"" ' " ■ " PRINCETON, N. J. BM 502 .H4 1880 Talmud. A Talmudic miscellany THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY. VOLUME XIX. X TALMUDIC MISCELLANY " He who counts the number."— Psalm cxlvii. 4. & JHjouganti anti ©ne Extracts PROM THE TALMUD THE M1DRASHIM AND THE KABBALAH COMPILED AND TRANSLATED BY PAUL ISAAC HE ESHON AUTHOR OF " GENESIS ACCORDING TO THE TALMUD," " EXTRACTS FROM THE TALMUD," KTO. WITH INTRODUCTORY PREFACE BY THE REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY, AND CANON OF WESTMINSTER. Wiiti) Mom ant) Coptoit0 Kntiejces BOSTON HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. HSO.LOGIC&L* PREFACE. I have been requested by the publishers and translator of this Talmudic Miscellany to say a few words about it by way of preface. If I have consented to their request, it is only because I feel a very deep sense of the import- ance of making the Talmud more widely known. Of the constituent parts of the Talmud — of the Mishna with its six orders (Scdarim), its 71 Massictoth, its 633 Pcrakim, and its 4187 Mishnaioth — the reader will find a succinct account in the following introduction. A con- siderable part of the Mishna has been at different times translated into English and other modern languages, and to many theologians it has been known as a whole by the magnificent work of Surenhusius. But until very recent times the Gemara, or annotations upon the Mishna, have been known to very few. The chief sources of information used by English theologians have been, until quite recently, the collections of Light- foot, Schottgen, and Meuschen, and passages quoted and referred to in Ugolini's Thesaurus, together with such purely controversial works like Wagenseil's Tela Ignea Satance, and Eisenmenojer's Entdecktes Judentlmm. These works were PREFACE. little read except by students, since they were written in German and Latin, and never entered into general litera- ture. Had it been otherwise, the mass of English readers would never have been prepared to accept the utterly un- tenable notions about the Talmud, and the glowing wisdom and exquisite morality by which it was supposed to be pervaded, into which they were betrayed by the learned enthusiasm of the late Dr. Deutsch in his celebrated article on the Talmud in the " Quarterly Beview." So simple an English book as the late Dr. M'Caul's " Old Paths " might have sufficed to undeceive them. Wisdom there is in the Talmud, and eloquence, and high morality ; of this the reader may learn something even in the small compass of the following pages. How could it be other- wise when we bear in mind that the Talmud fills twelve large folio volumes, and represents the main literature of a nation during several hundred years ? But yet I ven- ture to say that it would be impossible to find less wisdom, less eloquence, and less high morality, imbedded in a vaster bulk of what is utterly valueless to mankind — to say nothing of those parts of it which are indelicate and even obscene — in any other national literature of the same extent. And even of the valuable residuum of true and holy thoughts, I doubt whether there is even one which had not long been anticipated, and which is not found more nobly set forth in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. It is now in the power of any one to verify this state- ment for himself. Strange to say, the Talmud as a whole has never yet been translated into any other language PREFACE. from the original Hebrew. Every attempt to achieve the task has hitherto failed, and the proposals to publish a complete translation have from time to time been aban- doned for want of encouragement. Isolated treatises like the Avoda Zara and the Pirhc Avoth have been trans- lated into English and German; but when the Abbe Chiarini and others have endeavoured to get the whole Mishna and Gemara systematically translated, they have not met with the smallest encouragement. At the present time, however, it seems probable that the immense work will be accomplished. Messrs. Munk, Schwab, and their learned collaborateurs have now published in French the translation of the very important treatise Berachoth, and of five or six other treatises of the Mishna, with both the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Gemara. Thus it seems probable that these strange and venerable tomes, so long buried in the most difficult style of a dead language, will for the first time appear as a whole in a modern dress. It is greatly to be hoped that sufficient purchasers may be found to render possible the heroic effort which these scholars have undertaken. If the whole Talmud should thus be rendered accessible to modern readers, I cannot but think that two good results will follow. On the one hand, it can hardly fail to happen that multitudes of intelligent and thoughtful Jews, to whom the Talmud is, after all, but a name, will be entirely disenchanted of the extravagant veneration which they now entertain for it, and will see for the first time its absolutely immeasurable inferiority to the living oracles of God. They will see that what they have so long been wor- PREFACE. shipping is not even a golden idol with feet of clay, but an idol of clay of which it can hardly even be said that so much as the feet are of gold. On the other hand, I am quite sure that all students, in reading the Talmud, will find many sidelights for the interpretation not only of the Old but even of the New Testament. Not only does the Talmud furnish many most interesting illustrations of the thoughts and words of the Apostles, but there are cases in which the key to the true solution of difficulties and the true interpretation of phrases and expressions can only be found in these records of the Eabbinic schools. For the greatest of the Apostles had been trained from childhood in this Hebrew lore; and even those of the Twelve who were despised by the hierarchy as " simple and unlearned" were in some measure familiar with it, because even in the days of Christ the views of those elder Rabbis which are enshrined in the Mishna and Gemara, had passed into the common atmosphere of Jewish thought. For these reasons I hail the labours of Mr. Hershon. He is, I believe, fitted for the task which he has under- taken by an almost life-long familiarity with Talmudic literature ; and the adequacy of his versions no less than the extent of his knowledge have been admitted not only by scholars so eminent as Dr. Delitzsch — whose name should alone be a guarantee to theologians that Mr. Her- shon is qualified for his work — but also by the free admission of Jewish critics. And the reader may accept his versions without suspicion, because though they may not always be exempt from those imperfections which PREFACE. must remain in the best human work, yet they are not directly controversial, and are merely intended to repre- sent the Talmud exactly as he finds it. Tor this reason the notes which he has appended have, for the most part, no other object than to elucidate the text. And here I must caution the reader who is entirely unfamiliar with Bab- binic methods, that he must not at once set down any particular passage as a proof of nothing but the grossest absurdity of uncontrolled imagination. When he reads such a passage as the story of Og king of Bashan on p. 41, and still more that about his "bone, on p. 66 — not to allude to others which are here recorded — he may be inclined to turn away with contemptuous disgust, and to wonder that any human beings should waste their time over such absurdities. He will, however, be mistaken. Although this is not the place to furnish the real mean- ing of such passages, the reader must take it on trust that, sometimes at least, they are elaborate cryptographs — concealed methods of inculcating; into the initiated those polemical views which the Eabbis might have found it most perilous to utter in an undisguised form. Lastly, we may observe that the purely accidental bond of connection between the many passages here translated by Mr. Hershon — the very discontinuity which might at first sight be regarded as a weak feature in his book — is really of the greatest value. It absolutely excludes the temptation to all arbitrary selection, — to any one-sided representation of. the contents of the Talmud in order to serve a purpose. The passages selected are selected solely because they contain references to certain numlcrs. PREFACE. There is not a single principle which otherwise unites them together. This very fact will be a security to the reader that he will see specimens of the Talmud exactly as he would do if he possessed a knowledge of Talmudic Hebrew, and dipped at haphazard into its voluminous pages in order to ascertain for himself their character and contents. No competent student can rise without some advantage from the perusal of these pages. They will do something to make the Gemara better known, and that knowledge will, I hope, be still further extended by Mr. Hershon in future labours. F. W. FAREAE. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. In bespeaking the regard of the English public to the following work, the general nature of which is already explicitly enough stated on the titlepage, I feel called upon to explain the object I have had in view in com- piling it, the circumstances in which it was suggested to me, and the plan I have seen good to adopt. The Talmud of the Jews, like the Koran of the Moslem, is a composition so confused and heterogeneous, that, were its twelve folio volumes translated into English, not only would it prove unreadable throughout, but not one in a thousand would have patience to read consecutively the first twelve pages. It is this fact, of which, as will appear,* the Talmud itself is aware, I have had to face ; and my object has been, if not to overcome, then to diminish to some extent this drawback. It is with this view the following selections are made, and I have striven to arrange them on a principle which I trust may contribute to awaken a greater interest in and convey a better under- standing of its contents. The special circumstances which suggested the com- pilation were these. - In the reading-room of the British Museum, many years ago, I happened to light upon a Hebrew book containing no fewer than seventy sermons * See p. 23. No. 15. vi PREFACE. on the short text (Gen. xxxiii. 17) H/DD #D3 ^>T\ the English of which is, " And Jacob journeyed to Succoth." This book at once struck me as a typical instance of the treatment to which the Talmud had for long been, and was still, subjected at the hands of its professed ex- pounders. Their mode of procedure was this: First to pick out at random a passage torn from the context, and then, to use an Oriental phrase, pack upon it a camel- load of matter. This passage they so sermonised upon that not only was its sense hidden in a miscellaneous jumble of irrelevant comments, corollaries, and glosses, but the fact of its existence was buried out of sight, like the sunk foundations of an edifice, and the book it was extracted from entombed along with it. The world- old question, " What is the Talmud ? " I remarked to myself, could never be resolved in this way, and I deter- mined to try whether I could not disturb the ashes under which it lay concealed, and, if not bring it home, at least bring it near to the general intelligence. The way to do this seemed to me to be to make the Talmud speak for itself ; to select and array from its pages a thousand quotations or so, such as to show both the topics of which it treats and its manner of handling and settling them. This, accordingly, is what I have attempted here. Samples of the good, the bad, and the indifferent, especially extracts that throw light 011 Old and New Testament exegesis, are alike introduced, and references are studiously given to the folios and columns of its sections, so that the learned can check and verify the instances I have quoted. These instances have been all derived word for word, and at first hand, from the Talmud itself, and the original has been consulted again and again to ensure accuracy of reproduction. There is scarcely a treatise, or even chapter PREFACE. vii in the Talmud, which has not been laid under contribution to my purpose, and reference can be readily made to the quotations in the work by means of the peculiar arrange- ment adopted, and the two carefully prepared indexes at the end of the volume. The plan of the work, according to which the quota- tions are sorted and grouped agreeably to the prominency in them of particular numbers, on which special stress is laid, was suggested to me years ago when I was en- gaged in a different enterprise. I had published a work on the Talmud in Hebrew, entitled " Genesis according to the Talmud," * and was engaged on a second in continua- tion, to be entitled " Exodus according to the Talmud," since completed in MS., when, apropos to the text (Exod. xxiii. 26), " The number of thy days I will fulfil," I was led to remark, which I did in a note, what a prominent part numerical quantities played in Talmudic estimates ; and I collected there and then 350 quotations from the Babylonian Talmud all bearing on numbers, which I thereupon proceeded to arrange in proper order. When on the Continent, about four years ago, I took the oppor- tunity of showing the Hebrew MS. referred to to several scholars, and of calling especial attention to the note in question. All were struck with the discovery I had made as a literary curiosity, and Dr. Delitzsch of Leipsig, in particular, was pleased to say he even admired it. He asked me how I had managed to collect so many quo- tations to the point, and I replied by producing a MS. I had prepared by way of key to the Talmud. En- couraged by his approving criticism, I set myself, on my return, in the course of my Talmudic labours, to extend * An English translation of this work is already in print, and will be pub- lished in due time. viii PREFACE. my researches in the direction indicated, and the result was the expansion of my note into a body of more than 1600 quotations, enough to occupy a volume. Hence the present venture, and the peculiar arrangement adopted. This arrangement I take leave to think is warranted by the obvious emphasis laid on numbers in the selected passages; it becomes thus an arrangement natural in itself, and it supplies a series of threads along which these passages, when once read, easily group themselves in the memory. In carrying the plan of this work out, it was necessary for me, as a foreigner, to procure the aid of an English scholar, and I had the good fortune to obtain the services of one who wrought aloncj with me with all his heart Mr. W. E. Brown, the gentleman I refer to, became known to me about the time the idea of the work occurred to me ; he caught up my project with enthusiasm, offered gratui- tously the assistance I needed, and stood by me, helping me in every way to the last. He aided me in revising and correcting my translation, enriched the text with many of the notes, and crowned the numerous obliga- tions I owe to him by contributing an Introduction to the work, which Introduction, I trust, will be duly and generously appreciated. I, moreover, desire to express my obligations to the Eev. J. Wood, Ediri., for the lite- rary service he has rendered to this work in revising and correcting it, and passing it through the press, and for providing it with one of the two indexes appended. Besides the selections just referred to, I have added a few specimens from the Midrashim and the Kabbalah, which I have thought might prove interesting to the student of Hebrew literature, as, next to the Talmud and the Old Testament Scriptures, these two storehouses of PREFACE. ix Babbinical lore are held in the highest esteem by the orthodox Jews. In sending this work forth to the public, I desire espe- cially to gain the ear of the pious Jew, the Christian student, and the philosophic thinker. By means of this work the Jew will be able to see his teachers with his own eyes (Isa. xxx. 20), and to judge for himself whether they are or are not able to make him wise unto salvation ; the Christian student will enjoy the advantage of being able to scan as much of the sea of the Talmud as can, so to speak, be seen from the shore, though he may not be able to venture out upon the main, still less essay a voyage through the length and breadth of it ; and the philosophic thinker, be he Jew, Turk, infidel, or heretic, will have access in it to forms of morality and humanity which he has not met before in any other religious system. But be that as it may, our enterprise is conceived in the interests of scholarship, morality, and religion, and these interests, whether by our means or not, it is our prayer that the Lord may prosper. P. I. HERSHON. Wood Green, October 18S0. wwrvm In Eastern story we read of a dervisli who one day pre- sented himself at a palace porch, begging bread. The porter opened the door, beckoned him to enter, and had him conducted, full of expectancy, into the presence of the prince. The prince, who was a grey-haired Barme- cide chief, received him compassionately, and made signs as if in preparation for a sumptuous repast. Course after course was ordered, and course after course spread — in imagination — before the hungry visitant. Imaginary soups, fish, flesh, bakemeats, fruits were ceremoniously offered, partaken of with show of relish, and acknowledged with thanks. At length the host called for wine, as unreal as the viands, and offered it to the stranger, who this time politely declined, protesting that he dreaded the conse- quences should he take too much. Being pressed, how- ever, he yielded, until, affecting elation of spirit under the influence of the fancied liquor, he rose excited, and dealt a blow at his entertainer which had almost fatal results. The host, thus admonished, and pleased with the humour of his guest, thought it time this banter should terminate ; so he called his servants to make ready a banquet, and the two sat down together to a substantial and satisfying feast. Feasts of the Barmecide order are not uncommon in literature, and too often the hungry reader has to satisfy his appetite with the ghost of relief. It is thus the public has been treated with regard to the Talmud ; it has again xii INTRODUCTION. and again been referred to, quoted from, spoken of, and written about, until we fancy we are familiar with it ; and yet as regards what it concerns, where it comes from, and what it says, we are wholly in the dark. In the extracts which follow this Introduction we have sought to remove in part this ignorance, and in the Introduction itself it will be our business to give some account of what the Talmud is, how it is divided, and of what it treats. The Talmud (l^bn, from lob, " to learn ") is a vast irregular repertory of Eabbinical reflections, discussions, and animadversions on a myriad of topics treated of or touched on in Holy Writ ; a treasury, in chaotic arrange- ment, of Jewish lore, scientific, legal, and legendary; a great storehouse of extra-biblical, yet biblically referable, Jewish speculation, fancy, and faith. Taking the Old Testament Scriptures as a divinely inspired text-book of knowledge and learning, the Talmud claims to be a com- mentary on these of co-ordinate rank with the texts and the orthodox expositor of their meaning, bearing, and force. The Talmud proper is throughout of a twofold character, and consists of two divisions, severally called the Mishna and the Gemara. These terms are so closely related to one another as to be of almost synonymous import. Mishna (rUTO) being from ruttf or \3J"1, " to repeat, to explain, to unfold ; " and Gemara (N"lD:i), from ")D2, " to learn " or " to complete." The Mishna, in this connection, may be re- garded as the text of the Talmud itself, and the Gemara as a sort of commentary, of which examples will be given as we proceed. The Gemara regularly follows the Mishna, and annotates upon it sentence by sentence, searching out its meaning, arraying the pros and cons in debatable cases, then summing up results, and deciding, if possible, the point at issue ; a blp D2, Bath Kol, or " voice from heaven," at times interposing, and either ratifying the decision or otherwise settling the matter in debate. The Mishna, except where it commences a Perek (or chapter), INTRODUCTION. xiii is invariably introduced by the sign- word '\3J1Q, while the abbreviation 'D3 (for N~)DJ) the sign of a sentence from the Gemara. Besides the Mishna proper as text, a great number of supplementary paragraphs, styled Tosiphtaoth and Boraithaoth, are scattered up and down the Gemara ; but these are not looked upon as authoritative, and, indeed, are of no account if they contradict the Mishna or text. The Tosiphtaoth (mN/lSDin, from *p\ " to add ") are dis- tinguished by the prefix *OJ") or $2X11 (Tana), " he teaches," or nby ^Nj"i (Tani aleh), " as taught above ; " while the Boraitha is indicated by one or other of the following signs : — 1"D or ]221 "OJ1 (Tanu Babbanan), " our Babbis have taught : " NlfT \3J1 (Tani chada), " a certain Babbi has taught ; " XT2D (Tanina), " we have tradition ; " K^D "JTN (Taniah idach), "elsewhere it is taught," or " another teaches ; " or NJTJDD (Mathnitha), " it is Mishna." The Tosiphtaoth to the Mishna are distinct from the Tosephoth, or exegetical annotations on the Gemara. Twenty-six of the treatises have no Gemara, and Shekalim has the Gemara of the Talmud Yerushalmi. There are two Talmuds, the Yerushalmi, or, more cor- rectly, the Balestinian, and the Babli, that is, the Baby- lonian. The Mishna is pretty nearly the same in both these, but the Gemaras are different. The Talmud Yeru- shalmi gives the traditional sayings of the Balestinian Babbis, X1"1^D ^221 Xl?22, the " Gemara of the Children of the West," as it is styled ; whereas the Talmud Babli gives the traditional sayings of the Babbis of Babylon. This Talmud is about four times the size of the Jerusalem one ; it is by far the more popular, and to it almost exclu- sively our remarks relate. What, then, is the Talmud Babli? It is in itself a library of some threescore and ten treatises, so to speak, bound in a dozen volumes. It is a sort of commonplace- book, recording a thousand and one years of Babbinical thought and wit, with folk-lore and gossip, often quaintly expressed in the allegorical forms of Oriental fancy. There xiv INTRODUCTION. are worthies in it to grace every day in the calendar, and sayings ascribed to some of them enough to invest with a certain halo of immortality their otherwise unnoted names. Here is the mother- stuff of Judaism, the fountain-head of its inspirations, the key to its philosophy and forms of thinking, the fire that burns on its altars, and the vestal flame that lights up and cheers its far-scattered hearths. ISTay, the " traditions of the elders," which are here sacredly enshrined, impart to the pile, in the regard of the pious Jew, somewhat of the sanctity of a Temple, and a feeling as if not the high priest only, but the whole race were thereby admitted within the precincts of the Holy of Holies itself. For here, within a veil which no pro- fane person can penetrate, he is privileged, he thinks, to be admitted to a knowledge of the secrets of wisdom, and a familiar acquaintance with the oracles of the Most High ; here is the law for the man of thought and the man of action, the law of the household and the law of the state, directions for the health of the body, the attainment of wise knowledge, the conquest of virtue, and the conduct of life. To the orthodox Jew the Talmud is like the encircling ocean ; it inserts itself into and makes itself felt in every nook and corner of the sphere of his existence. Like an atmosphere, it encompasses the whole round of his being, penetrates into all centres of vitality, and presses with its incumbent weight on every class irrespective of age, or sex, or rank ; it is all-inspiring, all-including, and all-con- trolling. It covers, in the regard of the illuminated, the whole Ifield of life, and its principles affect, or ought to affect, every thought and every action of every member in the Jewish state. Such, in the abstract, is the regard in which this book is held in Jewry. Whoso would know it as it is, must, as to know anything else, study it in the de- tail of its particularity, and this he may in part do through the extracts which succeed, and which are given that he may so far comprehend the substance and bearings of the work. INTRODUCTION. xv Meanwhile let us interrogate the Rabbis themselves, and hear what account they have to give. We have just said that the Talmud transmits to us the traditions of the elders. Now the Rabbis and they who take after them assert that Moses received two laws on Sinai — miJl 3DDn^, Torah Shebekthab, "the law in writing," and HD byiV miTI, Torah Shebeal Peh, " the law upon the lip " — in other words, Scripture and tradition, the written and the oral law. For, as they teach, not only were the nil/) WDVI ITOQn, "the five-fifths of the law," that is, the Pentateuch, given to Moses, but the Mishna also, which is therefore literally described as the UTO 1 ? PO^il TDD (Halachah le Mosheh me Sinai), i.e., the traditional law (given) to Moses on Sinai. It is this law which we have, for convenience' sake, styled the text of the Talmud, and the Hebrew name by which it is designated here might fairly stand as the running title of its every page. If we take the Talmud itself as an authority in this matter, we might go still farther than this (see Berachoth, fol. 5, col. 1); we might assign a Mosaic origin to a great deal more than Scripture and the Mishna ; for Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish says, " What is that which is written, ' And I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the command- ment, which I have written, to teach them ' ? " (Exod. xxiv. 12) "' Tables/ " he answers, " are the Decalogue, ' law ' is the Scripture, and ' the commandment ' is the Mishna ; * which I have written ' is the Prophets and the Hagio- grapha ; ' to teach them/ that is the Gemara ; and this teaches us that all these were given to Moses on Sinai, and ' are the words of the living God/ " (See Gittin, fol. 6, col. 2, &c.) But be this as it may, what the Rabbis teach respect- ing the derivation of the Mishna is this : — They say there was a chain of tradition which connected the times of Moses with the times of Rabbi Yehudah the Holy, and that it was put into his heart to compile these oracles into a body, and first impart to them the stamp of the xvi INTRODUCTION. written word. If some of the links in this chain of tradi- tion seem weak and hardly fit to bear the strain — as, for instance, that between Joshua and Samuel — the orthodox are bound to believe that its sufficiency has been tested, for every part is duly stamped with the re-assuring Babbini- cal mark. The oral law, it is alleged (see Pirke Avoth, chap, i, &c), was rehearsed by Moses to Joshua and by him repeated to the elders, and they in turn transmitted it to the prophets, who handed it down from one to another, until Jeremiah dictated it to Baruch the Scribe. By this last it was communicated to Ezra, who taught it to the men of the Great Synagogue, of whom the last was Simeon the Just. After this it was handed down from one to another till the time of Hillel the Great, who is said to have arrayed the vast accumulation of traditional explanations of the written law in six Sedarim or Orders, distributed in all into some six or seven hundred sections (see Chaggigah, fol. 14, col. 1, in this Miscellany, chap, xii., No. 86, and Succah, fol. 20, col. 1). Thus Hillel the Great seems to have arranged the work that Babbi Yehudah the Holy compiled, as we have represented, and given body to the Mislma pretty much as we now find it. The Gemara is a voluminous collection of annotations upon the Mislma taken as the text. That of the Pales- tinian Talmud, the earlier of the two by at least a century, is said to have been arranged by Babbi Yochanan ben Eliezer, rector of the College at Tiberias. That of the Talmud Babli, from which we have given so many ex- cerpts in the pages of this Miscellany, was in the main compiled by Bab Ashi bar Simai, head of the Babbinical College at Sora, appended to by his successors in the presidential chair, and finally completed by Babbi Jossi, the last of the Amoraim, somewhere about the year 500 of the present era. The twelve volumes of the Talmud Babli, whether in folio, quarto, or octavo, are for the most part so printed that not only do the corresponding pages contain the same INTRODUCTION. xvii matter, but line answers to line, word to word, and even letter to letter.* Quotations and references may there- fore be readily made when folio and column are specified (as in our Miscellany everywhere), and even the very line can be given where there is any necessity. This arrange- ment is a great convenience in dealing with such a work as the Talmud, which, with the annotations of Eashi (E. Solomon ben Isaac), the scholia called Tosephoth, and the marginal references and footnotes, covers no less than 2947 folio leaves, or, in other words, 5894 pages in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Eabbinic letterpress, crowded with abbrevi- ations, strange grammatical, or rather ungrammatical forms, and mnemonic technicalities, and without one vowel-point from beginning to end. This vast medley of Eabbinical literature, with its more than cyclopaedic range of topic, is roughly classified under half-a-dozen general rubrics, DH1D il^ttf (Shishah sedarim) six orders or series ; the initial letters of which two words give us the technical term D"t#, Shas, a term by which the Talmud itself is designated, and under which it is known everv where am oner Jews. The names of these six orders are as follows : — 1. Seder Zeraim (d^TiT), the order of seeds, containing the laws which concern husbandry, &c. 2. Seder Moed (njttD), the order of festivals, times, and seasons, &c. 3. Seder Nashim (d^3), the order of women, dealing with conjugal laws, marriage duties, &c. 4. Seder ISTezikin (pp*TJ), the order of injuries, matters of Eabbinic jurisprudence relating thereto, &c. 5. Seder Kodashim (□'•PHp), the order of consecrations, sacri- fices, &c. 6. Seder Taharoth (rvnriE), the order of purifications, &c. * Fancy, if all Bibles, of whatever size, had each the same number of pages, each page the same number of lines, and each line the same number of words. You might then be able to prick a pin through several pages and tell the very letters almost of every page the pin had pierced. I have seen this doue with the Talmud, and the young Kabbi who performed the feat was, as he might well be, considered as a wonder in his literary world. — H. xviii INTRODUCTION. The initials of these six names yield the mnemonic term (D'p'J '1'D'T), Zeman Nakat, which means " a time accepted or comprehended." These sections are dis- tributed among the twelve volumes thus : — Seder Zeraim occupies volume i. ; Seder Moed extends over volumes ii., iii., and iv. ; Seder Nashim fills up the next two, i.e., the fifth and the sixth ; while the seventh, eighth, and ninth are devoted to Seder Nezikin. These four orders chiefly relate to what is recorded in Exodus, while the other two may, for the most part, be referred to Levi- ticus. Of these, Seder Kodashim appropriates two of the remaining three volumes, leaving the twelfth to Seder Taharoth. These Sedarim are divided into JTWDDD, Mas- sictoth, or treatises, of which there are seventy-one in all, including the JTDtOp fftTDDD, or minor treatises, which usually form an appendix to volume ix. These Mas- sictoth are, in turn, subdivided into Dp")3, Perakim, or chapters, of which there are 633 in all, including those of the minor treatises. These chapters again are still further broken up into paragraphs called Mishnaioth, to the number of 4187. We shall now catalogue the Massictoth and indicate their contents, which we must do briefly ; anything like a detailed account would fill a volume. Seder Zeraim opens with — 1. Berachoth (niD"(3, blessings). In this tract there are nine chapters, containing fifty-seven Mishnaioth. Masseketh Beracoth treats of the confession (the Shema) and divine service, thanksgivings for the fruits of the earth, the times and the places where prayer should be offered, &c. , &c. — We purpose translating the first Mishna, and so much of its Gemara as is contained on the first page of the Talmud. The entire Gemara to the first Mishna extends to seventeen pages and a half. 2. Peah (nxs, corner) treats of the corner of the field (Lev. xxiii. 22 ; Deut. xxiv. 19), &c, in eight chapters. 3. Demai (^m, doubtful). Here are seven chapters on doubtful matters in regard to tithes, &c, from garden and field produce. INTRODUCTION. xix 4. Kilaim (D^fcOD, heterogeneous). The nine chapters of this treatise relate to the mixing of seeds, the arranging of plants, &c., &c. 5. Sheviith (jvjP3B>, the seventh). The Sabbatic year. Here there are ten chapters (Exod. xxiii. 10; Lev. xxv.). 6. Terumoth (nift'nn, oblations). This tract contains eleven chapters, all referring to the various offerings, &c, brought for the Temple worship and service. 7. Maaseroth (nnK>yiDj tithes) deals with the " first tenth" or tithes which belonged to the Levites. Here are five chapters. 8. Maaser Sheni (^ 'TOO, second tithe). Here again are five chapters. This tract treats of that which the Levites had to pay out of their tithes to the priests. (Comp. Lev. xxvii. 30; Num. xviii. 28.) 9. Challah (n^TI, cake). Here are four chapters about the cake which women were to bring to the priests. (See Num. xv. 20.) 10. Orlah (i"6"ij?, prepuce) Three chapters relating to the fruitage of young trees. (See Lev. xix. 23.) 11. Biccurim (d^133> first fruits). This tract has four chap- ters respecting the first fruits which were to be brought to the Temple. This, the last tract of Seder Zeraim, finishes volume i. 12. Shabbath (ri3K>, the Sabbath-day). Here are one hun- dred and thirty-nine Mishnaioth in twenty-four chapters, containing rules relating to the Sabbath. 13. Eiruvin (paiTJJ, combinations) deals with the various arrangements and limitary combinations, &c, relating to the observance of the Sabbath. Here are ten chap- ters divided into ninety-six Mishnaioth. These two Massictoth fill volume ii. 14. P'sachim (d*PIDQ, passovers). This treatise, dealing with the Paschal festival and its accessories, contains ten chap- ters divided into eighty-nine Mishnaioth. 15. Bitzah (nV2, the egg), so called from its initial word, also termed Yom Tov, or "the good day." The five chapters of this tract contain restrictions and regulations for the due observance of festivals. 16. Chaggigah (rwan, festivity). This tract, in three chap- ters, deals with the sacrifices for festivals, &c. (Exod. xxiii. 17). xx INTRODUCTION. 17. Moed Katon (|tt2p TjflO, little feast). The three chapters of this treatise relate to the middle days of Passover and Succoth, &c. These four tracts are comprised in volume iii. 18. Rosh Hashanah {r\V^r\ B^n, the beginning of the year). Here are four chapters in thirty-live Mishnaioth treating of New Year's Day. 19. Yoma (N2V, the day). Here are eight chapters concern- ing the Day of Atonement. 20. Succah (n21Di the Feast of Tabernacles). Five chapters relating to the celebration of this festival. 21. Taanith (n*2JJn, fast). Four chapters treating of the public fast days, and how they are to be observed. 22. Shekalim (o*!?pB>, shekels). The eight chapters of this treatise relate to the capitation tax. (See Exod. xiii. 12, Sec.) 23. Meggillah (n^*3D, roll) contains particulars relating to the Feast of Purini, &c, in four chapters. Me^illah, the last tract of volume iv., finishes Seder iMoed. Volume v. contains the three following treatises : — 24. Yevamoth (niD3*j brothers-in-law). Here are sixteen chapters, principally devoted to enforcing the duty of marrying the childless widow of a deceased brother-in- law (see Deut. xxv. 5), and the ceremony of Chalitzah (see ibid., ver. 9). 25. Kethuboth (nmns, marriage contracts). The thirteen chapters of this treatise relate mainly to marriage docu- ments, dowries, duties and other et ceteras concerning married life. 26.. Ividdushin (pe^Hp, espousals). This tract has four chap- ters on betrothing, or the " consecration" of a woman, and treats of the various ways this may be done ; 1 ;• fait (nx*2), by money, or by written contract, &c, &c The next four tracts occupy volume vi. 27. Gittin (pD*3, divorces'). The Get or bill of divorcement and other cognate matters form the subject-matter of the nine chapters of this tract. 28. Nedarim (am:, vows) recapitulates and deals with the vows of females and families. Here are eleven chapters. INTRODUCTION. ' xxi 29. Nazir (TM," the Nazarite). The nine chapters of this treatise relate to the vows of Nazarites, &c. 30. Sotah (ntOID, the suspected). This tract in its nine chapters treats principally of conjugal infidelity (Num. v. n), and with it closes Seder Nashini. Volume vii., commencing Seder Nezikin, opens with Bava Kama. * 31. Bava Kama (^op N32, the first gate or place of justice) treats of losses, of damages occasioned by man or beast, fire, &c. Here are ten chapters. 32. Bava Metzia (xy>¥£ Knn> the middle gate). The ten chapters of this treatise deal with things found, with deposits and I6ans, interest or usury, &c. 33. Bava Bathra (aim ton, the last gate). Here again are ten chapters. These relate chiefly to business matters, buying and selling, inheritances and trusts. 34. Avodah Zarah (mr rmny, strange worship). This tract in five chapters treals of idolatry and heresy. It is omitted from some editions because of its objectionable remarks. Volume ix. commences with — 35. Sanhedrin (jmmD, Sanhedrin), which relates to the great ecclesiastical council of the nation, to judges and magis- trates, to plaintiffs, defendants, and witnesses, fines, punishments, and forensic matters generally. There are eleven chapters in this treatise. 36. Shevuoth (nWlic, oaths). Eight chapters upon oaths and their administration. 37. Maccoth (rYDft;, stripes). Here are three chapters upon corporal punishment and other cognate matters. Among other things in reference to the scourging of criminals, the nnx "iDn D^jniN, " the forty (stripes) save one " (Deut. xxv. 3 ; 2 Cor. xi. 24), is commented upon and ex- plained. 38. Horaioth (nv'"lin, decisions). Another set of three chap- ters on legal administrations, dealing chiefly with errors of judgment and the offerings which atone for them. 39. Edioth (rimy, witnesses). Eight chapters upon legal evidence, verdicts, and determinations in lawsuits, &c. 40. Avoth (mix, fathers), or Pirke Avoth (nnx ^p"lD, the chapters of the fathers). The six chapters of this treatise whicli contain the moral apophthegms of the Jewish xxii INTRODUCTION. sages are among the best known and most popular in the Talmud, and repeated on Sabbath afternoons during the six summer months. Here follows the treatise entitled the " Avoth de Rabbi Nathan " (]D2 Mil JTQN), with its forty-one chapters, and then the rest of the minor treatises styled the " Massictoth Ketanoth " (mJtOp mrDDD). Sophrim (DHS1D, scribes). The twenty-one chapters of this treatise relate to the copying of Biblical MSS. Ebel Rabbathi (»nm ^ns, great mourning), or Semachoth (mnE£>, joy), as this tract is euphemistically styled, con- tains fourteen chapters. Callah (rfc, the bride). A chapter on marriage ceremonies, &c. Derech Eretz (pK "|T7, the way of the world). A compen- dium of ethics in two divisions ; " Rabba," the greater, containing eleven chapters, and " Zuta," the lesser, ten ; ■to which is appended Perek Hashalom (Dl^n p"is), as its name implies, " A chap- ter on peace." Gerim (D*"1J, proselytes). Four chapters on the laws concern- ing proselytes. Cuthim (D>ni3, Cuthites). The word Cuthites here, like the Greek (3d?(3aoos, is used to denote foreigners, especially heathens. This treatise contains two chapters. Avadim (DHQJJ, slaves). A small treatise of three chapters. These minor treatises have no Mishna. They vary in some editions, but occur, as noted above, in the edition of the Talmud Babli used for this Miscellany, that printed at Warsaw. Volume x., commencing Seder Kodashim, begins with — 41. Zevachim (D^rQT, sacrifices). A tract of fourteen chap- ters upon sacrifices, their rules and regulations. 42. Menachoth (mrOE, meat-offerings). Here are thirteen chapters, principally relating to the evening sacrifices. 43. Bechoroth (nVT)D3, first-born). Primogeniture is the main topic of the nine chapters of this treatise, and with it finishes volume x. Volume xi. opens with — 44. Chulin (}^in, profane). Here we have a dozen chapters upon animals, clean and unclean, for domestic use, &c. INTRODUCTION. xxni 45. Erachin (piy, valuations). This is a treatise of nine chapters, mostly occupied about estimates, valuing and taxing objects consecrated for divine worship, and with vows. 46. Kerithoth (nUVID, excisions). The half-dozen chapters of this treatise have to do with the sins which are punished by excommunication, or "cutting off" from the people. 47. Temurah (mi)Dn, commutation). Seven chapters deal- ing with the substitution of one sacrifice for another. 48. Mehilah (n^TO, trespass). Six chapters upon trespasses with regard to consecrated things being perverted to profane uses. 49. Kinnim (D^p, nests). A treatise of three chapters about birds for sacrifice, nests, &c. 50. Tamid (Ton, continual offerings). Seven chapters re- lating to the daily morning and evening sacrifices. 51. Middoth (nnD, measurements). Five chapters upon the dimensions of the Temple. This treatise concludes volume xi. Seder Taharoth, with its twelve treatises, takes up volume xii. All these treatises except Niddah, the first in the volume, are without Gemara. 5 2. Mddah (n*T3, uncleanness). Ten chapters mostly relat- ing to the matters specified in Lev. xv. 2-T2. 53. Kelim (d^3, vessels). Here we have thirty chapters about utensils, furniture, clothes, and other things which contract and communicate uncleanness ; with various sanitary rules and regulations, &c. 54. Oholoth (ni^nx, tents) treats of houses as well as tents, with special reference to the contaminating pre- sence of a corpse. Here are eighteen chapters. 55. Negaim (d'TO, plagues). Fourteen chapters upon con- tagious disorders, especially leprosy (Lev. xiii. and xiv.). 56. Parah (ma, the red heifer). Twelve chapters detailing the laws which relate to Num. xix. 57. Taharoth (ni"intO, cleanliness). This treatise takes ac- count of minor impurities which may be got rid of on the same day at sundown. There are ten chapters upon this subject. 58. Mikvaoth (niNlpD, baths). Ten chapters upon baths, lavers, Sec. iv INTRODUCTION. 59. Maksheerin (p*W3IO, purifiers). Here the rules for puri- fication based upon Lev. xi. 36-38 are expanded into a half-dozen chapters. 60. Zabim (D'OT, fluxes). A medical treatise upon Lev. xv. in five chapters. 61. Tevul Yom (qv ^121D, ablutions of the day). Four chap- ters on purifying upon the self-same day on which defile- ment takes place. (See Lev. xvii. 15, and xxii. 6, 7.) 62. Yadaim (D*T, hands). The washing of the hands is the main topic of the four chapters of this treatise. 63. Okatzin (pvpy, stalks). Three chapters upon fruits and other things which convey impurity by the touch. This treatise finishes volume xii., and with it the Talmud Babli concludes. We shall now subjoin the first Mishna of Berachoth, and as much of its Gemara as is given upon the first page of the Talmud, the heading to which is : — which reads thus : " Meemathai, chapter first, Berachoth." Meemathai = " from what time," is the word with which the chapter commences, and after which, as is usual, this chapter is named. "From what time is the Shema read in the evening? From the time when the .priests enter the sanctuary to eat of their heave-offerings, until the end of the first night-watch. These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer, hut the sages say until midnight, and Rabbon Gamliel says until the dawn of morn- ing. It came to pass that the sons of this Rabbi once returned from a banqueting-house after midnight, and said unto him, ' We have not yet read the Shema ! ' He said unto them, ' If the morning dawn has not yet appeared, ye are bound to read it ; and not in this case only, but in every instance where the sages say until midnight. 1 Their precept holds good until the morning daybreak. The precept with regard to the burning of the. fat and the joints holds good till the dawn of morning. For all offerings which must be eaten the same day, the precept holds good till the morning dawn rises. If this be the case, why do the sages say, ' until midnight ' 1 In order to keep man far from transgression." INTRODUCTION. xxv : Gemara. " The Tanna,* it is asked, to what does he refer when he teaches "nCKE, 'from what time'? And besides, why does, he teach about in the evening first, instead of in the morning first? The Tanna rests upon Scripture, where it is written (Deut. vi.), ' When thou liest down and when thou risest up,' and thus he teaches the time of reading the Shema when thou liest down. When does it begin? It begins from the hour when the priests enter to eat their heave-offering. But if thou wishest, I will say that he derives it from the account of the creation of the world, where it is written (Gen. i.), 'And the evening and the morning were day one.' If this be so, why does a later Mishna (f ol. 1 1 , col. i ) teach that at dawn two benedictions are to be said before the Shema, and one after it ; and at eventide two benedictions are to be repeated before it, and two after it? Ought it not to teach concerning the evening first ? The Tanna commences (in the above Mishna) 1 in the evening,' then (in the later Mishna) he teaches ' at the dawn.' When he treats of the dawn he explains the particulars relating to the dawn, and then explains the parti- culars relating to the evening. " Mar (the master -j") says, from the hour when the priests enter to partake of the heave-offering. And from what time do the priests enter to partake of the heave-offering ? Reply : — From the time that the stars appear. He should have taught them ' from the time that the stars appear ' (which 1 would have been easier to be understood). This he makes us to apprehend by the way. From what point of time do the priests eat the heaVe-offering ? From the appearing of the stars. And then he gives us to under- stand that the expiatory sacrifice does not hinder (the priests eat- ing of the heave-offering), according to the teaching of tradition (Lev. xxii.), 'And when the sun goes down he shall be clean,' It is the going down of the sun which might hinder him eating of the heave-offering, but the expiatory sacrifice does not hinder him eating it. But whence (do we know), that this ' when the sun is down * means ' when the sun sets,' and ' he shall be clean ' is ' the purity of the day ' ? Perhaps." So ends the first page of the Talmud. ND^H (perhaps) is the catchword for the next page ; and so the Gemara * This word means a doctor, a learned man, and is applied here £o the author of the Mishna. f Mar refers to the editor and not to the author of the Mishna. xxvi INTRODUCTION. goes on filling page after page with matter of equal in- terest to that which we have quoted. As an accompaniment to this we shall here quote two or three of the last Mishnaioth of Ukatzin, and so give the last page of the Talmud as well as the first. There is no Gemara to any of the twelve treatises of Seder Taharoth except M. Niddah. Mishna 9 of Okatzin commences on the last page but one, and reads thus : — 9. " Tallow or suet of clean cattle (mintD, clean is the catch- word which finishes one page and commences the next) does not defile like carrion, and requires legal authorisation. Tallow or suet of unclean cattle defiles like carrion, and therefore needs no legal authorisation. Unclean fish and locusts in villages re- quire discrimination. 10 "A beehive, says Rabbi Eleazar, is like landed pro- perty, and a title-deed is to be written to give right of posses- sion. In its standing-place it is not liable to become defiled, and he who takes of its honey on the Sabbath is in duty bound to bring a sin-offering. But the sages say it is not like landed property ; no title-deed is to be drawn up in regard to it ; it is liable to defilement (as it stands) in its place, and he who takes honey from it is not guilty. 11. " From what time does honeycomb become liable to cere- monial defilement as food 1 The school of Shammai says, from the time the beehive is fumigated ; the school of Hillel says, from the time the beehive is emptied. 12. " Rabin Yehoshua ben Levi says, the Holy One — blessed be He ! — will in the future give to every righteous man an inheritance of three hundred and ten worlds, for it is said (Prov. viii.), 'That I may cause those that love me to inherit (&\ by gematria = 310) substance, and I will fill their treasures.' Rabbi Shimon ben Chalapta says, the Holy One — blessed be He ! — has found no such vehicle of blessing for Israel as peace, for it is said (Prov. xxix.), 'The Lord will give strength unto His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace.' Such, then, with its opening and closing paragraphs, is an outline of the subject-matter of the Talmud Babli ; a work which, in its entirety, has never been translated into any language, and in all probability never will, so incoherent INTRODUCTION. xxvii is its structure, so diverse are its oracles, and so barren and questionable often are its results. It is, moreover, so huge in its dimensions that, as the Eabbis allege, it would take one seven years, studying six hours a day, to attain even a moderate acquaintance with its contents. Enough, we flatter ourselves, has been given in these remarks to supply some real, however meagre, knowledge of its nature, and to mitigate the almost total ignorance which prevails in regard to it. It dates from the time of the Captivity, when the Jewish mind began to open to a sense of the glory of its sacred books, and the wealth of wisdom and knowledge contained within their miracu- lous pages. To the Jew, in his then mood, these books, conceived and put together by the heroic of the race in direst battle with darkness and disorder, seemed to be fraught with all divine counsel and alone worthy of all regard ; until at length not the pious only, but the profane, were smitten with the enthusiasm, or, if not so smitten, made use of it for all sorts of selfish by-ends. It is the fate of all interests, however sacred, when men idly quit the reality for its reflection, and take to merely worshipping the wonderful that has been uttered or done. It would seem to lie in the nature of things that the weak silver age should succeed the rich golden one — the age of pale reflec- tion, the age of glowing action ; only in this case, that of silver is ominously all too prolonged. The ages of brass and iron, which among conquering races seem equally fated to follow that of weak admiration, have not yet among the Jews so much as begun to appear. The history they have had is all gone to echo, and the canon of inspiration has been arbitrarily and peremptorily closed. A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. CHAPTER L THE ' ONES ' OF THE TALMUD. 1. 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. Note. — The Chaldee Targums on the Pentateuch strike the same keynote of broad Catholicity, and variously but very beautifully modulate the same sentiment. One example must suffice here. The Targum Yerushalmi says, " In every place in which ye shall memorialize my holy name, my word shall be revealed unto you, and bless you." The same sentiment has its echo in Matt. xviii. 20. 2. One pang of remorse at a man's heart is of more avail than many stripes applied to him. (See Pro v. xvii. 10.) Ibid., fol. 7, col. 1. * 3. "Hear, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord!" (Deut. vi. 4). Whosoever prolongs the utterance of the word (1HN) one, shall have his days and years prolonged to him. So also Zohar, syn. tit. ii. Ibid., fol. 13, col. 2. 2 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 4. Once, as the Babbis tell us, the Boman Government issued a decree forbidding Israel to study the law. Whereupon Pappus, the son of Yehudah, one day found Eabbi 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, c 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 Eabbi 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 ("TnN) one, his soul departed from him. Then came forth a voice from heaven (blp J"Q), which said, " Blessed art thou, Eabbi Akiva, for thy soul and the word one left thy body together." Berachoth, fol. 61, col. 2. Note. — *?1p r\2, Bath Kol, lit. the echo or daughter of a voice. In this case it is the echo of the voice of God in those who by obeying hear. CHAPTER I. 3 5. 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. Eabbi Yehudah says, " The ox, also, which the first man, Adam, sacrificed, had but one horn on its forehead." Shabbath, fol. 28, col. 2. 6. Once a Gentile came to Shamai, and said, "Proselytise me, but on condition that thou teach me the whole law, even the whole of it, whilst 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 neighbour. This is the whole law, and the rest is its commentary " (Tobit, iv. 15; Matt. vii. 12). Ibid., fol. 31, col. 1. 7. When Eabbi 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 honour 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 honour of "I'D?, ' Remem- ber' (Exod. xxii. 28); and one in honour of T)Dt£f, 'Keep' (Deut. v. 8)." Thereupon Rabbi Shimon remarked to his son, " Behold how the commandments are regarded by Israel!" Ibid., fol. 2>2>, col. 2. 8. 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. 4 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 9. When a man is dangerously ill, the law grants dis- pensation, 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. 10. 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." Psachim, fol. 86, col. 2. 1 1. At the time when Ximrod 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 honour of rescuing three of his descendants." At the time when Nebuchadnezzar the wicked cast Hana- niah, Mishael, and Azariah into the fiery furnace, Your- kami, 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 lire ; 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, CHAPTER L 5 " Go down." Upon which Gabriel exclaimed, " Verily the truth of the Lord endureth for ever ! " (Ps. cxvii. 2). P'sachim, fol. 118, col. 1. 12. One peppercorn to-day is better than a basketful of pumpkins to-morrow. Chaggigah, fol. 10, col. 1. 1 3. One day of a year is counted for a whole year. Rash Hashanah, fol. 2, col. 2. Note.— 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. 14. 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. 15. Eabbi 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. 16. He who observes one precept, in addition to those which, as originally laid upon him, he has discharged, shall receive favour from above, and is equal to him who has fulfilled the whole law. Kiddushin, fol. 39, col. 2. 17. 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. Eabbi Yehuda says, " He who swears by the word Jerusalem is as though he had said nothing." Nedarim, fol. 10, coL 2. 18. Balaam was lame in one foot and blind in one eye. Soteh, fol. io, col. 1, and Sanhedrin, fol. 105, col. 1. 6 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 19. 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. Note. — This saying is applied by Rabbi the Holy to Rabbi Eliezar, the son of Durdia, a profligate who recommended himself to the favour 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.) 20. 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. 21. 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 neighbour. So that every one ought to say, " For myself is the world created." Ibid., fol. 37, col. 1. 22. " 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, "Where- CHAPTER L 7 unto this tiling 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, pled, 'I have no legs to walk with;' and the blind one, to excuse himself, pled, ' 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. Sanhedriri, fol. 91, cols. 1, 2. Xote. — Rabbi Yehudah, surnamed the Holy, the editor of the Mishna, 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. 23. One thing obtained with difficulty is far better than a hundred things procured with ease. Avoth d'Mab. Nathan, ch. 3. 24. 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 con- siders him as if he had written it out entirely." Menachoth, fol. 30, col. 1. 8 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 25. 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. 26. A proselyte who has taken it upon himself to ob- serve 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. Note. — The same sentiment, which is a Jewish one, is more peremptorily and absolutely delivered in James ii. 10. 27. It is written (Gen. xxviii. 11), "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. Chullm, fol. 91, col. 2. Note. — 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 ^IND, in Gen. xxviii. 1 1, no such occult meaning. 28. The psalms commencing " Blessed is the man" and li Why do the heathen rage " constitute but one psalm. Berachoth, fol. 9, col. 2. 29. 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. 30. 