|Hil PUBLICATIONS No. 8 1 o ^B TYPES OF JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY FROM 70 B.O.E. TO 70 C.E. THE ANCIENT PIOUS MEN BY ADOLPH BUCKLER, PH.D. PHIN'CIl'AL Ol JEWS' COLLEGE V LONDON 1922 EX The Library University of California, Los Angeles The gift of Mrs. Cummings, 1 963 JEWS' COLLEGE PUBLICATIONS NO. 8 TYPES OF JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY FROM 70 B.C.E. TO 70 C.E. THE ANCIENT PIOUS MEN BY ADOLPH BUCKLER, PH.D. PRINCIPAL OF JEWS COLLEGE LONDON 1922 Printed in England TO THE EVER-CHERISHED MEMORY OF MY MASTER PROF. DR. W. BACKER OF THE RABBINICAL SEMINARY BUDAPEST THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED IN REVERENCE AND GRATITUDE CONTEXTS PREFACE 5-6. CHAPTER I. Hillel the Hasid. The meaning of TDPI in the Psalms, in rabbinic literature ; Hillel the Hasid, his meekness and humility, his attitude to God, his and other scholars' deeds in God's honour, his care for his body and soul, his trust in God, his charity, sympathy and love ; the duty of selflessness ; without Torah no true piety nor wisdom ; fear of sin and piety in the first century ; strict observance of the pious men, their morality, temper and charity. R. Pinhas b. Yair's sentence on the gradual acquisition of cleanness, purity, holiness, humility, fear of sin, piety, the holy spirit ; the same qualities in the first century ; the holy spirit in Hillel and some of his disciples ; the Hasid not an Essene, pp. 7-67. CHAPTER II. The ancient pious men. A pious man's sacrifice of thanks for a religious duty performed, his religious character ; the daily guilt-offering of Baba b. Buta the Hasid and its occasion, the frequent sin-offerings of the pious men ; the pious men and the men of deed on the Temple Mount, their freedom from sin and their repentance. R. Haninah b. Dosa the man of deed, deeds of loving-kindness, his strict observance of tithing and of the Sabbath, his faith, truthfulness, scrupulous honesty, sympathy and helpfulness, his poverty, humility, devotion in prayer, God's son ; his prayer of intercession for the sick sought by leading rabbis, his intimacy with God, his miracles, not an Essene. Hillel and the pious men on the Temple Mount, not Essenes, their concentration in prayer to their Father in heaven, acts of loving- kindness, their sins atoned by illness ; the ancient elders or scholars and their Halakhahs, pp. 68-127. CHAPTER III. The pious men in the Psalms of Solomon. Their faith in God, fear and love of Him. prayers, His particular providence, temptation by want and suffering, poverty and hunger, modesty and gratefulness ; recognition of God's justice in the terrible catastrophe of Jerusalem under Pompey, justification of God in the sufferings of the pious, their unknown sins, submission to visitation; search of heart and home for unrighteous deeds, confession of sin, repentance in humiliation and fasts ; sins of the noble priests and their punish- ment ; God purges sins by chastisement humbly accepted by the pious. and forgives in grace; the pious faithfully obey His commandments, practise righteousness ; meaning of righteousness in Ezek. 18, LXX, Philo, Josephus, NT., curse by pious, interpretation of God's justice : no reference to sacrifices ; the Messianic King, his holiness, Israel not favoured by God, no reward for piety expected, free will, purging of Jerusalem of enemies by Messiah; comparison of the pious in the Psalms of Solomon with those in rabbinic literature, pp. 12S-1H5. 2096856 IV CONTEXTS CHAPTER IV. Honi the Hasid and his prayer for rain. About 70 B.C.E. he was asked to pray for rain, in 67 to curse Aristobul II and his supporters, Honi righteous, beloved of God, pious, considered to stand near God, not an Essene ; other intercessors for rain, Abba alleged title of Essene ; Honi's prayer on the Temple Mount, the usual meeting-place of the people, date of prayer ; the institution of public fasts and public prayers, address of the preacher, the reader, contrition of assembly indispensable, rabbis as reader* ; Honi's prayer analysed, form, wording, later prayers on the Temple Mount ; the responses of the congregation, its prostrations ; blasts of trumpets and horns by priests, the horn in the service in the Temple and on Temple Mount ; religious thought in Honi's prayer, his strange conduct, immodesty, insistence, oath, second prayer over sacrifice for the rain to stop ; censure of Honi by Simeon b. Shetah. the Pharisee teacher, but recognition of his successful intercession by the members of the Beth-din ; Honi accompanied by his disciples just as rabbis and prophesying Essenes, but not an Essene ; intercession in Apocalypse of Baruch, conclusion, p. 196-261. SOME TYPES OF JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY FROM 70 B.C.E. TO 70 C.E. THE ANCIENT PIOUS MEN, DWKTI D'YDPI IN his comprehensive book on the religion of Jewry in the New Testament period, 1 Professor Bousset undertook the difficult task of a historical reconstruction of the religious life and thought that prevailed among the Palestinian Jews in the first century. That he grievously failed, was due not only to his insufficient knowledge of the rabbinic litera- ture, the chief source of information on his subject, and even of its language. But not less to his unparalleled boldness in both the outlining and the painting of the enormous and complicated picture the essential parts of which had not even summarily been defined and elaborated by experts and specialists. In addition, he failed to consult the few, but valuable essays published by Jewish scholars in various periodicals, who, as e.g. Geiger, had investigated some of the important religious ideas and practices of the time in question. They would have supplied Professor Bousset with some correctly translated early rabbinic accounts un- known to him as dealing with some religious beliefs and their realization in life. As the wilful disregard of such and similar early rabbinic material naturally involved the absence from his book, as also from the works of other scholars about the first century, of many an essential feature of Jewish-Palestinian life, it must be stated here most emphatically that a history of any phase of Jewish religious 1 Die Religion des Judentums im neutestamentlichen Zeitalkr, 2nd edition, 1906. O SOME TYPES OF life must be based on the same principles of research as that of the Assyrian, Indian, Greek, or Roman religions. Only an instructed and impartial collection of the available rabbinic data and their scientific analysis ; a trained and objective examination and sifting of the individual state- ments, their authenticity, their dates, and their historical value for a reconstruction of actual concepts and practice ; and only an unpreconceived appreciation of the underlying sentiments and beliefs will prepare the ground for a true account of the actual religious notions and conditions. The reverse method, especially if it is not checked in its free construction by a pertinent knowledge of the sources of information, must produce a caricature, a freak. The present essay undertakes the modest task of collect- ing and re-examining the reports preserved in the rabbinic literature about the pious men, D'Ton, who lived in Jerusalem in the period extending from 70 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.; of supple- menting by a detailed examination of all the early records about the ways in which the pious men expressed their religious sentiments and ideas, the generalizing presentations by scholars of the rank of Jost, Gratz, Derenbourg, Geiger, Wellhausen, and Kohler, of the religious life of all the sections of Palestinian Jewry in the first century ; of describing one representative class of typically pious indi- viduals, and incidentally throwing some new light on the inner life of the Jews of Jerusalem, which hitherto has not been considered worthy of special attention. The standard of the ethical teachings of those pious men, a few of the central points of their theology, the purity and the depth of their religious sentiments, and the fundamental principles of their actions as reflected in early and authentic reports, will incidentally be tested, and allow an insight into a small, but important section of Jewish ethics and theology in the first century. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY I HILLEL, THE TDH 1. THE word Ton is well known from the Psalms as denoting a pious man who, in all adversity, put his trust in God ; in the plural it refers in the same book to a group of men similarly distinguished by their attachment to God. The Oxford Gesenius, 339 b , has about it this : 'Ton, kind, pious, so, as denoting active practice of ion, kindness : its use as attribute of God, Jer. 3. 12 ; Ps. 145. 17, and the context Ps. 12.2; Mic. 7.2, &c. 3 favour active sense. 2. Pious, godly, either as exhibition of " duteous love " toward God, or (in view of rarity of such passages as Hos. 6. 4, 6; Jer. 2. 2, and their possible ambiguity) because kindness, as prominent in the godly, comes to imply other attributes, and to be a designation of the godly character, piety. In Maccabeaii a,ge, BX, where non ^N is the same as Ton, as in Prov. 11. 17. 3 This also shows that Ton in the case of man means the same as in that of God : 1 See also Gesenius-Buhl, s.v. "IDP! and TD1~I. 2 See also Ps. 33. 5. s See Delitzsch, Baethgen, and others, on Ps. 145. 17. 8 SOME TYPES OF it is active, and not passive. 1 As, according to the critics, the date of the composition of Ps. 145 was very near the Maccabean rising, the Asideans of that period were also most probably men practising loving-kindness towards their fellow men. 2 The pious or holy men appear also 3 in the Psalms of Solomon as oi ocrioi which Greek word is in the LXX the translation of TDn in the biblical Psalms : a special chapter will be devoted to the establishment of their religious character. In rabbinic literature Ton appears in connexion with Hillel 4 who died about the year 1 : ' When once the elders (scholars) went into the house of the family of Gadia in Jericho, and a heavenly voice came forth and said to them, "There is among you a man worthy of the holy spirit, 1 So also in the explanation in Sifre Deut. 49 : pHX NIpJ iT'npn HO Ton sip: mpn no ^nx 'in nns *]&* vam ^22 'n p-ns now:? Ton 'in nnK PJN i^yo ^ra Toni -ICKJB>. 2 1 Mace. 2. 42 ; 7. 13 describes them as men of valour who were devoted to the law. This is all the information that we have ; undoubtedly too little to justify the various theories about the relations of the Asideans to the Essenes, or the ascription to them of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees and other books, persistently advocated without a shadow of evidence in the sources. The identification of the Hasidim with the Essenes advanced again by Weinstein. Beitrdge sur Geschichte der Esstier, Vienna, 1892, 13 ff. 61, 67, requires, owing to the unscientific nature of his arguments, no lengthy refutation. He starts from a corrupt reading in Sifre Num. 78, 20a, non bvx -iio^b onon wo /ID^ yd? ion Nini no^ -ED anon Dn, where the parallel, quoted by Friedmann, in Mekhil. 18. 27, 60b : !t?p2 Dn nD2n U>p2 }*2y^l 2~in DN, shows that the correct reading is not D'TDn, but D'IDn and IDn, meaning lacking. On such evidence is based also his derivation of the Essenes from the Rechabites in 1 Chron. 2. 55. See also Z. Frankel in his Zeitschrift fiir die relig. Inieressem At Judenthums, III, 1846, 449 ff., and below ; Asidaeans in Encyd. Biblica, Foakes Jackson and Kirsopp Lake, Beginnings of Christianity, I, 88-9. 3 See Sirach 39. 24 compared with Hos. 14. 10. 4 Baraitha jer. Sotah IX, 24 b. 29 ; Cant. r. 8. 9. 3 ; Tos. Sotah 13. 3 ; b. 48 b: jn^ moNi i>ip m nron inn^a sn: no ^N D>ypr IDEM n^yo fn-^y wrui ia inn pxty K^N tnipn nn 1 ? >ixn inx DIN Da-j-a vr> x-\W *?v iTD^>n Ton wy in i>^y nncix rn norai .prn bbna. TOS. has Ton M vjy vi, b. v:y sn Ton *n, Cant. xn. JEWISH PALESTINIAN PIETY 9 only the generation is not worthy of it ", all eyes turned towards Hillel the elder. When he died, they bewailed him thus : ' Woe for the humble, the saint, the disciple of Ezra.' 1 The adjective V3y is well known from the Bible, and is applied to Moses in Num. 12. 3 : ' Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth.' Its meaning is taken by the rabbis for granted, and they emphasize that Moses was humble neither in money, nor in physical strength and beauty, but exceedingly humble in character. 2 Hillel's innate meekness and humility are described in several reports of some incidents in his life ; :J here instead of the biblical uy its Aramaic equivalent jniuy is applied to him which, it is true, sometimes means only modest, patient, but in this instance, as a short consideration of some of the characteristic details will show, denotes humility. In Jerusalem, at least in the last years before 70, men and women used to call on the teachers and to ask them questions of practical religious law ; 4 and the rabbis were at all times at the caller's 1 The form of the dirge is biblical (Jer. 22. IS), and was, as rabbinic accounts show, several centuries after Hillel still in use in Judaea. From the contrasting of Hillel's worthiness of tlfle holy spirit with the unworthiness of his contemporaries it appears that his colleagues, con- stituting the authoritative religious body, did not sufficiently appreciate his great qualities and did not think him worthy of the position which he was holding. Perhaps it was at the beginning of his career as the president of the Beth-din, when he had quite accidentally, by answering the practical question about the admissibility of the Passover sacrifice on the Sabbath (Pesah. 66 a; jer.IV, 33 a; Tos. IV, 1), been elected in the place of the sons of Bethera. These and their fellow members may have objected to the foreign scholar's presidency of the Beth-din. As a disciple of Ezra he is described as a great scholar who restored the knowledge and the right observance of the Torah. 2 Sifr< Num. 101 ; Sifre zuta on Num. 12. 3; ARN. 9, 21 a. 3 Shabb. 30 b ff. 4 Tos. Nid. V, 3 ; Baraitha b. 33 b bottom, the wife of a Sadducee said to a high-priest,' Though we are Sadducee women, we ask (about our levitical purity) the (Pharisee) scholars.' R. Johanan b. Zakkai in Jerusalem said to a digger of pits, ditches, and caves, who declared himself as important as the teacher by his public work, 'If a man came to you with an academic or a practical question, could you tell him to drink of the water? or, it' 10 SOME TYPES OF disposal, 1 except perhaps on Fridays later in the afternoon, when they were preparing for the reception of the Sabbath. 2 Once a man who had wagered to make Hillel angry came on Friday afternoon, when Hillel was washing his head. 3 and called out for him in the street, and in a way display- ing deliberate disrespect ; though, as his high wager 4 shows, he belonged to the class of citizens of Jerusalem that knew manners. Ignoring it, Hillel wrapped himself, came out to meet him, and asked him what he desired. ' I have a question to ask '. ' Ask, my son, ask '. ' Why are the heads of the Babylonians not round ? ' Whereas other men or women submitted questions of religious law arising out of daily life, this man invented a subject of no consequence, nor concerning practical life, but one aiming at Hillel who was a Babylonian. 'My son, you have asked a great question'; and he answered it. The man left, but returned after a a woman asked you about her purification, could you advise her to bathe in this pit, because its water could purify her? ' (Kohel. r. 4. 17). 1 When R. Ishmael and R. Simeon were about to be executed by the Romans (2 ARN. 41, 57 b), the first asked his friend, Has ever a woman come to you to ask a question about her purification, or a man about his vow, and they were kept waiting, because you were asleep or having a meal, or you were engaged, or perhaps the servant would not allow the person to enter? R. Simeon answered, The servant had the order not to stop anybody from entering, whether I was asleep or having a meal. Though in the parallel account in ARN. 38, 57 b R. Ishmael said to R. Simeon, ' Perhaps, when you were sitting and expounding on the Temple Mount and all the multitudes of Israel were sitting before you, you were conceited ', the incidents referred to did not happen in Temple times, but in the year 117, when under Trajan an attempt was made to rebuild the Temple (see Schechter, Agadath Shir Hashirim 99, Griinhut, Midrash on Canticles 3 b, 7 a, and Baiaitha Berakh. 58 a : When once ben Zoma saw a multitude on the stairs on the Temple Mount, he said, &c.), see Schlatter, Tage Trajan's und Hadrian's, 88 &., Mekhil. Exod. 22. 22. 2 Rabh reports in Shabb. 25 b how R. Jehudah b. Ilai washed every Friday his face, hands, and feet in warm water, and dressed in a white mantle in honour of the Sabbath. This happened between 137 and 160. 3 In a parallel, but in many details different account of the incident in 2 ARN. 29, 30 b, the man waked him from his sleep, and put several additional questions. 4 The amount of 400 Zuzs was, e. g. the double of the usual marriage settlement, or that of the daughter of a priest (Kethub. I, 5). JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY ir while in the same way as the first time, and put to Hillel the question as to why the eyes of the Palmyreans were half closed ; when he returned the last time, lie asked why the feet of the Persians were broad. Each time Hillel deliberately declared the question difficult, and answered it calmly. After the third explanation the man said to Hillel, I have many more questions to put, but, I am afraid, you might be angry. But Hillel wrapped himself, sat down oppo- site him, and said, ' Put any questions that you have to ask '. 'Art thou Hillel whom they call prince in Israel ? ' ' Yes '. ' If so, may not many be like thee in Israel!' 'Why, my son?' ' Because I have lost 400 .Zuzs through thee '. Hillel replied, 'Take heed of thy spirit ! Hillel deserves it that thou shouldst lose through him 400 Zuzs or even 800, and Hillel not be angry.' Not even after the last, extremely rude remark did he lose his calmness, but continued the discussion; and he finished up by emphasizing the value in money that engrossed the mind of his questioner of not turning angry. Such patience and calmness were born of and sustained by true humility. For the object of the man must have been clear to Hillel after the second, if not already after the first question ; and still he treated them, by wrapping his head, 1 in the same solemn manner as any other serious 1 If the wrapping meant merely a temporary dressing, there would have been no occasion for it before Hillel's entering into the fourth question, as he had not left his visitor, after he had called out the rabbi for his third question. When once R. Gamaliel II, accompanied by K. Ilai, travelled from Akko to K'zibh, and reached this town, a man asked him to dissolve a vow of his; but as the rabbi had drunk some wine, he, in accordance with Lev. 10. 9-11, refused to attend to a religious question. and asked the man to walk by his side for a time. When they reached the Ladder of Tyre, R. Gamaliel dismounted from his ass, wrapped himself, sat down, and dissolved the man's vow (Baraitha 'Erub. 64 b ; Tos. Pesah. I, 28 ; jer. 'AZ I, 40 a. 62). II. Ilai enumerated the rules which he had learned from R. Gamaliel's actions, among them pT'EJD fSI PT^VI pDlEV N^N . . , Dm3, they do not dissolve vows except wrapped and sitting. In the account in 2 ARN. 29, 30 b Hillel each time admitted the man to his house, wrapped himself, sat down and asked the man to put his question. 12 SOME TYPES OF point of religious law. And even after the third question, when the man said that he had many more to put, Hillel wrapped himself, and sat down to listen to him, with a deference due not to the man whom he might have ignored, but due to any matter of law to be submitted to a Pharisee teacher for explanation and decision. And also in the accounts about his conversations with three non-Jews who expressed the desire to become proselytes, but made very grave reservations, Hillel's humility is evident. One refused to accept the oral law, the second wished to learn the whole Torah while standing on one foot, and the third was pre- pared to adopt Judaism only if he could be made a high- priest. Hillel told the second that the whole Torah was contained in the principle : what is hateful to thee, do not to thy neighbour ; the rest is its explanation, go and learn. Then he admitted him, just as the other two. 1 As he knew very well that the belief in the one God was most essential, and the worship of the Creator and of the Redeemer of Israel by the observance of the Sabbaths and festivals very important, his readiness to receive those men without further conditions must have rested on some principle. His eagerness for proselytes is nowhere stated. But he had a good opinion of human nature : a heathen who had made up his mind to join Judaism, to submit to the cir- cumcision and to the fundamental laws of the Torah, was surely firm in his religious determination, and should not be refused. Any reservations advanced by him were due to ignorance that could be overcome by instruction, as also other statements of Hillel will show. Just as he, in his humility, patiently listened to those men, and entered into a discussion of Judaism with them, so he himself instructed the proselytes in the same spirit ; and all three expressed their gratitude in the words : Humble Hillel, may blessings rest on thy head for bringing us near under the wings of God's glory ! 2 1 See Abrahams. Studies in Pharisaism, I, 23. 2 The different attitudes of R. Eliezer and R. Joshua towards the JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 13 One of Hillel's few sentences preserved also emphasizes the importance of humility : l ' My humiliation is my elevation, my elevation is my humiliation'. The verbal nouns of the IVth form may. as the verb itself, be transitive, and mean the placing high or low of Hillel by others. And the sentence may. as also the whole context suggests, reflect his own experience, when, during the first years of his stay in Jerusalem, he was probably placed, in the school of Shema'yah and Abtalyon, in the last row of the disciples; 2 and again, when, after his abilities and his knowledge had been recognized, he was raised to the presidency of the Beth-din. Or the IVth form of the verbs may be intransitive, and, as criticism by the proselyte Akylas of the reward, promised in Dent. 10. 18 to the proselyte (Gen. r. 70,5 and parallels; Bacher, Tannaiten I 2 , 106. 2), resemble those of Shammai and Hillel ; D'OL nisntf ^K HCS* D'SN -ps* HIE i^y sipi "HID^ inn rrn D^'py oy yj'irp -ai insn^ "I1231D, R. Joshua's patient argument is described as slowness to anger, as in Prov. 16. 32. And the prospects held, out by Moses to Hobab in Num. 10. 29, ' for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel ', are interpreted in Sifre Num. 78, 21 a thus : God has ordered Israel to do good to proselytes, and to deal with them H13V, gently, humbly. Here mere patience cannot be meant, as Hobab had not yet refused to go with the Israelites. A curious meaning of ni3ni13y is to be found in Gittin 56 a in the report about the sacrifice for the emperor, the refusal of which on account of its blemish was the immediate cause of the revolution in 66. A certain bar-Kamsa had, in order to revenge himself 011 the rabbis, deliberately caused the blemish. When the rabbis suggested that, for the sake of peace, the animal should exceptionally be offered, R. Zekhariah b. Abkulos objected, as some might infer that such a sacrifice was permissible. Others advised that, in order to prevent information, bar-Kamsa should be killed ; but R. Zekhariah objected, as it might lead to the error that one who caxised a blemish on a sacrifice might be put to death. R. Johanan (in the name of R. Jose b. Halaftha, Tos. Sliabb. 10. 7 remarked : HBin Wl HK HTinn oSp2N P m3T ""HI ^V liTUnmy O^nXO IJnbani IJ^Tl HN, the too great consideration of R. Zekhariah destroyed our House, burnt our Temple, and exiled us from our land (cf. J.Q.R., VIII, 1896, 232 bottom). 1 Lev. r. 1. 5; Bacher, Tannaiten I, 6. 1 : T.rDJil Tirmi NT! T^"'n T6DET! NT!, cf. 'Erub. 13b. 2 Hull. 137 b; Menah. 29 b, Rabbinovicz, and J.Q.E., IX. 1897, 701. 14 SOME TYPES OF the statements of other scholars suggest, 1 may refer to Hillel's own choice of a humble place or of a front seat among the scholars, reflecting his modesty or his pride. Or the first person of the suffix may riot refer to his own experience at all, but only be his literary formulation of a rule and a sentence. In any case, his words state that humiliation or humility is merely an external experience that does not affect the soul of a man or his own estimation of the incident ; for he may feel inwardly elevated, when outwardly he is placed low, or distinction or pride may be felt by his inner self a degradation or shame. The standard by which such outward experience is measured is that of the humble stoic. And with this may be connected another meaning of Hillel's epithet vay, suggested by ben-Zoma's rendering of the same word in Num. 12. 3 by a>by, 2 ' Who is the most submissive of all 1 He who is as submissive as our master Moses was, as it says, And the man Moses was very submissive.' He heard himself abused by his sister and his brother, and said nothing, following the principle of those described in the well-known Baraitha : 3 ' To such as are humiliated, but humiliate not, hear themselves reviled, but reply not, do all from love, and rejoice at their sufferings, Judges 5.31 applies : Those who love Him (God) are as the sun, when he goeth forth in his might.' We have no knowledge of actual insults by words or actions against 1 Lev. r. 1. 5 ; ARN. 25, 41 a ; 2 ARN. 22, 23 b, R. Akiba in the name of Simeon b. 'Azzai (see Bacher, 1, 413. 1), in commenting on Prov. 25. 7 : Try IKI IPS ana *seb I^EBTID nan r6y -p -ION nio HT D'aite? 2l^y IfTPK lay nsro BN,TI -out? wan nrco. 3 Shabb. 88 b: J-Q'^D pW fJlBin py1B> pz&lj? pW fai^J? pal 1JD van&o nora ainsn fir^y pwa pnocn nan^o psny JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 15 Hillel ; though as a Babylonian he was publicly disparaged, 1 and his sentence may have referred to such an experience of his. 2 2. As to Hillel's description as TDii, it should be noted that, as in Jer. 2. 2 Ton and ronx are synonyms and signify, as IDS!? in the parallel sentence shows, Israel's active love of God, it follows that TDn and 2ms are synonyms, and that the meaning of "port is the same as is expressed in R. Meir's statement about him who studies the Torah for its own sake : y he loves God and loves men. Hillel's attitude towards God is only incidentally described. It is related how his colleague Shammai thought, throughout the week, of the coming Sabbath and the food by which to honour it, and reserved the best meat which he could acquire, for that day; 'but Hillel had another way, for all his doings were in the honour of God, as it is written (Ps. 68. 20), Blessed be the Lord day by day.' 4 Xo doubt, 1 Jer. Pesah. VI, 33 a. 22 : ^220 n^lTin W CS* irittS' ~\23 1^ TICK, 38-. nrn imi> 71^ M^> ma '0; AEN. 12. as a: ns^-sta nsbaa. 2 After his election to the presidency of the Beth-din, he began to chide the sons of Bethera for their inability to answer the question of religious law, due to their refusal to attend the school of Shema'yah and 'Abtalyon (Pesah. 66 a; jer. VI. 33 a. 38 . By his chiding, of which the Baraitha disapproves, it accounts for his inability to answer the next question. Though of the first half of the third century, the statement of R. Alexandri in Midr. Ps. 86. 1 is an interesting illustration of the Baraitha in the text : He who hears himself cursed, and keeps silence, though he has the means to stop it, becomes a partner of God who hears Himself blasphemed by the nations, and keeps silence. So David heard himself cursed, and kept silence ; therefore he calls himself T'DH, as God is called "POP! in Jer. 3. 12. Those whom the Baraitha and ben-Zoma term ll^JJ, R. Alexandri calls TDCI. 3 Aboth VI, 1 : nVOn HK 2iTlN Dipcn JIN 2H1X. 4 Mekhil. R. Simeon, p. 107 ; Baraitha Besah 16 a ; Pesik. r. 23. 115 b : p-a 3TDn D"B> DB>b V2>j! bsi? n nrpn mnx mn fprn hbn i?2N Dr DV 7 n. In Mekhil. 20. 