills created
also seas and rivers." But said Acheer to Rabbi Meyer, "Thy master,
Rabbi Akiva, did not say so, but spake in this way: He created the
righteous and also the wicked; He created paradise and hell: every man
has two portions, one portion in paradise, and the other in hell. The
righteous, who has personal merit, carries both his own portion of good
and that of his wicked neighbor away with him to paradise; the wicked,
who is guilty and condemned, carries both his own portion of evil and
also that of his righteous neighbor away with him to hell." When Rav
Mesharshia asked what Scripture guarantee there was for this, this was
the reply: "With regard to the righteous, it is written (Isa. lxi. 7),
'They shall rejoice in their portion, therefore in their land (beyond
the grave) they shall possess the double.' Respecting the wicked it is
written (Jer. xvii. 18), 'And destroy them with double destruction.'"

_Chaggigah_, fol. 15, col. 1.

    The question asked above by Acheer has been practically resolved
    by all wise men from the beginning of the world, but it is the
    boast of the Hegelians that it has for the first time been
    resolved philosophically by their master. Others had maintained
    that you could not think a thing but through its opposite; he
    first maintained it could not exist but through its opposite,
    that, in fact, the thing and its opposite must needs arise
    together, and that eternally, as complements of one unity: the
    white is not there without the black, nor the black without the
    white; the good is not there without the evil, nor the evil
    without the good.

Pride is unbecoming in women. There were two proud women, and their
names were contemptible; the name of the one, Deborah, meaning wasp, and
of the other, Huldah, weasel. Respecting the wasp it is written (Judges
iv. 6), "And she sent and called Barak," whereas she ought to have gone
to him. Concerning the weasel it is written (2 Kings xxii. 15), "Tell
the man that sent you," whereas she should have said, "Tell the king."

_Meggillah_, fol. 14, col. 2.

If speech is worth one sela (a small coin so called), silence is worth
two.

Ibid., fol. 18, col. 1.

    The Swiss motto, "Speech is worth silver, silence worth gold,"
    expresses a sentiment which finds great favor with the authors
    and varied expression in the pages of the Talmud.

If silence be good for wise men, how much better must it be for fools!

_P'sachim_, fol. 98, col. 2.

For every evil silence is the best remedy.

_Meggillah_, fol. 18, col. 1.

Silence is as good as confession.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 87, col. 1.

Silence in a Babylonian was a mark of his being of good family.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 71, col. 2.

Simeon, the son of Gamliel, said, "I have been brought up all my life
among the wise, and I have never found anything of more material benefit
than silence."

_Avoth_, chap. 1.

Rabbi Akiva said, "Laughter and levity lead a man to lewdness; but
tradition is a fence to the law, tithes are a fence to riches, vows are
a fence to abstinence, while the fence of wisdom is silence."

Ibid., chap. 3.

When they opened his brain, they found in it a gnat as big as a swallow
and weighing two selas.

_Gittin_, fol. 56, col. 2.

    The context of the above states a tradition current among the
    Jews in reference to Titus, the destroyer of Jerusalem. It is
    said that when, after taking the city, he had shamefully
    violated and profaned the Temple, he took the sacred vessels of
    the sanctuary, wrapped them in the veil of the holy place, and
    sailed with them to Rome. At sea a storm arose and threatened to
    sink the ship; upon which he was heard reflecting, "It seems the
    God of these Jews has no power anywhere but at sea. Pharaoh He
    drowned, and Sisera He drowned, and now He is about to drown me
    also. If He be mighty, let Him go ashore and contend with me
    there." Then came a voice from heaven and said, "O thou wicked
    one, son of a wicked man and grandson of Esau the wicked, go
    ashore. I have a creature--an insignificant one in my world--go
    and fight with it."

    This creature was a gnat, and is called insignificant because it
    must receive and discharge what it eats by one aperture.
    Immediately, therefore, he landed, when a gnat flew up his
    nostrils and made its way to his brain, on which it fed for a
    period of seven years. One day he happened to pass a
    blacksmith's forge, when the noise of the hammer soothed the
    gnawing at his brain. "Aha" said Titus, "I have found a remedy
    at last;" and he ordered a blacksmith to hammer before him. To a
    Gentile for this he (for a time) paid four zuzim a day, but to a
    Jewish blacksmith he paid nothing, remarking to him, "It is
    payment enough to thee to see thy enemy suffering so painfully."
    For thirty days he felt relieved, but after, no amount of
    hammering in the least relieved him. As to what happened after
    his death, we have this testimony from Rabbi Phineas, the son of
    Aruba: "I myself was among the Roman magnates when an inquest
    was held upon the body of Titus, and on opening his brain they
    found therein a gnat as big as a swallow, weighing two selas."
    Others say it was as large as a pigeon a year old and weighed
    two litras. Abaii says, "We found its mouth was of copper and
    its claws of iron." Titus gave instructions that after his death
    his body should be burned, and the ashes thereof scattered over
    the surface of the seven seas, that the God of the Jews might
    not find him and bring him to judgment. (_Gittin_, fol. 56, col.
    2.)

"The man with two wives, one young and the other old." Rav Ami and Rav
Assi were in social converse with Rabbi Isaac Naphcha, when one of them
said to him, "Tell us, sir, some pretty legend," and the other said,
"Pray explain to us rather some nice point of law." When he began the
legend he displeased the one, and when he proceeded to explain a point
of law, he offended the other. Whereupon he took up this parable in
illustration of the plight in which their obstinacy placed him. "I am
like the man with the two wives, the one young and the other old. The
young one plucked out all his gray hairs (that he might look young), and
the old wife pulled out all his black hairs (that he might look old);
and so between the one and the other he became bald. So is it with me
between you. However, I've something nice for both of you. It is written
(Exod. xxii. 6), 'If a fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the
stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field be consumed
therewith, he that kindled the fire shall surely make restoration.' The
Holy One--blessed be He!--hath said, 'I must both judge myself and take
upon myself to indemnify the evil of the conflagration I have caused,
for I have kindled a fire in Zion,' as it is written (Lament, iv. 11),
'He hath kindled a fire in Zion, and hath devoured the foundations
thereof.' I must therefore rebuild her with fire, as it is written
(Zech. ii. 5), 'I will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will
be the glory in the midst of her.'"

_Bava Kama_, fol. 60, col. 2.

Rabbi Oshaia asked, "What is this that is written, (Zech. xi. 7), 'I
took unto me two staves; the one I called Amiable and the other
Destroyer'?" The staff called Amiable represents the disciples of the
wise in the land of Israel, who were friendly one toward another in
their debates about the law. The staff called Destroyer represents the
disciples of the wise of Babylon, who in the like debates were fierce
tempered and not friendly toward one another. What is the meaning of
Babel or Babylon? Rabbi Yochanan says it means "confused in the Bible,
confused in the Mishna, and confused in the Talmud." "He hath set me in
dark places, as they that be dead of old" (Lam. iii. 6). Rabbi Jeremiah
said by this we are to understand the Babylonian Talmud.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 24, col. 1.

    The Rabbis say these three hate their fellows--dogs, cocks, and
    conjurors; to which some add, among others, the disciples of the
    wise of Babylon. (_P'sachim_, fol. 113, col. 2.)

    On his return from Babylon to the land of Israel, Rabbi Zira
    fasted a hundred fasts, during which he prayed that he might be
    enabled to forget the Babylonian Talmud. (_Bava Metzia_, fol.
    85, col. 1.)

Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Yonathan traveled one day together; they came
to two roads, one of which led by the door of a place devoted to the
worship of idols, and the other by a place of ill fame. Upon which one
said to the other, "Let us go by the former, because our inclination to
the evil that waylays us there is already extinguished." "Nay, rather,"
said the other, "let us go by the latter, and curb our desires; so shall
we receive a reward in recompense." In this resolution they went on, and
as they passed the place the women humbled themselves before them and
withdrew ashamed into their chambers. Then Yochanan asked the other,
"How didst thou know that this would occur to us?" He made answer, "From
what is written (in Prov. ii. 2), 'Discretion (in the law) shall
preserve thee.'"

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 17, cols. 1, 2.

Given two dry firebrands and one piece of green wood, the dry will set
fire to the green.

_Sanhedrin_, fol 93, col. 1.

With two dogs they caught the lion.

Ibid., fol. 95, col. 1.

    Both these proverbs express the same idea, that a minority, be
    it ever so strong, must give way to a majority.

"And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed together"
(Numb. xxii. 7). Midian and Moab were never friendly toward each other;
they were like two dogs tending a flock, always at variance. When the
wolf came upon the one, however, the other thought, "If I do not help my
neighbor to-day, the wolf may come upon myself to-morrow;" therefore the
two dogs leagued together and, killed the wolf. Hence, says Rabbi Pappa,
the popular saying, "The mouse and the cat are combined to make a feast
on the fat of the unfortunate."

Ibid., fol. 105, col. 1.

Rabbi Yochanan, in the name of Yossi, the son of Zimra, asks, "What is
this that is written (Ps. cxx. 3), 'What shall be given unto thee, or
what shall be added unto thee, O thou false tongue'?" The Holy
One--blessed be He!--said to the tongue, "All the members of the body
are erect, thou only art recumbent; all other members are without, thou
art within, and not only so, for I have surrounded thee with two walls,
one of bone and the other of flesh. What shall be given to thee, or what
shall be added unto thee, O thou false tongue?" Rabbi Yochanan, in the
name of Yossi, says, "He who slanders is an atheist, for it is written
(Ps. xii. 4), 'Who have said, With our tongues will we prevail; Our lips
are with us; who is lord over us?'"

_Erchin_, fol. 15, col. 2.

    Here are a few sayings from the Talmud on the abuse of the
    tongue.

He who slanders, he who receives slander, and he who bears false witness
against his neighbor, deserve to be cast to the dogs.

_Psachim_, fol. 118, col. 1.

All animals will one day remonstrate with the serpent and say, "The lion
treads upon his prey and devours it, the wolf tears and eats it, but
thou, what profit hast thou in biting?" The serpent will reply (Eccl.
viii. II), "I am no worse than a slanderer."

_Taanith_, fol. 8, col. 1.

Adonijah was deprived of life for no other reason than that he was given
to quarreling. It is lawful to slander one so evil disposed as he was.

_Perek Hashalom._

God will say to the prince of hell, "I from above and thou from below
shall judge and condemn the slanderer."

_Erchin_, fol. 15, col. 2.

The third tongue (i.e., slander) hurts three parties: the slanderer
himself, the receiver of slander, and the person slandered.

Ibid.

Four classes do not receive the presence of the Shechinah: scorners,
liars, flatterers, and slanderers.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 103, col. 1.

Where are we told that when two sit together and study the law the
Shechinah is with them? In Mal. iii. 16, where it is written, "They that
feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and
heard it."

_Berachoth_, fol. 6, col. 1.

Why did Elijah employ two invocations, saying twice over, "Hear me! hear
me!" (1 Kings xviii. 37.) Elijah first prayed before God, "O Lord, King
of the universe, hear me!" that He might send fire down from heaven and
consume all that was upon the altar; and again he prayed, "Hear me!"
that they might not imagine that the result was a matter of sorcery; for
it is said, "Thou hast turned their heart back again."

_Berachoth_, fol. 9, col. 2.

    The twofold invocation of Elijah, which betokens his intense
    earnestness, anagrammatically expressed, is echoed in the words
    of the bystanders, "The Lord He is the God, the Lord He is the
    God."

"I dreamed," said Bar Kappara one day to Rabbi (the Holy), "that I
beheld two pigeons, and they flew away from me." "Thy dream is this,"
replied Rabbi, "thou hast had two wives, and art separated from them
both without a bill of divorcement."

Ibid., fol. 56, col. 2.

The Rabbis teach concerning the two kidneys in man, that one counsels
him to do good and the other to do evil; and it appears that the former
is situated on the right side and the latter on the left. Hence it is
written (Eccl. x. 2), "A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a
fool's heart is at his left."

Ibid., fol. 61, col. 1.

For two sins the common people perish: they speak of the holy ark as a
box and the synagogue as a resort for the ignorant vulgar.

_Shabbath_, fol. 32, col. 1.

On the self-same day when Jeroboam introduced the two golden calves, the
one into Bethel and the other into Dan, a hut was erected in a part of
Italy which was then subject to the Greeks.

Ibid., fol. 56, col. 2.

    In the context where the above tradition occurs, which, as is
    obvious, relates to the founding of Rome, we meet with another
    on the same subject as follows:--When Solomon married the
    daughter of Pharaoh, the Angel Gabriel thrust a reed into the
    sea, stirring up therewith the sand and mud from the bottom.
    This, gradually collecting, first shaped itself into an island
    and then expanded so as to unite itself with the continent. And
    thus was the land created for the erection of the hut which
    should one day swell into the proportion of a proud imperial
    city.

If Israel kept only two Sabbaths, according to the strict requirement of
the law, they would be freed at once from their compelled dispersion;
for it is written (Isa. lvi. 4, 7), "Thus saith the Lord unto the
eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, Even them will I bring to my holy
mountain."

_Shabbath_, fol. 118, col. 2.

Adam had two faces; for it is said (Ps. cxxxix. 5), "Thou hast made me
behind and before."

_Eiruvin_, fol. 18, col. 1.

    There is a notion among the Rabbis that Adam was possessed
    originally of a bisexual organization, and this conclusion they
    draw from Gen. i. 27, where it is said, "God created man in his
    own image; male-female created He them." These two natures, it
    was thought, lay side by side; according to some, the male on
    the right and the female on the left; according to others, back
    to back; while there were those who maintained that Adam was
    created with a tail, and that it was from this appendage Eve was
    fashioned. Other Jewish traditions tell us that Eve was made
    from "the thirteenth rib of the right side" (Targ. Jonath.), and
    that "she was not drawn out by the head, lest she should be
    vain; nor by the eyes, lest she should be wanton; nor from the
    mouth, lest she should be given to garrulity; nor by the ears,
    lest she should be an eavesdropper; nor by the hands, lest she
    should be intermeddling; nor by the feet, lest she be a gadder;
    nor by the heart, for fear she should be jealous; but she was
    taken out from the side. Yet, in spite of all these precautions,
    she had all the faults so carefully provided against."

If in time of national calamity a man withdraw himself from his kindred
and refuse to share in their sorrow, his two guardian angels come and
lay their hands upon his head and say, "This man has isolated himself
from his country in the day of its need, let him not live to see and
enjoy the day when God shall restore its prosperity." When the community
is in trouble, let no man say, "I will go home and eat and drink, and
say, Peace be unto thee, oh my soul!" (Luke xii. 19); for to him
Scripture hath solemnly said (Isa. xxii. 13, 14), "Surely this iniquity
shall not be purged from you till you die."

_Taanith_, fol. 11, col. 1.

An infant that has died under a month old is (to be) carried to the
grave in the arms (not in a coffin), and buried by one woman and two
men, but not by one man and two women.

_Moed Katan_, fol. 24, col. 1.

    Both Rashi and the Tosephoth allude to a case which justifies
    the rule given here, where a woman actually carried a living
    child in a coffin, in order to avoid the suspicion of an
    assignation she had made with a man, who set out to join her.
    But the Tosephoth, after noticing this version of Rashi, gives
    another more to the point. The story in the Tosephoth is to this
    effect:--A woman was once weeping and groaning over the grave of
    her husband, and not very far away was a man who was guarding
    the corpse of a person who had been crucified. In the moment of
    mourning an affection sprung up between the two, and in the
    engrossment of it the corpse which the man guarded was stolen.
    He was in great trepidation for fear of the king's command. The
    woman said, "Don't be afraid; exhume my husband, and hang him up
    instead." This was accordingly done. (See _Kiddushin_, fol. 80,
    col. 2.)

There were two date trees in the Valley of Hinnom from between which
smoke ascended, and this is the gate of hell.

_Succah_, fol. 32, col. 2.

    According to Jewish tradition, there are three gates to
    Gehinnom, one in the desert, one in the sea, and one in
    Jerusalem: In the desert, as it is written (Numb. xvi. 33),
    "They went down, and all that belonged to them, alive into
    hell." In the sea, as it is written (Jonah ii. 2), "Out of the
    belly of hell have I called," etc. In Jerusalem, as it is
    written (Isa. xxxi. 9), "Thus saith the Lord, whose fire is in
    Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem."

When two women are seen sitting on opposite sides of a cross road facing
each other, it is to be presumed that they are up to witchcraft and
contemplate mischief. What in that case must you do? Go by another road,
if there is one, and if not, with a companion, should such turn up,
passing the crones arm-in-arm with him; but should there be no other
road and no other man, then walk straight on repeating the
counter-charm, as you pass them--

  Agrath is to Asia gone,
  And Blussia's killed in battle.

_P'sachim_, fol. 111, col. 2.

    Agrath and Blussia are two Amazons well known to those familiar
    with Rabbinic demonology.