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 .CHAPTER I. 9 that they should conclude with the words "from eternity unto eternity." Berachoth, fol. 54, col. 1. Note. — The Sadducees (D*pns, 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 Priest- hood 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." 31. Eabbi Yehudah tells us that Eav 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 Eabbi Chanina ben Akavia came and explained it. Shabbath, fol. 83, col. 2. Note. — 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, there- fore a ship must also be clean to the touch). The force of the maxim is now evident. One hour's absence from school may be of serious consequence. 32. 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. Note. — Lilith (JT^, the night-visiting one, from b'b, night) 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. 33. " Thou hast acknowledged the Lord this day to be to A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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, 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. 2 1 ), ' And what one nation in the earth is like Thy people Israel ? ' ' Chaggigah, fol. 3, col. 1. 34. One in the Greek language is Hen (]n=gv). Moed Katon, fol. 28, col. 1. Note. — This fragment is given to show that the Rabbis did not ignore Greek when it suited their purpose. 35. Why are the words of the Law compared to fire 1 (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. 1. 36. " And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo" (Deut. xxxiv. 1). Tradition says there were twelve stairs, but that Moses surmounted them all in one step. Soteh, fol. 13, col. 2. 37. Pieces of money given in charity should not be counted over by twos, but one by one. Bava Bathra, foL 8, col. 2. 38. " 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 1 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 CHAPTER /. ii with Me one second is never changed for another. Shall 1VN (Job) be now changed by Me, therefore, into l^N (an enemy). (Comp. Job. ix. 17, and xxxiv. 35.) Bava Bathra, fol. 16, cols. 1, 2. Note. — "Whatever may be said of the natural history here, the point of the illustration is beyond question. 39. A generation can have one leader only, and not two. Sanhedrin, fol. 8, col. 1. 40. " 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. Note. — 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." 4 1 . Adam was created one without Eve. Why ? That the Sadducees might not assert the plurality of powers in ] Heaven. Ibid., fol. 37, col. 1. Note. — 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. 42. " And the frog (yHH)^, sing, no) came up (DDJ"H, also sing?) and covered the land of Egypt" (Exod. viii. 1 ; A. V. viii. 6). " There was but one frog," said Kabbi Elazar, " and she so multiplied as to fill the whole land of Egypt." " Yes, indeed," said Eabbi Akiva, " there was, as you say, but one frog, but she herself was so large as to fill all the land of Egypt." Whereupon Eabbi 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 12 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. there was only one frog, but she croaked so loud that the frogs came from everywhere else to her croaking." Sarihedrin, fol. 67, col. 2. Note. — (a.) 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.) (b.) Apropos to the part the frog was conceived to play or symbolise in the Jewish conception of the mode and ministry of Divine judgment, we quote the follow- ing : — ■" 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 judg- ments this day : for all are Thy servants.' (Ps. cxix. 91)." (Nedarim, fol. 41, coL 1.) 43. " According to the days of one king" (Isa. xxiii. 1 5). 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. 44. 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 contra- diction of the other, from one and the same Scripture text. Ibid., fol. 102, col. 2. 45. 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. 46. 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. Note. — More on this topic may be found in "Genesis accord- ing to the Talmud," p. 151, n. 12. CHAPTER L 13 47. I would rather be called a fool all my days than sin one hour before God. Edioth, chap. 5, mish. 6. 48. He who observes but one precept secures for him- self an advocate, and he who commits one single sin pro- cures for himself an accuser. Avoth, chap. 4, mish. 15. Note. — The word for advocate in the above Mishnah is B^plQ, a Hebrew form of the Greek Kaedx?,7}Tog, advocate, which occurs in John xiv. 16, &c. 49. He who learns from another one chapter, one hala- chah, one verse, or one word or even a single letter, is bound to respect him. Ibid., chap. 6, mish. 3. Note. — 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 honouring of father and mother, acts of benevolence, hospi- tality 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 honour- ing father or mother. (Meggillah, fol. 16, col. 2.) 50. :( Eepent one day before thy death." In relation to which Eabbi 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. Note. — This reminds one of Horace's admonition: — " Oninem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum." 5 1. He who obliterates one letter from the written name of God, breaks a negative command, for it is said, " And i 4 A TALMUD1C MISCELLAXY. 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. 52. Rabbi Chanina could put on and off his shoes whilst standing on one leg only, though he was eighty years of age. Chullin, fol. 24, col. 2. 53. 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. 54. The twig of a bunch without any grapes is clean ; but if there remained one grape on it, it is unclean. OJczin, chap. 1, mish. 5. ( i5 ) CHAPTER II. THE 'TWOS' OF THE TALMUD. i. Not every man deserves to have two tables. Berachoth, fol. 5, col. 2. Note. — 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. 2. Abba Benjamin nsed 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. Note. — 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. (a.) 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.) (b.) 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.) (c.) It is impossible for the world to be without males 16 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. and females, but blessed is he whose children are boys, and hapless is he whose children are girls. (Kiddushin, fol. 82, col. 2.) (d.) 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.) 3. " There are two ways before me, one leading into Paradise, the other into Hell." When Yochanan, the son of Zacliai, 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 for ever, whose sentence against me, were it even unto death, could not endure for ever, and w T hom 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 for ever and ever ! — whose anger would be everlasting, whose sen- tence 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, " Eabbi, 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. Note. — See Shakespeare's " Henry VIIL," act iii. sc. 2, and contrast the words of this light of Israel with the words of St. Paul, his contemporary, in 2 Tim. iv. 6-8, uttered in the prospect and near presence of the same dread reality. 4. Eabbi Ami says, "Knowledge is of great price, for it is placed between two divine names, as it is written (1 Sam. CHAPTER II 17 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. Xote. — (a.) Here we have a clear law, drawn from Scripture, forbidding, or at any rate denying, mercy to the ignorant. The words of Eabbi (the Holy) are a practical commen- tary on the text worth quoting, " Woe is unto me be- cause I have given my morsel to an ignorant one (oy pxn)." (Bava Bathra, fol. 8, col. 1.) (b.) But who is the ignorant one from whom this mercy is to be withheld? Here the doctors disagree. He, says Eabbi Eliezer, who does not read the yow, Shema, " Hear, O Israel,"&c., both morning and evening. Accord- ing to Kabbi Yehudah, he that does not put on phylac- teries is an ignorant one. Rabbi Azai affirms that he who wears no fringes to his garment is an ignorant one, &c. 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 D^IPIX^ iTzhn, " the law is as the others have said," and so leaves the difficulty where he finds it. (Berachoth, fol. 47, col. 2.) (e.) 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 applica- tion 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, (d.) 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.) 5. When the Holy One — blessed be He ! — remembers B 18 A TALMUD IC MISCELLANY. that His children are in trouble amongst 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. 6. 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 pro- selyte 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 pro- selytise 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 remon- strated and said, " But thou didst not teach me so yester- day." " 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. 7. 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 pre- sent," and the good angel is (with equal reluctance) obliged to say " Amen " to it. Ibid, fol. 119, col. 2. CHAPTER II. 19 8. Two are better than three. Alas ! for the one that goes and does not return again. Sliahbath, fol. 152, col. 1. Note. — 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. The one that goes and does not return is youth after it has faded away. 9. 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 w T as fire, wdiich 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. 10. "Every one has two portions, one in paradise and another in hell." Acheer asked Eabbi Meyer, "What meaneth this that is written (Eccl. vii. 14), ' God also has set the one over against the other ' ? " Eabbi 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 Eabbi Meyer, " Thy master, Eabbi 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 neighbour 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 neighbour away with him to hell." When Eav 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) 20 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. they shall possess the double* Eespecting the wicked it is written (Jer. xvii. 18), 'And destroy them with double destruction.'" Chaggigah, fol. 15, col. 1. Note. — The question asked above by Acheer has been practi- cally 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 main- tained 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. 11. 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. Eespecting 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. 1 5), " Tell the man that sent you," whereas she should have said, " Tell the king." Meggillah, fol. 14, col. 2. 12. If speech is worth one sela (a small coin so called), silence is worth two. Ibid., fol. 18, col. 1. Note. — The Swiss motto, " Speech is worth silver, silence worth gold," expresses a sentiment which finds great favour with the authors and varied expression in the pages of the Talmud. (a.) If silence be good for wise men, how much better must it be for fools ! (P'sachim, fol. 98, col. 2.) (b.) For every evil silence is the best remedy. (Meg- gillah, fol. 18, col. 1.) (c.) Silence is as good as confession. (Yevamotli, fol. 87, coL 1.) (d.) Silence in a Babylonian was a mark of his being of good family. (Kiddushin, fol. 71, col. 2.) CHAPTER II. 21 (e.) 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, i.) (/.) Eabbi 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.) 13. 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. Xote. — 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 (sic in original), 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 (?)p m) and said, " 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 suffer- ing 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 22 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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.) 14. "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 illustra- tion 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 grey 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, CHAPTER II. 23 (Zecli. 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. 15. Eabbi Oshaia asked, "What is this that is written, (Zecli. 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 towards another in their debates about the law. The staff called Destroyer repre- sents the disciples of the wise of Babylon, who in the like debates were fierce tempered and not friendly towards one another. What is the meaning of Babel or Babylon ? Eabbi Yochanan says it means rb*bl K")pQ2 VO'bl D'torQ rb'bz mran, that is, " 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). Babbi Jeremiah said by this we are to understand the Babylonian Talmud. Sanliedrin, fol. 24, col. 1. Note. — (a.) V'P7\ stands for DmD nwn, the six sedarim or orders of the Talmud. The Kabbis say these three hate their fellows — dogs, cocks, and conjurors; to which some add, among others, the disciples of the wise of Babylon. (Psachim, fol. 113, col. 2.) (b.) 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, and Rashi in loco.) 16. Babbi Yochanan and Babbi Yonathan travelled 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 24 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. reward in recompense." In this resolution they went on, and as they passed the place the women humbled them- selves 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. 17. Given two dry firebrands and one piece of green wood, the dry will set fire to the green. Sanhedrin, fol. 93, col. 1. 18. With two dogs they caught the lion. Ibid., fol. 95, col. r. Note. — Both these proverbs express the same idea, that a minority, be it ever so strong, must give way to a majority. 19. "And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed together" (Numb. xxii. 7). Midian and Moab, were never friendly towards 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 neighbour to-day, the wolf may come upon myself to-morrow ;" therefore the two dogs leagued together and killed the wolf. Hence, says Eabbi Pappa, the popu- lar saying, " The mouse and the cat are combined to make a feast on the fat of the unfortunate." Ibid., fol. 105, col. 1. Note. — The moral of this is obvious. Herodotus expresses it tersely in Greek, "Tveanog rvzdvvw ffvyxanpyd^iTat " (One tyrant aids another). 20. Eabbi 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, thou false tongue ' ? " The Holy One — blessed CHAPTER IT. 25 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 sur- rounded 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, thou false tongue ? " Eabbi 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 ? '" Urchin, f ol. 1 5, col. 2. Note. — This may seem the place to append a few sayings from the Talmud on the abuse of the tongue. (a.) He who slanders, he who receives slander, and he who bears false witness against his neighbour, deserve to be cast to the dogs. (Psachim, fol. 118, col. 1.) (b.) 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. 11), "I am no worse than a slanderer." (Taanifh, fol. 8, col. 1.) (c.) Adonijah was deprived of life for no other reason than that he was given to quarrelling. It is lawful to slander one so evil-disposed as he was. (Per el: Hashalom. ) (d.) God will say to the prince of hell, " I from above and thou from below shall judge and condemn the slanderer." (Urchin, fol. 15, col. 2.) (e.) 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.) 21. Where are we told that when two sit together and study the law the Shechinah is with them ? In Mai. 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. 22. Why did Elijah employ two invocations, saying 26 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. twice over, "Hear me! hear me!" (i Kings xviii. 37). Elijah first prayed before God, " 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. Note. — The twofold invocation of Elijah, which betokens his intense earnestness, anagrammatically expressed, is echoed in the words of the bystanders, DTl^n Sin mn\ " The Lord He is the God, the Lord He is the God." 23. "I dreamed," said Bar Kappara one day to Eabbi (the Holy), " that I beheld two pigeons, and they flew away from me." " Thy dream is this," replied Eabbi, " thou hast had two wives, and art separated from them both without a bill of divorcement." Ibid, fol. 56, col. 2. 24. The Eabbis 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 risdit 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. 25. 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. 26. 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., col. 56, fol. 2. Note. — In the context where the above tradition occurs, which, as is obvious, relates to the founding of Eome, we meet with another on the same subject as follows : — When Solomon married the daughter of Eharaoh, the CHAPTER II. 27 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. 27. 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 (MTirQttf, dual form), Even them will I bring- to my holy mountain." Shabbath, fol. 118, col. 2. 28. Adam had two faces ; for it is said (Ps. cxxxix. 5), " Thou hast made me behind and before." Mruvin, fol. 18, col. 1. Kote. — There is a notion among the Eabbis that Adam was possessed originally of a bisexual organisation, 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." 29. If in time of national calamity a man withdraw himself from his kindred and refuse to share in their 28 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. sorrow, bis 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 pros- perity." 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. n, col. 1. 30. 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. Note. — 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.) 31. 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. Note. — 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. 2>2>)^ " They went down, and all that belonged to CHAPTER U. 29 them, alive into hell." In the sea, as it is written (Jonah ii. 2), " Out of the belly of hell have I called," &c. In Jerusalem, as it is written (Isa. xxxi. 9), " Thus saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem." The gates to Gehinnom (ojivA DTins) must not be confounded with the *?)$;& nj?t^ of the Sacred Scriptures, or the TluXat adov of the Greek. " The Gates of Hades " are simply the gates of death. 32. 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. in, col. 2. Kote. — Agrath and Blussia are two Amazons well known to those familiar with Kabbinic demonology. 33. " If Mordecai, before whom thou hast began to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, expect not to prevail against him, but ^IB/1 ^M falling, thou shalt fall" (Esth. vi. 13). Wherefore these two fallings ? They told Hainan, 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." Meggillali, fol. 16, col. 1. 34. 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. 30 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 35. 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. 36. 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. in, col. 1. Xote. — 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 JEgilops 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, accord- ing to a law the inverse of the order of nature. Rabbi Yelmdah (Sanhedrin, fol. 70, coL 1) says that wheat was the forbidden fruit Hence probably the w de- generac} 7 . 37. Of two that quarrel, the one that first gives in shows the nobler nature. Ibid., fol. 71, col. 2. Xote. — So also Prov. xx. 3, " It is an honour for a man to cease from strife." 38. 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 CHAPTER II. 31 and the other not ; the former, therefore, managed to get over, but the latter, being heavy-laden, sank. Gittln, fol. 7, col. 1. 39. Zoreah and Eshtaol (Josh. xv. 33) were two large mountains, but Samson tore them up and grated the one against the other. SoteJi, fol. 9, col. 2. Note. — 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 DJJS, translated to "move," signifies also to "strike a stroke" "step a step," and " once." Founding on which last two mean- ings, Rabbi Yehudah says, " Samson strode in one trides from Zoreah to Eshtaol," a giant stride of two miles or more. Taking DJJD in the sense of " strike," or " pro- ducing a ringing sound," another Eabbi 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." 40. 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 con- temptuously, " 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, alonsr with them. On this occasion Sarah's breasts became like tivo 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 32 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. the very picture of Abraham's ; then one and all ex- claimed, "Abraham begat Isaac." Bara Metzia, fol. 87, col. 1. Xote. — The Midrash (p. 27) tells the same story almost verbatim. 41. Eava 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. Kote. — A story similar to the above, with additional details, is familiar to most readers. This we have given is one of many with which the Talmud abounds, and the col- lection of which would fill a goodly volume. 42. 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 contra- dictory). JSoteh, fol. 47, col. 2. CHAPTER II. 53 43. If two parties deposit money with a third, one a single manah and the other two hundred, and both after- wards 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. Xote. — " Till Elijah comes " is a phrase which is in use among the Jews to express postponement for ever, like ad Kalendas Grcecas. It is applied to questions that would take Elijah to settle, which, it is believed, he will not appear to do till doomsday. 44. "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, ]HDT r*TD, w which, abbreviated, is "TD1D {i.e., an agate). Bava Bathra, fol. 75, coL 1. 45. " The horseleech has two daughters, crying, Give ! give I " (Prov. xxx. 1 5). Mar Ukva says, " This has re- ference 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. Note. — Rashi says heresy here refers to the " heresy of James," or, in other words, Christianity. 46. Two cemeteries were provided by the judicial autho- rities, 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. 34 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 47. 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. Note. — We here append two or three other sayings from the Talmud relative to the serpent. (a.) 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.) (b.) No man was ever injured by a serpent or scorpion in Jerusalem. (Yoma, fol. 21, col. 1.) (c.) "And dust is the serpent's food" (Isa. lxv. 25). Rav Ammi says, " To the serpent no delicacy in the world has any other flavour than that of dust ; " and Rav Assi says, " No delicacy in the w r orld satisfies him like dust." (Ibid., fol. 75, col. 1.) 48. Two negatives or two affirmatives are as good as an oath. Shevuoth, fol. 36, col. 1. 49. 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. 50. 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. 1), "And sitteth not in the seat of the scornful." Avoth, chap. iii. 51. 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. 52. Philemo once asked Rabbi (the Holy), "If a man has two heads, on which is he to put the phylactery ? " CHAPTER II. 35 To which Eabbi replied, " Either get up and be off, or take an anathema ; for thou art making fun of me." M enachoth, fol. 37, col. 1. 53. It is thus Eav Yoseph taught what is meant when it is written in Isaiah xii. 1, " I will praise Thee, Lord, hecause Thou wast angry with me : Thine anger will de- part 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 afterwards learned that the ship in which his companion had sailed had sunk to the bottom of the sea, he confessed his short-sightedness and praised God for His mercy." Niddah, fol. 31, col. 1. ( 36 ) CHAPTER III. THE ' THREES ' OF THE TALMUD. 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 habita- tion." The marks by which this division of the night is recognised 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. 2. 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. 3. 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. 4. 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. Note. — "We subjoin a few passages from the Talmud anent Israel and the Israelites. (a.) All Israelites are princes. (Shabbath, fol. 57, col. T.) (b.) All Israelites are holy. (Ibid., fol. 86, col. 1.) (c.) Happy are ye, Israel ! for every one of you, CHAPTER III. 37 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.) (d.) 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.) (e.) 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 pB^pJD vby PX3, 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.) Note. — Contrast this counsel with that of a heathen poet : — ' ' If ever called To give thy witness in a dubious case, Though Phalaris himself should hid thee lie On pain of torture in his flaming bull, Disdain to barter innocence for life, To which life owes its lustre and its tvorth." Juvenal, Sat. 8, 1, 80. How true are the words of Shakespeare (Henry YIIL, act v., sc. 1) : — "At what ease Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt To swear against you ? " (g.) 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.) A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. (h.) (Prov. xiv. 34), " Almsgiving exalteth a nation, but benevolence is a sin to nations." " Almsgiving, npDiy 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.) (i.) 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.) (7i.) " 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.) (I.) 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 con- sidered as an Israelite ; and so also it is to be, providing the numbers are equal. (Machsheerin, chap. 2, Mish. 7.) (m.) " 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. (PereJc Hashalom.) (n. ) 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.) (0.) 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 rejoice, thou and thy household ; " without blessing, as it is written (Ezek. xliv. 30), " That He may cause a bless- ing 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.) (p.) 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 " (d"1K in the singular). To which Rabbi Eleazar adds, " So every one who has no landed property is no man ; for it is written (Ps. cxv. CHAPTER III. 39 1 6), l 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.) 5. 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. Note. — What was the Shechinah ? Was it the presence of a Divine person or only of a Divine power ? The follow- ing 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. (a.) Where do we learn that when ten persons pray together the Shechinah is with them? In Ps. lxxxii. i, 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 Mai. 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.) (b.) Where do we learn that the Shechinah doss strengthen the sick ? In Ps. xli. 3, where it is written, " The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languish- ing." (Shabbath, fol. 12, col. 2.) (c.) 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.) (d.) 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.) (e.) 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, L fol. 15, col. 2.) 4o A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. (/.) " 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 1 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. in, col. 25.) (g.) 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.) (h.) 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 lan- guishing." (Ibid., fol. 40, col. 1.) (i.) 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.) (j.) Where do we read that the Shechinah is present everywhere 1 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.) (k.) Many more such-like passages might be adduced, but we will conclude this catena with a phrase which will recall pleasing memories to most of our readers, words " as familial' as household words" in Jewry — ! tbiyb'n y\i rbyn t»b Kinn >-y rriwaBn n"ip nw n&b In the name of the union of the Holy and Blessed One and His Shechinah, the Hidden and the Concealed One ! Blessed be the Lord forever ! 6. Rabbi Akiva says, " For three things I admire the Medes:— 1. When they carve meat, they do it on the CHAPTER III. 41 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. 7. 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 JTHttf, " Thou hast broken" but read thus : J"DIHttf, " Thoic 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. Hid., fol. 54, col. 2. Note. — This same story is given with more than Talmudic exaggeration in the Targuni 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 tra- dition. 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 tra- dition which says the soles of his feet were forty miles long at once explains all the extraordinary feats ascribed to him. 8. Bav 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 42 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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. Note. — 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. 9. 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 com- munity be first consulted. God first consulted Moses, then Moses consulted the nation concerning the appoint- ment of Bezaleel." Ibid., fol. 55, col. 1. 10. Three dreams come to pass : — That which is dreamed in the morning; that which is also dreamed by one's neighbour ; 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. 1 1. Three things tranquillise the mind of man : — Melody, scenery, and sweet odour. Three things develop the mind of man: — A fine house, a handsome w T ife, and elegant furniture. Ibid., fol. 57, col. 2. 12. 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. CHAPTER III. 43 13. Three things bring a man to poverty: — 1. JVIttfBrT D*ny 1DZ0D 'OEQ D^D ; 2. Neglecting the (ceremonial) washing of the hands ; 3. Being cursed to the face by one's wife. Shabbath, fol. 62, col. 2. 14. These three grow stronger as they grow older : — The fish, the serpent, and the pig. Ibid., fol. 77, col. 2. 15. It were better to cut the hands off than to touch the eye, or the nose, or the mouth, or the ear, &c, with them without having first washed them. Unwashed hands may cause blindness, deafness, foulness of breath, or a polypus. It is taught that Eabbi Nathan has said, " The evil spirit Bath Chorin (]Hin J"Q), 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. Note. — (a.) 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 Tal- mud : — " 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, 44 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. fol. 21, col. 2. See also Maimonides, Hilc. Berach., vi. 19.) (b.) 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.) (c.) There is a great deal in the Talmud about (r6*E3 D S T), icashing 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, n^D, respecting Rabbi Akiva, whose fame extends 1D1D "TJ?1 ub)VT\ P)1DD, 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 1TDD," and Rabbi Yehoshua, " He is a m^D p," 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 1 " " Be- cause 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 null '/ ifying 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 CHAPTER III 45 from me," riT p h n*m ^3t5nt5> ^y SUV Tims 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 compli- ment 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 false- hood" (Exod. xxiii. 7). (d.) Here is a companion picture from Yoma, fol. 8^, 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 (^xx>T! Ni"6a^, which also means " To 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 afterwards, that what he meant was that he would not tell it to the God of Israel.' The remedy was yeast, water, oil, and salt." (e.) The anecdote that follows we take 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 follow- ing apologue : ' I once went to a place called Kushta (NE^Ip), 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. Think- ing that it was a breach of etiquette (that any one should 46 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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." 1 6. 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. 17. He who is born on the third day of the week will be rich and amorous. Ibid., fol. 156, col. 1. 18. 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 accord- ing to us.' Then came a Bath Kol * from the Lord and said, D"n Wnbtt nm "6*0 "\b$, ' Both these and those are the words of the living God, but yet the Halacha is accord- ing 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 for- bearing, for whilst 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 afterwards. 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. 19. There are three entrances to hell: — One in the desert, one in the sea, and one in Jerusalem. Ibid., fol. 19, col. 1. Note. — For more detailed matter on this topic see Chap. II. sect. 31, supra. * Defined at p. 2. CHAPTER III. 47 20. These three will never see hell : — He who is puri- fied 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. Note. — In the original, iwim : ?.e., "and government." Kashi renders it " Creditors ; " Tosephoth renders it, " The yoke of the government of Babylon." 21. Three effects are ascribed to Babylonian broth (which was made of mouldy 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. 22. 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. in, col. 1. Note. — 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 " Whoso- ever transgresses any of the words of the Scribes is guilty of death." {Eiruvin, fol. 21, col. 2.) 23. 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. Fsachim, fol. 113, col. 1. 48 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 24. 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. Eav 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 pre- sence of Eava and this Eav Saphra, and the face of the latter beamed with delight. Eemarking which, Eava said to him, " This does not refer to such a bachelor as thou art, but to such as Eabbi Chanena and Eabbi Oshaia." They were single men, who followed the trade of shoemakers, and dwelt in a street mostly occupied by mjlT 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 Eabbis of the land of Israel. F'sachim, fol. 113, cols. 1, 2. 25. 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 favour of his neighbour but refrains from doing so ; and he who, having seen his neigh- bour 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 Eav Pappa, and Eav 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 Eabbi, "for by testifying singly against him thou bringest him only into bad repute." (See Deut. xix. 15.) Psachim, fol. 113, col. 2. Note. — " Toviah has sinned and Zigud is flogged" has long been a proverb among Jews. CHAPTER III. 49 26. There are three whose life is no life : — The sym- pathetic, the irascible, and the melancholy. P'sachim, fol. 113, col. 2. 27. There are three which despise their fellows : — Dogs, cocks, and sorcerers. Some say strange women also, and some the disciples of the Babylonian Eabbis. Ibid. Note. — Cato used to say that he was surprised one sooth- sayer could keep his countenance when he saw another manipulating, knowing, as he did, the imposture he was practising. 28. These three love their fellows : — Proselytes, slaves, and ravens. Ibid. 29. 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. 30. 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. Note. — Xws/'s byniccg d(3io; fiioc, |8/os afiiuro;, "Without health life is not life, life is lifeless." (Ariphon.) 31. 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 (m^iy) step over them. Moed Katan, fol. 18, coL 1. Note. — The orthodox Jews in Poland are to this day careful to bury away or burn their nail-parings. 32. Three classes appear on the day of judgment : — The perfectly righteous, who are at once written and sealed for 50 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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. 33. Our Eabbis 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 Eome ; and the voice of anguish uttered by the soul as it quits the body ; . . . but our Eabbis 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. 34. In three particulars is benevolence superior to alms- giving: — 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 benevo- lence 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. 35. Three marks characterise 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." Bene- CHAPTER Hi: 5 r volent, as it is written (Gen. xviii. 19), "For I know him," &c. Yevamoth, fol. 79, col. 1. Note. — The Rabbis are not always happy in applying Scrip- ture, but No. 35 is the right rendering. Jewish writers often quote it as it stands here. 36. 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. 37. 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 in, coL 1. 38. He who holds his household in terror tempts to the commission of three sins: — Fornication, murder, and Sabbath-breaking. Gittin, fol. 6, col. 2. 39. 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. 40. Abraham was three years old when he first learned to know his Creator; as it is said (Gen. xxvi. 5), "Because (2py) Abraham obeyed my voice." Nedarim, fol. 32, col. 1. Note i. — The conclusion arrived at here is founded on inter- preting the Hebrew letters of the word rendered "be- cause " numerically, in which y = 70 p = 100 and 3 = 2, making 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 52 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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 be allowed to 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. (a.) Abraham was Ethan the Ezrahite, who is men- tioned Ps. lxxxvii. i. (Bava Bathra, foL 15, col. 1.) (b.) Abraham's mother was Amathlai, the daughter of Karnebo. (Ibid., fol. 91, col. 1.) (c.) Abraham was the head of a seminary for youth, and kept both laws, the written and the oral. (Yoma, foL 28, col. 2.) (d.) Abraham observed the whole ceremonial law, even before it was given on Sinai. (Kiddushin, fol. 82, col. 1.) Note. — 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 be- come a rendezvous for his neighbours 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." (e.) Though Abraham kept all the commandments, CHAPTER III. 53 he was not perfect till he was circumcised. (Nedarim, fol. 31, col. 2.) Note. — 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 sym- bol 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 Abra- ham 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.) (g.) Abraham it was that ordained the form of prayer for morning worship, which is extant to this very day. (Berachoth, fol. 26, col. 2.) (h. ) 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 oV Rabbi Nathan, chap. 8.) Note. — The Targum of Ben Uzziel suggests the same principle as this tradition : "I have purified the house from strange worship, and have prepared a place for the camels." (i.) Abraham had a daughter, and her name was Bakol. {Ibid,, fol. 16, col. 2.) (j.) Abraham was free from evil passion. {Bava Bathra, fol. 17, col. 1.) (k.) He was also free from the Angel of Death. (Ibid., fol. 17, col. 1.) 54 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. (I ) He delivered to the children he had by Keturah a secret name, with which they learned to practise witch- craft and do the works of the devil. (Sanhedrin, fol. 91, coL 1.) (m.) Though great, he personally waited on his guests, who had the appearance of Arabs and not of angels. (Kiddashin, fol. 32, coL 2.) (n.) Rabbi Yehudah says Abraham planted an orna- mental garden with all kinds of choice fruits in it, and Rabbi Nehemiah says he erected an inn for travellers in order to make known the name of God to all who sojourned in it. (Soteh, fol. 10, col. 1.) Note. — Both the Targum of Ben Uzziel and the Yerus- halmi 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. " (0.) 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.) (p.) 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.) Note. — 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 Sarali in from the sons of Heth, we read that he weighed to Ephron the silver. (q.) Abraham pleaded with God on 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, CHAPTER II L 55 by which, as often as they read it, He would be pro- pitiated and would pardon all their sins. (Meggillah, fol. 31, col. 2.) (r.) He was punished by his posterity being compelled to serve the Egyptians two hundred and ten years, be- cause 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 in- structed." Samuel says Abraham was punished because he perversely distrusted the assurance of God ; as it is written (Gen. xv. 8), " Whereby shall I knoiv that I shall inherit it?" (Nedarim, fol. 31, col. 2.) (s.) 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 behoved the One to rescue the one. (P'sachim, foL 118, col. 1.) Note. — 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 Mmrod 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.'" (t.) Abraham was a giant of giants ; his height was as that of severity-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 waDs 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 sum (Soph rim., chap. 21.) (u. ) 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.) 56 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. (v.) 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, Abra- ham prayed to God for a beard to enable people to dis- tinguish him from his son, Isaac, and it was granted him; as it is written (Gen. xxiv. i), " And to Abraham a beard came when he was well stricken in age." (Sanhedrin, fol. 107, col. 2.) Note. — Here the word p?, 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 grey." (w.) 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.) (x.) 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.) Note 2. — Abraham being greater than Moses, for whilst the latter is only called by God " My Servant " (Mai. iv. 4), the former is called "My Friend" (Isa. xli. 8), we are fain to 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 our father Abraham's character a little more complete. (aa.) 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 CHAPTER III. 57 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 for ever after the order of Melchizedek.' " (Avodath Hakkodesh, part 3, chap. 20.) (ab.) 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 1 From what is said in Ps. xvi. 7, " My reins also instruct me in the night season." (Bereshith Rabba, chap. 95.) {etc, ) 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-) (ad.) 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. (Zoliar Parashah Bereshith. ) (ae.) Abraham was the author of a (NrDDO) treatise on the subject of different kinds of witchcraft and its unholy workings and fruits, as also of the Book of Creation, m>X* 1SD, through holy names, (by means of which, namely, anything could be created.) (NisJwiath Chayim, chap. 29). (af.) 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. (More on this subject we give in Part III. of this work.) (Ibid., fol. 171, col. 1.) (ag.) A good son delivers his father from the punish- ment of hell, for thus we find that Abraham our father delivered Terah, as it is said in Gen. xv. 15, "And thoushalt 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.) (ah.) Before Abraham was circumcised God spake to him in the Chaldee language, that the angels should not 58 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. understand it. (This is proved from Gen. xv. i.) (Yallcut Chadash, fol. 117.) (ai.) Eabbi 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.) (ak.) Abraham was circumcised on the Day of Atone- ment, 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.) (al.) "And it came to pass that when Abram was come into Egypt" (Gen. xii. 14). And where was Sarah 1 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.) (am.) 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. 1 1 : — " Behold now 1 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 CHAPTER III. 59 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 Kussia), fol. 28, col. 1.) (an.) 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 assur- ance 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 un- willing 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.) (ao.) 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 cus- tomer came to purchase an idol, Abraham asked him, " How old art thou 1 " " 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 i " 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 destruc- tion 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 60 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. orthodox Jewish world will bear testimony, and is solemnly recorded in Shalsheleth Hakkabalah, fol. 2, col. 1. (N.B. — Consult Index for more on the subject of Abraham.) 41. 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. 42. A man should divide his capital into three parts, and invest one-third in land, employ one-third in mer- chandise, and reserve one-third in ready money. Bava Metzia, foL 42, col. 1. 43. 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. 44. These three complain, but no one sympathises 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. Note. — The sense in all these cases is the same, viz., that no one pities the man who brings his troubles upon himself. The expression, " buy a master to himself," finds illus- tration in the Latin proverb, " Ghius dominum emit," "The Chian buys himself a master." This proverb originated thus : When Mithridates conquered Chios, he gave over the inhabitants into the hands of the very slaves they themselves had imported. 45. There are three things on which the world stands : — The law, the temple service, and benevolence. Avoth, chap. 1. 46. 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 sacri- fices for the dead ; but they, on the contrary, are as if they CHAPTER III. 6 1 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. 47. 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. 48. 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 dis- ciples 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. 49. TJiree 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. 50. 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. 51. 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 amidst difficulties hard to overcome ; and over the ruler who behaves arrogantly towards the community he should protect. Chaggigah, fol. 5, col. 2. 52. Eabbi Yochanan says there are three keys in the hand of the Holy One — blessed be He ! — which He never intrusts to the disposal of a messenger, and they are 62 A TALMUD IC MISCELLANY. these : — (i.) The key of rain, (2.) the key of life (iTn), 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 rny spirit in you, and ye shall live," &c. Taanitk, foL 2, col. 1, 2. 53. A disciple of the wise who makes light of the wash- ing 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 con- temptible 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. 54. 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. 55. All creatures spW TUD D\D3 VVDWD except three, and these do it, D^SJ TOD D^D, — fish, man, and the serpent. Why should the action of these three differ from the rest ? When Eav Dimi came he said, " They in the west say it is because the Shechinah conversed with them." Of the camel is it recorded TOD "Tin** "Dim Bechoroth, fol. 8, col. 1. 56. The wolf, the lion, the bear, the leopard, the panther, the elephant, and the sea-cat, each bear three years. Ibid. 57. Eav Yehudah says, in the name of Eav, "The butcher is bound to have three knives ; one to slaughter CHAPTER III. 63 with, one for cutting up the carcase, and one to cut away the suet.* Chullin, fol. 8, col. 2. 58. Three classes of ministering angels raise a song of praise every day. One class says, Holy ! the second re- sponds, 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 (mrP) after two words, as it is said (Deut. vi. 4), mm bx-)W WV, " Hear Israel, Yehovah" but the mini- stering angels do not mention The Name (mm) till after three, as it is written (Isa. vi. 3), mm ttfVTp t#Hp OTlp JYHOXj " 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." Ibid., fol. 91, col. 2. 59. "l"n The Eabbis have taught, a man should not sell to his neighbour 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 neighbour a barrel of wine with oil floating upon its surface ; for it happened once that a * Suet being as unlawful for food as pork, t " Israel are likened to stars," says Rashi. 64 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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 him- self give them leave to do so ; for it once happened dur- ing 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 afterwards 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 Eabbi Eliezar ben Yacob said, " There perished in this affair three souls of Israel." Chullin, fol. 94, col. 1. 60. Once the Eoman Government issued a decree that the Israelites should neither observe the Sabbath nor circumcise their sons and m73n JIN "PJ^ttf. Thereupon Eeuben the son of Istrubli trimmed his hair as a Gentile, and went among the Eoman 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 cir- CHAPTER III. 65 cuincise 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. " Then," argued he, " DYft V^W lib" 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 cancelled. Upon this the question arose who should go to Eome and appeal against these enactments. It was resolved that Eabbi Shimon ben Yochai, who was reputed experienced in miracles, should go, accompanied by Eabbi Elazar, the son of Eabbi Yossi. ... As they journeyed along, the question was proposed to them, " Whence is it proved that the blood of a reptile is unclean ? " Eabbi Elazar replied with a curl of the lip, and quoted Lev. ii. 29, "And these shall be unclean unto you." Eabbi Shimon said unto him, " By the curl of thy lip art thou recognisable 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 BeracJioth, fol. 31, col. 2.) Thereupon Ben Temal ion (an evil sprite or imp) came, and greeting him, said, " Do ye wish me to accompany you ? " Eabbi 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 ! How- ever, let a miracle be worked for us anyhow." Then the evil spirit entered into the Emperor's daughter, and when the Eabbi 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 Eabbis were bidden to ask whatsoever they pleased, and admitted into the imperial treasury that they might choose what seemed good to them. Espying * The word angel occurs three times in the narrative. 66 A TALMUDIC MISCELLAXV. there the edict against Israel, they chose it, and tore it to pieces. Meyilah, fol. 17, col. 1, 2. 61. At the time when the high priest enters to wor- ship, 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. Tamidj chap. 7 ; Misltna, 1. 62. " I once, when a grave-digger," says Abba Shaul, as the Eabbis relate, " chased a roe which had entered the shin-bone 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. 65. The Eabbis 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. Eabbi Elazar said, " What Scripture is there for this ? ' When I was made in secret and curiously wrought, \T)Ep""l, in the lowest parts of the earth' (Ps. exxxix. 15). It is not said, \TITT, ' I abode' but, \HDp1, ' I was curiously wrought.' Why the dif- ference ? Why are the pains caused by a girl greater than those caused by a boy ? " "IKTDtWI TVT3 K2 Pit •vjs lain ira nn d^ej Jijsnn it -wnvn -piD an nn. Niddah, fol. 31, col. 1. 64. The Eabbis 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, CHAPTER III. 67 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. Eav Pappa says, " This is the mean- ing of the proverb, ' Shake off the salt and throw the flesh to the dogs.' " Niddah, fol. 31, col. 1. Note. — 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." ( 68 ) CHAPTER IV. THE 'FOURS' OF THE TALMUD. 1. Four tilings require fortitude in the observance: — The law, good works, prayer, and social duties. Respect- ing 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 w T ord " 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. 2. There are four signs which tell tales : — Dropsy (pITTi!, Gr. vSpcoyfr) 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. 3. " 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. jSote. — There is, according to the Rabbis, no anachronism here, as the name was given by prophetic anticipation. 4. The sun makes four quarterly circuits. In April, May, and June, i.e., Nisan, Iyar, and Sivan, his circuit is CHAPTER IV. 69 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. Fsachim, fol. 94, col. 2. 5. Four persons are intolerable : — A poor man who is proud, a rich man who is a liar, an old man who is incon- tinent, and a warden who behaves haughtily to a com- munity 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. 6. 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 (,1p~r& more cor- rectly, 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 dis- tresses." 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." Eeformation of conduct, as it is written, (Jonah iii. 10), "And God saw their works," and "God repented of the evil," &c. Some say also change of resi- dence 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." Bosh Hashanah, fol. 16, coL 2. 7. Four things cause an eclipse of the sun: — When a chief magistrate dies and is not mourned over with the due yo A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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. 8. 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. 9. 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 ? " &c. The Chaldeans, as it is written (Isa. xxiii. 13), "Behold the land of the Chal- deans : 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), "jn^nn IBM, " And whom I have caused .to be evil." Ibid., fol. 52, col. 2. 10. There have been four beautiful women in the world : — Sarah, Abigail, Bahab, and Esther. Meggillah, fol. 15, col. 1. Note. — (a.) Tosephoth, in loco, asks, "Why was not Eve numbered among these beauties, since even Sarah, in comparison with Eve, was as an ape compared to a man?" The reply is, " Only those bom of woman are here enumerated. " (b) In fol. 13, col. 1, 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. Babbi Yehoslma ben Korcha states that Esther's complexion was of a yellow or gold colour. CHAPTER IV. 71 1 1. One cup of wine is good for a woman, two are dis- graceful, three demoralising, and four brutalising. Kethuboth, fol. 65, col. 1. 12. He who traverses so much sls/out ells in the land of Israel is sure of everlasting life. Ibid., fol. in, col. 1. 13. To walk even four ells without bowing the head is an offence to Heaven ; for it is written (Isa. vi. 3), " The whole earth is full of His glory." Kiddushin, fol. 31, col. 1. 14. 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. 15. 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 (D# Y~ltf H) ; 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. 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. 17. 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 72 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. towards others ; he who wishes others to give, but does not do so himself, lie has an evil eye towards 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. 1 8. 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. 19. 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. 20. 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 (robrQ D^^l^Dil) that arc marked with the Halachah more than the synagogues and the schools ; and this agrees with what Eabbi Cheeya bar Ami has said, in the name of Ulla, that since the destruc- tion of the Temple nothing else has remained to God in His world hut four ells of the Halachah. Berachoth, fol. 8, col. 1. Xote. — D'O^IVftn is an example of what is a very common pas- time of the Kabbis of a play upon words. The word jV^ in Talmudic Hebrew means a mark, and the allusion is to the little cells or rooms, often only about four ells square, set apart for the study of the Halachoth. These God is said to prefer to the places where large assemblies gather to study the Mishna, or even the Bible ; as, for instance, rws^D rnun and the *p"n rron 21. 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. CHAPTER IV. 73 22. 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 travelled 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. 23. If one does not walk, say four cubits, before falling asleep after a meal, that which he has eaten, being un- digestible, causes foulness of breath. Shabbath, fol. 41, coL 1. 24. 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. Note. — These four are reckoned to have died on account of original sin, and not solely because of actual transgres- sion, which, says Rashi, they never committed. 25. The traveller 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. Note.— Here the Gemara very graciously appends a direction as to the disposal of the purse, in case the traveller 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 dis- tance of four cubits. 26. A master is bound to rehearse a lesson to his pupil four times. Eiruvin, fol. 54, col. 2. 74 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 27. 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). Fsachim, fol. 87, col. 2. 