8, 69 a the practice of Shammai is quoted as one commended by Eleazar b. Hananiah b. Hizkiah b. Hananiah 1>. Garon, see Friedmann, note 18. Another Baraitha in Besah 16 a ascribes the two practices to the two schools of the Shammaites and the Hillelites : ^2 on -o: s:n I 6 SOME TYPES OF Hillel honoured the Sabbath not less than did Shammai ; but he was not absorbed throughout the whole week by the thought of that one duty, as every day claimed the fulfilment of its own religious and moral obligations in the honour of God, which he considered just as important. He applied once the expression ' doings in the honour of God ' to an action of his wife. 1 Once, when she had prepared a meal for a guest invited by her husband, a poor man called at the door and stated that he had to bring his bride to his house that day, but had no food whatever; she gave him the whole dinner, and quickly prepared other food, and brought it into the room. When Hillel asked her, fj * why she had not brought it in sooner, and she told him the reason, he said, My daughter, also I have judged you with an inclination in your favour and not your disfavour, for all the deeds which you have done you have done in the honour of God. Though an act of charity, her deed might have been prompted by considerations of a different nature : she might have accidentally spoiled the food by burning it, and might not have liked to be criticized ; or she disliked the visit or the visitor, or felt annoyed at her husband, or had delayed the dinner for some other, quite human reason. But Hillel knew his wife, and his own kind heart never allowed him DV DV 'n "JTU. What Hillel did, is not expressly stated, and the meaning of the verse, and its connexion with the preceding state- ment are not clear. Rashi says, Hillel trusted that a nice portion would be found for the Sabbath. Samuel Edels elaborates this, and adds : Hillel ate his food every day, trusting that God would supply a portion for the Sabbath ; he did so, not from greediness, for just as all his doings were in the honour of God, so this action was dictated by his faith in God. We have to bless God daily for his provision of food, and to trust that He will supply us with such also in the future. The verse has accordingly to be quoted to the end. Weiss, I, 160 explains it differently : Hillel's statement proves the strength of his faith ; he used to say, Blessed be the Lord day by day : if he had sufficient for the needs of the day, he did not trouble about the next day, but trusted in God. But this explanation, though it is supported by the other Baraitha, does not take into account the important sentence : for all his doings were in the honour of God. 1 Derekh eres VI : JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY I? to assume any but a favourable motive for the actions of others ; and he had no hesitation in saying that this time, just as ever, she was actuated by one thought only : the honour of God, to help the poor man in his distress immediately, and as effectively as possible, without weigh- ing the consequences for herself too long and too seriously. Her deed was not only unselfish, but had demanded of her- self -sacrifice in the performance of duty dictated by the unwritten will of God ; she had obej'ed that without hesita- tion, and thereby acted in the honour of God. 1 When once R. Gamaliel II and R. Joshua were on the way, they availed themselves of a privilege, instituted by Joshua, 2 and walked, on account of the hard mud in the road, by the side of the cultivated fields. On noticing a man walking towards them in the mud, R. Gamaliel angrily asked R. Joshua who the man was who so ostentatiously exhibited his strict observance. R. Joshua replied that it was R. Jehudah b. Pappos, all doings of whom were in the honour of God. 3 It was said of R. Jehudah b. Baba that all his doings were in the honour of God, except that (against the accepted prohibition) he reared goats ; the physician had advised him to drink naturally warm milk, and so he kept a goat tied to his bed. When, 011 his death, the scholars entered into an examination of his deeds, they found no other sin but that one. 4 The meaning of the 1 When Herod built the Temple, so Sifra Lev. 26. 4, HOd reports, it rained at night, and in the morning the sun shone, the wind blew, and the earth was dry, so that the workmen could go to their work ; this showed them that their doing was D^D'^ DBv> in the honour of God. The support of God demonstrated to them that the building of the Temple by the sinful king was not disapproved of by God as soiled and unholy, but was. at least as far as the share of the workmen was concerned, carried on with pure intentions, in the honour of God. Cf. R. Nat ban in Sifre Deut. 11. 14. 42, 80 a; Mekhil. Exod. 12. 11, 7 b. 2 Baba kam. 81 a. 3 jer. Berakh. II, 5d. 5; in the parallel Baba kam. 81 b Rabbi and R. Hiyya met in the same circumstances Jehudah b. Nekosa. 4 Tos. Baba kam. VIII, 13 ; in the parallel Baraitha Baba kam. SO a. cf. Themur. 15 b, no name is mentioned, but instead an unnamed TD!~i . B 1 8 SOME TYPES OF sentence that all his deeds were in the honour of God is clear in both instances. R. Jehudah b. Pappos did not act with the idea of exhibiting to the looks of others his self-imposed strictness of observance; but. as the contrast clearly shows, he considered, in his actions. God only, and the deed itself as well as its quality were determined by his thought of God. The pious man in the other Baraitha not only avoided all sin, 1 which in itself is only a negative virtue ; but, whenever he acted, his only motive was God whose will he was thereby carrying out. And when the disciple of R. Johanan b. Zakkai, R. Jose the priest (Aboth II. 12) said, ' Let all thy deeds be done for the sake of God '. he intended to impress the highest principle to guide a man's actions: God should ever be present in his mind; and, whatever he does, whether it is great or small, important or indifferent, reliious or moral, he should, like Hillel, 7 ~ think of God, and measure his deed by the will and honour of God ; 2 not his own benefit or pleasure, nor his own ambition and glory, but only God's honour. v^i'D refers to positive actions ; and, as the incidents referred to show, not merely to biblical positive commandments of a moral or ritual character, but to every kind of service to the fellow-man, as will be more fully shown presently. Whether it was this his religious attitude to God, that made Hillel's contemporaries term him a Ten, is not evident. An instructive instance of Hillel's way of thinking and As R. Jehudah b. Baba was killed in the Hadrianic religious persecutions by the Roman police Synh. 13 b ff. ), the name of the scholar who died a natural death cannot be correct ; and we would have, according to the canon in the passage of the Talmud, to substitute R. Jehudah b. Ilai. 1 Apoc. Baruch 9. 1 : Jeremiah whose heart was found pure from sin. In AnUquit. XIX, 6. 4. 315, Jonathan, Ananos' son, described to King Agrippa I his brother Matthias as worthy of the high-priest's office, as he was free from all sin against God and the king. 2 Cf. Baraitha Baba mes. 59 b : When, after putting R. Eliezer in the ban, R. Gamaliel was overtaken by a violent storm at sea, he saw in it a punishment for that act. He rose, and prayed, Master of the Universe, it is known to Thee that I did it not lor my honour, nor for that of my family, but for Thy honour, &c. Here the word used is 1123P, not DSv. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 1 9 of his religious reflection on ordinary actions of his has fortunately been preserved. When once Hillel had taken leave of his disciples (in the school), he went with them; to their question as to where lie was going, he replied, 'To perform a religious duty'; and this lie explained to mean bathing in a public bath. To their further question as to whether that was a religious duty, he said, ' The man appointed to the duty of scouring and rinsing the statues of the king set up in the theatres and circuses is for that paid by maintenance, and, in addition, he is one of the government officials. As I was created in the image and after the likeness (of God), as it says (Gen. 9. 6), 'for in the image of God made He man ' : how much more so (have I to wash my body) '. l It need hardly be pointed out that a man with that conception of his body for to this and not to the soul does the image of God here refer ever present in his mind, kept his body clean not only physically, but also morally, free from any kind of pollution : and even his physical use of it for natural functions, as at easying it or in sexual intercourse, was hallowed, even though he was not an Essene. The perfection and the beauty of the human organism would be described by him in words of admiration for God's greatness as the Creator, and in 1 R. Ahai in his DinN^, section n^'NIl, refers this to Hillel's regular bathing on the Friday in honour of the Sabbath ; but he had no other source for that statement, and it was merely his own, hardly correct interpretation of the above report, see Reifmann in T^CH X. 367. Reifmann points to the parallel in Tos. Berakh. IV, 1 : D"1X C'CjTJ 1 * N^ iruy?^ 'n bys bs IK:JB> innp nn^n sbx v^ni VT nsn, a man should not employ his face, his hands, and his feet but for the gl^ry of his Creator, as it says in Prov. 16. 4 : The Lord hath made all things for Himself. The parallel Baraitha in Shabb. 50 b is different : fTTH S0:n iruyiD^ 'n i?ys bi IDXJ^ DI^O inp b s :m ov i?23 v^ni VT ns cis, a man should wash his face, his hands, and his feet every day for the sake of his Creator, &c. In both versions Hillel's idea is applied. In the parallel account in 2 ARN. 30, 33 b Hillel also declared his going to the water-closet a religious duty, as it was to prevent the body from becoming spoiled; Shammai, on the other hand, said, Let us do our duty to our body. See Bergmann in H. Cohen's Festschrift 1, 161-62. B 2 20 SOME TYPES OF praise and gratitude for the preservation of the body in health. The report continues : ' When once Hillel had taken leave of his disciples (in the school), he went with them ; to their question as to where he was going, he replied, To do loving-kindness to the guest in the house. To their further question as to whether he had a guest every day, he said, Is not my poor soul a guest in the body, as it is this day here, and to-morrow no longer here ? ' While these reports incidentally give very interesting information about Hillel's method of teaching, they are more important for his plain observations about the soul. Its transitory stay in the body w T ould naturally urge him on to use every day for its cultivation, as his disciple, R. Johanan b. Zakkai, illustrated that thought by the preparations and the clean garments for the king's banquet. 1 Its return to God would remind him of the soul's duty to render account of all that he did during his life on earth, and of the advisability of keeping the soul as pure as it had left God, so that it might return pure to God ; as R. Johanan b. Zakkai on his deathbed explained to his disciples his fear of having to appear after death before God for eternal judgment. 2 The soul is immortal, and will receive its reward or punishment. The epithet poor or grieved given to the soul suggests the Greek idea of its removal from the holy regions of heaven and its habitation in the uncongenial house, the body. 3 As it requires the attention of loving- kindness, it is dependent on what man does for it ; but what attention did Hillel offer it ? Was it retirement and solitary meditation intended for comforting it, and deeper thought about its heavenly origin and nature ? Or was it the lifting up of the depressed soul to God by prayer, its temporary rise to the heights of its fountain ? And was it this attitude of Hillel's to his body and his 1 Shabb. 153 a. 2 Berakh. 28 b. 3 See Josephus, Wars, II, 8. 11 about the same view of the Essenes, and VII, 8. 7. 346 ; Contra Apion. II, 24. 203. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 21 soul that merited for him the attribute of TDn? ] Or was it his true trust in God, manifested on an occasion acci- dentally reported ? ' When he was once on his way home, and heard a cry of anguish in the town, Hillel said, I feel reassured that it is not in my house.' - He wa snot afraid of evil tidings, his heart was fixed, trusting in the Lord. Or was it his unusual consideration for the sensitiveness of the poor that had come down in life ? For it is reported that he bought for a poor man of good family a horse for riding, and a slave to run before him ; and when once he found no slave for that purpose, he ran himself three miles before the poor man. :i As Hillel was at that time evidently a man of means, his action was dictated not only by the desire to relieve the man of care, but, by self-sacrifice and public self -abasement in the service of true humanity, to make him forget his present circumstances. 4 This act of humility probably constitutes one of the deeds which he performed in the honour of God. There was 110 written law that prescribed it, nor any fixed rabbinic rule to be followed ; it was Hillel's own way of interpreting the duty of Jewish charity, and of translating it into reality. Such extension of a positive commandment by a rabbinic authority is an interesting instance of rabbinic exegesis by which its author imposed in the first instance upon himself the onerous moral duty deduced; and it was understood that the rabbi had to be the first to obey such additions to the biblical law. Thereby he set an example of charity and of humility 1 In neither incident did he quote any passage of the Bible. Prov. 11. 17 : non BN ItTM tal is quoted at the head of each paragraph by the later Haggadist who interpreted the verse and illustrated it by HilleFs statements; and it is the Haggadist who in this way proved Hillel to have been an IDH B^N, see Bacher, I, 7. 4. 2 Baraitha Berakh. 60 a : and to him applies Ps. 112. 7 ; in jt>r. Berakh. IX, 14 b. 5 : K*V &6 Hjn nyiD&'O 1E1N |pTH ^S"l Hillel himself quoted the verse : he shall not be afraid of evil tidings. 3 Baraitha Kethub. 67 b ; in the parallel in Tos. Pe'ah IV, 10 and jer. VIII, 21 a. 55 the last part of the account is missing. 4 Cf. Testam. Zebulun 7. 4. 22 SOME TYPES OF to his disciples, and to such as knew him personally and were prepared to imitate his action. Whether, in carrying- it out, they were able to grasp the ideal that guided Hillel, and were actuated by the same unselfish love and humility, may rightly be doubted; it was given only to a few to attain to it. 3. A different side of Hill el's character is revealed by his rule, 1 ' If I am not for myself, who is for me ? But if I am only for myself, what am I ? and if not now. when ? ' He justifies egoism as necessary ; for in practical life nobody cares really for his fellow-man, or goes so far as to work for another person's maintenance, and so the latter would starve and perish. But such egoism, though necessitated by the realities and exigencies of human existence, and therefore irreproachable, must not fill out a man's whole thought ; for he is not a human being, if he thinks only of himself and of his own needs. Only by thinking of others and by working for others, while busy with his own needs, does he rise to be a man. This principle and its realization must be watched during every hour of one's life, for the latter is short and quickly passing, and, once finished, allows of no further work. Here on earth is the only time available for it, not after death ; and it is no special merit, it is a plain duty. And in another sen- tence Hillel enjoined on his hearer not to judge his fellow- man, until he himself is in his position. 2 The neighbour is not, as it seems, in financial difficulties, and unable to pay a debt or keep a promise on a date stipulated; but more probably he is in some trouble brought about by neglect or by a moral lapse, and help is neither solicited nor perhaps possible. In such or similar circumstances, Hillel urges on his follower the restraint of a very forward in- 1 Aboth, I, 14 : y DX1 *JN HD ' "OKSWI D "ON pK DN 2 Aboth, ii, 4 : i :nt? ny Tron nx pin !?NI *jni nv. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 23 clination in man, ready not so much to help and to offer sympathy, as to rush forth with blame against the neigh- bour who is depressed by his failure and disappointment. As we see the calamitous result only, we are quick in condemning our fellow-man on the result before us. And not only by deed must we not wrong him, but not even by undeserved words, nor censure him hastily even in our thoughts. This warning is mereby a practical application of Hillel's rendering of Lev. 19. 18: what is hateful to thee, do not to thy neighbour, 1 which he declared to the non-Jew to be the whole Torah : not only to think oneself into the position of the fellow-man and refrain from re- proaching him, but to wait till one is actually in the same trouble. Considering man's bent, Hillel's demand is very heavy, as it requires a strong moral sense and powerful mental restraint. The same claim seems to underly the warning in the same sentence, not to believe in oneself to O the last day of life. When, by hard struggle, we have overcome a momentary temptation, and even our passions from prevailing over us, we should not yet think our moral hold firmly established and secure against any unexpected sally of a sinful or immoral character : for how easily does even a strong mind succumb unawares to the beauty of women and to lust ! - Hillel appeals here to men whose minds were trained to watch their wills, evidently his disciples whom such consciousness of human weakness should fill with humility. To the same are addressed his words of teaching, 'Be of the disciples of Aaron : love peace and pursue peace, love men, and bring them near to the Torah '." To keep only the peace, especially in contrary circumstances, presupposes patience, yielding, self-effacement, Hillel's meekness and 1 Shabb. 31 a. ' l jer. Shabb. I, 3 b. 64; Midr. Abkir, p. 11; Gaster, nVw-'yG 93ft'.; Tanh. f'pO B. 15 ; Bacher, I, 384. 3 about R. Matthia b. Harasli. 3 Aboth, I, It : Ppm D1^' 2iTlX pritf bu rTbn ^H 1I01N' ^n pnpoi nimn ns DHIN n^tr. 24 SOME TYPES OF humility. But to seek peace l demands active intervention, to reconcile men who quarrelled, to restore harmony between husband and wife, between neighbours and part- ners, and others, as Hillel's disciple, R. Johanan b. Zakkai, explained the same duty. 2 In such unsolicited interven- tion, not only has disappointment to be expected, but rudeness, repulsion, offence, and abuse have to be faced. Indifference towards the fellow-man, which would appear preferable, is not the proper attitude of the religiously cultured and the learned to whom, as the concluding words of Hillel's warnings show, he addressed his teachings. He had, at the same time, those in view who stood far away from the Torah either in knowledge or in practice, the jnsn Dy, who should be approached with love. 3 To love one who is of our mind and shares our religious con- victions is not difficult, and requires no exertion ; but love for the religiously ignorant or indifferent is difficult, but due to him as a creature of God who should be raised to a higher level. We have to ignore his mental attitude and his religious state for which he is not responsible ; while as God's creature he has a claim to our sympathy and love. 4 These \vill attract him to the learned men ; and as he attributes their love to their learning, he will be drawn to the Torah which, in fact, represented general moral and religious culture. This principle of Hillel taught active humanity in its highest manifestation, possible only in a man of standing and of learning, and dictated and sustained by loving-kindness, "ton. And as such attitudes of mind and action are not contained in, nor covered by, his descrip- tion as a disciple of Ezra, nor by his meekness and humility which are not active qualities of the character, they seem to have been the effluence of his third characteristic, TDD. If this is correct, the word described the relation of man's 1 Ps. 34. 15. 2 Mekhil. Exod. 20. 25, 74 a. 3 Testam. Issachar, 7. 6: I loved the Lord, likewise also every man with all my heart. 4 See Heinemann, Poseidonios 1 me'aphys. Schriften, I, 1921, 138. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY active love not to God, but to man, as the noun in rabbinic literature invariably does. And so Hillel in his sentence enjoined 011 his disciples the duty of realizing loving-kindness as lovers and promoters of peace, and thereby proving themselves disciples of Aaron, 1 and of ex- tending love to the ignorant and the indifferent. Humility and love were Hillel's prominent qualities of character, and expressed the spirit of his ethical teachings. In a sentence in which Hillel himself used the word Ton 2 its meaning is at first sight not clear : ' An empty man cannot be a sin-fearing man, nor can an ignorant person be pious, nor can a shamefaced man learn, nor a passionate man teach, nor can one who is engaged over- much in business grow wise '. As the middle part of the sentence refers to the learner and the teacher, Hillel dealt here with the school ; he encouraged the new disciple not to be ashamed to admit that he did not follow the details of the instruction, as, if he refrained from asking for additional information and explanation, he would not make sufficient progress. On the other hand, the teacher whom frequent questions make impatient and angry is not fit for his task, as he discourages the beginner and the slower mind. Nor should young men who, before join- ing the school, had carried on, and are still engaged in, trade, think themselves too experienced, learned, and wise to require the theoretical wisdom taught in the school. The first part of the sentence refers to men who before joining the school considered themselves possessed of the religious qualifications which in Hillel's opinion were the results of a life-long study of the Torah. One of those men is described as totally devoid of all knowledge and 1 There must have existed an early exposition of Mai. 2. 6 referring to Aaron's activities as a peacemaker. 2 Aboth, II, 5 : TDH pNH DJ? K^l NDH NT 1 in fN tElX iTH N1H aipszn D'ano minon rmon ba xbi nobo papn vb\ nob ft^-an xbi WK mTlb inntJTI D^JN PNP. In 2AE>J. 33, 30>b, the sentence is quoted as that of R. Akiba, and has ETID TDP1, see p. 49 ff. 26 SOME TYPES OF education : l the other had some home education, as he belonged to the landowning, wealthy class. When either of them asserted that he could in the practice of religion or in his moral conduct attain to the same degree of perfec- tion, Hillel emphatically denied the fact and its possibility ; 2 as the context suggests, only attendance at the school enabled a man to become sin-fearing and pious, for such high qualities could be taught. Innate kindness and love, even though strengthened by natural tact. will, in an uneducated o o / person, never reach the degree of moral excellence to which Hillel's instruction in the Torah and his example could train and guide them. In another sentence '' he expressed it clearly and forcibly, ' He who acquires the words of the Torah, acquires the life in the world-to-come', that the only means for obtaining a share in that life is the ac- quisition of knowledge. Hillel places here the highest aim and purpose of man's life before his eyes, and defines the way, open to everybody, by which he can safely reach that 1 cf. Kidd. i, 10 : mnca y ps* Tn3i njtrDJi x^pm t^> WKS> bai .pn: 11 mnoa sp ewen uinm IXJE> ^ain Kin y\y"K } WK pK TH3 K?1 n:t?3 Ni51 X1pD3 ; and bar-Kappara in Kidd. 40bff. : in ps "jnia KPI nyj'm K!?I N~ipD2 N^ irxtf ^21 D'S? 3ITID 13UMC ^^ N^ C'-i^ 3^1C31 lOWU' 13OO nK3H, a man who knows Bible, Mishnah, and manners, does not easily sin ; but he who knows none of those is not of civilization. Bar-Kappara advises total separation from such a man, as his company is that of a scoffer. See R. Eliezer b. Jacob in 2 ARN. 35, 44 a. 2 In 2 ARX. 26, 27 b it is reported that Hillel once stood at the gate of Jerusalem, and asked some men who were going out to work, how much they would earn that day. On hearing the amount, he asked them how they would use the money ; and on learning that they would spend it on their daily necessities, he asked them whether they would not come, acquire Torah, and thereby acquire life in this world and in the world to come. Hillel acted in this way throughout his life, and brought men under the wings of God. See further. 3 Aboth, II, 7 : milD H3NT iinO D H D33 raid HD1 H3nO T'3 n31D bn n3-iD DH3V raio DDT rano rora:r mio D^SEO ra-iD 0^3 n3-2 nxy nmo neon mio n3' i c''' n3io Dn n3i m'.n n:p ioxj? nap 310 DB> njp ci n3io npnx o^iyn ^*n ^ nap rrnn. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 27 goal. But it must be kept in mind that the object of the ordinary man's attendance at the school of the rabbi was not to listen to the halakhic interpretation of the legal portions of the Pentateuch, nor to learn by heart the rules deduced ; but only practical instruction of the kind evident in Hillel's sentences, to guide him gradually to an improve- ment of his moral and religious conduct. It was probably based on a full exposition of selected chapters of the Pentateuch like Lev. 19, applied to the requirements of daily life, and illustrated by the sayings and the lives of the patriarchs and the ancient leaders of Israel. By that method the ordinary man who attended the lessons only in the evening was taught first to avoid all that was wrong and sinful, and then the positive duties of the Jew towards his fellow-man, as Hillel understood and interpreted them. And it is, for a proper understanding of his teachings, of great importance to establish the class of men to which his words were addressed. He said, 1 ' He who increases flesh increases worms (in the grave), he who increases possessions increases care, he who increases wives increases witchcraft, lie who increases maidservants increases immorality, he who increases slaves increases robbery.' We see here how some wealthy men of Jerusalem invested some of their sub- stance in one or the other form of property, and enjoyed themselves, and showed to the outside world their wealth in the number of wives and of servants, and in their own physical appearance. Their ideal was purely gross mate- rialism ; and, by pointing to the dark sides of the various manifestations of wealth, Hillel endeavoured to deter the thinking man from making such objects the only goal of his life. The enumeration of the destructive results in- herent in every one of them only served to enhance the contrast which follows : ' The more Torah, the more life : the more sitting, the more wisdom ; the more counsel, the more understanding ; the more charity, the more peace : he who has acquired a good name has acquired it for 1 See note 3. p. 26. 28 SOME TYPES OF himself ; he who has acquired for himself words of Torah has acquired for himself life in the world-to-come '. When Hillel commended to the wealthy twice and in two different aspects the value of possessing Torah, he did not urge them to become scholars, but only to make the acquisition of Torah as important a task of their lives as that of riches. Knowledge will, in the first instance, have the great and desirable effect of prolonging their lives on earth ; and secondly, by transforming their moral and religious standards of activity, it will procure for them a share in the future world. During life the greatest of treasures, peace, can be obtained by charity, which, at the same time, brings a lasting good name. 1 4. The two terms used by Hillel for the two kinds of pious men, the sin-fearing and the saint, were employed also by his disciple R. Johanan b. Zakkai in his charac- terization of his five prominent disciples. ' He used thus to recount their praise : Jose' the priest is a pious man, Simeon, the son of Nethanel, is a fearer of sin.' ~ It would be a mistake to think a sin-fearing man to be one of only a negative virtue, one who merely avoids sin, that is, the transgression of one of the prohibitions in the Pentateuch. For there is a reference to a chamber of the silent in the Temple, where sin-fearing persons privately deposited their contributions from which the poor of good families were 1 Before these two there are mentioned as valuable objects wisdom and discretion which, compared with the rest, cannot mean scholarship, but, just as !"l313n, practical wisdom, so often emphasized in the Book of Proverbs. Consequently, rn'L?' 1 by which it is acquired cannot mean, as the commentators suggest, keeping a school, but probably the sitting in the company of scholars or of men of culture, as in the sentence of R. Dosa b. Harkinas in Aboth, III, 10: pxn "Dy *?W WDJ3 TO rG'B" it is the sitting in the meeting-places of ignorant men. 2 Aboth, ii, 8 : pyB> '31 Ton 1.13,1 'DV *3i . . . trap rum n'n Kin NBPI N-V $>N:ri3 p, in ARN. 14, 29 b : 11135? TDH, Shabb. 19 a top, Baraitha : '31 ^ H^ '1CX1 fi13n 'DV "31 i?J? vbj? 11DK . . . '331 13H D^yO *13J T3 IT 3D3 NVO3 i>B> TDHH DV , Tos. Shabb. 13. 18 ; jer. I, 4 a. 70 only JH3H 'DV '31. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 29 secretly supported. 1 No doubt, those sin-fearing- persons possessed some positive piety, not only that of charity, but other high qualities, as they in their acts of benevolence also observed one of the essential requirements of charity, the careful avoidance of publicity. Men who considered even the deposition of their gift in a collecting-box in the presence of others among whom possibly were some needy in receipt of support from that collection, a sin, must have had a high conception of the duty of helping the poor, and of the way in which even the shadow of an offence to his feelings should be avoided. The sin-fearing quality would then refer to the deliberate avoidance of an action that constituted an offence only for the very sensitive donor, but was for the average and observant Jew not approaching a sin. And the well-informed recorder of incidents of the last decades of Temple times, R. Jehudah b. Ilai, remarked of 'Akabia b. Mahalalel, ' God forbid that he should have been put in the ban ! For the inner forecourt of the Temple never closed behind a man in Israel like 'Akabia in learning and in the fear of sin'. 2 That R. Jehudah intended to describe that scholar as most learned and most pious, is clear from his exaggerated praise ; and it is in- admissible to think merely of 'Akabia'a avoidance of sin. even if the latter were of a very subtle degree. And R. Johanan b. Zakkai himself was once asked. ' If a man is learned and sin-fearing, to what could he be likened ? ' He answered, ' He is like a skilled workman with his tools in his hand ; the learned man who is not sin-fearing is like 1 Shekal.V, 6; Tos. II, 16 : '"NETO rDir6 D'OJTia NBH 'NT 1 D\X^n rot^ wm name D'onano omo "on D^sn. 2 'Eduy. v, 6: nxTai niMm ^KiB^D DIN ^ Man n^yjj mryn pxt? btf^nD p N^pyD N3n. Cf. in the two Baraithas in Ta'an. 28 a, the description of the exploits of niJPXp ^i'lp ^31 ^J? ^W "32, and of ^2 '"XDPO. all of whom a third Baraitha declares identical : Xt3n "W IC^i? HO, see RabMnovicz. The parallel in jer. Ta'an. IV, 68 b. 55 has: ,TH 1HH 1JYIN2 NL5H NTI TJ'3 H\T^ ^ ^ 30 SOME TYPES OF a skilled workman without tools : a sin-fearing man who is not learned is like an unskilled man with tools in his hand '.* Again it is clearly the very pious man that is referred to, and, as the illustrations show, one that is not only guarding himself against sin, but one that is using his learnino- for carrying it into effect. The fear of sin o / o is the tool with which the man who knows the law carries out the will of God : it is the religious readiness of the mind to realize the law. And as the tool of the skilled workman does visible, positive work, the fear of sin is actively carrying out positive commandments, and it is not merely passively refraining from transgressions. 2 And R. Gamaliel II said to R. Joshua who. against his con- viction, submitted on a point of the calendar to the ruling of the patriarch and, to signify his submission, appeared before him, ' Come in peace, my master, my disciple : my master in learning, my disciple in the fear of sin who carries out all that I order him to do '. 