"If Mordecai, before whom thou hast began to fall, be of the seed of the
Jews, expect not to prevail against him, but thou shalt fall" (Esth. vi.
13). Wherefore these two fallings? They told Haman, saying, "This nation
is likened to the dust, and is also likened to the stars; when they are
down, they are down even to the dust, but when they begin to rise, they
rise to the stars."

_Meggillah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

If any two disciples of the wise, dwelling in the same city, have a
difference respecting the Halachah, let them remember what Scripture
denounces against them, "And also I gave them statutes that are not
good, and judgments by which they shall not live" (Ezek. xx. 25).

Ibid., fol. 32, col. 1.

If a man espouse one of two sisters, and does not know which he has
espoused, he must give both a bill of divorce. If two men espouse two
sisters, and neither of them know which he has espoused, then each man
must give two bills of divorce, one to each woman.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 23, col. 2.

There is a time coming (i.e., in the days of the Messiah), when a grain
of wheat will be as large as the two kidneys of the great ox.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 111, col. 1.

    According to a recent discovery, which has been confirmed by
    subsequent observation and experiment, wheat is a development by
    cultivation of the tiny grain of the _Ægilops ovata_, a sort of
    grass; but we are indebted to Rabbinic lore for the curious
    information that before the Fall of man wheat grew upon a tree
    whose trunk looked like gold, its branches like silver, and its
    leaves like so many emeralds. The wheat ears themselves were as
    red as rubies, and each bore five sparkling grains as white as
    snow, as sweet as honey, and as fragrant as musk. At first the
    grains were as big as an ostrich's egg, but in the time of Enoch
    they diminished to the size of a goose's egg, and in Elijah's to
    that of a hen, while at the commencement of the common era, they
    shrank so small as not to be larger than grapes, according to a
    law the inverse of the order of nature. Rabbi Yehudah
    (_Sanhedrin_, fol. 70, col. 1) says that wheat was the forbidden
    fruit. Hence probably the degeneracy.

Of two that quarrel, the one that first gives in shows the nobler
nature.

Ibid., fol. 71, col. 2.

He who sets aside a portion of his wealth for the relief of the poor
will be delivered from the judgment of hell. Of this the parable of the
two sheep that attempted to ford a river is an illustration; one was
shorn of its wool and the other not; the former, therefore, managed to
get over, but the latter, being heavy-laden, sank.

_Gittin_, fol. 7, col. 1.

Zoreah and Eshtaol (Josh. xv. 33) were two large mountains, but Samson
tore them up and grated the one against the other.

_Soteh_, fol. 9, col. 2.

    The above tradition is founded on Judges xiii. 25, in which it
    is said of Samson, "And the spirit of God began to move him at
    times in the camp of Dan, between Zoreah and Eshtaol," in which
    the word "move," signifies also to "strike a stroke," "step a
    step," and "once." Founding on which last two meanings, Rabbi
    Yehudah says, "Samson strode in one stride from Zoreah to
    Eshtaol," a giant stride of two miles or more. Taking the word
    in the sense of "strike," or "producing a ringing sound,"
    another Rabbi tells us that the hairs of Samson's head stood
    upright, tinkling one against another like bells, the jingle of
    which might be heard from Zoreah to Eshtaol. The version in the
    text takes the same word in the sense of to "strike together."

On the day when Isaac was weaned, Abraham made a great feast, to which
he invited all the people of the land. Not all of those who came to
enjoy the feast believed in the alleged occasion of its celebration, for
some said contemptuously, "This old couple have adopted a foundling, and
provided a feast to persuade us to believe that the child is their own
offspring." What did Abraham do? He invited all the great men of the
day, and Sarah invited their wives, who brought their infants, but not
their nurses, along with them. On this occasion Sarah's breasts became
like two fountains, for she supplied, of her own body, nourishment to
all the children. Still some were unconvinced, and said, "Shall a child
be born to one that is a hundred years old, and shall Sarah, who is
ninety years old, bear?" (Gen. xvii. 17.) Whereupon, to silence this
objection, Isaac's face was changed, so that it became the very picture
of Abraham's; then one and all exclaimed, "Abraham begat Isaac."

_Bara Metzia_, fol. 87, col. 1.

Rava relates the following in the name of Rabbi Yochanan:--"Two Jewish
slaves were one day walking along, when their master, who was following,
overheard the one saying to the other, 'There is a camel ahead of us, as
I judge--for I have not seen--that is blind of one eye and laden with
two skin-bottles, one of which contains wine and the other oil, while
two drivers attend it, one of them an Israelite, and the other a
Gentile.' 'You perverse men,' said their master, 'how can you fabricate
such a story as that?' The slave answered, and gave this as his reason,
'The grass is cropped only on one side of the track, the wine, that must
have dripped, has soaked into the earth on the right, and the oil has
trickled down, and may be seen on the left; while one of the drivers
turned aside from the track to ease himself, but the other has not even
left the road for the purpose.' Upon this the master stepped on before
them in order to verify the correctness of their inferences, and found
the conclusion true in every particular. He then turned back, and ...
after complimenting the two slaves for their shrewdness, he at once gave
them their liberty."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 104, col. 2.

When the disciples of Shamai and Hillel increased in Israel, contention
increased along with them, so much so, that the one law became as two
laws (and these contradictory).

_Soteh_, fol. 47, col. 2.

If two parties deposit money with a third, one a single manah and the
other two hundred, and both afterward appear and claim the larger sum,
the depositary should give each depositor one manah only, and leave the
rest undivided till the coming of Elijah.

_Bava Metzia_, fol. 37, col. 2.

    "Till Elijah comes" is a phrase which is in use among the Jews
    to express postponement forever, like _ad Kalendas Græcas_. It
    is applied to questions that would take Elijah to settle, which,
    it is believed, he will not appear to do till doomsday.

"And I will make thy windows of agates" (Isa. liv. 12). Two of the
angels in heaven, Gabriel and Michael, once disputed about this: one
maintained that the stone should be an onyx, and the other asserted it
should be a jasper; but the Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto them,
"Let it be as both say, which, in Hebrew, abbreviated, is an agate."

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 75, col. 1.

"The horseleech has two daughters, crying, Give! give!" (Prov. xxx. 15.)
Mar Ukva says, "This has reference to the voice of two daughters crying
out from torture in hell, because their voice is heard in this world
crying, 'Give! give!'--namely--heresy and officialism."

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 17, col. 1.

    Rashi says heresy here refers to the "heresy of James," or, in
    other words, Christianity.

Two cemeteries were provided by the judicial authorities, one for
beheaded and strangled criminals, and the other for those that were
stoned or burned. When the flesh of these was consumed, they collected
the bones and buried them in their own place, after which the relations
came and saluted the judge and the witnesses, and said, "We owe you no
grudge, for you passed a just judgment."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 46, col. 1.

Alas! for the loss which the world has sustained in the degradation of
the helpful serpent. If the serpent had not been degraded, every
Israelite would have been attended by two of kindly disposition, one of
which might have been sent to the north, and the other to the south, to
bring for its owner precious corals and costly stones and pearls.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 59, col. 2.

Here are two or three other sayings from the Talmud relative to the
serpent.

Benjamin the son of Jacob, Amram the father of Moses, and Jesse the
father of David all died, not because of their own sin (for they had
none, says Rashi), but because of the (original) sin committed under the
serpent's temptation.

_Shabbath_, fol. 55, col. 2.

No man was ever injured by a serpent or scorpion in Jerusalem.

_Yoma_, fol. 21, col. 1.

"And dust is the serpent's food" (Isa. lxv. 25). Rav Ammi says, "To the
serpent no delicacy in the world has any other flavor than that of
dust;" and Rav Assi says, "No delicacy in the world satisfies him like
dust."

Ibid., fol. 75, col. 1.

Two negatives or two affirmatives are as good as an oath.

_Shevuoth_, fol. 36, col. 1.

Like two pearls were the two drops of holy oil that were suspended from
the two corners of the beard of Aaron.

_Horayoth_, fol. 12, col. 1.

For two to sit together and have no discourse about the law, is to sit
in the seat of the scornful; as it is said (Ps. i. I), "And sitteth not
in the seat of the scornful."

_Avoth_, chap. iii.

When two are seated together at table, the younger shall not partake
before the elder, otherwise the younger shall be justly accounted a
glutton.

_Derech Eretz_, chap. vii.

Philemo once asked Rabbi (the Holy), "If a man has two heads, on which
is he to put the phylactery?" To which Rabbi replied, "Either get up and
be off, or take an anathema; for thou art making fun of me."

_Menachoth_, fol. 37, col. 1.

It is thus Rav Yoseph taught what is meant when it is written in Isaiah
xii. I, "I will praise Thee, O Lord, because Thou wast angry with me:
Thine anger will depart and Thou wilt comfort me." "The text applies,"
he says, "to two men who were going abroad on a mercantile enterprise,
one of whom, having had a thorn run into his foot, had to forego his
intended journey, and began in consequence to utter reproaches and
blaspheme. Having afterward learned that the ship in which his companion
had sailed had sunk to the bottom of the sea, he confessed his
shortsightedness and praised God for His mercy."

_Niddah_, fol. 31, col. 1.

The night is divided into three watches, and at each watch the Holy
One--blessed be He!--sits and roars like a lion; as it is written (Jer.
xxv. 30), "The Lord will roar from on high, ... roaring, He will roar
over his habitation." The marks by which this division of the night is
recognized are these:--In the first watch the ass brays; in the second
the dog barks; and in the third the babe is at the breast and the wife
converses with her husband.

_Berachoth_, fol. 3, col. 1.

The Rabbis have taught that there are three reasons why a person should
not enter a ruin:--1. Because he may be suspected of evil intent; 2.
Because the walls might tumble upon him; 3. And because of evil spirits
that frequent such places.

Ibid., fol. 3, col. 1.

He who three times a day repeats David's psalm of praise (Ps. cxlv.) may
be sure of an inheritance in the world to come.

Ibid., fol. 4, col. 2.

Three precious gifts were given to Israel, but none of them without a
special affliction: these three gifts were the law, the land of Israel,
and the world to come.

Ibid., fol. 5, col. 1.

    These are also from the Talmud anent Israel and the Israelites.

All Israelites are princes.

_Shabbath_, fol. 57, col. 1.

All Israelites are holy.

Ibid., fol. 86, col. 1.

Happy are ye, O Israel! for every one of you, from the least to the
greatest, is a great philosopher. (_Eiruvin_, fol. 53, col. 1.) The
Machzor for Pentecost says, Israelites are as "full of meritorious works
as a pomegranate is full of pips."

See also _Chaggigah_, fol. 27, col, 1.

As it is impossible for the world to be without air, so also is it
impossible for the world to be without Israel.

_Taanith_, fol. 3, col. 2.

If the ox of an Israelite bruise the ox of a Gentile, the Israelite is
exempt from paying damages; but should the ox of a Gentile bruise the ox
of an Israelite, the Gentile is bound to recompense him in full.

_Bava Kama_, fol. 38, col. 1.

When an Israelite and a Gentile have a lawsuit before thee, if thou
canst, acquit the former according to the laws of Israel, and tell the
latter such is our law; if thou canst get him off in accordance with
Gentile law, do so, and say to the plaintiff such is your law; but if he
cannot be acquitted according to either law, then bring forward adroit
pretexts and secure his acquittal. These are the words of the Rabbi
Ishmael. Rabbi Akiva says, "No false pretext should be brought forward,
because, if found out, the name of God would be blasphemed; but if there
be no fear of that, then it may be adduced."

Ibid., fol. 113, col. 1.

If one find lost property in a locality where the majority are
Israelites, he is bound to proclaim it; but he is not bound to do so if
the majority be Gentiles.

_Bava Metzia_, fol. 24, col. 1.

(Prov. xiv. 34), "Almsgiving exalteth a nation, but benevolence is a sin
to nations." "Almsgiving exalteth a nation," that is to say, the nation
of Israel; as it is written (2 Sam. vii. 23), "And what one nation in
the earth is like thy people, even like Israel?" but "benevolence" is a
sin to nations, that is to say, for the Gentiles to exercise charity and
benevolence is sin.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 10, col. 2.

If a Gentile smite an Israelite, he is guilty of death; as it is written
(Exod. ii. 12), "And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw
there was no man, he slew the Egyptian."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 58, col. 2.

All Israelites have a portion in the world to come; as it is written
(Isa. lx. 21), "And thy people are all righteous: they shall inherit the
land."

Ibid., fol. 90, col. 1.

"And they shall fall one on account of another" (Lev. xxvi. 37),--one on
account of the sins of another. This teaches us that all Israel are
surety for one another.

_Shevuoth_, fol. 39, col. 1.

If one find a foundling in a locality where the majority are Gentiles,
then the child is (to be reckoned) a Gentile; if the majority be
Israelites, it is to be considered as an Israelite; and so also it is to
be, providing the numbers are equal.

_Machsheerin_, chap. 2, Mish. 7.

"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the
earth abideth forever" (Eccl. i. 4). One empire cometh and another
passeth away, but Israel abideth forever.

_Perek Hashalom._

The world was created only for Israel: none are called the children of
God but Israel; none are beloved before God but Israel.

_Gerim_, chap. 1.

The Jew that has no wife abideth without joy, without a blessing, and
without any good. Without joy, as it is written (Deut. xiv. 26), "And
thou shalt reject, thou and thy household;" without blessing, as it is
written (Ezek. xliv. 30), "That He may cause a blessing to rest on thy
household;" without any good, for it is written (Gen. ii. 8), "It is not
good that man should be alone."

_Yevamoth_, fol. 62, col. 2.

The Jew that has no wife is not a man; for it is written (Gen. v. 2),
"Male and female created He them and called their name man." To which
Rabbi Eleazar adds, "So every one who has no landed property is no man;
for it is written (Ps. cxv. 16), 'The heaven, even the heavens, are the
Lord's, but the earth (the land, that is), hath He given to the children
of man.'"

_Yevamoth_, fol. 63, col. 1.

Three things did Moses ask of God:--1. He asked that the Shechinah might
rest upon Israel; 2. That the Shechinah might rest upon none but Israel;
and 3. That God's ways might be made known unto him; and all these
requests were granted.

_Berachoth_, fol. 7, col. 1.

    What was the Shechinah? Was it the presence of a Divine person
    or only of a Divine power? The following quotations will show
    what is the teaching of the Talmud on the matter, and will be
    read with interest by the theologian, whether Jew or Christian.

    Where do we learn that when ten persons pray together the
    Shechinah is with them? In Ps. lxxxii. 1, where it is written,
    "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty." And where do
    we learn that when two sit together and study the law the
    Shechinah is with them? In Mal. iii. 16, where it is written,
    "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and
    the Lord hearkened and heard it." (_Berachoth_, fol. 6, col. 1.)

    Where do we learn that the Shechinah does strengthen the sick?
    In Ps. xli. 3, where it is written, "The Lord will strengthen
    him upon the bed of languishing." (_Shabbath_, fol. 12, col. 2.)

    He who goes from the Synagogue to the lecture-room, and from the
    lecture-room back to the Synagogue, will become worthy to
    receive the presence of the Shechinah; as it is written (Ps.
    lxxxiv. 1), "They go from strength to strength; every one of
    them in Zion appeareth before God." (_Moed Katan_, fol. 29, col.
    1.)

    Rabbi Yossi says, "The Shechinah never came down here below, nor
    did Moses and Elijah ever ascend on high, because it is written
    (Ps. cxv. 16), 'The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's,
    but the earth hath he given to the children of men.'" (_Succah_,
    fol. 5, col. 1.)

    Esther "stood in the inner court of the King's house" (Esth. v,
    1). Rabbi Levi says, "When she reached the house of the images
    the Shechinah departed from her. Then she exclaimed, 'My God! my
    God! why hast thou forsaken me?'" (_Meggillah_, fol. 15, col. 2.)

    "But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every
    one of you this day" (Deut. iv. 4). Is it possible to cleave to
    the Shechinah? Is it not written (_ibid._, verse 24), "For the
    Lord thy God is a consuming fire"? The reply is:--He that
    bestows his daughter in marriage on a disciple of the wise (that
    is, a Rabbi), or does business on behalf of the disciples of the
    wise, or maintains them from his property, Scripture accounts it
    as if he did cleave to the Shechinah. (_Kethuboth_, fol. iii,
    col. 25.)

    He who is angry has no regard even for the Shechinah; as it is
    written (Ps. x. 4), "The wicked, when his anger rises, does not
    inquire after God; God is not in all his thoughts." (_Nedarim_,
    fol. 22, col. 2.)

    He who visits the sick should not sit upon the bed, nor even
    upon a stool or a chair beside it, but he should wrap his mantle
    round him and sit upon the floor, because of the Shechinah which
    rests at the head of the bed of the invalid; as it is written
    (Ps. xli. 3), "The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of
    languishing." (Ibid., fol. 40, col. 1.)

    When Israel went up out of the Red Sea, both the babe on its
    mother's lap and the suckling at the breast saw the Shechinah,
    and said, "This is my God, and I will prepare Him a habitation;"
    as it is written (Ps. viii. 2), "Out of the mouths of babes and
    sucklings thou hast ordained strength." (_Soteh_, fol. 30, col.
    2.)