28. Once Eav Papa and Eav Hnnnah partook together of a common meal, and as the latter ate only one morsel the former ate four. After this, when Eav Hnnnah and Eavina ate together, the latter devoured eight portions to the other's one, upon which Eav Hunnah jocularly remarked, " A hundred (Eav) Papas to one Eavina." Ibid., fol. 89, col. 2. 29. 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 Matsotlt). Even the poorest in Israel may not break his fast till the hour of reclining; nor is he to partake of less than/o^r 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. Xote. — The four cups severally commemorate four expressions made use of in connection with the deliverance from Egypt (see Exod. vi. 67, and the Hagadah for Pass- over) : — "I will bring you, I will rid you, I will redeem you, I will take you. " 30. 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 Eashi, are bound to annoy the evil genii.) Ibid., fol. in, col. 1. CHAPTER IV. 75 31. Four precepts did our holy Babbi (Yehudali Haka- dosh) 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'saehim, fol. 112, col. 2. 32. 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. Note. — The mD"lD ntPPDi 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. 33. Four men entered Paradise — these are their names : — Ben Azai, Ben Zoma, Acher, and Eabbi Akiva. Eabbi 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 false- hood 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. Ibid., fol. 14, col. 2. Note. — Rashi explains this by saying these men went up to heaven ; but Maimonides much more rationally teaches that the Paradise (d1"1B) or garden here is merely the retreat of profound philosophic meditation. These Jive * Shechentzia is the name of a place near Nahardaa. See "La Geogra- phic du Talmud," by Dr. A. Xeubauer, p. 363. 76 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. intuitions were technically styled the DTISfl:— (i.) To knoiv 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 Yad Hachaz., chap. 4, sec. 19). Deep thought in these matters was spoken of by the Kabbis as promenading in the garden. 34. 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. 35. There are four varieties of cedar: — Erez, Karthom, Etz-Shemen, and Berosh. Ibid., fol. 23, col. 1. 36. 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. 37. 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. 38. A man may obtain forgiveness after the third trans- gression, but if he repeat the offence 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 in- ferentially not four times) " with man, to bring back his soul from the pit." Ibid., fol 86, col. 2. 39. Yovfour reasons does their property pass out of the CHAPTER IV. 77 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 neighbours ; 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. 40. "And the Lord showed me four carpenters" (Zech. i. 20). Who are these four carpenters ? Eav Chana bar Bizna says that Eabbi Shimon Chassida said they were Messiah the son of David, Messiah the son of Joseph, Elijah, and the Priest of Eighteousness. Ibid., fol. 52, col. 2. 41. No Synagogue is to be sold except on condition that there be power of re-purchase. These are the words of Eabbi Meir ; but the sages say it may be sold uncon- ditionally, 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. 42. Eabbi Yochanan ben Zachai was once asked by his disciples how he had attained such length of days. " Never once," he said, " in my life Wt2 \T0J1ttf »1 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 sanc- tify 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. 43. When a sage is approaching, one should rise up before he gets within four ells' distance, and remain stand- ing 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 7 8 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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. 2>?» c °l- 2 - 44. When Nero came to the Holy Land, he tried his fortune by belemnomancy thus : — He shot an arrow east- ward, 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, " Eepeat to me the text thou hast learned to-day." The boy repeated, " I will lay my ven- geance upon Edom (i.e., Eome) 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 Eabbi Meir is of his race. Gittin, fol. 56, col. 1. 45. 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. 46. Let him carry the purse, and halt every time he accomplishes less than four cubits forward. Shabbath, fol. 153, col. 1, 2. Note. — Rav Yitzchak here explains how the good Jew, belated on Sabbath-eve, may carry his purse himself, and so save his conscience. The traveller is to halt at about every other step, and so measure off the journey in four-cubit stages. 47. Though ever since the destruction of the Temple the Sanhedrin has ceased to exist, the four kinds of capital CHAPTER IV. 79 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 offence, 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. 48. 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, Israel," &c. (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. 49. It is written in 2 Chron. xxxiii. 7, " A carved image;" and again it is written in verse 19, "Graven images." Eabbi 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. 50. 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," &c. ; 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.) So A TALMUD 1 'C MISCELLANY. First Moses said (Exod. xxxiv. 7), " Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children ; " then came Ezchiel 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." Maccotlt, fol. 24, col. 1. 51. When Akavyah ben Mahalalel appealed 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. 52. Let thy house be open wide towards 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 dUiav Nathan, chap. 7. 53. Kabbah 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 ? Four miles *D*)3 WIN- 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 Kashi says, its waters washed it away. Bava Bathra, fol 73, col. 2. 54. 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 a sleep after meals without having first walked a distance of at least four cubits" (see 23 supra). Bava Metiia, fol. 113, col. 2. ( Si ) CHAPTEE V. THE 'FIVES' OF THE TALMUD. 1. The five times repeated " Bless the Lord, 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. i. 2. 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 Sab- bath a sixtieth of the rest in the world to come, sleep the sixtieth of death, and a dream the sixtieth of pro- phecy. Ibid,, fol. 57, col. 2. 3. 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. * Dr. Lewysohn of Worms has published a very able work in German on the Zoology of the Talmud. F 82 A TALMUD IC MISCELLANY. 4. 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. Shabbath, fol. 121, col. 2. 5. Five things did Canaan teach his children: — To love one another, to perpetrate robbery, to practise wantonness, to hate their masters, and not to speak the truth. P'sachim, fol. 113, col. 2. 6. 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 Urini and Thummim. Yoma, fol. 21, col. 2. 7. 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. Eav 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. 8. 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 in 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 Eabbi Tarphon, but Eabbi 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. 9. 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 Eabbi Tarphon, but Eabbi CHAPTER V. 83 Akiva argues that tlie 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. 10. Five things are said concerning garlic : — It nourishes, it glows inwardly, it brightens the complexion, it increases virility, and kills the D"yD ^iyv DTD- Some say that it is a philtre for love, and that it exterminates jealousy (see No. 21 infra). Bava Kama, fol. 82, col. 1. Note. — Garlic was in high repute in Egypt, where the Israelites may have learned to appreciate it. Dioscorides (Book i. p. 80) says — " The gods were recommended by their taste ; Such savoury deities must needs be good Which served at once for worship and for food." Juvenal makes this the point d'appui of one of his sarcastic pieces (Sat. 15) — " How Egypt, mad with superstition grown, Makes gods of monsters, but too well is known. 'Tis mortal sin an onion to devour ; Each clove of garlic has a sacred poiver. Religious nation, sure and blest abodes, Where every garden is o'errun with gods. " 1 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. 12. 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. 13. He who does not cheer the bridegroom whose wed- ding breakfast he has enjoyed transgresses against the five voices (mentioned in Jer. xxxiii. 11) : — " 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 t Praise ye the Lord of Hosts.' " Berachoth, fol. 6, col. 2. 84 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 14. Mount Sinai had five names: — (1.) Wilderness of Zin, because on it the Israelites were commanded to ob- serve 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. Skabbath, fol. 89, cols. 1, 2. 15. Mar (the master) has said, "From dawn to the appearance of the sun is five miles" (-lv*D> from Lat. mille = a thousand, that is, a thousand paces). 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." Psachim, fol. 93, col. 2. 16. He that cooks in milk the ischiadic sinew (ntWil TJ) 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. Note. — To this very day the HEWn TJ 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. 17. The mysteries of the law are not to be communi- cated except to those who possess the faculties of these five in combination : — " The captain of fifty, and the honour- able man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator " (see Isa. iii. 3). Chaggigah, fol. 13, col. 1. CHAPTER V. 85 1 8. "Captain of fifty." This should be read, not cap- tain of fifty, but captain oifive, that is, such as knew how to manage the mi/I ^Sin rWDll, the five-fifths of the law (or Pentateuch). Chaggigah, fol. 14, col. 1. 19. 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. 20. How is it that the word "ODN1, "And I will be glorified," occurs in Hasf. i. 8 without the letter II, and yet it is read n^GD^, as if it had the letter H ? It indi- cates the absence of five things from the second Temple which were to be found in the first (n being the symbol that stands for 5). (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 Eashi); and (5.) the Urim and Thummim. Ibid. Note. — How then, it may be asked, if these five tokens of the Divine presence and favour 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 assur- ance and the symbol, and darken rather than reveal the eternal reality they adumbrated 1 21. The Israelites relished any flavour they fancied in the manna except the flavour of these five things (men- tioned in Num. xi. 59) : — " Cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic" (see No. 10 supra). Ibid., fol. 75, coL 1. Note. — The reason why exception was made with regard to the five things enumerated above is given by Eashi. " Quia ha>c iliis quae mammis infantes nutrire gravidisque solent, detrimentosa sunt." 86 A TALMUD1C MISCELLANY. 22. Five things happened to our forefathers on the 17th of Tainniuz, andjfe on the 9th of Ab. On the 17th of Tamrnuz (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 ploughed up. Taanith, fol. 26, cols. 1, 2. 23. The Eabbis have taught where it is we learn that if one has Jive sons by Jive 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 Jirstbom of thy sons shalt thou redeem." Kiddushin, fol. 29, col. 2. 24. If Israel had not sinned they would have had no other Scriptures than rmn *ttfDin nttfOT, the Jive-Jijths oj 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. 25. " If a man steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, Jive 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. Eor the loss of an ox, because it involves the loss of labour, the owner is recompensed with Jive oxen ; but for the loss of a sheep, which does no work, he is only recompensed with four. Bava Kama, fol. 79, col. 2. 26. " And Esau came from the field, and he was faint " (Gen. xxv. 29). Eabbi Yochanan said that wicked man committed on that day Jive transgressions : — He committed CHAPTER V. 87 rape, committed murder, denied the being of God, denied the resurrection from the dead, and despised the birth- right. Bava Bathra, fol. 16, col. 2. 27. 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 Nad- bacha in Accho. Avodah Zarah, fol. 11, col. 2. 28. "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. 1 1). Rav Illaa says, in the name of Rav Yehudah ben Mis- partha, 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." SanJtedrin, fol. 44, col. 1. 29. He who eats an ant is flogged five times with forty stripes save one. Jlfaccoth, fol. 16, col. 2. 30. 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. 88 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 31. 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, 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. 32. Eabbi 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 neighbour 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 (VRab Nathan, chap. 26. 33. 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. 34. He who has no fringes to his garment transgresses five positive commands (see Num. xv. 38, &c. ; Deut. xxii. 12). Menachoth, fol. 44, col. 1. 35. A learner who, after five years, sees no profit in studying, will never see it. Eabbi 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. CHAPTER V. 89 36. Any one who doetli any of these five 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 ; (5.) mioD raroi ui rpDm. mddak, m. 17, col. 1. 37. Eabbi Yossi said : — " Never once in all my life have the walls of my house seen the hem of my shirt ; T)^2 m^JO IPDJl and I have planted five cedars (sons are figuratively so termed, see Ps. xcii. 12) in Israel — namely, Kabbis 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. In all my life I have never once gazed *b& il^Da Shabbath, foL 118, col. 2, ( 9o ) CHAPTER VI. THE ' SIXES ' OF THE TALMUD. i. Six tilings 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 syna- gogue. Some add to these, walking with a proud step or a haughty gait. Berachoth, fol. 43, col. 2. 2. A soft-boiled egg is better than six ounces of fine flour. Ibid., fol. 44, col. 2. 3. 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. 4. These six things are good symptoms in an invalid : — Sneezing, perspiration, evacuation, seminal emission, sleep, and dreaming. Ibid., fol. 57, col. 2. 5. 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 neigh- bours. Shabbath, fol. 127, col. 1. 6. There are six sorts of tears, three good and three bad : — Those caused by smoke, or grief, or constipation are CHAPTER VI. 91 bad ; and those caused by fragrant spices, laughter, and aromatic herbs are good. Shabbath, fol. 151, col. 2; fol. 152, col. 1. 7. Six things are said respecting the illiterate (D# IpNn) : — 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. Note. — p^n »»]>, here rendered "illiterate," are described in chap. ii. 4 numb, of this Miscellany. The expression 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 harsh- ness of some of the quotations which are appended in reference to them. (a.) He who aspires to be a fellow ("inn) 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.) (b.) Our Rabbis teach, Let a man sell all that he has and marry the daughter of a DDn TD^n 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 pfc$n nv (i-e., an illiterate man), for the unlearned are an abomination, as also their wives and their daughters. (P'sachim, fol. 49, col. 2.) (c.) It is said that Rabbi (the Holy) teaches that it is illegal for an unlearned man to eat animal food, for it is A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 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 Atone- ment 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 repeti- tion 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. 20), ' 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 neighbour 1 " 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." (Ibid., fol. 49, col. 2.) (d.) 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.) (e.) No contribution or heave-offering should be given to an ignorant priest. (Sanhedrin, fol. 90, col. 2.) (/) No boor (1)2) can be pious, nor an ignorant man (pKPt Dy) a saint. (Avoth, chap. 2, mish. 6.) (g) Sleep in the morning, wine at mid-day, the idle talk of inexperienced youth, and attending the conventi- cles of the ignorant drive a man out of the world. (Ibid., chap. 3, mish. 16.) (h.) 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.) (i.) 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 CHAPTER VI 93 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." (Kinnvn, chap. 3.) (j.) The salutation of the ignorant should be responded to quietly, and with a reluctant nod of the head. (Taanith, foL 14, col. 2.) (h) No calamities ever befall the world except such as are brought on by the ignorant. (Bava Bathra, fol. 8, col. 1.) {I.) Rav Hunna's widow once appeared before Rav Nachman as plaintiff in a lawsuit. " What shall I do 1 " he said. "If I rise before her (to honour 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, fVDpltfl n"Q CD3, the magistrate did not request him to be seated again. (Shevuoth, fol. 30, col. 2.) 8. Six things are said respecting demons. In three par- ticulars 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. Note. — 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 cir- cumstance of their existence, and introduce to the reader the story of Ashmedai, the king of the demons. The 94 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. .story is worth relating, both for its own sake and its historical significance. In Ecclesiastics 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, nnt?1 mc, Shiddah-vesliiddoth. 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 i 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," &c. 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 1 " To which they made answer, " priTd 7YV& WK, Let a male demon and a female come, and do thou coerce them both ; may- hap 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 rilling 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, CHAPTER VI. 95 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 Ashmedai, by means of which the pit was filled with the wine he had brought. After levelling 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, lie 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, be- coming 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 on 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 jour- neyed 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 predica- ment. 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 liis work he broke forth into shrieks of scorn. 96 A TALMUD I C MISCELLANY. 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 Solo- mon, 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 hast 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), KTitt TM, Nagger Tura, which the Targum renders Moun- tain 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 CHAPTER VL 97 bird that he dropped the Shameer, and Solomon's mes- senger 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 ? " Ash- medai 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, Solo- mon 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 'uni- corn' 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 Ash- medai, snatching him up, swallowed him ; then stretch- ing forth his wings — one touching the heaven and the other the earth — he vomited him out again to a distance 98 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. of four hundred miles. It is with reference to this time that Solomon says (EccL i. 3 ; ii. 1 o), " What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun ? This is my portion of all my labour." 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 icater-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 thing over and over again ; therefore what does he mean 1 They therefore inquired of Benaiah, " Does the king ask thee into his presence 1 " 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 con- tinued 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.) Note. — Ashmedai, »K1£B>K, is the Asmodeus ('Acpodu/o;) of the Book of Tobit, iii. 8, vi. 14, &c. The Shameer, TDB>, is mentioned in Jer. xvii. 1 ; Ezek. iii. 9 ; Zech. vii. 1 2. The Seventy in the former passage and the Vulgate passim take it for the diamond. It is possibly allied to our word emery (Greek, tffihtg or 6(j.i>zi;). 9. Six things are said respecting the children of men, CHAPTER VI. 99 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. Chaggvjah, fol. 16, col. i. io. 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 im- penitence, the Shechinah said, " May their bones he 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 oat of the spirit." llosh Hashanah, fol. 31, col. 1. 1 1. Six names were given to Solomon : — Solomon, Jedi- diah, Koheleth, Son of Jakeh, Agar, and Lemuel. Avoth d'Bab Nathan, chap. 39. 12. Six years old was Dinah when she gave birth to Asenath, whom she bore unto Shechem. Sophrim, chap. 21. 13. "And the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household" (2 Sam. vi. 11). In what did the blessing consist ? Eav 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, ntTO MTV "iriN D"D3. (This is proved from 1 Chron. xxvi. 5, 8.) Berachoth, fol. 63, col. 2. 14. 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 Irazen serpent, for this they commended him; (3.) he hid the *, •oiysx, p/i, tip- Avoth d'Rab. Natlcan, chap. 39. ( io4 CHAPTER VII. THE 'SEVENS' OF THE TALMUD. 1. He who passes seven nights in succession without dreaming deserves to be called wicked. Berachoth, foL 14, col. 1. 2. Gehinnorn has seven names: — Sheol (Jonah ii. 2), Ava- don (Ps. lxxxviii. 11), Shachath (Ps. xvi. 2), Horrible pit (Ps. xl. 2), Miry clay (Ps. xl. 2), the Shadow of death (Ps. cvii. 14), the Subterranean land. Eiruvin, fol. 19, col. 1. 3. A dog in a strange place does not bark for seven years. Ibid., fol. 61, col. 1. 4. Seven things were formed before the creation of the world : — The Law, Repentance, Paradise, Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, and the name of the Messiah. P'sachim, fol. 54, col. 1. Note. — The Midrash Yalkut (p. 7) enumerates the same list almost word for word, and the Targum of Ben Uzziel develops the tradition still further, while the Targum Yerushalmi fixes the date of the origin of the seven pre- historic wonders at "two thousand years before the creation of the world." 5. Seven things are hid from the knowledge of a man : — The day of death, the day of the resurrection, the depth of judgment (i.e., the future reward or punishment), what is in the heart of his fellow-man, what his reward will be, when the kingdom of David will be restored, and when the kingdom of Persia will fall. Ibid., fol. 54, col. 2. CHAPTER VII 105 6. Seven are excommunicated before heaven : — A Jew who has no wife, and even one who is married but has no male children ; and he that has sons but does not train them up to study the law ; he who does not wear phylac- teries on his forehead and upon his arm and fringes upon his garment, and has no mezuzah on his doorpost; and he who goes barefooted. F'sachim, fol. 113, col. 2. Note. — The first and second of these unhappy ones upon whom the ban of Heaven is said to rest are further com- mented on in this Miscellany, chap. 1 , sec. 9, note ; chap. 2, sec. 2, notes. The third case receives illustra- tion from the Book of Zohar (Syn. Tit. 1 ), " He who takes his son morning and evening to the house of a Eabbi is as if he had twice received the law on Mount Sinai," &c. 7. There are seven skies: — Villon, Eaakia, Shechakim, Zevul, Maaon, Maachon, and Aravoth. Chaggigah, fol. 12, col. 2. 8. Seven days before the Day of Atonement they removed the high priest from his own residence to the chamber of the President (pTTiTlS = irdpehpov), and appointed another priest as his deputy in case he should meet with such an accident as would incapacitate him from going through the service of the day. Eabbi Yehudah says they also had to betroth him to another woman lest his own wife should die meanwhile, for it is said, " And he shall make an atone- ment for himself and for his house," — his house, that is, his wife. In reference to this precautionary rule it was ob- served, there might then be no end to the matter (Eashi), should this woman die also. Yoma, fol. 2, col. 1. 9. They associated with the high priest the senior elders of the Sanhedrin, who read over to him the agenda of the day, and then said to him, " My lord high priest, read thou for thyself ; perhaps thou hast forgotten it, or maybe thou hast not learned it at all." On the day before the Day of Atonement he was taken to the East Gate, when they caused oxen, rams, and lambs to pass before 106 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. him, that lie might become well-versed and expert in his official duties. During the whole of the seven (prepara- tory) days neither victuals nor drink were withheld from him, but towards dusk on the eve of the Day of Atone- ment they did not allow him to eat much, for much food induces sleep. Then the elders of the Sanhedrin surren- dered him to the elders of the priesthood, and these con- ducted him to the hall of the house of Abtinas, and there they swore him in ; and after bidding him good-bye, they went away. In administering the oath they said, " My lord high priest, we are ambassadors of the Sanhedrin ; thou art our ambassador and the ambassador of the San- hedrin as well. We adjure thee, by Him who causes His name to dwell in this house, that thou alter not anything that we have told thee ! " Then they parted, both they and he weeping. He wept because they suspected he was a Sadducee, and they wept because the penalty for wrongly suspecting persons is scourging. If he was a learned man he preached (during the night) ; if not, learned men preached before him. If he was a ready reader, he read; if not, others read to him. What were the books read over to him ? Job, Ezra, and the Chronicles. Zechariah the son of Kevootal says, " I have often read before him the Book of Daniel." If he became drowsy, the juniors of the priestly order fillipped their middle fingers before him, and said, " My lord high priest, stand up and cool thy feet upon the pavement." Thus they kept him engaged till the time of slaughtering (the sacri- fices). Yoma, fol. 18, cols, i, 2; fol. 19, col. 2. Note. — (a.) Sacerdos nascitur, nan Jit, — a priest is born, not made, we may truly say (just altering one word of a well- known proverb). His father was a priest, and so were his forefathers as far back as the time of Aaron ; his sons and his sons' sons after him will belong to the priestly order, and so the name was far too often only the badge for exclusive and hereditary privilege. This rule, that applies to the D*3?13 (priests), holds good also with regard to the Levites. (Berachoth, fol. 29, col. 1.) CHAPTER VII. 107 (b.) There was a town in the land of Israel called Gophnith,* where there were eighty couples of brother priests who married eighty couples of sister priestesses in one night. (Berachoth, fol. 44, col. 1.) (c.) Flay a carcase and take thy fee, but say not it is humiliating because I am a priest, I am a great man. (P'sachim, fol. 113, col. 1.) Note. — Philo Judceus, De Sac. Honor, (p. 833), says, "The hides of the burnt-offerings proved a rich perquisite of the priesthood." (d.) The number of high priests who officiated in suc- cession during the 410 years of the continuance of the first Temple was only eighteen, but the number who held office during the 420 years of the second Temple amounted to more than three hundred, most of them having died within a year after their entrance upon the office. The reason naively assigned by the Talmud for the long lives of the former and the short lives of the latter is the text given in Pro v. x. 27, " The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened." (Yoma, fol. 9, col. 1.) (e.) Before a priest could be admitted into active ser- vice in the Temple he had to undergo bodily inspection at the hands of the syndicate of the Sanhedrim If they found the least defect in his body, even a mole with hair upon it, he was ordered to dress in black and be dismissed ; but if he was perfectly free from blemish, he was arrayed in white, and at once introduced to his brother priests and official duties. (Ibid., fol. 19, col. 1.) (/.) The daughters of a male proselyte who has mar ried the daughter of a female proselyte are eligible to marry priests. (Yevamoth, fol. 57, col. 1.) (g.) If thou seest an impudent priest, think not evil of him ; for it is said (Hosea iv. 4), " Thy people are as they that strive with the priest" (see chap. ii. p. 25, Note c). (Kiddushin, fol. 70, fol. 2.) (h.) So long as there is a diadem on the head of the priest, there is a crown on the head of every man. Remove the diadem from the head of the high priest and you take away the crown from the head of all the people. (This is a Talmudic comment on Ezek. xxi. 31 j A. Yer., 26). (Gittin, fol. 7, col. 1.) * Gophnith -was a very populous place in Palestine. See "La Geographic du Talmud," by Dr. A. Neubauer. 108 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. (i.) A king shaved his head every day, a high priest did the same once a week, and an ordinary priest once a month. (Sanhedrin, foL 22, col. 2.) (j.) When a priest performs the service of the Temple in a state of defilement, his brother priests are not required to lead him before the tribunal, but the juniors of the priestly order are to drag him out into the hall and brain him with clubs. {Ibid., fol. 81, coL 2.) (k.) When kings were anointed, the holy oil was laid on the forehead in the form of a coronet (\J/), and when, says Kabbi Mansi bar Gadda, priests were anointed, the operation was performed in the shape of the Greek letter * (*). (Horayoth, fol. 12, col. 1.) (I.) A learned man who is of illegitimate birth is preferable to an ignorant priest. (Ibid., fol. 13, col. 1.) (m. ) A priest who makes no confession during service has no part in the priesthood. (He forfeits his emolu- ments). (Menachoth, foL 18, col. 2.) (n.) The bald-headed, the dwarfed, and the blear-eyed are ineligible for the priesthood. (Bechoroth, fol. 43, col. 2.) (0.) Rav Chasda says, "The portions that fall to the priests are not to be eaten except roasted and that with mustard," because Scripture says (Num. xviii. 8), "by reason of the anointing," i.e., by way of distinction, for only kings (who, of course, are anointed) eat roast meat with mustard. (Chidlin, fol. 132, col. 2.) (p.) If a case of mistaken identity should occur between the child of a priestess and the child of her female slave, so that the one cannot be distinguished from the other, they both are to eat of the heave-offer- ing and to receive one share from the threshing-floor. When grown up, each is to set the other free. (Gittin, fol. 42, col. 2.) (q.) From the old clothes of the priests the wicks were made for the lamps in the Temple. (Shabbath, fol. 21, col. 1.) (r.) More on the subjects of priest, priestess, and priesthood may be found in " Exodus, according to the Talmud." One other item only we will add here. Scrip- ture authority is given in proof that the very garments possessed the faculty of making atonement for sin every whit as effectually as animal sacrifices. We are taught that the priest's shirt atones for murder, his drawers atone for whoredom, his mitre for pride, his girdle for evil CHAPTER VII. 109 thoughts, his breastplate for injustice, his ephod for idolatry ; his overcoat atones for slander, and the golden plate on his forehead atones for impudence. (Zevachim, fol. SS, col. 2.) Note. — All this and a great deal more on the subject may be found in the Selichoth for Yom Kippur, notably in the prayer beginning n^Dn un3K ^ZIK- 10. For seven years was the land of Israel strewn with brimstone and salt. Yoma, fol. 54, col. 1. 1 1. "Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds " (Micah v. 5). Who are these seven shepherds? David in the middle ; Adam, Seth, and Methuselah on his right hand ; Abraham, Jacob, and Moses on his left. Succah, fol. 52, col. 2. 12. Who were the seven prophetesses ? The answer is, Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther. Meggillah, fol. 14, coL 2. 13. It is lawful to look into the face of a bride for seven days after her marriage, in order to enhance the affection with which she is regarded by her husband, and there is no Halachah (or law) like this. Kethuboth, fol. 17, col. 1. Note. — The Rabbis are especially careful to caution their daughters to guard against such habits as might lower them in the regard of their husbands, lest they should lose aught of that purifying and elevating power which they exercised as maidens. It is thus, for instance, Rav Chisda counsels his daughters : "Be ye modest be- fore your husbands, and do not even eat before them. Eat not vegetables or dates in the evening, and touch not strong drink." \r6 ^PIX fc6 frOim ir6 »iriK NmnB '{nyt^En IV- (Shabbath, fol. 140, col. 2.) 14. Once upon a time a demon in the shape of a seven- headed dragon came forth against Rav Acha and threatened to harm him, but the Rabbi threw himself on his knees, and every time he fell down to pray he knocked off one of these heads, and thus eventually killed the dragon. Kiddushin, fol. 29, coL 2. no A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 15. On the seventh of the month Adar, Moses died, and on that day the manna ceased to come down from heaven. Kiddushin, fol. 38, col. 1. Note. — The seventh of Adar is still, and has long heen, kept sacred as the day of the death of Moses our Kabbi — peace be with him ! — and that on the authority of T. B. Kiddushin (as quoted above), and Soteh, fol. 10, col. 2 ; but Josephus (Book iv. chap. 8, sec. 49) most distinctly affirms that Moses died " on the first day of the month," and the Midrash on Esther may be quoted in corroboration of his statement. The probability is that the Talmud is right on this matter, but it is alto- gether wrong in connecting with this event the stoppage of the manna (see Josh. v. 10, 12). 16. Seven years did the nations of the world cultivate their vineyards with no other manure than the blood of Israel. Eabbi Chiya, the son of Abin, says that Eabbi Yehoshua, the son of Korcha, said, " An old man, an inhabitant of Jerusalem, related to me that Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, killed in this valley 2 1 1 myriads (about 2,110,000), and in Jerusalem he slaughtered upon one stone 94 myriads (940,000), so that the blood flowed until it reached the blood of Zechariah, in order that that might be fulfilled which is said (Hosea iv. 2), ' And blood toucheth blood.'" Gittin, fol. 57, col. 1. Note. — Historical facts like these speak for themselves and need no comment. 1 7. The seventh of Adar, on which Moses died, was the same day of the same month on which he was born. Soteh, fol. 10, col. 2. 18. A male hyaena after seven years becomes a bat; this after seven years, a vampire; this after other seven years, a nettle ; this after seven years more, a thorn ; and this again after seven years is turned into a demon. If a man does not devoutly bow during the repetition of the daily prayer which commences ijnjtt DH1Q, " w e re- verently acknowledge," his spine after seven years becomes a serpent. Bava Kama, fol. 16, col. 1. CHAPTER VII. in 19. It is related of Benjamin the righteous, who was keeper of the poor-box, that a woman came to him at a period of famine and solicited food. " By the worship of God," he replied, " there is nothing in the box." She then exclaimed, " Babbi, if thou dost not feed me I and my seven children must needs starve." Upon which he relieved her from his own private purse. In course of time he fell ill and was nigh unto death. Then the ministering angels interceded with the Holy One — blessed be He ! — and said, " Lord of the Universe, Thou hast said he that preserveth one single soul of Israel alive is as if he had preserved the life of the whole world ; and shall Benjamin the righteous, who preserved a poor woman and her seven children, die so prematurely ? " Instantly the death-warrant which had gone forth was torn up, and twenty-two years were added to his life. Bava Bathra, foL 11, col. 1. 20. Seven prophets have prophesied to the nations of the world, and these were Balaam and his father, Job, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, and Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite. Ibid., fol. 15, col. 2. 21. There are seven who are not consumed by the worm in the grave, and these are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and Benjamin the son of Jacob. Ibid.fidL 17, col. 1. 22. Seven men form an unbroken series from the crea- tion down to our own time. Methuselah saw Adam, Shem saw Methuselah, Jacob saw Shem, Amram saw Jacob, and Ahijah the Shilonite saw Amram, and Ahijah was seen by Elijah, who is alive to this day, Ibid., fol. 121, col. 2. 23. Seven years' famine will not affect the artisan. Sanhedrin, foL 29, col. 1. JSTote. — The Polish Jews have a saying parallel to this : nste nSfe&E, ?'• n °t to war against thee). (5.) Isaiah calls him stumbling-Mock; as it is said (Isa. lvii. 14), " Cast ye up, cast ye up, pre- pare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people." (6.) Ezekiel calls him stone ; as it is said (Ezek. xxxvi. 26), " I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh." (7.) Joel calls him the hidden one ; as it is said (Joel ii. 20), " I will remove far from you the hidden one," MISS, i.e., the tempter who remains hidden in the heart of man ; " and I will drive him into a land barren and desolate," i.e., where the children of men do not usually dwell ; " with his face towards the former sea," i.e., with his eyes set upon the first Temple, which he destroyed, slaying the disciples of the wise that were in it ; " and his hinder part towards the latter sea," i.e., with his eyes set on the second Temple, which he destroyed, also slaying the dis- ciples of the wise that were in it. Succah, foL 52, coL 1. 36. Once a Jewish mother with her seven sons suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Emperor. The sons, when ordered by the latter to do homage to the idols of the Empire, declined, and justified their disobedience by quot- ing each a simple text from the sacred Scriptures. When the seventh was brought forth, it is related that Csesar, for appearance' sake, offered to spare him if only he would stoop and pick up a ring from the ground which had been dropped on purpose. " Alas for thee, Csesar ! " answered the boy; " if thou art so zealous for thine honour, how much more zealous ought we to be for the honour of the Holy One — blessed be He!" On his being led away to the place of execution, the mother craved and obtained leave to give him a farewell kiss. " Go, my child," said she, " and say to Abraham, Thou didst build an altar for the sacrifice of one son, but I have erected altars for seven sons." She then turned away and threw herself down ii6 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. headlong from the roof and expired, when the echo of a voice was heard exclaiming (Ps. cxiii. 9), " The joyful mother of children " (or, the mother of the children rejoiceth). Gittin, fol. 57, coL 2. Note. — The story of this martyrdom is narrated at much greater length in the Books of Maccabees (Book iii. chap. 7, Book iv. chaps. 8-18). In a Latin version the names are given, that of the mother Solomona, and her sons respectively Maccabeus, Aber, Machir, Judas, Achaz, Areth, while the hero of our Talmudic reference, the seventh and last, is styled Jacob. Josephus, Ant., Book xii. chap. 6, sec. 4, may also be referred to for further and varying details. 37. The land of Israel was not destroyed till the seven courts of judgment (VT1 VQ) had fallen into idolatry, and these are they : — Jeroboam, the son of Nebat ; Baasha, the son of Ahijah; Ahab, the son of Omri; Jehu, the son of Nimshi; Pekah, the son of Eemaliah; Menahem, the son of Gadi ; and Hoshea, the son of Elah ; as it is written (Jer. xv. 9), " She that hath borne seven languisheth : she hath given up the ghost ; her sun is gone down while it is yet day ; she hath been ashamed and confounded." Ibid., fol. 88, col. 1. 38. "He stood and measured the earth; he beheld and freed the Gentiles (A.V., he drove asunder the nations, Hab. iii. 6) ; he beheld that the seven precepts which the children of Noah accepted were not observed; he stood vp and set their property /ree for the service of Israel." Bava Kama, fol. 38, col. 1. Note. — This is one of the weightier expositions met with from time to time in the Talmud, in which one recog- nises a more than ordinarily deep and earnest feeling on the part of the commentator. The interpreter ex- presses himself as a man instinct with the exclusive Hebrew spirit, and as such claims his title to the whole inheritance. It is a claim abstractly defensible, and the just assertion of it is the basis of all rights over others. The only question here is whether the Jew alone is CHAPTER VII. 117 invested with the privilege. There can be little doubt that the principle on which he claims enfeoffment in the estate is a sound one, that the earth belongs in no case to the sons of Belial, only to the sons of God. 39. Seven things distinguish an ill-bred man and seven a wise man: — The wise man (1.) does not talk before his superior in wisdom and years; (2.) he does not interrupt another when speaking ; (3.) he is not hasty to make reply ; (4.) his questions are to the point, and his answers are according to the Halachah ; (5.) his subjects of discourse are orderly arranged, the first subject first and the last last ; (6.) if he has not heard of a thing, he says, I have not heard it ; and (7.) he confesseth the truth. The charac- teristics of the ill-bred man are just the contrary of these. Avoth, chap. 5. mish. 10. 40. If a man does not work during the six days of the week, he may be obliged to work all the seven. Avoth (VRab. Nathan, chap. n. 41. Seven have no portion in the world to come: — A notary, a schoolmaster, the best of physicians, a judge who dispenses justice in his own native town, a wizard, a con- gregational reader (or law-officer), and a butcher. Ibid., chap. 36. Note — The reason is these seven are apt to be in some cases harsh, in others unjust, and in others unscrupulous. 42. Seven attributes avail before the Throne of Glory, and these are : — Wisdom, righteousness, judgment, grace, mercy, truth, and peace. Ibid., chap. 37. 43. Seven epithets are applied to the earth in the Hebrew language as follows :— TW2" ■ nmn • **p"ltf ■ HD1N • Y"1N • -6n ■ bin ibid. 44. There are seven points in which a righteous man excels another: — (1.) The wife of the one is more comely I iS A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. than the other's ; (2.) so are the children of the one as compared with those of the other ; (3.) if the two partake of one dish, each enjoys the taste according to his doings ; (4.) if the two dye in one vat, by one the article is dyed properly, by the other not; (5, &c.) the one excels the other in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and stature, as it is said (Prov. xii. 26), " The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour." Avoth aVRab. Nathan, chap. 37. 45. Seven patriarchs were covenant-makers : — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Phinehas, and David. Derech Eretz Zuta, chap. 1. 46. Seven liquids are comprehended under the generic term drink (Lev. xi. 34) : — Dew, water, wine, oil, blood, milk, and honey. Machshirin, chap. 6, mish. 6. 47. For tertian fever take seven small grapes from seven different vines ; seven threads from seven different pieces of cloth; seven nails from seven different bridges; seven handfuls of ashes from seven different fireplaces ; seven bits of pitch from seven ships, one piece from each ; seven scrapings of dust from as many separate doorways ; seven cummin seeds ; seven hairs from the lower jaw of a dog and tie them upon the throat with a papyrus fibre. Shabbath, fol. 66, col. 2. ( "9 ) CHAPTER VIII. THE 'EIGHTS' OF THE TALMUD. I. The Rabbis teach that the precept relating to the lighting of a candle at the Feast of Dedication applies to a whole household, but that those who are particular light a candle for each individual member, and those that are extremely particular light up eight candles on the first day, seven on the second, decreasing the number by one each day. This is according to the school of Shammai ; but the school of Hillel say that he should light up one on the first day, two on the second, increasing the number by one each of the eight days of the feast. . . . What is the origin of the Feast of Dedication ? On the twenty- fifth day of Kislev (about December), the eight days of the Dedication commence, during which term no funeral oration is to be made, nor public fast to be decreed. When the Gentiles (Greeks) entered the second Temple, it was thought they had defiled all the holy oil they found in it ; but when the Hasmoneans prevailed and conquered them, they sought and found still one jar of oil stamped with the seal of the High Priest, and therefore undefiled. Though the oil it contained would only have sufficed for one day, a miracle was performed so that the oil lasted to the end of the week (during which time more oil was pro- vided and consecrated for the future service of the Temple^. On the anniversary of this occasion the Feast of Dedica- tion was instituted. Shabbath, fol. 21, col. 2. Notes. — (a.) The Feast of Dedication (n^D, Chanuca, the iyxaivia, of John x. 22), is annually celebrated by all 120 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY, Jews everywhere, to commemorate the purifying of the Temple and the restoration of its worship after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes, of which an account may be found in i Maccabees iv. 52-59. It is very probable that some of our Christmas festivities are only adaptations of the observances of this Jewish feast in symbolism of Christian ideas. During the eight days of the festival they light up wax candles or oil lamps, according to the rubric of the school of Hillel. Previous to the lighting, the following benedictions are pro- nounced : — " Blessed art Thou, Lord, our God ! King of the universe, who hath sanctified us with Thy command- ment, and commanded us to light the light of Dedi- cation." " Blessed art Thou, Lord, our God ! King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in those days and in this season." " Blessed art Thou, Lord, our God ! King of the universe, who hath preserved us alive, sustained us, and brought us to enjoy this season." (b.) After the lighting, the following form is repeated : — " These lights we light to praise Thee for the miracles, wonders, salvation, and victories which Thou didst per- form for our fathers in those days and in this season by the hands of Thy holy priests. Wherefore by command these lights are holy all the eight days of the Dedication, neither are we permitted to make any other use of them, but to view them, that we may return thanks to Thy name for Thy miracles, wonderful works, and salvation." (c.) Another commemorative formula is repeated six or seven times a day during this festival; viz., during morning and evening prayers and after each meal. 2. Rabbi Yoshua ben Levi has said a man should never utter an indecent word, for the Scripture (Gen. vii. 6) uses ei^ht letters more rather than make use of a word which, without them, would be indecent. P'sachim, foL 3, col. 1. Note. — In the passage referred to, the words mnD PB3*K "IK'N (that are not clean) are used instead of nNE£ (unclean) ; but see verse 2 ; there another word for not ($t?) is used, which brings down the excess to five letters. CHAPTER VIII 121 3. "When the doors of the Temple were opened the creaking of the hinges was heard at the distance of eight sabbath days' journeys. Yoma, fol. 39, col. 2. Note — It may he proper to remind our readers that the ri3B> Dinn is about nine furlongs, or one mile and one eighth, so that the distance alluded to is nearly ten miles. 4. The eight princes alluded to in Micali (v. 5) are Jesse, Saul, Samuel, Amos. Zephaniah, Zedekiah, the Messiah, and Elijah. Succah, fol. 52, col. 2. 5. It is related of Rabbi Shimon, the son of Gamaliel, that at the rejoicing during the festival of the drawing of water on the Feast of Tabernacles, he threw eight naming torches, one after the other in quick succession, into the air, and caught them again as they descended without suffering one to touch another. He also (in fulfilment of Ps. cii. 14) stooped and kissed the stone floor, supporting himself upon his two thumbs only, — a feat which no one else could perform. And this is what is termed stooping properly. Ibid., fol. 53, col. 1. 6. Levi once in the presence of Eabbi (the Holy) con- jured with eight knives. Samuel in the presence of Shavur the king (of Persia, Sapor 1, 240-273) performed the same feat with eight cups of wine. Abaii in the presence of Rava did likewise with eight eggs; some say with four only. Ibid. 7. Eight prophets, who were priests as well, were de- scended from Rahab the harlot, and these are they : — Neraiah, Baruch, Seraiah, Maaseiah, Jeremiah, Hilkiah, Hanameel, and Shallum. Rabbi Yehudah says Huldah the prophetess was one of the grandchildren of Rahab. Meggillah, fol. 14, col. 2. 8. The last eight verses of the Law (Torah) were writ- ten by Joshua. Bava Bathra, fol. 14, col. 1. Note. — There is a touching story in this very same tract, 122 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. fol. 15, col. 1, which is repeated in Menachoth, fol. 30, col. 1, and noticed by Eashi in his commentary, to the effect that Moses himself wrote the verses which record his own death at the dictation of the Almighty. The account literally rendered is, " The Holy One — blessed be He ! — spake, and Moses wrote in tears." "lDlX PlTpn VD12 aroa nvn). 9. There are eight sects of Pharisees, viz., these: — (1.) The shoulder Pharisee, i.e., he who, as it were, shoulders his good works to be seen of men. (2.) The time-gaining Pharisee, he who says, " Wait a while ; let me first perform this or that good work." (3.) The compounding Pharisee, i.e., he who says, " May my few sins be deducted from my many virtues, and thus atoned for," (or the olood-letting Pharisee, i.e., he who for fear lest he should look by chance on a woman shuts his eyes and wounds his face). (4.) The Pharisee who so bends his back, stooping with his head towards the ground, that he wears the appearance of an inverted mortar. (5.) The Pharisee who proudly says, " Eemains there a virtue which I ought to perform and have not ? " (6.) The Pharisee who is so out of love for the re- ward which he hopes to earn by his observances. (7.) The Pharisee who is so from fear lest he should expose himself to punishment. (8.) The Pharisee who is born so. Avoth d'Rab. Nathan, chap. 37. Note. — P)Oth Talmuds as a rule enumerate only seven sorts of Pharisees (T. Yerush, Berachoth, fol. 13, Sotah, fol. 20, T. Babli, fol. 22, col. 2, and elsewhere); but Eabbi Nathan, as above, adds a new species to the genus. The freehand sketches of Pharisees given in the Tal- mud are the reverse of complimentary ; but rather than instance any more of them here, we prefer to subjoin the words of the late E. Deutsch, who was a Talmudist of no mean repute ; — and who will venture to stigmatise these as non versiones sed eversiones ? We quote from the "Quarterly Eeview," vol. exxiii. p. 439. ''The Talmud inveighs even more bitterly and caustically than the New Testament against what it calls ' the plague of Pharisaism,' ' the dyed ones,' ' who do evil deeds like Zimri, and require a goodly reward like CHAPTER VIII. 123 Phinehas,' ' they who preach beautifully, but do not act beautifully.' Parodying their exaggerated logical ar- rangements, their scrupulous divisions and subdivisions, the Talmud distinguishes seven classes of Pharisees, one of whom only is worthy of that name. The real and only Pharisee is he ' who does the will of his Father which is in heaven because he loves Him. 1 " to. He who neglects to wear phylacteries transgresseth eight commandments. Menachoth, fol. 44, col. 1. Note. — The following extract states the occasion when the wearing of phylacteries was prescribed as an equivalent that would be accepted instead of the observance of the law : — " Kabbi Eliezer said the Israelites complained before God one day, ' We are anxious to be occupied day and night in the law, but we have not the necessary leisure.' Then the Holy One — blessed be He ! — said to them, 'Perform the commandment of the phylacteries, and I will count it as if you were occupied day and night in the law.'" (Yalhut Shimeoni.) Phylacteries, fringes, and Mezuzah, these three preserve one from sin ; as it is said (Eccl. iv. 2), "A threefold cord is not quickly broken ; " as also in Ps. xxxiv. 7, " The angel of the Lord encampeth about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." (Me?iachoth, fol. 43, col. 2.) 1 1. The harp in the time of the Messiah will have eight strings; as it is written (Ps. xii. 1), "The chief musician upon eight," &c. Eirchin, foL 13, col. 2. ( 124 CHAPTER IX. THE 'NINES' OF THE TALMUD. i. On the ninth day of the month Ab (about August) both the first Temple and the second were destroyed. Bosh Hashanah, fol. 18, col. 2. Note. — In 2 Kings xxv. 8, the seventh of Ab is the date given for the first of these events, whereas Jeremiah (lii. 12) mentions the tenth as the fatal day. Josejjhus (Wars of the Jews, Book vi. chap. 4, sec. 15) coincides with the latter. Query, which is right ? 2. On the ninth of Ab one must abstain from eating and drinking, and anointing one's self, and wearing shoes, and matrimonial intercourse. He may not read the Bible, the Talmud, the Midrash, the Halachoth, or the Haggadoth, excepting such portions as he is not in the habit of read- ing, such he may then read. The Lamentations, Job, and the hard words of Jeremiah should engage his study. Children should not go to school on this day, because it is said (Ps. xix. 8), " The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart." Taant'th, fol. 30, col. 1. Note. — Nowadays, on the date referred to, Jews do not wear their tallith and phylacteries at morning prayer; by this act laying aside the outward signs of their cove- nant with God ; but, contrary to custom, they put them on in the evening, when the fast is nearly over. 3. He who does any work on the ninth of Ab will never see even a sign of blessing. The sages say, whoso does any work on that day and does not lament over Jerusalem CHAPTER IX. 135 will never see her joy ; for it is said (Isa. lxvi. 10), " Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her; rejoice for joy, all ye that mourn for her." Taanith, fol. 30, col. 2. 4. If there be nine shops all selling the meat of animals which have been legally butchered, and one selling the meat of animals which have not, and if a person who has bought meat does not know at which of these shops he bought it, he is not entitled to the benefit of the doubt ; the meat he has purchased is prohibited. Kethuboth, fol. 15, col. 1. 5. A woman prefers one measure of frivolity to nine measures of Pharisaic sanctimoniousness (.TWHS). Soteh, fol. 20, coL 1. iSoTE. — The Talmud has much to say, and does say a great deal, about women. And although what it says tends rather to discountenance than to promote their develop- ment, it is not insensible to what they might become under refinement of culture, and occasionally enforces the duty of attending to their higher education. In proof of both positions we appeal to the following quota- tions : — (a.) In the Mishna, from which the above quotation is taken, we are told that Ben Azai (the son of impudence) says, a man is bound to instruct his daughter in the law, although Rabbi Eliezer, who always assumes an oracular air, and boasts, DIpD ^Dl 1J11D3 mbnw, that the Halachah is always according to his decision (Bava Metzia, fol. 59, col. 2), insists, on the other hand, that he who instructs his daughter in the law must be considered as training her into habits of frivolity ; and the saying above ascribes to the sex such a power of frivolity as connects itself evidently with the foregone conclusion that they are by nature incapable of being developed into any solidity of worth or character. The Gemara, Tosephoth, and Rashi as well all support Rabbi Eliezer in laying a veto on female education, for fear lest, with the acquisition of knowledge, women might become cunning, and do things on the sly which ought not to be done by them. HDiriD^ mm on:n nenjn rvoio-iy rirao s*n- Literally this is : — For from it (i.e., the acquisition of knowledge) she 126 A TALMUD IC MISCELLANY. comes to understand cunning, and does things on the quiet. (Soteh, fol. 21, col. 2, Rashi.) (b.) Another good reason for neglecting female educa- tion those who take the Talmud as an authority find in these words : ;n^y TVbp |njn D*SW1, women are light- minded, i.e„ of shallow natural endowment, on which any serious discipline would be thrown away. (Kid- dushin, fol. 80, col. 2.) (c) Another argument to the same effect is, that there is no distinct command in the law of Moses inculcating the duty ; for in Deut. xi. 19 it is merely said, " And ye shall teach them to your children/' a command which, as it passes refracted through the Rabbinic medium, be- comes D3T1VQ K/1 DD*33, your sons, but not your daughters. (Ibid., fol. 29, col. 2.) (d.) As the immediately preceding command, so inter- preted, cannot be carried out by any one not favoured with male children, the well-known Talmudic dictum acquires force and point, " Blessed is the man whose children are sons, but luckless is he whose children are daughters." (Bava Bathra, fol. 16, col. 2.) (e.) More on this topic may be found in "Genesis according to the Talmud" (chap. 2, ver. 23). 