3 Here also the 1 ARN. 22. 37 b : .inO N2H NT1 C2H 'NST ?2 pnV pi ^sb 110 N .ino Non NT pNi Din .vra IJTUDIN ^31 PIN nr nn nr6 ICN .ino am pNi NDH NT .ITO inuoiN "^ PNI JOIN nr "nn nrb ION 1T3 in-OOlN ^3 ^QN JOIN HT fN DH^ ION. A contemporary of R. Johanan b. Zakkai, R. Haninah b. Dosa in Aboth, III. 9. says, He in whom the fear of sin comes before learning, his learning shall endure ; but he in whom learning comes before the fear of sin, his learning will not endure. Cf. the sentence of R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah in Aboth, III, 17, Agad. Shir. Hashir. Schechter, line 26 ; Bacher, I, 222. 1 ; and ARN. 29, 45 a : R. Isaac b. Pinhas said, He who possesses a knowledge of Midrash, but not of the rules deduced by it has not tasted of learning; in the reverse case he has not tasted of the fear of sin. 2 In the parallel in 2 ARN. 31, 34 a, instead of the sin-fearing man appears one who has done good deeds ; accordingly, the sin-fearing man is one who practises loving-kindness towards his fellow-man. 3 jer. Rosh haShan. II, 58 b. 55 : nO3H3 'm ''TO^Dl '31 D1^3 N12 Nin fby ina ONP no ^iv ^-po^ni nosna ^i / Nt3n HNTH "n^o'pn'i D M pO, the text has not been preserved intact. In the parallel Mishnah, ii, 9, it reads only : nan nN T^y T^?^& ""TD^ni nosnn 'ai 'T'o^ni 'an, nor has the Baraitha in RH. 25 b the fear of sin. In ARN. 26, 41 b, R. Akiba says: NDn TINT \\\3$? l"D nine TWttf? 3"D, in the parallel 2 ARN. 33, 36 a that part is missing. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 31 fear of sin is explained as the active execution of positive orders, as suggested by the previous passages, and there is no trace of an avoidance of prohibited things. Again, in the sad picture of the years that will immediately precede the corning of the Messiah, R. Gamaliel II says, : The learning of the scholars will be corrupted, and the sin- fearing men will be despised'; 1 meaning clearly such as distinguish themselves by a life strictly in accordance with the will of God, in which the fulfilment of the positive commandments of the Torah naturally occupies a more prominent place than the refraining From the transgression of prohibitions. And also another teacher of the same period, between 90 and 135, used the same term to describe the very pious man. When Moses said to Joshua, ' Choose for us men' (to fight against Amalek), he meant according to R. Joshua mighty men, but according to R. Eleazar of Mode'im they were to be sin-fearing men.- The idea of the latter rabbi was that it was not might that won the war, but piety; 3 as R. Eleazar himself, during the siege of Betthar, prayed, in sackcloth and in ashes, for the success- 1 Derekheres zuta, X ; in Synh. 97 a R. Jeliudah appears as the author. evidently the name of R. Gamaliel in whose name lie handed d<>wu this sentence, as several others, has fallen out ; an mymous in Sotah. IX, 15 ; Bacher, I, 92. 3 : M2D inn ^21 1DNO 1 ' NEH W1 man Dn-riD DEmi 3P3. See also R. Jose's statement about the appointment of judges to the various courts in Temple times in Tos. Synh. VII. 1 : prpVJ' C'J'CI nnu nv-an rmi ma p^2i Nan joi 1^1 DSH Nintr ^ ^ pp~n:n Wyi PH iniX P^iy IJOVI, when they found a learned, calm, and sin-fearing man with an untainted youth and liked by the people, they appointed him judge in his own town. The parallel in jer. Syrih. I, 19 c. 33 reads: 31D 3^? H313 nn n^SS? C>2J H31O py *1 % J' V;y Q2H 310 p/H 31D "IX 1 , qualifying the man to become a jude of the lowest court on the Temple Mount ; b. 88 b. 2 Mekhil. 17. 9, 53 b : D"t?JX ui? 1H3 1O1N y^"in s ^3"! Q"J*:S' "^ "H3 Non 'XT lib "in3 "iix i| ynin iry^x un annj. cf.sifre Deut. -as: Miclr. Tan. Deut. 32. 33, 200 3 Cf. Sifre Num. 157, 59 a ff. : 1D1N |H3 ^"l , . , ^\X-C"' ^2bNO ".ID^'I x s pnv ^I^D y non^ob Ni" 1 -ea ^1^2 c ( \s onoo cnns. 3 2 SOME TYPES OF ful defence of the fortress by bar-Kokhba. 1 Very instructive is the way in which an anonymous colleague of R. Eliezer and R. Ishmael rendered the fear of the Lord in the Bible by the fear of sin. 2 Though it is, therefore, clear that the sin-fearing man was as pious as the Ton, as he also was faithfully practising God's positive commandments, it is certain that there was some difference between them. For not only did R. Johanan b. Zakkai call one of his disciples sin-fearing and another a saint, but in one sentence 3 R. Jo- hanan b. Nuri is described as a man of the fear of sin, and ben- c Azzai as one of piety. 4 And in the list of R. Pinhas b. Yair, which will be considered below, humilit}^ leads to the fear of sin, and this to saiiitliness ; so that the first is 1 jer. Ta'an IV, 68 d. 60. 2 Midrash Tannaim Dent. 14. 23, 77 if. : ,'n DX nXV^ "ID^H XDH nXT H DnXH FIX PXUE nriw'ycnt? T3E. The same rendering is found in jer. Sotah, V, 20 c. 39 of Deut. 10. 20 : ... XTTI pni?N Tl DX tOTD NT PX Uyib nn3 DXtt' nNTO nK>y, 'fear the Lord thy God', do so from the fear of God, so that, if thou shouldst feel tempted to kick against Him, a sin-fearing man does not kick against God. So also in the explanation of the sentence of R. Pinhas b. Yair, the fear of the Lord is rendered by R. Isaac by fear of sin in jer. Shekal. III. 47 c. 68 ; Midr. Tannaim Deut. 23. 15, 148. In Baraitha Neclar. 20 a bottom, Mekhil. 20. 20, 72 a : IK^E ^SBPin Wn!> D333 ^ 1HNT rvnn TajD X'an SDH nXT H^ HN^D n^'ianC', in order that His fear may be on your faces, that ye sin not ' : that teaches us that shame leads to the fear of sin ; the fear of God is rendered by ilB'D, and INBnn T6:6 by the fear of sin. 3 ARN. 40, 64 b ; here the book of Psalms is stated to indicate humility. in 2 ARN. 46, 64 b, fear of sin, and R. Akiba is described as sin-fearing, in 65 a ben-Zoma. * in trnpn la^n 'pis, ed. Grunhut, 33: w:n nix Dnm nK-v *?& .p TIT ^v nyanw sen nxi 11 by r\vhv lan nx i>Ki bbDnni ytyy nx xipn^ ny inL3 by fc^n bx ib ->DX xtsn nx iioanB' ny na^3 Saxb n^n bxi cmon n s ab nannxa oarjn nflDH, the three things of XDPI nX"1 s which Rabbi is alleged to have ordered his son to obey, refer to prayers, to the reading of the weekly portion of the Torah, and to the attendance at the school. But what has it to do with the fear of sin ? See Friedmann's Mekhil. 121 a. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 33 only preparatory for the second. 1 The identity of the fear of sin with the fear of God suggests that the first referred to the very strict observance of the duties expressing the honour, love, and worship of God, while, as was shown above, the TDn was most particular in the practice of the love of man ; but both, it is understood, observed conscientiously all the commandments to be kept. A few instances of such strictness observed by the pious are specially recorded. The ancient pious men fixed the blue cord of the fringes, prescribed in Num. 15. 38, as soon as the cloth for the garment woven had reached the breadth of three fingers, and they did not wait till it was finished.- The same are reported to have had marital intercourse only on Wednesdays, so that their wives should not, at childbirth, come to the necessity of a desecration of the Sabbath. :! Such scrupulousness in the observance of the Sabbath was considered by some scholars a peculiarity of the Essenes, so that they identified the pious men with the Essenes. 4 Rabbinic law permitted without hesitation any action or work to be performed on the Sabbath in order to avert any danger to a human life, to assist a woman in childbirth, or to kill poisonous snakes. But, just as the stricter Jews in 1 Mace. 2. 35 ff. would not defend them- selves on the Sabbath against the attacks of a Syrian army, so the ancient pious men tried to obviate, if at all possible, a desecration of the Sabbath ; but they would still, if the necessity arose, assist their wives in every way on the 1 It is true that the Tractate known as NLIT J*~IK "P"!? an( l containing high ethical rules for the conduct of scholars, was in the tenth century quoted by Joseph Kirkisani as NBn HNT, but in 2 ARN. 26, 26 b as D^TDn r6j (see Abrahams in J. Q. R., X, 1898, 660 and in Steinschneider's Festschrift, 75), which would show the identity of TDH and NEPI NT. See also Poznanski in MGWJ. 61, 1917, 229 ff. 2 Menah. 40 b. 3 Niddah 38aff. 4 See a later instance in Shabb. 121 b: The scholar employed in the school of the Babylonian teacher Rablia b. R. Huna to cite Baraithas bearing on the subject just under discussion, once quoted a Baraitha of an unknown date, Of him who kills serpents and scorpions on the Sabbath the pious men do not approve. C 34 SOME TYPES OF Sabbath, as permitted by the law. In neither case is there a trace of Essenes or Essenic observance. And the same applies to the strictness of the pious men in the case of the early fixing of the fringes ; for nothing whatever is known of any special rigour of the Essenes in the practice just of that commandment. It is true, Abba Saul b. Batnith whom Dr. Kohler without any justification, only on account of his title, declares to have been an Essene, 1 or his father, wore on his garment the blue thread of the fringes, and asked his children to remove it after his death. 2 But did not his friend, R. Eleazar b. R. Sadok, report expressly 3 that only very few men in Jerusalem had fixed the blue thread to their linen garments, clearly implying that on woollen garments many, certainly every teacher, wore the blue thread ? And did not the schools of the Shammaites and the Hillelites in Jerusalem deal with the details of the law concerning the fringes ? 4 Were they all Essenes ? Besides the two observances mentioned, only the strict practices of two pious priests are recorded. Jose b. Joezer 5 who is described as ruinaai? Ton observed the rules of levitical purity very conscientiously. 6 As in connexion with their , 1901, 572 ff. 2 Semah. XII ; JITX Da DO, ed. Kirchheim, 23 : i?J? rWX pTTlO fN nnn rnoww "b IOK saw IO-IK rroaa p i>iNB> Nax . non nt?np nv^o na px DnoiK D^oam . ntmp DV^O na oi? "p-ian nniX. Kirchheim refers to the variants in Nahmani's DISH miD, ed. Venezia 32 c bottom: JVJBa p S^ N3N , . ^1N2' NaS 1DK .n^nD. Cf. Derenbourg, Essai, 172. 3 Menah. 40 a. 4 Sifre Num. 115, 34 a ; Menah. 40 a, 41 b. 5 Hagigah II, 7. 6 In 'Eduy. VIII. 4 the evidence of R. Jose b. Joezer on three points of levitical purity is recorded. As not only his name and that of his father, but that of his place are the same as those of Jose b. Joezer of Seredah of the Maccabean rising in Aboth, I, 4, scholars identify the two and also that in Hagigah II, 7. Against the identification should be considered (1) the place of his evidence in the list of the evidence of scholars who appeared before the school in Jamnia about the year 100, among them a few who had survived the destruction of the Temple ; (2) the title of rabbi attached to the name of Jose b. Joezer in the Cambridge Mishnah and many early editions (see Rabbinovicz). Kohler in Jew. Encyclop., JEWISH-PALESTINIAN TIETY 35 sacrificial meals, taken within the Temple, all priests had to observe those rules, it is not clear in what Jose's strict- ness consisted. In their homes, the priests, as far as is known, did not apply the same levitical laws to their ordinary food. The rabbis, however, required the priests to handle their heave offering, n:nn, given to them of various kinds of produce by the farmers, as being of a holy character, also at home in due levitical purity. Jose b. Joe'zer not only submitted to such strictness, but guarded even his ordinary food in ever higher purity, and was, for that observance, called a pious man among the priests. This interpretation of his rigour is borne out by the instance of the intended strict observance of levitical purity by a noble, but ignorant priest who lived in the clays of R. Johanan b. Zakkai in Ramath-beth-'Anath. Sent by his master, R. Joshua went to see the ways of that priest who, by keeping the rules of levitical purity in connexion with his heave offering, is stated to have behaved as a pious man. The scholar entered into a conversation with him about the pertinent rules of a pious man, meaning those of levitical purity, and soon established the priest's ignorance even of the relevant biblical law. 1 5. On the evidence just adduced the question could reasonably be founded as to whether Hillel was not called a pious man on account of his strict observance of the law V, 225 b, quotes the Mishnah about the ancient Hasids : 'Especially rigorous were they in regard to Levitical purity.' But strange to say, the passage deals not with what Jose b. Joi-zer observed, but with the purity not observed in certain instances in the Temple ; and, as his evidence was throughout testifying to leniency, the scholars called him Jose the permitting teacher. How could this be quoted as an instance of rigour in levitical purity ? Cf. J. Levy in 1OrO "WN, III, I860, 29. 1 ARN. 12, 28 b: HITDH m !jn 3 Hi: iTiTJ', or, as another version quoted by Schechter in note 77 reads : IWnS JT1E1 IJOi'Sn blD^D JHr^. in 2 ARN. 27, 28 b: DH^on ni^m trpDiy vni icy imi? ytw iy\ ii?m, see also the wording p. 72 a top. It may be added here that in such strictness there is no trace of Essenic observance, as assumed by Z. Frankel in Zeitschrift fur die relig. Interessen des Judenthunts, III, 1846, 454, and by Geiger in Jild. ZS., IX, 1871, 54 ; see Derenbourg, Essai, 1C>. 2 36 SOME TYPES OF of levitical purity, and not for his conduct towards his fellow man, his trust in God, and his cultivation of his soul and his body. But apart from the fact that the two incidents quoted concerned priests and the priestly food, and Hillel was not a priest, only academic discussions of his about points of levitical purity. 1 but not a single practical occurrence of that nature, are reported. And, in addition, it is sufficient to remember the juxtaposition of the two adjectives Ton v:j? describing Hillel, to cause us to admit that the quality denoted by the second word was closely related to his humility ; as also in the sentence of R. Pinhas b. Yair, humility leads to the fear of sin, this to piety, and this to the holy spirit of which, as we have seen, a heavenly voice declared Hillel worthy. Again, the few references preserved to the practical conduct of pious men in the first century and the first half of the second century in no case deal with the observance of levitical purity, though by that time it had begun to be adopted by a few non-priests. A pious man bought an article from one of two men both of whom claimed the purchase-money, but he himself did not know from which of them he had obtained the goods. R. Tarfon, before whom he brought the case, advised him to put the money in front of both claimants, and to withdraw. The man then went to R. Akiba who replied, ' There is no other remedy for you but to pay both claimants.' R. Tarfon's decision which exempted the pur- chaser from double payment was, no doubt, based on strict law, but evidently did not satisfy the conscience of the pious man, and so he submitted his scruples to another authority. As the opening words of his judgment, mpn "j^ ps show, R. Akiba did not base it on strict law, but went beyond its letter, and satisfied the scruples of the pious man. 2 A man was clearing his field of stones 1 Shabb. 15 a ; 17 a. 2 Baraitha Baba kam. 103 b. The judgment reminds us of Tos. Shebu'oth III, 1 ; jer. Baba kam. VI, 5 b. 38 ; b. 55 b. bottom, Baraitha : R. Joshua says, ' In four cases a man need not, by law, pay compensation, but God will not forgive him till he has paid such.' There is again JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 37 which he threw into the main road. A pious man who passed by and saw his action asked him why lie threw stones from the field which was not his into land which was his ; indicating thereby that, as a punishment, he would soon lose his property. 1 From the discussion of the matter in the Tosiftha we learn that, unlike R. Akiba, R. Joshua declared the procedure followed by that farmer permissible ; and, it seems, the accepted rule did not pro- hibit the landowners from throwing the stories, removed from their fields, into the main road. But the pious man did not point to any law that could be enforced by the authorities, but warned the moral trespasser on a purely moral consideration of the eventual danger arising for the users of the road ; and as human punishment was not warranted by the law, he prophesied to him a severe visitation by God in the form of the loss of his property. So the Hasid not only acted himself beyond the require- ments of the law, even when it implied a monetary loss, but whenever the welfare of the fellow-man was concerned, expected others also, and tried to persuade them, to follow the same principle. The same rule underlies the action of the ancient pious men who hid thorns and glass in the soil of their fields three hand-breadths deep, so that the plough- share might not be hindered/ or, as the better wording of the passage has it, that the ploughshare should not bring those up to the surface (and cause damage or injury). :; The consideration, even regarding one's own property, of nothing Essenic in that principle ; it represents a point of view in the application of civil law, which the rabbis termed pin miC'Q D*3D7, as beyond the line of law, and which, according to R. Elea/ar of Modc'im, Jethro advised Moses to teach the children of Israel, Mekhil. 59 b on Exod. 18. 20 ; Baba kam. 99 b. ff. What Dr. Kohler in Berliner's l-'tstschrif, 199 if., without any evidence assigns to the Essenes, would lead this discussion too far. 1 Baraitha Baba kam. 50 b top ; Tos. II, 13. 2 Baraitha Baba kam. 30 a ; Tos. II, G. 3 Jer. Baba kam. Ill, 3 c. 44 ; cf. Midi-. Samuel on 2 Sam. 7. 5, 03 a the Baraitha. A virgin field is one that has never yet been cultivated ; R. Simeon b. Gamaliel says, One in which there is no potsherd. 38 SOME TYPES OF possible harm to others made the pious man act more strictly than the adopted custom demanded. 1 An anonymous Mishnah 2 enumerates four different characters of men : ' One who says, What is mine is mine, and what is thine is thine, his is a neutral character ; some say, this is a character like that of Sodom. He who says. What is mine is thine, and what is thine is mine, is an 'Am-ha'ares ; he who says, What is mine is thine, and what is thine is thine, is a pious man ; he who says, What is thine is mine, and what is mine is mine, is a wicked man.' We see that one and the same action, attitude or declaration may be judged by two different standards, one being that of everyday life, the other that of high morality. As long as an action is not encroaching on the neighbour's interest, the first mentioned standard terms it indifferent ; to call it an average action, is already above commercial and legal morality. Hillel's standard, on the other hand, was, ' If I am only for myself, what am I ? ' 3 It is man's bounden duty to place himself and all his belongings at the service of his fellow-man, so that the rule, ' What is mine is mine ', though legally correct, is not only selfish, but wrong to the degree of Sodom's selfishness. In the opposite statement, ' What is mine is thine, and what is thine is thine ', where a man not only claims no benefit from his neighbour, but places his own property at his disposal, the principle is that of- the 1 In the middle of the third century, R. Joshua b. Levi defended before Elijah the prophet his extradition of a Jew who had fled to Lydda, resolved only in order to save the city from the enemy ; he had based his action on the Mishnah Tos. Terum. VII, 20 ; jer. VIII, 46 b. 45, but the prophet retorted, Is it a Mishnah of the pious men ? (jer. Terum. VIII, 46 b. 50 ; Gen. r. 94 end, Bacher, Pal. Amoraer I, 188 ff. ; Friedmann, Hebrew Introduction to his Seder Eliahu, 48). In his conduct towards a fellow-man, a rabbi must not follow the letter of the law laid down in a Baraitha, but must aet in accordance with the highest principles of humanity taught and practised by the pious men. 2 Aboth, V, 10. 8 If it might be assumed that the sentence in 2 ARN. 27, 28 a top, ' Since that which I possess is not mine, what for do I require that which belongs to others ? ' was Hillel's (see Schechter's note, and G. Klein, Der alteste christl. Katechismits, 87). the beautiful principle would account for his unselfishness. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 39 TDn. As Hillel was admittedly no Essene, there is not the slightest foundation for looking in the Hasid for an Essene ; it was nothing but high Jewish morality, as expressed by Hillel in his sentence, consistently applied. Another anonymous Mishnah l says : ' There are four kinds of tempers : he whom it is easy to provoke and easy to pacify, his loss disappears in his gain : he whom it is hard to provoke and hard to pacify, his gain disappears in his loss ; he whom it is hard to provoke and easy to pacify is a Ton ; he whom it is easy to provoke and hard to pacify is a wicked man.' Taking Hillel's meekness and his deliberate resistance to provocation as the standard, we find here an additional reason why also from this point of view he was rightly called a pious man ; just as the directly opposite disposition and the failure of deliberate self- control stamped a man as a sinner. At the same time it is evident that for his mere natural disposition no man could justly deserve to be called pious or wicked ; but it is his deliberate and active self-control that constituted the merit, as the deliberate neglect of its application formed the sin. In the next anonymous Mishnah - the principle underlying the use of the same two terms is not at all clear. It says: 'As to almsgiving there are four disposi- tions : he who desires to o-ive, but that others should not O ' give, his eye is evil towards what appertains to others; he who desires that others should iHve, but will not give C5 * C" himself, his eye is evil against what is his own ; he who gives and wishes others to give is a Hasid; he who will not give and does not wish others to give is a wicked man.' In rendering the explanations given by the Jewish com- mentators, Professor Taylor says,-"' ' The first character has an evil or grudging eye with respect to the things of others. He is unwilling that they should share with him the credit of liberality, or he is a misanthrope who is jealous lest his neighbours' possessions should .be blessed i Aboth, V, 11. 2 Ibid., V, 13. 3 Sanh-gs 2 , Do. 40 SOME TYPES OF by their almsgiving, and lest they should enjoy favour with God and man. The truly liberal, on the contrary, is he who " counsels " liberal things (Isa. 32. 8) : who is not only liberal himself, but moves others to be so (Abarbanel).' In fact, however, there is no need for interpretations introduc- ing foreign thought, as the two middle parts expressly state grudge to be the only source of the man's conduct. When a poor man appeals for assistance to one person in the presence of others, say in the synagogue or the school, the person appealed to recognizes the claim to apply not only to him, but to all present, and gives himself and induces the others to contribute ; this is the pious, truly charitable man. But if he refuses help himself, and even dissuades others from giving, he is wicked. If he himself supports the poor man, but thinks his own assistance to be sufficient, so that the money of others would be wasted, he is grudging the poor the help of others : in the reverse case, when he allows him to receive only the money of others, and grudges him his own assistance, his meanness refers to his own support. But even with this plain interpretation of the sentence, it is not evident why his slight consideration for the help- less fellow-man should be sufficient to merit for him the distinctive name of a Hasid. And even more difficult is it in the next Mishnah, 1 ' There are four characters among those who attend the house of study: he who goes and does not practise secures the reward for going; he who practises, but does not go, secures the reward for practising; he who goes and practises is a Hasid ; he who neither goes nor practises is a wicked man.' Even the mere attendance at the house of learning is accounted meritorious ; for, by listening to the teaching, he receives useful guidance for his moral and religious conduct, and its effect will in the end not fail, though, for the present, he evinces no inclination to realize the principles of conduct taught there. But if he keeps away from the school altogether, he exhibits an attitude of slighting or even contempt for its spirit ; and by 1 Aboth, V, 14. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIKTY 4 1 adding the failure of practice, he deliberately turns away from the religious tendency represented by the school, and proves himself a sinner. Attendance and practice prove him a pious man. Though here, naturally, the conduct towards the fellow-man is not referred to, the sentence could still be understood as dealing with such conduct, as the subject of instruction in the school, as suggested alcove (p. 27), was, in the first instance, morality applied to practical life. But apart from the fact that the plain word- ing does not justify such an interpretation, Dr. Hoffmann 1 has shown from the text of the Mislmah Aboth underlying Aboth di R. Nathan that V, 10 was the last paragraph of Aboth known to the author of that midrashic commentary, and all subsequent parts of the chapter were later additions. After the year 135, the rabbis made an extensive use of the term Ton , and, in imitation of earlier sentences composed before that year in the schools of Judaea, formed new rules in which TDn merely designated a good, law-abiding man who conscientiously practised the moral duties. 2 All this tends to confirm the result of the previous examination that Ton designated Hillel as a man filled with true love to his fellow-man. 1 Die erste Mischna, 27-31, especially p. 28. 2 Of a different kind appears to be the case reported in Baraitha Baba kam. 80 a, referred to above, p. 17, about a Hasid who coughed blood, and was advised by the physicians to drink naturally warm milk every morning. Against the rabbinic prohibition that declared sheep and goats robbers of other men's plantations (see Biichler, 'Am-ha'art*, 101ft'.), he kept a goat tied to his bed ; and on his death-bed lie stated that that was the only sin of which ho was conscious, and his fellow scholars also admitted that he was free from any other sin. Whether his comparative sinlessness earned him the title of a Hasid, is not stated. It was mentioned above that the name of the scholar given in Tos. Baba kam. VIII, 13, cf. Themur. 15 b, R. Jehudah b. Baba, is incorrect, though it is stated here that all his deeds were in the honour of God, as in Tos. Sotah XIII, 4; jer. IX, 24 b. 39 ; b. 48 b, and that he was to be bewailed in the same words as Hillel as humble and pious. His sin was committed against a rabbinic decree, which, in the case of a scholar, was considered very grave. When imprisoned by the Roman authorities in Caesarea, R. Akiba would rather die from thirst than eat without having before washed his hands, and thereby act against the view adopted by his colleagues, 'Erub. 21 b. 42 SOME TYPES OF 6. As in the definition of the Hasid and of the sin- fearing man reference had ses r eral times to be made to the sentence of R. Pinhas b. Yair on the gradual acquisition of humility and piety; and as its contents throw important light on the whole question of the Hasid, though its author taught in the second half of the second century, a short analysis of his statement will be useful. It reads: 1 'Care leads to cleanness, this to purity, this to holiness, this to humility, this to the fear of sin, this to piety, this to the holy spirit, this to the quickening of the dead, and this to Elijah the prophet.' This is preceded by a Baraitha : ' Keep thee from every evil thing ' (Deut. 23. 10) warns us to suppress in the daytime every thought of a sexual nature, so that no pollution should ensue in the night; hence R. Pinhas b. Yair inferred, &c. Granted that this was his starting-point for the whole sentence, is the list of the various graduated virtues in agreement with that warning, and is the meaning of each link clear "? And if, by follow- ing faithfully the instruction of R. Pinhas, anybody can, by self-control and self-education, attain to holiness, what does such holiness that leads up to humility really represent 1 1 Midr. Tannaiin Deut. 23. 15, 148 ; jer. Shekal. Ill, 47 c. 59 ; Cant. r. I. 1.9; Midr. Prov.15.S2, 41 a; SotahlX, end ; 'Ab. zar.20 b, see Rabbinovicz : riNuo nvpa nvpa H^ rwao nirnr -.DIN -PK p onus m rrn pns may may T^ rwao nemp rremp n^ nN20 mna mno n^ niTon nrpDn n^ HNUD Nun nxT 1 Non nx-p H'b n'3 DTiEn rvnn D'non nnn n^ N^O trnpn nn tynpn nn H'i> Hv. In Sotah only in the editions, but not in the Cambridge Mishnah (in the text of the Mishnah of the Palestinian Talmud the whole sentence is missing), there is an additional link : Hv ilNUO nt?np nb nW3D mvnsi ni^ns, b. has it between nvpj and The introductory word ja^O does not refer to 7ni)X DV H3b y3V.11 quoted immediately before from Micah 6. 8, but, as it is expressly stated in b., to Deut. 23. 10: DV3 D1X iniiT 1 N^t? 7 JH 131 ^3D mOB'ai [331 13H n*3D n-nn TK p onas an I?DN* JNSD n^ba HNOIQ nb K3M . . nirnr n^ HNUD nvvnr nnnr n^, and to the whole group of verses interpreted in Midr. Tannaim. Cf. Hull. 37 b ; Grunhut, IBD, II, 20 b, note; HTSNn 'D, 3. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 43 Should not the sequence more naturally be reversed? and even so, how can the preparatory steps enumerated bring a man to either quality oi' character 1 ? Or did R. Pinhas address himself to a class of men specially trained in the preliminary qualities, e.g. the Essenes, and could only such hope to attain to those distinctions of holy men ? As far as the scanty material in rabbinic literature at my disposal suggests, holiness commended to be striven for or actually- practised referred to sexual life. To the question of some Alexandrian Jews, what a man should do to obtain male children, R. Joshua b. Hananiah replied, ' Let him marry a wife worthy of him, and let him sanctify himself during his marital intercourse. 