    Where do we read that the Shechinah is present everywhere? In
    Zech. ii. 3, where it is written, "And behold the angel that
    talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet
    him." It is not said went out after him, but "went out to meet
    him." From this we know that the Shechinah is present
    everywhere. (_Bava Bathra_ fol. 25, col. 1.)

Rabbi Akiva says, "For three things I admire the Medes:--1. When they
carve meat, they do it on the table; 2. When they kiss, they only do so
upon the hand; 3. And when they consult, they do so only in the field."

_Berachoth_, fol. 8, col. 2.

The stone which Og, king of Bashan, meant to throw upon Israel is the
subject of a tradition delivered on Sinai. "The camp of Israel I see,"
he said, "extends three miles; I shall therefore go and root up a
mountain three miles in extent and throw it upon them." So off he went,
and finding such a mountain, raised it on his head, but the Holy
One--blessed be He!--sent an army of ants against him, which so bored
the mountain over his head that it slipped down upon his shoulders, from
which he could not lift it, because his teeth, protruding, had riveted
it upon him. This explains that which is written (Ps. iii. 7), "Thou
hast broken the teeth of the ungodly;" where read not "Thou hast
broken," but "Thou hast ramified," that is, "Thou hast caused to branch
out." Moses being ten ells in height, seized an axe ten ells long, and
springing up ten ells, struck a blow on Og's ankle and killed him.

Ibid., fol. 54, col. 2.

    This same story is given with more than Talmudic exaggeration in
    the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, while the author of the Book
    of Jasher (chap. lxv., verses 23, 24) makes the camp and the
    mountain forty miles in extent. The giant here figures in
    antediluvian tradition. He is said to have been saved at the
    Flood by laying hold of the ark, and being fed day by day
    through a hole in the side of the ark by Noah himself. A
    tradition which says the soles of his feet were forty miles long
    at once explains all the extraordinary feats ascribed to him.

Rav Yehudah used to say, "Three things shorten a man's days and
years:--1. Neglecting to read the law when it is given to him for that
purpose; seeing it is written (Deut. xxx. 20), 'For He (who gave it) is
thy life and the length of thy days.' 2. Omitting to repeat the
customary benediction over a cup of blessing; for it is written (Gen.
xii. 3), 'And I will bless them that bless thee.' 3. And the assumption
of a Rabbinical air; for Rabbi Chama bar Chanena says, 'Joseph died
before any of his brethren, because he domineered over them.'"

_Berachoth_, fol. 55, col. 1.

    The first of these refers to the reading of the law in public
    worship, the second to a practice after meals when more than two
    adult Jews were present, and the third to the dictatorial air
    often assumed by the Rabbis.

Three things proceed by pre-eminence from God Himself:--Famine, plenty,
and a wise ruler. Famine (2 Kings viii. 2): "The Lord hath called for a
famine;" plenty (Ezek. xxxvi. 29): "I will call for corn and increase
it;" a wise ruler; for it is written (Exod. xxxi. 2), "I have called by
name Bezaleel." Rabbi Yitzchak says, "A ruler is not to be appointed
unless the community be first consulted. God first consulted Moses, then
Moses consulted the nation concerning the appointment of Bezaleel."

Ibid., fol. 55, col. 1.

Three dreams come to pass:--That which is dreamed in the morning; that
which is also dreamed by one's neighbor; and a dream which is
interpreted within a dream; to which some add, one that is dreamed by
the same person twice; as it is written (Gen. xli. 32), "And for that
the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice."

Ibid., fol. 55, col. 2.

Three things tranquilize the mind of man:--Melody, scenery, and sweet
odor. Three things develop the mind of man:--A fine house, a handsome
wife, and elegant furniture.

Ibid., fol. 57, col. 2.

The Rabbis have taught that there are three sorts of dropsy:--Thick,
resulting from sin; bloated, in consequence of insufficient food; and
thin, due to sorcery.

_Shabbath_, fol. 33, col. 1.

These three grow stronger as they grow older:--The fish, the serpent,
and the pig.

Ibid., fol. 77, col. 2.

It were better to cut the hands off than to touch the eye, or the nose,
or the mouth, or the ear, etc., with them without having first washed
them. Unwashed hands may cause blindness, deafness, foulness of breath,
or a polypus. It is taught that Rabbi Nathan has said, "The evil spirit
Bath Chorin, which rests upon the hands at night, is very strict; he
will not depart till water is poured upon the hands three times over."

Ibid. fol. 109, col. 1.

    The great importance of this ceremonial washing of the hands
    will appear from the following anecdote, which we quote
    _verbatim_ from another part of the Talmud:--"It happened once,
    as the Rabbis teach, that Rabbi Akiva was immured in a prison,
    and Yehoshua Hagarsi was his attendant. One day the gaoler said
    to the latter as he entered, 'What a lot of water thou hast
    brought to-day! Dost thou need it to sap the walls of the
    prison?' So saying, he seized the vessel and poured out half of
    the water. When Yehoshua brought in what was left of the water
    to Rabbi Akiva, the latter, who was weary of waiting, for he was
    faint and thirsty, reproachfully said to him, 'Yehoshua, dost
    thou forget that I am old, and my very life depends upon thee?'
    When the servant related what had happened, the Rabbi asked for
    the water to wash his hands, 'Why, master,' said Yehoshua,
    'there's not enough for thee to drink, much less to cleanse thy
    hands with.' To which the Rabbi replied, 'What am I to do? They
    who neglect to wash their hands are judged worthy of death; 'tis
    better that I should die by my own act from thirst than act
    against the rules of my associates.' And accordingly it is
    related that he abstained from tasting anything till they
    brought him water to wash his hands." (_Eiruvin_, fol. 21, col.
    2. See also _Maimonides, Hilc. Berach._, vi. 19.)

    From the context of the passage just quoted we cull the
    following, which proves that the Talmud itself bases the precept
    concerning the washing of hands on oral tradition and not on the
    written law:--"Rav Yehudah ascribes this saying to Shemuel, that
    when Solomon gave to the traditional rules that regulated the
    washing of hands and other ceremonial rites the form and
    sanction of law, a Bath Kol came forth and said (Prov. xxiii.
    15), 'My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even
    mine;' and again it said (Prov. xxvii, 11), 'My son, be wise,
    and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth
    me.'" (See Prov. xxx. 5, 6.)

    There is a great deal in the Talmud about washing the hands, in
    addition to what is said in the treatise Yadaim, which is
    entirely devoted to the subject. But this topic is subordinate
    to another, namely, the alleged inferiority of the precepts of
    the Bible to the prescriptions of the Rabbis, of which the
    punctilious rules regulative of hand washing form only a small
    fraction. This is illustrated by an anecdote from the Talmudic
    leaflet entitled Callah, respecting Rabbi Akiva, whose fame
    extends from one end of the world to the other. (See _Yevamoth_,
    fol. 16, col. 2).

    Once upon a time, as the Elders were sitting together, two lads
    passed by them, one with his head covered and the other
    bareheaded. Of the latter boy as he passed Rabbi Elazar said,
    "He is a Mamzer," and Rabbi Yehoshua, "He is a Ben Haniddah,"
    but Rabbi Akiva contended, "He is both a Mamzer and a Ben
    Haniddah." Upon which the Elders said to Rabbi Akiva, "How
    darest thou be so bold as dispute the assertion of thy masters?"
    "Because I can substantiate what I say," was his answer. He then
    went to the mother of the lad, and found her selling pease in
    the market place. "Daughter," said he to her, "if thou wilt
    answer all that I ask of thee, I will ensure thee a portion in
    the life to come." She replied, "Let me have thy oath and I will
    do so." Then taking the oath with his lips but nullifying it in
    his heart, he asked her, "What sort of a son is thy lad?" She
    replied, "When I entered my bridal chamber I was a Niddah, and
    consequently my husband kept away from me." Thus it was found
    out that the boy was a Mamzer and a Ben Haniddah; upon which the
    sages exclaimed, "Great is Rabbi Akiva, for he has overcome his
    masters;" and as they congratulated him they said, "Blessed be
    the Lord God of Israel, who hath revealed His secret unto Akiva
    the son of Joseph." Thus did the Rabbi forswear himself, and
    thus did his companions compliment him on the success of his
    perjury; yet the Bible says, "Thou shalt not take the name of
    the Lord thy God in vain" (Exod. xx. 7), and "Keep thou far from
    a falsehood" (Exod. xxiii. 7).

    Here is a companion picture from Yoma, fol. 84, col. 1.--"Rabbi
    Yochanan was suffering from scurvy, and he applied to a Gentile
    woman, who prepared a remedy for the fifth and then the sixth
    day of the week. 'But what shall I do to-morrow?' said he; 'I
    must not walk so far on the Sabbath.' 'Thou wilt not require any
    more,' she answered. 'But suppose I do,' he replied. 'Take an
    oath,' she answered, 'that thou wilt not reveal it, and I will
    tell thee how to compound the remedy.' This he did in the
    following words: 'By the God of Israel, I swear I will not
    divulge it.' Nevertheless, when he learned the secret, he went
    and revealed it. 'But was not that profaning the name of God?'
    asks one. 'No,' pleads another Rabbi, 'for, as he told her
    afterward, that what he meant was that he would not tell it to
    the God of Israel.' The remedy was yeast, water, oil, and salt."

    The anecdote that follows is from Sanhedrin, fol. 97, col
    1:--"In reference to the remark of Ravina, who said, 'I used to
    think that there was no truth in the world,' one of the Rabbis,
    Toviah (or Tavyoomah, as some say), would protest and say, 'If
    all the riches of the world were offered me, I would not tell a
    falsehood.' And he used to clench his protestation with the
    following apologue: 'I once went to a place called Kushta, where
    the people never swerve from the truth, and where (as a reward
    for their integrity) they do not die until old age; and there I
    married and settled down, and had two sons born unto me. One day
    as my wife was sitting and combing her hair, a woman who dwelt
    close by came to the door and asked to see her. Thinking that it
    was a breach of etiquette (that any one should see her at her
    toilet), I said she was not in. Soon after this my two children
    died, and the people came to inquire into the cause of their
    premature decease. When I told them of my evasive reply to the
    woman, they asked me to leave the town, lest by my misconduct I
    might involve the whole community in a like calamity, and death
    might be enticed to their place."

Food remains for three days in the stomach of the dog, because God knew
that his food would be scanty.

_Shabbath_, fol. 155, col. 1.

He who is born on the third day of the week will be rich and amorous.

Ibid., fol. 156, col. 1.

Rabbi Abba, in the name of Shemuel, says, "The schools of Shammai and
Hillel were at variance three years, the one party contending and
saying, 'The Halacha is according to us;' and the other, 'The Halacha is
according to us.' Then came a voice from the Lord and said, 'Both these
and those are the words of the living God, but yet the Halacha is
according to the school of Hillel.' What was the merit of the school of
Hillel that the Halacha should be pronounced to be according to it? Its
disciples were gentle and forbearing, for while they stood by their own
decisions, they also stated those maintained by the school of Shammai,
and often even mentioned the tenets of the school of Shammai first and
their own afterward. This teaches us that him who humbles himself, God
will exalt; and him who exalts himself, God will abase. Whoso pursueth
greatness, greatness will flee from him; and whoso fleeth from
greatness, greatness will pursue him."

_Eiruvin_, fol. 13, col. 2.

There are three entrances to hell:--One in the desert, one in the sea,
and one in Jerusalem.

Ibid., fol. 19, col. i.

These three will never see hell:--He who is purified by poverty; he who
is purged by a painful flux; and he who is harassed by importunate
creditors; and some say, he also who is plagued with a termagant wife.

_Eiruvin_, fol. 41, col. 2.

Three effects are ascribed to Babylonian broth (which was made of moldy
bread, sour milk, and salt):--It retards the action of the heart, it
affects the eyesight, and emaciates the body.

_P'sachim_, fol. 42, col 1.

These three are not permitted to come between two men, nor is a man
allowed to pass between any two of these three:--A dog, a palm tree, or
a woman; to which some add the pig, and others the serpent as well.

Ibid., fol. 111, col. 1.

    One part of this regulation is rather hard and should surely be
    abolished; that, viz, which ordains a woman shall not come
    between two men or a man pass between two women. The compiler of
    this Miscellany was once witness to a case which illustrates its
    inconvenience: it occurred at Tiberias. A pious young Jew who
    had to traverse a narrow road to pass from the lake to the town
    was kept standing for a very considerable time under a broiling
    sun, simply because two young women, to tease him, guarded the
    entrance, and dared him to pass between them. Of course he dared
    not accept the challenge, otherwise he would have incurred the
    penalty of death, according to the judgment of the Talmud; for
    "Whosoever transgresses any of the words of the Scribes is
    guilty of death." (_Eiruvin_, fol. 21, col. 2.)

These three will inherit the world to come:--He who dwells in the land
of Israel; he who brings up his sons to the study of the law; and he who
repeats the ritual blessing over the appointed cup of wine at the close
of the Sabbath.

_P'sachim_, fol. 113, col. 1.

There are three whom the Holy One--blessed be He!--Himself proclaims
virtuous:--The unmarried man who lives in a city and does not sin; the
poor man who restores a lost thing which he has found to its owner; and
the rich man who pays the tithes of his increase unostentatiously. Rav
Saphra was a bachelor, and he dwelt in a large city. A disciple of the
wise once descanted upon the merits of a celibate life in the presence
of Rava and this Rav Saphra, and the face of the latter beamed with
delight. Remarking which, Rava said to him, "This does not refer to such
a bachelor as thou art, but to such as Rabbi Chanena and Rabbi Oshaia."
They were single men, who followed the trade of shoemakers, and dwelt in
a street mostly occupied by _meretrices_, for whom they made shoes; but
when they fitted these on, they never raised their eyes to look at their
faces. For this the women conceived such a respect for them, that when
they swore, they swore by the life of the holy Rabbis of the land of
Israel.

_Psachim_, fol. 113, cols, 1, 2.

There are three whom the Holy One--blessed be He!--abhorreth: He who
says one thing but thinks another; he who might bear witness in favor of
his neighbor but refrains from doing so; and he who, having seen his
neighbor act disgracefully, goes and appears singly as a witness against
him (thus only condemning, but not convicting, him, as the law requires
two witnesses). As, for example, when Toviah transgressed and Zigud
appeared against him singly before Rav Pappa, and Rav Pappa ordered this
witness to receive forty stripes save one in return. "What!" said he,
"Toviah has sinned, and should Zigud be flogged?" "Yes," replied the
Rabbi, "for by testifying singly against him thou bringest him only into
bad repute." (See Deut. xix. 15.)

_P'sachim_ fol. 113, col. 2.

    "Toviah has sinned and Zigud is flogged," has long been a
    proverb among Jews.

There are three whose life is no life:--The sympathetic, the irascible,
and the melancholy.

_P'sachim_, fol. 113, col. 2.

There are three which despise their fellows:--Dogs, cocks, and
sorcerers. Some say strange women also, and some the disciples of the
Babylonian Rabbis.

Ibid.

These three love their fellows:--Proselytes, slaves, and ravens.

Ibid.

These three are apt to strut:--Israel among the nations, the dog among
animals, the cock among birds. Some say also the goat among small
cattle, and some the caper shrub among trees.

Ibid., fol. 25, col. 2.

There are three whose life is no life:--He who lives at another's table;
he whose wife domineers over him; and he who suffers bodily affliction.
Some say also he who has only a single shirt in his wardrobe.

Ibid., fol. 32, col. 2.

Three things are said respecting the finger-nails:--He who trims his
nails and buries the parings is a pious man; he who burns these is a
righteous man; but he who throws them away is a wicked man, for
mischance might follow, should a female step over them.

_Moed Katan_, fol. 18, col. 1.

    The orthodox Jews in Poland are to this day careful to bury away
    or burn their nail parings.

Three classes appear on the day of judgment:--The perfectly righteous,
who are at once written and sealed for eternal life; the thoroughly bad,
who are at once written and sealed for hell; as it is written (Dan. xii.
2), "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt;"
and those in the intermediate state, who go down into hell, where they
cry and howl for a time, whence they ascend again; as it is written
(Zech. xiii. 9), "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and
will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is
tried; they shall call on my name, and I will hear them." It is of them
Hannah said (1 Sam. ii. 6), "The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He
bringeth down to hell and bringeth up."

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 16, col. 2.

Our Rabbis have taught that there are three voices which can be heard
from one end of the world to the other:--The sound emitted from the
sphere of the sun; the hum and din of the city of Rome; and the voice of
anguish uttered by the soul as it quits the body; ... but our Rabbis
prayed that the soul might be spared this torture, and therefore the
voice of its terrors has not since been heard.

_Yoma_, fol. 20, col. 2.