6. A man prefers one measure obtained by his own earning to nine measures collected by the exertion of his neighbour. Bava Metzia, fol. 38, col. 1. Note. — This is thus explained by Rashi: — "His own hab (measure), the remnant of his own labour, is dearer to him than nine kabs of others, which he might buy with money were they offered in the market." 7. Nine have entered alive into paradise, and these are they : — Enoch, the son of Jared ; Elijah ; the Messiah ; Eliezer, the servant of Abraham ; Hiram, king of Tyre ; Ebed Melecb, the Ethiopian ; Jabez, the son of Rabbi Yehuda the prince; Bathia, the daughter of Pharaoh; and Sarah, the daughter of Asher. Some say also Rabbi Yoshua, the son of Levi. Derech Eretz Zuta, chap. 1. Note. — As the last-mentioned personage, Rabbi Yoshua, entered paradise " not by the door," but some " other way," it may be interesting to not a few to know how CHAPTER IX. 127 he succeeded, and here accordingly we append the story of the feat. As Rabbi Yoshua's earthly career drew to a close, the angel of death was instructed to wait upon him, and at the same time show all respect for his wishes. The Rabbi, remarking the courteous demeanour of his visitant, requested him, before he despatched him, to favour him with a glimpse of the place he was to occupy in paradise above, and meantime commit to him his sword, as a gage that he would grant his petition and not take advantage of him on the journey. This request being granted and the sword delivered up, the Rabbi and his attendant took the road, pacing along till they halted together just outside the gates of the celestial city. Here the angel assisted the Rabbi to climb the wall, and proceeded to point out the place he would occupy some day in the future, when deftly throwing himself over, he left the angel standing outside and hold- ing him fast by the skirt of his garment. When pressed to return, he swore he would not go back, protesting that, as he had never sought to be relieved of the obliga- tion of his oath on earth, he would not be cajoled or coerced into an act of perjury within the precincts of heaven. He declined at first to give up the sword of the angel, and would have stood to his point but for the echo of a voice which peremptorily ordered its imme- diate restoration. (See Kethuboth, fol. 77, col. 2.) ( 123 ) CHAPTER X. THE ' TENS OF THE TALMUD. 1. Where is it taught that when ten join together in prayer the Shechinah is with them? In Ps. lxxxii. i, where it is said, " God standeth in the congregation of the mighty." Berachoth, fol. 6, col. i. Note. — According to Rabbinic law, it takes at least ten men to constitute a legally convened congregation. Nearly a thousand pounds were expended every year by the syna- gogues of the metropolis to hire p» (minyan) men to make up the congregational number, and thus ensure the due observance of this regulation. (See infra, Nos. 2 and 12.) 2. When the Holy One — blessed be He ! — enters the synagogue, and does not find ten men present, His anger is immediately stirred ; as it is said (Isa. 1. 2), " Wherefore, when I came, was there no man ? When I called, there was none to answer ? " Ibid., fol. 6, coL 2. Note. — The passion of anger here ascribed to God is by not a few regarded as an attribute wholly alien to the proper nature of the Deity. Such, however, is evidently not the judgment of the Talmudists. Nor is this surprising when we see elsewhere how boldly they conceive and how freely they speak of the Divine Majesty. The Rabbis are not in general a shamefaced generation, and are all too prone to deal familiarly with the most sacred realities. The excerpts which follow amply justify this judgment. (a.) God is represented as roaring like a lion, &c, &c. (Berachoth, fol. 3, col. 1. See chap. hi. No. 1, supra.) (b.) God is said to wear phylacteries. (Ber-achoth, fol. 6, col. 1.) CHAPTER X. 129 This is referred to in the morning service for Y0111 Kippur, where it is said He showed " the knot of the phylacteries to the meek one " (i.e., Moses). (c.) He is said to pray ; for it is written (Isa. lvi 7), " Them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in the house of *rAan, rny prayer." It is thus He prays : " May it please me that my mercy may overcome my anger, that all my attributes may be in- vested with compassion, and that I may deal with my children in the attribute of kindness, and that out of regard to them I may pass by judgment." (Berachoth, fol. 7, col. 1.) (d. ) He is a respecter of persoiis ; as it is written (Num. vi. 26), " The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee." (Ibid., fol. 20, col. 2.) (e.) When accused by Elijah of having turned Israel's heart back again (1 Kings xviii. 37), He confesseth the evil He had done (Micah iv. 6). (And., fol. 31, col. 2.) (/.) God, when charged by Moses as being the cause of Israel's idolatry, confesseth the justice of that accusa- tion by saying (Num. xiv. 20), "I have pardoned ac- cording to thy word." (IJnd., fol. 32, col. 1.) (g. ) He drops two tears into the ocean, and this causes the earth to quake. (Ibid., fol. 59, col. 1.) (h.) He is represented as a hairdresser ; for it- is said He plaited Eve's hair (and some have actually enume- rated the braids as 700). (Eiruvin, fol. 18, col. 1.) In a Hagada (see Sanhedrin, fol. 95, col. 2), God is conceived as acting the barber to Sennacherib, a sort of parody on Isaiah vii. 20. (i. ) He is said to have created the evil as well as the good, passions in man. (Berachoth, fol. 61, coL 1.) (/.) God weeps every day. (Chaggigah, fol. 3, col. 2. See chap. iii. No. 51 supra.) (k.) He dresses Himself in a veil and shows Moses nbsn T7D, the Jewish Liturgy, saying unto him, "When the Israelites sin against me, let them copy this example, and I will pardon their sins." (Rosli llashanah, fol. 17, col. 2.) (I) God is said to have regretted creating certain things. (Succah, fol. 52, col. 2. See chap. iv. 9 supra.) (m.) God is represented as irrigating the land of Israel, but leaving the rest of the earth to be watered by an angel. (Taanith, fol. 10, col. 1.) 1 130 A TALMUD1C MISCELLANY. (n.) It is said that He will make a dance for the righteous, and as He places Himself in the centre, they will point at Him with their fingers, and say (Isa. xxv. 9), " Behold, this is our God ; we have waited for Him ; ... we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." (Taanith, fol. 31, col. 1.) Note. — Non-Talmudic readers may find this, and much more on the same topic, in the Machzor for Pente- cost (p. 100). But it occurs in a Piyut, and of course, as the translator remarks, it is to be under- stood in a figurative sense. (0.) God is said to have prevaricated in making peace between Abraham and Sarah, which is not so surpris- ing ; for while one Rabbi teaches that prevarication is under certain circumstances allowable, another asserts it absolutely as a duty ; for it is written ( 1 Sam. xvi. 2), "And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord." (Yevamoth, fol. 65, col. 2.) Note. — This teaching may be easily matched by par- allels from heathen literature, but we have room only for two or three examples : — Maximus Tyrius says, "There is nothing (essentially) decorous in truth, yea, truth is sometimes hurtful and lying profitable." Darius is represented by Herodotus (Book iii., p. 191 ) as saying, "When telling falsehood is profitable, let it be told." Menander says, "A lie is better than an annoying truth." These must suffice. (p.) God utters a curse against those who remain single after they are twenty years of age ; and those who marry at sixteen please Him, and those who do so at fourteen still more. (Kidditshin, fol. 29, col. 2.) (q.) Elijah binds and God flogs the man who marries an unsuitable wife. (Ibid., fol. 70, col. 1.) (r.) God acknowledges His weakness in argument, *33 WIS! *J3 OTWJ, " My children have vanquished me ! my children have vanquished me ! " He exclaims. " They have defeated me in argument." (Bava Metzi a, fol. 59, col. 2.) (s.) God's decision was controverted by the Academy in heaven, and the matter in debate was finally settled by a CHAPTER X. 131 Eabbi, who had to be summoned from earth to heaven expressly to adjudicate in the case. (Bava Metzia, fol. 86, col. 1.) Note. — The classical student will recognise in this a parallel to the Greek myth in which the Olympian divinities refer their debate in the matter of the apple of discord to the judgment of Paris. May there not in both fables lie a dim forefeeling of the time when Justice shall transfer her seat from the skies, so that whatever her ministers bind on earth may be bound in heaven 1 (t.) God will bear testimony before all the nations of the earth that His people Israel have kept the whole of the law. (Avodah Zarah, fol. 3, col. 1.) (u.) God is occupied for twelve liours every day in study, at work, or at play. (See ibid., fol. 3, col. 2, and chap. 11, No. 16 infra.) (v.) God does not act without first consulting the assembly above ; as it is said (Dan. iv. 1 7), " This matter is by the decree of the watchers and the demand of the word of the Holy One," &c. (Sanhedrin, fol. 38, col. 2.) (w. ) God Himself is described as exacting an atone- ment for His own miscreations ; as, for instance, His diminishing the size of the moon. (Shevuoth, fol. 9, col. 1.) Note. — Though the above are only samples of more, enough has been given to show how the Rabbis deal with the Divine, and how this too often figures in their imagination only as a huge shadow of their own distortions. What if the whole be but a cer- tain imaginative, arbitrary assertion of a reconcilia- tion which some preach and all anticipate between the human and the Divine 1 3. The general height of the Levites was ten ells. Shabbath, fol. 92, col. 1. Note. — Moses was a Levite, and he was of that stature. See chap. 3, No. 7 supra, for an interesting morceau about this. 4. Ten things cause hemorrhoids : — Eating cane leaves, the foliage and tendrils of the vine, the palate of cattle, the backbones of fish, half-cooked salt fish, wine lees, &c. Beraclioth, fol. 55, col. 1. 132 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 5. Ten things provoke a desperate relapse in a con- valescent : — Eating beef, fat meat, broiled meat, fowl, or roasted eggs, shaving, eating cress, taking milk or cheese, or indulging in a bath. Some say also eating walnuts, others say eating cucumbers, which are as dangerous to the body as swords. Berachoth, foL 57, coL 2. 6. Ten curses were pronounced against Eve : — The words " greatly multiply," " thy sorrow," (alluding to rearing a family), " thy conception," " in sorrow shalt thou bring forth," " thy desire shall be to thy husband," " he shall rule over thee," express six of these. The remainder are : — She should be wrapped up like a mourner (that is, she should not appear in public without having her head covered) ; she was restricted to one husband, though he might have more wives than one, and was to be kept within doors like a prisoner. Eiruvin, fol. 100, col. 2. 7. Ten things were created during the twilight of the first Sabbath-eve. These were : — The well that followed Israel in the wilderness, the manna, the rainbow, the letters of the alphabet, the stylus, the tables of the law, the grave of Moses, the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood, the opening of the mouth of Balaam's ass, the opening of the earth to swallow the wicked (Korah and his clique). Rav Nechemiah said, in his father's name, also fire and the mule. Rav Yosheyah, in his father's name, added also the ram which Abraham offered up instead of Isaac, and the Shameer. Rav Yehudah says the tongs also, &c. P'sachim, foL 54, col. 1. 8. To the ten things said to have been created on Sab- bath-eve some add the rod of Aaron that budded and bloomed, and others malignant demons and the garments of Adam. Ibid. 9. Rav Yehuda said, in the name of Rav, ten things were created on the first day : — Heaven and earth, chaos CHAPTER X. '33 and confusion, light and darkness, wind and water, the measure of day and the measure of night. " Heaven and earth," for it is written, " In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth." " Chaos and confusion," for it is written, " And the earth was chaos and confusion." " Li)ww 146 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 46. Ten are designated by the term Life or Living s — God, the law, Israel, the righteous, the garden of Eden, the tree of life, the land of Israel, Jerusalem, benevolence, the sages ; and water also is described as life, as it is said (Zech. xiv. 8), "And it shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem." Avoth d'Bab. Nathan, chap. 34. 47. If there are ten beds piled upon one another, and if beneath the lowermost there be any tissue woven of linen and wool (Lev. xix. 19), it is unlawful to lie down upon them. Tamid, fol. 27, col. 2. 48. Alexander of Macedon proposed ten queries to the elders of the south : — " Which are more remote from each other, the heavens from the earth or the east from the west ? " They answered, " The east is more remote from the west, for when the sun is either in the east or in the west, any one can gaze upon him ; but when the sun is in the zenith or heaven, none can gaze at him, he is so much nearer." The Mishnaic Rabbis, on the other hand, say they are equidistant; for it is written (Ps. ciii. II, 12), "As the heavens are from the earth, ... so is the east removed from the west." Alexander then asked, "Were the heavens created first or was the earth ? " " The heavens," they replied, " for it is said, ' In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' " He then asked, " Was light created first or was darkness ? " They re- plied, " This is an unanswerable question." They should have answered darkness was created first, for it is said, " And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep," and after this, "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Ibid. j fol. 31, col. 2. 49. There are ten degrees of holiness, and the land of Israel is holy above all other lands. Kelim, chap. 1, mish. 6. CHAPTER X. 147 50. There are ten places which, though Gentile habita- tions, are not considered unclean: — (1.) Arab tents; (2.) A watchman's hut ; (3.) The top of a tower ; (4.) A fruit- store ; (5.) A summer-house ; (6.) A gatekeeper's lodge ; (7.) An uncovered courtyard ; (8.) A bath-house ; (9.) An armoury; (10.) A military camp. Oholoth, chap. 18, mish. 10. 51. "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the con- gregation of the Lord, even to the tenth generation," &c. (Deut. xxiii. 4). One day Yehuda, an Ammonite pro- phet, came into the academy and asked, " May I enter the congregation (if I marry a Jewess) ? " Kabban Gam- liel said unto him, " Thou art not at liberty to do so ; " but Eabbi Joshua interposed and maintained, " He is at liberty to do so." Then Eabban Gamliel appealed to Scripture, which saith, " An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth generation." To this Eabbi Joshua retorted and asked, " Are then these nations still in their own native places ? Did not Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, trans- plant the nations ? as it is said (Isa. x. 1 3)/ I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and have put down the valour of the inhabitants.'" Eabban Gamliel replied, " Scripture saith (Jer. xlix. 6), ' Afterward I will bring again the captivity of the chil- dren of Ammon,' and so," he argued, " they must have already returned." Eabbi Joshua then promptly rejoined, " Scripture saith (Jer. xxx. 3), ' I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah/ and these have not returned yet." And on this reasoning the proselyte was permitted to enter the congregation. Yadayim, chap. 4, mish. 4. ( 148 ) CHAPTEE XL TALMUDIC NUMBERS RANGING FROM 'ELEVEN' TO ' NINETY-NINE ' INCLUSIVE. 1. Go and learn from the tariff of donkey-drivers, ten miles for one zouz, eleven for two zouzim. Chaggigah, fol. 9, col. 2. 2. When Israel went up to Jerusalem to attend the festivals, they had to stand in the Temple court closely crowded together, yet when prostrated there was a wide space between each of them (Eashi says about four ells), so that they could not hear each other's confession, which might have caused them to blush. They had, however, when prostrated, to extend eleven ells behind the Holy of Holies (rmSDn JTO). Yoma, fol. 21, col. 1. 3. In the days of Joel, the son of Pethuel, there was a great dearth, because (as is said in Joel i. 4) " That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten," &c. That year the month of Adar (about March) passed away and no rain came. When some rain fell, during the f ollowicg month, the prophet said unto Israel, " Go ye forth and sow." They replied, " Shall he who has but a measure or two of wheat or barley eat and live or sow it and die ? " Still the prophet urged, " Go forth and sow." Then they obeyed the prophet, and in eleven days the seed had grown and ripened ; and it is with reference to that generation that it is said (Ps. cxxvi. 5), " They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." Taanith, fol. 5, col. 1. CHAPTER XL 149 4. What is a female in her minority ? One who is between eleven years and one day, and twelve years and one day. When younger or older than these ages she is to be treated in the usual manner. Yevamoth, fol. 100, col. 2. 5. Whoever gives &prutah to a poor man has six bless- ings bestowed upon him, and he that speaks a kind word to him realises eleven blessings in himself (see Isa. lviii. 7, 8). Bava Bathra, fol. 9, col. 2. Note. — (a.) On the next page of the same tract it is said, " For one prut ah given as alms to a poor man one is made partaker of the beatific vision." (See also Midrash Tillim on Ps. xvii. 15.) (6.) The prutah was the smallest coin then current. It is estimated to have been equal to about one-twentieth of an English penny. In some quarters of Poland the Jews have small thin bits of brass, with the Hebrew word ntOIIQ (prutah) impressed upon them, for the uses in charity on the part of those among them that cannot afford to give a kreutzer to a poor man. The poor, when they have collected a number of these, change them into larger coin at the almoner's appointed by the congregation. Thus even the poor are enabled to give alms to the poor. (See my "Genesis," p. 277, Xo. 31.) 6. Rabbi Yochanan said eleven sorts of spices were men- tioned to Moses on Sinai. Rav Hunna asked, " What Scrip- ture text proves this ? " (Exod. xxx. 34), " Take unto thee sweet spices " (the plural implying two), " stacte, myrrh, and galbanum " (these three thus making up five), " sweet spices " (the repetition doubling the five into ten), " with pure frankincense " (which makes up eleven). Kerithoth, fol. 6, col. 2. 7. " Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken and forgotten me " (Isa. xlix. 14). The community of Israel once pleaded thus with the Holy One — blessed be He ! — "Even a man who marries a second wife still bears in mind the services of the first, but Thou, Lord, hast forgotten me." The Holy 150 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. One — blessed be He ! — replied, " Daughter, I have created twelve constellations in the firmament, and for each con- stellation I have created thirty armies, and for each army- thirty legions, each legion containing thirty divisions, each division thirty cohorts, each cohort having thirty camps, and in each camp hang suspended 365,000 myriads of stars, as many thousands of myriads as there are days in the year ; all these have I created for thy sake, and yet thou sayest, ' Thou hast forsaken and forgotten me ! ' Can a woman forget her sucking-child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Berachoth, fol. 32, coL 2. 8. No deceased person is forgotten from the heart (of his relatives that survive him) till after twelve months, for it is said (Ps. xxxi. 12), " I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind ; I am like a lost vessel " (which, as Eashi explains, is like all lost property, not thought of as lost for twelve months, for not till then is proclamation for it given up). Ibid., fol. 58, col. 2. 9. Eabbi Yehudah, Eabbi Yossi, and Eabbi Shimon (ben Yochai) were sitting together, and Yehudah ben Gerim (the son, says Eashi, of proselyte parents) beside them. In the course of conversation Eabbi Yehudah remarked, " How beautiful and serviceable are the works of these Eomans ! They have established markets, spanned rivers by bridges, and erected baths." To this remark Eabbi Yossi kept silent, but Eabbi Shimon replied, "Yea, in- deed ; but all these they have done to benefit themselves. The markets they have opened to feed licentiousness, they have erected baths for their own pleasure, and the bridges they have raised for collecting tolls." Yehudah ben Gerim thereupon went direct and informed against them, and the report having reached the Emperor's ears, an edict was immediately issued that Eabbi Yehudah should be pro- CHAPTER XL 151 moted, Eabbi Yossi banished to Sepphoris, and Eabbi Shimon taken and executed. Eabbi Shimon and his son, however, managed to secret themselves in a college, where they were purveyed to by the Eabbi's wife, who brought them daily bread and water. One clay mistrust seized the Eabbi, and he said to his son, " Women are light-minded ; the Eomans may tease her and then she will betray us." So they stole away and hid themselves in a cave. Here the Lord interposed by a miracle, and created a carob-tree bearing fruit all the year round for their support, and opened a perennial spring for their refreshment. To save their clothes they laid them aside except at prayers, and to protect their naked bodies from exposure they would at other times sit up to their necks in sand, absorbed in study. After they had passed twelve years thus in the cave, Elijah was sent to inform them that the Emperor was dead, and his decree powerless to touch them. On leaving the cave, they noticed some people ploughing and sowing, when one of them exclaimed, " These folk neglect eternal things and trouble themselves with the tilings that are temporal." As they fixed their eyes upon the place, fire came and burnt it up. Then a Bath Kol was heard exclaiming, " What ! are ye come forth to destroy the world I have made? Get back to your cave and hide you." Thither accordingly they returned, and after they had stopped there twelve months longer, they remonstrated, pleading that even the judgment of the wicked in Gehenna lasted no longer than twelve months; upon which a Bath Kol was again heard from heaven, which said, " Come ye forth from your cave." Then they arose and obeyed it. Shabhath, fol. 33, col. 2. 10. Eabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that at every utter- ance which proceeded from the mouth of the Holy One — blessed be He ! — on Mount Sinai, Israel receded twelve miles, being conducted gently back by the ministering angels; for it is said (Ps. lxviii. 12), " The angels (reading 152 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. ON70 instead of "D7D, kings) of hosts kept moving." Eead not "HTTP (intransitive), but ]TTT (transitive). Shabbath, fol. 88, col. 2. 1 1. A Sadducee once said to Rabbi Abhu, " Ye say that the souls of the righteous are treasured up under the throne of glory ; how then had the Witch of Endor power to bring up the prophet Samuel by necromancy ?" The Rabbi replied, " Because that occurred within twelve months after his death; for we are taught that during twelve months after death the body is preserved and the soul soars up and down, but that after twelve months the body is destroyed and the soul goes up never to return." Ibid., fol. 152, col. 2. Xote. — Clever answers to puzzling questions, like the above, are of frequent occurrence in the Talmud ; and we can't resist the temptation ito select here a few out of the many to be met with, as specimens of Rabbinical ready wit and repartee. A reference to others may be found by referring to Index II. appended to this Miscellany. (a.) Turnus Rufus once said to Rabbi Akiva, " If your God is a friend to the poor, why doesn't He feed them 1 " To which he promptly replied, " That we by maintaining them may escape the condemnation of Ge- henna." "On the contrary," said the Emperor, "the very fact of your maintaining the poor will condemn you to Gehenna. I will tell thee by a parable whereto this is like. It is as if a king of our own flesh and blood should imprison a servant who has offended him, and command that neither food nor drink should be given him, and as if one of his subjects in spite of him should go and supply him with both. When the king hears of it, will he not be angry with that man 1 And ye are called servants, as it is said (Lev. xxv. 55), 'For unto me the children of Israel are servants.'" To this Rabbi Akiva replied, " And I too will tell thee a par- able whereunto the thing is like. It is like a king of our own flesh and blood who, being angry with his son, imprisons him, and orders that neither food nor drink be given him, but one goes and gives him both to eat and drink. When the king hears of it will he not handsomely reward that man 1 And we are sons, as it is CHAPTER XL 153 written (Dent. xiv. 1), 'Ye are the sons of tlie Lord your God.' " " True," the Emperor replied, " ye are both sons and servants ; sons when ye do the will of God ; servants when ye do not ; and now ye are not doing the will of God." (Bava Bathra, fol. 10, col. 1.) Note. — The Emperor possibly alluded to Ps. lxxxi. 13, 14, in proof of his assertion, to which Kabbi Akiva had nothing to say in reply. (b.) Certain philosophers once asked the elders at Rome, " If your God has no pleasure in idolatry, why does He not destroy the objects of it 1 " " And so He would," was the reply, " if only such objects were wor- shipped as the world does not stand in need of ; but you idolaters will worship the sun and moon, the stars and the constellations. Should He destroy the world because of the fools that are in it 1 No ! The world goes on as it has done all the same, but they who abuse it will have to answer for their conduct. On your philo- sophy, when one steals a measure of wheat and sows it in his field it should by rights produce no crop ; never- theless the world goes on as if no wrong had been done, and they who abuse it will one day smart for it." (Avoda Zarah, fol. 54, col. 2.) (c.) Antoninus Csesar asked Rabbi (the Holy), "Why does the sun rise in the east and set in the west ? " " Thou wouldst have asked," answered the Rabbi, " the same question if the order had been reversed." " What I mean," remarked Antoninus, " is this, is there any special reason why he sets in the west 1 " " Yes," replied Rabbi, " to salute his Creator (who is in the east), for it is said (Neh. ix. 6), ' And the host of heaven worship Thee.'" (Sarihedrin, fol. 91, col. 2.) (d.) Caesar once said to Rabbi Tanchum, " Come, now, let us be one people." "Very well," said Rabbi Tanchum, " only we, being circumcised, cannot possibly become like you ; if, however, ye become circumcised we shall be alike in that regard anyhow, and so be as one people." The Emperor said, "Thou hast reason- ably answered, but the Roman law is, that he who non- pluses his ruler and puts him to silence shall be cast to the lions." The word was no sooner uttered than the Rabbi was thrown into the den, but the lions stood aloof and did not even touch him. A Sadducee, who looked on, remarked, " The lions do not devour him be- cause they are not hungry," but, when at the royal 154 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. command, the Sadducee himself was thrown in, he had scarcely reached the lions before they fell upon him and "began to tear his flesh and devour him. (Sanhedrin, fol. 39, col. i.) (e.) A certain Sadducee asked Rabbi Abhu, " Since your God is a priest, as it is written (Exod. xxv. 2), ' That they bring Me an offering,' in what did He bathe Himself after He was polluted by the burial (Num. xix. 11, 18) of the dead body of Moses 1 It could not be in the water, for it is written (Isa. xl. 12), 'Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand ? ' which therefore are insufficient for Him to bathe in." The Kabbi replied, " He bathed in fire, as it is written (Isa. lxvi. 15), 'For behold the Lord will come with fire.' " (Ibid.) (/.) Turnus Eufus asked this question also of Rabbi Akiva, " Why is the Sabbath distinguished from other days?" Rabbi Akiva replied, "Why art thou distin- guished from other men 1 " The answer was, " Because it hath pleased my Master thus to honour me." And so retorted Akiva, " It hath pleased God to honour His Sabbath." " But what I mean," replied the other, " was how dost thou know that it is the Sabbath-day ? " The reply was, " The river Sambatyon proves it ; the necro- mancer proves it ; the grave of thy father proves it, for the smoke thereof rises not on the Sabbath." (Ibid., fol. 65, col. 2.) Note. — See Bereshith Rabba, fol. 4, with reference to what is here said about Turnus Rufus and his father's grave. The proof from the necromancer lies in the allegation that his art was unsuccessful if practised on the Sabbath-day. The Sambatyon, Rashi says, is a pebbly river which rushes along all the days of the week except the Sabbath, on which it is perfectly still and quiet. In the Machsor for Pentecost (D. Levi's ed. p. 81), it is styled "the incomprehensible river," and a footnote thereto in- forms us that " This refers to the river p^HftD, said to rest on the Sabbath from throwing up stones, &c, which it does not cease to do all the rest of the week." (See Sanhedrin, fol. 65, col. 2 ; Yalkut on Isaiah, fol. 3, 1 ; Pesikta Tanchuma, sect. NCTl *o. See also Shalsheleth Hakabbala and Yuchsin.) 12. Those Israelites and Gentiles who have transgressed CHAPTER XL 155 with their bodies (the former by neglecting to wear phylacteries, and the latter by indulging in sensuous plea- sures), shall go down into Gehenna, and there be punished for twelve months, after which period their bodies will be destroyed and their souls consumed, and a wind shall scatter their ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous ; as it is said (Mai. iv. 3), " And ye shall tread down the wicked ; for they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet." But the Minim, the informers, and the Epicureans, they who deny the law and the resurrec- tion of the dead, they who separate themselves from the manners of the congregation, they who have been a terror in the land of the living, and they who have sinned and have led the multitude astray, as did Jeroboam the son of Nebat and his companions, — these shall go down into Ge- henna and there be judged for generations upon generations, as it is said (Isa. lxvi. 24), " And they shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me," &c. Gehenna itself shall be consumed, but they shall not be burned up in the destruction ; as it is said (Ps. xlix. 14 ; Heb. xv.), *y\WQ ivbsb DT)2n> " Ami their figures shall consume hell from being a dwelling." Rosh Hashanali, fol. 17, col. 1. 13. Once when Israel went up by pilgrimages to one of the three annual feasts at Jerusalem (see Exod. xxxiv. 23, 24), it so happened that there was no water to drink. Nicodemon ben Gorion therefore hired of a friendly neigh- bour twelve huge reservoirs of water, promising to have them replenished against a given time, or failing this to forfeit twelve talents of silver. The appointed day came and still the drought continued, and therewith the scarcity of water ; upon which the creditor appeared and demanded payment of the forfeit. The answer of Nicodemon to the demand was, " There's time yet ; the day is not over." The other chuckled to himself, inwardly remarking, " There's no chance now ; there's been no rain all the 156 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. season," and off he went to enjoy his bath. But Nicode- mon, sorrowful at heart, wended his way to the Temple. After putting on his prayer scarf, as he prayed, he pled, " Lord of the Universe ! Thou knowest that I have not entered into this obligation for my own sake, but for Thy glory and for the benefit of Thy people." While he yet prayed the clouds gathered overhead, the rain fell in torrents, and the reservoirs were filled to overflowing. On going out of the house of prayer he was met by the exacting creditor, who still urged that the money was due to him, as, he said, the rain came after sunset. But in answer to prayer the clouds immediately dispersed, and the sun shone out as brightly as ever. Taanith, fol. 19, col. 2. Note. — pnia p j1E>Hp3, Nicodemon ben Gorion of the above story is by some considered to be the Nicodemus of St. John's Gospel, hi. 1-10; vii. 50; xix. 30 14. Would that my husband were here and could listen to me ; I should permit him to stay away another twelve years. Kethuboth, fol. 63, col. 1. Note. — Hereto hangs a tale stranger than fiction, yet founded on fact. Rabbi Akiva was once a poor shepherd in the employ of Calba Shevua, one of the richest men in all Jerusalem. While engaged in that lowly occupation his master's only daughter fell in love with him, and the two carried on a clandestine courtship for some time together. Her father, hearing of it, threatened to disinherit her, to turn her out of doors and disown her altogether, if she did not break off her engagement. How could she con- nect herself with one who was the base-born son of a pro- selyte, a reputed descendant of Sisera and Jael, an ignorant fellow that could neither read nor write, and a man old enough to be her father? Rachel — for that was her name — determined to be true to her lover, and to brave the consequences by marrying him and exchanging the mansion of her father for the hovel of her husband. After a short spell of married life she prevailed upon her husband to leave her for a while, in order to join a cer- tain college in a distant land, where she felt sure that his talents would be recognised and his genius fos- CHAPTER XL 157 tered into development worthy of it. As he sauntered along by himself he began to harbour misgivings in his mind as to the wisdom of the step, and more than once thought of returning. But when musing one day at a resting-place a waterfall arrested his attention, and he remarked how the water, by its continual dropping, was wearing away the solid rock. All at once, with the tact for which he was afterwards so noted, he applied the lesson it yielded to himself. " So may the law," he reasoned, "work its way into my hard and stony heart;" and he felt encouraged and pursued his jour- ney. Under the tuition of Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Hyrcanus, and Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Chananiah, his native ability soon began to appear, his name became known to fame, and he rose step by step until he ranked as a professor in the very college which he had entered as a poor student. After some twelve years of hard study and diligent service in the law he returned to Jerusalem, accompanied by a large number of disciples. On nearing the dwelling of his devoted wife he caught the sound of voices in eager conversation. He paused a while and listened at the door, and overheard a gossip- ing neighbour blaming Rachel for her mesalliance, and twitting her with marrying a man who could run away and leave her as a widow for a dozen of years or more on the crazy pretext of going to college. He listened in eager curiosity, wondering what the reply would be. To his surprise, he heard his self-sacrificing wife exclaim, " Would that my husband were here and could listen to me ; I should permit, nay, urge him to stay away other twelve years, if it would benefit him." Strange to say Akiva, taking the hint from his wife, turned away and left Jerusalem without ever seeing her. He went abroad again for a time, and then returned for good ; this time, so the story says, with twice twelve thousand disciples. "Well-nigh all Jerusalem turned out to do him honour, every one striving to be foremost to welcome him. Calba Shevua, who for many a long year had repented of his hasty resolution, which cost him at once his daughter and his happiness, went to Akiva to ask his opinion about annulling this vow. Akiva replied by making himself known as his quondam servant and rejected son- in-law. As we may suppose, the two were at once recon- ciled, and Calba Shevua looked upon himself as favoured of Heaven above all the fathers in Israel. 158 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 15. The Eabbis say that at first they used to communi- cate the Divine name of twelve letters to every one. But when the Antinomians began to abound, the knowledge of this name was imparted only to the more discreet of the priestly order, and they repeated it hastily while the other priests pronounced the benediction of the people. (What the name was, says Eashi, is not known.) Eabbi Tarphon, the story goes on to say, once listened to the high priest, and overheard him hurriedly pronouncing this name of twelve letters while the other priests were bless- ing the people. Kiddushin, fol. 71, col. 1. 1 6. Twelve hours there are in the day : — The first three, the Holy One — blessed be He ! — employs in studying the law ; the next three He sits and judges the whole world ; the third three He spends in feeding all the world ; during the last three hours He sports with the leviathan ; as it is said (Ps. civ. 26), " This leviathan Thou hast created to play with it." Avodah Zarah, fol. 3, col. 2. 1 7. Eabbi Yochanan bar Chanena said : — The day con- sists of twelve hours. During the first hour Adam's dust was collected from all parts of the world; during the second it was made into a lump; during the third his limbs were formed ; during the fourth his body was ani- mated; during the fifth he stood upon his legs; during the sixth he gave names to the animals ; during the seventh he associated with Eve ; during the eighth Cain and a twin sister were born (Abel and his twin sister were born after the Fall, says the Tosephoth) ; during the ninth Adam was ordered not to eat of the forbidden tree ; during the tenth he fell; during the eleventh he was judged; and during the twelfth he was rejected from paradise; as it is said (Ps. xlix. 13, A.V. 12), "Man (Adam) ]fy ^2, abode not one night in his dignity." SciJihedrin, fol. 38, col. 2. 18. Eabbi Akiva used to say : — Of five judgments, some CHAPTER XL 159 have lasted twelve months, others will do so ; — those of the deluge, of Job, of the Egyptians, of Gog and Magog, and of the wicked in Gehenna. (See chap. v. 30 supra) Edioth, chap. 2, mish. 10. 19. Plagues come upon those that are proud, as was the case with Uzziah (2 Chron. xxvi. 16), " But when he was strong (proud), his heart was lifted up to destruction." When the leprosy rose up in his forehead, the Temple was cleft asunder twelve miles either way. Avoth d'Eab. Nathan, chap. 9. Note. — This hyperbole is evidently a mere fiction joined on to a truth for the purpose of frightening the proud into humility. The end sanctifieth the means, as we well know from other instances recorded in the Talmud and quoted in this Miscellany, which may easily be found by referring to Index II. appended. 20. Those who mourn for deceased relatives are pro- hibited from entering a tavern for thirty days, but those who mourn for either father or mother must not do so for twelve months. Semachoth, chap. 9. 21. A creature that has no bones in its body does not live more than twelve months. Chidlin, fol. 58, col. 1. Note. — The gnat (tPliv) of Titus is an exception, for it lived seven years according to Gittin, fol. 56, col. 2. 22. The Alexandrians asked Eabbi Joshua twelve ques- tions ; three related to matters of wisdom, three to matters of legend, three were frivolous, and three were of a worldly nature — viz., how to grow wise, how to become rich, and how to ensure a family of boys. Niddah, fol. 69, col. 2. 23. There was once a man named Joseph, who was renowned for honouring the Sabbath-day. He had a rich neighbour, a Gentile, whose property a certain fortune- teller had said would eventually revert to Joseph the Sabbatarian. To frustrate this prediction the Gentile dis- 160 A TALMUD IC MISCELLANY. posed of his property, and with the proceeds of the sale he purchased a rare and costly jewel which he fixed to his turban. On crossing a bridge a sust of wind blew his turban into the river and a fish swallowed it. This fish being caught, was brought on a Friday to market, and, as luck would have it, it was bought by Joseph in honour of the coming Sabbath. When the fish was cut up the jewel was found, and this Joseph sold for thirteen purses of £old denarii. When his neighbour met him, he ac- knowledged that he who despised the Sabbath the Lord of the Sabbath would be sure to punish. Shabbath, fol. 119, col. 1. Kote. — (a.) This story cannot fail to remind those who are conversant with Herodotus or Schiller of the legend of King Polycrates, which dates back five or six centuries before the present era. Polycrates, the king of Samos, was one of the most fortunate of men, and everything he took in hand was fabled to prosper. This unbroken series of successes caused disquietude to his friends, who saw in the circumstance foreboding of some dire disaster; till Amasis, king of Egypt, one of the number, advised him to spurn the favour of fortune by throwing away what he valued dearest. The most valuable thing he possessed was an emerald signet-ring, and this accordingly he resolved to sacrifice. So, man- ning a galley, he rowed out to the sea, and threw the ring away into the waste of the waters. Some five or six days after this, a fisherman came to the palace and made the king a present of a very fine fish that he had caught. This the servants proceeded to open, when, to their surprise, they came upon a ring, which on exa- mination proved to be the very ring which had been cast away by the king their master. (See Herodotus, book iii.) (/;.) Among the many legends that have clustered round the memory of Solomon, there is one which rends very much like an adaptation of this classic story. The version the Talmud gives of this story is quoted in another part of this Miscellany (chap. vi. Xo. 8, note), but in Emek Hammelech, fol. 14, col. 4, we have the legend in another form, with much amplitude and variety of detail, of which we can give here only an outline. CHAPTER XL 161 When the building of the Temple was finished, the king of the demons begged Solomon to set him free from his service, and promised in return to teach him a secret he would be sure to value. Having cajoled Solo- mon out of possession of his signet-ring, he first flung the ring into the sea, where it was swallowed by a fish, and then taking up Solomon himself, he cast him into a foreign land some four hundred miles away, where for three weary long years he wandered up and down like a vagrant, begging his bread from door to door. In the course of his rambles he came to Mash Kemim, and was so fortunate as to be appointed head cook at the palace of the king of Ammon (Ana Hanun, see i Kings xii. 24; LXX.). While employed in this office, Naama, the king's daughter (see 1 Kings xiv. 21, 31, and 2 Chron. xii. 13), fell in love with him, and, deter- mining to marry him, eloped with him for refuge to a distant land. One day as Xaama was preparing a fish for dinner, she found in it a ring, and this turned out to be the very ring which the king of the demons had flung into the sea, and the loss of which had be- witched the king out of his power and dominion. In the recovery of the ring the king both recovered himself and the throne of his father David. (c.) The occurrence of a fish and a ring on the arms of the city of Glasgow memorialises a legend in which we find the same singular combination of circumstances. A certain queen of the district one day gave her para- mour a golden ring which the king her husband had committed to her charge as a keepsake. By some means or other the king got to know of the whereabouts of the ring, and cleverly contriving to secure possession of it, threw it into the sea. He then went straight to the queen and demanded to know where it was and what she had done with it. The queen in her distress repaired to St. Kentigern, and both made full confession of her guilt and her anxiety about the recovery of the ring, that she might regain the lost favour of her husband. The saint set off at once to the Clyde, and there caught a salmon and the identical ring in the mouth of it. This he handed over to the queen, who returned it to her lord with such expressions of penitence that the restoration of it became the bond and pledge between them of a higher and holier wedlock. L 162 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 24. There were thirteen horn-shaped collecting-boxes, and thirteen tables, and thirteen devotional bowings in the Temple service. Those who belonged to the houses of Eabbi Gamliel and of Eabbi Chananiah, the president of the priests, bowed fourteen times. This extra act of bowing was directed to the quarter of the wood store, in consequence of a tradition they inherited from their an- cestors that the Ark of the Covenant was hidden in that locality. The origin of the tradition was this : — A priest, being once engaged near the wood store, and observing that part of the plaster differed from the rest, went to tell his companions, but died before he had time to relate his discovery. Thus it became known for certain that the Ark was hidden there. Shekalim, chap. 3, hal. 1. Note. — It is more than probable that the Chananiah, the D*Oi"Dn pD mentioned above, is the person alluded to in the Acts, chap, xxiii. 2, as "the high priest Ananias." For the tradition about the Ark, see also 2 Mace. ii. 4, 5. 25. There were thirteen horn-shaped collecting-boxes in the Temple, and upon them were inscribed new shekels, old shekels, turtle-dove offerings, young-pigeon offerings, firewood, contribution for Galbanus, gold for the mercy- seat ; and six boxes were inscribed for voluntary contribu- tions. New shekels were for the current year, old shekels were for the past one. Yoma, fol. 55, col. 2. 26. Once on account of loner-continued drought Eabbi Eliezer proclaimed thirteen public fasts, but no rain came. At the termination of the last fast, just as the congrega- tion was leaving the synagogue, he cried aloud, " Have you then prepared graves for yourselves ? " Upon this all the people burst into bitter cries, and rain came down directly. Taanith, fol. 25, coL 2. 27. A boy at thirteen years of age is bound to observe the usual fasts in full, i.e., throughout the whole day. A girl is bound to do so when only twelve. Eashi gives this as CHAPTER XL 163 the reason : — A boy is supposed to be weaker than a girl on account of the enervating effect of much study. Kethuboth, fol. 5, col. 1. 28. A poor man once came to Eava and begged for a meal. " On what dost thou usually dine ? " asked Eava. " On stuffed fowl and old wine," was the reply. " What ! " said Eava, " art thou not concerned about being so burden- some to the community ? " He replied, " I eat nothing be- longing to them, only what the Lord provides ; " as we are taught (Ps. cxlv. 15), ' The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat (1TUQ) in his season.' It is not said (DAJO) in their season, for so we learn that God provides for each individual in his season of need." While they were thus talking, in came Eava's sister, who had not been to see him for thirteen years, and she brought him as a present a stuffed fowl and some old wine also. Eava marvelled at the coincidence, and turning to his poor visitor said, " I beg thy pardon, friend ; rise, I pray thee, and eat." Ibid., fol. 67, col. 2. 29. So great is circumcision that thirteen covenants were made concerning it. Tosafoth says that covenant is written thirteen times in the chapter of circumcision. Nedarim, fol. 31, col. 2. 30. Eabbi (the Holy) says sufferings are to be borne with resignation. He himself bore them submissively for thirteen years ; for six he suffered from lithiasis, and for seven years from stomatitis (or, as some say, six years from the former and seven from the latter). His groans were heard three miles off (See " Gen. ace. to the Talmud," p. 286, No. 6.) Bava Metzia, foL 85, col. 1. 31. The Eabbis have taught thirteen things respecting breakfast (JT")nttf J1H), morning-morsel) : — It counteracts the effects of heat, cold, or draught ; it protects from malig- nant demons ; it makes wise the simple by keeping the mind in a healthy condition ; it enables a man to come off 164 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. clear from a judicial inquiry ; it qualifies him both to learn and to teach the law ; it makes him eagerly listened to, to have a retentive memory, &c. Bava Metzia, fol. 107, col. 2. 32. The land of Israel is in the future to be divided among thirteen tribes, and not, as at first, among twelve. Bava Batlira, fol. 122, col. 1. 33. Eabbi Abhu once complimented Eav Saphra before the Minim by singling him out in their hearing as a man distinguished by his learning, and this led them to exempt him from tribute for thirteen years. It so happened that these Minim once posed Saphra about that which is written in Amos iii. 2, " You only have I known of all the families of the earth ; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." " Ye say you are God's friends, but when one has a friend does he pour out his wrath upon him ? " To this Eav Saphra made no reply. They then put a rope round his neck and tormented him. When he was in this sorry plight, Eabbi Abhu came up and inquired why they tormented him thus. To this they made answer, " Didst thou not tell us that he was a very learned man, and he does not even know how to explain a text of Scrip- ture ? " " Yes, I did so say," replied Eabbi Abhu ; " he is an adept in the Talmud only, but not in the Scriptures." " Thou knowest the Scriptures ; " they replied, " and why ought he not to know them as well ? " "I have daily intercourse with you," said the Eabbi, " and therefore I am obliged to study the Scriptures, but he, having no intercourse with you, has no need to trouble himself, and does not at all care about them." (See chap. x. No. 24, and note supra.) Avodah Zarah, fol. 4, col. 1. Note. — In order to understand aright the grounds on which Eabbi Abhu would fain excuse Eav Saphra for not caring at all about the Scriptures, certain passages from both Talmuds should be read, which, in the usual metaphorical style of the Rabbis, set forth the respective merits of CHAPTER XL 165 Scripture and Tradition. The three times three in Sophrim (chap. 15), in which the Scripture is compared to water, the Mishna to wine, and the Gemara to mulled wine, and that in which the Scripture is likened to salt, the Mishna to pepper, and the Gemara to spice, and so on, are too well known to need more than passing men- tion ; but far less familiar and much more explicit is the exposition of Zech. viii. 10, as given in T. B. Chag- gigah, fol. 10, col. 1, where, commenting on. the Scrip- ture text, " Neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in," Kav expressly says, "He who leaves a matter of Halachah for a matter of Scripture shall never more have peace ; " to which Shemuel adds, " Aye, and he also who leaves the Talmud for the Mishna;" Rabbi Yochanan chiming in with 0"W? D"£'E> I^QX, " even from Talmud to Talmud;" as if to say, "And he who turns from the Babli to the Yerushalmi, even he shall have no peace." If we refer to the Mishna (chap. 1, hal. 7) of Berachoth in the last-named Talmud, we read there that Rabbi Tarphon, bent, while on a journey, on reading the Shema according to the school of Shammai, ran the risk of falling into the hands of certain banditti whom he had not noticed near him. " It would have served you right," remarked one, " because you did not follow the rule of Hillel." In the Gemara to this passage Rabbi Yochanan says, " The words of the scribes are more highly valued than the words of the law, for, as Rabbi Yuda remarks, 'If Rabbi Tarphon had not read the Shema at all he would only have broken a positive com- mand, but since he transgressed the rule of Hillel he was guilty of death, for it is written, ' He who breaks down a hedge (the Rabbinic hedge to the law, of course), a serpent shall bite him'" (Eccles. x. 8). Then Rabbi Chanina, the son of Rabbi Ana, in the name of Rabbi Tanchum, the son of Rabbi Cheyah, says, " The words of the elders are more important than the words of the prophets." A prophet and an elder, whom do they resemble ? They are like two ambassadors sent by a king to a province. About the one he sends word saying, "If he does not present credentials with my signature and seal, trust him not ; " whereas the other is accredited without any such token ; for in regard to the prophet it is written (Deut. xiii. 2), " He giveth thee a sign or token ; " while in reference to the elders it is written (Deut. xvii. 11), "According to the 1 66 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. decision which they may say unto thee shalt thou do ; thou shalt not depart from the sentence which they may tell thee, to the right or to the left." Rashi's comment on this text is worth notice: "Even when they tell thee that right is left and left is right." In a word, KUJD spy Dnn, a wise man (i.e., a Rabbi) is better than a prophet. (BavaBathra, fol. 12, col. 1.) 34. Oved, the Galilean, has expounded that there are thirteen vavs (i.e., } occurs thirteen times) in connection with wine. Vav in Syriac means woe. Sanhedrin, fol. 70, col. 1. Note. — The Rabbis have a curious Haggada respecting the origin of the culture of the vine. Once while Noah was hard at work breaking up the fallow ground for a vineyard, Satan drew near and inquired what he was doing. On ascertaining that the patriarch was about to cultivate the grape, which he valued both for its fruit and its juice, he at once volunteered to assist him at his task, and began to manure the soil with the blood of a lamb, a lion, a pig, and a monkey. " Now," said he, when his work was done, " of those who taste the juice of the grape, some will become meek and gentle as the lamb, some bold and fearless as the lion, some foul and beastly as the pig, and others frolicsome and lively as the monkey." This quaint story may be found more fully detailed in the Midrash Tanchuma (see Noah) and the Yalkut on Genesis. The Mohammedan legend is some- what similar. It relates how Satan on the like occasion used the blood of a peacock, of an ape, of a lion, and of a pig, and it deduces from the abuse of the vine the curse that fell on the children of Ham, and ascribes the colour of the purple grape to the dark hue which thenceforth tinctured all the fruit of their land as well as their own complexions. 35. At thirteen years of age, a boy becomes bound to observe the (613) precepts of the law. Avoth, chap. 5. 36. Rabbi Ishmael says the law is to be expounded according to thirteen logical rules. Chullin, fol. 6 t,, col. 1. Note. — The nno m&y-whw, thirteen rules of Rabbi Ishmael above referred to, are not to be found together in any CHAPTER XL 167 part of the Talmud, but they are collected for repetition in the Liturgy, and are as follows : — 1. Inference is valid from minor to major. 2. From similar phraseology. 3. From the gist or main point of one text to that of other passages. 4. Of general and particular. 5. Of particular and general. 6. From a general, or a particular and a general, the ruling both of the former and the latter is to be according to the middle term, i.e., the one which is particularised. 7. From a general text that requires a particular in- stance, and vice versd. 8. When a particular rule is laid down for something which has already been included in a general law, the rule is to apply to all. 9. "When a general rule has an exception, the excep- tion mitigates and does not aggravate the rule. 10. When a general rule has an exception not accord- ing therewith, the exception both mitigates and aggra- vates. 11. When an exception to a general rule is made to substantiate extraneous matter, that matter cannot be classed under the said general rule, unless the Scripture expressly says so. 12. The ruling is to be according to the context, or to the general drift of the argument. 13. When two texts are contradictory, a third is to be sought that reconciles them. 37. Eabbi Akiva was forty years of age when he began to study, and after thirteen years of study he began publicly to teach. Avoth cVRab. Nathan. 38. Thirteen treasurers and seven directors were ap- pointed to serve in the Temple. (More there might be, never less.) Tamid, fol. 27, col. 1. 39. Thirteen points of law regulate the decisions that require to be made relative to the carcase of a clean bird. Taharoth, chap. 1, mish. 1. 