1 ' He did not, however, explain his meaning, 2 though it is clear that he recommended chastity ; as his colleague, R. Gamaliel II, stated that he liked the chastity of the Persians observed at three actions : at their meals, when easying their bodies, and at their marital intercourse/' Unfortunately, other remarks on this feature 1 Baraitha Kidd. 70 b : fr6 IDS' Qn3T D^2 1^ rm DIN* HW HE pwn rw3 ivy trip^t ib ruainn ntrx NK, cf. sheinroth i8i> : JW3 inxy nN tripEn ^ -irybN "oi IEN r\& 13 pe^a S 3i -ics* JIDDI D'emp Drvm Dncnpririi -iBNrj> onrr n^a -6 p^in tr_'n ynm "a nc'N n^. 2 An anonymous statement in Tanh. Nl-'3 . B. 13: mn^Tl^L" H'J'N *P2 riETTpQ npyS DJ? describes a woman who, during her marital intercourse, thinks of no other man but her husband, as having with him intercourso in holiness. Compare the precautions of R. Eliezer in Baraitha Nedar. 20btop, to prevent himself from thinking of another woman, as such thought would stamp his children as born in adultery. Note his idea of adultery committed by a mere thought ; his colleague R. Joshua may have meant the same. See also Baraitha Baba mes. 107 b : y |J^1 Un , . , rnntf ne'si? msno WNI inc^6 ppm . . . nnntr naa IIENJ onm . 3 Baraitha Berakh. 8 b : 3HW Qnm n'J'^a /X^W pi 1?:N S'^n "inx 1313 pyuvi NOSH ^33 pyi3si |n^rN3 pym jn D^DIEH ns ^x. This is explained in Ketlmb. 48 a to mean that they performed it dressed, as the wife of R. Eliezer said of her husband in Nedar. 20 b, PI2D fTOQ nSt3 HD3E1, which is explained by Asheri as avoiding ~C'3 31~l'p contact of the bodies, as in Kethub. 48 a: 1^3 311p II H1NC' ^DV 31 'JH fiTB>13^3 [H^niDD pB'OtJ^E' D^DIQ JHJE H3 :H3 S X^, and as it is reported of R. Jo^e b. Halaftha in jer. Yebam. I, 2 b. 12 : ^y2 p*ID Till where pTD 44 SOME TYPES OF of holiness designated by the word enp belong to the middle of the third century ; l but as the underlying ideas are, as will be seen, the same as those in the earlier state- ments, a reference to them will be useful. 2 R. Joshua b. means the sheet, as in Nidd. 5 a top. In "Nidd. 16 b if. R. Simeon b. Yohai says, ' There are four things which God hates and I do not like : him who enters his house unexpectedly, and all the more his neighbour's house,' muo potPDm moo ^zb D-ny n-o pnc-oi D-O pn??oi nox3 mixm T! 72 "^Ba. The last sentence reads in some texts (see Tosafoth s.v. nny in DO Bwem, cf. E>npn iran ^pis, ed. Grunhut 47: pnix -o'K *jKi }K3it? n ff apnB> n^bp ^xnv p pyot? -an ~iox a!? Wat? onan -ioixm pn^oi inoxn rnixrn n-ny mso, p. 41 : pOB>13 p^DtPO filial . , . fHO pJH3 DISH pXtJ> Dnm PJB^ p:nj pN "]3*sb D v vJ'rDB'O1 DHH33 nX. The word jn:x 'chaste', is a synonym of t^Hp, sec below ; but in jer. Berakh. II, 5 b. 56 R. Jose described R. Meir to the inhabitants of Sepphoris as t^Hp D1X ?n3 D1X yi3V mX, both words being applied to him, while the parallel passage in Gen. r. 100. 7 has only E>11p D1X, see Bacher, Tannaiten, II, 5. 1. In Gen. r. 33. 3 the patriarch Jehudah I praised R. Hiyya as a great and holy man. 1 Already Testam. Joseph, 4. 1 has : ' Often therefore did she flatter me with words as a holy man, and guilefully in her talk praise my chastity before her husband, while desiring to ensnare me when we were alone.' 2 Jer.Yebam. II, 3d. 24: nEHS 3in2H "]DD HO^1 "73 p mv U1 ">CN nmyn jo enis Ninj^ ^o bat? "jno^ y pt8nTp ntnei? niny DM^N {yx '3 ^nyn 11 w njn ntr^b nioix n^roiic' pt? pax ^-i y B>np n^obn psi Nin ernp nav 'am n^nox .vo^o np ns^ nxi N^ p-iox non "130 ^y N^a n^o n^on N^ iiov jo niox pnr 21 ~ia. In the parallel in Lev. r. 24. 6 : H3OD3 HD '33D ^3 p miH 1 'm ION ia NVIO nnNir mpo bzv Tith*? N^N ^D^emp ntn3^ niny ncnD lON-r MB p mm 11 un xnna ^nxi ^itrnp NVIO nns n-ny ma wo ^ib p yt^in 11 ^n .tfnp N"ip: nnyn ;o losy mi: Nin % ^ ^o ^3 niny nuns nsoD3 no ^330 ^ib p y^irv ui ION . . . n'03it? |o HHK rmy na NXIO nnse' Dipo hsv 110^ Ni?N / o i| t!mp nens^ . , . P^D pnp iT^ n^NI n^Hp NVIO; the parallel in Berakh. 10 b : nni unh;? by nmy aiar nntn K^ nox nn ^NIO^I an / njn* N3O vi?y np nnjn xh moo by njrxn fn^'3 btr pin IOK. in Gen. r. 98. 4 ; Agg. Gen. 82. 1 ; Tanh. W1, 9 ; Yebam. 76 a, Jacob said to his son Reuben, I am eighty-four years old np n3D "^Xl X7I. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN I'IKTY 45 Levi says, ' Why arc the chapters about prohibited inter- course (Lev. 18) and holiness (Lev. 19) put elose to each other? To teach us that where we find a guard against immorality, we find holiness ; and there are man}' passages in the Bible to prove it. R. Jehudah b. Paz/i in the name of R. Joshua b. Levi says, Whoever separates himself from immorality is termed holy, as the Shunammite woman called Elisha a holy man of God in 2 Reg. 4. 9.' An older contem- porary of R. Joshua b. Levi, the Babylonian scholar Samuel, says that she called the prophet holy, because she had never noticed a stain of semen on his sheet ; and a later Aniora, R. Abin, suggests as the reason, because he had never looked at her. But it is of importance for our examination that already a Baraitha dealt with the prohibition to look at women, and suggested the reason of it : ' Keep thee from every evil thing (Deut 23. 10) : one should not look at a fair woman, even if she is unmarried, nor at a married woman, even if she is ugly, nor at the coloured dress of a woman, nor at an ass, a swine, or a fowl, when they are pairing.' ' While we learn incidentally from an illustration of R. Gamaliel II 1 'A bod. zar. 20 a, b ; Midr. Tann. Deut, 23. 10, 147 : i?3 vim sh mira xbi "ncra sh rtpx b-' yuv "1322 xbi rnyno ]N^a n^y N^E I^BKI nrb nr pppraa> pn rnsiyii xS nvrra xh niDil. In jer. 'AZ. 1, 40 a. 73 ; b. 20 a, a Baraitha reports how E. (Simeon b.} Gamaliel I, when he once saw a beautiful non-Jewish woman on the Temple Mount, spoke a blessing over her ; the Talmud is surprised that he should have looked at a woman. Joseph in Egypt would not look at the princesses who threw rings and ornaments at him to attract his attention, and God rewarded him for it. Gen. r. 98. 18. Two Babylonian disciples of R. Johanan in Tiberias, R. Haninah and R. Osha'ia, were bootmakers, and worked for immoral women ; when the latter looked at them, the scholars did not raise their eyes to look at the women. For this they were called in Babylonia l( CJ"Tp pan ' the holy scholars of Palestine', Pesah. 113 b top; Bacher, Papist. Amoraer, III, 551.1. In ir3"l "plD, ed. Grunhut, 37 : DN1 1^ IDS crxa vh\ nsa n^xn ^snon ^N yi ian i?2 rvh nr ppprac' nyc'a cpxn n'n nonaa h paiyax ^r 46 SOME TYPES OF that in his time, about the year 100, nobody looked at a married woman, 1 but anybody at an unmarried one, 2 the honour of women demanded it that they should not be looked at by men. :j In explanation of Job 31. 1 it is specially stated that Job imposed upon himself the strict moral obligation, not even to look at a girl. 4 If a man counts money into the hand of a woman or from her hand into his, in order to look at her, even if he be like Moses who received the Torah on Sinai, he will not escape the punishment of hell. 5 R. Ahai b. Joshiah said, ' He who looks at women will, in the end, come to immorality ; and he who looks at the heel of a woman will have unworthy children '. c The reason is here clearly stated : it is to pre- 1 Tos. Kidd. I, 11 ; in jer. Hagigah, II, 77 d. 38 ff., in a legendary report, R. Jehudah b. Tabbai blamed his disciple for having looked at the married woman with whom they were staying in Alexandria. Cf. Briill, JaJirbacher, III, 52, note 129, and Midr. Cant. ed. Griinhut 4 b. 2 R. Matthia b. Haras h was a God-fearing rabbi who never looked at a married, nor even at any other woman, Tanhuma Num. B. p. 66 a ; Midr. Abkir, 11, 30 ; Gaster, JlVpyO 'D, 93 ff. ; Bacher, Tannaiten, I, 384. 3. 3 Jer. Synh. II, 20 b. 44 states that at funerals, according to one opinion, they walked behind the men pD'QO 1!T N^ ^NIE" JTI33 1133 '3BO DHPX3. 4 ARN. 2, 7 a top, 2 ARN. 2, 4 b, because next day she might become the wife of another man. See R. Samuel b. Nahman in Tanh. CDU^ 5 ; B. 13, cf. Bab. bath. 16 a. 5 Baraitha 'Erub. 18 b ; slightly different in Berakh. 61 a: Even if he possess learning and good deeds as Moses did. 6 Nedar. 20 a ; Derekh eres I : |>3! ni'Qy 'T^ X3 IBID D^a HBIXH ^>3 D'331HO J3W D'33 "6 J^IH ilE'K ^ ,13py3 i>3riDBn. To look at the nakedness of a woman is a sin, as the Israelites who had fought against the Midianites, brought in Num. 31. 50 an offering to the Lord ; '31 X3fl un? '3E niD3 inn irviK3E> ^JOB" i3inn no oso buyce" ^i ni~iyn JD Dn^^y, according to the school of R. Ishmael they required atonement, because their eyes had looked with pleasure at nakedness, Baraitha Shabb. 64 a, b. Cf. the additions to Derekh eres in Mahzor Vitry 724 : There are twenty- four obstacles in the way of repentance &c., 5. he who looks at nakedness. R. Miasha in Pesik. r. 24, 125 a ; Lev. r. 23 end ; Derekh eres I says, ' He who sees a thing of nakedness and does not derive pleasure from the sight of it, merits to see God's glory.' Cf. Synh. 92 a bottom: niy33 int?p Hliya ^DDDH ^3 Tiyn my 1ON3B> with Rashi's explanation. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIKl'Y 47 vent lust and immoral desires. But the extension of the prohibition even to looking at the coloured dress of a woman or at animals is based on an additional considera- tion. In connexion with the examination of a man who shows symptoms of a running issue, R. Jehudah b. llai says that the sight of animals pairing or that of the coloured dress of a woman excites sexual desires, and causes a pollution. 1 A teacher of the third century, intro- duced as |33i, says, as quoted above, that Elisha was called a holy man, because he had never experienced a pollution, and that meant to say that sexual desires had never entered his mind ; but already earlier teachers warned emphatically against any action that might have such an effect. Carnal thoughts should not be excited even by looking at one's own membrum. And such a sight was actually avoided by holy men like the patriarch R. Jehudah I, and before him by R. Jose b. Halaftha whose great chastity at the marital intercourse was mentioned before ; the first never put his hand even below his belt. 2 If this explanation of holiness 1 Zabhim, II, 2: IEN jit DJ? HT PpDjmO Epyi rpn nCH3 HN1 "'ES* ntfNH y3Y H33 HtO. 2 Jer. Megil. Ill, 74 a. 38 : Antoninus who had submitted to the circumcision asked Rabbi to look at his membrum; but Rabbi replied, I have not looked at my own, how much less should I look at yours ! And why was Rabbi called our holy teacher? Because he never looked at his membrum. R. Jose in Shabb. 118 b bottom, stated the same of himself; but 1B33K DPlD IT D s 32n Sbw' ITU mil TinnX Xni?D '313. Such extraordinary precaution is reported of teachers of the end of the first and the beginning of the second centuries in a Baraitha Nidd. 13 a : .niny^ inao WQD 1^3 pntpoi inota miNn ^ -IOIN try^N ^ mas? rmaa HK-OI vbm by prm s nnx nya> ytJ'i ic^y nD'y^ NI Dnroo jn^ 1-33 y prn* '3i inxn ^^3^? yir n3r^' x'sic^ 'j^o ,nc^ p !?2i) ,T3 48 SOME TYPES OF is correct, the first stages enumerated in the sentence of K. Pinhas b. Yair as leading up gradually to holiness would mean this : if a man takes deliberate care to restrain himself from thinking of women, it will bring him to the state of cleanness ; he will not be denied by pollution in the day, he will not dream of women by night, and so keep himself in continuous purity. Gradually he will free him- self from irritating thoughts of sexual intercourse in the day, and from all that even approaches immorality in any form or degree. 7. In the wording of the passage in the Talmud, as stated above, nvpJ, cleanness, leads up to ni~ia, and this to purity. The word niBia- generally means separation, abstinence ; l but the thing from which one undertakes to .nuD by IT prpn nox^> T -ON pa-iu -Q-I win .rpw'on nx paayo ions xbiTi .x5> jr6 -ION ^ibw xb lonaa pp -6 ac -6 TIOK nnE> nxa^ TV ^NI ions ypan amo jnb -IDS .nypaj. in TOS. Nidd. n, 8: ,pspn D^jxai nnav^o nn n^a pna^ na-ion Tn f>a .nnnana iona nn *b no .niTD ^y pfp"n IOIK PBID an non -oin noi? ^D ii?tra /lai? N^N naion n^n ^3 nan^ ^as VIT naa^a. R. and R. Tarfon, followers of the Shammaite school, who had before 70 lived in Jerusalem and later taught in Lydda, declared it a grave sin, if the hand, even in a case of urgent need or danger, touched the membrum or even came near it, because, as the Baraitha explains it, it irritates, and may produce pollution. Cf. K>npn W2~\ ''pIB, ed. Griinhut, 45 ff. ntaa^ JHT rose? nx^'io-i inix noono wrvy ^ao ^vp^n nDt6 T, and R. Jehudah in the Baraitha Shabb. 108 b bottom pfpTI noxi? "T 1 . 1 For instance, in R. Akiba's sentence in Aboth, III, 13 : J"D Dmj npTlB' noinb 2^0 m^nab, vows are a fence to abstinence, a fence to wisdom is silence. Here, as the other parts of the list show, fence means advancement : vows advance self-imposed abstinence. If the vow were that of a Nazirite, his abstention from wine, strong drink, and defilement would prepare him for a more extensive abstinence. In ARN. 26, 41 b the order of the words is inverted : mnB n^Hp^ 3"D 7W>a Q^ttjfc 3"D J1NT 1 nijy? a^D, and, as a comparison with the sentence of R. Pinhas JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 49 separate in order to be led to holiness is not indicated, and could naturally be one of several matters or conditions. One is idolatry; 1 and holiness is attained by a complete divorce of the mind from all ideas and practices connected with, and arising out of, Palestinian heathen worship. This includes in lists given by teachers of the second century theatres, circuses, stadia, superstitious practices, the heathen way of growing the hair, &c. 2 Even to look at idols was included in the prohibition ; and Nahum b. Simai was called a most holy man, because he never looked at the figure (the head of the emperor) 011 a coin. :i Or JW~|3 may be the separation from levitical impurity, 4 shows, they mean : the result of vows is abstinence, that of purity holiness, and that of humility fear of sin. 1 Sifra Lev. 20. 7, 91 d : JWna n^Hp II , D^Hp DH^HI DntTTpnill n^np tDix Nine>:j .nixon ^ ncrnp vht* nrx is . . mr mny Drvni Dnanprini IDI^ ninbn ni /miDx nixn ba rump nn rnn mr mny jwna nemp it o^np. 2 Sifra Lev. 18. 3, 86 a. Mekhil. 19. 6,63 a : DWlpEl D^Hp ,E?np '131 DiTS1pC?l Dbiyn niDlKD D^ria; Sifre Deut. 85 : l^nsn ,pp:nn 131 mpca ipm mr muyo taDOsry. 3 Jer. 'Abod.zar.III,42c.l; Pesah. 104 a : m . , . Q^^Nn ^S* 132H bti jian "wo "ia Din: ^"i ^m 12 ,C>OD jnixn^ njsn ^s -IEIN min 11 , , . n^niaoni pa^ff s^ 'vnn pnon N^n noa IDS .f^xnD sn^ip^ WD yatDD mwa o^an M^K> D'tsnp t^np BN DIHJ IDC^ sipj nobi, just as the Zealots, on patriotic grounds, see Hippolytus, Refutatio haeres. ix. 26. 4 Sifra Lev. 11. 44, 57 b; 11. 45, 57 b ; 19. 2, 86 c : DD\n^K 'H "OX O DDN ID amp -JN^ Dt^3 'n 'jx crnp ^ D v ^np Qn^m Dn^ipnni n^13 ivi DHN -JD En"B ^N^ D^a .D^llp . Though it does not suggest from what God separates Himself, the connexion between separation and holiness is expressly stated, and the biblical basis suggests separation from everything impure and defiling ; see Schechter, Some aspects of Rabbinic Theology, 205. In Tos. Shabb. I, 15; jor. I. 3 c. 3 ; b. 13 a : p-pnD bbn rvui pxn Dy nr ny tma nr ^iw xb D^DIK \SDU-' n s n, the Shammaites say, A man with a running issue, if lie is otherwise keeping away from levitical impurity, shall not eat with a man who has the same complaint, but is as an 'Am ha'ares not separating from levitical impurity; the Hillelites permit it. Hagig. II. 7 : JHNH Dy HJ2 norm ^aiM nan ^onn ^yivb D-nD p^na naa .p^nsb oma D 50 SOME TYPES OF which would lead to a withdrawal from human society as complete as that of the Essenes. A third possible kind is the abstention from meat and wine, 1 producing Nazirites of a strict order. A fourth kind of separation is the partial or complete forbearance of marital intercourse, 2 which is in fact designated as holiness. 3 From the remark of DTTO, the garments of the 'Am ha'ares are a defilement for the separating v who eat their ordinary food in levitical purity, Rashi) ; the garments of the separating are a defilement for the priests who eat the priestly heave offering ; the garments of the priests are a defilement for the sacrifices. See also Tohar. IV, 12 : nV^nS mnt3 If foffffl pSD, R. Jos6 says, The food of a separating man concerning the practical impurity of which any doubt exists is impure, and such observance is only the scruple of far-going purity (see Biichler, 'Am ha'ares, 166). 1 Baba bath. 60 b; Tos. Sotah, XV, 11: JVOBQ DUn 31 HBO p3" 13H an Dr6 ^DBJ y j nintpb N^I i^a bi6 t6e> i>K-iB*a puns m . . . Di"lb "I1DN ytJ'liT, when the second Temple was destroyed, many Jews abstained from meat and wine ; but R. Joshua argued with them, &c. Cf. the Baraitha Sotah 22 b, 31 a ; jer. Berakh. IX, 14 b. 54. 2 Sotah, in, 4 : pap WHO JTtani apa WN nsn now ytn.T "an niK^BI, R. Joshua said, A woman prefers to receive from her husband as her sustenance only one Kabh of corn, but licence (frequent marital intercourse), to nine Kabhs of corn and abstention (from intercourse), rivEP can here mean neither obscenity, nor frivolity, just as in the same Mishnah : Ben-'Azzai said, It is the duty of a man to teach his daughter Torah, so that, if she should have to drink the bitter waters of Num. 5, she should know that a merit of hers suspends their effect ; R. Eliezer said, If a man teaches his daughter Torah, it is as though he taught her flvSri. As the commentators explain, it means : he teaches her to think of sexual relations. R. Joshua continues in the Mishnah : nD1K> TDH D^iy ^ao "6x nn psrna rnaioi nan-is new any ytm, & foolish pious man, a subtle sinner, an abstaining woman, and the plagues (or stripes) of abstaining men (or Pharisees) are destroying the world, Geiger in 1X1K, II, 100 ; Bacher, Tannaiten, I, 158. 2, quotes a variant ntJ'N, a licentious, loose woman. In Yoma 74 b, in a passage quoted from the Passover- Haggadah : DX XT1 3TGT D'HtflOl <|C U' i yD fj^JI pK TIT ni^nD U pnONI W^y, it means forced separation from marital intercourse. Cf. Apoc. Ezra 7, 125 : qui abstinentiam habuerunt, and v. 122. 3 According to Gen. 7. 13 Noah and his sons, while in the ark, lived separate from their wives ; when God in 8. 16 permitted them to rejoin their wives, Noah in 8. 18 did not avail himself of the permission. R. Nehemiah, in the middle of the second century, remarks on this in JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 51 R. Joshua it is evident that JWia meant not total absten- tion from, but, as the contrast shows, merely a reduction of, such relations. On the other hand, Moses is in rabbinic sources stated to have completely given up marital intercourse with his wife, 1 in order to be ready Gen. r. 35. 1: ntjmpn 3H31 'llSn J? FfDin, Noah extended the original command, and continued observing holiness. He designated the abstention from marital intercourse as holiness, just as the order of God in Exod. 19. 10 to sanctify the people was understood by Moses in verse 15 to mean keeping away from the women. As in the passages on p. 43, 3 yi2if 'chaste ', was used for holy, so we read in a Baraitha Sliabb. 53 b of a man who married a woman with a mutilated limb, and never had marital intercourse with her. Rabbi praised the woman as nyiJV ' chaste ', but R. Hiyya remarked, 1OH tibw HT DIN V'US HGO N'^S* "p3 H^Tl It 'iDtJ'N^, that it was woman's nature, while the husband's chastity deserved praise. ' Chaste ' is hardly sufficiently strong for the context, as it should express very strong self-restraint. In Cant. r. 6. (5 an anonymous teacher says, Just as a ewe is chaste, so the Israelites in the war against Midian in Num. 31 were chaste and pure. R. Aha adds that they entered the houses of the Midianite women, blackened their faces, and took down their earrings in order to remove their attractive features, and not one of the Israelites was suspect of immorality. See Gitt. 57 a and p. 4G, note 6. 1 Baraitha Shabb. 87 a ; ARN. 2, 5 b top, 2 ARN. 2, 5 b, Moses did three things of his own accord, and God later approved of them : he added a day to the two prescribed by God in Exod. 19. 10, 15, he ceased his marital intercourse with his wife, and broke the tablets. As to his intercourse, he argued thus, God commanded Israel before the revelation of the Decalogue on Mount Sinai to keep away from their wives, though He spoke to them on one short occasion only, and fixed the time of it : to me God speaks at any time, and it is not fixed beforehand, how much more must I keep away from my wife. In ARN. R. Jehudah b. Bethera, between 90 and 135, dealt with the same question. In Sifre Num. 12. 1. 99, 27 a, and Sifre zuta Num. 12. 1, 81 ff. : And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses ; whence did Miriam know that Moses was abstaining from begetting children ? When she noticed that Sipporah was not adorning herself in the way of women, she asked her for the reason ; Sipporah replied, Thy brother cares not for it. R. Nathan said, Miriam was standing near Sipporah, when the young man came running to Moses and told him (Num. 11. 27) that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp ; Sipporah, hearing this, said, Woe to their wives ! Accordingly. all the seventy elders, at least for a time, had to abstain from marital intercourse, since God's spirit rested on them. It is interesting to find that already Philo, Vita Mosis, II, 68, M. II, 140, pointed out Moses' abstention as required for his readiness at all times to receive God's revelation. D 2 52 SOME TYPES OF at all times for receiving God's revelation, 1 to be pure and holy. 2 If we now apply the various meanings of JWna to the words of R. Pinhas, we find that only two of them point to ways of separation that lead up to holiness : from idolatry with its branches, and partial abstinence from marital intercourse ; and as the first cannot be connected with the 1 In Apoc. Ezra 6. 32, For the Mighty One has seen thy purity (rectitude), yea the holiness (pudicitiam) which hath been thine front thy youth. Dr. Box remarks. Chastity, like fasting, intensifies the power of prayer, and prepares the way for a revelation, cf. 1 Enoch 83. 2. This would agree with Philo and the rabbis concerning Moses' chastity. But Gunkel in Kautzsch, Pseudepigraphen, 366, in adopting Hilgenfeld's retranslation into Greek atnvoTijs. gives for pudicitia piety. As to the fasting, R. Akiba in Synh. 65 b ; Midr. Tannaim, 110, in his explanation of one who inquires of the dead, Deut. 18. 11, refers to a man who starves himself and spends the nights in a cemetery, so that the spirit of impurity may rest on him, and attains it ; how much more should a Jew who starves himself, so that the spirit of purity may rest on him, succeed in attaining it ; but what can we do, since our sins are preventing such success. The spirit of purity is the holy spirit of prophecy, as in Hillel's case. Fasting and abstinence from marital intercourse appear together as signs of repentance or mourning in Baraitha 'Erub. 18 b : R. Meir says, Adam was a great Hasid : when he learned that through him death was decreed as a punishment, he fasted for 130 years, separated from his wife for 130 years, and clothed himself in garments of fig leaves for 130 years. Cf. Pseudo-Philo in J.Q.R., X, 1898, 317, James, Biblical Antiquities of Philo, 100 : When Pharaoh ordered that all new-born boys of the Israelites be thrown into the river, the elders of Israel wished the people to resolve to deny themselves intercourse with their wives. The same in Sotah 12 a, and in the advice of R. Ishmael in the Hadrianic persecutions in Baraitha Baba b. 60 b ; Tos. Sotah, XV, 10. In the Elephantine Papyri, the Jews of Jeb mourned, fasted, and had no intercourse with their wives, when the priests of Jeb destroyed the Jewish Temple. R. Eleazar b. Pedath calls a man who is fasting holy, R. Simeon b. Lakish terms such pious, Ta'an. 11 a, b bottom ; but see Tosafoth s. v. ^>O13. See also Sifre Deut. 18. 12. 173. 2 Mekhil. R. Simeon on Exod. 19. 14, 98 : As the words of the Torah require purity and holiness, it says, He sanctified the people. See the whole page. Pure and holy are found together in Mekhil. 15. 2, 37 a, b, Mekhil. R. Simeon, 61: Israel said, I am a queen, a daughter of kings, beloved, a daughter of beloved men. DniHtD TO miriD D^KTIp J13 HtWp ; in Sifre Deut. 214 of the captive woman in Deut. 21. 14: If she is ill, he shall wait, until she recovers ; how much more so in the case of Jewesses who are holy and pure ; cf. Shabb. 105 a; Mekhil. 14. 15, 29 a. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 53 preceding cleanness, nor with the following purity, only the abstinence remains. In fact, it fits the context best, as established before : cleanliness from pollution by day leads to the moderation of intercourse, this to perfect purity from self-defilement by night, and this to freedom from all impure thought of a sexual nature. 1 Only it is difficult to see, if all the parts of the sentence so far considered refer to sexual life and thought, how marital moderation and chastity can lead up to humility. Before a definition of its meaning here can be attempted, attention must be drawn to the intimate connexion noticeable in rabbinic thought between the reverse of humility, haughti- ness, and immorality. Already Gen. 39. 7, ' And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife lifted up her eyes to Joseph, and she said, Lie with me/ contains the immoral lifting up of the eyes, which is identified in a statement of R. Jose the Galilean with the haughty eyes in Prov. 6. 17 : 'Seven things are stated about the adulteress : high looks, for the adulteress raises her eyes to another man, as it says in Isa. 3. 16, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, &c.' 2 But already Sirach 26. 9 has the same 1 We find, however, separation following after purity in Sotah IX, 15 : On the death of R. Gamaliel the glory of the Torah ceased, and purity and separation died. Briill, Introduction to the Nishnah I, 51, refers both expressions to levitical purity, while Levy, SI1W., IV, 144 a, translates them by purity and abstention from evil. In Sifre zuta Num. G. 8. 38 : All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord, "]~l"l 1fJ' "ODO E>np K~lp3 mntJI niSJ^IS, because he abstained (from wine and strong drink) and observed levitical purity, the Nazirite is called holy. But this order merely follows that of Num. 6. A peculiar meaning of purity may be quoted in support of the above interpretation. R. Samuel b. Nahman, in the name of R. Jonathan, in Menah. 110 a, interprets the pure offering in Mai. 1. 11 to refer to him who studies the Torah in purity, by marrying first and then turning to study; in Yalkut, Mai. 1. 11 R. Nehemiah, in Yoma 72 b, bottom on Ps. 9. 10 R. Haninah Is the author. Of. Kidd. 29 b. bottom ; Tos. Bekhor. 6. 10. A married man is not diverted by impure thoughts, has no pollution, and is clean and pure for the Torah. 2 Tanh. SB>3 1 ; B. 3 ; Num. r. 9. 11. In Midr. Samuel on ISam. !). 13, 54 SOME TYPES OF thought : ' The whoredom of a woman is the lifting up of her eyes, and it shall be known by her eyelids.' l Similarly of men the Testaments of the twelve Patriarchs, Issachar 7. 2 say, ' Except my wife I have not known any woman ; I never committed fornication by the uplifting of my eyes.' And Didache' 3. 3 has, ' Raise not thine eyes high, for from all that arises adultery.' 2 Rabbi saw in Acco a man whose father he had known to be a priest, walk on ground con- taining human corpses ; when he asked the man why he acted against the law of priestly levitical purity, he replied, My father raised his eyes high, and married a divorced woman, and thereby disqualified me from the priesthood. 3 R. Johanan said. A man in whom there is haughtiness ultimately stumbles over a married woman. 4 And a woman said to her immoral husband, What was the cause of your action 1 ? that you are haughty. 5 Conversely, a man who never lifts up his eyes to another woman, never looks even at an unmarried girl, but keeps his looks down to restrain in him all desire for women, will be termed humble ; there- fore the absence of such lust and of sexual thought, which is holiness, will lead to that feature of humility. When such 43 b, R. Jehudah says that the girls who met Saul looked at his beauty without becoming satiated ; to this R. Jose remarks. 71132 H^IV i"iriNt33 p i?N1{^, which reads in Yalkut : 013173 ^Nl^" 1 H132 nrVK>y p DK, you describe girls of Israel as having been immoral. 1 Cf. Menander's sentences in ZATW. 32, 1912, 213, 43: Walk with a stretched forth neck in straightforwardness, and be chaste in thy thought, and consider and see that, as thou wouldest not like thy wife to commit adultery with someone else, also thou shouldst not desire to commit adultery with the wife of another man. In Psalms of Solomon 4. 4 : His eyes are upon every woman without distinction (Syriac : im- modestly) ; with his eyes he talketh to every woman of evil compact. In Gen. r. 41. 7 on Gen. 13. 10, And Lot lifted up his eyes, R. Jose b. Haninah said, The whole verse deals with immorality, as Gen. 39. 7 and other parallels show. 2 R. Simeon b. Yohai in Pesik. r. Ill, 10 a explains Lot's lifting up of his eyes as immorality, Gen. 13. 10 ; Bacher, Tannaiten II, 116. 1. 3 Jer. Shebi'ith VI, 36 c. 20 Rabbi, in Synh. 5 b R. Hiyya ; seeTosafoth s. v. -ai. * Sotah 4b. 5 Num. r. 9. 3. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 55 desires have been entirely eliminated from the mind of the pious man who is consistentl}- striving after perfection, he is able to turn his attention undivided to God's will and to all the duties expressing the fear of sin. the submission of man to God's commands, and he will endeavour to fulfil them in humility. This will bring him to the practice of unselfish love to his fellow-man, to piety. 1 Piety leads to the possession of the holy spirit which means the gift of prophecy.- Hillel was declared worthy of it ; and though it is not expressly stated by what he merited it, the praise of Ids humility and piety in the same account strongly suggests those traits of his character as the qualifications for it. In the continuation of the 1 In Synli. 19 b ff. humility means moral self-restraint : pnV "Q"! p n^a bw iniamay ryia be? ispin ryu b inumay spv by ^pin x nai>a by n^y ni ^n ipy niaa nia-i irnm \ss pnv ai ic k s . . . z*b jpfy p ^D m naba by n*by nxi ,ryiai fpv nr ^n rc>y maa nun bani fnn ">PB> a^nai ^ND fnav t? p 'ts HT nnn N\n x n nN 4 i" ^yia nr 'svn ?ani /pv nr fnn The self-control of Joseph in Gen. 89. 