In three particulars is benevolence superior to almsgiving:--Almsgiving
is only the bestowment of money, but benevolence can be exercised by
personal service as well. Alms can be given only to the poor, but
benevolence can be shown no less to the rich. Alms are confined to the
living, but benevolence may extend to both the dead and the living.

_Succah_, fol. 49, col. 2.

Three marks characterize the nation of Israel:--They are compassionate,
they are modest, and they are benevolent. Compassionate, as it is
written (Deut. xiii. 18), "And show thee mercy, and have compassion upon
thee, and multiply thee." Modest, as it is written (Exod. xx. 20), "That
his fear may be before your faces." Benevolent, as it is written (Gen.
xviii. 19), "For I know him," etc.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 79, col. 1.

Dates are good after meals in the morning and in the evening, but
hurtful in the afternoon; on the other hand, at noon they are most
excellent, and an antidote to these three maladies:--Evil thought,
constipation, and hemorrhoids.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 10, col. 2.

Beware of these three things:--Do not sit too much, for it brings on
hemorrhoids; do not stand too much, for it is bad for the heart; do not
walk too much, for it is hurtful to the eyes. But sit a third, stand a
third, and walk a third.

Ibid., fol. 111, col. 1.

He who holds his household in terror tempts to the commission of three
sins:--Fornication, murder, and Sabbath breaking.

_Gittin_, fol. 6, col. 2.

Three things weaken the strength of man:--Fear, travel, and sin. Fear,
as it is written (Ps. xxxviii. 10), "My heart palpitates, my strength
faileth me." Travel, as it is written (Ps. cii. 23), "He hath weakened
my strength in the way." ... Sin, as it is written (Ps. xxxi. 10), "My
strength faileth me, because of my iniquity."

Ibid., fol. 70, col 2.

Abraham was three years old when he first learned to know his Creator;
as it is said (Gen. xxvi. 5), "Because Abraham obeyed my voice."

_Nedarim_, fol. 32, col. 1.

    The conclusion arrived at here is founded on interpreting the
    Hebrew letters of the word rendered "because" numerically, in
    which the value of the letters gives a total of one hundred and
    seventy-two; so that the sense of the text is, "Abraham obeyed
    my voice" one hundred and seventy-two years. Now Abraham died
    when he was a hundred and seventy-five, therefore he must have
    been only three when he began to serve the Lord.

    As Abraham plays so important a part both in the history and the
    imagination of the Jewish race, we may quote here a score or so
    of the Talmudic traditions regarding him. The traditions, as is
    like, contributed quite as much, if not more, to give character
    to his descendants as his actual personality and that spirit of
    faith which was the central fact in his history. Races and
    nations often draw more inspiration from what they fancy about
    their ancestry and early history than from what they know; their
    fables therefore are often more illuminative than the facts.

Abraham was Ethan the Ezrahite, who is mentioned in Ps. lxxxvii. 1.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 15, col. 1.

Abraham's mother was Amathlai, the daughter of Karnebo.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 91, col. 1.

Abraham was the head of a seminary for youth, and kept both laws, the
written and the oral.

_Yoma_, fol. 28, col. 2.

Abraham observed the whole ceremonial law, even before it was given on
Sinai.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 82, col. 1.

    From the day Abraham was compelled to leave the idolatrous
    worship and country of his fathers, it is reasonable to suppose
    that his tent would become a rendezvous for his neighbors who
    shrunk like himself from the abominations around them. There,
    from his character, by which he recommended himself as the
    friend of God, he might very naturally be looked upon as a
    religious teacher, and men might gather together to learn from
    his lips or profit by his example. Hence, making due allowance
    for Eastern hyperbole, the statement of the Book of Jasher
    (chap. xxvi. verse 36) is not undeserving of credit, where it is
    said that "Abraham brought all the children of the land to the
    service of God, and he taught them the ways of the Lord." The
    same remark applies to what is said in Targ. Yerushalmi (Gen.
    xxi.), that Abraham's guests went not away until "he had made
    them proselytes, and had taught them the way everlasting." His
    son Isaac, says the Targ. of Ben Uzziel, went to school at the
    "Beth Medrasha de Shem Rabba."

Though Abraham kept all the commandments, he was not perfect till he was
circumcised.

_Nedarim_, fol. 31, col. 2.

    In whatever sense this may have been written, and whatever the
    interpretation that may be put upon it, there is one sense in
    which it is absolutely and eternally true, and that is, that, in
    order to be perfect, a man's life must be as pronounced on the
    negative side as the positive, in its denials as in its
    affirmations, and that it is futile to attempt to obey God
    unless one at the same time renounce all co-partnery with the
    devil. Circumcision is the symbol of this renunciation, and it
    is only as such it has any radical spiritual significance. Till
    he was circumcised, it is said, God did not speak to Abraham in
    Hebrew. Not till then is sacredness of speech, any more than
    sacredness of life, possible. Doubtless among the Jews
    circumcision was the symbol of their separation from the ethnic
    religions; and hence the jealousy with which their prophets
    looked upon any compromise with idolatry. Hatred of that, utter
    and intense, was the one essential negative pole of genuine
    Judaism, and circumcision was its sign and seal.

Abraham was the first of the proselytes.

_Succah_, fol. 49, col. 2.

Abraham it was that ordained the form of prayer for morning worship,
which is extant to this very day.

_Berachoth_, fol. 26, col. 2.

As he himself was pious, so were his very camels, for they would not
enter into a place where there were idols; as it is written (Gen. xxiv.
31), "I have prepared," i.e., removed the idols from, "the house and
room for the camels."

_Avoth d' Rabbi Nathan_, chap. 8.

Abraham had a daughter, and her name was Bakol.

Ibid., fol. 16, col. 2.

Abraham was free from evil passion.

_Bava Bathra_ fol. 17, col. 1.

He was also free from the Angel of Death.

Ibid., fol. 17, col. 1.

He delivered to the children he had by Keturah a secret name, with which
they learned to practice witchcraft and do the works of the devil.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 91, col. 1.

Though great, he personally waited on his guests, who had the appearance
of Arabs and not of angels.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 32, col. 2.

Rabbi Yehudah says Abraham planted an ornamental garden with all kinds
of choice fruits in it, and Rabbi Nehemiah says he erected an inn for
travelers in order to make known the name of God to all who sojourned in
it.

_Soteh_, fol. 10, col. 1.

    Both the Targum of Ben Uzziel and the Yerushalmi say that
    Abraham planted a paradise at Beersheba for the entertainment
    and delectation of his guests; and in Jasher (chap, xxvii. verse
    37) it is said that "Abraham formed a grove and planted a
    vineyard there, and had always ready in his tent meat and drink
    for those that passed through the land, so that they might
    satisfy themselves in his house."

He ranked as one of the seven shepherds of Israel (Micah v. 5). In this
group David was the central figure, with Adam, Seth, and Methusaleh on
his right hand, and Abraham, Jacob, and Moses on his left.

_Succah_, fol. 52, col. 2.

The coin of Jerusalem had the impress of David and Solomon on the one
side, and the holy city of Jerusalem on the other. But the impress on
the coin of our father Abraham was an old man and an old woman on one
side, and a young man and a damsel on the other.

_Bava Kama_, fol. 37, col. 2.

    This, it is to be presumed, must be taken in some symbolical
    sense, for coins cannot be traced back to a date so early as
    this; and when Abraham purchased the cave to bury Sarah in from
    the sons of Heth, we read that he weighed to Ephron the silver.

Abraham pleaded with God on the behalf of Israel and said, "While there
is a Temple they will get their sins atoned for, but when there shall be
no Temple, what will become of them?" God, in answer to his prayer,
assured him that He had prepared a prayer for them, by which, as often
as they read it, He would be propitiated and would pardon all their
sins.

_Meggillah_, fol. 31, col. 2.

He was punished by his posterity being compelled to serve the Egyptians
two hundred and ten years, because he had pressed the Rabbis under his
tuition into military service in the expedition he had undertaken to
recover Lot from those who had carried him off captive; for it is
written (Gen. xiv. 14), "He armed his instructed." Samuel says Abraham
was punished because he perversely distrusted the assurance of God; as
it is written (Gen. xv. 8), "Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit
it?"

_Nedarim_, fol. 31, col. 2.

Abraham was thrown into a fiery furnace by Nimrod, and God would not
permit Gabriel to rescue him, but did so Himself; because God is One and
Abraham was one, therefore it behooved the One to rescue the one.

_P'sachim_, fol. 118, col. 1.

    The fire from which Abraham is here said to be delivered may
    simply refer to his deliverance by the hand of God from Ur of
    the Chaldees; Ur meaning "fire," and being the name of a place
    celebrated for fire worship. The Midrash (p. 20) says, "When the
    wicked Nimrod cast Abraham into the furnace, Gabriel said, 'Lord
    of the universe! permit me to deliver this holy one from the
    fire!' But the Lord made answer, 'I am the One Supreme in my
    world, and he is supreme in his; it is fitting therefore that
    the Supreme should rescue the supreme.'"

Abraham was a giant of giants; his height was as that of seventy-four
men put together. His food, his drink, and his strength were in the
proportion of seventy-four men's to one man's. He built an iron city for
the abode of his seventeen children by Keturah, the walls of which were
so lofty that the sun never penetrated them: he gave them a bowl full of
precious stones, the brilliancy of which supplied them with light in the
absence of the sun.

_Sophrim_, chap. 21.

Abraham our father had a precious stone suspended from his neck, and
every sick person that gazed upon it was immediately healed of his
disease. But when Abraham died, God hung up the stone on the sphere of
the sun.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 16, col. 2.

Till Abraham's time there was no such thing as a beard; but as many
mistook Abraham for Isaac, and Isaac for Abraham, they looked so exactly
alike, Abraham prayed to God for a beard to enable people to distinguish
him from his son, Isaac, and it was granted him; as it is written (Gen.
xxiv. 1), "And to Abraham a beard came when he was well stricken in
age."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 107, col. 2.

    Here the word which the translators of the English version
    render "was old," is taken in another of its cognate meanings as
    a beard. The Midrash is a trifle more modest in this legendary
    assertion. There we read, "Before Abraham there was no special
    mark of old age," and that for distinction's sake "the beard was
    made to turn gray."

When he died, all the chiefs of the nations of the world stood in a line
and exclaimed, "Alas for the world that has lost its leader! Alas for
the ship that has lost its helmsman!"

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 91, col. 2.

As Rabbi Banna went about to measure and to mark off the outward and
inward dimensions of the different caves, when he came to the cave of
Machpelah he found Eliezar, Abraham's servant, at the entrance, and
asked him, "What is Abraham doing?" The answer he received was, "He is
asleep in the arms of Sarah."

Ibid., fol. 58, col. 1.

    Abraham being greater than Moses, for while the latter is only
    called by God "My Servant" (Mal. iv. 4), the former is called
    "My Friend" (Isa. xli. 8), we devote a little more space for a
    few more extracts from other Jewish sources than the Talmud, in
    order to make the picture they supply of Abraham's character a
    little more complete.

Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri says:--"The Holy One--blessed be He!--took Shem
and separated him to be a priest to Himself, that he might serve before
Him. He also caused His Shechinah to rest with him, and called his name
Melchizedek, priest of the Most High and king of Salem. His brother
Japheth even studied the law in his school, until Abraham came and also
learned the law in the school of Shem, where God Himself instructed
Abraham, so that all else he had learned from the lips of man was
forgotten. Then came Abraham and prayed to God that His Shechinah might
ever rest in the house of Shem, which also was promised to him; as it is
said (Ps. ex. 4), 'Thou art a priest forever after the order of
Melchizedek.'"

_Avodath Hakkodesh_, part 3, chap. 20.

Wherever Jacob resided he studied the law as his fathers did. How is
this, seeing the law had not yet been given, it is nevertheless written
of Abraham (Gen. xxvi. 5), "And he kept my charge"? Whence then did
Abraham learn the law? Rabbi Shimon says his reins (literally kidneys)
were made like two water-jars, from which the law flowed forth. Where do
we learn that it was so? From what is said in Ps. xvi. 7, "My reins also
instruct me in the night season."

_Bereshith Rabba_, chap. 95.

The masters of the Kabbalah, of blessed memory, say that Abraham's
Rabbi, i.e., teacher, was the angel Zadkiel.

_Rabbi Menachem's comment on the Pent._, Exod. iii. 5.

Adam's book, which contained celestial mysteries and holy wisdom, came
down as an heirloom into the hands of Abraham, and he by means of it was
able to see the glory of his Lord.

_Zohar Parashah Bereshith._

Abraham was the author of a treatise on the subject of different kinds
of witchcraft and its unholy workings and fruits, as also of the Book of
Creation, through holy names (by means of which, namely, anything could
be created).

_Nishmath Chayim_, chap. 29.

The whole world once believed that the souls of men were perishable, and
that man had no pre-eminence above a beast, till Abraham came and
preached the doctrine of immortality and transmigration.

Ibid., fol. 171, col. 1.

A good son delivers his father from the punishment of hell, for thus we
find that Abraham our father delivered Terah, as it is said in Gen. xv.
15, "And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace." This implies that God
had communicated to him the tidings that his father had a portion in the
world to come and was now "in peace" there.

_Pesikta Zotarta_, fol. 3, col. 2.

Before Abraham was circumcised God spake to him in the Chaldee language,
that the angels should not understand it. (This is proved from Gen. xv.
1.)

_Yalkut Chadash_, fol. 117.

Rabbi Levi said Abraham sits at the gate of hell and does not permit any
circumcised Israelite to enter. But if any appear who happen to have
sinned unduly, these he (by an indescribable contrivance) causes to
become uncircumcised and lets pass without scruple into the region of
torment; and this is what is said in Ps. lv. 20, "He hath put forth his
hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his
covenant."

_Yalkut Shimoni_, fol. 33, col. 2, sec. 18.

Abraham was circumcised on the Day of Atonement, and God looks that day
annually on the blood of the covenant of our father Abraham's
circumcision as atoning for all our iniquities, as it is said in Lev.
xvi. 30, "For on that day shall he make an atonement for you, to cleanse
you from all your sins."

_Yalkut Chadash_, fol. 121, col. 1, sec. 3.

"And it came to pass that when Abram was come into Egypt" (Gen. xii.
14). And where was Sarah? He confined her in a chest, into which he
locked her, lest any one should gaze on her beauty. When he came to the
receipt of custom, he was summoned to open the chest, but declined, and
offered payment of the duty. The officers said, "Thou carriest
garments;" and he offered duty for garments. "Nay, it is gold thou
carriest;" and he offered the impost laid on gold. Then they said, "It
is costly silks, belike pearls, thou concealest;" and he offered the
custom on such articles. At length the Egyptian officers insisted, and
he opened the box. And when he did so, all the land of Egypt was
illumined by her beauty.

_Bereshith Rabba_, chap. 40.

The question may naturally be asked why Abraham hid his wife from the
gaze of others first then and not before. The reply is to be deduced
from the following double rendering of Gen. xii. 11:--"Behold now I know
that thou art a fair woman." As if to say, "Usually people lose their
good looks on a long journey, but thou art as beautiful as ever." The
second explanation is this:--Abraham was so piously modest that in all
his life he never once looked a female in the face, his own wife not
excepted. As he approached Egypt and was crossing some water, he saw in
it the reflection of her face, and it was then that he exclaimed,
"Behold now I know that thou art a fair woman." As the Egyptians are
swarthy, Abraham at once perceived the magnitude of the danger, and
hence his precaution to hide her beauty in a chest.

_Zeenah Ureenah_ (1877 in Russia), fol. 28, col. 1.

When Abraham came to the cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah, Adam and Eve
rose from their grave and protested against his committing her to the
dust in that receptacle. "For," said they, "we are ever ashamed in the
presence of the Holy One--blessed be He!--on account of the sin which we
committed, and now comest thou to add to our shame by the contrast
therewith of the good works which ye two have done." On Abraham's
assurance that he would intercede with God on their behalf that they
should not bear the shame any longer, Adam immediately retired to his
sepulchre, but Eve being still unwilling to do so, Abraham took her by
the hand and led her back to the side of Adam; and then he buried Sarah.

_Yalkut Chadash_, fol. 14, col. 3, sec. 68.

Abraham's father, Terah, was both an idolater, a manufacturer of idols,
and a dealer in them. Once when Terah had some engagement elsewhere he
left his son Abraham to attend to his business. When a customer came to
purchase an idol, Abraham asked him, "How old art thou?" "Lo! so many
years," was the ready reply. "What," exclaimed Abraham, "is it possible
that a man of so many years should desire to worship a thing only a day
old?" The customer, being ashamed of himself, went his way; and so did
all other customers, who underwent a similar inquisition. Once an old
woman brought a measure of fine flour and wished to present it as an
offering to the gods. This so enraged Abraham that he took a staff and
broke all the images, excepting the largest, into whose hands he fixed
the staff. When his father came and questioned him about the destruction
of the gods, he replied, "An old woman placed an offering of flour
before them, which immediately set them all by the ears, for every one
was hungrier than another, but the biggest god killed all the rest with
this staff which thou now seest he still holds in his hands."
Superstition, especially when combined with mercenary motives, knows
neither reason nor human affection, therefore the father handed over his
son Abraham to the inquisition of Nimrod, who threw him into the fiery
furnace, as recorded elsewhere in this Miscellany. This is an historical
fact, to the truth of which the whole orthodox Jewish world will bear
testimony, and is solemnly recorded in _Shalsheleth Hakkabalah_ fol. 2,
col 1.