40. A man must partake of fourteen meals in the booth during the Feast of Tabernacles. Succah, fol. 27, col. 1. 1 68 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 41. Traditional chronology records that the Israelites killed the Paschal lamb on the fourteenth day of Msan, the month on which they came out of Egypt. They came out on the fifteenth ; that day was a Friday. Shabbath, fol. 88, col. 1. 42. The fifteen steps were according to the number of the Songs of Degrees in the Psalms. It is related that whosoever has not seen the joy at the annual ceremony of the water-drawing, has not seen rejoicing in his life. At the conclusion of the first part of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Priests and Levites descended into the women's ante- court, where they made great preparations (such as erecting temporary double galleries, the uppermost for women, and those under for men). There were golden candelabra there, each having four golden bowls on the top, four ladders reaching to them, and four of the young priests with cruses of oil ready to supply them, each cruse hold- ing one hundred and twenty logs of oil. The lamp-wicks were made of the worn-out drawers and girdles of the priests. There was not a court in all Jerusalem that was not lit up by the illumination of the " water-drawing." Holy men, and men of dignity, with flaming torches in their hands, danced before the people, rehearsing songs and singing praises. The Levites, with harps, lutes, cymbals, trumpets, and innumerable musical instruments, were stationed on the fifteen steps * which led from the ante-court of Israel to the women's court; the Levites stood upon the steps and played and sang. Two priests stood at the upper gate which led from the ante-court for Israel to that for the women, each provided with a trumpet, and as soon as the cock crew (typ/l) they blew one simple blast pyHiTl), then a compound or fragmentary one, and then a modulated or shouting blast. This was the preconcerted signal for the drawing of the water. As soon * These fifteen steps were according to the number of the Songs of Degrees in the Psalter (Ps. cxx.-cxxxiv.). CHAPTER XI. 169 as they reached the tenth step, they blew again three blasts as before. When they came to the ante-court for women, they blew another three blasts, and after that they con- tinued blowing till they came to the east gate. When they arrived at the east gate, they turned their faces west- ward (i.e., towards the Temple) and said, " Our fathers, who were in this place, turned their backs towards the Temple of the Lord, and their faces towards the East, for they worshipped the sun in the East ; but we turn our eyes to God ! " Eabbi Yehudah says, " These words were repeated, echoing, 'We are for God, and unto God are our eyes directed !'•" Succah, fol. 51, col. 1, 2. 43. Eabbon Shimon ben Gamliel has said there were no such gala-days for Israel as the fifteenth of Ab and the Day of Atonement, when the young maidens of Jeru- salem used to resort to the vineyard all robed in white garments, that were required to be borrowed, lest those should feel humiliated who had none of their own. There they danced gleefully, calling to the lookers-on and say- ing, " Young men, have a care ; the choice you now make may have consequences." Taanith, fol. 26, col. 2. 44. Eabbi Elazar the Great said, " From the fifteenth of Ab the influence of the sun declines, and from that day they leave off cutting wood for the altar fire, because it could not be properly dried (and green wood might harbour vermin, which would make it unfit for use)." Ibid. , fol. 31, col. 1. 45. He who eats turnips to beef, and sleeps out in the open air during the night of the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the months of summer (that is, when the moon is full), will most likely bring on an ague fever. Gittin, fol. 70, col. 1. 46. A lad should, at the age of fifteen, begin to apply himself to the Gemara. Avoth, chap. 5. I/O A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 47. " So I bought her to me for fifteen" (Hosea iii. 2), that is, on the fifteenth day of Nisan, when Israel was redeemed from the bondage of Egypt. " Silver ; " this refers to the righteous. " An homer and a half-homer ; " these equal forty-five measures, and are the forty-five righteous men for whose sake the world is preserved. I don't know whether there are thirty here (that is, in Babylon), and fifteen in the land of Israel, or vice versa ; as it is said (Zech. xi. 1 3), " I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." It stands to reason that there are thirty in the land of Israel, aud, therefore, fifteen here. Abaii says that the greater part are to be found under the gable end of the synagogue. Eav Yehudah says the reference is to the thirty righteous men always found among the nations of the world for whose sake they are preserved (but see ISTo. 103 infra). Ulla says it refers to the thirty precepts received by the nations of the world, of which, however, they keep three only ; i.e., they do not enter into formal marriage-contracts with men ; they do not expose for sale the bodies of such animals as have died from natural causes; and they have regard for the law. Chullin, fol. 92, col. 1. 48. Eabbi Cheyah bar Abba says, " I once visited a householder at Ludkia, and they placed before him a golden table so loaded with silver plate, basins, cups, bottles and glasses, besides all sorts of dishes, delicacies, and spices, that it took sixteen men to carry it. When they set the table in its place they said (Ps. xxiv. 1), ' The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof,' and upon removing it, they said (Ps. cxv. 16), ' The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth hath He given to the children of men.' I said, ' Son, how hast thou come to deserve all this ? ' 'I was,' replied he, ' a butcher by trade, and I always set apart for the Sabbath the best of the cattle.' ' How happy art thou,' I re- CHAPTER XL 171 marked (adds Eabbi Cheyah), ' to have merited such a reward, and blessed be God who has thus rewarded thee.' " Shabbath, fol. 119, col. 1. 49. Eash Lakish said, " I have seen the flow of milk and honey at Tzipori ; it was sixteen miles by sixteen miles." Megittah, fol. 6, col. 1. Note. — Eashi explains the above as follows : — The goats fed upon figs from which honey distilled, and this mingled with the milk which dropped from the goats as they walked along. On the spot arose a lake which covered an area of sixteen miles square. (See also Kethuboth, fol. in, col. 2.) 50. A cedar-tree once fell down in our place, the trunk of which was so wide that sixteen waggons were drawn abreast upon it. BecJwroth, fol. 57, col. 2. Note. — Who can estimate the loss the world sustains in its ignorance of the trees of the Talmud ? What a sapling in comparison with this giant cedar of Lebanon must the far- famed Mammoth tree have been which was lately cut down in California, and was the largest known to the present generation ! And that, report says, was above 400 feet high and fully 100 feet in circumference, a section of which was lately exhibited in San Francisco, hollowed out into a furnished chamber which could with ease accommodate a hundred and forty children ! 51. Eabbi Yochanan plaintively records, " I remember the time when a young man and a young woman sixteen or seventeen years of age could walk together in the streets and no harm came of it." Bava Bathra, fol. 91, col. 2. 52. On the deposition of Eabbon Gamliel, Eabbi Eleazar ben Azariah was chosen as his successor to the presiden- tial chair of the academy. On being told of his elevation, he consulted with his wife as to whether or not he should accept the appointment. "What if they should depose thee also ? " asked his wife. He replied, " Use the pre- cious bowl while thou hast it, even if it be broken the 172 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. next." But she rejoined, " Thou art only eighteen years old, and how canst thou at such an age expect folks to venerate thee ? " By a miracle eighteen of his locks turned suddenly grey, so that he could say, " I am as one of seventy." Berachoth, fol. 27, col. 2. 53. The Babbis have taught that Shimon Happikoli had arranged the eighteen benedictions before Babbon Gamliel at Javneh. Babbon Gamliel appealed to the sages, " Is there not a man who knows how to compose an imprecation against the Sadducees ? " Then Samuel the Little stood up and extemporised it. Ibid. j fol. 28, col. 2. Note. — The D'-pnv nD"i3 (supra, and fol. 29, col. 1), "impre- cation against the Sadducees," stands twelfth among the collects of the Shemoneh Esreh. It is popularly known as D'O^E^'), " Velamalesliinini," from its opening words, and is given thus in modern Ashkenazi liturgies : — " Oh, let the slanderers have no hope, all the wicked be anni- hilated speedily, and all the tyrants be cut off, hurled down and reduced speedily; humble Thou them quickly in our days. Blessed art Thou, Lord, who destroyest enemies and humblest tyrants." There has been much misconception with regard to this collect against heretics. There is every reason to believe it was composed without any reference whatever to the Christians. One point of interest, however, in connection with it is worth relating here. Some have sought to identify the author of it, Samuel the Little, with the Apostle Baul, grounding the conclusion on his original Hebrew name, Saul. They take ^1K£> as an abbreviation of ^Klftt?. and Baulus as equal to pusillus, w r hich means " very little " or " the less," and answers to the Hebrew }&pn, Hakaton, a term of similar import. Samuel, however, died a good Jew (see Sema- choth, chap. 8), and Rabbon Gamliel Hazaken and Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah pronounced a funeral oration at his burial. " His key and his diary w r ere placed on his coffin, because he had no son to succeed him." (See also Sanhedrin, fol. 1 1 , col. 1 . ) 54. Eighteen denunciations did Isaiah make against the people of Israel, and he recovered not his equanimity CHAPTER XL 173 until he was able to add, " The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable" (Isa. iii. 5). Chaggigah, fol, 14, col. 1. 55. The Eabbis have related that there was once a family in Jerusalem the members of which died off regu- larly at eighteen years of age. Eabbi Yochanan ben Zacchai shrewdly guessed that they were descendants of Eli, regarding whom it is said (1 Sam. ii. 25), " And all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age ; " and he accordingly advised them to devote them- selves to the study of the law, as the certain and only means of neutralising the curse. They acted upon the advice of the Rabbi; their lives were in consequence prolonged; and they thenceforth went by the name of their spiritual father. Bosh Hashanah, fol. 18, col. 1. 56. At eighteen HDIIl 1 ?, to the nuptial canopy. Avoth, chap. 5. 57. Eighteen handbreadths was the height of the golden candlestick. Menachoth, fol. 28, col. 2. 58. If a man remain unmarried after the age of twenty, his life is a constant transgression. The Holy One — blessed be He ! — waits until that period to see if one enters the matrimonial state, and curses his bones if he remain single. Kiddushin, fol. 29, col. 2. 59. A woman marrying under twenty years of age will bear till she is sixty ; if she marries at twenty she will bear until she is forty ; if she marries at forty she will not have any family. Bava Bathra, fol. 119, col. 2. 60. At twenty pursue the study of the law. Avoth, chap. 5. 61. Eabbi Yehudah says the early Pietists (DH^DH) used to suffer some twenty days before death from diarrhoea, 174 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. the effect of which, was to purge and purify them for the world to come ; for it is said, " As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold, so is a man to his praise " (Prov. xxvii. 2l). Semachoth, chap. 3, mish. 10. Note. — It may not he out of place to append two or three parallel passages here by way of illustration : — " Bodily suffering purges away sin" (Berachoth, fol. 5, col. 1). "He who suffers will not see hell" (JEiruvin, fol. 41, col. 2). " To die of diarrhoea is an augury for good, for most of the righteous die of that ailment" ( Kethuhoth, fol. 103, col. 2, and elsewhere). 62. The bathing season at (the hot baths of) Dimsis lasted twenty-one days. . Shabbath, fol. 147, col. 2. 63. A fowl hatches in twenty-one days, and the almond tree ripens its fruit in twenty-one days. Bechoroth, fol. 8, col. 1. 64. Eabbi Levi says the realisation of a good dream may be hopefully expected for twentij-two years ; for it is written (Gen. xxxvii. 2), "These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph being seventeen years old when he had the dreams." And it is written also (Gen. xli. 46), "And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh," &c. From seventeen to thirty are thirteen, to which add the seven years of plenty and the two years of famine, which make the sum total of twenty-two. Berachoth, fol. 55, col. 2. Note. — In the pages which precede and follow the above quotation there is much that is interesting on the subject of dreams and their interpretation, and one is strongly tempted to append selections, but we refrain in order to make room for a prayer which occurs in the morning service for the various festivals, and is given in the preceding context : — " Sovereign of the Universe ! I am thine, and my dreams are thine. I have dreamed a dream, but know not what it portendeth. May it be acceptable in Thy presence, O Lord my God, and the God of my fathers, that all my dreams concerning myself and con- cerning all Israel may be for my good. Whether I have CHAPTER XL 175 dreamt concerning myself, or whether I have dreamt concerning others, or whether others have dreamt con- cerning me, if they be good, strengthen and fortify them, that they may be accomplished in me, as were the dreams of the righteous Joseph ; and if they require cure, heal them as Thou didst Hezekiah, king of Judah, from his sickness ; as Miriam the prophetess from her leprosy, and Naaman from his leprosy ; as the bitter waters of Marah by the hands of our legislator Moses, and those of Jericho by the hands of Elisha. And as Thou wast pleased to turn the curse of Balaam, the son of Beor, to a blessing, be pleased to convert all my dreams concern- ing me and all Israel to a good end. Oh, guard me ; let me be acceptable to Thee, and grant me life. Amen."* 65. Eabbi Levi said, " Come and see how unlike the character of the Holy One — blessed be He ! — is to that of those who inherit the flesh and blood of humanity. God blessed Israel with twenty-two benedictions and cursed them with eight curses (Lev. xxvi. 3-13, xv. 43). But Moses, our Babbi, blessed them with eight benedictions and cursed them with twenty-two imprecations " (see Deut. xxviii. 1-4, xv. 68). Bava Bathra, fol. 59, col. 1. 66. Once as they were journeying to Chesib (in Pales- tine), some of Babbi Akiva's disciples were overtaken by a band of robbers, who demanded to know where they were going to. " We are going to Acco," was the reply ; but on arriving at Chesib, they went no farther. The* robbers then asked them who they were ? " Disciples of Babbi Akiva," they replied. Upon hearing this the robbers exclaimed, " Blessed surely is Babbi Akiva and his dis- ciples too, for no man can ever do them any harm." Once as Babbi Menasi was travelling to Thurtha (in Babylonia), some thieves surprised him on the road and asked him where he was bound for. " For Bumbeditha," was the reply; but upon reaching Thurtha, he stayed and went no farther. The highwaymen, thus balked, retorted, * The translation of this prayer is borrowed from the Jewish liturgy. 1 76 A TALMUD IC MISCELLANY. " Thou art the disciple of Yehuda the deceiver ! " " Oh, you know my master, do you ? " said the Eabbi. " Then in the name of God be every one of you anathematised." For twenty-two years thereafter they carried on their nefarious trade, but all their attempts at violence ended only in disappointment. Then all save one of them came to the Eabbi and craved his pardon, which was immedi- ately granted. The one who did not come to confess his guilt and obtain absolution was a weaver, and he was eventually devoured by a lion. Hence the proverbs, "If a weaver does not humble himself, he shortens his life ; " ai]d, "Come and see the difference there is between the thieves of Babylon and the banditti of the land of Israel." Avodah Zarah, fol. 26, col. 1. 67. Eabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus was twenty-two years of age when, contrary to the wishes of his father, he went to Eabbon Yochanan ben Zaccai purposing to devote him- self to the study of the law. By the time he arrived at Eabbon Yochanan's he had been without food four-and- twenty hours, and yet, though repeatedly asked whether he had had anything to eat, refused to confess he was hungry. His father having come to know where he was, went one day to the place on purpose to disinherit him before the assembled Eabbis. It so happened that Eab- bon Yochanan was at that time lecturing before some of the great men of Jerusalem, and when he saw the father enter, he pressed Eabbi Eliezer to deliver an exposition. So racy and cogent were his observations that Eabbon Yochanan rose and styled him his own Eabbi, and thanked him in the name of the rest for the instruction he had afforded them. Then the father of Eabbi Eliezer said, " Eabbis, I came here for the purpose of disinheriting my son, but now I declare him sole heir of all I have, to the exclusion of his brothers." Avoth cCRab. Nathan, chap. 6. Note. — The father of Eliezer acts more magnanimously by his son than does the father of St. Francis. Like the CHAPTER XL 177 Rabbi, as Mr. Euskin relates in his " Mornings in Florence," St. Francis, one of whose three great virtues was obedience, "begins his spiritual life by quarrelling with his father. He ' commercially invests ' some of his father's goods in charity. His father objects to that invest- ment, on which St. Francis runs away, taking what he can find about the house along with him. His father follows to claim his property, but finds it is all gone already, and that St. Francis has made friends with the Bishop of Assisi. His father flies into an indecent passion, and declares he will disinherit him ; on which St. Francis, then and there, takes all his clothes off, throws them frantically in his father's face, and says he has nothing more to do with clothes or father." 68. Not the same strict scrutiny is required in money matters as in cases of capital punishment ; for it is said (Lev. xxiv. 23), " Ye shall have one manner of law." What distinction is there made between them ? With regard to money matters three judges are deemed sufficient, while in cases of capital offence twenty-three are required, &c. JSanhedrin, fol. 32, col. 1. 69. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, "In twenty -four cases doth the tribunal excommunicate for the honour of a Rabbi, and all are explained in our Mishna." Rabbi Elazer interposed and asked, " Where are they ? " The reply was, " Go and seek, and thou shalt find." He went accordingly and sought, but found only three — the case of the man who lightly esteems the washing of hands ; * of him who whispers evil behind the bier of a disciple of the wise; and of him who behaves haughtily towards the Most High. Berachoth, fol. 19, col. 1. Note. — There are three degrees of excommunication, uU KnDt? Din, i.e., separation, exclusion, and execration. That mentioned in the above extract is of the lowest de- gree, and lasts never less than thirty days. The second degree of excommunication is a prolongation of the first by thirty days more. The third or highest degree lasts * Cf . Matt. xv. 2 ; Mark vii, 23. M 178 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. for an indefinite time. See Moed Katon, fol. 17, col. 1 ; Shevuoth, fol. 36, coL 1 ; and consult Index II. appended. 70. A certain matron NJTjntDD* once sa id to Eabbi Yehuda ben Elaei, "Thy face is like that of one who breeds pigs and lends money on usury." He replied, " These offices are forbidden me by the rules of my religion, but between my residence and the academy there are twenty-four latrinre (NDDPT JY2) ; these I regularly visit as I need." Berachoth, fol. 55, col. 1. Note. — The Rabbi meant to say that paying attention to the regular action of his excretory organs was the secret of his healthy looks, and to imply that a dis- ordered stomach is the root of most diseases, — a physio- logical opinion well worthy of regard by us modems. 71. Rav Birim says that the venerable Rav Benaah once went to all the interpreters of dreams in Jerusalem, twenty- four in number. Every one of them gave a different in- terpretation, and each was fulfilled ; which substantiates the saying that it is the interpretation and not the dream that comes true. Ibid., fol. 55, col. 2. 72. Twenty-four fasts were observed by the men of the Great Synagogue, in order that the writers of books, phy- lacteries, and Mezuzahs misdit not grow rich, lest in be- coming rich they might be tempted not to write any more. P'sachim, fol. 50, col. 2. 73. When Solomon was desirous of conveying the Ark into the Temple, the doors shut themselves of their own accord against him. He recited twenty-four psalms, yet they opened not. In vain he cried, " Lift up your heads, O ye gates " (Ps. xxiv. 9). But when he prayed, " Lord God, turn not Thy face away from Thine anointed ; remem- ber the mercies of David, Thy servant " (2 Chron. vi. 42), then the gates flew open at once. Then the enemies of CHAPTER XL 179 David turned black in the face, for all knew by this that God had pardoned David's transgression with Bathsheba. Moed Katon, fol. 9, col. 1. Note. — In the Midrash Rabbah (Devarim, chap. 15) the same story is told, with this additional circumstance among others, that a sacred respect was paid to the gates when the Temple was sacked at the time of the Captivity. When the glorious vessels and furniture of the Temple were being carried away into Babylon, the gates, which were so zealous for the glory of God, were buried on the spot (see Lam. ii. 9), there to await the restoration of Israel. This romantic episode is alluded to in the n^jn, or closing service for the Day of Atonement. (See the Machzor, D. Levi's edition, p. 195.) 74. There are twenty-four species of unclean birds, but the clean birds are innumerable. Clmllin, fol. 63, col. 2. 75. In twenty-four places priests are called Levites, and this is one of them (Ezek. xliv. 15), " But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok." Tamid, fol. 27, coL 1. 76. There are tiocnty-four extremities of members in the human body which do not suffer defilement in the case of diseased flesh (see Lev. xiii. 10, 24). The tip-ends of the fingers and toes, the edges of the ears, the tip of the nose, &c. Negaim, chap. 6, mish. 7. yj. Twenty-five children is the highest number there should be in a class for elementary instruction. There should be an assistant appointed, if there be forty in number; and if fifty, there should be two competent teachers. Bava says, " If there be two teachers in a place, one teaching the children more than the other, the one that teaches less is not to be dismissed, because if so, the other is liable to lapse into negligence also." Bav Deimi of Nehardaa, on the other hand, thinks the dismissal of the former will make the latter all the more eager to teach more, both out of fear lest he also be dismissed, and i So A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. out of gratitude that he has been preferred to the other. Mar says, " The emulation of the scribes (or teachers) in- creaseth wisdom." Eava also says, "When there are two teachers, one teaching much but superficially, and one teaching thoroughly but not so much, the former is to be preferred, for the children will, in the long-run, improve most by learning much." Bav Deimi of Nehardaa, how- ever, thinks the latter is to be preferred, for a mistake or an error once learned is difficult to unlearn ; as it is written in i Kings xi. 16, " For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he cut off every male ("IDT, zachar) in Edom." When David asked Joab why he killed only the males and not the females, he replied, " Because it is written in Deut. xxv. 19, 'Thou shalt blot out (p^D^ "IDT) the male portion of Amalek.' " " But," said David, " we read ("OT, zeichar) ' the remembrance of Amalek.' " To this Joab replied, " My teacher taught me to read "IDT, and not "OT " (zachar and not zeichar), i.e., male, and not re- membrancc. The teacher of Joab was sent for ; and being found guilty of having taught his pupil in a superficial manner, he was condemned to be beheaded. The poor teacher pleaded in vain for his life, for the king's judg- ment was based on Scripture (Jer. xlviii. 10), " Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood." Bava Bathra, fol. 21, col. 1. Note. — Teachers will excuse me if I ask them to bear this lesson in mind when they impart instruction ! 78. The Eomans faithfully observed their compact with Israel for twenty-six years. After that time they began to oppress them. Avoda Zarah, fol. 8, col. 2. 79. The Babbis have taught that a small salt fish will cause death if partaken of after seven, seventeen, or twenty- seven days; some say after tw T enty-three days. This is said with reference to half-cooked fish, but when properly CHAPTER XL i8i cooked there is no harm in it. Neither does any harm result from eating half-cooked fish, if strong drink (N"Dt#) be taken after it. Beraehoth, fol. 44, col. 2. 80. On the twenty -eighth day of Adar there came good news to the Jews. The Eoman Government had passed a decree ordaining that they should neither study the law, nor circumcise their children, nor observe the Sab- bath-days. Yehudah ben Shamua and his associates went to consult a certain matron, whom all the magnates of Eome were in the habit of visiting. She advised them to come at night and raise a loud outcry against the decree they complained of. They did so, and cried, " heavens ! are we not your brethren ? are we not the chil- dren of one mother ? " (Alluding to Eebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.) "Wherein are vre worse than all other nations and tongues, that you should oppress us with such harsh decrees ? " Thereupon the decrees were revoked ; to commemorate which the Jews established a festival. Rosh Hashanah, fol. 19, col. 1. 8r. The renewal of the moon comes round in not less than twenty-nine days and a half and forty minutes. Ibid., fol. 25, col. 1. 82. Eav Mari reports that Eabbi Yochanan had said, " He who indulges in the practice of eating lentils once in thirty days keeps away quinsey, but they are not good to be eaten regularly because by them the breath is cor- rupted." He used also to say that mustard eaten once in thirty days drives away sickness, but if taken every day the action of the heart is apt to be affected. Berachothj fol. 40, col. 1. 83. He who eates unripe dates and does not wash his hands will for thirty days be in constant fear, without knowing why, of something untoward happening. P'sachim, fol. in, col. 2. 1 82 A TALMUD IC MISCELLANY. 84. The Eabbis have taught that *VP2, the lighter kind of excommunication, is not to last less than thirty days, and HEPO, censure, not less than seven. The latter is inferred from what is said in Num. xii. 14, " If her father had hut spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days ? " (See Note to No. 69, supra.) Moed Katon, fol. 16, col. 1. 85. If we meet a friend during any of the thirty days of his mourning for a deceased relative, we must condole with him but not salute him ; but after that time he may be saluted but not condoled with. If a man (be- cause he has no family) re-marries within thirty days of the death of his wife, he should not be condoled with at home (lest it might hurt the feelings of his new partner) ; but if met with out of doors, he should be addressed in an undertone of voice, accompanied with a slight inclina- tion of the head. Ibid., fol. 21, col. 2. 86. During the thirty days of mourning for deceased friends or relatives, the bereaved should not trim their hair ; but if they have lost their parents, they are not to attend to such matters until their friends force them to do so. Ibid., fol. 22, coL 2. Sy. " And Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children" (Esth. v. 11). And how many children were there ? Eav said thirty ; ten had died, ten were hanged, and ten went about begging from door to door. The Eabbis say, " Those that went about begging from door to door were seventy ; for it is written ( 1 Sam. ii. 5), ' They that were full have hired themselves for bread.' " Eead not U^llV, svyim = that were full, but D'Tlttf, shivim = seventy. Rami bar Abba said, " They were two hundred and eight in all ; for it is said, V22 2T)\ ' the multitude of his sons.' " 3*n, by Gematria, equals two hundred and eight, &c. Meggillah, fol. 15, coL 2. CHAPTER XL 183 %%. When Eabbi Chanena bar Pappa was about to die, the Angel of Death was told to go and render him some friendly service. He accordingly went and made himself known to him. The Eabbi requested him to leave him for thirty days, until he had repeated what he had been learning ; for it is said, " Blessed is he who comes here with his studies in his hand." He accordingly left, and at the expiration of thirty days returned to him. The Eabbi then asked to be shown his place in Paradise, and the Ansjel of Death consented to show him while life was still in him. Then said the Eabbi, " Lend me thy sword, lest thou surprise me on the road and cheat me of my expectation." To this the Angel of Death said, "Dost thou mean to serve me as thy friend Eabbi Yoshua did ? " and he declined to intrust the sword to the Eabbi. (See chap. ix. No. 7, note, supra) Kethuboth, fol. 77, col. 2. 89. If a man says to a woman, " Thou art betrothed to me after thirty days," and in the interim another comes and betroths her, she is the second suitor's. Kiddushin, fol. 58, col. 2. Note. — Is this on the principle that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush t 90. If one finds a scroll, he may peruse it once in thirty days, but he must not teach out of it, nor may another join him in reading it ; if he does not know how to read, he must unroll it. If a garment be found, it should be shaken and spread out once in thirty days, for its own sake (to preserve it), but not for display. Silver and copper articles should be used to take care of them, but not for the sake of ornament. Gold and glass vessels he should not meddle with 1H^^ N"i:ntf IV— till the coming of Elijah. Bava Metzia, fol. 29, col. 2. 91. Eabbi Zira so inured his body (to endurance) that the fire of Gehenna had no power over it. Every thirty 1 84 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. days he experimented on himself, ascending a fiery furnace, and finally sitting down in the midst of it without beino- affected by the fire. One day, however, as the Eabbis fixed their eyes upon him, his hips became singed, and from that day onward he was noted in Jewry as the little man with the singed hips. Bava Metzia, fol. 85, col. 1. Note.— This is the anticlimax of the saying ascribed to the people of Verona when they pointed out to a stranger the passing figure of the sorrow-stricken Dante, " See ! there goes the man that has been in hell." 92. An Arab once said to Eabbah bar bar Channah, " Come and I will show thee the place where Korah and his accomplices were swallowed up." " There," says the Kabbi, " I observed smoke coming out from two cracks in the ground. Into one of these he inserted some wool tied on to the end of his spear, and when he drew it out again it was scorched. Then he bade me listen. I did so, and as I listened heard them groan out, ' Moses and his law are true, but we are liars/ The Arab then told me that they come round to this place once in every thirty days, being stirred about in the hell-surge like meat in a boiling caldron." Bava Bathra, fol. 74, col. 1. 93. Eabbi Yochanan, in expounding Isa. liv. 12, said, "The Holy One— blessed be He! — will bring precious stones and pearls, each measuring thirty cubits by thirty, and polishing them down to twenty cubits by ten, will place them in the gates of Jerusalem." A certain dis- ciple contemptuously observed, " No one has ever yet seen a precious stone as large as a small bird's egg, and is it likely that such immense ones as these have any exis- tence ? " He happened one day after this to go forth on a voyage, and there in the sea he saw the angels quarrying precious stones and pearls like those his Eabbi had told him of, and upon inquiry he learned that they were in- tended for the gates of Jerusalem. On his return he went straight to Eabbi Yochanan and told him what he had CHAPTER XL 185 seen and heard. " Eaca ! " said the latter, " hadst thou not seen them thou wouldst have kept on deriding the words of the wise ! " Then fixing his gaze intently upon him, he with the glance of his eye reduced to a heap of bones the carcase of his body. Bava Bathra, fol. 75, col. 1. 94. He who lends unconditionally a sum of money to his neighbour is not entitled to demand it back within thirty days thereafter. Maccoth, fol. 3, col. 2. 95. If a man has lost a relative, he is forbidden to engage in business until thirty days after the death. In the case of the decease of a father or a mother, he is not to resume work until his friends rebuke him and urge him to return. Semachoth, chap. 9. 96. It is unlawful for one to enter a banqueting-house for thirty days after the death of a relative ; but he must refrain from so doing for twelve months after the demise of either father or mother, unless on the behest of some higher requirement of piety. Ibid. 97. But I know not whether there are thirty righteous men here and fifteen in the land of Israel, or vice versa. (See ante, No. 47.) Chullin, fol. 92, col. 1. 98. Thirty days in a year are equivalent to a whole year. Niddah, fol. 44, col. 2. Note. — Almost answering to the well-known proverb, " An- nus inceptus habetur pro completo," — a year begun is regarded as completed ; but see the context. 99. " Moses, thou didst say unto me, ' What is Thy name ? ' And now thou dost say, ' Neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all.' Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh (Exod. v. 23, vi. 1), but not what I am about to do to the thirty-one kings." Sanhedrin, fol. 111, col. 1. 100. When Eav Deimi arrived at Babylon, he reported 1 85 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. that the Romans had fought thirty-two battles with the Greeks without once conquering them, until they allied themselves with Israel, on the stipulation that where Pome appointed the commanding officers the Jews should appoint the governors, and vice versa. Avodah Zarah, fol. 8, col. 2. 101. Manasseh did penance thirty-three years. Sanhedrin, fol. 103, coL 1. 102. Balaam was thirty-three years of age when Phineas, the robber, slew him. Ibid., foL 106, col. 2. 103. For thirty-four years the kingdom of Persia lasted contemporaneously with the Temple. Avodah Zarali, fol. 9, col. 1. 104. Abaii has said, " There are never fewer than thirty- six righteous men in every generation who receive the presence of the Shechinah; for it is said (Isa. xxx. 18), ' Blessed are all those who wait upon Him' " The nume- rical value (by Gematria) of Him, •)*?, is thirty-six. Sanhedrin, fol. 97, coL 2. 105. The sons of Esau, of Ishmael, and of Keturah went on purpose to dispute the burial (of Jacob) ; but when they saw that Joseph had placed his crown upon the coffin, they did the same with theirs. There were thirty- six crowns in all, tradition says. "And they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation." Even the very horses and asses joined in it, we are told. On arriving at the Cave of Machpelah, Esau once more protested, and said, "Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and llebekah, are all buried here. Jacob disposed of his share when he buried Leah in it, and the remaining one belongs to me." " But thou didst sell thy share with thy birth- right," remonstrated the sons of Jacob. " Nay," rejoined Esau, " that did not include my share in the burial-place." " Indeed it did," they argued, " for our father, just before he died, said (Gen. 1. 5)/ In my grave which I have bought CHAPTER XL 187 for myself.' " " Where are the title-deeds ? " demanded Esau. " In Egypt," was the answer. And immediately the swift-footed Naphthali started for the records. (" So light of foot was he," says the Book of Jasher, " that he could go upon the ears of corn without crushing them.") Hushim, the son of Dan, being deaf, asked what was the cause of the commotion. On being told what it was, he snatched up a club and smote Esau so hard that his eyes dropped out and fell upon the feet of Jacob ; at whicli Jacob opened his eyes and grimly smiled. This is that which is written (Ps. lviii. 10), "The righteous shall re- joice when he sees vengeance ; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked." Then Eebekah's prophecy came to pass (Gen. xxvii. 45), " Why shall I be deprived also of you both in one day ? " Eor although they did not both die on the same day, they were both buried on the same day. Soteh, fol. 13, col. 1. Note. — This story, slightly varied, is repeated in the Book of Jasher and in the Targum of Ben Uzziel. 106. The principal works of the hand are forty save one : — To sow, to plough, to reap, to bind in sheaves, to thrash, to winnow, to sift corn, to grind, to bolt meal, to knead, to bake, to shear, to wash wool, to comb wool, to dye it, to spin, to warp, to shoot two threads, to weave two threads, to cut and tie two threads, to tie, to untie, to sew two stiches, to tear two threads with intent to sew, to hunt game, to slay, to skin, to salt a hide, to singe, to tan, to cut up a skin, to write two letters, to scratch out two letters with intent to write, to build, to pull down, to put out a fire, to light a fire, to smite with a hammer, to convey from one Beshuth* to another. Shabbath, fol. 73, col. 1. 107. King Yanai had a single tree on the royal mound, whence once a month they collected forty seahs (about fifteen bushels) of young pigeons of three different breeds. JBerachoth, foL 44, col. 1. * A private property in opposition to a public. iSS A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 1 08. Forty years before the destruction of the Temple the Sanhedrin were exiled, and they sat in the Halls of Commerce. Shabbath, fol. 15, col. 1. 109. Until one is forty eating is more advantageous than drinking. After that age the rule is reversed. Ibid., fol. 152, col. 1. 1 10. The Eabbis have taught that during the forty years in which Simeon the Just officiated in the Temple the lot always fell on the right (see Lev. xvi. 8-10). After that time it sometimes fell on the right and sometimes on the left. The crimson band also, which in his time had always turned white, after that period sometimes turned white, and at others it did not change colour at all. Yoma, fol. 39, col. 1. 111. The Eabbis have taught: — Forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot did not fall on the right, and the crimson band did not turn white ; the light in the west did not burn, and the gates of the Temple opened of themselves, so that Eabbi Yochanan ben Zac- chai rebuked them, and said, " Temple ! Temple ! why art thou dismayed ? I know thy end will be that thou shalt be destroyed, for Zachariah the son of Iddo has already predicted respecting thee (Zech. xi. 1), ' Open thy doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.'" Ibid., fol. 39, col. 2. 1 1 2. During the forty years that Israel were in the wilderness there was not a midnight in which the north wind did not blow. Yevamoth, fol. 71, col. 1. 113. Eabbi Zadok fasted forty years that Jerusalem might not be destroyed, and so emaciated was he, that when he ate anything it might be seen going down his throat. Gittin, fol. 56, col. 1. CHAPTER XL 189 1 14. Forty days before the formation of a child a Bath Kol proclaims, " The daughter of so-and-so shall marry the son of so-and-so ; the premises of so-and-so shall be the property of so-and-so." Soteh, fol. 2, col. 1. 115. Eav Hunna and Eav Chasda were so angry with one another that they did not meet for forty years. After that Eav Chasda fasted forty days for having annoyed Eav Hunna, and Eav Hunna fasted forty days for having suspected Eav Chasda. Bava Metzia, fol. 33, col. 1. 1 16. A female who marries at forty will never have any children. (See No. 59, supra.) 1 1 7. He who eats black cummin the weight of a denarius will have his heart torn out; so also will he who eats forty eggs on forty nuts, or a quarter of honey. Tract Calah. 118. He that cooks in milk the nerve Nashe (TVDin TJ i.e., "the sinew that shrank") on a yearly festival, and then eats it, receives five times forty stripes save one, &c. (See chap. v. 16, supra.) Baitza, fol. 12, col. 1. 119. He who passes forty consecutive days without suffering some affliction has received his good reward in his lifetime (cf. Luke xvi. 25). Erachin, fol. 16, col. 2. 1 20. If a bath contain forty measures of water and some mud, people may, according to Eabbi Elazar, immerse them- selves in the water of it, but not in the mud ; while Eabbi Yehoshua says they may do so in both. Mikvaoth, chap. ii. 10. 121. Eav Yehudah said in the name of Eav : — The Divine name, which consists of forty-two letters, is revealed only to him who is prudent and meek, who has reached the meri- dian of life, is not prone to wrath, not given to drink, and iqo A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. not revengeful. He that knows that name, and acts circumspectly in regard, to it, and retains it sacredly, is beloved in heaven and esteemed on earth ; he inspires men with reverence, and is heir both to the world that now is and that which is to come. KiddasMn, fol. 71, col. t. 122. A man should always devote himself to the study of the law and to the practice of good deeds, even if he does not do so for their own sake, as self-satisfied per- formance may follow in due course. Thus, in recom- pense for the forty-two sacrifices he offered, Balak was accounted worthy to become the ancestor of Ruth. Rav Yossi bar Hunna has said, Ruth was the daughter of Ecrlon, the grandson of Balak, king of Moab. Sariliedrin, fol. 105, col. 2. 123. These are the forty-Jive righteous men for whose sake the world is preserved. (See ante, No. 47.) Chullin, fol. 92, col. 1. 124. Rabbi Meir had a disciple named Sumchus, who in every case assigned forty-eight reasons why one thing should be called clean and why another should be called unclean, though Scripture declared the contrary. (A striking illustration of Rabbinical ingenuity !) Eiruvin, fol. 13, col. 2. 125. Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses pro- phesied unto Israel, and they have neither diminished nor added to that which is written in the law, except the reading of the Book of Esther. Megittah, fol. 14, col. 1. Note. — The Rabbis teach that in future (in the days of the Messiah) all Scripture will be abolished except the Book of Esther, also all festivals except the feast of Purim. (See Menorath Hamaor, fol. 135, col. 1.) 126. By forty -eight things the law is acquired. These are study, attention, careful conversation, mental discern- ment, solicitude, reverential fear, meekness, geniality of CHAPTER XL 191 soul, purity, attention to the wise, mutual discussion, debating, sedateness, learning in the Scripture and the Mislma, not dabbling in commerce, self-denial, moderation in sleep, aversion to gossip, &c, &c. Avoth, chap. 6. 127. When God gave the law to Moses, He assigned forty-nine reasons in every case for pronouncing one thing unclean and as many for pronouncing other things clean. Sophrim, chap. 16, mish. 6. 128. He that has fifty zouzim, and trades therewith, may not glean what is left in the corner of the field (Lev. xix. 9). He that takes it, and has no right to it, will come to want before the day of his departure. And if one who is entitled to it leaves it to others more needy, before he dies he will not only be able to support himself, but be a stay to others. Peak, chap. 8, mish. 9. 129. Fifty measures of understanding were created in the world, and all except one were given to Moses ; as it is said (Ps. viii. 5), "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels." Bosh Hashanah, fol. 21, col. 2. 1 30. Poverty in a house is harder to bear than fifty plagues. Bava Bathra, fol. 116, col. 1. Note. — The above saying is based on Job xix. 21, compared with Exod. viii. 19. 131. For fifty-two years no man travelled through the land of Judea. Yoma, fol. 54, col. 1. 132. Black cummin is one of the sixty deadly drugs. Berachoth, fol. 40, col. 1. 133. Ulla and Eav Chasda were once travelling together, when they came up to the gate of the house of Eav Chena bar Chenelai. At sight of it Eav Chasda stooped and sighed. " Why sighest thou ? " asked Ulla, " seeing, as Eav says, sighing breaks the body in halves; for it is 192 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. Ezek. xxi. 6 . ! Sigh, therefore, son of nian, with the breaking of thy loins: 5 and Eabbi Yochanan says a sigh breaks up the whole constitution ; for it is said (Ezek. xxi. r ). ' And it shall be when they say unto thee, Where- fore sighest thou ? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings because it cometh, and the whole heart shall melt,' " ecc. this Lav Chasda replied, " How can I help sighing over this house, where sixty bakers used to be employed during the day, and sixty during the night, to make bread for the poor and needy ; and Eav Chena had his hand always at his purse, for he thought the slightest hesitation might cause a poor but respectable man to blush; and esides he kept four doors open, one to each quarter of the ns : c : that all might enter and be satisfied ? Over and above this, in time of famine he scattered wheat and barley abroad, so that they who were ashamed to gather by dav mi^rht do so by nicrht ; but now this house has fallen into ruin, and ought I not to sigh ? " Berachotk, foL 5S, col. 2. 154. Egypt is a sixtieth of Ethiopia, Ethiopia a sixtieth le world, the world is a sixtieth part of the garden of Eden, the garden itself is but a sixtieth of Eden, and Eden rehenna. Hence the world in proportion to ::na is but as the lid to a caldron. P's'jxliim, foL 94, col. 1. ". They led forth Metatron and struck him sixty stinadoes (Eashi, nHJHDEQ] with a cudgel of fire. Chaggigah, foL 15, col. 1. Note. — In the context of the foregoing quotation occurs an anecdote of Eabbi Elisha ben Abuyah which is too racy to let pass, and too characteristic to need note or com- ment. One day Elisha ben Abuyah was privileged to pry into Paradise, where he saw the recording angel Metatron on a seat registering the merits of the holy of Israel. Struck with astonishment at the sight, he ex- claimed, "Is it not laid down that there is no sitting in heaven, no shortsightedness or fatigue ? " Then Metatron. CHAPTER XL 193 thus discovered, was ordered out and flogged with sixty lashes from a fiery scourge. Smarting with pain, the angel asked and obtained leave to cancel the merits of the prying Rabbi. One day — it chanced to be on Yom Kippur and Sabbath — as Elisha was riding along by the wall where the Holy of Holies once stood, he heard a Bath Kol proclaiming, " Return, ye backsliding children, but Acher abide thou in thy sin " ( Acher was the Rabbi's nickname). A faithful disciple of his hearing this, and bent on reclaiming and reforming him, invited him to go and hear the lads of a school close by repeat their lessons. The Rabbi went, and from that to another and another, until he had gone the round of a dozen seminaries, in the last of which he called up a lad to repeat a verse who had an impediment in his speech. The verse happened to be Ps. 1. 16, ''But unto the wicked, God saith, Why dost thou declare my law?" Acher fancied the boy said y&fy&yij and to Elisha (his own name), instead of yzrfal, and to Basha, that is, the AvickecL This roused the Rabbi into such fury of passion, that he sprang to his feet, exclaiming, " If I only had a knife at hand I would cut this boy into a dozen pieces, and send a piece to each school I have visited ! " 136. A woman of sixty tubs after music like a girl of six. Mi ed Katon, foL 9, col. 2. 137. Rabba, who only studied the law, lived forty years ; Abaii, who both studied the law and exercised benevo- lence, lived sixty. Bosh Hashanah, fol. 18, col. 1. 138. The manna which came down upon Israel was sixty ells deep. Yoma, fol. 76, col. 1. 1 39. It is not right for a man to sleep in the daytime any longer than a horse sleeps. And how long is the sleep of a horse ? Sixty respirations. Succah, foL 26, col. 2. 140. Abaii says. " When I left Kabbah, I was not at all hungry ; but when I arrived at Meree, they served up before me sixty dishes, with as many sorts of viands, and 194 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. I ate half of each, but as for HTTp ^S ; hotch-potch, which the last dish contained, I ate up all of it, and would fain have eaten up the dish too." Abaii said, "This illustrates the proverb, current among the people, ' The poor man is hungry, and does not know when he has eaten enough ; or, there is always room for a tit-bit.' " Meg Mali, fol. 7, col. 2. Xote. — mip ^V literally means Pot-roast; meat hermetically sealed in a pot and then baked in a closed oven. 141. There are sixty kinds of wine; the best of all is the red aromatic wine, and bad white wine is the worst. Gift in, fol. 70, coL 1. 142. Samson's shoulders were sixty ells broad. /Sot eh, fol. 10, col. 1. 143. Ebal and Gerizim were sixty miles from Jordan. Ibid., fol. 36, coL 1. 144. One who makes a good breakfast can outstrip sixty runners in a race (who have not). Bava Kama, fol. 92, col. 2. 145. A (hungry) person who looks on while another eats, experiences sixty unpleasant sensations in his teeth.. Ibid. 146. His wife made him daily sixty sorts of dainties, and these restored him a2>, col. 2. CHAPTER XL 197 154. Eabbi Eliezer asked, " Eor whose benefit were those seventy bullocks intended?" See Num. xxix. 12- 36. For the seventy nations into which the Gentile world is divided ; and Eashi plainly asserts that the seventy bul- locks were intended to atone for them, that rain might descend all over the world, for on the Feast of Tabernacles judgment is given respecting rain, &c. Woe to the Gentile nations for their loss, and they know not what they have lost ! for as long as the Temple existed, the altar made atonement for them ; but now, who is to atone for them ? Succah, fol. 55, col. 2. 155. Choni, the Maagol, once saw in his travels an old man planting a carob-tree, and he asked him when he thought the tree would bear fruit. "After seventy years," was the reply. " What ! " said Choni, " dost thou expect to live seventy years and eat the fruit of thy labour ? " "I did not find the world desolate when I entered it," said the old man ; " and as my fathers planted for me before I was born, so I plant for those that will come after me." Taanith, fol. 23, col. 1. 156. Mordecai was one of those who sat in the hall of the Temple, and he knew seventy languages. Megillah, foL 13, col. 2. 157. The Eabbis have taught: — During a prosperous year in Israel, a place that is sown with a single measure of seed produces five myriad cors of grain. In the tilled districts of Zoan, one measure of seed produces seventy cors ; for we are told that Eabbi Meir said he himself had witnessed in the vale of Bethshean an instance of one measure of seed producing seventy cors. And there is no better land anywhere than the land of Egypt ; for it is said, " As the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt." And there is no better land in all Egypt than Zoan, where several kings have resided ; for it is written (Isa. xxx. 4), " His princes were in Zoan." In all Israel there was no 198 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. more unsuitable soil than Hebron, for it was a buryiug- place, and yet Hebron was seven times more prolific than Zoan; for it is written (Num. xiii. 22), "Now Hebron n/1223 D^ttf Mttf, was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt." What does nj"UU mean ? Literally it means built ; but is it likely that a man would build a house for his youngest son before he built one for his eldest ? For it is said (Gen. x. 6), " And the sons of Ham, Cush, Mizraim (that is, Egypt), Phut, and Canaan" (that is, Israel). It must, therefore, mean that it was seven times more prolific (the verb meaning both to build and to produce) than Zoan. This is only in the unsuitable soil of the land of Israel, Hebron, but in the suitable soil (the increase) is five hundred times. All this applies to a year of average return, but in one of special prosperity, it is written (Gen. xxvi. 12), " Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him." (The word D^Jltf = years, is conve- niently overlooked in working out the argument.) Kethuboth, foL 112, col. 1. 158. The astrologers in Egypt said to Pharaoh, "What ! shall a slave whose master bought him for twenty pieces of silver rule over us ? " Pharaoh replied, " But I find him endowed with kingly qualities." " If that is the case," they answered, " he must know seventy languages." Then came the Angel Gabriel and taught him seventy languages. Soteh, fol. 36, col. 2. 159. When the leviathan makes the deep boil, the sea does not recover its calm for seventy years ; for it is said (Job xli. 32), " One would think the deep to be hoary," and we cannot take the word " hoary " to imply a term of less than seventy years. Bava Bathra, fol. 75, col. 1. Note. — See Avoth, chap. 5, where it is said, "at seventy he is grey," i.e., hoary. 160. Abba Chalepha Keruya once remarked to Eav CHAPTER XL 199 Cheyah bar Abba, " The sum total of Jacob's family thou iindest reckoned at seventy, whereas the numbers added up make only sixty-nine. How is that ? " Eav Cheyah made answer that the particle J"ltf, in verse 15, implies that Dinah must have been one of twin-sisters. " But," ob- jected the other, " the same particle occurs also in connec- tion with Benjamin, to say nothing of other instances." " Alas ! " said Eav Cheyah, " I am possessed of a secret; worth knowing, and thou art trying to worm it out of me." Then interposed Eav Chama bar Chanena, " The number may be made up by reckoning Jochebed in, for of her it is said (Num. xxvi. 59) ' that her mother bare her to Levi in Egypt ; ' her birth took place in Egypt, though she was conceived on the journey." Bava Bathra, fol. 123, cols. 1, 2. 161. Eav Yehudah says in the name of Shemuel : — There is yet another festival in Eome, which is observed only once in seventy years, and this is the manner of its cele- bration. They take an able-bodied man, without physical defect, and cause him to ride upon the back of a lame one. They dress up the former in the garments of Adam (sucli as God made for him in Paradise), and cover his face with the skin of the face of Eabbi Ishmael, the high priest, and adorn his neck with a precious stone. They illu- minate the streets, and then lead the two men through the city, a herald proclaiming before them, " The account of our Lord was false ; it is the brother of our Lord that is the deceiver ! He that sees this festival sees it, and he that does not see it now will never see it. What advan- tage to the deceiver is his deception, and to the crafty his craftiness ? " The proclamation finishes up thus — " Woe to this one when the other shall rise again ! " Avodali Z arah, fol. 11, coL 2. Note. — The Targum Yarushalini informs us that the Lord God wrought for Adam and his wife robes of honour from the cast-off skin of the serpent. We learn else- where that Nimrod came into possession of Adam's coat 200 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. through Ham, who stole it from Koah while in the Ark. The glib tongue of tradition also tells how Esau slew Ximrod and appropriated the garment, and wore it for luck when hunting ; but that on the day when he went to seek venison at the request of his dying parent, in his hurry he forgot the embroidered robe of Adam, and had bad luck in consequence. Then Jacob borrowed the left-off garment, and kept it for himself. — The mask alluded to is accounted for thus : — The daughter of a Roman emperor took a fancy to have the skin of Rabbi Ishmael's face, and it accordingly, when he was dead, was taken off, and so embalmed as to retain its features, expression, and complexion, and the Jews say that it is still preserved among the relics at Rome. The able- bodied man in this prophetic mystery-play represents Esau, and the limping man is intended for Jacob. Rome (or Esau) is uppermost in that ceremonial, but the time is coming when Jacob will rise and invest himself in the blessings he so craftily obtained the reversion of. 162. Rabbi Yochanan said: — Xone were elected to sit in the High Council of the Sanhedrin except men of stature, of wisdom, of imposing appearance, and of mature age ; men who knew witchcraft and seventy languages, in order that the High Council of the Sanhedrin should have no need of an interpreter. Sanhedrin, fol. 17, col. 1. 