8-12 is described as S]pin. moral strength ; that of Boaz in Ruth 3. 13, and of Palti b. Laish in 1 Sam. 25. 44 ; 2 Sam. 3. 15, who never touched his wife, is termed mjniljy ' humility' ; the latter evidently means even greater self-control, the total absence ot all carnal desires and of lust. In Lev. r. 23. 11 and Euth r. '}. 13, VI. 4 R. Jose says that the same three men whom passion tried to overpower restrained themselves by an oath. It is of special interest that E. Meir in Aboth VI, 1 attributes to the study of the Torah for its own sake the following effects on the character : he is called friend, beloved, lover of God, lover of men ; it clothes him in meekness and fear (of God), it fits him to become just, pious, upright, and faithful, it keeps him far from sin, and brings him near to virtue, ... he becomes chaste, long-suffering, and forgiving of insults. 2 Tos. Sotah 13. 2 ; jer. IX, 24 b. 23 ; b. 48 b : Since the death of the last prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. the holy spirit ceased in Israel ; also in several other passages, like Tos. Sotah 12.5. In Mekhil. 12. l,2btop, Simeon b. 'Azzai puts into the mouth of Baruch. Jeremiah's disciple, tin- complaint, Why should I be different from other disciples of the prophets? Joshua served Moses, and the holy spirit rested on him ; Elisba served Elijah, and the holy spirit rested on him. The parallel Baraitha about Hillel in Sotah 48 b has : He is worthy of God's presence, iljOC'. to rest on him ; this also means the gift of prophecy. 56 SOME TYPES OF report, Samuel the Small was. among the scholars assembled in an upper room in Jamnia, designated by a heavenly voice as the only one worthy of the holy spirit. He was called the Small, because he made himself small (was humble) ; according to others, because he was a little smaller (more humble) than Samuel of Ramah. On his death they bewailed him thus : Woe for the humble, the pious, a disciple of Hillel the old. While dying, he said in Aramaic, ' Simeon and Ishmael for destruction, and the rest of the people for plunder, and great distress will come'; but they understood not what he meant. Humility was his outstanding quality, as it became evident on a certain occasion. Once R. Gamaliel II 1 invited seven elders to the upper chamber to deliberate upon, and to resolve, the inter- calation of a thirteenth month into the year. When he found eight scholars present, and inquired as to who had come unauthorized, Samuel the Small rose and said, I have come in order to obtain information about a difficulty of law. R. Gamaliel then said to him, ' O Eldad and Medad, if I had invited only two, all Israel knows it, you would have been one of them.' 2 Eldad and Medad considered 1 Several texts have R. Simeon h. Gamaliel ;see Rabbinovicz) ; and Dr. Ginzberg in R. E. J., 66, 1913, 300. 3 assumes that Samuel was a member of the Beth-din under Simeon b. Gamaliel I in the days of the Temple. See also Halevy, D'OI^'Nin r\T\Tl, Ie, 100 a ff. 2 Baraitha jer. Synh. I, 18 c. 11 ; b. 11 a top; in Semah. VIII, Tlbx .pjnV btTW h3& ITDI. In b. : Sit down, my son, sit down, you are worthy to intercalate in any year ; and it is added in an Aramaic state- ment that the scholar who had come in unauthorized was not Samuel, and that he rose only to avert shame from the intruder. When Samuel died, Semah. VIII reports, his key and his writing-tablet were hung on his coffin, because he had no son. R. Gamaliel and R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah bewailed him publicly and said, For this man it is proper to weep, for this it is proper to mourn : kings die and leave their crowns to their sons, wealthy men die and leave their riches to their sons, Samuel the Small has taken all the treasures of the world and is gone. As he was invited to the deliberations on the intercalation, he must have been a great scholar, and the praises mentioned may have referred to his learning as well as to his humility. In jer. Sotah IX, 24 c. 37 ; Bacher, Tannaiten, I, 83. 4, R. Joshua b. Levi quotes the whole Baraitha about JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 57 themselves unworthy of the prophetical spirit, and were for their modesty in making themselves small distinguished over all the other elders by the gift of life-long prophecy. 1 It is to be noted that some of Hi] lei's disciples were declared worthy of the holy spirit. Of his eighty scholars thirty were worthy that God's glory should rest on them as on our teacher Moses, (only their generation was not worthy of it), thirty were worthy that the sun should stop for them as it stopped for Joshua (or of intercalating a month in a year), and twenty were men of average capacity ; the eldest of all was Jonathan b. 'Uzziel, the youngest Johanan Hillel and Samuel differently: NH2 IT a JV D^pT 1DJ33B> M>m Bnpn m-6 p'lfo D"JB> oa^a w }nb mew bip na ns 1 ^ irrva mau rv6y^ o-jpr iDJaj aitri .jDpn ^Niesa jn-ry i;n:t JHD nnx fprn jtopn b^ioE'i Bnpn nn^ piisi D^K> na^a ty ?r6 mcs*i ^ip na nxvi jnyn n^aon^ prior? vm oupiin p -iry^N s aia firry urm fno nnx DlpOil nynP. It is hardly doubtful that Samuel the Small as a con- temporary of Hillel is a mistake for another Samuel or perhaps another unknown colleague of Hillel ; see Briill, JuJtrlUcJier, I, ']<>, note 73. The inclusion of R. Eliezer b. Hyrkanos next to Samuel as worthy of the holy spirit is very instructive, as his teacher R. Johanan b. Zakkai also declared him the most distinguished of his disciples, Aboth II. 8. though we know nothing of his humility and piety. The suggestions of G. Klein, Der dlteste christl. Katechismus, 111 ff., 113 ff. appear to have no foundation whatever. As to Samuel's supposed Essen ism, the only point in favour of it seems to be his prophecy, which arose from the political unrest_iii Judaea in the year 117 ; but R. Eliezer also prophesied on his death-bed a violen end to R. Akiba and his fellow-scholarst, Baraitha Synli. G8 a. Of the characteristic traits of the Essenes enumerated by Josephus none are mentioned in the life of Samuel. 1 Sifre Num. 95 ; Baraitha Synh. 17 a R. Simeon. Mekhil. 20. 21, 72 a says of Moses that his humility brought him the distinction of being permitted to draw near to the thick cloud where God was. as it says in Num. 12. 3, The man Moses was very humble. This verse tells us that he who is humble will ultimately cause God's glory to rest with men 011 earth, as it says in Is. 57. 15, For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy . . . with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, &c. And it says in Is. 61. 1, The spirit of the Lord is upon me ... to bring good tidings to the humble ; and it says in Is. 66. 2, For all those things hath mine hands made, &c. . . . but on this man will I look, even on him. that is humble and of a contrite spirit, &c. And it says in Ps. 51. 19, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. 5 8 SOME TYPES OF b. Zakkai. 1 The numbers may be exaggerated ; but the connexion between the learning of the disciples and their characters on the one hand, and their worthiness of the prophetical gift and their ability to work miracles on the other, is evident. Now. accidentally, we learn some inter- esting details about their character. ' The Shammaites said, One should not teach but a wise, humble, and wealthy man, descended from a good family ; the Hillelites said, One should teach everybody, for there were many trans- gressors in Israel who were brought near to the study of the Torah, and there proceeded from (among) them righteous, pious, and perfect men.' 2 The object of the study of the Torah was according to the Hillelites to make the scholar righteous, pious, and perfect ; in the opinion of the Sham- maites that goal could only be reached by such as had brought with them, when joining the school, good breeding, wisdom, and humility as the foundation on which to build. a The Hillelites relied on the cultivating influence and the force of the study of the Torah ; and its effect combined with the influence of the spirit of Hillel was indeed 1 Baraitha Sukkah 28 a ; 2 ARN. 28, 29 a: Vn DH^f! D'3TOU> pan 13H "i>y mt8>nB> D"isn one D^E> fprn bbnb h ,pa p jjBnrva non nni> IIDJJHB' D"iNn JPID p priV pn fi?iaaB> }f2p i?NTiy p flW;ARN. 14, 28 a different: rwat? nnt?nsj> p^xn jno D 11 ^^ jprn \hrb rn nn^io^n mv nayi? p^tn jno D*^ ^ *IN-I pn pst? x^s ira 2 ARN. 3, 7 b ff. : n:^ )x onow 'MOB' n^ty /nmn D'TDn b onoi ij!?n n^i n^yi max pi nsn nan Nine> "D^> N! one "INJPI mm ni^n^ uipn^i ^Nn^a onn vn D^ytria m-ins? n Dn31 DH^DH D^pnV; cf. 2 ARN. 12. 15 b : ^ni3N 1^ IDT N^ N3>, jer. Her. IV, 7 d. 9. 8 In Agadath Shir Hashir. 8. 9, Schechter, an otherwise unknown scholar, Abba Eleazar b. Gigi of Barak emphasizes the necessity of learning and humility in the scholar. -Gin 7\"ch 1E1N p12 S^N T: p iTy^N N3K y^a B^K ITS muy pNi Dan J^B ^N vby onoiK vn^ nn^ non nvuyi noan ib jnw Tin ainan 1^ IDN n'a noan pNi vay. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 59 evident: for the Hillelites were kind and humble, 1 thus making up for the initial absence of the qualities demanded of the disciples on their admission by the Shammaites. Some of the exceptionally gifted in humility and piety qualified under Hillel for attaining to the holy spirit. - 8. Here attention must be drawn to a statement of Dr. Kohler's about the qualifications required of one to be initiated into various mysteries. In the introduction to his paragraph on the 'chaste' whom, without a shadow of evidence, he identifies with the Essenes. he writes : :1 - Upon the observance of the highest state of purity and holiness depended also the granting of the privilege, accorded only to the elite of the priesthood, of being initiated into the mysteries of the Holy Name and other secret lore. The Name of twelve letters was, after the Hellenistic apostasy, entrusted only to the Zenu'im, the chaste ones among the priesthood. The Name of forty-two letters was entrusted only to the Zaiiu'a and 'Anaw, the chaste and the humble, after they had passed the zenith of life and had given assurance of preserving the Name in perfect purity, Kidd. 71 a, Eccl. rabb. III. 11 ; Yer. Yoma 40 d, 41 a '. To my great regret, I have not succeeded in finding in the passages indicated the evidence for tlue many striking assertions. The Baraitha 4 reports: 'At first the}* handed down the name of twelve letters to everybody ; since, however, the impudent became numerous, they handed it down to the modest among the priests, and even the modest among the priests let it be drowned in the chant of their brethren, the priests.' Here the priesthood of the Temple of a certain date is, from a certain point of view, religious or moral, divided into three groups : insolent, modest, and 1 'Erub. 13 b : VH fQl^JJl pHUt? "JED. 2 In Nedar. 38 a, R. Johanan says, God does not rest His glory but on a physically strong, wealthy, wise, and humble man, as is evident in Un- case of Moses. His requirements of a prophet are nearly identical with those laid down by the Shammaites for a disciple of their school. 3 Jew. EncycL, V, 225 b ff. 4 Kidd. 71 a. 6o SOME TYPES OF non-descript ; but there is in yi:v no trace of purity and holiness, no elite of the priesthood, no initiation into the mysteries of the holy name, no secret lore, and no Hellen- istic apostasy. yiJtf denotes a positive quality, probably nothing else but discretion or modesty, 1 and was chosen in contradistinction to pis. Other similar statements about priests and others, where none of the qualifications suggested by Dr. Kohler could possibly fit. bear it out. When at the distribution of the loaves of the'Omer, the bread-offering of the Pentecost, and of the shewbread, only as much as the size of a bean was given to each priest, the modest withdrew their hands, but the greedy took and ate it ; once a priest took his and his fellow's portions, and he was called for that a grabber.' 2 Here ym* is opposed to pn:. R. Johanan b. Nuri relates that he once met an old man, a descendant of the beth-Abtinas, at one time the makers of the incense in the Temple, who told him, In the past when my father's family were discreet, they handed down the scroll (of the prescription for the incense) one to the other ; but now that they are no longer trusted, take the scroll and keep it carefully. 3 Similar is its meaning where used of non- priests. ' The Shammaites say, One should sell olives only to one who observes levitical purity, the Hillelites permit to sell also to one who observes only the law of tithing; the discreet among the Hillelites acted according to the Shammaites. 4 Dealers in garments made of mingled materials may sell their goods by carrying them on them- selves in the usual way ; but the discreet carry them on the end of a staff behind them. Sewers of garments of mingled materials may sew them on their laps in the usual way ; but the discreet sew them on the ground. 5 In order to prevent the poor who receive produce on the threshing- 1 The passage in jer. has instead of D^X the word 2 Baraitha Yoma, 39 a ff. ; jer. VI, 43 c. 65 ; Tos. Sotah, XIII, 7, 8. 8 Baraitha jer. Yoma III, 41 a. 73 ; Tos. II, 7 ; but b. 38 a bottom has ^p. 4 Damm. VI, 6. 5 Kil. IX, 5, 6. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN* PIETY 6 1 floor from eating it untithed, discreet farmers give them money and food '- 1 In connexion with the redemption of the fruit of a vineyard in the fourth year, the discreet owners put the money down and said, All that will be gathered from here, shall be redeemed by this money.- In all these cases the word y\ya denotes such as were more careful in carrying out a religious duty ; and even Dr. Kohler remarks that it is not always clear whether the same denotes the Essenes or simply the modest ones as a class. In fact, however, there is no trace of Essenism ; and only in one case could any doubt arise. Simeon, the chaste, told R. Eliezer that he had entered the space between the altar and the porch of the Sanctuary without having previously washed his hands and his feet. :i As there is no comparison intended between him and other priests, nor between his past and his present conduct, the word describes a special quality of his, either his chastity or his continence in conjugal life. As this conversation took place several years after the destruction of the Temple, Simeon may have lived, as a sign of mourning, a life of abstention, as the D^ns are reported to have, on the same ground, abstained from meat and wine. 4 But J/13V does not describe him as an Essene. 5 9. The individual terms used by R. Pinhas b. Yair in their technical meanings were, as was shown, familiar already to earlier rabbis : Ton and Vjy to Hillel and his contemporaries, NDn X*V to Hillel and R. Johanan b. Zakkai, 1 Tos. Pe'ah, II, 18. - Ma'as. sheni, V, 1. 3 Tos. Kelim 1. I. 6. 4 Baraitha Bab. bath. 60 b ; Tos. Sotah, XV, 11. 5 Dr. Kohler., J.E., V, 226 a bottom, says : ' R. Simeon the Zanua', who, while disregarding the Temple practice, shows a certain contempt for the high priest, appears on all accounts to have been an Essene priest.' As we have no information about that practice in the Temple, and R. Eliezer only represents the stricter view in a dispute (as also his disciple R. Jehudah who is quoted as R .Meir's opponent as D^MPI), it is not correct to say that Simeon disregarded the practice. How does his silence, which certainly was the most dignified answer to R. Eliezer's vehemence, show contempt for the high priest ? 62 SOME TYPES OF to R. Joshua b. Hananiah, nvmsi mnt: to R. Gama- liel II's contemporaries, and rump in its special signification to R. Joshua b. Hananiah, and more definitely to R. Nehe- miah ; and continence, and abstention from conjugal relations as preparatory steps for the prophetical calling of Moses were known to Philo and to rabbis before 135. Also care and restraint towards women in general, and particular strictness in meeting, and speaking to, married women had found expression in many an emphatic warning. Again, the possession of the holy spirit as the highest goal of good and pious men was known, at least, from the days of Hillel who was declared worthy of it as of a recognition by God of his high virtues. In the absence of earlier parallels, it appears that the originality of R. Pinhas lay in the systematic gradation of the various moral qualities to lead up the pious, by a natural progress in self-education, to the highest perfection, the possession of the holy spirit. On the other hand, as in Hillel's case piety and humility were known to be the qualifications for it, it is not im- probable that already at the beginning of the first century the individual rungs of the ladder leading up to the holy spirit were named and described. As to the first stages, a sentence of R. Akiba, though differently expressed, seems to offer a parallel : ' Jesting and levity lead a man on to lewdness ; the Masorah is a fence to the Torah, tithes are a fence to riches, vows are a fence to abstinence, a fence to wisdom is silence.' ' The fence to the Torah and to wisdom indicate that R. Akiba was speaking to scholars. If by the fence to the Torah he meant the same as the men of the Great Assembly, 2 the fence in his opinion would seem to have been constituted either by the oral tradition, or by the detailed rules about the words and the letters of the 1 Aboth, III, 13 : DINi! DK f^ilE B>N1 rv6p1 pinB> 1D1N NTpy Ul n2r6; Bacher, I, 268, 1. 2 Aboth, I, 1. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN 1'IETY 63 Torah, which were essential for his consistent demonstra- tion of an even remote biblical basis of all Halakhahs. 1 If fence meant protection also in the next sentence, tithing, while reducing the produce, actually protected wealth, as the sayings of teachers of the third century, adduced by the commentators, pointed out. Similarly, silence, as in Prov. 10. 19; 17. 28, was a protection of wisdom. But how vows protected abstinence, and to what the latter referred, is not clear. Maimonides refers it to the separation from levitical impurity, according to the technical meaning of i^HD . 2 But to my knowledge no vow of that tendency is reported in rabbinic literature, except in the case of the Nazirite, and among the requirements of a Halter, as formulated by his disciple, R. Jehudah b. Ilai, who. in partly repeating R. Akiba's sentence, included in his list abstention from the gravest levitical defilement by a corpse and from frequent vows. 3 If it means voluntary abstinence from things other- wise permitted, as meat, wine, and other similar articles of food, as in the case of those who abstained on account of the destruction of the second Temple (above, p. 50), a vow to the same effect would have lent it religious and moral sanction. The reason for such a self-imposition may, however, have been different. In a discussion as to whether articles of food might be exported from Palestine, R. Jehudah b. Bethera permitted the export of wine, because thereby levity, ni^BD, was reduced." 1 This may, in the first instance, as above (50, note 2), refer to immorality, as the impressive confession in the Testament of Judah, 14-16, forcibly shows; and wine also promoted pollution. 5 Abstinence from wine was not a rare occurrence, as the remarks of R. Simeon b. Yohai 6 and of R. Eleazar haKappar about its sinfulness suggest. 7 It is, however, difficult to assume that R. Akiba 1 Bacher, Terminologie, I, 108. 2 Hagig. II, 7. 3 Damm. II, 3. * Baraitha Baba bath. 90 b; Tos. 'Ab. /.. IV, 2. 5 Yoma, 18 a bottom ; jer. I, 39 a. 46. 6 Baraitha Kedar. 10 a ; Tos. I, 1 ; jer. I, 3tUl. 48. 7 Sifre Num. 6. 11. 30 ; Baraitha Nazir 19 a. 64 SOME TYPES OF should have approved of such abstention, and thereby have encouraged vows. 1 If, according to another meaning of niB^IS, R. Akiba referred to a separation from every kind of immorality, 2 an iteresting parallel would account for the vow. R. Jose' says. ' Three men in the Bible kept down their passion by an oath, when it threatened to overpower them : Joseph, Gen. 39. 9, David, 1 Sam. 26. 10, and Boaz, Ruth 3. 13.' ?J Here, instead of a vow, a solemn oath by God was uttered to counteract quickly and strongly the moment's rushing temptation ; whereas a vow by its exten- sion over a longer period supported and sustained the self-imposed separation from immorality. In the same way the vow extending over at least a month served the purpose of an oath in the instance of a Nazirite, in the days of the high-priest Simeon the Just, to check in the young man the sudden attack of vanity at the beauty of his hair, and to force him, after a short time, to cut his locks. 4 On the other hand, in the parallel version of R. Akiba's sentence, 5 levitical purity appears to lead up to sacrificial meals which required a higher degree of such 1 In ARN. 26, 41 b, in a sentence introduced by "1D1N .TH Kin, R. Akiba warns against too frequent vows, as they may load to trespassing against oaths ; in 2 ARN. 33, 36 b top, it is inverted. InDerekh eres I end, Abba Hilfai, in the name of his father Abba Hagra, is the author of the same warning ; in Nedar. 20 a it is an anonymous Baraitha. In 2 ARN. 35, 43 a R. Akiba commends the annulment of the vows (of the wife), DH13 niEH, as the reading is also in Baraitha Yebam. 109 a by bar- Kappara, and in Gen. r. 93. 1 by R. Haninah ; in the anonymous Baraitha jer. Yebam. XIII. 13 c. 39 Dm3 lim. dissolution of vows by scholars. 2 See R. Isaac b. Reuben in Joseph ibn 'Akniri's "1D1DH "IDD, 97 : Men who impose upon themselves the vow never to do anything immoral, rrny -m. 3 Lev. r. 23. 11 ; Ruth r. 3. 13, VI end ; in Sifre Deut. 33 on 6. 6 R. Josia quotes Abraham's and Elisha's refusal to accept any gift, Gen. 14. 22 ; 2 Reg. 5. 16, Boaz's opportunity of immoral intercourse with Ruth, and David's opportunity to kill Saul ; Bacher, II, 360, 6. 4 Baraitha Nedar. 9 b ; Tos. Nazir, IV, 7 ; jer. I, 51 c. 40; Sifre Num. 22. B 2 ARN. 33, 36 a: K^ THsb 3"D npTl^ HMn!? 3D D mno JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 65 purity ; l and this would support Maimonides' reference of R. Akiba's words to levitical abstinence. But, apart from the difficulties against it mentioned before, R. Akiba evidently intended to give in all parts of his sentence advice for practical life, whereas in his days there were no sacrifices. In the wording of another parallel" is found, instead of sacrificial meals, the more correct and fitting holiness next to purity, the latter leading up to, and pro- tecting, holiness. On the other hand, a new point here is the fear of sin as a protection of humility both of which are moral qualities, and would demand next to them moral and not levitical purity. But it has been suggested that the last two moral qualities were added later from R. Pinhas b. Y air's list of graduated virtues : and the mere O fact that they were placed at the end of the sentence strongly fa.vours that suggestion, though it is not at all clear why only two parts and not more should have been selected for addition to R. Akiba's sentence. Evidently the version in the Babylonian Talmud which alone contains the part about abstinence in the list supplied it as a continuation to R. Akiba's words on abstinence. R. Akiba's sentence in its earliest form included as its first point the statement that jesting and levity lead man on to sin ; and it is only natural to expect some connexion between the warning against the two failings and the com- mendation of the qualities following. pin % ^ refers in the cases of men in the first instance to jesting with women which gradually leads to immorality. As many of R. Akiba's disciples were young men between twenty and thirty, and others, like Haninah b. Hakhinai and Simeon b. Yohai, had left their wives at home and stayed in the school for several years in succession, 3 the teacher had to impress upon them as scholars the great duty of being most careful 1 Hagig. II, 1. 2 ARN. 26, 41 b: nCOr6 VD pIPI^ N^' TGui) )"D lElS N'ZPpJ? TH wan nan 11 niaj;^ aD rnno nB>npb a^o nitons omai? VD npT)B>. 3 Kethub. 62 b ; Lev. r. 21. 8 ; Bacher, Tannaiten, II, 71. 1. E 66 SOME TYPES OF in their association with women. While Abba Hilfai, in the name of his father Abba Hagra, in his unmeasured pessimism about the levity of women, 1 warned everybody not to speak too much with them, for all the talk of a woman was only immorality, 2 R. Akiba demanded only restraint in con- versation and association, pin:;' denotes immoral advances already in Gen. 39.14, 17. And in the rabbinic sources it is stated that when the high court in Jerusalem addressed the woman suspected of adultery, the judge said, 'My daughter, wine does much, pint? does much, youth does much, bad neighbours do much'.' 5 R. Akiba himself, in interpreting Gen. 21. 9, ' And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking', said that where pro occurs, as in Gen. 39. 14, 17, it means immorality. 4 Levity has the same meaning ; w T hen, at the joyous Feast of Water-drawing held on the Temple Mount, men and women took part in the entertainments together, the authorities found that they had come to levity, and made the necessary arrangements for their separation. 5 And so R. Akiba's educational principles for his disciples were that these should first refrain from jesting and levity, then 1 Cf. pinBO rmiD inTanh. KB>3 2 ; B. 4. 2 Derekh eres I end ; in Baraitha Nedar. 20 a anonymous. Dr. Kohler who sees in the title Abba a characteristic of the Essene would find in this opinion which agrees with that of Josephus, Wars, II, 8. 2. 12] about the Essenes (see also Hippolytus), a confirmation of his view. 3 Sotah, I, 4, MGWJ. 47,1903, 339. 1. 4 Gen, r. 53. 11 ; in Tos. Sotah, VI, 6 R. Eliezer, the son of R. Jose the Galilean, is the author : "IDX PINT HE "J^Tl mnjJ 'l^tt &6 pHXD fK my WOK nnw iiob /a prrcb 12 b nwn itrs "nayn nayn 'bx NS nnis ruyiDi D'BON ^3 in nua B^ZDD btfywb ims nsn , Bacher, i, 243, 3. In a simile in Deut. r. 3. 17, R. Johanan b. Zakkai says, A king married a woman ; when he once noticed that she jested with one of his slaves, he became angry and divorced her. 5 Tos. Sukk. IV, 1 ; b. 51 b. In Derekh eres zuta III, K>N-| Dlbp H^HH I'lN'ob fins OnW3; in 2 ARN. 33, 36 a ff., in R. Akiba's sentence: ^K mray H^ X13n vh& \y\n& H^ Sinn, come not to jesting, that you may not come to immorality. R. Jehudah, Ids disciple, requires the Haber not to vow too much and not to jest too much. Damm. II, 3. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 67 strive to abstain also from things permitteP it unjnij Dipon ui> yna niirap rnxo -IDIK Kin nn sbtf wb IT nixro nsa si? oipcn ^sb aman i? yap 7 ui mtw icy nn^pi -ji^'p nxpn. in sifm Lev. 5. 17, 27 a; Sifr<5 Deut. 283, 124 b, R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah, in commenting on Deut. 24, 19, expresses the same thought, and applies it to one who accidentally drops a coin which a poor man finds and uses for his maintenance ; God assigns a blessing to him as to one who forgot a sheaf in his field. 70 SOME TYPES OF wealthy landowner who could afford to otter as an occasional, voluntary sacrifice two bulls at a time, repre- senting in those days a considerable sum of money, is in many respects an interesting Jew. He knew the passage of the Pentateuch that applied to the particular incident before him, and, in addition to the detail of the blessing promised which he might have looked up first, he knew even the special characteristic of the precept ; but no scholar- ship is manifested in his remarks. His genuine joy at his unintended fulfilment of the law in question should specially be noted : though, at the same time, his mind, after the performance of the dut}~, fixed itself on God's blessing promised as a reward. It presupposes not only his con- viction that the words of the Torah are those of God, but he had the fullest trust in His promise, though its realization might be far off. The joy of this farmer is an instructive instance of the pleasure that rose in the heart of the Jew in carrying out or after the fulfilment of an injunction of the law, in this case even one that implied a loss. The son had noticed in his father similar joy on previous occasions in connexion with the performance of other religious obliga- tions ; but no thanks-offerings had then marked the intensity of his satisfaction. The sacrifices which he now offered were prescribed neither in the Pentateuch nor by the rabbis, but were the spontaneous expression of his plea- sure, and of his gratitude to God for having granted him the opportunity to carry out a commandment and to merit His blessing. He was not contented with merely offering up a prayer of thanksgiving in his own words or with reciting an appropriate psalm, but felt moved to express his senti- ments by readily giving up to God a part of his wealth. Whether he represented a type of pious Jews in Jerusalem or not ; this incident of the first century constitutes a most instructive instance of the spontaneous Jewish religious feeling, of an occasion of its manifestation, and of the form of its visible expression. A more thorough analysis of it may perhaps throw more light on the religious thought of its time. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 71 The description of the fanner as TDn in the account does not, as far as we know, represent him as the member of any organization brought and held together by a definite form of piety; but the term is intended, as it seems, to charac- terize his personal action in this one instance. It was not, however, his accidental observance of the one command- ment which was, no doubt, readily obeyed by many other farmers, that merited for him the distinctive attribute, but his exceptional and conscious attitude to God, and his active and vigorous expression of it. But who called him a Hasid for that ? If it were certain that a contemporary who learned of the incident before 70 applied the adjective to him, as Hillel's contemporaries described the great teacher as Hasid, it would have denoted a man distinguished by certain virtues and by definite moral and religious deeds. But what these were it is difficult to establish. The author of the statement about R. Yeshebabh. one of the several scholars who died as martyrs in the Hadrianic religious persecutions, described him as one of the last of the pious men, 1 and was consequently conscious that that type of man had become rare before 135 ; and we found that before 117 Samuel the Small, an older contemporary of R. Yeshebabh, was described as humble and pious, as also Simeon b. 