There are three graces:--The grace of a place in the eyes of its
inhabitants; the grace of a woman in the eyes of her husband; the grace
of a purchase in the eyes of the buyer.

_Soteh_, fol. 47, col. 1.

A man should divide his capital into three parts, and invest one-third
in land, employ one-third in merchandise, and reserve one-third in ready
money.

_Bava Metzia_, fol. 42, col. 1.

All who go down to hell shall come up again, except these three:--He who
commits adultery; he who shames another in public; and he who gives
another a bad name.

Ibid., fol. 58, col. 2.

These three complain, but no one sympathizes with them:--He who lends
money without witnesses; he who buys to himself a master; and he who is
lorded over by his wife.

Ibid., fol. 75, col. 2.

There are three things on which the world stands:--The law, the temple
service, and benevolence.

_Avoth_, chap. 1.

If three eat at one table and do not converse together on the law of the
Lord, it is as if they ate from the sacrifices for the dead; but they,
on the contrary, are as if they partook from a table of the Lord's own
furnishing who, while they sit down to meat, season their talk with its
holy precepts.

_Avoth_, chap. 3.

There are three crowns:--The crown of the law, the crown of the
priesthood, and the crown of royalty; but the crown of a good name
surpasses them all.

Ibid., chap. 4.

He who possesses these three virtues is a disciple of Abraham our
father, and he who possesses the three contrary vices is a son of Balaam
the wicked. The disciples of our father Abraham have a kindly eye, a
loyal spirit, and a lowly mind. The disciples of Balaam the wicked have
an evil eye, a proud spirit, and a grasping soul.

Ibid., chap. 5.

Three things are said respecting the children of men:--He who gives alms
brings a blessing on himself; he who lends does better; he who gives
away half of what he hath to spare does best of all.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 41.

There are three classes of disciples, and among them three grades of
worth:--He ranks first who asks and answers when asked; he who asks but
does not answer ranks next; but he who neither asks nor answers ranks
lowest of all.

Ibid.

Over these three does God weep every day:--Over him who is able to study
the law but neglects it; over him who studies it amid difficulties hard
to overcome; and over the ruler who behaves arrogantly toward the
community he should protect.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 5, col. 2.

Rabbi Yochanan says there are three keys in the hands of the Holy
One!--blessed be He!--which He never intrusts to the disposal of a
messenger, and they are these:--(1.) The key of rain, (2.) the key of
life, and (3.) the key of reviving the dead. The key of rain, for it is
written (Deut. xxviii. 12), "The Lord shall open unto thee His good
treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in season;" the key
of life, as it is written (Gen. xxx. 22), "God hearkened unto her, and
opened her womb;" the key of reviving the dead, for it is written (Ezek.
xxxvii. 13), "When I have opened your graves, and brought you up out of
your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live," etc.

_Taanith_, fol. 2, cols, 1, 2.

A disciple of the wise who makes light of the washing of hands is
contemptible; but more contemptible is he who begins to eat before his
guest; more contemptible is that guest who invites another guest; and
still more contemptible is he who begins to eat before a disciple of the
wise; but contemptible before all these three put together is that guest
which troubles another guest.

_Derech Eretz Zuta_, chap. viii.

A roll of the law which has two mistakes to a column should be
corrected; but if there be three, it should be stowed away altogether.

_Menachoth_, fol. 29, col. 2.

The wolf, the lion, the bear, the leopard, the panther, the elephant,
and the sea-cat, each bear three years.

Ibid.

Rav Yehudah says, in the name of Rav, "The butcher is bound to have
three knives; one to slaughter with, one for cutting up the carcass, and
one to cut away the suet. Suet being as unlawful for food as pork."

_Chullin_, fol. 8, col. 2.

Three classes of ministering angels raise a song of praise every day.
One class says, Holy! the second responds, Holy! and the third
continues, Holy is the Lord of hosts! But in the presence of the Holy
One--blessed be He!--Israel is more beloved than the ministering angels;
for Israel reiterates the song every hour, while the ministering angels
repeat it only once a day, some say once a week, others once a month,
others once a year, others once in seven years, others once in a
jubilee, and others only once in eternity. Again, Israel mentions The
Name after two words, as it is said (Deut. vi. 4), "Hear Israel,
Yehovah," but the ministering angels do not mention The Name till after
three, as it is written (Isa. vi. 3), "Holy! holy! holy! Yehovah
Zebaoth." Moreover, the ministering angels do not take up the song above
till Israel has started it below; for it is said (Job xxxviii. 7), "When
the morning stars sang together, then all the sons of God shouted for
joy."

_Chullin_, fol. 91, col. 2.

The Rabbis have taught, a man should not sell to his neighbor shoes made
from the hide of a beast that has died of disease, as if of a beast that
had been slaughtered in the shambles, for two reasons: first, because he
imposes on him (for the skin of a beast that dies of itself is not so
durable as the hide of a slaughtered animal); second, because there is
danger (for the beast that died of itself might have been stung by a
serpent, and the poison remaining in the leather might prove fatal to
the wearer of shoes made of that leather). A man should not send his
neighbor a barrel of wine with oil floating upon its surface; for it
happened once that a man did so, and the recipient went and invited his
friends to a feast, in the preparation of which oil was to form a chief
ingredient; but when the guests assembled, it was found out that the
cask contained wine, and not oil; and because the host had nothing else
in preparation for a worthy feast, he went and committed suicide.
Neither should guests give anything from what is set before them to the
son or daughter of their host, unless the host himself give them leave
to do so; for it once happened during a time of scarcity that a man
invited three of his friends to dine, and he had nothing but three eggs
to place before them. Meanwhile, as the guests were seated at the board,
the son of the host came into the room, and first one of the guests gave
him his share, and then the other two followed his example. Shortly
afterward the host himself came in, and seeing the child with his mouth
full and both hands, he knocked him down to the ground, so that he died
on the instant. The mother, seeing this, went and threw herself
headlong, from the housetop, and the father followed her example. Thus
Rabbi Eliezar ben Yacob said, "There perished in this affair three souls
of Israel."

Ibid., fol. 94, col. 1.

Once the Roman Government issued a decree that the Israelites should
neither observe the Sabbath nor circumcise their sons. Thereupon Reuben
the son of Istrubli trimmed his hair as a Gentile, and went among the
Roman senators and plied them with wise remonstrance. "If one," said he,
"has an enemy, does he wish him to be poor or rich?" "To be poor," was
the reply. "Then," he argued, "won't he be poorer if you prohibit him
from working on the Sabbath?" "It is well said," observed the senators;
and they at once abolished their decree respecting the Sabbath. Again he
asked, "If one has an enemy, does he wish him to be weak or strong?"
"Why, weak, to be sure," was the inevitable answer. "Then," said he,
"let the Jews circumcise their children, then will they be weakened."
"The argument is good," said they, and the decree against circumcision
was rescinded. Again he asked, "If one has an enemy, does he wish him to
increase or decrease?" "To decrease, of course," said they. In response
to his argument the decree against catamenia was accordingly abolished.
When, however, they found out that he was a Jew, they at once re-enacted
the decrees they had canceled. Upon this the question arose who should
go to Rome and appeal against these enactments. It was resolved that
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, who was reputed experienced in miracles, should
go, accompanied by Rabbi Elazar, the son of Rabbi Yossi.... As they
journeyed along, the question was proposed to them, "Whence is it proved
that the blood of a reptile is unclean?" Rabbi Elazar replied with a
curl of the lip, and quoted Lev. ii. 29. "And these shall be unclean
unto you." Rabbi Shimon said unto him, "By the curl of thy lip art thou
recognizable as a disciple of the wise! May the son never return to his
father!" for he was annoyed that he should presume to teach a Halachah
in his presence, and then and there he condemned him to death. (See
_Berachoth_, fol. 31, col. 2.) Thereupon Ben Temalion (an evil sprite or
imp) came, and greeting him, said, "Do ye wish me to accompany you?"
Rabbi Shimon wept and said, "Alas! a maid-servant of my ancestor
(Abraham) was assisted by three angels, and I have not one to attend me!
However, let a miracle be worked for us anyhow." Then the evil spirit
entered into the Emperor's daughter, and when the Rabbi was called in to
cure the princess, he exorcised the spirit by saying, "Depart, Ben
Temalion! Ben Temalion, depart!" and the evil spirit left her. By way of
reward the Rabbis were bidden to ask whatsoever they pleased, and
admitted into the imperial treasury that they might choose what seemed
good to them. Espying there the edict against Israel, they chose it, and
tore it to pieces.

_Meyilah_, fol. 17, col. 1, 2.

At the time when the high priest enters to worship, three acolytes take
hold of him, one by the right hand and another by the left, while the
third lifts the gems attached to the train of his pontifical vestment.

_Tamid_, chap. 7; _Mishna_, 1.

"I once, when a grave-digger," says Abba Shaul, as the Rabbis relate,
"chased a roe which had entered the shinbone of a dead man; and though I
ran three miles after it, I could not overtake it, nor reach the end of
the bone. When I returned, I was told that it was a bone of Og, king of
Bashan."

_Niddah_, fol. 24, col. 2.

The Rabbis have taught that during the first three months (of pregnancy)
the child lies in the lower part (of the uterus); during the next three
it occupies the middle part; and during the last three it is in the
upper part; and that when the time of parturition comes, it turns over
first, and this causes the birth-pains. We are also taught that the
pains caused by a female child are greater than those caused by a male.
Rabbi Elazar said, "What Scripture is there for this? 'When I was made
in secret and curiously wrought, in the lowest parts of the earth' (Ps.
cxxxix. 15). It is not said, 'I abode,' but, 'I was curiously wrought.'
Why the difference? Why are the pains caused by a girl greater than
those caused by a boy?"

Ibid., fol. 31, col. 1.

The Rabbis teach there are three that have a share in a man; God, and
his father and mother. The father's part consists of all that is white
in him--the bones, the veins, the nails, the brain, and the white of the
eye. The mother's part consists of all that is red in him--the skin, the
flesh, the hair, and the black part of the eye. God's part consists of
the breath, the soul, the physiognomy, sight and hearing, speech, motive
power, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. And when the time comes
that the man should depart from the world, God takes away His part, and
leaves those which belong to the father and mother. Rav Pappa says,
"This is the meaning of the proverb, 'Shake off the salt and throw the
flesh to the dogs.'"

_Niddah_, fol. 31. col. 1.

    Rashi's explanatory note is this: "Shake off the salt from the
    flesh and it becomes fit only for dogs. The soul is the salt
    which preserves the body; when it departs, the body putrefies."

Four things require fortitude in the observance:--The law, good works,
prayer, and social duties. Respecting the law and good works it is
written (Josh. i. 7), "Be thou strong and firm, that thou mayest observe
to do all the law;" in which the word "strong" refers to the law, and
the word "firm" to good works. Of prayer it is written, "Wait on the
Lord; be strong, and He shall make thine heart firm; wait, I say, upon
the Lord" (Ps. xxvii. 14). In respect to social duties it is written (2
Sam. x. 2), "Be strong, and let us strengthen ourselves for our people,
and for the cities of our God."

_Berachoth_, fol. 32, col. 2.

There are four signs which tell tales:--Dropsy is a sign of sin;
jaundice is a sign of hatred without a cause; poverty is a sign of
pride; and quinsy is a sign of slander.

_Shabbath_, fol. 33, col. 1.

"Unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah," i.e., four (Gen. xxxv. 27). Rabbi
Isaac calls it the city of four couples, i.e., Adam and Eve, Abraham and
Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah. These four couples being
buried in Mamre, it was therefore called "the city of four."

_Eiruvin_, fol. 53, col. 1.

The sun makes four quarterly circuits. In April, May, and June, i.e.,
Nisan, Iyar, and Sivan, his circuit is between the mountains, in order
to dissolve the snow; in July, August, and September, i.e., Tamuz, Ab,
and Ellul, his circuit is over the habitable parts of the earth, in
order to ripen the fruits; in October, November, and December, i.e.,
Tishri, Marcheshvan, and Kislev, his circuit is over the seas, to
evaporate the waters; in January, February, and March, i.e., Tebeth,
Shebat, and Adar, his circuit is over the deserts, in order to protect
the seed sown from being scorched.

_Psachim_, fol. 94, col. 2.

Four persons are intolerable:--A poor man who is proud, a rich man who
is a liar, an old man who is incontinent, and a warden who behaves
haughtily to a community for whom he has done nothing. To these some add
him who has divorced his wife once or twice and married her again.

Ibid., fol. 113, col. 2.

Four things cancel the decrees of Heaven:--Alms, prayer, change of name,
and reformation of conduct. Alms, as it is written (Prov. x. 2), "But
alms (more correctly, righteousness) delivereth from death." Prayer as
it is written (Ps. cvii. 6). "Then they cried unto the Lord in their
trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses." Change of name,
as it is said (Gen. xvii. 15, 16), "As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt
not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name." And after this
change of name it is written, "And I will bless her, and give thee a son
of her." Reformation of conduct, as it is written (Jonah iii. 10), "And
God saw their works," and "God repented of the evil," etc. Some say also
change of residence has the effect of turning back the decree of Heaven
(Gen. xii. 1), "And the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy
country;" and then it is said, "I will make of thee a great nation."

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 16, col. 2.

Four things cause an eclipse of the sun:--When a chief magistrate dies
and is not mourned over with the due lamentation; when a betrothed
damsel calls for help and no one comes to the rescue; when the people
commit the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah; and when brother murders brother.

_Succah_, fol. 29, col. 1.

Four things cause an eclipse among the luminaries of heaven: The writing
of false documents; the bearing false witness; the breeding of small
cattle, such as sheep and goats, in the land of Israel; and the cutting
down of fruit-trees.

Ibid., fol. 29, col. 1.

There are four things God repents of having created:--The Captivity, the
Chaldeans, the Ishmaelites, and the evil passion in man. The Captivity,
as it is written (Isa. lii. 5), "What have I here, saith the Lord, that
my people are taken away for nought?" etc. The Chaldeans, as it is
written (Isa. xxiii. 13), "Behold the land of the Chaldeans: this people
was not." The Ishmaelites, as it is written (Job xii. 6), "The tents of
robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure, into whose hand
God bringeth abundance." The evil passion, as it is written (Micah iv.
6), "And whom I have caused to be evil."

_Succah_, fol. 52, col. 2.

There have been four beautiful women in the world:--Sarah, Abigail,
Rahab, and Esther.

_Meggillah_, fol. 15, col. 1.

    Tosephoth asks, "Why was not Eve numbered among these beauties,
    since even Sarah, in comparison with Eve, was an ape compared to
    a man?" The reply is, "Only those born of woman are here
    enumerated."

    In fol. 13, col. i, of the same treatise from which the above is
    quoted, we are informed by Ben Azai that Esther was like the
    myrtle-tree, neither tall nor short statured, but middle-sized.
    Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha states that Esther's complexion was of
    a yellow or gold color.

One cup of wine is good for a woman, two are disgraceful, three
demoralizing, and four brutalizing.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 65, col. 1.

He who traverses so much as four ells in the land of Israel is sure of
everlasting life.

Ibid., fol. III, col. 1.

To walk even four ells without bowing the head is an offense to Heaven;
for it is written (Isa. vi. 3), "The whole earth is full of His glory."

_Kiddushin_, fol. 31, col. 1.

There are four who are accounted as dead:--The pauper, the leper, the
blind man, and he who has no male children.

_Nedarin_, fol. 64, col. 2.

Four things mark the characters of men:--He who says what is mine is
mine, and what is thine is thine, is, according to some, a moderate man,
but, according to others, a child of Sodom; he who says what is mine is
thine, and what is thine is mine, is an ignorant man; he who says what
is mine is thine and what is thy own is also thine, is a pious man; he
who says mine and thine are both my own, is a wicked man.

_Avoth_, chap. 5, sec. 16.

There are four kinds of men, according to their degrees of
passionateness:--He who is easily provoked and as readily pacified, and
who loses more than he gains; he whom it is difficult to rouse and as
difficult to appease, and who gains more than he loses; he who is not
readily provoked, but easily pacified, who is a pious man; he who is
easily provoked and with difficulty appeased, who is a wicked man.

Ibid., chap. 5, sec. 19.

There are four classes of men who give alms, and they are thus
distinguished:--He who is willing to give, but unwilling that others
should do so, he has an evil eye toward others; he who wishes others to
give, but does not do so himself, he has an evil eye toward himself; he
who gives, and induces others to give, he is pious; he who gives not,
nor wishes others to give he is wicked.

_Avoth_, chap 5, sec. 19.