163. Yehudah and Chiskiyah, the sons of Rabbi Cheyah, once sat down to a meal before Rabbi (the Holy) without speaking a word. " Give the boys some wine," said Rabbi, " that they may have boldness to speak." When they had partaken of the wine, they said, " The son of David will not come until the two patriarchal houses of Israel are no more," that is, the head of the Captivity in Babylon and the Prince in the land of Israel ; for it is written (Isa. viii. 14), "And he shall be for a sanctuary, and for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel." " Why, children," said Rabbi (who was patriarch of Tiberias), "you are thrusting thorns into my eyes." Rabbi Cheyah said, " Do not be offended at them. Wine, CHAPTER XL 201 ]", is given with seventy, and so is a secret, "TO (the nume- rical value of each of these words is seventy) ; when wine enters the secret oozes out." Sanhedrin, foL 38, col. 1. 164. A certain star appears once in seventy years and deceives the sailors (who guide their vessels by the posi- tion of the heavenly bodies; and this star appears some- times in the north and sometimes in the south. — Rashi) Horayoth, fol. 10, col. 1. 165. As eating olive berries causes one to forget things that he has known for seventy years, so olive oil brings back to the memory things which happened seventy years before. Ibid., fol. 13, col. 2. 166. The outside of the shell of the purple mollusc re- sembles the sea in colour ; its bodily conformation is like that of a fish ; it rises once in seventy years ; its blood is used to dye wool purple, and therefore this colour is dear. Menachoth, fol. 44, coL 1. 167. The bearing-time of the flat-headed otter lasts seventy years ; a parallel may be found in the carob-tree, from the planting to the ripening of the pods of which is seventy years. Bechoroth, fol. 8, col. 1. 168. The Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members. It is recorded that Eabbi Yossi said, "Seldom was there contention in Israel, but the judicial court of seventy-one sat in the Lishkath-hagazith (JTOn DD^b, i.e., Paved Hall), and two (ordinary) courts of justice consisting of twenty-three, one of which sat at the entrance of the Temple-Mount, and the other at the entrance of the ante-court; and also (provincial) courts of justice, also comprising twenty-three members, which held their sessions in all the cities of Israel. When an Israelite had a question to propose, he asked it first of the court in his own city. If they understood the case, they settled the 200 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. through Ham, who stole it from Noah while in the Ark. The glib tongue of tradition also tells how Esau slew Nimrod and appropriated the garment, and wore it for hick wheu hunting; but that on the day when he wenl to seek venison at the request of his dying parent, in his hurry he forgot the embroidered robe of Adam, and had had luck in consequence. Thru Jacob borrowed the left-off garment, and kept it for himself.— The mask alluded to is accounted for thus: — The daughter of a Roman emperor took a fancy to have the skin of Rabl i [shmaeTs lace, and it accordingly, when he was di-.ul, was taken off, and so embalmed as to retain its features, expression, and complexion, and the dews say that it is still preserved among the relics at Rome. The able- bodied man in this prophetic mystery-play represents Esau, and the Limping man is intended for Jacob. Rome (or Esau) is uppermost in that ceremonial, hnt the time is coming when Jacob will rise and invest himself in the blessings he bo craftily obtained the reversion oi 162. Rabbi Yochanan said : — None were elected to sit in the High Council of the Sanhedrin except men of stature, of wisdom, of imposing appearance, and of mature age; men who knew witchcraft and seventy languages, in older that the High Council of the Sanhedrin should have no need of an interpreter. Sanhedrin, foL 17, col. i. 163. Yelmdah and Chiskiyah, the sons of Rabbi Cheyah, once sat down to a meal before Rabbi (the Holy) without speaking a word. " Give the boys some wine," said Rabbi, "that they may have boldness to speak." When they had partaken of the wine, they said, " The son of David will not come until the two patriarchal houses of Israel are no more," that is, the head of the Captivity in Babylon and the Prince in the land of Israel ; for it is written (Isa. viii. 14), >( And he shall be for a sanctuary, and for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel." u Why, children," said Eabbi (who was patriarch of Tiberias), "you are thrusting thorns into my eyes." Rabbi Cheyah said, ' : Do not be offended at them. Wine, CHAPTER XI. 20 1 p, is given with seventy, and bo is a secret, TID (the nume- rical value of each of these words is seventy) ; when wine enters the secret oozes out." Sanhedrin, foL 3S, col. 1. 164. A certain star appears once in seventy years and deceives the sailors (who guide their vessels by the posi- tion of the heavenly bodies; and this star appears some- times in the north ami sometimes in the south. — Bos) Horayoth, foL 10, col. 1. 165. As e iting olive berries causes one to forget things that he has known for seventy years, so olive oil hrings back to the memory thin-.- which happened seventy years • re. lbiJ., I A. 13, coL 2. 166. The outside of the shell <*f the purple mollusc re- sembles tin 1 sea in colour; its bodily conformation is like that of a fish; i' 1 ace in seventy years ; its blood is used to dye wool purple, and therefore this colour is dear. M> nachoth, foL 44, coL 1. 167. The bearing-time of the flat-headed otter lasts : a parallel may ho found in the carol.-- from the planting t < j the ripening of the pods of which i> v years. /; chorothy fol 8, col. 1. 168. The Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members. It is recorded that Rabbi Xbssi said. '-Seldom was there contention in Israel, hut the judicial court of • Uy-one sat in the Eishkath-hagazith (JYUn D3vb, /.<-., Paved Hall), ami two (ordinary) courts of justice consisting of twenty-three, one of which sat at the entrance of the Temple-Mount, and the other at the entrance of the ante-court; and also (provincial) courts of justice, also comprising twenty-three members, which held their sessions in all the cities of Israel. When an Israelite had a question to propose, lie asked it first of the court in his own city. If they understood the case, they settled the :o4 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. receivers of bribes may well look bo their soula It' I feel partial who have not even taken a bribe of what was my own, how perverted must, the disposition of those become who receive bribes at the hands of other.-!" (Kethuboth, iol 105, coL 1.) 1 The judge who takes ;i bribe only provokes wrath, instead of allaying i' ; for is il L(Prov. \\i. 1 p. •A reward in the bosom bringeth Btrone wrath"! ( Bava Bathra, fol. 9, coL 2.) (rn- day counl <»t" their j idgn I 1' Iwxii. 1 >. " ( !<>«! andeth in the 1 I • .. and judgeth with the mhedrin, iol. 6. coL 2.) (A.) A judge who does not judge justly causeth the Sh.-- chinah for it i- said 1 1'-. mi. 5 1, '• For ' -i «'f* the pool . I \ bing of the needy, now will I depart, saith the Lord.'' (Ibid., fol. I ) The jud I ever regard himself as if he had a sword laid upon his thigh, and ('< yawning near him ; on's Song, iii 7. told the bed of Solomon (the jud .t of( rod 1, thi .nt in. 'ii are about it, of the valiant of L They all hold swords, being expert in war (with injii8tic ry one ha . his thigh, for ir of tin- night " (the conf ision that ould follow;. I )'• Ih, fol. 109, coL 2 ; Sanhedrin, fol. 7. coL r.) (j.) Seven have, in the popular regard, no portion in the world ■ ber, best of d< his native place, a conjuror, a 1 ler, and a butcher. (Avoth d l Rabbi Nathan, chap. 36.) .) An ignoramus is ineligible i'<>r a witm (See Chap. v,.. No. ; (h.) The following are ineligible as wil :' the appear ance of the new moon : — Dice-playi rs, fliers, sellers of the j>rodu<-" of the year of release, and .-lav.--. This is tie- general rule ; in any case in which women are inadmissible as witness< lso are in- admissible here. (7, inah, fol. 22, coL 1.) Two disciples of the wise happened to be shipwrecked with Rabbi Yos^i hen Simaii, and the Rabbi allowed CHAPTER XI. 205 tony of women, timony of a hondred women is only equal to the evidence ol one man (and that only in a ca the foregoing; it is inadmissible in imothj foL 1 15, col. 1.) (eut. xix. 1 7 . •• Both the men whom the controversy i- and before the Lord." (San \edr\n\ foL '>. coL 2. 1 (/<.) Th another thin rk, hut tl who : ity from a ( lentile. /.' 1 1 at I J' dified from being \\ it 1 When is this 1 ibliclyj but if in . ''., fol 26, col. 2. ) ('. ) I [e who unreliable as a witness in any 1 I at law; hut if he has per- jured himself in a civil ca-'- only, his evidence maj 1 upon 1:. life and d concerned. (I bid., foL 27, coL 1. ) (/.) He who disavows a loan is fit to be a witness; bul be who disowns a deposit in trust is unlit. {Sin ninth, foL 40, <•"!. 2. ) (/:.) Simncij ben Sheta* 1 taurine the wit- .ict'ul with thy woi from them they lie." (Avothj chap. 1.) Criminals am. Criminal Punishments. Fawr kinds of capital punishment ^vere decreed by the court of justice: — Stoning, burning, b-heading, and strangling : or 1: ibbi Shimon arranges them — Burning, stoning, strangling, and beheading. As soon as the sentence of death is pronounced, the criminal is led out to be 206 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY, stoned, the stoning-place being at a distance from the court of justin- for it is said (Lev. xxiv. \\ , "Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp." Then one official Btands at the dour of the court of justice with a flag in his hand, and another La stationed on horseback at such a distance as to be able to Bee the former. If. meanwhile, one comes and declares before the court, M I have some- thing further to urge in defence of the prisoner," the man at the dooT waves Lis flag, and the mounted official rides forward and Btops the j i Even it" the criminal himself says, * I have yet something to plead in my de- fence," ] be brought I en four or five times over, provided there is something of importance in his deposition. If the evidence is exculpatory, he is dis- charged : if not, he is led out to b \ stoned. As he proc to the place of execution, a public criei him and proclaims, "So-and-so, the bod of So-and aed because he has committed Buch-and-such a crime, and So-and-so and So-and-so are the witni I. ' him who knows of anything thai pleads in his defence • forward and state i - ." W leu about ten yards from the stoning-place, the condemned is called upon to confess his guilt. (All about t i be • I were ui - by making ion every criminal made in th" world to come ; we find it in th : Achan, when Joshua said unto him (Josh. vii. i9),"My Bon, give, I pray thee, glory to the I God of [srael, and make confession unto him," ■And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned." But where are we taught that his confession was his atonement \ Where it is said (ibid., v. 25), •And Joshua Baid, Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day;" as if to say, " This day thou shalt be troubled, but in the world to come thou shalt not be troubled.") About four yards from the aing-place they stripped off the criminal's clothes, covering a male in front, but a female both before and CHAPTER XL 207 behind. These are the words B Eehudah; but the 3 Bay a man was Btoned naked, but not a female. 1 3toning-place wi is twice the height of a man, and this the criminal 1 1 1 then pushed him from behind, tumbled down upon his II • waa then turned over npon his back: if he was kill' but it' not quite >ond wit : took a hea^ \\ it upon hi and if this did not pro\ tual, then the ipleted by all pn 31 nt joining in the act; as it is Baid (Deut xvii. 7), "The hands of the witn all be first apon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people." ■• ( 'rimiiials who wei • afterwi hanged." These arc the wot I of Rabbi] ; but the ty none were hanged hut the blasphemer and They hangi d a man with I to- ls the 1 pie, but a woman with 1 These ai I ' ibbi Eliezei ; but I y a man is hanged, but no woman is hanged. . . . How then did they hang the man I A was firmly fixed into the ground, from which an arm of v. tied the hands of th pended it. Rabbi Yossi says, "The beam simply lean: against a wall, ami bo they hung up tli." body as butchers do an ox or a sheep, ami it was trwards taken down again, for if it remained ov< c night a prohibition of the law would have been thereby trail I it is said (I)rut.xxi. 23), "His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wi86 bury him that (lay; for he that is hanged is accursed of God," &c. That is to say, people would ask why this one was hangejl ; and as the reply would needs h.\ •• Because he blasphemed God," this would lead to the of God's name under circumstances in which it would be blasphemed. The sentence of hurnin_ r was carried out thus : — They 208 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. fixed the criminal up to his knees (?3T"i) in manure, and a hard cloth wrapped in a softer material was passed round his neck. ( >ne of the witnesses, taking hold of this, pulled it one way, and another the other, until the criminal was to open his mouth; then a wick of lead ("ON ;Z r ) was lighted and thrust into his mouth, the molten Lead running down into his bowels and burning them. Rabbi Yehudah asks, " It" the criminal should die in their hands, how would that fulfil the commandment respecting burning ? " they forcibly open his mouth with a pair of tongs and the lighted wire (the molten lead) is thrust into his mouth, so that it goes down into his bowels and burns his inside. The I thus: — They sometimes cut off the criminal's head with a Bword, as is done among the Romans. But Rabbi Yehudah says this was degrading, and in some cases they placed the culprit's head upon the block and struck it off with an axe Sum.- one remarked to him that such a death is more rading still. The strangling i out thus: — They fixed the criminal up to his knees in manure, and having twined a ha] within a ae round his neck Ued one way and the other pulled in an o] till life was extir b. S nhedrin, fol. 42, coL 2 ; foL 40, col. 2 ; fol. 52, cols. 1. 2. Note. ("•> The above, which has hern translated almost literally from the Talmud, may Berve to remove many misconceptions now current as to the modes of capital punishment that obtained in Jewry. (/-.) In further illustration of this topic, we will append sonic of the legal decisions thai are recorded in the Talmud, authenticating each by reference to folio and column. Examples might be multiplied by the »re, but a sufficient number will be <{uoted to give a fair idea of Rabbinic jurisprudence. If one who intends to kill a beast (accidentally) kill a man; or if, purposing to kill a Gentile, he slay an Israelite; or if he destroy a fcetw in mistake for an CHAPTER XL 209 embryOi he shall be free; _,, j- . .. Dot guilty. (San- Tiedrin, foL ;- s , 00L 2. | (enty- two eldera of [srael and lodged them in & w nty-two separate chambers, but did not tell them why he did bo. Then he visited each one in turn and said, "Write out for me tlio law of Moses your Rabbi." The Boly One — ble be Be! — went and counselled the minds of every od them, so that they all agreed, and wrote, " God created in the beginning," &c, M gillah, foL 9, coL 1. Note. — The Talmudic Btory of the origin of the Septuagint s in the main with the account of Aristeas and Josephus, but Philo gives a different version. Many of the Christian fathers believed it to be the work of inspiration. 170. Abraham was as tall as seventy-four people; what CHAPTER XI. 211 he ate and drank was enough I nty-f&ur ordinary men, and his Btrength wa rim, chap. 21,9. 171. The venei ible Hillel had eighty disciples, thirty of whom were worthy that the Shechinah should rest upon tn, as it rested u] d M • our Rabbi; and thirty of them were worthy • sun should stand still for them), as it did for Joshua the bod of Nun; and twi of them Btood midway in worth. The greatesl of all of them was Jonathan ben (Tzziel, and the Least of all R bbi Xochanan ben Zacchai It is said of R Yochanan ben Zacchai that he did Dot Leave unstudied the Bible, the Mishna, the Gemara, titrations, the Legends, the minutias of the law, the i ribes, the argumenl riiori and from similar premi ry of the chan be moon, the < rematria, the of the unri] e and the I . ami of ministering angels. Bava BaihrOj foL [34, coL 1. \J2. A : iminal is to 1"' hanged with his trds the people, but a female with her lace towards the gibbet. So e 1 Rabbi Eliezerj but the sages say the man only is hanged, not the woman. Rabbi Eliezer retorted, " 1 ml not Simeon the Bon of Shetach hang women in Askelon?" To this they replied, " Be indeed caused eighty women to be hanged, though two criminals are to be condemned in one day." hedrin, foL 45, coL 2. Notb. -We may here repeat the Btory of the execution of the eighty women here alluded to, as that is mid by Rashi on the piecedin t the Talmud. Once a publican, an Israelite but a sinner, and a great and ; in in of the Bame place, having died on the same were about to be buried. While the citizens were engaivd with the funeral of the Latter, the relations of the other crossed their path, bearing the c >rpso to the sepulchre. Of a sudden a troop of enemies came upon the scene and caused them all to take to flight, one A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. faithful disciple alone remaining by the bier of his Rabbi After a while the citizens returned to inter the remains they had so unceremoniously left> but by some mistake they took the wrong bier and buried the publi- can with honour, in spite of the remonstrance of the disciple, while the relatives of the publican buried the Rabbi ignominiously. The poor disciple fell incon- solably distressed, and was anxious to know for what Bin man had been buried with contempt, and for what merit the wicked man had been buried with such honour. His Rabbi then appeared to him in a dream, ami said, "Comfort thou thy heart, and come I will show thee the honour I h<>ld in Paradise, ami I will also show thee that man in Gehenna, the hinge of the door of which even now creaks in his ••ars.* But because n a time I list< ued I I ilk about ••1 did not check it, 1 have Buffered an ignoble burial, while the publican enjoyed the honour that was intended for me ] ace distributed gratuitously among the poor of the city a banquet he had prepared for tb which the governor did not come to partake." The disciple having asked the Rabbi how Long this pul merely 1, he re] I tth <>f Simeon tin- boh of Shetach, who is to take the publican's place in Gehenna." "Why "Because, though he knows there are : .1 Jewish witch'-s in Askelon, he idly suffers them ly their infernal trade and d take any .; irpate them." < >n the morrow the disciple reported i to Simeon the son of Shetach, who at once I to take the obnoxious witches. II-' i ■ and choosing a rainy day, supplied each with an nt folded up an I away in an earthen vessel Thus pro- vided, they were each at a given signal to snatch up one of the eighty witches task they would find of easy execution, as, except in contact with the earth, these creatures were powerless.. Then Simeon on of Shetach, leaving his men in ambush, entered the rendezvous of the witches, who, accosting him, asked, "Who art thou?" He replied, " I ama wizard, and am come to experiment in magic." " What trick have you to show I M they said. He answered, " Even though the day * Which were formed into sockets for the gates of hell to turn in. CHAPTER XL is wet I can produce eighty young men all indrycl I They Bmiled incredulously and Baid, " I-'': us Bee !" Be went to the door, and at the Bignal the youug men took the dry clothes "'it of the jars and put them on, then Btarting from their ambush, they rushed into the witches' den, and i^ing one, Lifted her up and carried her off as directed. Thus overpowered, they were brought before the avicted of malpractices and led forth to execute a. [B edririy foL 44, coL 173. ' 5 And 1 will take awaj from tl. • <>( thee." It is taught that (n^no, M,i hlali) means the bile, But why is it termed Machlah? Because eighty-t) are in it. Mach- lah by Gematria equals eighty-i and all may 1"' avoided by an early breakfast of bread and 'I a water. Bava Kama, foL 92, coL 2. 17.}. It' in a book of tin- law the writing LS oblit- all but eighty-five Letters — as, for instance, in Num. x 36, "' And it to ] ass when the ark sot forward," - — it may 1m- rescued on the Sabbath from a iire, but not others bathi foL 1 16, coL 1. 175. Elijah Baid to Rabbi Judah the brother of l; •. Salla the Pious, "The world will not last Less than eighty- five jubilees, &nd in the last jubil on of David will hedrin, foL 97, col. 2. 1 7< T) • - ingle individual in [srael who had not. ninety Lybian donkeys laden with the gold and silver of Egypt. (See chap. xii. No. jC, inj Bechoroth, hi 5, coL 2. 177. (2 Sam. xix. 35), "Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink?" From this we learn that in the aged the sense of 1 troyed. . . . Rav says, " Bar- fcillai the Gileadite reports falsely, for the cook at the house of Rabbi (the Holy; was ninety-two years old, and yet could judge by taste of what was cooking in the pot." SJiabbath, ful. 152, coL 1. 2u A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 1 7 s . Rava said, " Life, children, and competency do not depend on one's merit, hut on hick; for instance, Rabbah and Rav Chasda were both righteous Rabbis; the one prayed for rain and it came, and the other did so likewise with the like result; yet Rav Chasda lived ninety-two years and Rabbah only forty. Rav Chasda, mori over,had sixty weddings in his family during his Lifetime, whi i Rabbah had sixty serious illnesses in his during the short period of his Life. At the house of the former even the iVv^> refused to eat bread made of the finest wheat Hour, whereas the family of the Latter were content to eat rough bread of barley and could not always obtain it." Rava i added. " For thl I : : i\ ed to Heaven, two of which wnr and one was not granted unto me. I prayed for the wisdom of Rav Eunna and for the riches i i" Rav I lhasda, and both these were granted unto me ; but the humility and meekness of Rabbah, the son of Rav Hunna, for which 1 also prayed, v ranted." .1/ / Eaton, foL 28, coL 1. 179. The judges who issued at Jerusalem re- fed for salary ninety-nine man m the contribu- tions of the chamber. Kethuboth, foL 105, col. 1. 180. Ninety-nine die from an evil eye for one who dies in the usual manner. / ; iva Metzia. foL 107, coL 2. CHAPTER XII. TALMUDIC NI'MI.: NGING PROM '"NT. HUNDRED TO 'NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE ' INCLUSIVE. i. The Rabbis have taught us who they are that arc to be accounted rich. "Every oi pa Rabbi Meir, "who enjoys hi " Bui B ibbi TarphoD bi j j, " Every one who has a hundred vineyards and a hundred fields, with a hundred slaves to labour in them." Rabbi Akiva pro- nounces him well off who has a wife thai oming in all i S I [e is rich who has a NDDn JV2 not far from his tab) Shabbath, foL 25, coL 2. 2. A light for one is a light for a hundred. Ibid, foL 1 22, coL 1. Note. — When a Gentile lights a candle or a lamp on the Sabbath-eve for his own use, an [sraelite is permitted to avail himself of its light, as a light for one is a light i^y a hundred ; but it ie unlawful for an [sraelite to order a < rentile to kindle a light for hi- v A hundred Rav Papas and not one (like) Ravina! chap. iv. No. 28, supra.) 4. A hundred zouzim employed in commerce will allow the merchant meat ami wine ;it his table daily, but a hun- dred zouzim employed in farming will allow their owner only salt ami vegetables. Yevamothy foL 63, col. j. 5. A hunt],-"] women are equal to only one witness compare Deut xvii. 6 and xix. 15). Ibid., foL 88, coL 2. 216 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 6. If song should cease, a hundred geese or a hundred measures of wheat might be offered for one zouz, and even then the buyer would refuse paying Buch a sum for them. L 48, coL 1. Notb. - Rav in loco says, "The ear thai often Listens to song shall 1"' rooted out" .Mud--, ace irding to the idea here, - tli" price of provisions. Do away with music and provisions w ; .. ibundanl thai 1 would be considered dear at a penny. Theatres ami music-halls are abominations to orthodox Jews, and the Talmu sidera tin- voice of a woman to be LmmoraL " ( renesis," p. 1 24, No. 43. ) 7. When Rabbi Zira 1 to the land of [srael he d a hundred times h that he might forget the ■.Ionian Talmud (7Wbl2 HID} Bava Met . coL 1. . -This J . fchat <>n p. j \ No. 1 5, will appear not a Little surprising to many a reader, We must, however, give the Talmud greal credil rding such passages, ami also the custodians of tip- Talmud f c not having ex punged them from ii - ; s. •• Ye shall hoar the small as well as the great" Deut. i. 17 . 1; . 1. ... A lawsuit about a prutah smallest coin there > houl I aed of as much suil of a hundred manah n nhedrin, foL 8, col. 1. 9. Rav Yitzehak asks, "Why was Obadiah accouc worthy to ho a pi wers, ho concoaled a hundred prophets in a cave; as it is said (1 Kings xviii. 4), " When Jezel el cut off the prophi I the ' idiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by titty iii a cave." Why by fifties '. Rabbi Kliezer ex- plains, 'He copied the plan from Jacob, who said, 'If Esau come to one company and smite it, then the other company which is left may escape.' " Rabbi Abuhu says, " It was because the caves would not hold any more." Ibid., fol. 39, col. 2. CHAPTER XII. 217 10. "And it came to pass after these things that God \i of his mother.' 'Take him whom thou lovest.' " I Love both of them,' said Abraham. 'Tai I .' Thus Abraham's mind was gradually prepared i<>r this trial While on the way irry out this Divine command Satan met him, and (parodying Job iv. 2-5) said, 'Why ought grievous trials to be inflicted upon thee? Behold thou hast instructed many, and thou hast, strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have supported him that was falling, and now this sore burden is Laid upon thee. 1 Abraham answered (anti- cipating Ps. xxvi. 1 1 1, ' I will walk in my integrity. 1 Then .-aid Satan (see Job iv. 6), ' Is not the fear (of God) thy fully . ; Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent ? ' Then finding that he could not persuade him, lie said (perverting Job iv. 12), ' Now a word came to me tealth. I overheard it behind the veil (in the Holy 2iS A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. of Holies above). A lamb will be the sacrifice, and not Isaac.' Abraham said, ' It is the just desert of a liar not in be believed even when he speaks the truth.'" Sanhedrin, foL So, coL 2. 11. It is better to have ten inches to stand upon than a hundred yards to fall. Avotl // . Nathan, chap. 1. 12. When [srael went up to Jerusalem to worship their Father who is in heaven, they sat bo close together that no one could insert a finger between them, yet when they had to kneel and to prostrate themselves there was room enough for them all to do so. Th wonder of all was that even when a hundred pros! themselves at tlir same time there was no need for the governor of the synagogue to request one to make room for another. p. 14S. No. 2, supra.) 11 :•/.. chap. 35. 13. A man is bound to repeat a hundred blessings • day. Mi nachoth, foL 43, coL 2. Note. — (a.) This duty, as Ra&hi telle as, is based upon Deut. x. 1 2, altering the word ns (what ) into riKO (a hundred), by the addition of the Letter s . and from the Tosaf oth we Learn th- curious fact that " the text counts a hundred fefter*, with the addition of an M to the word P!D, the itself containing ninety and nine. (See the '• Arurh," 8. V. TN*: (A.) This is what the so-called Pagan Goethe, intent on ulture as the first if not the final duty of man, makes Serlo in his "Meister" lay down as a rule which one should observe daily. "(Mi.'."' la- sivs, "ought every day (0 hear a little song, lead ;t good poem, see a tin" picture, and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words." The contrast between this advice and that of the Talmud here and elsewhere 3tive of reflections. 14. lie who possesses one manah may buy, in addition to his bread, a litra of vegetables ; the owner of ten inanahs IPTER XIL 21 | may add to hia bread a litra of fish; he that has fifty inanaha may add a litra of meat ; while the possessor of a hundred may have pol ry day. Chnllui, foL 84, COL I. 15. Ben Hey-Heyaaid to Hillel, "What does thia mean that is written in MaL iii. 18, 'Then Bhall ye n ■turn, and .-■••11 the 1 ighteous and the wick • ■• en him that Berveth God and him that serveth Him not'1 D hteous hi d him that Berveth God, and the wicked him that Berveth Him not ■ Why thi tion : " To thia Hillel replied, M The expr< ssiona, 'he that eth < rod, and he thai I b Him 1 both to be underst 1 aa denoting ■ perfectly righteous,' but he who :i a hwndred timi with one who repeats i; a hundred and one times." Then said Ben Hey-Hey, - What ! because he has repeated what he has Learned only one time Less than th I 1 be consider d aa ' one who 3erveth Him not '?" " Yes ! " the reply; "go and learn a Lesson from the published tariff of the donkey-drivers — tenmilea forone zouz, eleven wo. Chaggigahj foL 9, coL 2. Nora— Hillel was great and good and clever, but his exposi- tion of Scripture, as we Bee from the above, is Dot alv to be depended upon. Jf, indeed, he was the teacher of Jesus, as Borne Buppose him to have been, then Jesus must, even from a Rabbinical stand-point, be regarded as greater than Hillel the Great, for He never handled the .'. it li such irreveren 16. One hundred and three chapters (or psalms) were uttered by David, and he did not pronounce the word Hallelujah until he came to contemplate the downfall of the wicked ; aa it is written (Pa. civ. 35), "Let the sinners bo consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, my soul, Hallelujah ! " Instead of one hundred dad three we ought to say a hundred and four, but we infer from this that " Blessed is the man," 22o A TALMUDJC MISCELLANY. &a, and "Why do the heathen rage? w &c., are but one psalm. B rachoth, fol. 9, col. 2. N"Ti:. — (a.) See chap. i. No. 28, supra. The firsl La an in- structive psalm, the Becond 9 prophetic, and the reason why the two psalms are merged into one is because the first begins and the second ends with the same word, HBWi " bless< (A.) One of the most charming women thai we find figuring in the Talmud was the wife of Rabbi Meir, Beruriah by name; and as we meei with her in the im mediate context of the above quotation, it may be well to introduce her here to the attention of the reader. The context speaks of a I porant fellows (probably Greeks) who sorely vexed the soul of Rabbi .M«-ir, her husband, and he ardently prayed < rod to take them away. Then Beruriah reasoned with her husband thus : — " Is it, pray, because it is written (Pa civ. 35), 4 Lei the sinners be consumed ' ? 1; is do1 written cs-in, 'sinners,' but D % KBn, 'sin .' I ides, a little farther on in the text it is i. ■ A:. 1 the wicked will be do more ; ' thai is to Bay, D'KDfl ion', ' I. . and tin- wicked will <■ . on their behalf that they may be led to repentance, and these wicked will be no more." This he I did, and they repented and ceased 1" ••; him. Of this excellent and humane woman it may well be Baid, "She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness" (Prov. xxxi. 2''). Her end wa She was entrapped by a dis ciple of her husband, and out 1 she committed suicide. (See particulars by Rashi in Avodah Zarah, foL iS, col. 2, and " I renesis," ]>. 1S7, notes b and - .) 17. The Ilasinonoans ruled over I -raid during the time of the second Temple a hundred <>/>>/ three years ; and for a hundred and three the government waa in tin; hands of the family of Herod. Avodah Zf the hundred, and that while til.- ( rentile assured him that he confidently trusted to his honesty. Rava once went parts with a Gentile and bought a tri . was cut up into logs. This done, he bade his mtv. :il pick him out th.' largest logs, but to be sure t<> take no more than the proper Dumber, because the Gentile knew how many there were. A.- Rav Ashi was walking abroad one day he e growing in a roadside vineyard, and sent his Bervant to Bee whom they belonged t<>. u if they belong to a Gentile," he said, "bringsome here to me; but if they belong to an Israelite, do not meddle with them." The owner, who happened to 1m- in tli«' vineyard, overheard tii»' Rabbi's order and railed out, "What! is it lawful to rob a Gentile?" "Oh, no," said the Rabbi evasively;"a Gentile might sell, but an Israelite would not." Bava Kamctj foL 113, col. 2. Note. — This is given .-imj.lv as a sample <>f the teaching of the [Talmud "ii the subject both by precept and example. There Lb no intention to cast a slight on general Jewish integrity, or suggest distrust in regard to their ethical creed A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY, 21. Rabbon Gamliel, Rabbi Eliezei ben Azaryah, Rabbi Sehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva once went on a journey to Rome, and at Puteoli they already heard the aoisy din of the city, though at a distance of a hundred and twenty miles. At the sound all Bhed tears - I Akiva. who began to laugh. "Why laughesl thou?" they asked. •■ Why do you cry '." he retorted. They answered, " These Romans, who worship idols of wood and Btone and offer incei irs and planets, abide in peaceand quietness, while our Temple, which was the footstool of our God, Is consumed by fire; how can we help weeping " "Thai is just the very reason," said he, "why] rejoice; for if such be the lot of those who t: His laws, v. shall the lot of those be who observe and do them Maccothj l'"l. 2.}, coL 2. Wnen Adam d that his sin was the cause of 1 e which made death universal he fasted one hundred and thirty years, abstained all that space from intercourse with his wife, and wore girdles of fig-leaves round his loins. All these years he lived under divine pleasure, and begat devils, demons, and spectres; as it :i (Gen. v. 3), "And Adam lived a hundred and thirty wars, and begat in his own likene : his ima which implies that, until the close of those years, his oll- spring were not alter his own ima Eiruviriy foL iS, col. 2. 23. There is a tradition that there was once a disciple in Yabneh who gave a hundred and fifty reasons to prove a reptile to be clean (which the Scripture regards as un- clean. — Compare Lev. xi. 2<>) Ibid., foL 13, col. 2. 24. The ablutionary tank made by Solomon was as large as a hundred and fifty lavatories. Ibid., fol. 14, col. 1. 25. A hundred and eighty years before the destruction \PTER XII. pie, the empire of idolatry (Rome) began the conquest of Israel. Shabbath, foL 15, col 1. Notb. The 1 mpire of Rome 1 think, - with all it> might • down the God t'> the worship of man, and resolve the ; into the : the Emperor. 26. During the tim I second Temple Persia domi- neered 1 and the I h .1 Hxidh Zarah, foL 9, col. 1. 27. Foolisl • and self-afflicting Pharu 1 the d of the world. What is it • : • I woman drowning in the river and refrain from trying to • her kx c ra f \ thing. Who i • . villain ! R tbl i X fa u He who prejudii sing them in or of hi rot has had tim make hi B I ■ ' ■: A I hu B ;. S, " He who givi : poor man to make up for him the sum total of two hundred zouzim ; for it is enacted that he who pos- • w hundred zowwn La not entitled to receive any aings, neither what U I tten in the field, nor what is left in the corner of it (see Lev. xxiii. 22). nor 1 ther. But if hort of the two hun- dred zouzim, and a thousand people give anything to him, he is still entitled to the poor mai 8oti h, f"l. 21, COL J. 28. The cup of David in the world to come will con- tain two hundred and twenty-one Logs; as it is said (Ps. xxiii. 5), "My cup runneth over," the numerical value of the Hebrew word flm . "runneth over," being two hun- ty-ont. TomOf foL 76, coi 1. Nora. — In the world to come the Holy One will make a grand banquet for the righteous from the flesh of the Leviathan. Bava Bathra, f ol 75, col 1. (See the Morn- 224 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. ing Service for the middle days of the Feast of Taber- nacles.) God will make a banquet for the righteous the day when Be shows Bis mercy to the posterity of Isaac. Afterthe meal the cup of blessing will be handed to Abraham, in order thai he may pronounce the bless- ing, 1'iit he will plead excuse because he begat [shmaeL Then [saac will 1"- told to take the cup and apeak the benediction of grace, but he also will plead 1 1 is unwor- thiness because he begal 1 . N i also will refusi he married two Bisl Then Mo ground that he was unworthy to enter the Land of promise, or even to be buried in it ; and finally Joshua will plead onworthinesa because he had no sod. David will then be called upon to take the cup and bless, and he will l. . I will b] . . I am worthy to bless; as it is said (Pa cxvi 13), l l will take the cup .lvation, and call upoD the name of ti: 1 him, foL 119, col. 2. This cup, as we are told twenty-c ;■*. : B bbis tell as, i- the twenty fourth pa] this cup will hold ral than one- third of a hogshead of win iriab once found iw him sin- spurned him ami :. " Is it not thus written (2 Sam. x x i*i i . 5),'0rdered in ail and sir ■ : ' 1 1 with all the two hundred and forty-eight members of thy I will be vwre; if it will not be sure." It is recorded thai Rabbi Eli had a di ho also studi e, hut that ai thre he forgot all that he had Learned. Eiruvin, foL 53, col 2, and fol 54, coL i. :. — In continuation of the above we read that Shemuel said to Kiv Fehudah, "Shrewd fellow, open thy mouth when thou readest, .. thai thy reading may remain and thy life may be Lengthened ; as it is written in Prov. iv. 22, l For they are Life unto those that find them:' I not Dn\K¥lD7j 'that find them/ but read DrPKWDft 'that bring them forth by the mouth,' Le., that read them aloud." It was and is .-till a common custom in the East to study aloud. 30. As an anathema enters all the two hundred and CHAPTER XII. 225 forty-eight members of the body, so does it issue from them all. Of the entering-in of the anathema it is written, Josh. vi. 17), "And the city shall be D"in, accursed;" D~in, by Gematria amounting to too hundred and forty- eigJU. Of the coming-out of the anathema it is written (Hab. iii 2), " In wrath remember DTD, mercy;" Dm, a transposition of the letters of the word tor accursed, also amounting by Gematria to two hundred and forty-eight. Rabbi Joseph .-ays, •• Bang an anathema on the tail of a ill .-till go on doing mischief." .1/ I Katoriy foL 1 7, coL 1. 51. The human body has two hundred and forty-tight members: — Thirty in the fool — that is, six in each toe — ten in the ankle, two in the thigh, five in the knee, one in the hip, three in the hip-hall, eleven ribs, thirty in the hand — that is, six in each finger — two in the fore-arm, two in the >w, one in the upper arm, four in the shoulder. Thus we have one hundred and one on each side; to this add eighteen vertebrae in the spine, nine in the head, eight in the neck, six in thi and live in the loins. Oholoih, chap. 1, mish, 8. Note. — Se< ah • Biruvin, foL 53, coL 2, and the Musaph for the Becond day of Pentecost. En the Musaph for the New War there is a prayer thai runs thus, "Oh, deign to hear the voice of those who glorify Thee with all their members, according to the number of the two hundred and forty-eight affirmative precepts. In this month they blow thirty Bounds, according to the thirty memfa I the soles of their feel ; the additional offerings of the day are ten, according to the ten in their ankles; they approach the altar twice, according to their two legs ; five are called to the law, according to the five joints in their knees ; they observe the appointed time to Bound the cornet on the first day of the month, according to the one in their thigh ; they sound the horn tinier, accord- ing to the three in their hips; lo ! with the additional offering of the new moon they are eleven, according to their eleven ribs; they pour out the supplication with nine blessings, according to the muscles in their arms, and which contain thirty verses, according to the thirty r A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. in the palms of their hands ; they daily repeat the prayer of eighteen blessings, according to the > hi>ii>!r*d miles away from the other. How then cam.' they to know of Job's sad condition ? Some say they had wreaths, others say trees (each representing an absent friend), and when any friend was in distress the 228 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. one representing him straightway began to wither. Rava said, " Hence the proverb, ' Either a friend as the friends of Job, or death.'" B i Bathra, foL 16, coL 2. Notbl — Raahi tenders this explanation, thai Joh and his friends had each wreaths with their names engraved on them, and if affliction befell any one his name upon the wreath would change colour. 40. Rabbi Yochanan says that Rabbi Meir knew tl hundred fables about foxes, but we have only three of them, viz., '• The fathers have eaten BOUT grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" Ezek. xviii. 2 ; "dust balances and just weights " 'Lev. xix. 56); "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his L" Prov. xi. 8). Sanhedrin, fol 38, coL 2, and foL 39, coL r. Note. Quite apropos to this we glean the following from Rashi : -A fos once induced a wolf to enter a Jewish dwelling to help the in:. gel ready the Sabbath meal No sooner did he enter than the whole house- hold Bet upon him, and bo belaboured him with cudgels that he was obliged to flee for his life. For this trick the wolf was indignant at the fox, and Bought to kill him, but he pacified him with the remark, "They would not have beaten thee if thy father had not on a former occasion belied confidence, and eaten up the choi< pieces that were set aside for the meaL" "What!" rejoined the wolf, "the fathers have eaten bout grapes, and Bhall the children's teeth be Bet on edge?" lk WeU," interrupted the fox, "come with me now and I will show thee a place where thou mayest eat and be satis- fied. M Be thereupon took him to a well, across the top of which rested a transverse axle with a rope coiled round it, to each extremity of which a bucket was attached. The fox, entering the bucket, which hap- pened to be at tin.' t<>p, soon descended by his own weight to the bottom of the well, and thereby raised the other bucket to the top. On the wolf inquiring at the fox why lie had gone down there, he replied, because he knew there was meat and cheese to eat and be satis- fied, in proof of which lie pointed to a cheese, which happened to be the reflection of the moon on the water. Upon which the wolf inquired, " And how am I to get CHAPTER XI L -) down bes Pox replied, "By getting into the bucket at the top." Be did as directed, and as he ended the bucket with the i>>\ rose to the top. The wolf in this plight again appealed to the fox "But how am I to get i The reply was, "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his •' nd is it aot written, "Just balances just wei| 41. When Rabbi Eliezer, on hia deathbed, taught Rabbi Akiva //• hundred particulars to be observed in regard to the white Bpot covered with hair which was the sign of Leprosy, the former lifted up his arms and placed them on In- chest and exclaimed, " Woe is me, be sause of these my two arms, these two scrolls of the law, that arc about to depart from this world ; for if all the seas were ink, and all the : :•• quills, and all the men were scribes, they could not record all 1 have Learned and all 1 have taught, and how much 1 have heard at the lips of sages in the schools. And what is more, 1 also taught three hun- dred laws based oi ■.:. ' A witch shall not live.'" A ' ! < cCRab. Nathan^ chap. 25. Note. — This truly Oriental exaggeration, which Rabbi Eliezer b d Azariah bo complacently applies to himself, was Bpoken Rabbi Y chanan before him (Bereshith Babba); and an acrostic poem in the Morning Service for lVntccost adopts the same hyperbole almosl word for word, and turns it to very pious account It Lb interesting to note how contemporary Bacred literature abounds in similar hyper- bolic expressions. In John xxi 25 it is Baid, "There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they Bhould be written every one, I Buppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Cicero, too, Bpeaks of a glory of Buch a weight that even heaven itself is scarcely able to con- tain it ; and Livy, on one occasion, describes the power of Rome as with difficulty restrained within the limits of the w^ild. Bere it may not be out of place if we introduce a few of the many passages in the Talmud that treat of enchantment and witchcraft, as well as magic, charms, and omens. The list of Quotations miffht be extended A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. to a hundred, bill we musl confine ourselves to a score (a.) The daughters of [srael bum incense for(purpose8 of) sorcery. (Berachoth^ foL 53, coL 1.) (/-.) Ben A/:ii (son of impudence), says, " . . . he who seats himself and then feels .... (which must uot 1"' explained), the effects of witchcraftj even when practised in Spain, will come upon him. What is the remedy when one forgets and first sits down and then ... When he rises let him Bay, n s i dt.fi \>b D*nnn, 'Not these and not of these; not the witchcraft of sorcerers and not t: Tbid., 2, < L I.) (-•. ) The daughters f Israel in later gem lapsed into the practice of witchcraft (Eir \. 2.) (d. ) ATti flimuT says, " The superior of the witchi - told me that when a \ roy of them he should mutter thus, ' May a potsherd of boiling dung 1"- Btuffed into your mouths, you ugly witches! May the hair with which yon perform • be torn from your heads, bo that ye I ild. May the wind Bcatter the crumbs wherewith ye do your divinations. May your ! may the wind blow away : hold in your hands for the practising of \ foL 1 10, coL 1. I Yohanna, the daughtei I R tibi, was a widow, who bewitched women in their confinement 1 8 Rashi • h, fol. 22, coL 1. ) R bbi Shimon ben Gamliel, in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua, " Since the I ion of the Temple a day has not passed without a curse; the dew does not down with a I md tin- fruits havelost their proper taste." Rabbi Yossi adds, " Also the lusciousnesa <.f the fruit is { Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar "With the decay of purity the taste and aroma (of the fruit) has disappeared, and with tin- tithes the richn . •• Lewdm 3s and ^ itchcraft ruin everything. n (Soteh, foL 48, coL 1.) d used to Btrip the dead of their shrouds. Once when he came to the tomb of Kay bar Mathna, he was seized and held fast by the beard, but Abaii having interceded on behalf of bis friend, the grip was Let go 1 1 he was set at liberty. Nfext year he came again on the same errand, and again he was seized by the beard. This time Abaii's intercession was CHAPTER XII. 211 of ii" avail, and he was not Liberated until fchey brought a paii ra and cut ofif his beard. (Bava Bathra, fol 58, col E.) (A.) None were allowed to Bit in the Sanhedrin un] they had a knowli Sanhedrin, foL 17, coL 1.) (/.) Rabbi Shimon said, "An enchanter is T3yon ■*:* *:": ~; % i_' |*pn -;•. one who passeth the exudation (jht nzzL") of seven different male creatures over i one who practises arid palms off optica] illusions. Rabbi Akiva Bays, " Be is one who calculates times and hours, and says To-day is good to start on a journey, 1 »w will be a Lucky • lav for Belling, I the Sabbatical year is illy good for growing wheat, The pulling up I erve them from being spoiled." According to the B . " An enchanter is he who augurs ill when his bread drops from his mouth, or if he drops the .-tick that supports him from his hand, or if hie after him, or a crow caws in his hearing, or a deer crosses his path, orhe Bees a b< rpent at his right hand or a fox on it. or if he Bays to the tax-gatherer, ■ Do not begin with me the first in the morning;' or, ' It is the fa tlir month ;' or, ' It is the exit of the Sabbath, 1 />., the commencement of a new week." (Sanhedrin, foL 65, col 2.) ( /. > "By th»- term witch," the Rabbis say, "wi to understand cither male or female." " If so," it is asked, "why the term nDE>3D 'witch,' in ExocLxxii e8, in the Bebrew vea 17. is in the feminine gender?" ." it is answered, "most women are witches." / /., foL 67, col 1.) (/,-.) If the proud (in Israel) were to cease, the magi- would also cease; as it is written (Isa i. 25), "I will purge away thy dross and take away all thy tin." / ''.', foL 98, coL 1.) (/.) Among those who have no portionin the world ate is he who read- the Looks of the strangers, foreign books (roiJPTin *TDD, hooks of outsiders. See also Sanhedrin, foL 90, col. 1). Now Rav Yoseph says, •• 1 1 is unlawful to read the Book of the Son of Sirach, . . . because it is written therein (Ecclesiasticus xlii. 9, &c, as quoted, or rathor misquoted, in the Talmud), • A daughter is a false treasure to her father : because of * Instead of cuttiug. A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY, anxiety for her he cannot Bleep at nighl : when she ia young, for fear Bhe ahonld be seduced ; in her virginity, lest she play the harlol ; in her marriageable age, lesl Bhe should not u r '-t married ; and when married, Lest slm Bhould be childless; and when grown old, Lesl Bhe prac- witchcraft.' " (Sanhedrin^ foL ioo, col 2.) (in.) He who multiplieth wives mtdtiplieth witchcraft. (Avoth, chap. . .) Most donkey-drivers are wicked, bill mosl sailors are pious. The besl physicians are destined for hell, the upright butcher is a partner of Amalek. Bas- tards are mostly cunning, and servants mostly handsome. Those who are well-descended are bashful, and children mostly resemble their mother's brother. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai bids us " kill the best of ' rentiles " (modern editions qualify this by adding, in time of war), " and smash the head of the be I •• The besl among women," he says, "is a witch." Bl< I is he who dors the will of God! N phrim, chap. 1^, hal 10.) I .) On the Sabbath one may carry a grasshopper's - . he, the tooth of a Livin to promote Bleep, the tooth of a dead fox to prevenl sleep, and the nail of one crucified (as a remedy) for inflammation or swelling. For cutaneous disorders he is Baziah, Mass Massiah, < » riah, Shar- Laii, and Amarlaii (names of angels), &c. ... As the mul( and multiply, BO may the skin disease uot is id upon the body of N., the son of the woman N.. & . (Shabbath, foL 67, coL 1.) (p.) " For night-blindness, let a man take a hair-rope and hind one end of it to his own Leg and the other to a dog's, then Lei children clatter a potsherd after him, and call out, 'Old man! dog! f ool ! cock!' Lei him now collect seven pieces of meat from Beven (different) houses : Let him set them on the cross-bar of the threshold, then Let him eat them on the town middens ; and after thai Let him undo the hair-rope, then let him say thus: 'Blindness of So-and-so, son of Mrs. So-and-so, leave So-and-so, son of Mrs. So-and-so, and be brushed into the pupil of the eye of the dog.'" (Quoted from "The Fragment," by Rev. W. 11. Lowe of Cambri (Gittin, foL 69, col. 1.) (7. ) According to the Rabbis, a man should not drink water by night, for thus lie exposes himself to the CHAPTER XII. 253 power of Bhavriri, the demon of blindness. "What then should In- do if he is thirsty I If there be another man with him, Let him rouse him up and say, u I am thirsty ;" but if he be alone, let him tap upon the lid of the jug (to make the demon fancy there's some one -with him), and addressing himself by bis own name and the name of his mother, let him aay, "Thy mother has bid thee beware of SJiavriri, vriri, riro, in, ri" in a white cup. Rashi says by this incantation the demon gradually contracts and vanishes as the sounds of the word Shavriri de (Av ddh Zarah, foL 12, coL 2. 1 (/•. ) A python is a familiar spirit who Bpeaks from hi- arm-pits ; a wizard is one who speaks with the mouth. As tie- Rabbis have taught, a familiar spirit is one who speaks from his joints and his wri.-ts ; a wizard is one who, putting a certain bone into his mouth, causes it t«> speak. (Sanhedrin, foL 65, col. 1, 2.) (*.) lie who says to a raven, " Croak," and to a hen . " Droop thy tail and turn it this way as a lucky sign," is an imitator of the ways of the Amorites (Lev. xviii. 3). (Shabbath, foL 67, col. 2.) (/.) Women going out on the Sabbath-day are allowed, as tie- Rabbis teach, to carry with them PiDlpJl pK, a certain stone believed to counteract abortion. Abaii interrupts his exposition of this Halachah in order to enumerate certain antidotes to chronic fever which, lie says, he had learned from his mother. Take a new zouz and then procure its weight in sea-salt; han£ this round the neck, suspended by a papyrus fibre, so that it may rest jusl in the hollow in front. If this does not answer, ,u r o where two or more roads meet and watch for the firsl big ant that is going home loaded; lay hold of it and place it in a brass tube ; Btop up the end of the tube with lead, putting as many Bealsuponitas possible; tic n shake it, savin- the while, " My load be upon thee, and thine upon me." To this Rav Acha, the son of Rav llunna, objected to Rav Ashi, and asked, "Might not the ant have been already laden with another man's fever I " " True,"' observed the other ; " nevertheless let him say, ' My load be upon thee as M'ell as thine own.'" If this be not effective, then take a new earthenware pot, and going to the nearest stream, say, " Stream, stream, hud me a pot full of water for one who is on a visit to me." Wave it seven times round thy head and then :34 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. throw the water Lark again, Baying "Stream, stream, take back thy borrowed water, for my guest came and went tin' same day." Rav Iluima then adds a prescription for a tertian fever, and Rabbi Yochanan gives the following as effective against a burning fever:- Take an iron knife, and having fastened a papyrus fibre to the nearest bramble, cut off a piece and Bay, " And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in & flam* of fire," &c, a& in I iii. 2. On the mon off another piece and say, "The Lord saw that he (the fever) tut ." then upmi the third d " 1 toaw no1 hither," and Btooping down, pray, "Bush, bush! the Eoly One—blessed 1"' II' : i '■. I II -. - Shechinah to Lodge upon thee, not irt the loftiest, for thou art the Lowest of all trees} and as when thon didst see the fire of Hananiali, tel, and Azariah, thon didsl flee therefrom, the fire (fever) of this sufferer and flee from it." (Shab- hath, foL 66, coL 2, & (u.) Rabba i bed a man (out of dust) and him to Rabbi Zira, who having addressed the ii._ r ur>- and received no ai id, "Thon art (made) by witch- craft ; return to thy nal Chaneanah and < tahayah I bbath eve Btudying rrw TDDi the book Y-t/.imh (/.»■., the book of Creation), until they were able to create I a calf (as three-year old, and they did eat tl. '"'//•///, f( '.. 2.) (r. ) Fannai once turned in to a certain inn, and asked for water to drink, when they gave him xrvnL" (Shethi- tha, /.'., water mixed with flour). 1 K- noticed that the lips of the woman who brought it moved (and thing was wrong), he poured out a little of :.l it became scorpions. Ee then said, "1 have drunk of thine, now thou Bhalt drink of mine." The woman drank and was transformed into an ass, which he mounted and rode to the market-place. One of her companions having conn.' up, broke the Bpell, and the ass he had ridden was on the spot transformed back again into a woman. In reference to the above, Rashi naively remarks that "we are not to suppose that Yannai was a RaLLi, for lie was not held in esteem, be- cause he practised witchcraft" But Rashi is mistaken ; see Sophrim, chap. 16, hal. 6. {Sarikedrin, ful. 67, col 2.) CHAPTER XII. 255 ("•.1 , ; witchcraft came into the world; 1 nine u. : the world one, (Kiddushinj foL 40, coL 2 I Rabl Sabbath p^DB^DI \ s 20 D*yt3 'izz. rpenta and Bcorpions may be tamed by charming; that a metal ring, Buch as may be carried on the Sabbath, may be applied aa a remedy to a Bore eye ; thai demons may not be consulted on that day about roperty. Ral .id, " This ought not to -Hi week-daya R B iys, k ' The Balachah does ii"t enjoin as Rabbi Yossi say.-, and even he prohibits it only b f the risk there Is in con- sulting demons. For install .1;-. JTitzchak bar Yoseph tely delivered from the attacks of a mon by a ced its own accord ami enclosing him in its trunk.'' (Sanhedrin, foL ioi, col I.) Rabbi 1 : man ben Zachai acquired a knowledge «.f tip- Languaj gels and demons for purpoi incantation. (Bava Bathra^ foL 134, coL 1.) •■ Neither shall ye use enchantments" . . . (Lev. ii, for instance, as those practised with : .wis, and fiahi S hedrin, foL 66, col. 1.) (aa.) liav Ketina happened one.', in his travels, to hear tin- noise of an earthquake just as he came opposite to tlx- abode of one who was wont to conjure with human Eappening to mutter aloud to himself as ho :. •• 1 1 • the conjurer really know what that ooise 1 voice answered, " Ketina, Retina, why shouldn't I know .' When the Holy One blessed be He! thinks of His children who dwell in sorrowful circumstances among tie- nations of the earth. Be lets fall two tears into the - , and B is voice is heard from one end of tie- world to the other, and that is the rumbling noise we hear." Upon which Rav Retina protested, "The conjurer is a liar, his words are not true; they might have been true, had there been two rumbling noises." The fart was, two such noises were heard, but Rav Ketina would not acknowledge it, lest, l»y so doing, lie should increase the popularity of the conjurer. Rav Retina is of opinion that the rumbling noise is caused by God clapping Bis hands together, as it is said (Ezek. xxi 22; A. V, vit. 17), "I will also smite My hands ther, and I will cause My fury to rest." (Berachoth, foL 59, col. 1.) 