'Azzai. 2 And in those persecutions, R. Jose b. Kisnia said to R. Haninah b. Theradyon, ' Knowest thou not that God made this nation (the Romans) to rule, though it destroyed His House, burnt His Temple, killed His pious men, destroyed His good men, and it still exists ? ' :; Here the most precious, and in R. Jose"s opinion the most prominent men of Judaea's 1 Midr. Cant. ed. Griinhut 7a: Q'TDm mX'J'E 2W "21 'T'J'yn. 2 Berakh.57b; ARN. 40. 64b;inHagig. 14 b ; jer. II. 77 b. 11; To*. II. 8 ; Cant. r. 1. 4 : nDICn 'n ^jn -p' 1E1N Uirpn v!?j; DEI f'Xn "NTS? \2 VTDn?, when he died, Ps. 11C. 15 was applied to him: The death of His saints is precious in the sight of the Lord. 3 'Ab. zar. is a : rannnt? iTG^on own ?E IT njoiNty snv nnN \s N"n p'nsn vaio nx rmw VTDH n nnm iba'n ns neTj'i in^a nx 72 SOME TYPES OF population before 70 are divided into God's pious and His best men, meaning probably the religious and the political leaders. 1 While it is almost certain from R. Jose's words that he did not refer to the Essenes. nor to any special group of pious men, it is hardly doubtful that the few rabbis singled out as Hasids represented a definite type of piety with distinctive virtues. Of R. Yeshebabh an extra- ordinary trait of character is reported : he distributed all his possessions among the poor, against the rule of the rabbis quoted to him by R. Gamaliel II that only a fifth part of one's property should be given to charity. 2 Though we find that King Monobazos of Adiabene, in a year of drought, distributed his and his father's treasures among the poor, 3 the act of R. Yeshebabh was one of remarkable self-sacrifice, and may well account for the title of Hasid given to him ; though it is possible that his peculiar piety lay in a different direction. Nothing similar is recorded of Samuel the Small, Simeon b. 'Azzai. or R. Jehudah b. Baba. Of Simeon, on the other hand, the unusual fact is related that he remained unmarried, and that he excused it by his attachment to the study of the Torah. 4 Had he been known, however, as an Essene, his single state would not have struck R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah as strange. Of R. Jehudah b. Baba a late source reports that from his eighteenth to his eightieth year he never slept longer than a horse, which would describe him as an ascetic. 5 But not all these qualities were to be found combined in every one of the 1 Apoc. Baruch 66. 2 says of King Josiah : ' He raised the horn of the holy, and exalted the righteous and glorified all that were wise in under- standing.' The author applied the categories of his own time to those early days. 2 jer. Pe'ah, I, 15 b. 39; Baraitha Kethub. 50 a. 3 Baraitha Baba b. 11 a ; Tos. Pe'ah, IV. 18 ; jer. 1, 15b. 63 ; Pesikt. rab. 25, 126 b. 4 Tos. Yebam., VIII end ; b. 63 b ; Gen. r. 3414. Cf. Rabh's statement in Berakh. 43 b (the correct wording in Eabbinovicz and Nahmani on Exod. 24. 5) about young men who, in the messianic times, would not taste of sin, that is, would never toucli any woman. 6 maw n^K cnno. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 73 pious men ; as the Hasid whose thanks-offering; and joy at the fulfilment of a commandment were described, kept his possessions, was married and had a son, and also Samuel the Small of whom it is stated that he had no children 1 must have been married. The gratitude to God of the farmer of Jerusalem rested on his humility and general piety ; and this was totally different from the deeds of piety of all the men just enumerated, and in no way supports the assumption that Ton represented members of the Essenic or any other order. 2. As his personality is unknown, any generalization of his case would be hazardous. But the sacrifice of another pious man is expressly stated to have been characteristic of his fellow-Hasids. R. Eliezer says, ' One may every day and at any time, whenever one likes, bring voluntarily a trespass offering brought for a doubtful sin : it was called the guilt-offering of the pious men. It is said of Baba b. Buta that he voluntarily brought every day a guilt-offering for a doubtful sin, except on the day after the Day of Atonement, and that he said, By this Temple, I should bring one, if they allowed me to do so ; but they tell me to wait till I have come to a doubt.' * R. Elie/er knew many details of the sacrificial laws, not only from the traditions taught in the schools, but probably from the priests of the Temple and from scholars ; for he had lived for some years before 70 in Jerusalem as a disciple of R. Johanan b. Zakkai, and may have had an opportunity for learning the facts about the special sacrifices of the pious men in the schools in Jerusalem and in the Temple. In his Halakhah he was later a follower of the Shammaites : and here also he agreed concerning the sacrifice with the practice of Baba b. 1 Semah., VIII. 2 Kerith. VI, 3 ; Tos. IV, 4 : "6n CB>N D"IN m:nc 1C1N iryi?K '21 Km i>y vi>y nox .on^on DE>N &opj -\n sin nrw nys? i^zn DV ^02 nriN DV nmsan DV -inxo pn DV hi ibn DCTN :mnD rrnt? ^u p ny priori ^ onois N^N N^O TPTI ^ D'mo vn I^N rim pyon ics* The Cambridge Mishnaii lias'DT. 74 SOME TYPES OF Buta who was a disciple in the school of Shammai. 1 Baba was a wealthy man. On a certain occasion he wanted, by a public act, to demonstrate that the Shammaites whose lead he as one of them generally followed, were wrong in prohibiting on the festival the laying of the hands upon a private sacrifice. For that purpose he brought at his own expense many costly rams to the Temple Mount, and in- vited other men to offer them up, in accordance with the lenient view of the Hillelites on the festival, as private sacrifices, as burnt or peace-offerings. He could also afford to bring a guilt-offering daily. This he sacrificed to God not in order to atone for any definite sin which he had unwittingly committed and of which he had later become conscious ; for in such a case it would have been a proper sin- or a guilt-offering, whereas his was a conditional guilt- offering for a sin of which he was not sure at all. He felt the need of purging himself daily, by means of such a sacri- fice, of sins possibly committed on the previous day. He evidently considered the moral weakness of man in general and his own in particular, and thought that he could not escape altogether a sin of some kind, either in his daily activities and his intercourse with his fellow-men, or in his conduct towards God. And as, in his opinion, his actions and his thoughts during the day must have occasioned sin, he felt it his duty to clear away his guilt and his burden daily before God. 2 As the note of a teacher, possibly R. Eliezer's, in the Mishnah indicates, Baba was one of a group of men who felt the responsibility of their daily sins ; and as R. Eliezer stated that the sacrifice was called the guilt-offerino- of the o o pious, they themselves were called DH'Dn . and this epithet already was applied to them by their contemporaries. Of course, it may be taken for granted that it was not merely the sprinkling of the blood by the priest and 1 Baraitha Besah 20 a bottom; Tos. Hagig. II, 11; jer. II, 78 a. 50; Gitt. 57 a ; Baba bath. 3 b ff. 2 Did the sacrifices of the father for each of his sons, Job 1.5, 'for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts ', suggest it to Baba ? But Job brought burnt offerings ! JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 75 the other formal acts constituting the sacrifice that brought to Baba and the pious men who followed the same religious principles, alleviation and relief from their burden of daily sin ; but. as may be for the present safely assumed, their feeling of true repentance, the accompanying confes- sion of sin, and the prayer for forgiveness. Even imme- diately after the Day of Atonement Baba felt anxious. though on that day he could have had no transactions of any kind with his neighbours. In. judging himself very strictly, and in his sensitiveness to the slightest moral or religious deviation, he may not have been sure as to whether he had not in conversation offended one of them ; or whether perhaps his thoughts, his imperfect repentance, his possible lack of concentration at the public sacrifices, and his insufficient contrition at the high priest's confes- sions of sin had not incurred for him some moral sin. The Day of Atonement, as Baba's protestation suggests, 1 with its strict demands on the sensitive soul, may have roused in him even graver doubts of sin than an ordinary day ; though. from the legal point of view and in their consideration of business as the main source of sin. the Shammaites could not see how their fellow scholar Baba could have on the Day of Atonement come near even the shadow of sin. As far as our information goes, such piety expressed in daily guilt-offerings has no parallel in anything reported of the Essenes, though it is possible that there were Essenes among the disciples of the Shammaites. It is a type of piety characterized by its over great anxiety about sin, not expected even in a scholar of the strict Shammaite school at the beginning of the first century ; and there is no infor- mation as to the kind of sin the fear of which could have 1 The form of oath ilfD fiyon was once used by R. Simeon b. Gamaliel I in Kerith. I, 7 : When once a pair of pigeons cost two gold deriars in Jeru- salem, and such a price prevented women from bringing the sacrifices due after childbirth, R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said, By this Temple, I shall not rest this night, until they have gone down to two denars ! The Essenes never swore, Josephus, Wars. II, 8. 6. 135; Antiquit., XV, 10.4. 371 ; Philo. Quod omnis probus, 12 ff , II. 458. 7 6 SOME TYPES OF oppressed the pious men, and about the social and religious conditions in Jerusalem that might have stimulated such a movement. It is hardly necessary to tell those who know anything of the history of the rabbinic law and institutions that it was not the law of levitical purity that was respon- sible for Baba's anxiety about sin. For. as his action on the Temple Mount shows, he was not a priest ; and levitical purity was in his days not yet observed by non-priests, not even by his teacher Shammai who in the school dealt only academically with individual rules of such purity. R Eliezer's well-informed disciple, K. Jehudah b. Ilai, reports : ' The ancient pious men desired to bring a sin- offering, because God did not bring an offence into their hands ; what did they do ? They voluntarily made the vow of the Nazirite to God in order to become liable to bring a sin-offering. K. Simeon says, They did not vow to be Nazirites ; but whoever desired to bring a burnt-offering or a peace-offering, or a thanks-offering with the four kinds of loaves belonging to it, brought voluntarily any of those, but they did not voluntarily make the vow of the Nazirite, because for doing so they would have been called sinners according to Num. 6. II.' 1 These pious men w r ere filled with the anxiety lest they might be committing sins and in need of atonement. The sin-offering prescribed in Lev. 4. 27 in the case of a transgression in error of a biblical prohibition required that the sinner should have 1 Baraitha Nedar. 10 a; Tos. 1,1 : D^ltMOn D'TOD 1O1N no .D.TT by nbpn xnn ra"pn jw sb nNcn pip xunb pixno vn Kan pip ITTUVK' HD nip^b nnna pmjro pioiy pany vn 3T3n nbiy 803nb nxnn sbx i^m rm xb IOIK pyo^ ^i nnnja bnx N^EI anjno ncnb ^"D nyanxi mm N^EI anjno n^ob^ t^Ein by Nt:n IB'NO ri?y isai -ttMt? psoin isip' N^ na m:nn s^, In jer. Nedar. I, 36 d. 48 : D^ITO V.lt? VH D^XDIH 1D1N fiyD 1 ^ m yjn^ WB3 by nr NDH B^san by Ntan IBWD vby naai -ICNJ^ n*M3 pTl ftt IDJfy, R. Simeon did not deny the fact of the vow of the pious men, but called them sinners for it. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 77 later become conscious of having unwittingly committed a definite offence ; but the pious men who in their strict care and watchfulness naturally did their utmost to avoid such a violation of the law, could not satisfy that condition laid down for a sin-offering-, and found 110 occasion for bringing such a sacrifice. Their desire for it suggests that, in their opinion, a sin-offering brought for one definite sin would, at the same time, atone for other offences which, on account of their uncertainty, had to remain without atonement by sacrifice. For that purpose they looked out for an act which implied no sin, but automatically provided an occa- sion for a sin-offering. While Baba b. Buta in the same anxiety resorted to a daily guilt-offering for a doubtful sin, the pious men either knew nothing of its admissibility or disapproved of it, or did not consider such a sacrifice of suffi- cient force for their need of atonement. The sin-offering- prescribed in Num. 6. 14 for the Nazirite at the conclusion of his temporary vow was not brought for any definite breach of the law, but for an unknown, yet possible levitical defilement and for other offences against the rules of the vow, and could therefore include in its atonement other trespasses of the same uncertainty. As the temporary vow of the Nazirite extended only over thirty days, 1 the pious men could repeat the vow as often as they liked, bring the sin-offering every month, and thus satisfy their desire for regular atonement. Some scholars see in these Hasids Essenes, without even attempting to prove that the scruples and the anxiety about frequent, unconscious sins and the strong desire to bring sin-offerings, or the short Nazirite vow for the sake of the atoning sacrifice are anywhere even indicated or implied as peculiarities of the Essenes. In his 1 Nazir,III,2 : n3 DXC> JIITM Tit? lUi? ' ?y D"DS ^1 D~w Dv6 r6a DNI D H w C.T rvr^n nx rhyc> wc^v or tfmn JO ib r6iy CW^ DV^ Sr iriN ion; and the Shammaitcsin Nazir, 111,6 : ptfb K3 13 IHSI imn: JIN D^BTil n.lin nnV3 "iTJ*^ ^ y n^nnn in: onoix ^n rvy\ DV D^trT'ra onoiN 'soy n^. Joscpims. Wars, II, 15. 1. 313. ? SOME TYPES OF endeavour to support somehow his preconceived idea of the identity of these Hasids with the Essenes, Geig-er l had to remove from the report as an alleged misunderstanding of the author who read into the vow of the pious men a desire for atonement of a later period, the clear statement about their eagerness for sin-offerings. But Geiger not only ignored the old reference of R. Eliezer to the guilt- offerings of the Hasids, and the even earlier instance of the daily sacrifice of Baba b. Buta ; but he also failed to adduce his evidence for his assumed later period, when a section of Jews, not named by him, had that desire for private atoning sacrifices. By such arbitrary treatment of early historical sources any preconceived view can, without any evidence or much argument, be proved. As to the date of these ancient pious men of Temple times, it may be noted that though R. Eliezer spoke of the guilt-offering of the D'Ton , and his disciple R. Jehudah described the sin-offer- ings of the D'OitWin D'TOn , the same younger contemporaries of Shammai and Hillel were meant by both of them ; the difference of more than forty years between the ages of the two reporters, and the consequent different distances from the incident described sufficiently account for R. Jehu- dah's additional word 1 Jild. Zeitschrift, IX, 1871, 52. - It is true, R. Jehudah used the same adjective D'31K'N"in ' ancient', of a period not far from his own. R. Johanan in his name says in Berakh. 35 b, Come and see that the last (present) generations are not like the first : for the earlier generations deliberately brought their produce home in such a way as to make it liable to be tithed, whereas the last generations bring in their produce through the roofs and enclosures to make them exempt from tithes. In spite of the contrast in D'OVUIN, it would be difficult to define the date of D s 315fK~in, were it not for the ex- press statement about the incident that occasioned that comparison, in jer Ma'as. Ill, 50 c. 6 : When once R. Jehudah b. Ilai saw Rabbi and R. Jose b. R. Jehudah bring in a basket of produce by the back of the garden, he said, Look, what difference there is between you and earlier men : R. Akiba bought three kinds of produce for a Perutah in order to tithe each kind, and you bring in your produce by the back of the garden ! Consequently, R. Jehudah referred to his own teacher, R. Akiba, as Also his reference there to the earlier men who made the JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 79 3. In the early description of the popular 1'Vast of Water- drawing, celebrated on the Temple Mount in the second night of Tabernacles, the pious men appear in very inter- esting circumstances. The Mishnah relates: 1 'The pious men and the men of deed danced before them (the people assembled on the Temple Mount) with burning torches in their hands, and recited before them words of songs and praises'. The parallel Baraitha- has a fuller account : ' The study of the To rah their regular duty and their ordinary work occasional, and found that both were well established, and to the present generation who make their ordinary work their regular duty and the study of the To rah occasional, and find that neither is well established, no doubt views in its first part the days of his teachers in Judaea. His fellow-student, R. Jose b. Dormaskith in Tos. Yaday. II, 1C reports, I was with the early scholars, D^31t?fcOn D'3pT. when they came from Jamnia to Lydda. and I found R. Eliezer sitting in the shop of the bakers in Lydda ; when he asked me what news there had been that day in the school. I related to him the subjects discussed, the arguments advanced, and the divisions taken. When I mentioned to him the Halakhah about the obligation <-f the Jews in Ammon and Moab to give the tithe for the poor in the year uf rest, he said to me, Ignore your division, for I have a tradition to the same effect from R. Johanan b. Zakkai going back to Mo-i s. Some of the details of the discussions referred to have been preserved in Yad. IV, 3, and they mention R. Tarfon. R. Eleaxar b. 'A/ariah. and R. IMimae). and also the division and R. Eliezer's conversation about it are stated there. (The parallel Baraitha in Hagig. 3 b does not mention the early scholars.) The whole incident happened before the year 120 ; and R. Jose whom we find later discussing difficult passages of the Bible with R. Jehu- dah (Sifre Deut. 1, 64 b. ff. ; Midr. Tann. Deut. 1. 1.3; Bacher. I. :;0 ff. . described that occurrence, no doubt, in Galilee after 130. When he told his fellow-scholars in L T sha of the incident with R. Eliezer. he referred to the members of the central school in Jamnia with whom he had travelled from Jamnia to Lydda (among whom was. no doubt. R. Tarfon who, after attending the discussions in Jamnia. was returning to his home in Lydda), as the early scholars. It appears that the bar-Kokhba- war and the horrors of the Hadrianic religious persecutions had, in the minds of the scholars affected, removed the generation immediately preceding into a great distant-. Cf. R. Jehudah in Gitt. bl a. J Sukk. V,4: TIN ^ nipUN3 DiT3s6 D'lpIC VH n"'J? 'I^Nl D'TCPi n't? nm fmD^ DnOINl }iTT2K'; in the Cambridge Mishnah is missing, see also Rabbinovicz. 2 Tos. Sukk. IV, 2 : niplUNa DiT^ pnp'D VH iTJ'yC "J':N1 DH'D- Nt3n tik& "D HB'N .DnDIN VH HD ^inrj'in "~\21 C,T:2b TOINI 8o SOME TYPES OF pious men and the men of deed were dancing before them with torches, and said before them words of praises. What did they say ? Happy is he who sinned not, and to him who sinned may it be forgiven ! Some of them said, Happy art thou, my youth, that thou didst not put to shame my old age ; they were the men of deed : others of them said, Happy art thou, mine old age, that thou wilt atone for my youth ; they were the repentant '. Only a part of the account and in a different form has been preserved in the third version : l 'Of the pious men and the men of deed some said, Happ}* art thou, my youth, that thou didst not put to shame mine old age ; these were the men of deed; others of them said, Happy art thou, mine old age, that thou hast atoned for my youth ; these were the repentant ; both groups said, Happy is he who sinned not, and to him who sinned, may it be forgiven '. In both, nearly identical versions of the Baraitha, the opening sentence mentions the pious men and the men of deed ; the second part, however, which quotes their respective declarations of happiness, puts the repentant in the place of the pious men in one case. On the other hand, in the version of the Babylonian Talmud 2 the pious men and the men of deed are combined as the authors of one declaration, so that here three groups of distinguished men appear, no doubt, by a wrong distribu- tion of their statements. As the reference to their old age indicates, all of them were advanced in years, or at least i>y "isantr Tiupr TIPK Dnoix jno en ,r\vyo jer. Sukk. V. 55 b. 68 : Dn1X VHU' }ilD U riCJ>yn ^N1 D'TDnn jno cn nt?yo ^N &$ Tn:pT Dx r\y2 vbv Tvn^ vn I^NI I^K .nav^n ^jn I^N Tin^ by ma'ac? Tn:pr 2 Sukk. 53 a top : nN r\V"2 N 13^11 ntTN DnOIN JH W pal onois [no ^i n^yo ^JNI nn^on DHDIN ^si ib JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 8l elderly; some of them, as the atonement, the shaming and the repentance show, looked back upon their younger years as not free from some undefined blame. 1 Later they repented, changed their course, and their latter years atoned for the failings of their youth. The character of their present life and the attitude of their minds fill them with satisfaction, and it seems to be the ideal life to which, however, they attained only after a hard struggle, as indicated by the need of repentance. On the other hand, they pointed to their past and to the subsequent change of their actions without restraint or fear ; evidently the fact of their repentance and their final peace of mind fill them with such happiness that the unsatisfactory past lost its sting. Others of their company on the Temple Mount had led already, when young, a life in agreement with their present ideal, and never swerved from that line of determined and consistent piety. Still they know that man is weak, and his going astray is the rule, therefore they declare him happy who did not sin; and they are not proud of their comparative free- dom from error in their youth, and do not compare in self- contentment the actions of others with their own. They consider their present companions just as worthy as them- selves ; for their past mistakes have been wiped out by their true repentance and, in their conviction, also forgiven by God, as they abandoned the path of sin and since then have consistently walked in the ways of piety. How the men of deed who in the parallel sentences correspond with the repentant, should have meant such as followed the right line of conduct, is not at all clear, as the word niryro would then have had the otherwise unknown meaning of firmly established moral and religious action of life. 4. The term is found again 2 : 'Since the death of R. Haninah b. Dosa the men of deed ceased. R. Pinhas 1 Cf. Eccl. 11. 9: Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth ; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes ; and Sotah I, y 'BOS could perhaps be reduced by estab- O J. i v lishing the possible significations of rrj'yn. As far as my memory serves me, the word standing by itself, without the addition of the essential qualifying noun a"D: or a synonym of it, never denotes a miracle. How Rashi arrived at his explanation is clear from his reference to the miracles of R. Haninah b. Dosa: as the latter was called a man of deed, and several of the most characteristic reports of his activities deal with miracles, his title must in his opinion have been derived from these. But is it not just as probable that other actions of his, though less fully and less prominently described, and of a totally different nature, were responsible for that designation 1 rc'ya in 1 Sain. 8. 8, J- O Jer. 7. 13 denotes a man's or a people's doings, whether good or bad ; Hillel's doings, were in the honour of God ; 'Akabia b. Mahalalel said to his son, 10 ' Thy doings will bring thee near to the scholars, and thy doings will remove thee from them '. When once a heathen woman came to R. Eliezer and asked him to admit her into Judaism, he wanted first to ascertain her antecedents, and asked her to state in detail her past doings, 11 whether good or bad. In the schools where evil deeds were rare and would not have 1 Ben Chananja, V, 1862, 281 b on Synh. VII, 11. 2 Urschrift, 126. 3 Introduction M.oth<> Mislumh, I, 01. 4 Zaubenoesen, 149. 5. 5 Jewish Encydop. V, 227 a. 6 miE, 144 a; Ben Chananja, II, 2. 7 Ben DOK-U, 24. 8 p^nn, VII, 57 ff., cf. Derenbourg, Essai, 460 ff. 9 Zeltschriftf. d. rel. Interessen, III, 1846, 458 ; MG\\'J. II, 1853. 70. ' 'Eduy. V, 7. 11 Koli. r. 1. 8. 4 : -ptryo HS <-. F 2 84 SOME TYPES OF been tolerated, JTJ'VE was applied only in the good sense ; and it is of special interest for this inquiry that R. Haninah b. Dosa himself l saj-s, The learning of him will last whose deeds are greater than his learning. And its meaning is clear in R. Akiba's statement 2 about a scholar who was caught in so terrible a sea-storm that R. Akiba thought that he had perished ; when he reappeared in Cappadocia, R. Akiba asked him, ' What deeds had you performed that you were so miraculously saved ? ' :! He replied, On my way to the boat I met a poor man who asked me for help ; when I gave him a loaf of bread he said, ' As you by your gift have given me my life, may your life be given to you ! " Here the deed is one of charity which is generally called D^iu C'jryo, 4 as in the sentence of R. Johanan b. Zakkai explaining the white garments and the oil in Eccl. 9. 8 to refer to the observance of the commandments, to good deeds and to the study of the Torah. 5 As the commandments are specially mentioned, the deeds refer to acts of kindness and of love to the fellow-man. In the great dispute between the teachers assembled on a certain occasion before 135 in Lydda the subject of n^yo was fully considered. A Baraitha reports : ' When once R. Tarfon and the scholars were sitting in the upper room of the family of Nithzah in Lydda, the question was put to them as to whether the study of the Torah or the 1 Aboth, III, 9. 2 Koh. r. 11. 1 ; Yebam. 121 a ; ARN. 3, 9 a. R. Akiba in Aboth III, 15 says, Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given, and the world is judged by grace, yet all is according to the number of deeds (see the commentaries). 3 When several sons of JVTOp had become high-priests in turn, the scholars asked her, "JTQ W 1 D'UltO D^VO TO, what good deeds hast thou (to have merited such a rai'e distinction) ? She replied, I swear that the beams of my house never saw the hair of my head, nor the skirt of my frock, jer.Yoma 1, 38 d. 11. In the parallel Baraitha Yoma 47 a the question of the scholars reads : What hast thou done to have merited this? In ARN. 35, 53 a : -JT3 PPi! DIDT TO. Cf. Mekhil. 14. 13, 28 b. : 3) Oil iT^O- 4 Cf. Aggad. Cant. 7. 14 : HpTX ^'1 n2>J ^ DIN 'J3, Schechter, 92.. 5 Koh. r. 9. 8 ; Bacher, I, 36. 1, cf. 2 ARN. 26, 27 a ; ARN. 16, 32 b. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 85 practice of it was more important. R. Tart'on declared the practice and R. Akiba the study more important, but in the end all present agreed that the study was more impor- tant, as it led to the practice of the Torah '.* The discus- sion and the arguments advanced show that ntrys, as also the word itself suggests, refers generally to the practice of the positive precepts in the Torah, as indeed the prohibi- tions require for their observance no action, but only refraining from action. But when the disciple of the scholars of Lydda, R. Jehudah b. Ilai, applied that rule in a practical instance, ncyyo seemed to mean something else. When R. Jehudah saw either a funeral or a bridal proces- sion pass by his school, he looked at his disciples and said, ' The deed has precedence before the study '.- The parallel account states : ' It is reported of R. Jehudah that he set aside the study of the Torah before a funeral or a bridal procession, 3 and he called on his disciples to interrupt the study of the Torah and to join in the bridal procession and to add to the joy of the bride.' R. Jehudah unmistakably quoted the rule not adopted in Lydda, but the case to which he applied it is nowhere prescribed in the Torah ; it was one of the duties of lovingkindness which the rabbis impressed upon their disciples and upon the people us very important. 1 Baraitha Kidd. 40 b ; Cant. r. 2. 14. 5 ; Sifre Deut. 41, 71) b ; jer.Hagig. I, 76 c. 46 ; Bacher, I, 296. 3 : JT^jn ["TIDE D^pTI flEID "ai ,Tn -Q3! ^na ntryo is* bn: iicbn nrvuDa IT n^&c' n^N"*: ita nrn: n-a lay: bna T>^ n -Ni N^py ^n nays i>na nryo IEXI ps-in ^21 nayj HB>y H^ X'QD niD^iT^ blia niD 1 ^ riN1 D^I3. R. -lose the Galilean in b. and Sifre proved that the study was more important, since the law about the heave offering from dough in Num. 15. 18-21 was given forty years before it was practised, and the laws about the heave offerings and the tithes fifty-four years, &c. So R. Simeon b. Gamaliel II later expressed it in Aboth I, 17: ntTJJlon K^N ~\p]3 Bm?:>n $b, not the interpretation of the Torah is the essential thing, but the practice of it. See also Sifra Lev. 1 8. 4, 85 d : ^T^yOH IT Dm 713^ .ilJ'J'Drt IT '."lOK'n TIJ: ntrycn ^b ma: na^on tih nnn n3^ ntr^n, see KABD'S note. - jer. Hagig. I, 76 c. 44. 3 Baraitha Kethub. 17 a bottom; in ARN. 4, 9 b ff . two instances are reported in which R. Jehudah acted in the same way. 86 SOME TYPES OF R. Jehudah did not hesitate as to his duty to interrupt his lesson and to take away his disciples from their work ; and the master with his students joined in the joy of a bride who probably was a stranger to them. He followed in the performance of this duty his teacher R. Tarfon who once, when the procession of a poor bride passed by his school, took her to his house where his mother and his wife bathed, anointed, and adorned her, and then all of them danced before her, until she readied the house of her husband. 