There are four marks by which one disciple differs from another:--One
learns and does not teach, one teaches and does not learn, one learns
and teaches, and one neither learns nor teaches.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 29.

Four things, if kept in view and gravely pondered over, deter from
sin:--That a man consider whence he cometh, whither he goeth, who the
judge will be, and what the future will bring to pass.

_Derech Eretz_, chap. 3.

What is the meaning of that which is written (Ps. lxxxvii 2), "The Lord
loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob?" The
answer is, The Lord loveth the gates that are marked with the Halachah
more than the synagogues and the schools; and this agrees with what
Rabbi Cheeya bar Ami has said, in the name of Ulla, that since the
destruction of the Temple nothing else has remained to God in His world
but four ells of the Halachah.

_Berachoth_, fol. 8, col. 1.

Whoso walks even four ells with a proud unbending gait is as though he
spurned with his haughty head the feet of the Shechinah; for it is
written (Isa. vi. 3), "The whole earth is full of His glory."

Ibid., fol. 43, col. 2.

Four are in duty bound to return thanks to God:--They that have returned
from a voyage at sea (Ps. cvii. 23, 24, 31); those who have traveled in
the desert (verses 4-8); they who have recovered from a serious illness
(verses 17-21); and those that are liberated from prison (verses 10-15).

_Berachoth_, fol. 54, col. 2.

If one does not walk, say four cubits, before falling asleep after a
meal, that which he has eaten, being undigestible, causes foulness of
breath.

_Shabbath_, fol. 41, col. 1.

Four have died in consequence of the seduction of the
serpent:--Benjamin, the son of Jacob; Amram, the father of Moses; Jesse,
the father of David; and Chileab, the son of David.

Ibid., fol. 55, col. 2.

    These four are reckoned to have died on account of original sin,
    and not solely because of actual transgression, which, says
    Rashi, they never committed.

The traveler who is overtaken with the approach of Sabbath-eve before he
has completed his journey should hand over his purse to a Gentile to
carry; and if there be no Gentile at hand, let him stow it away on his
ass. As soon as the nearest halting-place is reached, those burdens
which may be lifted on the Sabbath should then be removed, and then the
cords should be slackened that the rest may slip off of its own accord.

Ibid., fol. 153, col. 1.

    Here the Gemara very graciously appends a direction as to the
    disposal of the purse, in case the traveler should happen to be
    on foot and have no Gentile attendant. He may take care of it
    himself, provided he halt at every other step and deposit it on
    the ground, for at least a distance of four cubits.

A master is bound to rehearse a lesson to his pupil four times.

_Eiruvin_, fol. 54, col. 2.

Alas for the power which prepares a grave for its possessor, for there
is not a prophet who hath not in his lifetime witnessed the decadence of
four kings; as it is said (Isa. i. 1), "The vision of Isaiah ... in the
days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah" (see also
Hosea i. 1).

_P'sachim_, fol. 87, col. 2.

Once Rav Pappa and Rav Hunnah partook together of a common meal, and as
the latter ate only one morsel the former ate four. After this, when Rav
Hunnah and Ravina ate together, the latter devoured eight portions to
the other's one, upon which Rav Hunnah jocularly remarked, "A hundred
(Rav) Pappas to one Ravina."

_P'sachim_, fol. 89, col. 2.

No food may be eaten on Passover-eve from the time of the offering of
the evening sacrifice (in order, i.e. that abstinence may whet the
appetite for the Matsoth). Even the poorest in Israel may not break his
fast till the hour of reclining; nor is he to partake of less than four
glasses of wine, even though he has been reduced so low as to subsist on
the porridge doled out by public charity.

Ibid., fol. 99, col. 2.

There are four things the doing of which by man brings judgment upon his
own head:--If he turn in between a wall and a date-palm; if he turn in
between two date-palms; if he drink borrowed water; and if he step
across spilt water, such even as his own wife may have thrown away. (All
these doings, says Rashi, are bound to annoy the evil genii.)

Ibid., fol. 111, col. 1.

Four precepts did our holy Rabbi (Yehudah Hakadosh) urge upon his
children:--Not to choose Shechentzia as a dwelling-place, for scoffers
resided there; not to use the bed of a Syrian odalisque; not to shirk
the payment of fiscal dues, lest the collector should confiscate all
their property; not to face an ox when he came up (ruffled) from the
cane-brake, for Satan sported betwixt his horns.

_P'sachim_, fol. 112, col. 2.

Whosoever prieth into the four things in the matter of the chariot in
Ezekiel's vision--what is above, what is beneath, what is before, or
what is behind--it were better for him if he had never been born.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 11, col. 2.

    The work or matter of the chariot, the Rabbinic term for the
    Vision of Ezekiel, ranks among the Arcana Judaica, which are not
    to be told save to the initiated.

Four men entered Paradise--these are their names:--Ben Azai, Ben Zoma,
Acher, and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva thus warned his companions: "When
you come across pavements of pellucid marble, do not cry out 'Water!
water!' for it is said (Ps. ci. 7), 'He that uttereth falsehood shall
not dwell in my sight.'" Ben Azai looked and died; concerning him the
Scripture says (Ps. cxvi. 15), "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the
death of his saints." Ben Zoma looked and went out of his mind; of him
the Scripture says (Prov. xxv. 16), "Hast thou found honey? eat only so
much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomit
it." Acher cut the plants. Only Akiva departed in peace.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 14, col. 2.

    Rashi explains this by saying these men went up to heaven; but
    Maimonides much more rationally teaches that the Paradise or
    garden here is merely the retreat of profound philosophic
    meditation. These five intuitions were;--(1.) To know that there
    is a God; (2.) to ignore every other beside Him; (3.) to feel
    His unity; (4.) to love His person; and (5.) to stand in awe of
    His Majesty (see Vad Hachaz, chap. 4, sec. 19). Deep thought in
    these matters was spoken of by the Rabbis as _promenading in the
    garden_.

Four times a year is the world subject to an ordeal of judgment:--At
Passover, which is decisive of the fruits of the field; at Pentecost,
which is decisive of the fruits of the garden; at the feast of
Tabernacles, which is decisive in respect of rain; on New Year's Day,
when all who come into the world pass before the Lord like sheep, as it
is said (Ps. xxxiii. 15), "Who formed their hearts together; who
understandeth all their works."

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

There are four varieties of cedar:--Erez, Karthom, Etz-Shemen, and
Berosh.

Ibid., fol. 23, col. 1.

Ben Kamzar would not teach the art of writing, and yet it is related of
him that he could, by taking four pens between his fingers, write off a
word of four letters at one stroke.

_Yoma_, fol. 38, col. 2.

There are four kinds of quails:--Sichli, Kibli, Pisyoni, and the common
quail. The first was of superior quality, and the last inferior.

Ibid., fol. 75, col. 2.

A man may obtain forgiveness after the third transgression, but if he
repeat the offense a fourth time, he is not pardoned again; for it is
said (Amos ii. 4), "For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I
will not turn away the punishment thereof;" and again (Job xxxiii. 29),
"Lo! all these things doth God two or three times" (and so inferentially
not four times) "with man to bring back his soul from the pit."

_Yoma_, fol. 86, col. 2.

For four reasons does their property pass out of the hands of the
avaricious:--Because they are backward in paying the wages of their
hired servants; because they altogether neglect their welfare; because
they shift the yoke from themselves and lay the burden upon their
neighbors; and because of pride, which is of itself as bad as all the
rest put together; whereas of the meek it is written (Ps. xxxvii. n),
"The meek shall inherit the earth."

_Succah_, fol. 29, col. 2.

"And the Lord showed me four carpenters" (Zech. i, 20). Who are these
four carpenters? Rav Ghana bar Bizna says that Rabbi Shimon Chassida
said they were Messiah the son of David, Messiah the son of Joseph,
Elijah, and the Priest of Righteousness.

Ibid., fol. 52, col. 2.

No Synagogue is to be sold except on condition that there be power of
re-purchase. These are the words of Rabbi Meir; but the sages say it may
be sold unconditionally, except in these four particular cases: that it
be not turned into a bath-house, a tannery, a wash-house, or a laundry.

_Meggillah_, fol. 27, col. 2.

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai was once asked by his disciples how he had
attained such length of days. "Never once," he said, "in my life have I
acted irreverently within four cubits of a place where prayer is
offered; never have I called a person by a wicked name; nor have I ever
failed to sanctify the Sabbath over a cup of wine. Once my aged mother
sold her head-dress to buy the consecration wine for me."

Ibid., fol. 27, col. 2.

When a sage is approaching, one should rise up before he gets within
four ells' distance, and remain standing until he has gone as far past.
When a chief magistrate is about to pass, one must rise as soon as he
comes in sight, and not resume the seat until he has passed four ells.
When a prince passes, one must stand up whenever he appears, and not sit
down again until the prince himself is seated; for it is said (Exod.
xxxiii, 8), "All the people rose up, ... and looked after Moses until he
was gone into the tabernacle."

_Kiddushin_, fol. 33, col. 2.

When Nero came to the Holy Land, he tried his fortune by belemnomancy
thus:--He shot an arrow eastward, and it fell upon Jerusalem; he
discharged his shafts towards the four points of the compass, and every
time they fell upon Jerusalem. After this he met a Jewish boy, and said
unto him, "Repeat to me the text thou hast learned to-day." The boy
repeated, "I will lay my vengeance upon Edom (i.e., Rome) by the hand of
my people Israel" (Ezek. xxv. 14). Then said Nero, "The Holy
One--blessed be He!--has determined to destroy His Temple and then
avenge Himself on the agent by whom its ruin is wrought." Thereupon Nero
fled and became a Jewish proselyte, and Rabbi Meir is of his race.

_Gittin_, fol. 56, col. 1.

They whose banquet is accompanied with four kinds of instruments of
music bring five calamities on the world; as it is said (Isa. v. 11-15),
"Woe unto those that get up early in the morning, that they may run
after strong drink; and continue until late at night, till flushed with
wine. And the harp and psaltery, tambourine and flute, and wine are at
their carousals."

_Soteh_, fol. 48, col. 1.

Let him carry the purse, and halt every time he accomplishes less than
four cubits forward.

_Shabbath_, fol. 153, cols, 1, 2.

    Rav Yitzchak here explains how the good Jew, belated on
    Sabbath-eve, may carry his purse himself, and so save his
    conscience. The traveler is to halt at about every other step,
    and so measure off the journey in four-cubit stages.

Though ever since the destruction of the Temple the Sanhedrin has ceased
to exist, the four kinds of capital punishment have not failed to assert
themselves. If a man incurs the penalty of death by stoning, he is in
the course of Providence either punished by a fatal fall from a roof or
slain by some beast of prey; if he has exposed himself to the penalty of
death by burning, it happens that he is either burned to death in the
end or mortally stung by a serpent; if the penalty of the law is that he
should be beheaded for his offense, he meets his death either from the
Government officer or by the hand of an assassin; if the penalty be
strangulation, he is sure to be drowned or suffocated.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 37, col. 2.

When a person is in a state of apprehension and cannot make out the
cause of it (the star that presided at his birth and his genii know all
about it), what should he do? Let him jump from where he is standing
four cubits, or else let him repeat, "Hear, O Israel," etc. (Deut. vi.
4); or if the place be unfit for the repetition of Scripture, let him
mutter to himself, "The goat at the butcher's is fatter than me."

Ibid., fol. 94, col. 1.

It is written in 2 Chron. xxxiii. 7, "A carved image;" and again it is
written in verse 19, "Graven images." Rabbi Yochanan said, "At first he
made the image with one face, but afterwards he made it with four--four,
so that the Shechinah might see it from every point, and thus be
exasperated."

Ibid., fol. 103, col. 2.

Moses uttered four judgments upon Israel, but four prophets revoked
them:--(1.) First Moses said (Deut. xxxiii. 28), "Israel then shall
dwell in safety alone;" then came Amos and set it aside (Amos vii. 5),
"Cease, I beseech thee," etc.; and then it is written (verse 6), "This
shall not be, saith the Lord." (2.) First Moses said (Deut. xxviii. 65),
"Among these nations thou shalt find no ease;" then came Jeremiah and
set this saying aside (Jer. xxxi. 2), "Even Israel, when I went to cause
him to rest." (3.) First Moses said (Exod. xxxiv. 7), "Visiting the
iniquities of the fathers upon the children;" then came Ezekiel and set
this aside (Ezek. xviii. 4), "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (4.)
First Moses said (Lev. xxvi. 38), "And ye shall perish among the
heathen;" then came Isaiah and reversed this (Isa. xxvii. 13), "And it
shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown,
and they shall come which were ready to perish."

_Maccoth_, fol. 24, col. 1.

When Akavyah ben Mahalalel appeared to four halachahs contradicting the
judgment of the wise on a certain important point of law, "Retract,"
they said, "and we will promote thee to be president of the tribunal."
To which he replied, "I would rather be called a fool all the days of my
life than be judged wicked for one hour before Him who is omnipresent."

_Edioth_, chap. 5, mish. 6.

Let thy house be open wide toward the south, the east, the west, and the
north, just as Job, who made four entrances to his house, in order that
the poor might find entrance without trouble from whatever quarter they
might come.

_Avoth d'Rav. Nathan_, chap. 7,

Rabbah once saw a sea-monster on the day it was brought forth, and it
was as large as Mount Tabor. And how large is Mount Tabor? Its neck was
three miles long, and where it laid its head a mile and a half. Its dung
choked up the Jordan, till, as Rashi says, its waters washed it away.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 73, col. 2.

Shemuel said, "We know remedies for all maladies except three:--That
induced by unripe dates on an empty stomach; that induced by wearing a
damp linen rope round one's loins; and that induced by falling asleep
after meals without having first walked a distance of at least four
cubits."

_Bava Metzia_, fol. 113, col. 2.

The five times repeated "Bless the Lord, O my soul" (Ps. ciii. civ.),
were said by David with reference both to God and the soul. As God fills
the whole world, so does the soul fill the whole body; as God sees and
is not seen, so the soul sees and is not seen; as God nourishes the
whole world, so does the soul nourish the whole body; as God is pure, so
also is the soul pure; as God dwelleth in secret, so does the soul dwell
in secret. Therefore let him who possesses these five properties praise
Him to whom these five attributes belong.

_Berachoth_, fol. 10, col. 1.

Five things have in them a sixtieth part of five other things:--Fire,
honey, the Sabbath, sleep, and dreams. Fire is a sixtieth of hell, honey
a sixtieth of manna, the Sabbath a sixtieth of the rest in the world to
come, sleep the sixtieth of death, and a dream the sixtieth of prophecy.

_Berachoth_, fol. 57, col. 2.

There are five weak things that are a source of terror to the
strong:--The mosquito is a terror to the lion, the gnat is a terror to
the elephant, the ichneumon-fly is a terror to the scorpion, the
flycatcher is a terror to the eagle, and the stickleback is a terror to
the leviathan.

_Shabbath_, fol. 77, col. 2.

These five should be killed even on the Sabbath:--The fly of Egypt, the
wasp of Nineveh, the scorpion of Hadabia, the serpent of the land of
Israel, and the mad dog anywhere and everywhere.

Ibid., fol. 121, col. 2.

Five things did Canaan teach his children:--To love one another, to
perpetrate robbery, to practice wantonness, to hate their masters, and
not to speak the truth.


_P'sachim_, fol. 113, col. 2.

Five things were in the first Temple which were not in the second:--The
ark and its cover, with the cherubim; the fire; the Shechinah; the Holy
Spirit; and the Urim and Thummim.

_Yoma_, fol. 21, col. 2.

Five things are said respecting the mad dog:--Its mouth gapes wide, it
drops its saliva, its ears hang down, its tail is curled between its
legs, and it slinks along the side of the road. Rav says that a dog's
madness is caused by witches sporting with it. Samuel says it is because
an evil spirit rests upon it.

Ibid., fol. 83, col. 2.

When a man has betrothed one of five women, and does not remember which
of the five it is, while each of them claims the right of betrothment,
then he is duty bound to give to each a bill of divorcement, and to
distribute the dowry due to one among them all. This decision is
according to Rabbi Tarphon, but Rabbi Akiva holds that he must not only
divorce each, but give to each the legal dowry, otherwise he fails in
his duty.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 118, col. 2.

When a person having robbed one of five does not remember which of the
five it was he had robbed, and each claims to have been the victim of
the robbery, then he is to part the stolen property (or the value of it)
among them all, and go his way. So says Rabbi Tarphon, but Rabbi Akiva
argues that the defaulter does not in this way fully exonerate himself;
he must restore to each and all the full value of the plunder.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 118, col. 2.

These things are said concerning garlic:--It nourishes, it glows
inwardly, it brightens the complexion, and increases virility. Some say
that it is a philtre for love, and that it exterminates jealousy.

_Bava Kama_, fol. 82, col. 1.

Five things cause forgetfulness:--Partaking of what has been gnawed by a
mouse or a cat, eating bullock's heart, habitual use of olives, drinking
water that has been washed in, and placing the feet one upon the other
while bathing.