236 A TALMUD1C MISCELLANY. 42. Rabbi Elazar 1 >« t 1 Azariah proclaimed this anatbema with the blast of three hundred trumpets: — "Whoever shall take drink from the hand of a bride, no matter whether she be the daughter of a disciple of the wise or the daughter of an Amhaaretz, it is all one as it" he drunk it from the hand of a harlot." Again, it is Baid. " Be who receives a cup from the hands of a bride and drinks it therefrom, has no portion whatever in the world to come." Trad Calah. 43. There was a place for collecting the ashes in the middle of the altar, and there were at times in it nearly as much as thr< • hundred cors 1 equal to about 2S30 bushels of ashes. On Rava remarking that this must be an exag- ition, Rav Ammi said the law, the prophets, and the - is are wont to use hyperbolical language. Thus the law speaks of " 1 jreat and walled up to heaven " (Deut. i. 28); the prophet .'.of " the earth rent with the sound of them" (1 Kings i. 40); the sages speak as above and also as follows There was a golden vine at the entrance of the Tei ; I . trailing on crystals, on which devotees who could used to Buspend offerings of fruit and grape clusters. " It happened one," said Rabbi Elazer hen Rabbi Zadoc, " that three hundred priests wen- counted oil to clear the vine of the offerings." Chullin, foL 90, coL 2. 44. Three hundred priests were told off to draw the veil (of the Temple) aside ; for it is taught that Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel declared in the name of Iiabbi Shimon the Sagan (or high priest's substitute), that the thickness of the veil was a handbreadth. It was woven of seventy-two cords, and each cord consisted of twenty- four strands. It was forty cubits long and twenty wide. Eighty-two myriads of damsels worked at it, aud two such veils were made every year. When it became soiled, it took three hundred priests to immerse and cleanse it. I bid. ^ ful. 90, col. 2. CHAPTER XIL 237 45. When Moses was about to enter Paradise he turned to Joshua and said, " If any doubtful matters remain, ask me iinw and I will explain them." To this Joshua re- plied, " Have I ever left thy side for an hour and gone away to any other \ Hast thou not thyself written con- cerning me (Exod. xxxiii. 11), 'His servant Joshua, the Bon of Xun, a young man, departed not out of the Taber- nacl A a punishment for this pert reply, which must have distressed and confounded his master, Joshua's power of brain was immediately weakened, so that he forgot three hundred Halachahs, and seven hundred doubts Bprang ap to perplex him. All Israel then rose up to munler him, hut the Holy One — blessed be He! — said unto him, " To teach thee the Halachahs and their explana- tion is impossible, but go and trouble them with work; as it is said (Josh. 1. 1 ), ' Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua,' " &C. Temurah, foL 16, coL 1. In the future God will assign to each righteous man three hundred and ten worlds as an inheritance; for it is said ( Prov, viii. 2l),"That I may cause those that love me to inherit (#*) substance, and I will till their treasures/' W by Gematria equals three hundred and ten. Sanhedrin, fol. 100, coL r, and Okitzin, chap. 3, mish 12. 47, An old woman once complained hefore Rav Nach- man that the Head of the Captivity and certain Kabbis with him were enjoying themselves in her booth, which they had surreptitiously taken possession of and would not surrender, but Rav Nachman gave no heed to her remonstrance. Then she raised her voice and cried aloud, ■• A woman whose father had three hundred and eighteen slaves is now pleading hefore you, and you paying no heed to her ! " Upon whieh Iiav Nachman turned to his associ- ates and said, " She is a bawling woman, but she has no right to claim the booth, only the value of its timber." Succah, fol. 31, col. 1. 23S A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 48. Elijah the Tishbite once said to Rav Yehudah, the brother of Rav Salla the Holy, " You ask why the Messiah 3 not come, but though it is jusl now the Day of Atonement/'Xynnaa ttrmm HM^UttKT "And what," asked the Rabbi, "does the Holy One — blessed 1"' He! — say to that?" " He says, ' Sin lieth at the door '" (Gen. iv. 7). "And what lias Satan t<> Bay?" "He lias no permission to accuse any one on the Day of Atonement." ■ How do we know this ? " Ramma bar Chamma replied, .'in (TJU'ii) by Gematria equals three hundred ami on that number of days only has he permission 1 ; but on the Day of Atonement ' » 5 1 1 1 day; he cannot accu- " } ::n, foL 20, coL 1. 49. Rav Yitzchak said, " What is the meaning of that which is written (Ps. cxL 8), 'Grant not, Lord, the desires of th I ; further not his wicked device, L I they exalt themselves. Selah V It is the prayer of Ja to the L'»rd of the universe that He would not grant to Esau, "the wirk.Ml.th>' desires of his heart." " Further his wicked device," this refers to Germamia of Edom (i.e., Rome), for if they (the R m in wi 1 1 1 uffered to forward they would destroy the wholeworld ! Rav Chama bar Chanena said. "There are three hundred crowned h< 1 I in Germamia of Edom, and there are three hundred and dukes in Babylon. These encounter each other daily, and one of them commits murder, and they strive to p a king." Meggillah, foL 6, coL 2. 50. In the great city (of Rome) there were three hundred and sixty-Ji reets, and in each street there were three hundred and >e palaces, and in every one of these there were three hundred and sixty-five steps, each of which palaces contained sufficient store to maintain the whole world. P'sachim, fol. 118, col. 2. 51. There are three hundred and sixty-five negative precepts. (See No. 84, infra) CHAPTER XII. 239 52. There were three hu\ d ninety-four courts of law in Jerusalem, and as many synag Lso the Bame number of high b hools, colleges, and academies, and as many ofG K> thuboihf foL 1 05, coL 1. $2>- Rav Hunna hsLdfourhw iks of wine which had turned into vinegar. On hearing of his misfortune, Kav Sehudah, the brother of Rav Salla the Holy, or, as y. Rav Adda bar Ahavah, came and visited him, accompai Eta Let tl mastei rid they, imine himself carefully." "What!" Baid he, "do you Bupposi ;il:y of wrong-doing ? " "Shall we I .-'1 they, "su I the Holy One — be lie ! — of executing judgment \\ ithout justii "Well," Baid Rav Hunna, "if you b trd anything again8l me, don't i mceal 1:." " It ! n reported to US," .-aid they, '* that the master has withheld 1 1 shar prunings." u What else, pray, did he Leave me?" retorted Rav Hunna; "he has stolen all the pro- my vineyard." They replied, ' ing that whoever Bteals from a thief Bmells of theft." ■• Then," said he, " I hereby promise to give him his Bhare." reupon, according to some, the vinegar turned to wine in : and, according to others, the price «»f vinegar rose to the price of wine. Beraehothj foL 5, coL 2. 54. Rav Adda bar Ahavah oi 1 a Gentile woman in the market-] ' tring a red head-dress, and sup- posing that she was a daughter of Israel, he impatiently tore it off her head. For this outrage he was fined a fine • if four hundred zouzim. He asked the woman what her name was, and Bhe replied, " Mv name is Mathan." "Me- thnn. Methun," he wittily rejoined, "is worth fowr hun- dred zouzim." (See No. 69, infra.) Ibid.f foL 20, coL 1. Note. — (a.) nno Bounds like mKDj Methun or Mathan. The former means patience and the latter means two 240 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. hundred. The point lies either in the application of the term Methun, which means patience, as if to Bay, had he beeD bo patient as to have first ascertained what the woman was, he would have saved his four hundred zouzim ; or in the identity of the Bound Mathan, /.'., two hundred^ which doubled, equals four hundred. This has long since passed into a proverb, and expresses the value of pati (/».) Erom the f • extract it would Beem that it was not the fashion among Jewish females to wear head- I I a red colour, as it was presumed to indi- cate a certain Lightness on the pari of the wearei ; b i R ■ ■ Adda in his pious zeal thoughl he was doing a good work ■ it off from the head of the Bupposed •' •• Patience, patience is worth four hundred zouzim." -'in among the Jews had then, as now, the [ion. The Talmud says, "A man should i deviate from a Bottled custom. M ascended <»n high and did not i I (for there it is not the down to earth and did eat bread the custom bo to do)." B 1 1 1 M 86, coL 2. \ In the olden time it was nol the fashion for a Jew to wear black shoes (Taanith, foL 22, col. 1 ). Even now, in Poland, a pious dew, or a Chasid, would on no ant wear polished boots 01 a short coat, or neglect to wear a girdle. He would at one- lose caste and he subjected to persecution, direct or indirect, were he to :t from a custom. ;hd :nr:. C lorn is law, is an oft-quoted Jewish proverb, one among the most familiar of their household words, as ususesl tyrannus, " Custom is a tyrant." is among ours. Another saying we have is, ■ I istom is the plague of wise nan, but is the idol of Is." 55, The following anecdotes are related by way of prac- tically illustrating Ps. ii. 11, "Rejoice with trembling." Mar, the son of Ravina, made a grand marriage-feast for his son, and when the Rabbis were at the height of their merriment on the occasion, he brought in a very costly cup, worth four hundred zouzim, and broke it before them, and this occasioned them sorrow and trembling. Rav Ashi made a grand marriage-feast for his son, and when CHAPTER XII. :4i li<' noticed the Rabbis in high jubilation, ho brought in a • ly cup of white glass and broke it before them, and this made them il. The Rabbis challenged Rav Eamnunah on the wedding of his son Ravina, saying, . Bir," and he Bung, " Woe be to us, for we must die! Woe be to as, for we must die!" " Ami what shall we orus by way of response. II • replied, "Sing j is the law we have Btudied \ where the good works we have done I that they may protect as from the punishment of hell!'" Rabbi Ebchanan, in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Fochai, is unlaw i'ul for a man to lill his mouth with Laughter in this world, for it is said in Pa exxvi, 'Then (but not will our mouth be filled with laughti r/ M &c. It is related of Resh Lakish that he never once Laughed again all the rest of his Life from the time that he heard this from Rabbi rochanan, his teacher. Beraehothf foL 30, coL 2, and foL 31, col i. 56. A man once Laid a wager with another that he would put Hillel out of temper. If he succeeded he was ■eive, but if he failed he was to forfeit, four hundred zouzinx It was close upon Sabbath-eve, and Hillel was washing himself, when the man passed by his door, shout- ing, •■ Where is Hillel I where is HilleU" Hillel wrapped his mantle round him and sallied forth to see what the man wanted. " I want to a>k thee a question," was the reply. "Ask on, my son," said Hillel Whereupon the man said, u I want to know why the Babylonians have such round heads?" "A very important question, my Bon," Baid Hillel; "the reason is because their midwives arc not clever." The man went away, hut after an hour he returned, calling out as before, " Where is Hillel '. where is Hillel \ " Hillel again threw on his mantle and went out, meekly asking, "What now, my son?" "I want to know," said he, "why the people of Tadmor are weak- I I ' Hillel replied, " This is an important question, my 242 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. Bon, and the reason is this, they live in a Bandy country." Away went the man, but in another hour's time he rel urned as before, crying out, " Where is Hillell whereia Billel?" Out came Hilhd again, as gentle as ever, blandly request- ing to know what more he wanted. "I have a question to ask," said the man. "Ask on, my son." said HilleL •■ Well, why have the Africans such broad feet ?" said he. ■ Because they live in a marshy land," said BilleL " I have many more questions to ask," said the man, "but 1 am afraid that I Bhall only try thy patience and make thee angry." Hillel, drawing his mantle around him, sat down and bade the man ask all the questions he wished. • thou H rid he,"whom they call a prince in I •] : " "Yes," was the reply. " Well," said the other, '• 1 pray there may not 1"' many more in Israel like thi '• Why," Bai i Billel, " how is th " Bei au the man, "1 have L four hundred zouzim that [could put tin ut of temper, and I have lost them all through thee." "Be warned for the future," said Hillel; "bi i; is that thou shouldsl iose four hundred zouzim, and four hundred more after them, than u Bhould be said of Hillel he lost his tern] Shabbath, foL 31, coL t. 57. Rabbi Perida had a pupil to whom he had to re- hearse a less mfour hundred times before the latter com- prehended it. One day • ■ Rabbi was hurriedly called away to perform some charitable act, hut before he went he repeated the lesson in hand the usual four hundred times, hut this time his pupil failed to learn it. " What is the reason, my son," said he t» his dull pupil, "that this time my repetitions have he. mi thrown away ?" ".Be- cause, master,'' naively replied the youth, "my mind was so pre-occupied with the summons you received to dis- charge another duty." " Well, then," said the Rabbi to his pupil, " let us bcuin again." And he repeated the lesson a second four hundred times. Eiruvlii, foL 54, col. 2. CHAPTER XII. 243 - . Between Azel and A.- 1 1 Chron. viii 38 and ix. 44> there axe four hundred camel-loads of critical researches due :■ • e of manifold contradictions. I'' . I L 62, coL 2. 59. Egypt has an area of four hundred Bquare mi] Ibid., foL 94, coL 1. 60. The Targum of the Pentateuch w ited by Onkelos the proselyte at the dictation of Rabbi Elii and Rabbi Yehoshua, and the Targum of the prophets was executed by Jonathan ben Uzziel at the dictation of 1 1 ^gai, Zachariah, and Malachi ! . at which time the land of Israel was convulsed over an area of four hundred Bquare mi Meggillah, foL 3, coL 1. 6r. Mar Ukva was In the habil of sending on the Day oi A.1 oement four hundred zouzim to a poor neigh- bour of bis. One.' I the money by his own son, who returned bringing it back with him, remarking, ■• There is no need 1 n charity upon a man who, as I myself ha? is able to indulge himself in expen- old wine." " Well," said his father, •■since he is so dainty in bis taste, he must have seen better days. I will • double the amount for the future." And this accordingly he at oner remitted to him. Kethuboth, foL 67, coL 2. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, . . . ye shall carry up my bones from hence" (Gen. L 25). Rabbi Chanena said, "There La a reason for this oath. As Joseph knew that he was perfectly righteous, why then, if the dead are to rise in other countries as well as in the land of [srael, did he trouble his brethren to cany his bones four hundred miles?" The reply is, "He feared Lest, if buried in Egypt, he might have to worm his way through subterranean passages from his grave into the land of Israel." Ibid., fol. in, col. 1. NOTE. — To this day among the Tolish Jews the dead are 244 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. provided f<>r their l"nu r subterranean journey with little wooden forks, with which, at the Bound of the great trumpet, they are to dig and burrow their way from where they happen to 1"' buried till they arrive in Palestina To avoid this inconvenience there are Borne among them who, on the approach • to B '.■- I. :. 1. that their bones may reel there against the morning of th< tion. In the context of our quotation more may be found on this quaint conceit in tion of tli" body. 6$. I'.tv < "ali ma was once Belling Ladies' b when he was exposed I trial of a sinful temptation. He pled with his tempter to let him off and mised to return, but instead of doing I up to I of the house and threw himself down headlong. 1 he reach . ground, however, Elijah came and caught him, and reproached him, e inght him up, with having brought him a di wr hundred mil I i • him from an act of wilful self-destruction. The Kahlii told him that it was his poverty which had given • tmptation the power of seduction. Thereupon Elijah gave him a vessel full Lenarii and departed. A" ■' hish in, fj. I'm- : fnur hundred synagogues in the city ■ • Byther, in each there were four hundred elementary hers, and each had four hundred pupils. When the enemy • the city, they pierced him with their pointers; hut when at last the enemy overpowered them, he wrapped them in their books and then set fire to them; and this is what is written (Lam. iii. 51), "Mine beth my heart because of all the daughters of my Ibid., fol. 58, col. 1. Note.- The total population of Byther musl have been some- thing enormous, when tin 1 children in it amounted to 64,000,000! I'll'' elementary teachers alone cam*' to 160,000. 6S. Once when the Ilasmonean kings were engaged in civil war it happened that Hyrcanus was outside Jeru- m and Aristobulus within. Every day the besieged lei down a box containing crold denarii, and received in 246 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. return lambs for the daily sacrifices. There chanced to be an old man in the city w] miliar with tho wisdom of the ( rreeks, and he hinted to the 1" siegers in the ( rreek language that so long as the Temple services were kept up the city could not be taken. The next day accordingly, when the money had been let down, they sent back a pig in return. When about half-way up the animal pushed with its feet agaii I the wall, and thereupon an earthquak I It throughout the land of Israel to the i I four hundred miles. At that time it was the saying arc : Cursed be he ti ra swine, and he who shall teach his son ti. i .. See Matt. viii. 30.) ; ', foL 49, col 2. 69. If one strikes his 1 arwith his fist, he must pay him 1; if he slaps his face, he is to pay two hundred zouzim ; but for a back-handed Blap the assailant is to pay four hundred zouzim. If he pulls the ear of or plucks his hair, or spits upon him, or pulls off his man! woman's head-d in 1 be is fined four hundred zouzim. 3 i No, 54, sup ■ Karnes foL 90, coL 1. 70. There was oi Rabbi Eliezer and the Mishnic whether a baking-oven, con- structed from certain materials and of a particular shape, was clean or unclean. I. ided that it was a. but the latter were of a contrary opinion. Having re- plied to all the objections ti. had brought against his decisis >n, and finding that they still refused to acquit the Rabbi turned to them and said, " If the Halacha (the law) is according to my decision, let this carol I est." Whereupon the carob-tree rooted itself up and transplanted If to a distance of one hundred, some s&jfour hundred, yards from the spot. But the Bages demurred and said, • We cannot admit the evidence of a carob-tree." " Well, then/' said Rabbi Eliezer, "let this running brook be a r APTER XII. 247 and the brook at once reversed its natural course and flowed back. The sages refused to admit this proof also. "Then let the walls of the college bear witness that the Law is according to my decision;" upon which the wal] ad, and were about to fall, when Rab 1 and rebuked them, saying, " If the d 3 wrangle with each other in the Halacha, what is that t<> you \ Be ye quiet !" Therefore, out 1 Rabbi Joshuah, they did not fall, and out of respect to Rabl i Eliezer they did not resume their former upright position, but remained toppling, which they continue to do to this day. Then said Rabbi Let Heaven I ify that the Halacha is a my judgment." And a Bath Kol or \ m heaven was heard, saying, ••What have ye do with I:. >bi Eliezei ! for the Balacha is on every point ing to hi ion!" Rabbi Joshuah then i up and proved from Scripture thai even a voice from heaven was aot to be regarded, " For Thou, God, didsl down in the law which Thou gavest on Sinai Exod. xxiii. 2), 'Thou shalt follow the multi- tude.'" See context.) We have it on the testimony of Elijah ; phet, given to Rabbi Nathan on an oath, that it was with reference to this dispute about the oven ( k>d himself d and said, "22 OTIJU "22 *Jin>H, " My children have vanquished me! My children have van- quished me!" Bava J/>/-./ses commanded us a law.'" (He meant he did not imagine that anyone man could possibly write ont four hundred complete copies of the Pentateuch.) Bava Bathra, foL 14, coL 1. 72. Rabbi Chanena said, '■ [i four hundred years al the destruction of the Temple thee a field worth a thousand denarii for one denarius, don't buy it." A odah Zarah, fi >L 9, coL -. 73. We know by tradition that the treatise "Avodah li," which our father Abraham possessed, contained four hundred chapters, but tl e as we now have it contains only five. (See chap. iii. No. 40. d.) Ibid., foL 14, coL 2. 74. The camp of Sennacherib was four hundred miles in length, fi hedrin, foL 95, col. 2. 75. •• I Jurse ye Meroz," &c. (Ju ' \ B rak ex- communicated Merozatthel bur hundred trumpets (lit. horns or cornel v evuofh, foL 36, coL 1. 76. What is the meaning where it is written Ps. \. 27), "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened? 1 I e fear of the Lord prolongeth days" alludes to the four hundred and ten years the first Temple stood, during which period the succession of high priests numbered only eighteen. But " the years of the wicked shall be shortened" is illustrated by the fact that during the four hundred and twenty years that the second Temple stood the succession of high priests numbered more than three hundred. If we deduct the forty years during which Shimon the Righteous held office, and the eighty of Rabbi Yochanan, and the ten of Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi, it is evident that not one of CHAPTER xir. -49 the remaining high priests lived to hold office for a whole year. Yoma, foL 9, col. 1. 77. "The souls which they had gotten in Haran" (Gen. xii 5). From this time to the giving of the law was • hundred and/oriy-i i. The Bervant replied, " By the lit'-' of thy head, my lord, I am en.' ( the firmament is fin hundred years' journey, and so it is from each bui i sive firmament to the next, throughout the series of the seven heavens. (See chap, vii No. 7.) fsachirrij foL 94, col 2. Si. "Now, as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel upon the earth by the living creaturi k. i. 15). Rabbi Elazarsays it was an angel wh 1 stood upon the earth, and his head reached to the living creature.-. It is recorded in a Mishna that his name is Sandalphon, Mho towers above his fellow-angels to a height of five hundred years* journey ; he stands behind the chariot and binds ci'uu ns on the head of his I ( Tiaggigah, fol 13, coL 2. L— In the Liturgy for the I I Tabernacles it is said that Sandalphon gathers in his hands the 1 1 of Ni'ael, and, forming a wreath of them, he adjures it to ascend as an orb for the head of the supreme Bong of k \U'<. 82. The mount of the Temple was five hundred yards square. Middoth, chap. 2. S3. One Scripture text (1 Chron, xxi 25) David gave to Oman for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight." And another Scripture (2 Sam. xxiv. 24) says,"So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for tir is of silver." How is thisl David took from each tribe fifty shekels, and they made together the total six hundred, Le. t he took silver to the value of fifty shekels of gold. Zevachim, foL 116, coL 2. 84. Rabbi Samlai explains that six hundred and thirteen (•••mnuindments "were communicated to Moses; three hun- dred and sixty-five negative, according to the number of CHAPTER XII. 251 davs in the year, and two hundred and forty-eight positive, irding to the number of members in the human body. Rav Bamnunah asked what was the Scripture proof for this. The reply was (Deut xxxiii. iv.), "Moses com- manded us a law" (mm, Torah). mi/1, by Gematria answers to six hundred an. I eleven. " I am," and - Thou shalt have qo other," which we heard from tin- Almighty Him c make up six hundred and thirteen. Maccoth, fol. 23, coL 2. Note. — David, we are told, reduced tip-'' commandments, here reckoned at Bix hundred and thirteen, t<> eleven, and [saiah .-till further to six, and then afterwards to two. "Thussaith the Eternal, Observe justice and act righteously, for my salvation is Dear." Finally came Babakkuk, and he reduced the number t<» one all-com- prehensive precepl (chap ii. 4), "The just .-hall live by faith." (See Maccoth, foL 24, coL 1.) 85. The precept concerning fringes is as weighty as all the <»thcr precepts put together; for it is written, says llashi (Num. \\\ 39 , "And remember all the command- ments of the Lord." Now the numerical value of the word JT2PX, "fringes," is six hundred, and this with eight threads andy//v knots makes six lnrnn of Buneis, called on Rabbi (the Holy), tin' latter exclaimed, " Make way for one worth a hundred manahs!" Presently another visitor came, and Rabbi said. " Make way for one worth two hundred manahs." Upon which Rabbi Eshmael, the son of Iiabhi ^ -i, remonstrated, saying, u Rabbi, the father of the first- comer, owns a thousand ships at sea and a thousand towns ashore!" "Well," replied Rabbi, "when thou seest his father, tell him to send his son better clad next time." Rabbi paid great respect to those that were rich, and so did Rabbi Akiva. Mrumr^ fol. S6, col. 1. 3. Rabbi Elazer ben Charsom inherited from his father a thousand towns and a thousand ships, and yet he went about with a Leather sack of Hour at his hack, roaming from town to town and from province to province in order to study the law. This great Rabbi never once set eye on his immense patrimony, for he was engaged in the study of the law all day and all night long. And so strange was he to his own servants, that they, on one occasion, not knowing who he was, pressed him against his will to do a 256 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. day's work as a menial ; and though he pled with them as a Buppliant i" be Left a pursue his Btudies in the law, they refused, and sv ping, " By the life of Rabbi Blazer ben Charsom, our master, we will not let tin- till thy task is completed." Be then let himself be enforced rather than make himself known to them. - • \ : ling to tlir Talmud," p. 200, NTo. 21.) TomOt foL 35, coL 2. 4. The wii of Potiph c 1x1 I J< eph with loving Is, but in vain. SI 8 thru thivat.ai.-il to immure him in prison, but he replied (anticipating J's. cxlvi 7), •'The Lord iooseth the prisoners." Then " I will bow thee down with distress; I will blind thine c 11 • only ansv ver. 8 . " The Lord openeth the eyes of the Mind an them that are bowed down." then tried t 1 bribe him with a thousand talents of silver if he would comply with b in. / I Note. A M us thai Potiphar's wife not only falsely accused Joseph herself, but that si orned ads to do likewise. The Jasher, which embodies the Talmudic quoted above, b 11- us thai an infant in the cradle spoke up and testified to Joseph's innocence, and that while ph was in prison his inamorata daily visited him. More «.n this topic may be found in the Koran, chap. xii. The : and Zulieka, as told by the glib tongue of tradition, fitly find their consummation in marriage, and certain Moslems affect t«. see in all this an allegorical type of Divine love, an allegory which other divines find in the S 5. The thickness of the earth is a thousand paces or ells. - • >/,, foL 53, col 2. Note. — The the earth as far as the abyss is a thousand ells, and the abyss under the earth is fifteen thousand. There is an upper and a lower abyss mention.'. 1 in Taanith, foL 25, coL 2. Riddia, the angel who has the imand of the waters, and resides between the two CHAPTER XII 1. 257 abya to the upper, -p»o -ivjti, "disperse thy waters," and to the lower, pnDJDK, u let thy waters flow up." ' Many may ask after thy peace, but tell thy secret only to one of a thousand. Yevamoth, foL 63, col. 2. 7. The Rabbis have taught that if the value of stolen property is a thousand, and the thief is only worth, say, five hundred, he La to be Bold into slavery twice. But if the I- to be sold at all. Kiddushirif foL 18, col. 2. 8. The Behemoth upon a thousand hills (Ps. 1. 10), God created them male and female, but had they been allowed to propagate they would have destroyed the whole world. What did He do 1 Ee castrated the male and spayed the female, and then preserved them that they might serve for the righteous at the Messianic banquet; as it is said (Job .\1. [6), "Hi bh is in his loins (i.e., the male), and his force in the navel of his belly" (i.e., the female). (See \ cording to the Talmud," p. 58, ver. 21, ii.) Bava Bathra, fol 74, col. 2. Note.- This provision for the coming Messianic banquet is considered of sufficient importance to be mentioned year after year in the service for the Day of Atonement and also al the Feasl of Tabernacles. The remark of 1). Levi, that the feasl here referred to is to be understood allegorically, involves rather sweeping consequences, as it 11 i" any one to annihilate many other expectations on the same principle. <>. The Holy One— blessed be He!— will add to Jeru- m gardens extending to a thousand times the nume- rical value of *)BO, which equals one hundred and sixty- nine, &c. Ibid-, foh 75 » co1 - 2 - NOTE. — The above is a Rabbinical estimate of the extent of the Messianic Jerusalem. 10. "Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very R 253 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. much " (2 Kings xxi. 16). Here (in Babylon) it is inter- preted to mean that he murdered Isaiah, but in the W< (i.e. t in Palestine) they say thai he made an Image of the weight of a thousand men, which was the number he massacred every day (as Rashi says, by the heaviness of its weight). Sank lrin % fol 103, coL 2. Nora— (a.) See Joeephns, Antiq., B & X. chap, iii, sec i,foi corroborative evidence. Tradition .-ays that Mao caused Isaiah to be .-awn asunder with a wooden saw. [so Yeva . : 1. 49, coL 2 ; Sanhedrin, fol. 103, c 1 2. ) (/>.) Nowhere in the Talmud do we find the name of the great ima :'• rred to. What it" we christen it the •• rat of tip- Talmud"1 May the tradition not be a prolusion thai man-crushing mon- Anyhow, Bchol ire are 1 community of no inconsiderable extent between the conceptions and ids of the II L Rabbis. « >ne notable at and that of the Hindoos is, that whereas in both cases the innocent suffered for the guilty, in tin- former the sacrifices were bed to propiti l1 . while in the latter they were in supposed propitiation of the .■ t i. The . osumed by < >_ r . king oi B many of all e other beasts, and his drink consisted "t" n thousand measi 1 -im t chap. 21, mish 9. 12. Solomon made ten candelabra for the Tempi cadi la' Bet aside a thousand 1 I gold, which lie refined in a crucible until they were re luced t<» the weight of one talent Menachoth, fol 29, coL 1. 13. There was an organ in the Temple which produced a thousand kinds of melody. /. thin, f oL n, coL 1. Note. — Tin' Magrepha (n^n;^), with its ten pipes and its ten-times-ten various notes (Eirchin, fol. 10, coL 2, and foL ii. col 1), which was .-aid t" have been used in the Temple service, must have been an instrument far rior to any organ in use at the time elsewhere. CHAPTER XIII. 259 14. It from a town numbering fifteen hundred footmen, b, forexamp] of Accho, nine people be borne forth dead in the course of three successive days, it is a sure si_n of the presence of the plague; but if this happen in y or in four, then it is not the plague. I' Klin tit, foL 21, COL I. 15. • himdred of the arguments and minute rules of the - were forgotten during the days of mourning for M Othniel, the son of Kenaz, by his . them all as if they had never d i'mm the memory. T nurah, foL 16, col. 1. 16. There was a great court at Jerusalem called Beth V izek, where all witnesses (who could testify to the time of the appearac • now moon I used to assemble, and where they were examined by the authorities. Grand prepared for them as an inducement to them ; give In their testimony . Formerly they did not move from the place they happened to be in when overtaken by the Sabbath, but Rabbon Gamliel the elder ined thai they might in that case move two thousand cubits either way. Bosh Hashanah, foL 21, col. 2. 17. He that La abroad (on the Sabbath) and does not know the limit of the Sabbath-day's journey may walk two thousand moderate paces, and that is a Sabbath-day's journey. Eiruvin, foL 42, col. 1. 18. Rabbon Gamliel had a hollow tube, through which, when he looked, he could distinguish a distance of two thousand cubits, whether by land or sea. By the same tube he could ascertain the depth of a valley or the height of a palm-tree. Ibid., fol. 43, col. 2. Notb. — This is one evidence among several of the scientific an. I mechanical ingenuity of this Rabbi The instru- ment here introduced must have been some rude antici- pation of our modern theodolite. 2 6o A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 19. He who observes carefully the pi oting fringes will, as a reward, have two thousand eight hundred slaves to wait upon him; for it is Baid Zech. viii 2 "'Jims Baith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass thai ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will lt«> with you, for we have heard that God is with you." S ibbathj foL 32, coL 2. Note. (■'. \ Rashi'e explanation <'f thia matter is very Bimple. The meril of the fringes Lies in their being duly attached to " the four quarters " or Bkirta of the garments ( 1 tent xxii. 1 2). There are seventy nations in the whole world, and ten of each nation will take hold of each corner of the garment, which gives 70 • 10 • d. Rabbi B'chai, commenting od Num. w. 39, 40. repeats the Bame Btory almost word for word {!>.) Tic (Zech viii 23) has lately been con- strued by Borne into a prophecy of the recenl Berlin Congress, and the ten men mentioned are found in the representatives of the contracting j . England, France, Germany, Turk . K. .. Italy, (. Roumania, and Servia. 20. Rav Hamnunah said, "What ia it thai is written 1 Kings i\. 32 . ■ And he spoke I \ r iverhs, and his Bongs were a thousand andfi It is intended to teach that Solomon uttered thru thousand proverhs upon each ai word of the law, and for every word of the Scribes he 1 and andfiix reasons. Eiruvin, foL 21, coL 2. 21. AVlan Rabbi Eliezer was sick he was visited by hi Akiva and his party. . . . "Wherefore have ye come ? " he asked. " To learn the law," was the reply. "And why did you not come sooner?" "Because we had no leisure," said they. " I shall be much surprised," said he, " if you die a natural death." Then turning to »hi Akiva he said, * Thy death shall be the worst of all" (see how his words came to pass on page 2, No. CHAPTER XIII. 26 1 4, supra). Then folding his arms upon his breast, he Laimed : — w Woe unto my two arms! for they are like two scrolls of the law rolled up, bo that their contents are hidden, Ead they waited upon me, they might have added much to their knowledge of the law, but now that knowledge will perish with me. J have in my time much and taught much, and yet I have no more dim the knowledge of my Rabbis by what [have derived from them than the waters of the sea are reduced by a dog lapping them. Over and above this I expounded three hn i >me allege he said three thousand, " Hala- chahs with reference to the growing of Egyptian cucum- bers, and cept Akiva ben Joseph has ever proposed a single question to me respecting them. He and I were walking along the road one day when he asked me to instruct him regarding the cultivation of Egyptian cucumbers. I made but one remark, when the entire field became full of them. Then at his request I made a remark about cutting them, when lo! they all collected themseh ther in one spot." Thus Rabbi Eliezer On talking, when all of a sudden he fell hark and expired. Sanhedrin, foL 68, col. 1. N<>ii:. — Til-' last words <>f, tin- eminent Rabbi derive .1 ■ interesl from tip' fact that he died while under sentence of excommunication. (See p. 246. No. jOfSupra.) 22. Three thousand Ilalachoth were forgotten at the time of mourning for Moses, and among them the Hala- chah respecting an animal intended for a sin-offering the owner of which died icrificing it. / nurah, fol. 16, col. 1. 23. All the- prophets were rich men. This we infer from the account of Moses, Samuel, Amos, and Jonah. Of Moses, as it is written (Num. xvi. 15), "I have not taken mie ass from them." Of Samuel, as it is written (1 Sam. xii. 3), " Behold, here I am; witness against me before the Lord, and before His anointed, whose ox have A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. I taken? orwh have I taken?" Of A- , as it is written (Amos vii. 14),"! was an herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit." /.<., I am proprietor of my herds and own Bycamores in the valli y, I >f Jonah, as it is written (Jonah i. 3), "So he paid the fare thereof and went down into it" Rabbi Xochanan says he hired the whole ship. Rabbi Rumanus says the hire of the ship amounted too four thou u irii Ned . i ■!. 38, coL 1. 24. Four thousand two hund I thirty-one years after the creation of the world, if any on b a thousand denarii, do buy it. J ■/f which is the word -•; -n in l.siiah xxx. 26, the letters of which stand for 5845. The verse reads, M Moreover, the light of the moon shall be ae the Light of the sun" (nonn). The rites teU us thai the number of verses in the Psaluis ml in the two Books <>f Chronicles 1656. 28. Tho world is to last six thousand years. Two thousand of these are termed the period of disorder, two tJvousand belong to the dispensation of the law, and two thousand are the days of the Messiah; but because of our iniquities a large traction of the latter term is already ed and gone without the Messiah giving any sign of His appearing. Sanhednn^ foL 97, col. 1. 29. As the land of Canaan had one year of release in seven, so has the world one millennium of release in seven thousand years; for it is said (Isa. ii. 17), "And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day;" and again (Ps. xcii. 1), 264 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. ' A psalm or Bong for the Sabbath-day," which means a long Sabbatic period; and again Ps. i ;. 4 . " For a thou- sand years in Thy Bight are but as (7TD/W DV) the day of : lay." s hedrin, foL 97, col 1. 30. Tradition records that the ladder (mentioned Gen. xxviii 12) was eight thousand miles wide, for it is written. And behold the angels of I rod ascending and descending upon it." Angi I :n-_ r . being in the plural, cannot be fewer than tw time, and bo likewise must ti. descending, bo that when they passed they were four abreast at least In Daniel x. 6 it is said of the angel, " Eis body was like Tarshish," and I tory that Tarshish extended two thousand miles. ' ''//, foL 91, coL 2. 31. The tithes from the herds of Elazer ben Azaryah amounted to twelve thousand calves annually. Sh L 54, coL 2. 32. It is said that Rabbi Akiva ha I thousand pairs of disciples dispersed aboi n Gabbath and Antipatris, and nil of them died within a Bhort period because they paid do honour to one another. The land was then di ontil Rabbi Akiva came among our Rabbis of the south and taught the law to Rabbis Meir, Yehudah, Yossi, Shimon, and Elazer ben Shamua, who Lished its authority. ) wnoth, foL 26, coL 2. 33. After a lapse of twelve j • returned accom- panied by twelve thousand disciples . 8 ante, chap. xi. N". 14, note.) 34. Ravah bar Nachmaini was impeached for depriving the revenue of the poll-tax on twelve thousand Jews, b\ detaining them annually at his academy for one month in the spring, and for another month in the autumn; for great multitudes from various parts of the country were CHAPTER XIII. 265 wont, at the two Beasons of the Passover and the Feast of I rna les, to come to hear him preach, so that when the king's officers came to collect the taxes they found none of them at home, A royal messenger was accordingly despatched to apprehend him, but he failed to find him, for the Rabbi fled to Pumbeditha, and from thence to to Agmi, Sichin, Zeripha, Ein d'Maya, and hack again to Pumbeditha Arrived at this place, both the royal enger and the fugitive Rabbi happened to put up at thf Bame inn. Two cups were placed before the former <»n a table, when, strange to er he had drunk and the table was removed, his face was forcibly turned round to his hack. (This was dun,' by evil spirits because he drank even numbers — rn^nt, pairs — against which we are earn . in P'sachim, f ol. no, col. 1.) The inn- og the consequences of such a misfortune hap: ■ 1 so high an official at his inn, sought advice of the lurking Rabbi, when the Latter suggested that the table be placed again before him with one cup only on it, and thus the even number would hecome odd, and his fare would return to its natural position. They did and it was as the Rabbi had said. The official then remarked to his host, " I know the man I want is here," and he hastened and found him. " If I knew for certain," rid to the Rabbi, M thai thy escape would cost my life »>nlv. I would let thee go, but I fear bodily torture, and therefore I must secure thee." And thereupon he locked him up. Upon this the Rabbi prayed, till the prison walls miraculously giving way; lie made his escape to Agma, where he seated himself at the root of a tree and gave himself up to meditation. Whilst thus engaged he all at once heard a discussion in the academy of heaven on the Bubject of the hair mentioned in Lev. xiii. 25. The Holy One — blessed be He! — declared the case to be " clean," but the whole academy were of a different opinion, and declared the case to be "unclean." The 266 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. question then arose, M Who shall decide :" u Ravah bar Nachmaini shall decide/' was the unanimous reply, "for he said, l I am one in matters of Leprosy; I am one in questions about tents; and there is none to equal d age! of death was Bent for to bring him up, but he was unable to approach him, I I ibbi'a lips repeating the law of the Lord. The angel of death thereupon assumed the appearance of a tax p of by, and the Rabbi, apprehensive of being seized and carri timed, " I would rather die through that one (meaning the angel of death) than be delivered into At that very instant he was • the question in dispute, and just the verdi led from his lips his soul i from his body, and a voi heard from heaven proclaiming, " Blessed art thou, Ravah bar Nach- maini, for thy body is clean. 'Clean' - I on thy lips when thy spirit departed." Then a scroll fell down from unto Pumbeditha announcing that Ravah bar Nachmaini was admitted into the academy of heaven. A] Lbaii, in company with m other Rabbis, went in search of the body to inter it, but not kiiov. he lay, they went to Agma, where i of birds hovering in the air, ami concluded that the shadow of their wings shielded the body of the departed. Ti. lordingly, they found and buried him; and after mourning three days and ti nights over b . they arose to depart, when another scroll descended threatening them with excommunication if they did so. They therefore continued mourning for seven a and seven nights, when, at the end of these, a third scroll descended and bade them go home in peace. On the day of the death of this Rabbi there arose, it is said, such a mighty tempest in the air that an Arab merchant and the camel on which lie was riding were blown bodily over from one side of the river Pappa to the other. " What AFTER XIIL 267 Deth such B storm as this?" cried the merchant, as he lay 00 the ground A voice from heaven answered, " Ravah bar Nachmaini is dead." Then he prayed and pled, " Lord of the universe, the whole world is Thine, and Ravah bar Nachmaini La Thine! Thou art Ravah's and Ravah is Thine; but wherefore wilt thou destroy the world?" On this the storm immediately abated, and there was dm. Ba ■• Meteia, foL 86, col 1. bl— The above Beema t<> be a Rabbinical Batire on tin; Talmud itself, although the orthodox Jewa believe thai every word in it is historically true. Well, perhaps it • ; and a'. aorant, and without the meana of judging. 35. Now we know what Hod docs during the day (see chap. xi. N ; at how d Be occupy Bimself in it-time? We may say He <\>»> the same as at :• that during the night He rides on a swift cherub over eighteen thousand worlds; as it is said (Ps. lxviii. 17), • mots of God are twenty thousand" two thousand Shinan; read not Shinan hut She-einan Ifttti N^N ]H2p np/1 ba), /.<.. two thousand less titan twenty and, therefore eighteen thousand. \dah Zarah, foL 3, col. 2. 36. Prince Contrukoa asked Rabhon Yochanan ben Zac- chai how, when the I enumeration of the Levites amounted to twenty-two thousand three hundred (the Ger- ahonites, 7500; the Kohathites, 8600; the Merarites, 6200, making in all 22.300), the sum total given is only twenty-two thousand, omitting the three hundred* "Was our Rabbi," he asked, " a cheat or a bad calcula- tor?" 1I»' answered, " They were iirst-borns, and there- fore could nut he substitutes for the first-born of Israel." JJechoroth, fol. 5, col. 1. ^y. " And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death" (2 Chron. xxxii. 33). This is Hezekiah, A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY, king of Judah, at whose funeral thirty-six thousand people attended bare-shouldered, . . . and upon his bier was laid a roll of ill*-' law, and it was said, "This man has fulfilled what is written in this book." 8 S "', foL 1 7, coL 1. Sennacherib the wicked invaded Jewry) with forty-five thousand princes in golden c ironets, and they had with them their wivea and odalisques; also eighty thousand mighty men dad in mail and sixty thousand Bwordsmeu rau before him, and the n cavalry. \\ ith a similar army th< against Abraham, and a like force is to come up with Gog and Magog. A tradi- tion that the extent of his camp was /our hundred parsaes or leagues, the 1 was forty parsaes. The total mi his army was two hundred d/t>/ sixty myriads of thousands, I . Abaii asked, " I. triad, or "//'■ thousand, or <>nr hun- 01 more literally less tw !. 2. . — In tic immediate contexl of the above extract we have the following Legend concerning Sennacherib: — A Rabbi Abhu has said, " Were it Dot for this Scripture text it w.-uld 1>.- impossible to repeat what ia written i I .. vii. 20), ■ In the same day Bhall tin- Lord Bhave with a razor that Lb hired, by them beyond the river, by til-- king of Assyria, tin- head and tin- hair of the • ; and it shall ul-" consume the beard.'" Th.' Btory is this:— The Eoly One — blessed !"• Be! — once dis- 1 Eimself as an elderly man and came to Senna- cherib, and said, li When thon comes! to the ki] th-- East and of tip' Wi -". to force their sons into thine army, what wilt thou say unto them?" Be re plied, "<>n that very account I am in fear. What .-hall I dot" God answered him, "Go and disguise thyself." "How can I d myself?" .-aid he. God replied, "Go and fetch me a pair of - issora and I will cut thy hair." Sennacherib asked, " Whence Bhall I fetch them?" "Co to yonder house and bring them." He went accordingly and observed a pair, hut there he met the ministering angels • men, grinding date- CHAPTER XIII. 269 I them for the scissors, but they said, "Grind thou first a measure of date-stones, and then thou .-halt have the Bcissors." He did as he was told, and btained the scissors. It was dark before he returned, and God said unto him, " Go and fetch some fire." This also he did, but whilst blowing the embers his beard was singed Upon which God came and shaved his i and his beard, and said, "This is it which is writ- ten (I-a. vii. 20), ■ It shall also consume the beard.'" I: \ I ppa says this is the proverb current among the people, "Singe the face of a Syrian, and, if it pleases him, also set his beard in fire, and thou wilt not be able to laugh enough." (Sanhedrin, fol 95, col. 2, and fol. 96, col. I.) 39. '• He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of [srael," &c. Lam. ii. 3). These are the eighty thousand war-horns or battering-rams that entered the city of Byther, in which ho massacred so many men, women, and children, that their blood ran like a river and llowed into the Mediterranean Sea, which was a mile away from the out in, fol. 57, col. 1. 40. Thai mole had a label attached to bis neck on which it was stated that its breeding cost a hundred thousand zou/.im. Bechoroth, fol. 8, col. 2. 41. Rabbi Vossi said, " I have seen Seppboris (Cyprus) in the days of its prosperity, and there were in it a hun- f the Great Syna ordained them foi : and yet thou hast repeated bo many and I inclined v> go on. as it' one were to compliment a king because <»f hia Bilver, who is master <>f a thousand thousands "i' gold denarii Wouldst thou think that becoming : " B r ichoth, foL 2,3- coL -■ 2. Rabbi Yossi : . " I once met a man in my travels and we Baluted one another. In reply to a question <>f his I paid, 'I am from a great city <»f e and Bcribes/ Upon this he offered me a thousand thousand golden denarii, ami precious stones and pearls, if I would nd dwell in his native place. But I replied, saying, ' It thou wert to give me all the gold and silver, all the precious stones and pearls in the world, I would not reside anywhere else than in the place where the law is studied.'" A ■■>(//, chap. 6. CHAPTER XIV. 271 3. Thousands on thousands in Israel were named after Anon; forbad it not been for Aaron these thousands of thousands would not have been born. Aaron went about making peace between quarrelling couples, and tbose wbo were bom after the reconciliation were regularly named him. Avoth cPRab. Nathan, chap. 12. 4. It is related by the Rabbis that Kabbon Yocbanan ben Zacchai was once riding out of Jerusalem accompanied by his disciples, when he saw a young woman picking barley out of the dung on the road. On his asking her name, she told him that .-he was the daughter of Niko- demon ben Gorion (see chap. ri. No. 13). ''What has become of thy father's riches?" said he, "and what has become of thy dowry?" "host thou not remember," that charity is lie' salt of riches?" (Her father had not been noted for this virtue.) " Dost thou not remember signing my marriage contract \" said the woman. • Y( " .-aid the Rabbi, " I well remember it. |- stipulated for a million gold denarii from thy father, des the allowance from thy husband/' &e. Ki thubothj foL 66, coL 2. 5. Abba Benjamin says, '-If our eye were permitted e the malignant sprites that beset us, we could not on account of them." Abaii has said, " They out- number us, they surround us as the earthed-up soil on our garden-beds." Rav Hunna says, " Every one has a thousand at his left side and ten thousand at his right" I' . !. ;;. b'ava adds, "The crowding at the schools is ised by their pushing in; they cause the weariness which the Rabbis experience in their knees, and even tear their clothes by hustling against them. If one would discover traces of their presence, let him sift some ashes upon the iloor at his bedside, and next morning he will . as it were, the footmarks of fowls on the surface. But if one would see the demons themselves, he must A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. burn to ashes the after-birth of a first-born black kitten, tin* offspring of a first-born Mack cat, and then put a little the ashes into his eyes, and he will no! fail to see them," &c, &c. Berachoth, foL 6, ooL i. 6. In each camp there are suspended thra hundred and myriad &c. (See chap. xi No. 7.) 7. Agrippa, being anxious to ascertain the number of the male population of [srael, instructed the priest to take 1 hal Lambs. ( >n taking account of tin- kidneys, LI waa found that there were sixty myriad couples, (which indicated double the number of those that came up out Egypt, not reckoning those that v. monially unclean and those that were out travelling. There was not a Paschal lamb in which Less than ten had a share, so that the number 1 over six hundred myriads of men. P achim, foL 64, coL 2. .V 1 " It is unlawful t<> enum< rat* 1:1 even with a view i" a meritorious .1—1" (Yoma, foL 22, coL 2). 1 R shi's comment on the former text it seems that the • merely held up the duplicate kidneys, upon which the king's agent regularly laid aside a pea or a pebble int" a small heap, which anted up. is, Book VI. chap i.\. Bee 3. (A.) It might n<'t I"- amiss t" remind the reader in og that if one v. d on hundn d \ ex minute for U i> /><> sum up the total uumber stated in the text in otk day, bo a- to ascertain that there were 1,200,000 sacrifices at the Passover under notice, representing no Less than 12.000,000 celebrants. 8. At the time when Israel in their eagerness first said, •• We will do," and then. u We will hear" (Exod. xxix. 7), there came sixty myriads of ministering angels to crown each Israelite with two crowns, one for " we will do" and one for " we will hear." Lut when after this Israel sinned, CHAPTER XIV. 273 there came down a hwidred end twenty myriads of de- iying angels and took the crowns away from them, as it i I !'. 1. xxxiii. 6), "And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments hy Mount Horeb." •I: m Lakish Bays, "The Holy One— blessed be He!— will, in the future, return them to us; for it is said (Isa. xxxv. 10), ' The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zionwith songs and everlasting joy upon their fa : .' '.'., the joy they had in days of yore, upon their hi ads." Shabbafh, foL SS, col. 1. 9. Let no one venture out alone at night-time on Wednesdays and Saturdays, for Agrath, the daughter of Machloth, roams about accompanied by eighteen myriads of evil genii, each one of which has power to destroy. /'' ichim, foL 112, col. 2. 10. It is related of Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom that his mother made him a shirt which cost two myriads of ma- nahs, but his fellow-priests would not allow him to wear cause he appeared in it as though he were naked. YomOj fol. 35, coL 2. 11. He who has not seen the double gallery of the Synagogue in Alexandria of Egypt, has not seen the glory of CsraeL . . . There were seventy-one seats arranged in it according to the number of the seventy-one members of the greater Sanhedrin, each seat of no less value than twenty-one myriads of golden talents. A wooden pulpit in the centre, upon which stood the reader holding a Sudarium (a kind of flag) in his hand, which he waved when the vast congregation were required to say Amen at the end of any benediction, which, of course, it was impossible for all to hear in so stupendous a synagogue. The congregation did not sit promiscuously, but in guilds; goldsmiths apart, silversmiths apart, blacksmiths, copper- smiths, embroiderers, weavers, &c, all apart from each other. When a poor craftsman came in, he took his seat 274 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. among the people of his guild, who maintained him till he found employment Abaii says all this immense population v jsacred by Alexander of Macedon, Why were they thus punished? B use they trans- ed the Scripture, which Bays (Dent xvii. i6), - W shall henceforth return no more thai way." 8 '•'''■, foL 5 1, col 2. i2. The Rabbis teach that during a prosperous year in the land of Lsrael, a place sown with a measure of Beed pro- duce : being equal to thirty mea- sures). Kethuboth, idl 112, coL i. 13. Rav UUa was once asked, "Town I Is one bound to honour his father and mother?" To which he replied, " See what 1 f Askelon once did, Dammah ben Nethina by name. T. ods to the value of sixty c which they were ready to pay t: but the key of th< omhappem be under the pillow of his i ther, I asleep, and Dammah would not disturb him." Rabbi Eli< once asked the tion, and he gave the Bame answer, adding an interesting • the illustration: — " Tin 1 b re seekin I mes for the high priest's breast] late, to the val 1 eighty n . rii, bu1 the key of the jewel- chest happened t<> be under the pillow of his father, who was asleep at the time, ami he would not wake him. In following year, however, the Boly One— blessed he He! — rewarded him with the birth of a red heifer among his herds, for which the sages i paid him such a sum as com] I him fully for the loss he sustained in honouring his parent."' dushin, foL 31, col 1. 14. "The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob" (Lam. ii. 2). Ravin came to Babylon and Baid in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, "These are the sixty myriads of cities which Xing Yannai (Jannajus) possessed CHAPTER XIV. 275 on the royal mount. The population of each equalled the number that went up out of Egypt, except that of three cities in which that number was doubled. And these three cities were W2 133, Caphar Bish (literally, of evil), so called because there was no hospice ion of strangers therein; D^rro ~)HD, Caphar Shichlaiim (village of water-cresses), so called because it was chiefly on that herb that the people sub- d; WWISD, Caphar Dichraya (the village of male children), bo called, says Rabbi Yochanan, because its women first gave birth to buys, and afterwards to girls, and then left off bearing." TJlla said, "I have seen thai place, and am sure that it could not hold sixty myriads A Sadducee upon this said to Rabbi Chanina, ■ Fe do not speak the truth.'' The response was, " It is written (Jer. iii. 19), OS JlSlJ, 'The inheritance of a deer,' as the skin of a deer, unoccupied by the body of the animal, shrinks, so also the land of Israel, unoccupied by its rightful owners, became contracted" Gittin, fol. 57, col. 1. 