1 As R. Jehudah was most conservative in follow- ing his masters, it is very probable that already they had extended that rule to such duties of lovingkindness, and it may even in Lydda have been already included in the discussion of the teachers mentioned ; - at least the Sharn- maite R. Tarfon applied it practically in that sense, and may have meant to him in the first instance such 1 ARN. 41, 67 a. 2 In Semah. XI: . . . riBny mirr "m rvn "p ^-iin 7\zhrb mtp ntryon I "NDv? D~np n^ycn "ICNI, the first view does not permit the interruption of the study of the Torah for the sake of a funeral or a bridal procession. But already Briill in his Jahrbucher, I, 43, note 94, suggested that the first word might be a mistake, as it is not found in the parallel Baraitha in Kethub. 17 a. In note 93 he points out that Ht^VD here, as it is evident from the context in all the reports, denotes especially the occupation with the charity of burial and similar acts as it was practised particularly by the ni"VGn. brotherhoods (see below). In favour of this explanation can be quoted two incidents of the second half of the third century in connexion with which the rule about the precedence of the practice is quoted. R. Abahu sent his son Haninah to Tiberias to learn Torah, instead of which the son devoted himself there to the burial of the dead (IDn /E3, as the father's witty application of Exod. 14. 11 shows, meant burial). R. Abahu reminded him of the decision arrived at by the scholars in Lydda, that study was more important than practice. R. Hiyya b. Abba, R. Assi, and R. Ammi once came late to R. Eleazar's lecture, because they had been engaged in a deed of lovingkindness to a stranger, and R. Eleazar quoted to them the rule as applying to a special case, jer. Hagig. I, 76 c. 46-54. As the three scholars were all priests, IDn ^>O3 cannot refer to burial, but, as very frequently, to the comforting of a mourner. In the parallel in jer. Pesah., Ill, 30 b. 51 the rule is applied to other religious commandments. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 87 deeds. In any case, the word does not mean a miracle, but the practice of religious duties, and frequently the practice of deeds of loving-kindness. R. Ilaninah b. Dosa and other men of deed would accordingly have distinguished themselves by the most conscientious observance of the positive precepts of the Torah, 1 or by devoting themselves particularly to acts of loving-kindness ; perhaps even with greater enthusiasm and more exclusively than R. Haninah's contemporary, the Shammaite E. Tarfon and his disciple R. Jehudah b. Ilai. Of the life of R. Haninah b. Dosa several incidents have been preserved which should support or refute the explanation of DC'yo just suggested. He lived in 'Arabh near Sepphoris where his early commencement of the Sabbath was noticed. - 1 See Marrnorstein, Doctrine of Merita, 10. 101. 2 Jer. Berakh. IV, 7 c. 57 : Ass drivers once came up from 'Arabh to Sepphoris and said that K. Haninah b. Dosa had begun tin- Sabbath rest in his town. They reported it of him only ; his fellow-citizens evidently did not follow his example, nor did the Jewish ass drivers see any objection to their driving their asses to Sepphoris after that act of R. Haninah. It is an interesting coincidence that some information has been preserved about the observance of the Sabbath in 'Arabh. questions about which were submitted to R. Haninah's friend, R. Johanan b. Zakkai. Mishnah Shabb. XVI, 7 reads : On, Friday night a dish may be tilted over a lamp to prevent the beam from being set on fire, or over the excrements of a child, or over a scorpion so that it should not sting ; R. Jehudah says. When once such a case came before R Johanan b. Zakkai in 'Arabh, he said, I fear, the person has to bring a sin-offering. (Note the lamp on the Sabbath eve in the house of the Galilean Jew, as in R. Haninah h. Dosa's house in Ta'an. 25 a, and the place of the lamp near the ceiling. According to Baraitha Shabb. 121 b it was permitted to kill a scorpion on the Sabbath as a danger to life, and only the pious men would not allow it. That in 'Arabh even the ordinary man did not think of killing a scorpion, and R. Johanan did not advise him to do so, suggests that such permission was unknown or not approved of in 'Arabh at that time. In Shabb. XXII, 3 we read : If the plug of a cask has a hole, wax must not be put over it, as that would be an act like the application of a plaster ; R. Jehudah said, When once such a case came before R. Johanan b. Zakkai in 'Arabh, he said, I fear, the person has to bring a sin-offering. The fact of the submission of the questions to the rabbi shows that the Jews of 'Arabh observed the Sabbath strictly. It is true that in jer. Shabb. XVI, 15 d. 59 R. Ulla states that during the eighteen years of R. Johanan b. Zakkai's stay in 'Arabh only those two questions were submitted to 88 SOME TYPES OF When he once saw the people of his town taking gifts and offerings to Jerusalem and he himself had nothing to con- tribute, he went outside the town and found a stone which he planed and polished, and which he, with the help of five men, took up to Jerusalem. When here his assistants disappeared, before he had paid them their wages, he went to the authorities sitting in the chamber of hewn stones in the Temple to ask for advice. 1 Accordingly, he was already a man before the year 70 ; and, if Xehunyah, the digger of pits, about the accident to whose daughter R. Haninah was consulted, 2 was identical with the official of the Temple of that name and the same occupation, 3 R. Haninah was already in Temple times a man whose advice was sought. He was very poor, as according to Rabh's remark wliich was, no doubt, based on earlier information, he lived the whole week on a kabh of carobs, the food of the poor, 4 and oppressive want of the necessaries of life prevailed in his household 5 even on the Sabbath. It is nowhere sug- gested that such poverty was of his own choice. His occu- pation seems to have been that of a stone mason, as he shaped and polished the stone of his gift to the Temple himself ; and besides there is a reference to his rearing * o goats. 6 He was married, and had a daughter. R. Eleazar of Mode'im, a younger contemporary of his, in explaining the men of truth in Exod. 18. 2 1, 7 illustrated his w r ords bv t/ adding : like R. Haninah b. Dosa and his companions. His absolute truthfulness and reliability must have been known, at least among the scholars; for it was in his association him and that on that account he exclaimed, Galilee, Galilee, thou hatest the Torah, thou shalt ultimately fall into the power of oppressors. He meant their attitude to the rabbinic interpretation of the law, of which they probably knew too little to have doubts and questions about details of the Sabbath observance and other matters. 1 Koh. r. 1. 1 ; Cant. r. 1. 1. 4. 2 Baraitha Yebam. 121 b. 3 Shekal., V, 1. 4 Ta'an. 24 b. Ta'an. 25 a. 6 Ta'an. 25 a ; the prohibition against rearing sheep and goats was either not passed yet or did not yet apply to Galilee, as R. Jehudah b. Baba also disregarded it, Baba kam. 80 a ; Tos. VIII, 13. 7 Mekhil. 60 a; Mekhil. R. Simeon, 90. JEWISH- PALESTINIAN PIETY 89 with them that his personal qualities were revealed. His scrupulous honesty is illustrated by an interesting incident. When once a man left a few chickens in front of R. Haninah's door, the latter took them in, stored their eggs for hatch- ing, increased the number of the chickens, and exchanged them for a pair of goats which he later returned to the claimant of the fowls. 1 He was most scrupulous in tithing the produce used for his food ;- even his ass refused to eat untithed fodder. 3 As he is invariably quoted with the title of Rabbi, he was a fully qualified scholar; who his teachers were is not known, but he himself had a school and disciples. 4 Apart from two sentences, 5 nothing has been preserved of his halakhic or haggadic teaching. On his religious thought an incident throws some light. Several inhabitants of his town were 1 itten by a snake ; after killing it, R. Haninah brought it to the school and said, ' My sons, it is not the serpent that kills, but sins kill.' He believed that God's providence extended to every indi- vidual, watched the deeds of every single person, and rewarded and punished already on earth ; and when God considered the measure of the sins of a man to be full and 1 Ta'an. 25 a; as Eabbinovicz and others have pointed out, this report of the Amora R. Pinhas is a later insertion in the Talmud, but it may still have been taken from an early and authentic source. A similar story is told of R. Pinhas b. Yair in jer. P/ammai, I, 22 a. 5; Deut. r. 3. ') : When once two poor men deposited two measures of barley with R. Pinhas, he sowed the barley and its successive harvests for seven years, so that, when the owners called for their deposit, camels and asses were required for the removal of their property. In the Miclrasli the account concludes with the same words as another story there about the honesty of Simeon b. Shetah : from the honesty of man you can conclude the trustworthiness of God. 2 Jer. Damm. I, 22 a. 40 : When one Friday night, during his meal, the table began to contract, his wife accounted for it l>y her having borrowed sp.ces from her neighbour and not having tithed them. When R. Haiiinah had arranged for the rectification of the matter, the table rose again. 3 ARN. 8, 19 b; in Shabb. 112 b Rabha b. Ziniona remarks. Not like the ass of R. Haninah b. Dosa and that of R. Pinhas b. Yair. In Gen. r. 60. 8 ; Hull. 7 a ff. it is stated only of the ass of R. Pinhas. 4 Jer. Berakh. V, 9 a. 63. 5 Aboth, III, 9, 10. Baraitha Berakh. 33 a. 9 SOME TYPES OF him as deserving an untimely and violent end, He sent a serpent to carry out His decree of retribution. What he thought of the way in which God rewarded obedience and good deeds, is not stated clearly. If the legend about his wife's peculiar wish is even in part based on fact, 1 she and also he held the belief that the righteous after death enjoy in heaven meals at golden tables standing on three golden legs ; an ideal which is also reflected by statements of R. Johanan b. Zakkai - and of other early teachers. When he prayed, his concentration and devotion were great ; once, while praying, he was bitten by a snake, but did not interrupt his prayer. When the serpent was later found dead at the entrance to its den, people said, Woe to the man whom a serpent bites, but woe to the serpent that bit R. Haninah b. Dosa. To his disciples' question, ' Master, hast thou not felt it ? ' he replied, I assure you, that as my heart was concentrated on the prayer. I felt it not. 3 Such devotion rested on true humility, 4 faith and trust in God, 1 Ta'an. 25 a. 2 Hagig. 14 b. 3 Jer. Berakh. V, 9 a. 56 ; his miraculous immunity, if it is not altogether legendary, and even more the statement that, when a serpent bit him, it expired, have parallels in Indian and other stories. It seems to be due to the application of some strong chemicals to the body. 4 In nVtTVD ISO, ed. Gaster, Ramsgate, 1896, 115 ff., the following story is given, no doubt taken, as others in the collection, from some earlier rabbinic source. When once R. Haninah b. Dosa went to visit his. master, he went early to the school and opened his discourse by saying, Receive everybody always with a friendly countenance. There came a hegemon, stood in the entrance of the school and asked, Which of you will carry me on his shoulder to his house and do for me all that I want ? R. Haninah b. Dosa rose and offered himself, took him upon his shoulder to his house, brought him water, sat down in the dust and asked the hegemon, Master, what is thy wish, and what will my master have for dinner ? When he replied, Honey and nuts, Haninah went one way and his wife another, and they brought the food. When the hegemon took the table and threw it to the ground, Haninah asked, Master, kindly tell me what thy wish is. When he replied, Who will carry me to my house, Haninah again offered himself. When he came out to the market of the town, he felt that the hegemon had dismounted ; and he saw a flame rising to heaven and heard its voice say to him, Haninah, return, thou hast been tried and found perfect, we shall 110 longer trouble thee, for I heard it said about thee (Isa. 51. 16), And JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 9 1 and on complete self-surrender, and characterized his reli- gious attitude to God. It would lie interesting to know whether the prayer which he once recited in the open air was that prescribed by the scholars, as the context suggests, or the pouring out of his heart not restricted by time or place. 5. In Rabh's statement quoted above a heavenly voice called R. Haninah the son of God. indicating his intimate relations to God the sources of which are. however, not recorded. As that voice expressed the public opinion of his merits, as in the case of Iloni, the circle drawer, 1 his contemporaries must have had a high opinion of his recog- nition by God. People sought his advice or his reassur- ance, when a sudden calamity befell an individual or the inhabitants of his town. And he must have readily shared the daily troubles and sorrows of his fellow-men : and that was another reason why they came to him, to have his sympathy in addition. 2 When the daughter of Xehunyah, a digger of public pits, fell into a deep pit, :; R. Ilaninah was informed of the accident ; in the first while he said, Peace, in the second while he said, Peace, and in the third while he said, She has come out. When they asked him how he knew it, whether he was a prophet, he answered that he was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but that he had said to himself, Should the daughter of the righteous man perish by the very thing that is his occu- I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand. Haninah's voluntary self-humiliation is similar to that of Hillel who ran out before a poor man in Jerusalem ; here also Haninah offers himself to do the duties of a slave of the hegemon and in addition to provide food for him. It would be interesting to know R. Haninah's master and the place of his school where a Roman high official could so insolently demand such humiliating services of scholars in the school. As R. Haninah lived in 'Arabh, his master may have taught in Sepphoris or Tiberias, the residence of Roman official^ ; but we know nothing of schools in Galilee before 70. 1 Ta'an. Ill, 8. 2 In the parallel account in jer. Shekal. V, 48 d. 44 R. Pinhas b. Yair went with the rest of the people to the house of the bereaved father to comfort him. 3 Baraitha Yebam. 121 b. 92 SOME TYPES OF pation 1 He must have often thought about the ways of God's providence, especially when sudden accidents offered perplexing riddles to his religious mind. As his conviction about the deaths caused by serpents' bites showed us above, he had no doubt that this or any other calamity that threatened to destroy a young life was sent by God ; on the other hand, God is not only just, but full of considera- tion in meting out punishment, and He would not use just a pit, the unselfish work of the pious father, as his instru- ment to end the life of his daughter. Such religious con- viction about God's justice filled him with the strongest confidence about the fate of the girl. He did not pray for her rescue, at least nothing is said about it. While it is possible that in the intervals between his reassuring words he prayed, and the single exclamations of certainty were the outcome of his supplications, it seems more probable that he did not pray, as in his explanation of his pro- phetical powers he did not refer to any prayer. When a more general calamity visited his town, and a serpent injured several persons, some of the inhabitants informed R. Haninah. Here again he did not intercede by prayer, but by action ; for he put his heel upon the entrance to the serpent's den, and the beast, after biting him, expired. Whether it was such apparently supernatural intervention that the people expected of him, is not clear; but un- doubtedly, when they came to him, they looked for either direct help or some directions about the removal of the trouble. Could his intervention be described as niryo, and would he have been described for that as a man of deed "? His prayer of intercession was considered not only by the ordinary man, but even by leading scholars of his time as effective. When his son was seriously ill, R. Johanan b. Zakkai asked him to pray for his recovery 1 : 'When R. 1 Baraitha Berakh. 34 b bottom : D'Cm vi?y E'pH "32 WOn lb "ICN p prn 11 pi -DN .nvn D'crw v^y cpai vain pa V.TJO rrn /rrm y.i xb 1^13 DIM bz V3-Q pa IB>NI nx . Zakkai to learn Torah from him, and the lattev's son was taken ill, R. Johanan said to him, Haninah, my son, pray for mercy for him, that he may recover. He put his head between his knees 1 and prayed for mercy for him. and he recovered. R. Johanan b. Zakkai then said, Even if the son of Zakkai had put his head between his knees for the whole day, God would not have heeded him. When his wife asked him^ Is then Haninah greater than thou, he said. No. but he appears to be like the slave before the kino-, and I appear to be like a high official before the king. When R. Gama- liel's son was taken ill, the patriarch sent two scholars to R. Haninah b. Dosa to ask him to pray for mercy for his son. As soon as R. Haninah had seen them, he went up to his upper room and prayed for mercy for the patient. On coming down he said to them, Go, for the fever has departed from him. When they asked him as to whether he was a prophet, he said, I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I have the tradition that, when my prayer is fluent in my mouth, I know that it is acceptable, and when it is not fluent, it is rejected '. 2 The patient was not brought before him, nor was R. Haninah invited to see O him, so that no personal influence was to be exercised upon the child ; it was exclusively the prayer of R. Haninah that was expected to act. His own view of it is most interesting. Every illness is sent by God, and nobody knows His intentions as to its outcome ; as He inflicted it, so He alone can remove it. Prayers for His compassion may have the effect that God in His mercy will allow the patient to recover ; but as the father, R. Johanan b. Zakkai, a great man, distinguished by learning and piety, had no doubt prayed most devoutly and humbly for his son's 1 R. Eliezer in Pesik. 192 a comments on 1 Eeg. 18. 42, where Elijah prayed with his head between his knees ; Bacher, I, 150. 4 ; 151. 1. 54 The second incident is reported also in jer. Berakh. V, 9d. 27, where R. Haninah said, I trust that the son of R. Gamaliel has been relieved from his illness ; see also Mishnah Berakh. V, 5. 94 SOME TYPES OF recovery, and the illness still continued, has anybody's in- tercession for mercy any prospect of being accepted ? Did God regard R. Haninah more favourably ? By applying for his prayer, R. Johanan openly admitted that in this instance his own supplication was not deemed by God worthy of acceptance ; will such additional humility assist R. Haninah's intervention ? He did not, in modesty, refuse to intercede for R. Johanan's son ; for it would be a sin, as Samuel, the prophet, when asked by the people of Israel to pray for them, said in 1 Sam. 12. 23, ' Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you '- 1 But his readiness to pray in the two instances might be interpreted as showing that he believed in his own power ; to what extent ? Did he pre- sume that his great and true devotion and his concentra- tion of mind could influence God 1 He does not seem to have held that opinion, as, in spite of all prayer, he said that he sometimes was not successful, as hesitation in his words indicated to him. 2 His fluency was sent to him by God, when He in His mercy was willing to grant recovery to the patient, as a reassuring sign and not as the means of His acceptance, as in the case of His refusal the 1 Kabh in Berakli. 12 b, inferred from this verse that he who could pray for his neighbour and refused to do so, was called a sinner. Prayers for the recovery of others are mentioned in Num. 12. 13, Moses for Miriam, in Josephus, Wars, I, 3. 2, Antiquit., XIII, 11. 1, Antigonos for his brother Aristobul, in Antiquit. XIX, 8. 2, the people for King Agrippa I. When the scholars visited R. Tarfon in his illness, his mother said to them, Pray for my son Tarfon, for he honours me very greatly, jer. Pe'ah, I, 15 c. 37; Pesik. r. 23, 123 a. The rule is applied to other occasions : R. Joshua b. Karha in Baba b. 91 b said that Mahlon and Kilyon in Ruth 1. 5 were punished, because they failed to pray for their generation. When R. Meir visited the town of Mamla, inhabited by priests, and learned that they were all dying young, he was asked to pray for them, Gen. r. 59. 1. Abba Jehudah in Holath Antiochia who supported the schools in Judaea, lost all his property ; when he recovered it again and R. Eliezer, R. Joshua, and R. Akiba came to him to solicit help for the schools, he said to them, Your prayers have borne fruit, jer. Horay. Ill, 48a. 51-9; Lev. r. 5. 4. See also Apoc. Bar. 2, 2 ; Ptsik. 147 a, Midr. Tann. 26.3, 172. 2 He prayed, unlike Hannah in 1 Sam. 1. 13, not merely in his heart, but aloud. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN I'lETY 95 hesitation of his prayer by Gods will told R. Haninah His decision ; but not even his intercession had force to compel God to yield, as only the magicians believed to possess. On the other hand, R. Johanan b. Zakkai unre- servedly admitted that the personality of R. Haninah and his nearness to God were, for the successful submission to God of special requests, qualifications which the greatest scholar and the highest position in the school could not equal. R. Haninah was in the position of the personal attendant of the king, who, though of a low rank, could, on account of his personal relations to his master, submit his request at any time, and plead for the life of one con- demned to death, and feel justified in pressing his claim, in his expectation of seeing it speedily granted. R. Johanan was like the high official, kept at a distance from his king by the formalities of the court ; and as he is not continually in his presence, he cannot hope to have his most urgent prayers for mercy for the life of one condemned to death considered and realized. The influence of R. Haninah upon God is, in a popular form, described in an anonymous inter- pretation of ' the honourable man ' in Is. 3. 3 : l one for whose sake consideration is shown to his generation, as to R. Haninah b. Dosa in heaven, and to R. Abahu by the Roman governor. According to Rabh's statement, a heavenly voice daily proclaimed, ' While the whole world is sustained for the sake of My son Haninah, he himself is contented with -10*9 -a imK -ai pja noo SDH p WJn U1. An anonymous *tory in Aramaic, in Pesah. 112 b bottom, says : Originally, the female dennm Agrath, daughter of Mahlath, came every day ; when once she met R. Haninah b. Dosa, she told him, Had it not been announced in heaven, Take care of Haninah and his learning, I should have brought you danger. He retorted, If I am considered in heaven, I decree that thou shalt never pass through inhabited land. But when she besought him to allow her some time, he granted her two nights in the week. The idea of limiting the activities of the evil spirits is found in Jubil. 10. 7-11, where ZS'uali, with the consent of God, reduced the great number of the demons considerably, and at the request of their chief, Mastema, allowed them a tenth of their original number. 9 6 SOME TYPES OF a kabh of carobs from one Friday to another '. So his merit was extended by God to all the inhabitants of his town or even his district ; and his presence in his genera- tion secured their sustenance for them, either by his mere living among them or by his providing by his prayers ample rain in its proper time and protection for the crops. 1 At the same time R. Haninah and his family suffered want ; and he, of his own accord, never tried to improve his own poor state by his prayer,- as though such use of it were unworthy, or poverty were one of the requirements of the life of a pious man. 6. A few words must be said about the miracles recorded as performed by B. Haninah himself, and about others which happened to his wife ; for they are, in every way, different from all that has so far been considered here of his activities. Once, on a Friday night, he noticed that his daughter looked sad ; and she explained to her father that by mistake she had taken for the Sabbath lamp a vessel containing vinegar instead of one filled with oil. He said, My daughter, why are you troubled ? He who said to the oil to burn will say to the vinegar that it should burn. A Baraitha adds : It burnt continually the whole day, so that they used its light for the blessing at the conclusion of the Sabbath. 3 The 1 When R. Simeon b. Lakish in jer. Ma'as. sheni, V, 56 d. 7 Hull. 86a said, Since certain Jews had come up to Palestine from Babylonia, and the flax was never smitten and the wine never turned sour, the scholars thought of the merits of R. Hiyya and his sons. Of much earlier times Sifra Lev. 26. 4, HOd reports : In the days of Simeon b. Shetah and Queen Salome the rain fell every Friday night, so that the wheat grew to the size of kidneys, the barley to that of olive stones, and the lentils to that of gold denars. So the piety of the two righteous personalities secured abundance of food for everybody. Cf. Sifre Deut. 11. 14. 42, 80 a. 2 In Ta'an. 24 b it is reported that, when he was once on the road and it rained, he prayed, Master of the Universe, everybody is at ease, only Haninah is in trouble; and the rain stopped. On reaching home he prayed, Master of the Universe, everybody is in trouble (owing to the drought), only Haninah is at ease ; and the rain fell again. The report is in many respects without a parallel. 3 In Gaster's nVB'yD 'D, No. 163, 116, his wife asked him on the Friday what food they would have for the Sabbath, and his daughter asked what they would light for the Sabbath ; to his wife he replied, God will have JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 97 Sabbath had already begun, when R. Haninah heard his daughter's account ; the vessel could no longer be exchanged, and no other lamp must be lighted, but evidently the vessel filled with vinegar was burning. To R. Haninah's mind oil was a liquid just as vinegar, and as such had no inherent quality to make it burn, it is God who by His will bestowed on it at the creation that special force; if He wills it, He can confer that power in the same way on any other liquid which in our experience does not at present possess it. R. Haninah's words ma}* have been meant as a declaration of God's might, possibly also as a wish ; but his strong faith uttered them as a statement of assured certainty. Did he, according to the author of the report, in his own opinion possess the power of making God bring about the miracle 1 For it is God and not R. Haninah who can change the nature of vinegar ; and the miracle happened, because he expressed his certainty that God would act to that effect. 1 It should be noted that the report in its present form consists of two distinct parts, the first begins in Aramaic, but soon goes over into Hebrew, and finishes with R. Haninah's statement ; then a Baraitha relates the miracle. The same is noticeable in the next report. A female neighbour of R. Haninah, while building her house, found that the beams were too short for it. When she came to him and told him of her trouble, lie asked her for her name and, in addressing her by it, 2 said, Ibbu, Ibbu, may mercy, and to his daughter he said, Light what is in that vessel. The wife made a fire in the empty oven and the latter was miraculously filled with bread ; and when the daughter found that the vessel contained vinegar, R. Haninah spoke the words quoted in the text. When the Sabbath approached, R. Haninah sanctified the Sabbath by pronouncing the blessing over the bread, the daughter lighted the lamp. &c. 1 A miracle happened in a different form to a Sabbath lamp in Gen. r. 60. 16 : As long as our mother Sarah lived, the lamp was burning from one Friday night to the other, but after her death the lamp failed ; when Rebekkah came into the tent, the lamp's strength returned. In Pesikta r. 23, 117 b R Eleazar b. Jeremiah (in Gen. r. 11. 2 R. Eleazar. see Theodor reports, I once lighted the lamp on a Friday evening, and it burnt till Sabbath night, and I found it then still full of oil, nothing was missing. 2 It was according to the evidence in Rabbinovicz U'N. not 13'N. G 98 SOME TYPES OF thy beams extend ! (A Baraitha continues : they extended, so that they projected one cubit on each side ; some say, they added parts). 1 Another Baraitha proceeds: ' Pelimo says, I saw that house, and its beams were projecting a cubit on each side, and I was told that it was the house which R. Haninah had covered with beams by his prayer.' The author of the last part who was a contemporary of R. Jehudah I, 2 specially mentions that R. Haninah's prayer brought about the miracle. But he does not say what occa- sion there was for such an intervention, whether it was the extreme poverty of a helpless widow or some other grave trouble from which R. Haninah in his compassion thought it his duty to liberate her ; for that he should have invoked God's miracles for anybody and at any time, is hardly credible. The fragmentary nature of the three statements put next to each other is probably responsible for the incom- pleteness of connexion. The first part in Aramaic ends with R. Haninah's wish to the woman for which he, as magicians would, required her name. In another Aramaic account, mentioned before, the wife of R. Haninah was once tired of her abject poverty, and she induced him to pray to God for material assistance; 3 and in answer to it God sent him the golden leg of a table. Soon after he saw in a dream, how all the righteous men in heaven were eating at tables having three legs, while his table had only two legs. When he told his wife of his dream, she induced him to pray to God that the golden leg be taken back ; and so it happened. A Baraitha continues : ' The second miracle was greater than the first (for they had a tradition that God gave, but did not take back).' For a righteous man should not ask for material help, as his reward is awaiting him in heaven, and this should not be reduced by the granting of requests on earth. His wife, ashamed of her poverty, used every Friday to light a fire 1 The part in brackets is absent in the Munich MS. and other texts. 