_Horayoth_, fol. 13, col. 2.

Five things restore the memory again:--Bread baked upon coals,
soft-boiled eggs without salt, habitual use of olive oil, mulled wine,
and plenty of salt.

Ibid.

He who does not cheer the bridegroom whose wedding breakfast he has
enjoyed transgresses against the five voices (mentioned in Jer. xxxiii.
II):--"The voice of joy, the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say
'Praise ye the Lord of Hosts.'"

_Berachoth_, fol. 6, col. 2.

Mount Sinai had five names:--(1.) Wilderness of Zin, because on it the
Israelites were commanded to observe the law; (2.) Wilderness of Kadesh,
because on it the Israelites were consecrated to receive the law; (3.)
Wilderness of Kedemoth, because precedence was there given to Israel
over all other nations; (4.) Wilderness of Paran, because there the
Israelites were fruitful and multiplied; (5.) Wilderness of Sinai,
because from it enmity came to be cherished to the Gentiles. It was
denominated Horeb according to Rabbi Abhu, because from it came down
destruction to the Gentiles.

_Shabbath_, fol. 89, cols, 1, 2.

Mar (the master) has said, "From dawn to the appearance of the sun is
five miles." How is this proved? It is written (Gen. xix. 15), "When the
dawn arose the angels hurried Lot;" and it is added (verse 25), "The sun
was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar." And Rabbi Chanena
said, "I myself have seen that place, and the distance is five miles."

_P'sachim_, fol. 93, col. 2.

He that cooks in milk the ischiadic sinew on an annual festival is to be
scourged five times forty stripes save one:--For cooking the sinew, for
eating the sinew, for cooking flesh in milk, for eating flesh cooked in
milk, and for lighting the fire.

_Baitza_, fol. 12, col. 1.

    To this very day this sinew is extracted from the hind quarters
    of all animals before it is allowable for a Jew to eat them.
    This operation, in popular parlance, is termed porging.

The mysteries of the law are not to be communicated except to those who
possess the faculties of these five in combination:--"The captain of
fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning
artificer, and the eloquent orator" (see Isa. iii. 3).

_Chaggigah_, fol. 13, col. 1.

"Captain of fifty." This should be read, not captain of fifty, but
captain of five, that is, such as knew how to manage the five-fifths of
the law (or Pentateuch).

Ibid., fol. 14, col. 1.

Five characteristics were ascribed to the fire upon the altar:--It
crouched there like a lion, it shone as the sun, it was perceptible to
the touch, it consumed liquids as though they were dry materials, it
caused no smoke.

_Yoma_, fol. 21, col. 2.

How is it that the word signifying "And I will be glorified," occurs in
Hag. i. 8 without the letter which is the symbol for five, though it is
sounded as if that letter was there? It indicates the absence of five
things from the second Temple which were to be found in the first, (1.)
The ark, i.e., the mercy-seat of the cherubim; (2.) the fire from heaven
upon the altar; (3.) the visible presence; (4.) the Holy Spirit (of
prophecy, says Rashi); and (5.) the Urim and Thummim.

Ibid.

    How then, it may be asked, if these five tokens of the Divine
    presence and favor which rendered the first Temple so glorious
    were wanting in the second could it be said (Hag. ii. 9), "The
    glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former"?
    It is a question which it is natural to ask, and it should be
    ingenuously answered. Is it that these were tending to usurp the
    place of the spiritual, of which they were but the assurance and
    the symbol, and darken rather than reveal the eternal reality
    they adumbrated?

The Israelites relished any flavor they fancied in the manna except the
flavor of these five things (mentioned in Num. xi. 59):--"Cucumbers,
melons, leeks, onions, and garlic."

_Yoma_, fol. 75, col. 1.

Five things happened to our forefathers on the 17th of Tammuz, and five
on the 9th of Ab. On the 17th of Tammuz (1.) the tables of the covenant
were broken; (2.) the daily sacrifice was done away with; (3.) the city
walls were cleft asunder; (4.) Apostumes burned the roll of the law;
(5.) and set up an idol in the temple. On the 9th of Ab (1.) the decree
was uttered that our ancestors should not enter the land of Canaan; both
the (2.) first and the (3.) second Temple were destroyed; (4.) Byther
was subjugated and (5.) the city was plowed up.

_Taanith_, fol. 26, cols, 1, 2.

The Rabbis have taught where it is we learn that if one has five sons by
five wives he is bound to redeem each and all of them. It is from what
is taught in Exod. xxxiv. 20, where it is said, "All the first born of
thy sons shalt thou redeem."

_Kiddushin_. fol. 29. col. 2.

If Israel had not sinned they would have had no other Scriptures than
the five-fifths of the law (that is, the Pentateuch) and the book of
Joshua, which last is indispensable, because therein is recorded how the
land was distributed among the sons of Israel; but the remainder was
added, "Because in much wisdom is much grief" (Eccles. i. 18).

_Nedarim_, fol. 22, col. 2.

"If a man steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, five oxen shall
be given in restitution for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep" (Exod.
xxii. 1). From this observe the value put upon work. For the loss of an
ox, because it involves the loss of labor, the owner is recompensed with
five oxen; but for the loss of a sheep, which does no work, he is only
recompensed with four.

_Bava Kama_, fol. 79, col. 2.

"And Esau came from the field, and he was faint" (Gen. xxv. 29). Rabbi
Yochanan said that wicked man committed on that day five
transgressions:--He committed rape, committed murder, denied the being
of God, denied the resurrection from the dead, and despised the
birthright.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 16, col. 2.

There are five celebrated idolatrous temples, and these are the names of
them:--The Temple of Bel in Babylon, the Temple of Nebo in Chursi, the
Temple of Thretha in Maphog, the Temple of Zeripha in Askelon, and the
Temple of Nashra in Arabia. When Rabbi Dimmi came from Palestine to
Babylon he said there were others, viz, the Temple of Yarid in Ainbechi,
and that of Nadbacha in Accho.

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 11, col. 2.

"And they also transgressed my covenant, which I have commanded them;
and they also have taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen,
and dissembled also, and have also put it among their own stuff" (Josh.
vii. 11). Rav Illaa says, in the name of Rav Yehudah ben Mispartha, the
fivefold repetition of the particle also shows that Achan had trespassed
against all the five books of Moses. The same Rabbi further adds that
Achan had obliterated the sign of the covenant, for it is said in
relation to him, "And they have also transgressed my covenant;" and with
reference to circumcision, "He hath broken my covenant."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 44, col. 1.

He who eats an ant is flogged five times with forty stripes save one.

_Maccoth_, fol. 16, col. 2.

Rabbi Akiva used to say there are five judgments on record each of
twelve months' duration:--That of the deluge, that of Job, that of the
Egyptians, that of Gog and Magog, and that of the wicked in hell. This
last is said of those whose demerits outweigh their virtues, or those
who have sinned against their bodies.

_Edioth_, chap. 2, mish. 10.

Five possessions hath the Holy One--blessed be He!--purchased for
Himself in this world:--(1.) The law is one possession (Prov. viii. 22);
(2.) Heaven and earth is one possession (Isa. lxvi. 1, Ps. civ. 24);
(3.) Abraham is one possession (Gen. xiv. 9); (4.) Israel is one
possession (Exod. xv. 16); (5.) the Temple is one possession, as it is
said (Exod. xv. 17), "The sanctuary, O Lord, Thy hands have
established." And it is also said (Ps. lxxviii. 54), "And He brought
them to the border of His sanctuary, even to this mountain, which His
right hand had purchased."

_Avoth_, chap. 6.

Rabbi Akiva says he who marries a woman not suited to him violates five
precepts:--(1.) Thou shalt not avenge; (2.) thou shalt not bear a
grudge; (3.) thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart; (4.) thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; (5.) and that thy brother may live
with thee. For if he hates her he wishes she were dead, and thus he
diminishes the population.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 26.

Five have no forgiveness of sins:--(1.) He who keeps on sinning and
repenting alternately; (2.) he who sins in a sinless age; (3.) he who
sins on purpose to repent; (4.) he who causes the name of God to be
blasphemed. The fifth is not given in the Talmud.

Ibid., chap. 39.

He who has no fringes to his garment transgresses five positive commands
(see Num. xv. 38. etc.; Deut. xxii. 12).

_Menachoth_, fol. 44, col. 1.

A learner who, after five years, sees no profit in studying, will never
see it. Rabbi Yossi says, after three years, as it is written (Dan. i.
4, 5), "That they should be taught the literature and the language of
the Chaldeans," so educating them in three years.

_Chullin_, fol. 24, col. 1.

Any one who doeth any of these things sinneth against himself, and his
blood is upon his own head:--He that (1.) eats garlic, onions, or eggs
which were peeled the night before; (2.) or drinks water drawn over
night; (3.) or sleeps all night in a burying-place; (4.) or pares his
nails and throws the cuttings into the public street.

_Niddah_, fol. 17, col. 1.

Rabbi Yossi said:--"Never once in all my life have the walls of my house
seen the hem of my shirt; and I have planted five cedars (sons are
figuratively so termed, see Ps. xcii. 12) in Israel--namely, Rabbis
Ishmael, Eliezar, Chalafta, Artilas, and Menachem. Never once in my life
have I spoken of my wife by any other name than house, and of my ox by
any other name than field."

_Shabbath_, fol. 118, col. 2.

Six things are a disgrace to a disciple of the wise:--To walk abroad
perfumed, to walk alone by night, to wear old clouted shoes, to talk
with a woman in the street, to sit at table with illiterate men, and to
be late at the synagogue. Some add to these, walking with a proud step
or a haughty gait.

_Berachoth_, fol. 43, col. 2.

A soft-boiled egg is better than six ounces of fine flour.

Ibid., fol. 44, col. 2.

Six things are a certain cure for sickness:--Cabbage, beetroot, water
distilled from dry moss, honey, the maw and the matrix of an animal, and
the edge of the liver.

Ibid.

These six things are good symptoms in an invalid:--Sneezing,
perspiration, evacuation, seminal emission, sleep, and dreaming.

Ibid., fol. 57, col. 2.

Six things bear interest in this world and the capital remaineth in the
world to come:--Hospitality to strangers, visiting the sick, meditation
in prayer, early attendance at the school of instruction, the training
of sons to the study of the law, and judging charitably of one's
neighbors.

_Shabbath_, fol. 127, col. 1.

There are six sorts of tears, three good and three bad:--Those caused by
smoke, or grief, or constipation are bad; and those caused by fragrant
spices, laughter, and aromatic herbs are good.

Ibid., fol. 151, col. 2; fol. 152, col. 1.

Six things are said respecting the illiterate:--No testimony is to be
borne to them, none is to be accepted from them; no secret is to be
disclosed to them; they are not to be appointed guardians over orphans,
nor keepers of the charity-box, and there should be no fellowship with
them when on a journey. Some say also no public notice is to be given of
their lost property.

_P'sachim_, fol. 49, col. 2.

    The expression here rendered "illiterate" means literally
    "people of the land," and was, there is reason to believe,
    originally applied to the primitive inhabitants of Canaan,
    traces of whom may still be found among the fellahin of Syria.
    They appear, like the aboriginal races in many countries of
    Christendom in relation to Christianity, to have remained
    generation after generation obdurately inaccessible to Jewish
    ideas, and so to have given name to the ignorant and untaught
    generally. This circumstance may account for the harshness of
    some of the quotations which are appended in reference to them.

He who aspires to be a fellow of the learned must not sell fruit, either
green or dry, to an illiterate man, nor may he buy fresh fruit of him.
He must not be the guest of an ignorant man, nor receive such an one as
his guest.

_Demai_, chap. 2, mish. 2.

Our Rabbis teach, Let a man sell all that he has and marry the daughter
of a learned man. If he cannot find the daughter of a learned man, let
him marry the daughter of one of the great men of his day. If he does
not find such a one, let him marry the daughter of one of the heads of
the congregation, or, failing this, the daughter of a charity collector,
or even the daughter of a schoolmaster; but let him not marry the
daughter of an illiterate man, for the unlearned are an abomination, as
also their wives and their daughters.

_P'sachim_, fol. 49, col. 2.

It is said that Rabbi (the Holy) teaches that it is illegal for an
unlearned man to eat animal food, for it is said (Lev. xi. 46), "This is
the law of the beast and the fowl;" therefore he who studies the law may
eat animal food, but he who does not study the law may not. Rabbi
Eliezar said, "It is lawful to split open the nostrils of an unlearned
man, even on the Day of Atonement which happens to fall on a Sabbath."
To which his disciples responded, "Rabbi, say rather to slaughter him."
He replied, "Nay, that would require the repetition of the usual
benediction; but in tearing open his nostrils no benedictory formula is
needed." Rabbi Eliezar has also said, "It is unlawful to travel with
such a one, for it is said (Deut. xxx. 30), 'For it is thy life and the
length of thy days.' The unlearned does not ensure his own life (since
he has no desire to study the law, which would prolong life), how much
less then will he regard the life of his neighbor?" Rabbi Samuel, son of
Nachman, says on behalf of Rabbi Yochanan, that it is lawful to split
open an unlearned man like a fish. "Aye," adds Rabbi Samuel, "and that
from his back."

_P'sachim_, fol. 49, col. 2.

Rav Yehudah says it is good to eat the pulp of a pumpkin with beetroot
as a remedy, also the essence of hemp seed in Babylonian broth; but it
is not lawful to mention this in the presence of an illiterate man,
because he might derive a benefit from the knowledge not meant for him.

_Nedarim_, fol. 49, col. 1.

No contribution or heave-offering should be given to an ignorant priest.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 90, col. 2.

No boor can be pious, nor an ignorant man a saint.

_Avoth_, chap. 2, mish. 6.

Sleep in the morning, wine at mid-day, the idle talk of inexperienced
youth, and attending the conventicles of the ignorant drive a man out of
the world.

Ibid., chap. 3, mish. 16.

Rabbi Jonathan says, "Where do we learn that no present is to be made to
an ignorant priest?" In 2 Chron. xxxi. 4, for there it is said Hezekiah
"commanded that all the people that dwelt in Jerusalem should give a
portion to the priests and to the Levites, that they might be strong in
the law of the Lord." He who firmly lays hold of the law has a claim to
a portion, otherwise he has none.

_Chullin_, fol. 130, col. 2.

The aged, if ignorant, grow weaker in intellect the older they become in
years, for it is written (Job xii. 20), "He removeth away the speech of
the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged." But it is
not so with them that are old in the study of the law, for the older
they grow the more thoughtful they become, and the wiser, as it is said
(Job xii. 12), "With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days
understanding."

_Kinnin_, chap. 3.

The salutation of the ignorant should be responded to quietly, and with
a reluctant nod of the head.

_Taanith_, fol. 14, col. 2.

No calamities ever befall the world except such as are brought on by the
ignorant.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 8, col. 1.

Rav Hunna's widow once appeared before Rav Nachman as plaintiff in a
lawsuit. "What shall I do?" he said. "If I rise before her (to honor her
as the widow of a Rabbi), the defendant, who is an _amhaaretz_, will
feel uneasy; and if I don't rise I shall break the rule which ordains
that the wife of an associate is to be treated as an associate." So he
said to his servant, "Loose a young goose over my head, then I'll get
up."

Rav bar Sheravyah had a lawsuit with an _amhaaretz_ before Rav Pappa,
who bade him be seated, and also asked the other to sit down. When the
officer of the court raised the _amhaaretz_ with a kick, the magistrate
did not request him to be seated again.

_Shevuoth_, fol. 30, col. 2.

Six things are said respecting demons. In three particulars they are
like angels, and in three they resemble men. They have wings like
angels; like angels they fly from one end of the world to the other, and
they know the future, as angels do, with this difference, that they
learn by listening behind the veil what angels have revealed to them
within. In three respects they resemble men. They eat and drink like
men, they beget and increase like men, and like men they die.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

    The Talmud is particularly rich in demonology, and many are the
    forms which the evil principle assumes in its pages. We have no
    wish to drag these shapes to the light, and interrogate them as
    to the part they play in this intricate life. Enough now if we
    mention the circumstance of their existence, and introduce to
    the reader the story of Ashmedai, the king of the demons. The
    story is worth relating, both for its own sake and its
    historical significance.