15. Rabbi Yoshua, the son of Korcha, relates: — "An 1 inhabitant of Jerusalem once told me that in this valley tivo hundred and eleven myriads were massacred by Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, and in Jeru- :i Itself he slaughtered upon one stone ninety-four myriads, so that the blood flowed till it touched the blood of Zachariah, that it might be fulfilled which is said (Hos. ii. 4), 'And blood toucheth blood.' "When he saw the blood of Zachariah, and noticed that it was boiling and agitated, he asked, ' What is this ?' and he was told that it was the spilled blood of the sacrifices. Then he ordered blood from the sacrifices to be brought and compared it with the blood of the murdered prophet, when, finding the one unlike the other, he said, ' If ye tell me the truth, well and good ; if not, I will comb your flesh with iron currycombs ! ' U] m this they confessed, ' He was a prophet, and because 276 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. itters of religion, we arose and kill( d and it is now 3ome years rince his bl 1 has been in the : idition in which thon seest it.' i Well,' 1 wil] ify him.' He then bronght the greater and Sanhedrin and slaughtered them, but the I of the prophet did not rest He next slaughfc yotu and maidens, but the blood continued i He finally brought school-children and them, but the blood being still unpacified exclaimed, 'Zachariah! Z h! I have for thy killed the best among them; will it please thee if I kill i all \ ' As he said I of the prophet ned within hiin- thus, 'If the blood of one individual has brought punishment, how much will my punishment 1"' for i many ! ' \\\ Bhort, he i I became a Jewish proselyl L 2. Note. — TIp- Bai ohedrin, foL 96, notably this, anion I mo- tion they put him to di 16. (Gen. xxvii 2), "Th< is the voice of Jacob, but the hands a: : 1 . a." Th( I Died ; lamentation caused by II l- rian, who had at Alexa 1 twice the number of Jews that ha I rth under M< The . fers to a similar lamentation occa- sioned by A' :. who ]nit to death in the city of Byther four hundred myriads, or, as some Bay, four thou- r . hands are 1 is of Esau," that is, the empire which destroyed our house, burned our Temple, and banished us from our country. Or the "voice of Jacob" means that there is no effectual prayer that is not offered up by th y of Jacob; and "the hands are the hands of Esau," that there is no victorious battle which is not fought by the descendants of Esau. Ibid. CHAPTER XIV. 277 1 7. Tamar and Zimri botli committed fornication. The former (actuated by a good motive, see Gen. xxxviii. 26) became the ancestress of kings and prophets. The latter brought about the destruction of myriads in Israel. Eav Nachman bar Yitzchak says, " To do evil from a good motive is better than observing the law from a bad one" (< v/., Tamar and Zimri, Lot and his daughters). Nazir, fol. 23, coL 2. iS. The Rabbis have taught that the text, "And when it rested, he said, Return, Lord, to the myriads and thousands of Israel" (Num. x. 36), intimates that the Shechinah does not rest upon less than two myriads and two thousands (two being the minimum plurality). Sup- pose one of the twenty-two thousand neglect the duty of procreation, is he not the cause of the Shechinah's depar- ture fi 1 rael? Yevamoth, foL 64, col. 1. 19. 'And place over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens" (Exod. xviii. 21). The rulers of thousands were hundred in number, the rulers of hundreds six thou- i>c/id, of fifties twelve thousand, and rulers of tens six myriads. The total number of rulers in Israel, therefore, was seven myriad eight thousand six hundred. JSanhed rin, foL 18, col. 1. 20. Once upon a time the people of Egypt appeared before Alexander of Macedon to complain of Israel. "It is said (Exod. xii. 36), they argued, ' The Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them/ &C, ; " and they prayed, " Give us now back the gold and the silver that ye took from us." Givia ben Tesisa said to the wise men (of Israel), " Give me permis- sion to plead against them before Alexander. If they overcome me, say, ' You have overcome a plebeian only/ but if I overcome them, say, ' The law of Moses our master has triumphed over you/ " They accordingly gave him 2;S A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. leave, and lie went and argued thus, "Whence do ye pro- duce your proof?" "From the law," said they. Then he, " I will bring no othei evidence bnt from the law. I is Baid (ExocL xii. 40), 'The Bojouming of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thiri .' Pay us now the osufruct of the labour of the sixty myriads whom ye enslaved in Egypl tor/our hundred and thi'i \ ader gave the Egyptians three d.-- replyi but they never put in an appearance. En fad y fled away and left both their fields and vii. 8 . foL 91, col 1. 21. "And Jethro said. Bli I rd, who hath delivered you" 1 ExocL xviii. 10). A tradition Bays, in the :' Rabbi Papyes, "Shame upon Moses and upon ! they 1 ad not Baid, 1 Blessed be the Lord/ til] Ji me and set the example." / .. I L 9 ;. coL 1. 22. " And let him dip his foot in oil " ( I >eut zxxiii 24), the Rabbis Bay, refers to the portion 1 r, which pro- 3 oil like a welL 1 1 a time, they relate, tho I. • • J( rusalem with instructions to purchase a hundred myriads* worth of oil, lie pro- and thence to 1 rush-halab, when met with the oil merchant earthing up his olive-trees, and asked him whether he could supply a hundred myri worth of nil. "Stop till 1 have finished my work," was the reply. The other, wh iw the business-like way in which he Bet to work, could not help incredulously ex- claiming, "What! hast thou really a hundred myriads* worth of oil to sell? Surely the Jews have meant to make game of me." How. v. nt to the house with the oil merchant, where a female slave brought hot water for him to wash his hands and feet, and a golden bowl of oil to dip them in afterwards, thus fulfilling Dent, xxxiii. 24 to the very letter. After they had eaten together, the CHAPTER XIV. 279 merchant measured out to him the hundred myriads' worth U, and then asked whether he would purchase more from him, " Yes, M said the agent, " but I have no more money here with me." "Xever mind," said the merchant; "buy- it and I will go with thee to thy home for the money." Then he measured out eighteen myriads' worth more. It id that he hired every horse, mule, camel, and ass he could find in all Israel to carry the oil, and that on nearing hifl city the 1 pie turned out to meet him and compliment 1 1 1 111 for the service he had done them. "Don't praise _.nt, " but this, my companion, to whom I myriads!' This, says the narrator, illustrates what La said (Prov. xiii. 7), " There is that maketh himself (ap} .car to be) rich, yet hath nothing ; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches." M nachoth, fol. 85, col. 2. A CENTURY OF EXTRACTS FROM THE MIDRASHIM. " Frecioua in the sight of the Lord is the Aggadah, as explained in the Midrashim." INTRODUCTION TO THE MIDRASHIM. OUR "Century of Extracts from the Midrashim" naturally calls for a few words by way of introduction and explana- tion. The Midrashim are ancient Rabbinical expositions of Holy Writ. The term Midrash (of which Midrashim is the plural form) occurs twice in thi II brew Bible (2 Chron. xiii. 22, and xxiv. 27) ; and in both passages it is oddly represented in the Anglican version by the word "story," while the more correct translation, "commen- tary,*' is relegated to the margin. "Legendary exposi- tion" best expresses the full meaning of the word Midrash, which is derived from the Aramaic ttm, Darash, u to lay open, to investigate," and, according to Rabbinical termi- nology, "to expound, or to preach." Other cognate terms are Darashah, " a sermon or exposition ; " Darshan, " a preacher or expositor; " and one which deserves more than a passing notice, viz., Darshanith, "a female expounder" In the Talmud (Bava Bathra, ful. 119, col. 2), the daughters of Zelophehad, the five wise virgins of Rab- binic lore, as we may fairly style them, are uniquely honoured with the titles of JinplS, niWVT, rWXttl, i.e., sages, expounders, righteous women ; and it is on this ground that the second of these, the strangest of the three, is alleged to have been applied to them. In Num. xxvii. 4 these daughters of Zelophehad are represented as plead- ing and saying, " Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family because he hath no INTRODUCTION TO THE MIDRASHIM. Give unto us, tl: • don among the brethren of onr father;* 1 and thus, by their suggestion, Ling once for all a moot-point in the law given to I • • 1. It Btands to reason that if they had not I filWTT, Darshaneeyoth, that is, female expound could not have known the correct interpretation of ih.- law, which even Moses, the prime legislator himself, as from the context, was not aware of; while we have the Divine testimony to justify the conclusion that tl were in their exposition, and, in the wh rrant for the infi which is inevitable, that edu- n in the law was not forbidden to femali " ;. M ( )nly thi in M have em the harsh dogma, XPOil T\ 1 nOD' 1 »V) iTYtfl TO! WWP, • I. • words of the Law be burned, but let not the words of the law be imparted to women" see Tosaphoth in Soteh, foL 21, 00L 2, and for more on this Bubject, In- aded to this work). Midrashim, for the most part, originated in a prai to familiarise the people with 1 1« >ly Writ, which had, in consequence of changes in the ver- nacular, to them, in the course of time, almi ; letter. Tip e Midrashim have little or nothing to do with the Halachoth or Legal decisions of the Talmud, ipt in aim, which is that of illustration and explana- tion. They Literal interpretations, but figurative and paraphrastic; oftentimes they are allegorical, and as Buch enigmatic. They are, however, to 1"' I as utterances of the sages, and ran regard them of as binding obligation as the law of Moses itself (see Meno- rath Hammaor, vol L p. 96), so that he who treats them with disrespect may expect to be punished in Gehenna for the slight nnmi HK12G, by being boiled in excrement (See Eiruvin, fol. 21, col. 2.) Even the gossip, wo are told, of the disciples of the wise, is to lie regarded with reverent attention ; how much more, then, their deliberately recorded utterances ! 2S4 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. Nehemiah (chap. viii. 48) supplies an illustration of the circumstances in which many of these extempore Midrashim originated, more especially the Targumim or Chaldee paraphrases of the law, the prophets, and other sacred writings. Though not a few quotations from various Midrashim are given in the notes iuterspersed throughout this volume, we have kept the Yalkut Eli in reserve to supply the extracts which follow. These we take to be fairly typical specimens of that homiletic literature of the Geonastic period of Jewish history. This grand Miscellany of Haggadoth, better known by the title of ITJP^N lOlp^, Yalkut Eliezer, ranges so freely over the whole field of sacred history, lingering especially on the salient features of the five books of Moses, that it is aptly suited to our purpose lure, which is that of illus- trating the motto taken from its preface, " Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the Aggadah, as explained in the Midrashim." ( 2S 5 ) CHAPTEB XV. EXTRACTS PROM THB IODBABHDC. i. The name of Abraham alw. those of I u : ad Jacob except in one pL I .. xxvi. 42), where it is Baid, " And I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with [saac, and also my riant with Abraham will I n 1 ;" and thus wo I equal important Midraah R . I . chap 1. N"( that this preced< ace Lb on this exegesis men ly an instance «'f primus inter pares among the patriarchal In the Selichoth* for the Daj aement the above n versa] of the usual order of the names of Abraham, [saac, and Jacob is thus referred fco: "The first covenant Thou didst exalt, and the order of the conl . it ii a to it Thou fa ■■d." The calf in trepidation ran away from him and hid itself in the cave of Machpe- lali, into which he followed it. Here he found Adam and l with lamps burning over their com and the place pervaded with smelling odour. Hence tl he took to the cave of Machpelah fora Pirkt cTRab. Eliezer t chap. 36. Nom— C mpare the words m: c~i nroci with the matter-of- in Gen. xviii. 11, rmcnTB9niw^*in 8. Sheehem, the son of Hamor, assembled girls together playing on tambourines outside the tent of Dinah, and when she " went out to see them, M he carried her off, . . . and Bhe bare him ( teenath. The sons of Jacob wished to kill her, lest the people of the land should begin to talk scan- dal of the h' •' \ er, engraved the holy Name on a metal plate, suspended it upon her neck, and sent her away. All this being observed 1 • the Holy One — blefi He! -the angel Michael was sent d<>wn, who Led her to Egypt, into the house of Poti- pherah; for Osenath was worthy to become the ^ife of i»li. Ibid., chap. 48. Note. — In Xalkut Yehoshua 9, Osenath is Btyled a proselyte ; and indeed it might Beem likely enough that Joseph in- duced hei to worship the true God. The Targum of Jonathan agrees with the version of the Midrash above, 2SS A TALMUD1C MISCELLANY. while another tradition makes Joseph marry Zuleika, the virgin widow of Potiphar, and Bays that she was the sain.- woman that is called Osenath (Koran, note to p. 193). 9. When Joseph's brethren recognised him, and wore about to kill him, an angel came down and dispersed them to t lie four corners of the house. Then Jiulah screamed with such a h>ud voice that all the walls of Egypt were levelled with the dust, all the beasts wore smitten to the ground, and Joseph and Pharaoh, their tooth having fallen out, were cast down from their thrones; while all the men that stood before Joseph had their heads twisted round with their faces towards their harks, and so they remained till the day of their death ; as it is said (Job IV. 10), "The roaring of the lion (Judah), and the voice of the fierce lion," &c. l /•>>//, chap, 5. Note. — For more on this subject see Jasher, chap. 54, and thr Targom of Jonathan, Beet " Vayegaah," &c 10. The tradition of a legend in our possession Bays that Judah killed Ksau. "When? \\\ I died, Jacob and (the chiefs of) the twelve elans went to bury him; as it is written (den. xxxv. 29), " And his Bona Esarj and Jacob buried him." In the Midrash it is, "And Esau and Jacob and his sons buried him," which fits the legend better. Arrived at the cave, they entered it. and they stood and wept. The (heads of the) tribes, out of respect to Jacob, left the cave, that Jacob might not be put to shame in their presence. Judah re-entered it, and finding Esau 1 up as if about to murder Jacob, he instantly went behind him and killed him. But why did he not kill him from the front ? Because the physiognomy of Esau was exactly like that of Jacob, and it was out of respect to the latter that he slew Esau from behind. Midrash Shochar Tov t chap. 18. Note. — Tradition varies respecting the tragic end of Esau. The Look of Jasher (chap. 56, v. 64) and the Targuiu CHAPTER XV. of Jonathan (in Vayechi) 1 -a the- son of Dan : at the burial, n iit to hinder the i\ iitrfng the title to the Bepulchn . 105, 1 1. u Oh, thai I D 1 would fly away, and b T Abraham. But wh] u-iah, in the : R tbbi Y: . all birda when when tii flyii wing to 1 with /; 1; s chap. '-• The ] He!— said unto Abra- ham, "What should I tell thee? an what shall r righteon thy wife Sarah be botl . that thy children shall v. But I will I • all thy children which ahall in future 1 WTience ■'■'" learn I q. w. 5 ; " And he said unto him, So (like be." B i Ibar Rabbdh, chap. 2. 1 J. ' Every man . . . by his od ir ! " Num. ii. ! I selected tin- colours for r banners from the colour of the stones that were u From them other princes have ■ 1 adorn their standards with different distinguishinc colours. I.' : u had his flag red, and leaves of mandrakes d it i ihar had his flag blue, and the sun and moon upon it. Naphtali had on bis flag an olive-tree, for this 11 that (Gen. xlix. 20; "Out of Asher his bread shall Ibid., chap. 7. 14. M And Abraham rose up early and saddled his ass" (Gen. xxii. 3). This is the ass on which Moses also rode T 290 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. when ho came into Egypt : for it is said (Exod. iv. 20), " And Moses took his wife and his sons, and Bet them upon an ass." This is the ass on which the Sun .if David also shall ride; as it is said (Zech. ix. 9), " Poor, and riding ; an ass." Pirfo cPBab. Eliezer, chap. 31. Note. — In the morning Bervice for Yom Eappur,* there la an allusion 1 ripture passage with which our quota- tion opens. It i- said thai Abraham in " his great joy perverted the usual order," which a footnote explains thus — " In tlif greatness of hi- joy, that he had thus an rtunity of sin. win- his obedience t<> God, he set aside tin- usual order of things, which was that the servant should saddle the ass, and saddled theasshii as mentioned Gen xxii. 3." The animal referred t<> in tin- above remarks is thedrin, foL 9S, coL 1. a- being of a hundred 1 15. When Joseph saw the signs of J r, lie :i 1m tremble, and said (to himself . " Woe is me, for he may kill me!" And what were these signs? Tears of 1 rolling down from Judah's right eye, and the hair •a- en Ins chest rising and ting through the live garmenl ph then tricked the marble seat on whi ting, so that it \ instantly shattered into fragments. Upon this Judah vcd. " lie is a mighty man, like one of us." Talkut Vayegash. .XnTE. — Compare Jasher, chap. 54; Ber. Rabbah, iV'-. 16. Abraham married three wives — Sarah, a daughter -Mm : K-tnrah, a daughter of Japheth ; and Hagar, a daughter of Ham. Yalkut, J<>/>, chap. 8. Note. — Rashi supposes that Keturah was one and tin.' same with Hagar— ><> tin- Midrash, the Targum Yerushalmi, and that of Jonathan. The latter Bays, " Keturah, she is 1 1 gar, \\\m had been bound to him from the beginning," as if miBp meant the bound one, from "\\2p, to bind or tie; hut Aben Ezra and most of the commentators con- * Day of Atonement. CHAPTER XV. 291 tend that Keturah and Hagai are two distil] and the use of the plural DtPJ^Bj concubines, in vera them out in this assertion, 1;. The Boly One — ble ed be He !— daily proclaims a law in the heavenly court, and even rill these w known to Abraham, Yalkut, Job, chap. 37. 1 . A Genii! asked Rabbi Foshua ben K "Is • that ye say your < I I he future \ " Tln-n how is it thai it is wril A-. : ;• rieved Him at His heart .' " " "E " replied the Rabbi, "ever had a boy born to thee?" ■ Y the < II rejoiced and made others '. itii ni^.' ■ 1 1 • • ; : I know that he would .tually die ' "' ask " 5T< answer* I the >y is joy, and at the time of mourning, mourning S the Holy I i I ;. Be mourned before thi I the world." Bereshith Rdbbdh, chap. 27. 19. All : of the soul's mourning is from the third to the thirtieth day, during which time she bill thinking her beloved might yet return (to body whence she departed). When she notices that the colour of ti. is changed, she leaves and goes away; and this is what is written (Job xiv. 22), " But his . upon him shall have pain, and his soul shall mourn : him." Then the m<»uth and the belly quarrel with one another, the former saying to the latter, " All I have robbed and taken by violence J deposited in thee;" and the latter, having hurst three days after its burial, sa;. to the former, " There is all thou hast robbed and taken by violence ! as it is written (Eccles. xii. 6), ' The pitcher is broken at the fountain.' " Ibid., chap. 100. 20. Job said, " Even the devil shall not dissuade me from comforting those that mourn ; for I would tell him that 292 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY, I am not better than my Creator, who comforts Israel ; as it is said (Isa. li. 12), r I, even I, am lie that comforteth you.' " Psikta Nachmu. 21. Once Rabbi Shimon hen Yehozedek addressed Rabbi Sh'muel hen Nachman and said, "I hear that thou art a Baal Aggadah; canst thou therefore tell me whence the light was created?" "W I rn, w he replied in a whisper, " that God wrap] 1 Bimself with light as with a garment, and Ee has caused the Bplendour thereof to shine from one end of the world to v.. ther '. "Why whi thou,] wonder, since Scripture 3 bo plainly (Ps. civ. 2) 'Who covereth Himself with light as with a garment 1 \ n The reply was, " I heard it in a whisper, and in a whisper I have told it to th< R 1 bbah, chap. 3. 22. " As the tents of K ' r *' (< lant. i. 5). As t] of the Ishmaelites are ugly without and comely within, Iso the disciples of the wise, though apparently want- ing in beauty, are nevertheless full of Scripture, and of Mishnah and of the Talmud, of the Halacha and of loth. oth Rabbah, chap. 23. 23. "Write thou these wordfi Exod. xxxiv. 37). That applies to the Law, the Pn the II r pha, which were given in writing, but not to the Halachoth, the Midrashim, the Aggadoth, and the Talmud, which were given by the mouth. Ibid., chap. 47. 24. Rabbi Samlai said to Rabbi Yonathan, " Instruct me in the Aggada." The latter replied, " We have a tradi- tion from our forefathers not to instruct either a Baby- lonian or a Daromean in the Aggada, for though they are deficient in knowledge they are haughty in spirit." Tal. Yemshalmi P'sacJiim, v. fol. 32, col. 1. 25. He who transcribes the Aggada has no portion in CHAPTER XV. 293 the world to come ; lie who ex; it is excommuni- cated; and he who Listens I Ltion of it shall receive no reward. !'■'.. Tertuhcdmi Psachim^ Shabbat\ xvi. fol $0, col 2. 26. " Day unto day ntt« •: h " | Ps. IJ this means the Lam >phets, and the li jrapha. nd night onto night showeth knowlei j bhia is the Mishnaioth. " There is □ b 01 Language wh • he 1 1 dachoth. " Their line Ogfa all the earth ;" tl. U b H:- .::■ at 1. J . i Alt't/m, chap, 2 R bbi Fi miah, the bod of EHazar, said, "When the Holy ( >ne — blessed !><• II" [—create 1 Adam, II him an DWIVnjN, fur i: . v, 2 , ' Male and Rabbi Sh'muel bar Nachman said, ■ ■ \\':. d • li y One — blessed be He I— en ! i bed him with two faces ; then il him asunder, and split him fin two , making one hack to : ae-half, and another to the other. Midrash Rabbah, chap. -S. Nora— The term DWJ1TMN • bransliteratioD of the Greek 'A :. a man, and yuwy, woman, I. -in l'^nn Androgynua And it repented the Lord that He had made man im) on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart" (Gen. vi 6). Rabbi Berachi bhatwheu God was about to en im, He foresaw thai both righteous people and wicked people would come forth from him. He reas >ned therefore with Himself thus: — "If I create him, then will the wicked proceed from him; but if I do not create him, how then shall the righteous come forth ? " What then did God do? He separated the ways of the wicked from before Him, and assuming the attribute of mercy, so lie created him. This explains what is written (Pa i. 6), "For the Lord knoweth the way uf the 294 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. righteous, but the way of the wicked shall be lost." The way of the wicked was lost before Him, but assuming to Himself the attribute of mercy, He created him. Rabbi Chanina Bays, ID xb, " It was uot bo ! But when God was aboutto create Adam, He consulted the ministering angels and said unto them (Gen. i. 26), 'Shall we make man in our image after our likeness V They replied, ' For what good wilt thou create him?' He responded, ' That the righteous may rise out of him.' This explains what Lb written, 'Fur the Lord knoWeth the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall be lost. 1 God informed them only about the righteous, but He lid nothing about the wicked, otherwise the ministering angels would not have given their consent that man should be created." B ■ " E ibbahy chap S. 29. Rabbi Hoshaiah said, "When God created Adam the ministering angels mistook him for a divine being, and were about tosay,'Holy! holy! holy!' before him. But God can to fall upon Adam, bo that all knew he was only a man. This explains what is written . ii. 22), 1 "in man, whose breath is in his :!s; for wherein is lie to be accounted of?" Ibid. 30. Rabbi Yochanan saith, "Adam and Eve seemed as if they were about twenty years old when they were • ed." Ibid., chap. 14. 31. 1: v A ha said when God was about to create Adam He consulted the ministering angels, and asked them, saying, u Shall we make man ? " They inquired, " Of what good will this man I He replied, "His wisdom will be greater than yours." One day, therefore, He brought together the cattle, the beasts, and the birds, and a them the name of them severally, but they knew not. He then caused them to pass before Adam, and asked him, " What is the name of this and the other ? " Then Adam CHAPTER XV. an ox, r : An I thou, why is thy aai . in Eebr< w, i ■ 1 1 Adam," was i. mail " (HD1N = the -round). " And what isMy i ■ 1; : ::. : Th u b uldstbe < Qed Lord, Lord o\ :• all i R iv Acha I am the Lord, tl I is M j aa e ' [sa. My name whi Hi I Me.' " B • R '/', chap. 1 7. Ldam waa skilled in all manner \V:. of this '. It is Baid (Isa. . 1 i), " And the artisans, they are m." / . 1 b ip, 24. bid the I. : I 3ai 1, I will destroy man " I V a. \ : . Levi a the nam'' of Rabbi Sochanan, says that even mi ed. Rabbi Yuda, id name of B the very du n was destroyed. R ibl i Yn la, in the name of Rabbi Shimon, insists iTTWI yo n 1 ? 1T9N, even the resurrection) the spine, from which < rod will one day cause man broyed. 1 ■'.. 1 1 tp, - Note. Concern!] ae, N}, th ■"'-', there is an • :v in Midrash Kohelet (foL 1 1 4, 3), which may be appropriately inserted here. Hadrian (whose iy they be ground, and his name blotted out) asked R 1 J l ( !hanania, " From what .-hall the human frame 1"- reconstructed when il Luz in the backboi I he answer. ve this to me," said Hadrian. Then the Rabbi took . a small bone of the spine, and immersed it in water, but it v. ftened ; he put it into the fire, but it v uni d ; he put it into a mill, but it I not be pound" d ; he placed it upon an anvil and Btruck it with a hammer, bul the anvil split and the hammer was bros also Zohar in " 1 206, 1 34. "A window Bhalt thou make to the ark" (Gen. vi. 16;. Babbi Aroma says, " It was a real window." Rabbi 296 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. L vi, on the other hand, maintained that it was a precious stone, and that during the twelve months Noah was in the ark lie had no need of the light of the sun by day nor of the moon by night because of that stem', which he had • suspended, and he knew that it was day when it was dim, and night when it sparkle 1. B .■■ b/ 'th Rabbah, chap. 31. Notel — The "lnv as transparency, ascribed to the ark, has given ;<> various conjectures which we cannot find for here. The idea of Rabbi Levi, thai it was a precious Btone, has the Banctiou of the Targum of Jonathan; which volunteers the additional information that th was found in the river Pison. 35. Noah w ::t in faith, for he did not enter the ark till the water was up to his ankles. Ibid., chap. 32. 36. "And he sent forth a raven" (Gen. viii. 7). The raven remonstrated, remarking, "From all th -. and fowls thou " What • world for I Noah; " thou art I neither for f od nor \<>v sacrifice." Rabbi Elii l I Noah • »rld would one day be of him. " When ■ " asked Noah. '•When the wa; . up from off the earth, there. will in a time t< hteous man \\ ho shall dry up the world, and then I shall want it." This explains what is written (l Kings xvii. 6), " And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morni] J id., chap. 2,3- 37. At the time God said to the serpent, "Upon thy belly thou shalt go" (Gen. iii. 14), the ministering angels descended and lopped off his hands and his feet. Then his voice was heard from one end of the world to the other. Bereshith Midrash Rabbah, chap. 20. 38. "When God said to the serpent, "And upon thy belly thou shalt go " (Gen. iii. 14), the serpent replied, " Lord CHAPTER XV. 297 of the universe I if ' Thy will, then I shall t without feet." Bui when God Baid to him, ■ And dust shalt thou eat," he replied, u If fish 1 then I also will Then G [zed hold of the • mgue in two, and Baid, "O thou t c mmen< q) with thy evil ae; thus I will proclaim it to all that come into the thy tongue that can all this." /. H n of Rabl i Aki '.: I X .li only : ban, who s a beam of the iadi (which proji Noah and his • he would be their slaw- r, Noah made a hole in the ark through which be handed to - his d 1 id (Deut. iii. 1 1 \ • Foi tJTBab, chap. 23. N< Liluvian fable in regard to 7, and chap, xiii. No. 1 1. 40. " Onto Adam 1 Lord < rod make . iii 2 1 . viz., to coi c naked- ; bu1 with what \ With fringes and phylact< viz., the leathern Btraps of the phylac- teries; "and th< i fig-leaves" (Gen. iii. 7;. fringes ; M and made then this means JINHp yotP, the proclaiming of the Shema, "Hear, I YaZkut ChadasJu Note. The "njj nwrD» which Borne (as Rashi, f or instance) take to denote furs, the Taignm of Jonathan Bays were made "from the skin of the si rp m." The wardrobe of A lam ifl • •• : came into the possession of Esau and Jacob l STon. in Toledoth, ami p. 199, iS'o. 161, ante). 41. All the presents which our father Jacob gave to Ivan will one day be returned by the nations of the world to the Messiah, and the proof of this is (Ps. lxxii. 10), 29S A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. "The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall return pre- ." nncp vbn 1*0 avia pa ixin*. it is not written here, " They shall bring" but they Bhall restore or return. Midrash Rabbah Vayishlach, chap. 78. 42. A philosopher once posed Ral T with the question, "Does not the pro] y (Mai. i. 4), 'They .1 build, but T will throw down V and do uot build- still exist?" To which the Rabbi answered, " The prophet does not speak of buildings, but of the schemes of designers. Ye all think to contrive and build up devices, to destroy and make an end of us, but Be bringeth your counsels to nought. He throweth them down, so that your devices ;r_ r ii:i-t us have no efl "By thy life," said the philosopher, " it is even so; we meet annually for ;;. of compassing your ruin, but a certain old man comes and all our proji (namely, Elijah). Yalkut Malachi. 43. When Israel came, out of 1 mael rose to accuse them, and thu ke: — "Lord of the drive bill now worshipped idols, and art Thou going to divide the sea for such 1 What did the B One — blessed be He! — then do '. J <\ one of Pharaoh's high counsellors, of whom it is written (Job i. 1 ;, "That man was and upright," He took and delivered to SamaeL, saying, as lie did so, " Behold, he is in thy hand ; do with him as thou pleasest." God thought to divert Ins evil designs by keeping him thus occupied with Job, that Israel meanwhile might cross the sea without any hindrance, after which lie w r ould return and rescue Job from his tender mercies. God then said to Moses, " 1 - hold I have delivered Job to Satan ; make haste. Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward " (Exod. xiv. 15). Midrash Rabbah Shemoth, chap. 21. 44. No man ever received a mite (in charity) from CHAPTER XV. and needed to receive bucL of the good-luck it brought along with M ' . S ■.'•'. z\. N :: . A mj rstiti E prevails 1 mong tl. .:i population aa well as the J( '• -. I b .' dned in i rcumstances bring luck apart altogether from any virtue they may I A penny obtai] . the first thing in the morning, by Btumblii d it in the street, by the in article in the market, or bj 1 tii bode luck, and che- l as a pl< : >rtune by being Blight] • upon several times on i ad then carefully Btowed actum, the Inckii bat ever lived ; bis vn . to kill the wolves tl. . devour them ; and a 1 from bis 1 1 . i : . Deeded ai alms from him again. 3 "Gen* ling to the Talmud," p. . 16.) inl Bald unto the K for ye showed kind] I 11 I ael "' (i S 6). And did they show kindness to all the children oi Israel N >j but what is written is to teach he who : ; the wise as a guest into his luui 1 to drink, is as if he had wn kindness to all the children of [sraeL Midrash Stimuel, chap. iS. 46. Rabbi Levi says, "When Solomon introduced the ark into the Tempi.', all the woodwork thereof h with sap and began to yield fruit, asit is said (Ps. xcii. 13), ■ , that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.' And thus it con- tinued to bear fruit, which abundantly supplied the juveniles of the priestly caste till the time of Manas but he, by introducing an image into the Temple, the Shechinah to depart and the fruit to wither; as it is said (Null, i. 4), 'And the llower of Lebanon languished/" Mui rash Till in Terumah. 3oo A TALMUD IC MISCELLANY. 47. The land of Israel is situated in the centre of the world, and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel, and the Temple in the centre of Jerusalem, and the Holy of holies in the centre of the Temple, and the 7PIW pN, foundation-stone on which the world was grounded, is situated in front of the ark. Midra&h Tittin Terumah, Kedoshim. Note. — In Ezek. v. 5 we read, " I have set Jerusalem in the midst of the nations and countries thai are round about her." On the literal interpretation of these words it rted that Jerusalem was the very centre of the world, or, as Jerome quaintly called it, "the navel of the earth.'' In the Talmud we find a beautiful meta- phor in illustration of this view. It is in the Last six lines of the ninth chapter of Derech Eretz Zuta, which read thus: — " [ssi ben Sochanan, in the name of She- muel Hakaton, . 'The world is like the eyeball of man ; the white ie which surrounds the world, the black is the world itself, the pupil is Jerusalem, and tin; image in the pupil is the Temple. May it be built in our own days, and in the days of all I ■u ! ' ■" The memory of this conceit is kept alive to this day among the Greek Christians, who still Bhow the 1 hurch of the Holy Sepulchre at i. This notion is not confined to Jewry. Classic readers will at once call to mind the appellation Omphalos 01 navel applied t pie at Delphi (Pindar, Pyth., iv. 131, vi. 3; Eurip. Ion., 461 ; iEsch. Choeph., 1034; Euni. 40, 167; Strabo, & 48. Two sparks issued from between the two cherubim and destroyed the serpents and scorpions and burned the thorns in the wilderness. The smoke thereof, rising and spreading, perfumed the world, so that the nations said (Cant. iii. 6), " Who is this that cometh out of the wilder- ness like pillars of smoke, perfumed," &c Ibid., Vayalchcl. 49. Better to lodge in the wilderness of the land of Israel than dwell in the palaces outside of it. Midrash Rabbah, chap. 39. 50. "And give thee a pleasant land" (man y~)N\ a CHAPTER XV. 301 land) (.Tor. iii. 19). Why is it called a cov land ' B the T :..; '■■ '■•• • in why it v. the fathers of the world havi I it Rabbi Shimon ben Levi Bay l; 'who are buried) there will first to I in the :••- 1 i level it. as i; v moun- and hill shall be ma I and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth,' then shall :it stand I>l: ■ : '"tJt, cha}>. 4. 52. 1 ' who dwell in the land of Israel, for have no -in, no iniquity, either in their lives or in their d M Ira : > : ■'< rr Too on Pa. Ixxxv. 53. "Better i< a dry morsel and quietm with" (Prov, xvii. 1). This,8aith Rabbi, means the land of 1 for even it' a man have nothing b I and salt to :f he dwells in the Land ut' [srael be is sure that he is • world to " Than a house full of sacri- • rife." 1 XHkX) »T20n, outsi the land, which i< full of robbery and violence. Rabbi X Bays, *" II walks but an hour in the land of [srael and ti. within it may feel assured that he is a of the world to come ; for it is written ( Deut xxxii. 43), Vty VttTW 1931, ' And his earth shall atone for his people. 1 " M ' Ir < \ Mi&hle. NOTB. — Sec also the Talmud, Kethuboth, foL in, CoL 1. 3 o2 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY, Pr. Benisch renders i»r> irrns ")ED1 "and make expiation for Bis ground and His people." The Targums of Jona- than and the Yerushalmi have, "He will make atone- ment f<»r Bis land and for His people ; " and Onkelos pnts it thns, "He will show mercy unto Bis land and His people." Our rendering, however, is in accordance with the sense given to it in the Talmud (see "Gem according to the Talmud," p. 224, No. 11). There are Jews who travel about the world with ba < irth fr^iu the Holy Land, which they sell in .-mall quantities for high prices to such as can afford it. and believe in its virtue as a protection against the worms of the grave. 54. Jerusalem is the light of the world; as it is said, "And the Gentiles shall con ly light " (Isa. lx. 3). And the light of Jerusalem is the Holy One — blessed be Bi ! — as it is written, but "the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light" (Isa. lx. 19). Bi reshith Rabbah, chap. 59. 55. Ten portions of wisdom, ten p E the law, and ten portions of hypocrisy are in the world; nine portions •h are in the land of Israel and one outside of it. Mir I--' 1 * J,' ibbah Est) 56. " And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord " (Isa Ixvi. 23). But how is it possible that all flesh shall come evi ry new moon and Sabbath to Jerusalem? Rabl ith, "In the future Jerusalem will be as the land of Israel, and the land of Israel will be as the whole world." But how will they come from the end of the world every new moon and Sabbath? "The clouds will come and carry them and bring them to Jerusalem, where they will perform their morning prayer, and will carry them back to their several tnes; and this is the meaning of the prophet's saying (Isa. lx. 8), 'Who are these that fly as a cloud (in the morning), and as the doves to their windows (in the evening; [ ' " Pesikta. CHAPTER XV. 3°3 "~. ','. I <1 and measured the earth "(Hab. iii. 6). I; i Shimon ben Yochai ex] >od and Holy I >ne — bl< sse 1 be He I — 1 all the nations, and He found none worthy to pt the d in the wildern 1 all the mount found none on which to give the lav Mount Sinai He measured all cities, and found none in which to build the Temple II mi . and found iven unto [srael now calh-d the land <>f [srai 1. Ihia it is that is written, " He ap and : I ' R ' i/t, cha; . •• I w< the mountai] (Jonah ii. ' . I ated • Id's " foundat jank under the Temple <-f tic I. i .. and upon : band and pi .v. 1 ated i aim. •• Jonah, behold thou art standi; ; he Lord ; there- -. i thou Bhalt l»e answered." /'//-. h /" \ • hap. 10. 59. " And • from the Lord " I Lev. x. A * \ L Saitl - if lire cane out from Holy of holies, and tt disparted into four : two red the e F the one Nadab), and two ent( the nostrils of the other (%.€,, Abihu . and thus consumed them. Tl but not their garments \ for i: . "I came bito My garden," the syna- iies and aca lemies ; " My Bister, My Bpouse," the con- ationof [srael; u 1 i ered Mymyrrh with My Bpice," the Bible (that is); " I ha^ My honeycomb withMy honey," elds means) the Halachoth, Midrashoth, andAggadoth; "I have drank My wine with My milk," this alludes to the good works which arc reserved for the r that, ' E • . ' I ! drink. ;. drink freely, L!" ) \ /.'"■.-. foL 41, coL 2. 65. When Solomi □ k into the Temple and said. " hi;': up youT head I I j I and the King U come in," the gates were ready to fall upon him and crush his head, and fchey would have done so if he had not said at once, "The Lord of hosts, 11 is the King of glory" (Ps. xxiv. 9, 10). The Holy One — bles be He! — then said to tl tes, "Since ye have thus honoured Me, by your lives ! when I destroy My Temple, no man shall have dominion over you!" This was to inform us that while all the • of the Temple were carried into captivity, the gates of the Temple were stored away on the very spot where they were erected ; for it is said (Lam. ii. 9), " Her pates are sunk into the ground." Midrash Rabbdh Devarim, chap. 15. CHAPTER XV. 305 Note. We are reminded ol this traditioo in tin- r;^*:':. Lusion service for Yom happur, where we repeat, ■ ■•••lily thou Bhalt open the hidden gates to those who hold East Thy law." The allusion is to " the gal the l which u are supposed to be sunk in the ml.'' 64. Rabbi \ ace met on a journey a remarkably j man toiling along ui reat load of wood. Rabbi Akiva Bald onto him, u I adjure thee to tell me whi thou art a man or a demon.* 1 w Rabbi," said la'." 1 waa once a man, and it La now Borne time Bince I Left the [ have 1 a Load like this, under which 1 '1 to bow down, and Bubmit three day to I"- burned . ■ '.: jked him, \\ ; • -. • punishment i " and I committed an immorality on tin 1 Day of I I; jked him if he knew of any- thing by which I tain for him a remission of punishment. " I do," wa w er. " Wlien a on whom 1 haye L< R behind me is called up to the (public) reading of the Law, and shall say, l Blessed be the Lord,' I shall be drawn out of hell and taken into Paradise." The Rabbi qo1 me of the man and his dwell- ing-place, whither he afterwards went and mud-' inquiries about him. The people of the place on) ed,"The name of the wicked shall rol " Prov. x. 7). Notwithstand- ing this, the Rabbi insisted, and .-aid, " Bring his son to me." When they brought him. he taught the Lad to repeat the bles- Bing, which he did on the en 1 Sabbath at the public ling of the Law ; upon which his father was immediately removed from hell to Paradise. On the self-same night the father repaired direct to Rabbi Akiva, and gratefully expressed his hope that the Rabbi's mind might be as much at rest as his own was. Midrash Assereth Hadibroht. N<>te. — Sue infrOj No. S3. 65. There are three things which a man dues not wish 306 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. for : — Grass to grow up among his grain-crops ; to have a daughter among his children ; or that his wine should turn to vinegar. Yet all these three are ordained to be, for the world stands in need of them. Therefore it is said, " Lord, my God, Thou art very great ! ... He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle" (Ps. civ. I, 14). Midrash Tanchuma. 66. There are four cardinal points in the world, &c. The north point God created but left unfinished ; for, said He, " Whoever claims to be God, let him come and finish this corner which I have left, and thus all will know that he is God." This unfinished corner is the dwelling-place of the harmful demons, ghosts, devils, and storms. Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer, chap. 3. 6j. A Min once asked Rabbi Akiva, " Who created this world?" "The Holy One— blessed be He!"— was the reply. " Give me positive proof of this," begged the other. " Come to-morrow," answered the Rabbi. On coming the next day, the Rabbi asked, " What are you dressed in ? " " In a garment," was the reply. " Who made it ? " asked the Rabbi. " A weaver," said the other. " I don't be- lieve thee," said the Rabbi; "give me a positive proof of this." " I need not demonstrate this," said the Min ; " it stands to reason that a weaver made it." " And so thou mayest know that God created the world," observed the Rabbi. When the Min had departed, the Rabbi's disciples asked him, " What is proof positive ? " He said, " My children, as a house implies a builder, and a gar- ment a weaver, and a door a carpenter, so likewise the existence of the world implies that the Holy One — blessed be He ! — created it." Midrash Terumah. 68. "When the Holy One — blessed be He ! — created the world, it was a level expanse free from mountains ; but when Cain slew Abel his brother, whose blood was trod- CHAPTER XV. 307 den down on the earth, He cursed the ground, and im- mediately hills and mountains sprang into existence. Midrash Vayosha. 6g. "The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and he- hold ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude " (I)eut. i. 10). Why did He bless them with stars? As there are degrees above degrees among these stars, so likewise are there degrees above degrees among Israel. Again, as these stars are without limit, without number, and of great power from one end of the world to the other, so likewise is Israel. (Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 41.) Midrash Rabbali Devarim. 70. " Flee, my beloved " (A. V. " make haste," Cant. viii. 14). When Israel eat and drink, and bless and praise the Holy One — blessed be He ! — He hearkeneth to their voice and is reconciled ; but when the Gentiles eat and drink, and blaspheme and provoke the Holy One — blessed be He ! — He has a mind to destroy His world, until the Law enters and pleads in defence, " Lord of the universe ! before Thou regardest those that blaspheme, look and be- hold Thy people Israel, who bless, and praise, and extol Thy great Name, with the Law, and with songs and with praises ! " And the Holy Spirit shouts, " Flee, my be- loved ! flee from the Gentiles, and hold fast to Israel ! " Midrash Rabbah Shir-Hashirim. 71. Eabbon Gamaliel called on Chilpa, the son of Caroyna, when the latter asked the Eabbi to pray on his behalf ; and he prayed, " The Lord grant thee according to thine own heart " (Ps. xx. 4). Eabbi H , son of Eabbi Isaac, said, " It was not so ; he prayed thus, ' The Lord fulfil all thy petitions ; '" for a man often thinks in his heart to steal or commit some other transgression, and therefore ' The Lord grant thee according to thine own heart,' is a prayer not to be offered on behalf of every 3o3 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. man." But the answer was, " His heart was perfect before his Creator, and therefore he did so pray on his behalf." Midrash Shochar Tov, 20. 72. Thou wilt find that whithersoever the righteous go a blessing goes with them. Isaac went down to Gerar, and a blessing followed him. " Then Isaac sowed," &c. (Gen. xxvi. 12). Jacob went down to Laban (Gen. xxx. 27), and Laban said, " I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake." Joseph went down to Potiphar, and " the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake" (Gen. xxxix. 5). Thus also thou wilt find it was with the ark which came down to the house of Obed-edom, &c. (2 Sam. vi. 11). Our forefathers came into the land and a blessing followed at their heels, as it is said (Deut. vi. 11), "And houses full of good things," &c. Yalkut Ekev. 73. "And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth" (Num. xxiii. 5). An angel took up his seat in Balaam's throat, so that when he wished to bless, the angel per- mitted him, but when he desired to curse, the angel tickled his throat and stopped him. " Word " in this place means simply an angel ; as it is said (Ps. cvii. 20), " He sent His word and healed them." Eabbi Yochanan says, " There was an iron nail in his throat which permitted him when he wished to bless, but it rasped his throat and prevented him when about to curse." "Word" in this place means only an iron nail ; for it is said (Num. xxxi. 23), 121 73, " Every thing (or word, for the original has both mean- ings) that may abide the fire." Ibid. 74. Babbi Avin said four kinds of excellency were created in the world: — (1.) Man's excellency over the animal kingdom; (2.) the eagle's excellency over the feathered tribes ; (3.) the excellency of the ox over CHAPTER XV. 309 domestic cattle; and (4.) the lion's excellency over the wild beasts. All were fixed under the chariot of God ; as it is said (Ezek. i. 10), "As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle." And why all this ? In order that they should not exalt themselves, but know that there is a kingdom of heaven over them ; and on this account it is said (Eccles. v. 8), " He that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they." This is the meaning of Exod. xv. 1 : "He hath triumphed gloriously." Midrash Shemoth, chap. 23. 75. No man in Israel despised himself more than David when the precepts of the Lord were concerned, and this is what he said before God (Ps. cxxxi. 1, 2), " ' Lord, my heart was not haughty ' when Samuel anointed me king. ' Nor were mine eyes lofty' when I slew Goliath. 'Neither did I exercise myself in matters too great and wonderful for me ' when I brought up the ark. ' Have I not behaved myself, and hushed my soul, as a babe that is weaned of his mother ? ' As a child which is not ashamed to un- cover himself before his mother, so have I likened myself before Thee, in not being ashamed to depreciate myself before Thee for Thy glory," &c. (See 2 Sam. vi. 20, 2 1 .) Bamidbar, chap. 4. 76. " I sleep, but my heart waketh " (Cant. v. 2). The synagogue of Israel says " I sleep " with regard to the end of days, " but my heart waketh " with regard to the redemption ; " I sleep " with regard to redemption, but the heart of the Holy One — blessed be He ! — waketh to redeem me. Midrash Shir Hashirim. yy. Eabbi Ishmael saith all the five fingers of the right hand of the Holy One of Israel — blessed be He ! — are severally the efficient causes of redemptions. (1.) 310 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. "With His little finger he pointed ont to Noah how to construct the ark; as it is said (Gen. vi. 15), "And thus thou shalt make it." (2.) With the finger next to the little one He smote the Egyptians; as it is said (Exod. viii 19), " This is the finger of God." (3.) With the third finger from the little one He wrote the tables ; as it is said (Exod. xxxi. 1 8), " Tables of stone written by the finger of God." (4.) With the fourth finger, that which is next the thumb, the Holy One — blessed be He ! — pointed out to Moses how much the Israelites should give as a ransom for their souls; as it is said (Exod. xxx. 13), " This shall they give." (5.) With the thumb and the whole hand the Holy One — blessed be He ! — will in the future destroy the children of Esau, for they oppress the children of Israel, as also the children of Ishmael, for they are their enemies ; as it is said (Micah v. 9), " Thine hand shall be uplifted upon thy adversaries, and all thy enemies shall be cut off." Pirke tfRab. EMezer, chap. 48. 78. " For Mine own sake, for Mine own sake, will I do it" (Isa. xlviii. 1 1). Why this repetition ? The Holy One — blessed be He ! — said, " As I redeemed you when you were in Egypt for My name's sake " — (Ps. cvi. 8), " He saved them for His name's sake," — " so in like manner will I do it from Edom for My own name's sake. Again, as I redeemed you in this world, so likewise will I redeem you in the world to come ;" for thus He saith (Eccles. i. 9), " The thing that hath been is that which shall be " (Isa. li. 11) ; " The redeemed of the Lord shall return ;" not the re- deemed of Elijah, nor the redeemed of the Messiah, but " the redeemed of the Lord." Midrash Shochar Tov Tehillim, 107. 79. " Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy " (Lam. i. 5). Eabbi Isaac saith, " Come and see how greatly beloved are the children ! " The Sanhedrin CHAPTER XV. 311 were exiled, but the Shechinah was not exiled with them. The Temple guards were exiled, but the Shechinah was not exiled with them. But with the children the She- chinah also was exiled. This is that which is written (Lam. i. 5, 6), " Her children are gone, . . . and from the daughter of Zion all her beauty (i.e., the Shechinah) is departed." Midrash Rabbah Eicha, So. " How doth the city sit solitary ! " (Lam. i. 1). Three have, in prophesying, made use of this word " How " — Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Moses said (Deut. i. 12), " How can I myself bear your cumbrance ! " Isaiah said (Isa. i. 21), " How is the faithful city become an harlot!" Jeremiah said (Lam. i. 1), ''How doth the city sit soli- tary ! " Rabbi Levi saith, " The thing is like to a matron (rwitOD, matrona) who has three friends ; one saw her in her prosperity, another saw her in her dissipation, and the third saw her in her pollution. So Moses saw Israel in their glory and prosperity, and he said, " How can I my- self bear your cumbrance ! " Isaiah saw them in their dis- sipation, and he said, " How is the faithful city," &c. ; and Jeremiah saw them in their pollution, and he said, " How doth the city sit solitary ! " Midrash Rabbah Eicha. Si. Hezekiah saith the judgment in Gehenna is six months' heat and six months' cold. Midrash Reheh. 82. Gehenna has sixteen mouths, four towards each car- dinal point. The Gentiles say, " Hell is for Israel, but Paradise is for us." The Israelites say, " Ours is Para- dise." Midrash Aggadath Bereshith. 83. Eabbi Yochanan ben Zachai says, that coming once upon a man who was gathering wood, he addressed him, but at first he made no reply. Afterwards, however, he came up and said, " Eabbi, I'm not a living man, but 312 A TALMUD IC MISCELLANY. a dead one." " If thou art a dead man," said I, " what is this wood for ? " He replied, " When I was alive upon earth, I and an associate of mine committed a certain sin in my shop, and when we were taken thence, we were sentenced to the punishment of mutual burning ; so I gather wood to burn him, and he does the same to burn me." I then asked him, " How long are you to be punished thus ? " He replied, " When I came here my wife was enceinte, and I know she gave birth to a boy. May I beg thee, therefore, to see that the child is instructed by a teacher, for as soon as he is able to repeat, ' Bless ye the blessed Lord ! ' I shall be brought up hence and be free from this punishment in hell." (See No. 64, supra.) Tanu cVby Eliyahu. 84. Eabbi Berachia saith, "In order that the Minim, apostates, and wicked Israelites might not escape hell on account of their circumcision, the Holy One — blessed be He ! — sends an angel to undo the effects of it, and they straightway descend to their doom. When Gehenna sees this, she opens her mouth and licks them. This is the purport of (Isa. v. 14), " And she opened her mouth, ph y~ > t° those without law " (i.e., to those without the sign of the covenant). Midrash Rdbbath Shemoth. chap. 19. 85. " God hath also set the one over against the other" (Eccles. vii. 14), i.e., the righteous and the wicked, in order that the one should atone for the other. God created the poor and the rich, in order that the one should be main- tained by the other. He created Paradise and Gehenna, in order that those in the one should deliver those in the other. And what is the distance between them ? Eabbi Chanina saith the width of the wall (between Paradise and Gehenna) is a handbreadth. Yalkut Koheleth. 86. " Those passing through the valley of ($22) weeping make it a well (iTT)D HW m3~)3 US) ; also blessings shall CHAPTER XV. 313 cover the teacher" (Ps. lxxxiv. 6, A. V.). " The valley of weeping " is Gehenna. " Make it a well," for their tears are like a well or spring. " Also blessings shall cover the teacher." Eabbi Yochanan saith, "The praises of God that ascend from Gehenna are more than those that ascend from Paradise, for each one that is a step higher than his neighbour praises God, and says, ' Happy am I that I am a step higher than the one below me.' 'Also blessings shall cover the teacher,' for they will acknowledge and say, 1 Ye have taught well, and ye have instructed well, but we have not obeyed.' " Yalkut Tehillim, 84. 87. Those of the house of Eliyahu have taught that Gehenna is above the sky, but some say it is behind the mountains of darkness. Tcuiu d'by Eliyahu. SS. Gehenna was created before Paradise ; the former on the second day and the latter on the third. Yalkut Kote. — In T. B. P'sachim, fol. 54, col. 1, it is said that the reason of the omission of the words, "And God saw that it was good," in respect to the second day of the creative week, was because hell-fire was then created; but see the context. 89. When Adam saw (through the Spirit) that his posterity would be condemned to Gehenna, he disobeyed the precept "DHI "H3. But when he perceived that after twenty-six generations the Israelites would accept the law, he bestirred himself in compliance ; as it said (Gen. iv. 1), "Adam vero cognovit uxorem suam Hevam." Ibid. 90. " And the souls they had gotten in Haran " (Gen. xii. 5). These are they who had been made proselytes. Whoever attracts a Gentile and proselytises him is as much as if he had created him. Abraham did so to men and Sarah to women. Bereshith Midrash Rabbah. !N"ote. — See also Rashi to the same effect. 3 i4 A TALMUDIC MISCELLANY. 91. " Sing and rejoice" (Zech. ii. 10). The Holy One — blessed be He ! — will in the future bring all the proselytes that were proselytised in this world, and judge all the nations of the world in their presence. He will say to them, " Why have ye left Me and served idols, which are nothing?" They will reply and say, "Had we applied at Thy door, Thou wouldst not have received us." Then will He say to them, " Let the proselytes that were made from among you come forward and testify against you." Psikta. 92. These are the pious female proselytes — Hagar, Osenath, Zipporah, Shiphrah, Puah, the daughter of Pharaoh (Bathia), Rahab, Ruth, and Jael. Yalkut Yehod/ua, 9. 93. " The Lord keepeth the proselytes " (Ps. cxlvi. 9). " I esteem it a great compliment on the part of the proselyte to leave his family and his father's house and come to Me. Therefore I on my part will command respecting him (Deut. x. 19), ' Love ye therefore the proselyte.' " Mi