    In Ecclesiastes ii. 8, we read, "I gat me men singers and women
    singers, the delights of the sons of men, as musical
    instruments, and that of all sorts." These last seven words
    represent only two in the original Hebrew, _Shiddah-veshiddoth_.
    These two words in the original Hebrew translated by the last
    seven in this verse, have been a source of great perplexity to
    the critics, and their exact meaning is matter of debate to this
    hour. They in the West say they mean severally carriages for
    lords and carriages for ladies, while we, says the Babylonish
    Talmud, interpret them to signify male demons and female demons.
    Whereupon, if this last is the correct rendering, the question
    arises, for what purpose Solomon required them? The answer is to
    be found in 1 Kings vi. 7, where it is written, "And the house,
    when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it
    was brought thither," etc. For before the operation commenced
    Solomon asked the Rabbis, "How shall I accomplish this without
    using tools of iron?" and they remembering of an insect which
    had existed since the creation of the world, whose powers were
    such as the hardest substances could not resist, replied, "There
    is the Shameer, with which Moses cut the precious stones of the
    Ephod." Solomon asked, "And where, pray, is the Shameer to be
    found?" To which they made answer, "Let a male demon and a
    female come, and do thou coerce them both; mayhap they know and
    will reveal it to thee." He then conjured into his presence a
    male and a female demon, and proceeded to torture them, but in
    vain, for said they, "We know not its whereabouts and cannot
    tell; perhaps Ashmedai, the king of the demons, knows." On being
    further interrogated as to where he in turn might be found, they
    made this answer: "In yonder mount is his residence; there he
    has dug a pit, and, after filling it with water, covered it over
    with a stone, and sealed with his own seal. Daily he ascends to
    heaven and studies in the school of wisdom there, then he comes
    down and studies in the school of wisdom here; upon which he
    goes and examines the seal, then opens the pit, and after
    quenching his thirst, covers it up again, re-seals it, and takes
    his departure."

    Solomon thereupon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, provided
    with a magic chain and ring, upon both of which the name of God
    was engraved. He also provided him with a fleece of wool and
    sundry skins with wine. Then Benaiah went and sank a pit below
    that of Ashmedai, into which he drained off the water and
    plugged the duct between with the fleece. Then he set to and dug
    another hole higher up with a channel leading into the emptied
    pit of Ashmedia, by means of which the pit was filled with the
    wine he had brought. After leveling the ground so as not to
    rouse suspicion, he withdrew to a tree close by, so as to watch
    the result and wait his opportunity. After a while Ashmedai
    came, and examined the seal, when, seeing it all right, he
    raised the stone, and to his surprise found wine in the pit. For
    a time he stood muttering and saying, it is written, "Wine is a
    mocker: strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived
    thereby is not wise." And again, "Whoredom and wine and new wine
    take away the heart." Therefore at first he was unwilling to
    drink, but being thirsty, he could not long resist the
    temptation. He proceeded to drink therefore, when, becoming
    intoxicated, he lay down to sleep. Then Benaiah, came forth from
    his ambush, and stealthily approaching, fastened the chain round
    the sleeper's neck. Ashmedai, when he awoke, began to fret and
    fume, and would have torn off the chain that bound him, had not
    Benaiah warned him, saying, "The name of thy Lord is upon thee."
    Having thus secured him, Benaiah proceeded to lead him away to
    his sovereign master. As they journeyed along they came to a
    palm-tree, against which Ashmedai rubbed himself, until he
    uprooted it and threw it down. When they drew near to a hut, the
    poor widow who inhabited it came out and entreated him not to
    rub himself against it, upon which, as he suddenly bent himself
    back, he snapt a bone of his body, and said, "This is that which
    is written (Prov. xxv. 15), 'And a gentle answer breaketh the
    bone.'" Descrying a blind man straying out of his way, he hailed
    him and directed him aright. He even did the same service to a
    man overcome with wine, who was in a similar predicament. At
    sight of a wedding party that passed rejoicing along, he wept;
    but he burst into uncontrollable laughter when he heard a man
    order at a shoemaker's stall a pair of shoes that would last
    seven years; and when he saw a magician at his work he broke
    forth into shrieks of scorn.

    On arriving at the royal city, three days were allowed to pass
    before he was introduced to Solomon. On the first day he said.
    "Why does the king not invite me into his presence?" "He has
    drunk too much," was the answer, "and the wine has overpowered
    him." Upon which he lifted a brick and placed it upon the top of
    another. When this was communicated to Solomon, he replied "He
    meant by this, go and make him drunk again." On the day
    following he asked again, "Why does the king not invite me into
    his presence?" They replied, "He has eaten too much." On this he
    removed the brick again from the top of the other. When this was
    reported to the king, he interpreted it to mean, "Stint him in
    his food."

    After the third day, he was introduced to the king; when
    measuring off four cubits upon the floor with the stick he held
    in his hand, he said to Solomon, "When thou diest, thou wilt not
    possess in this world (he referred to the grave) more than four
    cubits of earth. Meanwhile thou has conquered the world, yet
    thou wert not satisfied until thou hadst overcome me also." To
    this the king quietly replied, "I want nothing of thee, but I
    wish to build the Temple and have need of the _Shameer_." To
    which Ashmedai at once answered, "The Shameer is not committed
    in charge to me, but to the Prince of the Sea, and he intrusts
    it to no one except to the great wild cock, and that upon an
    oath that he return it to him again." Whereupon Solomon asked,
    "And what does the wild cock do with the Shameer?" To which the
    demon replied, "He takes it to a barren rocky mountain, and by
    means of it he cleaves the mountain asunder, into the cleft of
    which, formed into a valley, he drops the seeds of various
    plants and trees, and thus the place becomes clothed with
    verdure and fit for habitation." This is the _Shameer_ (Lev. xi.
    19), Nagger Tura, which the Targum renders Mountain Splitter.

    They therefore searched for the nest of the wild cock, which
    they found contained a young brood. This they covered with a
    glass, that the bird might see its young, but not be able to get
    at them. When accordingly the bird came and found his nest
    impenetrably glazed over, he went and fetched the Shameer. Just
    as he was about to apply it to the glass in order to cut it,
    Solomon's messenger gave a startling shout, and this so agitated
    the bird that he dropped the Shameer, and Solomon's messenger
    caught it up and made off with it. The cock thereupon went and
    strangled himself, because he was unable to keep the oath by
    which he had bound himself to return the Shameer.

    Benaiah asked Ashmedai why, when he saw the blind man straying,
    he so promptly interfered to guide him? "Because," he replied,
    "it was proclaimed in heaven that that man was perfectly
    righteous, and that whosoever did him a good turn would earn a
    title to a place in the world of the future." "And when thou
    sawest the man overcome with wine wandering out of his way, why
    didst thou put him right again?" Ashmedai said, "Because it was
    made known in heaven that that man was thoroughly bad, and I
    have done him a good service that he might not lose all, but
    receive some good in the world that now is." "Well, and why
    didst thou weep when thou sawest the merry wedding-party pass?"
    "Because," said he, "the bridegroom was fated to die within
    thirty days and the bride must needs wait thirteen years for her
    husband's brother, who is now but an infant" (see Deut. xxv.
    5-10). "Why didst thou laugh so when the man ordered a pair of
    shoes that would last him seven years?" Ashmedai replied,
    "Because the man himself was not sure of living seven days."
    "And why," asked Benaiah, "didst thou jeer when thou sawest the
    conjuror at his tricks?" "Because," said Ashmedai, "the man was
    at that very time sitting on a princely treasure, and he did
    not, with all his pretension, know that it was under him."

    Having once acquired a power over Ashmedai, Solomon detained him
    till the building of the Temple was completed. One day after
    this, when they were alone, it is related that Solomon,
    addressing him, asked him, "What, pray, is your superiority over
    us, if it be true, as it is written (Num. xxiii. 22), 'He has
    the strength of a unicorn,' and the word 'strength,' as
    tradition alleges, means 'ministering angels,' and the word
    'unicorn' means 'devils'?" Ashmedai replied, "Just take this
    chain from my neck, and give me thy signet-ring, and I'll soon
    show thee my superiority." No sooner did Solomon comply with
    this request, than Ashmedai, snatching him up, swallowed him;
    then stretching forth his wings--one touching the heaven and the
    other the earth--he vomited him out again to a distance of four
    hundred miles. It is with reference to this time that Solomon
    says (Eccl. i. 3; ii. 10), "What profit hath a man of all his
    labor which he taketh under the sun? This is my portion of all
    my labor." What does the word this mean? Upon this point Rav and
    Samuel are at variance, for the one says it means his staff, the
    other holds that it means his garment or water-jug; and that
    with one or other Solomon went about from door to door begging;
    and wherever he came he said (Eccl. i. 12), "I, the preacher,
    was king over Israel in Jerusalem." When in his wanderings he
    came to the house of the Sanhedrin, the Rabbis reasoned and
    said, if he were mad he would not keep repeating the same things
    over and over again; therefore what does he mean? They therefore
    inquired of Benaiah, "Does the king ask thee into his presence?"
    He replied, "No!" They then sent to see whether the king visited
    the hareem. And the answer to this was, "Yes, he comes." Then
    the Rabbis sent word back that they should look at his feet, for
    the devil's feet are like those of a cock. The reply was, "He
    comes to us in stockings." Upon this information the Rabbis
    escorted Solomon back to the palace, and restored to him the
    chain and the ring, on both of which the name of God was
    engraven. Arrayed with these, Solomon advanced straightway into
    the presence-chamber. Ashmedai sat at that moment on the throne,
    but as soon as he saw Solomon enter, he took fright and raising
    his wings, flew away, shrieking back into invisibility. In spite
    of this, Solomon continued in great fear of him; and this
    explains that which is written (Song of Songs, iii. 7, 8),
    "Behold the bed which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are
    about it, of the valiant of Israel; they all hold swords, being
    expert in war; every man has his sword upon his thigh, because
    of fear in the night." (See Gittin, fol. 68, cols, 1, 2.)

    Ashmedai is the Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit, iii. 8, vi. 14,
    etc, The Shameer is mentioned in Jer. xvii. i; Ezek. iii. 9;
    Zech. vii. 12. The Seventy in the former passage and the Vulgate
    passim take it for the diamond.

Six things are said respecting the children of men, in three of which
they are like angels, and in three they are like animals. They have
intelligence like angels, they walk erect like angels, and they converse
in the holy tongue like angels. They eat and drink like animals, they
generate and multiply like animals, and they relieve nature like
animals.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

Six months did the Shechinah hesitate to depart from the midst of Israel
in the wilderness, in hopes that they would repent. At last, when they
persisted in impenitence, the Shechinah said, "May their bones be
blown;" as it is written (Job xi. 20), "The eyes of the wicked shall
fail, they shall not escape, and their hopes shall be as the blowing out
of the spirit."

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 31, col. 1.

Six names were given to Solomon:--Solomon, Jedidiah, Koheleth, Son of
Jakeh, Agur, and Lemuel.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 39.

Six years old was Dinah when she gave birth to Asenath, whom she bore
unto Shechem.

_Sophrim_, chap. 21.

"And the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household" (2 Sam. vi. 11).
In what did the blessing consist? Rav Yehudah bar Zavidah says it
consisted in this, that Hamoth, his wife, and her eight daughters-in-law
gave birth each to six children at a time. (This is proved from 1 Chron.
xxvi. 5, 8.)

_Berachoth_, fol. 63, col. 2.

Six things were done by Hezekiah the king, but the sages praised him for
three only:--(1.) He dragged the bones of his father Ahaz on a hurdle of
ropes, for this they commended him; (2.) he broke to pieces the brazen
serpent, for this they commended him; (3.) he hid the Book of Remedies,
and for this too they praised him. For three they blamed him:--(1.) He
stripped the doors of the Temple and sent the gold thereof to the King
of Assyria; (2.) he stopped up the upper aqueduct of Gihon; (3.) he
intercalated the month Nisan.

_P'sachim_, fol. 56, col. 1.

The hiding of the Book of Remedies, harsh and inhuman as it might seem,
was dictated by high moral considerations. It seemed right that the
transgressor should feel the weight of his sin in the suffering that
followed, and that the edge of judgment should not be dulled by a too
easy access to anodyne applications. The reason for stopping the
aqueduct of Gihon is given in 2 Chron. xxxii. 3, 4. The inhabitants of
Jerusalem did the very same thing when the Crusaders besieged the city,
A.D. 1099. Rashi tries to explain why this stratagem was not commended;
the reason he gives is that Hezekiah ought to have trusted God, who had
said (2 Kings xix. 34), "I will defend the city."

Six things are said of the horse:--It is wanton, it delights in the
strife of war, it is high-spirited, it despises sleep, it eats much and
it voids little. There are some that say it would fain kill its own
master.

Ibid., fol. 113, col. 2.

The Rabbis have taught that there are six sorts of fire:--(1.) Fire that
eats but drinks not, i.e., common fire; (2.) fire that drinks but does
not eat, i.e., a fever; (3.) fire that eats and drinks, i.e., Elijah, as
it is written (1 Kings xviii. 38), "And licked up the water that was in
the trench;" (4.) fire that burns up moist things as soon as dry, i.e.,
the fire on the altar; (5.) fire that counteracts other fire, i.e., like
that of Gabriel; (6.) fire that consumes fire, for the Master has said
(Sanhed., fol. 38, col. 2), "God stretched out His finger among the
angels and consumed them," i.e., by His own essential fire.

_Yoma_, fol. 21, col. 2.

For six months David was afflicted with leprosy; for it is said (Ps. li.
7), "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow." At that time the Shechinah departed from him; for it
is said (Ps. li. 12), "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation;" and
the Sanhedrin kept aloof from him, for it is said (Ps. cxix. 79), "Let
those that fear thee turn unto me." That this ailment lasted six months
is proved from 1 Kings ii. 11, where it is said, "And the days that
David reigned over Israel were forty years; seven years he reigned in
Hebron, and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem;" whereas in 2
Sam. v. 5, it is said, "In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and
six months." The reason why these six months are omitted in Kings is
because during that period he was afflicted with leprosy.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 107, col. 1.

The tables of stone were six ells long, six broad, and three thick.

_Nedarim_, fol. 38, col. 8.

    It may help the reader to some idea of the strength of Moses if
    we work out arithmetically the size and probable weight of these
    stone slabs according to the Talmud. Taking the cubit or ell at
    its lowest estimate, that is eighteen inches, each slab, being
    nine feet long, nine feet wide, and four and a half feet thick,
    would weigh upward of twenty-eight tons, reckoning thirteen
    cubic feet to the ton,--the right estimate for such stone as is
    quarried from the Sinaitic cliff. The figures are 9 X 9 X 9/2 =
    729/2 = 364.5 X 173.5 = 63240.75 = 28 tons, 4 cwt., 2 qrs., 16
    lbs. avoirdupois.

The Rabbis have taught that these six things possess medicinal
virtue:--Cabbage, lungwort, beetroot, water, and certain parts of the
offal of animals, and some also say little fishes.

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 29, col. 1.

Over six the Angel of Death had no dominion, and these were:--Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Respecting the first three
it is written, "in all" (Gen. xxiv. 1), "of all" (Gen. xxvii. 33) "all"
(A.V. "enough," Gen. xxxiii. 11). Respecting the last three it is
written, "by the mouth of Jehovah" (see Num. xxxiii. 38, and Deut.
xxxiv. 5).

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 17, col. i.

    According to Jewish tradition, there are 903 kinds of death, as
    is elicited by a Kabbalistic rule called gematria, from the word
    outlets (Ps. lxviii. 20); the numeric value of the letters of
    which word is 903. Of these 903 kinds of death, the divine kiss
    is the easiest. God puts His favorite children to sleep, the
    sleep of death, by kissing their souls away. It was thus
    Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fell asleep, as may be inferred from
    the word all; that is to say, they had all the honor God could
    confer upon them. Moses and Aaron fell asleep by the divine
    kiss, for it is plainly stated to have been "by the mouth of
    Jehovah." So also Miriam passed away, only the Scripture does
    not say lest the scoffer should find fault. We are also informed
    that quinsy is the hardest death of all. (See _Berachoth_, fol.
    8, col. 1.)

"These six of barley gave he me." What does this mean? It cannot surely
be understood of six barleycorns, for it could not be the custom of Boaz
to give a present of six grains of barley. It must, therefore, have been
six measures. But was it usual for a woman to carry such a load as six
measures would come to? What he intended by the number six was to give
her a hint that in process of time six sons would proceed from her, each
of which would be blessed with six blessings; and these were David, the
Messiah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. David, as it is written
(1 Sam. xvi. 8), (1.) "Cunning in playing," (2.) "and a mighty and
valiant man," (3.) "a man of war," (4.) "prudent in matters," (5.) "a
comely person," (6.) and "the Lord is with him." The Messiah, for it is
written (Isa. xi. 2), "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,"
viz, (1.) "The spirit of wisdom and (2.) understanding, (3.) the spirit
of counsel and (4.) might, (5.) the spirit of knowledge, and (6.) the
fear of the Lord." Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, for regarding
them it is written (Dan. i. 4), (1.) "Young men in whom was no blemish,"
(2.) "handsome in looks," (3.) "intelligent in wisdom," (4.) "acquainted
with knowledge," (5.) "and understanding science, and such as (6.) had
ability to stand in the palace of the king," etc. But what is the
meaning of unblemished? Rav Chama ben Chanania says it means that not
even the scar of a lancet was upon them.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 93, cols, 1, 2.

    The words "not even the scar of a lancet was upon them," bespeak
    the prevalence of blood-letting in the East, and the absence of
    the scar of the lancet on the persons of Daniel and his
    companions is a testimon

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