2 Menah. 37 a and Baraitha Berakh. 48 b bottom. 3 In some texts (see Rabbinovicz) she induced him to pray for an instal- ment of his future reward in the world to come. See Yelamd. Exod. 11 b. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 99 in her oven, to produce the impression upon her neighbours that she was making preparations for the Sabbath. When once a wicked neighbour who knew her poverty saw the smoke rise from R. Haninah's house, she knocked at the door to see what was going on there. The poor wife of R. Haninah in her shame withdrew into a corner; but meanwhile a miracle happened : the oven was tilled with bread and the kneading trough with dough. When the inquisitive neighbour called out, ' Bring a shovel, for thy bread is getting burnt ', the poor woman replied, ' For that purpose have I come here.' A Baraitha continues : ' Also she went in to fetch a baker's shovel, for she was used to miracles.' The whole account is in Aramaic, except the Baraitha ; and this seems to differ from the main story in which the miracle happened only to silence the wicked, unwelcome visitor, and to protect the pious woman from being put to shame. In the Baraitha R. Haninah's wife is described as having before experienced several miracles, and therefore justified in expecting another; her husband had no share in all this. The exaggeration is too great even for the house of R. Haninah ; and there is no doubt that the strange stories all belong to one class of later expansions of the originally plain accounts. Their date seems to be that of the Tanna Pelimo who, as shown above, quoted his having seen the wonderful house that had been covered with beams by R. Haninah's prayer. Unfortunately the information extant does not enable us to trace the gradual growth of the legends from the year 100 to 200; but it is most instructive to note that the Palestinian Talmud has preserved no account of any of the miracles, 1 1 Except the one about R. Haninah's table giving way at his meal on a Friday night, because his wife had forgotten to tithe the spices which she had borrowed from a neighbour for the preparation of that meal, jer. Damm. I, 22 a. 40. Line 43 reads : When once R. Tarfou was having his meal, a piece of bread fell from his hand ; when asked what it meant, he said, I borrowed an axe and prepared my levitically pure food with it. In comparing the two incidents we see clearly that the occurrence at R. Haninah's table was similar to that of R. Ttirfmi, and not a miracle. G 2 100 SOME TYPES OF though Pelimo was a Palestinian Tanna. The interest of the Babylonian teachers in those stories was greater ; and just as Rabh's statement about R. Haninah was preserved in the Babylonian Talmud, so also the legendary Baraithas about him were repeated in the schools in Babylonia. Gradually they were told in Aramaic, and only one frag- ment of the original Baraitha was quoted as evidence in Hebrew, a method frequently to be observed in accounts cited in the Talmud. The uncertainty of the tradition as to whether the incident happened to R. Haninah or to R. Pinhas b. Yair concerns only the sober, historical accounts preserved also in Palestinian sources ; and it must have begun fairty late, as the name of R. Pinhas b. Kama, a Galilean teacher of the first half of the fourth century, in connexion with the account of R. Haninah's scrupulous honesty seems to suggest. R. Haninah b. Dosa has been declared by those scholars who identify the Hasids with the Essenes, to have been a Hasid, though the early accounts all designate him only as a man of deed, and distinguish him clearly from the Hasids. 1 But how many of the numerous details of his 1 Tos. Sofcah, XV, 5: ,,1^0 '"'3X l!?B3 NDH p K3^n '31 nCfcTO r6lD3 n^p P 'OV raK nD'J'D; Baraitha Sotah 49 b bottom: p "D1" NUN nntrD , nsryo "B>JN ii>B3 NDH p won ' 1^3 ; jer. IX, 24 c. 25 : "E>JN 1pD2 NDH p WJH ' nvpon B>JK ipos MIYODP DV '3ii NI^DH -DV ui nocio Weiss, Zur Geschichtt der jM. Tradition, I, 109, calls R. Haninah, a con- temporary of R. Johanan b. Zakkai and R. Gamaliel II, one of the ancient pious men. His source for that statement is Berakh, V, 1 : The ancient pious men waited a while before reciting the prayer, in order to direct their hearts to their Father in heaven ; N^ 101^3 !>KW "J^D?! I^EK p'Da* i6 13pV hy ina trnj v ib'SNl 1J3'K>\ even if the king greets him, he must not answer (during prayer\ and even if a serpent is wound round his heel, he must not interrupt. Already the subjects and the suffixes referring to them in the singular make it clear that the sentence does not continue the previous statement about the pious men in the plural. In addition, the first sentence reports a fact of the past, while the second gives directions about the conduct of a man engaged in prayer, so that a connexion between the two is not possible. Weiss, of course. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY IOI life and his activities agree with the picture drawn by the various writers of antiquit}^ of the Essenes ? Philo : says, 'Among all men they alone are without money and without possessions, but nevertheless they are the richest of all, because to have few wants and live frugally they regard as riches.' Not even this statement hts R. Haninah who was living with his family not frugally, but in real, oppressive poverty that transcended everything reported of the Essenes. His truthfulness and honesty could be quoted as Essenic. if anything special concerning those virtues were known of the Essenes that was not equally strongly emphasized by the rabbis. The most characteristic facts, his prayers for the sick and his strictness in tithing, have no parallels in Philo or Josephus. Nor is anything reported similar to the advice and help which individuals or a community in distress sought of him ; as even Hippolytus' interesting sentence about the Essenes, ' Special zeal they manifest in offering sympathy and succour to those in distress ', does not suggest anything like R. Haninah's attitude, when the daughter of Nehunyah, the digger of pits, fell into a pit, or when several persons were bitten by a serpent. The gift of prophecy which Josephus proves in several instances as most remarkable in some Essenes who imparted the art of prediction to their disciples, is not to be found in R. Haninah who, unlike those Essenes, emphatically declined saw the difficulty, but assumed that originally also the second sentence was an account of the habits of the pious men, but the redactor of the Mishnah changed it into a rule. Now, as the second part is illustrated by R. Haninah b. Dosa's conduct in Tos. Berakh. Ill, 20; jer. V, 9 a. 56, he belonged, in the opinion of Weiss, and Kohler in Jew. Enc., V, 225 b top, to the ancient Hasids. It is true that the parallel Baraitha Berakh. 32 b bottom reports the same incident of a TDP! ; but what happened in the Babylonian schools is clear, and known from other instances : in the place of the name originally mentioned, and still preserved in the Baraitha in jer. and Tos., but lost in those schools, the word TDP1 was put. A simple analysis of the Mishnah and a comparison with the Baraithas preserved which formed its sources show convincingly that the redactor of the Mishnah never intended any connexion between the two sentences. Cf. Kohler in Neumark's Journal, I, 1019, 31. 1 De vita contempl., ed. Conybeare, 53. 206 ; Kohler in Jew. End.. V, 227a. ff. 102 SOME TYPES OF to be considered a prophet. When Josephus referred to the morning prayer of the Essenes, he would not have missed the opportunity to refer to the devotion which is specially mentioned about the ancient pious men and R. Haninah, had the Essenes in this respect surpassed the Pharisee teachers. On the other hand, there is no trace of R. Haninah's observance of levitical purity, as he not only mixed, as far as one can see, freely with the inhabitants of his town who visited him, but even took a dead serpent to the school, and ignored the immediate defilement ; no immersions or fre- quent purifications of his are mentioned. He was a rabbi and teacher, while no reference is made to such among the Essenes. It is true, the rabbinic reports considered are not sufficient to provide parallels to many of the characteristic features of Essenism : but they contain sufficient material for the establishment of several essential differences between R. Haninah and the Essenes. On the other hand, he cer- tainly exhibited in his attitude towards his fellow-men the love and sympathy of the Hasid, and his humility and deliberate self-abasement were those of Hillel ; so that his description as a man of deed seems to have viewed his acts of love, and not miracles. As no trade nor any regular daily work seems to have claimed his time and his attention, it is probable that he devoted his life to the service of his fellow-men, and that all his energies and the activities of those who bore the same title were given to deeds of loving- kindness. 1 7. The men of deed and the pious men, as we have seen, took part together in the popular Feast of Water-drawing held in the second night of Tabernacles on the Temple Mount ; this was certainly not due to their alleged Essenism, unless the whole, still enigmatic feast could be proved an Essenic creation and institution.- But again we find o 1 See also Schlatter, Jockanan b. Zakkai, 58 ff. 2 That the pious men of both groups danced before the assembled people with burning torches in their hands was certainly not peculiar to them as Essenes, as E. Simeon b. Gamaliel I who is well-known by his JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 103 Hillel on a similar occasion teaching in a like manner; and as the pious men spoke about a sinless life, sin, repentance, and forgiveness, he referred to the relation between God and man as affecting conduct and religion. As his sentences very probably reflect the same spirit as theirs, they deserve, for the sake of the pious men, a few words of explanation. Hillel, the old, said, 1 ' To the place which my heart loveth, my feet carry me ; (God says). If thou comest to My house, I shall come to thy house, but if thou comest not to My house, I shall not come to thy house, as it says in Exod. 20. 24, In every place where I cause My name to be men- tioned, I will come to thee and bless thee.' The parallel Baraitha expressly states the occasion : ' It is reported of Hillel, the old, that when he rejoiced at the joy of the Water- drawing, he said this, (God says), If I am here, all is here, but if I am not here, who is here ? 2 He also said, To the place which I love my feet carry me. (God says). If thou comest to My house, &c. :! When Hillel, the old, saw the people observe the feast in a lighthearted mood, he said to them, Though we are here, who is here ? (we count for nothing), for does God need our praises '\ Is it not written, Dan. 7. 10, Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him 1 When he saw them observe the feast properly, he said, If we were not here, who would be here ? For though praises are offered to Him, Israel's praises are more pleasing to Him than all the rest, according to 2 Sam. 23. 1 ; Ps. 22. 4.' 4 activities during the last war against the Romans in 66-70, and who with R. Johanan b. Zakkai was at the head of the Beth-din in Jerusalem, is reported to have exhibited similar clever tricks of a juggler on the Temple Mount, Tos. Sukk. IV, 4; jer. V. 55 c. 1 ; Baraitha b. 53 a. 1 Tos. Sukk. IV, 3 ; in Mekhil. 20. 24. 7:5 b R, Eliezer b. Jar. b appears as the author; evidently he was mentioned only as the tradent in the name of Hillel, and the latter fell out ; Bacher, I, 5. 2 See, however, the different interpretation of the Tosafoth. 3 Sukk. 53 a; ARN. 12, 28 a. 4 Jer. Sukk. V, 55 b. 72 ; in a shorter form in '2 ARN. 27, 28 a : ,0^^101 DHOW DIN *m mNicyn rva by aw rms? fprn bbna rrj'ye E &6ni Dibs irrapi last? anK D'jnv onb ->EN Dab roa^' nrns nto 104 SOME TYPES OF Hillel tried to impress it upon the large and merry crowd on the Temple Mount that neither their great numbers nor their festive joy in themselves counted anything as a mani- festation of worship, unless God was present, that is, unless the purity of their sentiments and their devotion in joy brought to them God's acceptance and His presence in their midst. Like David. Hillel loved the Temple as God's habitation, and that is why he came there ; his visit to the Temple Mount on the festival of pilgrimage was not mere obedience to duty, but the genuine desire of his heart to appear before God. God again wished the Jew to visit His Temple, it was not indifferent to Him ; and, in Hillel's view, in order to induce them to come to His house. God made His visit to the house of the individual Jew con- ditional on the latter's appearance in the Temple. As the continuation shows, Hillel did not mean merely the physical visit on the Temple Mount, but a true and humble worship of God. Considering the views of Professor Bousset and of other prejudiced historians of Jewish religious thought about the alleged Palestinian-Jewish conception of the transcendence of God, it is important to learn incidentally that, in Hillel's opinion to which he gave public and popular expression, God visited the house of every obedient Jew. Just as the pious men of both groups, so Hillel. a teacher of religious conduct like them, availed himself of the oppor- tunity and taught the people, assembled for the merry feast on the Temple Mount, in plain and intelligible language an essential truth about the relation between God and man. As it was for the people a feast of unrestrained joy, and, as the references to the praise of God indicate, a special occasion, perhaps due to the completed ingathering of all fruit, for worshipping Him, it was liable to stimulate self- satisfaction. And the sight of the great masses may have excited pride and levity which would degrade the purer now me>n Tsio ?& nun JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 105 feelings of the worshipper, and make his praise and prayer worthless before God, if not sinful. Only if they are, amid the joy of the day. offered with dignity and from a humble Tieart, will God accept them as the joyful tribute of homage of his people Israel, even in preference to the glorification by His ministering angels. Thus Hillel tried to subdue the overjoyous mood which threatened to degenerate into con- ceit, as unsuitable for the Temple Mount. Was it perhaps also intended to neutralize the employment by the pious men of dances and of the exhibition of the feats of jugglers for winning the confidence and the attention of the people 1 The fact that his great-grandson, R. Simeon b. Gamaliel, displayed the same feats would be strong evidence against such intentions of Hillel. Just as in his teaching, so also in the few words of the pious men there is no trace of mysticism of any kind, no names of God or of angels, 110 esoteric thought of any description, no word or idea beyond the simple principles of the school, nothing to justify the identification of the pious men with mystics or with the Essenes. If, in spite of the total absence of anything characteristic of the latter, they were Essenes. they success- fully concealed their identity on the occasion of their visit to the Temple Mount at the Feast of Water-drawing. It is true, there is equally nothing in the account about their con- duct on the Temple Mount to explain their designation as pious men and men of deed. But this observation alone should warn every student of history that even apparently unusual and specially striking expressions of conduct are not neces- sarily characteristic of the person's general religious atti- tude or of the religious sect to which he otherwise belonged. To declare such traits, without further evidence, as charac- teristic of Essenism, will not satisfy the accepted standards of scientific methods of research. As to the date of these pious men, it lies within the time extending from Hillel to R. Simeon b. Gamaliel I, which, according to a statement of an early Baraitha, 1 covered the whole century before the 1 Baraitha Sbabb. 15 a bottom. 106 SOME TYPES OF destruction of the Temple. The fact that Hillel, like the pious men, addressed the people at the Feast of Water- drawing on the Temple Mount, would suggest that they were contemporaries ; and so the pious men would be iden- tical with those who, like Baba b. Buta, the disciple of Shammai, brought daily sacrifices of atonement or undertook frequently the vow of the Nazirite so as to be able to bring a sin-offering. On the other hand, it is probable that the custom of Hillel and of the pious men of addressing the people was continued by their successors, though there has been no information preserved that R. Gamaliel I or R. Simeon b. Gamaliel I ever did so. And as the latter did on the occasion of the Feast of Water-drawing exhibit feats of jugglery, and all our information about the details of the celebration of that feast refers to the last years of the Temple, the dancing of the pious men with burning torches and the feats of R. Simeon b. Gamaliel I may have belonged to the same time, between the years 50 and 67. 8. We hear again of the ancient pious men in connexion with their prayers : x ' Before reciting the prayer, the ancient pious men waited a while, in order to direct their hearts to their Father in heaven '. It should be noted first that God to whom they addressed their prayers was to them their Father in heaven, as to R. Johanan b. Zakkai in several of his statements, 2 and to many scholars after him. And it is significant that this their conception of God was present in their minds just during their prayers, when it must have determined the sentiment with which they approached Him in their daily devotions. In those moments He was to them not God the Almighty whose greatness overawed His creature, nor God the Creator and Master of all beings to whom the frail mortal and helpless worm from the dust 1 Berakh. V, 1 : Dj)*>BnDl HHS' iW D'iW Vn DW&OH D'TDn WQV2V DTTCtt6 D3b J1X 13113^ HI); some texts of the Mishnah have instead of the last two words D1pOT, see Rabbinovicz. 2 Mekhil. 20. 25, 74 a ; Mekhil. R. Simeon, 116 ; Tos. Baba kam. VII, 6, 7; jer. Hagig. II. 77 a. 66; Tos. II, 1. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 107 appeals for mercy, nor God the king of the Universe from whose rule man cannot hide or escape : but the Father to whom the son without fear or trembling, but in trust and attachment addresses himself. This was not exceptional nor peculiar to this instance of the pious men ; it was the general rule with the rabbis, though it is not only not readily recog- nized, but even deliberately minimized and obscured by certain historians of Jewish-religious thought. Again, the ancient pious men, like any rabbi, considered the concentration of the mind towards God an essential preparation for prayer. The term "D? JIN pia is to be found in numerous sentences and rules of the rabbis of succeeding generations, and we met it in R. Haninah b. Dosa's words about his prayer; 1 but the reference to the pious men is evidently the earliest, as it most probably belongs to the beginning of the first century. The exceptionally high degree of devotion, how- ever, which they demanded of themselves could, as a rule, not be attained amid the distractions of human work and thought, nor by a momentary and quick collection and con- centration of the mind. They required some time for the transition from ordinary thought to devotion in prayer.- Here again Geiger 3 sees in the pious men Essenes, without however stating his reasons for his assumption, just as little as those scholars 4 who take every Hasid to have been an Essene. As to the probable date of these pious men, their designation as D^l^jon D^YDn points to R Jehudah b. Ilai 1 Jer. Berakh. V, 9 a. 64 : nEm p.nn . 2 The explanatory Baraitha in Berakh. 32 b bottom which seems a relatively late comment, took nVK* to mean an hour, multiplied it by nine for the three daily prayers, each requiring a certain time for concentration. the prayer itself, and for the transition from devotion to common thought. and so obtained nine hours required for prayers daily, and then asked, when the pious men found the time for work and study. Incidentally. we learn that the original report on which the Baraitha was based had stated that the pious men waited a while also after their prayers, before proceeding to their occupation. 3 Jud. Zeitschrifl, IX, 1871, 51. 4 Low in Ben Chananja, V, lOOa; Kohler in MGM'J. 37, 1893, i'.ti ; J.Q.R., V, 1893, 403 ; Neumark's Journal, I, 1891). 30ft'.. 108 SOME TYPES OF as the author of the statement used by the redactor of the Mishnah, and to the beginning of the first century as the date of the pious men. Again, in connexion with the old custom of comforting the mourners, an early Baraitha relates : ' Associations, niTOn in Jerusalem visited the houses of mourning, or places where wedding feasts or circumcisions took place, or a temporary grave from which the bones of a dead person were collected for their final interment. Whenever two such functions were held at the same time, the members of the associations gave the preference to the joyous occasions; but the ancient pious men preferred visiting the house of the mourner, for it is said in Eccl. 7. 2, ' It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting : for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart '. l The custom of visiting and comforting mourners is biblical, and was general in Jerusalem also before 70, as R. Eleazar b. R. Sadok related from his own observation, 2 how on the Feast of Tabernacles the men of Jerusalem, with the obligatory palm-branch in their hands, visited the sick and the mourners. The visiting of the sick is expressly reported of scholars in Jerusalem : ' When Abba Saul b. Batnith was ill, our teachers went to see him' 3 ; and also the fact that the Shammaites prohibited the visiting of the sick and the comforting of mourners on the Sabbath, 4 shows that both customs were practised by those whose actions those scholars could influence. And though Abba Saul is 1 Semah. XII : nE uNn rV3 ponpO V.1 D^irNIH D'TOPI . . . nrnpDn na ^N rabo ^ns rp2 ^>N na^> HID -O The same report is given hy R. Eleazar b. R. Sadok in Tos. Megil. IV, 15, but, in the place of the ancient pious, R. Ishmael, a younger contemporary of R. Eleazar b. R. Sadok is mentioned. 2 Baraitha Sukk. 41 b bottom; Tos II, 10; in jer. Ill, 54 a. 46 the words Dv2S Dni? seem to have fallen out. 3 Jer. Besah, III, 62 b. 19: 1DN y n?2^ UTIIIT) 103231 ni NDtyipa K^ao nnm tons' tnn pen pnx pb. 4 Shabb. 12 a bottom. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 109 on account of his title considered an Essene by Dr. Kohler, 1 his visitors during his illness are expressly described as ' our teachers '. Many years before that the disciples visited their master Hillel, 2 and his disciple R. Johanan b. Zakkai was visited by his disciples/' Only a few years after 70, we see the teachers visit R. Tarfon, when he was ill, 4 and R. Eliezer ; R. Haninah b.Teradyon visited R. Jose b. Kisina." And when one of R. Akiba's disciples was, during his illness, not visited by the scholars, the master visited him, and, seeing the effect of his call upon the patient, publicly taught, ' He who does not visit a sick person is sinning as though he shed blood'. 7 And when R. Ishmael lost two sons, R. Tarfon, R. Jose the Galilean, R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah. and R. Akiba went to comfort him. 8 Consequently, it was not a custom peculiar to the Hasids ; apart from the fact that none of the existing reports about the Essenes ever hints that these specially cultivated such visitation. The dogmatic state- ments of Dr. Kohler 10 in no way contribute to the elucidation of the actual conditions and facts ; for he says : ' The syste- matic charity (of the Jews) is undoubtedly a creation of the Chasid-brotherhoods or Essenes who devoted their whole lives to such activity of love. ARN. Ill, 1 7, VIII, 36 ft'. ; Moed kat. 27 b; Semah. XII. They then also traced such activity of love to Abraham, Job, and Daniel, nay even to Malkise- dek.' It is difficult to understand how the word ' undoubt- edly ' escaped from the pen of that scholar, considering that there is no evidence of any kind to substantiate the sweep- ing assertion that the Hasids had anything whatever to do with the institution of systematic charity ; especially as in the only passage, Semah. XII. as already Geiger pointed 1 J. Q. R., XIII, 1901. 572 ff. ; see my 'Am-ha'arts, 209, note ff. 2 Jer. Nedar. V, 39 b. 42. 3 Berakh. 28 b. 4 Jer. Pe'ah, I, 15 c. 37 ; Pesik. r. 23, 123 a. 5 Synh. 101 a. 68 a ; jer. Shabb. II. 5 b. 67; Mekhil. 20. 23. 73 a : Berakh. 28 b. 6 'Abod. z. 18 a. 7 Nedar. 40 a top. 8 Moei kat. 28 b, Baraitha. 9 Geiger, Urschriff, 123 ff, 126. 10 Berliner's Festschrift, 199 ff. Cf. Mekhil. Exod. 13, 19, 24 a. 110 SOME TYPES OF out, the associations that were engaged in work of loving- kindness are distinguished from the ancient Hasids. And is even the slightest detail known about the members of the associations that shared the grief and the joy of others ? And who were the pious men who. according to the con- cluding part of the verse adduced, for educational purposes placed the visit to the mourner higher than that to the house of joy ? And what do the passages referred to by Dr. Kohler prove ? A Hasid who used to help the poor, once journeyed in a terrible storm by sea ; R. Akiba feared that he had been drowned, but God saved the man for his charity. 1 This then is the evidence for the assumed con- nexion between the Hasids and charity ! But by com- paring the Baraitha in Yebam. 12 la that formed the direct or indirect source of the collector of ARN. for that story we find that he or his immediate source turned the learned disciple of R. Akiba, R. Meir, into an anonymous Hasid. As was pointed out above, 2 this is one of the numerous instances in which a later narrator substituted for the express name of a person or for an unnamed man 3 a Hasid, meaning thereby a person distinguished by the one virtue that constituted the point of the incident related, in this instance charity. The same applies to the Hasids in the other passage 4 who went to ransom some captive girls and who, in their strictness of morality, watched over the purity of the maidens. 5 It is true that already the Baraitha 6 reports that incident of a Hasid ; but that it was originally a scholar, probably even mentioned by name, who ransomed and protected the girl, is evident from a comparison of the details of the statement with another Baraitha immediately following about R. Joshua b. Hananiah's political mission to a matrona. In both accounts the acting person was one accompanied by his disciples, in both he lectured to them after the incident, and in both he had a purifying 1 ARN. 3, 9 a. 2 p. 41. 3 ins B*3 ntMJD. 4 ARN. s, 19 a. 5 See R. JK. J., 42, 1901, 220 ff., 223. e Shabb. 127 b. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY Til immersion before the lesson : so that the man in the first report was of the same position as R. Joshua, a scholar whose name was soon lost. 1 R. Jehudah b. Ilai has a further repent about the ancient pious men : they were visited by a disease of the bowels (diarrhoea) - for about twenty days before their death, in order that it should purge everything, so that they might come pure to the world to come, as it says in Prov. 27. 21, The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold. and a man is tried by his praise. 3 As diarrhoea purges the body only, it is not certain whether the visitation inflicted upon the pious men was to effect merely physical, or also moral cleansing. As on the other hand, R, Jehudah ex- pressly stated that the object of the illness was to bring the pious men to heaven pXDT, and this word invariably designates moral purity, innocence ; and as the body does not after death go to heaven (if this is meant, and not the time after the resurrection), it seems fairly certain that the purging did not refer to the body. The word pno . how- ever, is used in both senses. R. Johanan says, On account of a tooth or an eye which is only one part of the body, a slave becomes free,Exod. 21. 26, 27 : how much more should a man become free through visitations that cleanse the whole body ; R. Simeon b. Lakish says, Visitations purge all sins of man. 4 The first is physical, the second moral. R. Yannai demanded a clean body for the use of the Tefillin ; he him- self put them on three days after his illness, to indicate 1 A rich man of Kabul in Galilee, Pesik. 169 b ; Lev. r. 20. 3 ; Kohel. r. 2. 2. 4,is styled in Tanh. WftW 2; B. 3 a Hasid. K. Pin has again puts in a Hasid in Pesik. rab. 23, 119 a in a passage which in Gen. r. 11. 4 reports the same of an unnamed man. 2 Cf. Shabb. 11 a; Sirach, 25. 13, 19, Scheehter in J.Q.It.. Ill, 1891. 697 ff. ; Mekhil. 18. 27, 60 b, bottom. 3 Semah. Ill, end : fnD^nO IT! D^V^Sin D'TDH iTTirP 'HI 1EN pxar iwc? na ion nx p-ioi> HD jnrvD Q-np or nn^ya D^JJB i naa^j oniaan ova &6t rnbr6 roiBTn na ib ps 'n 'jrxn rbm nwB> npioo nrven pbin /pnion ny 03^ nrn pyn -is^ ; jer. vm, 45 c. i . \bnnyy n: bix . . . xS 133^ D^iaan nva sbi nbrb micro s^ na px D^K* DC n piaaio pTio^ni tr 1 ^ piaao omaan DIM naitrn N^K , . , pnio^n npnoo nn*om c" 1 ^. * Shabb. 118b. 5 Kethub. 103 b. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIKTY 113 suffering brings one forgiveness. 1 When R. Eliezer fell ill, and all his former disciples stood round his bed mourning, R. Akiba was calm and composed ; for, so he said to his colleagues, when I saw my teacher enjoy a materially un- disturbed life, I thought, perhaps, God forbid, he has received his reward here on earth (and punishment awaits him after death); but now that I see him suffer, I am glad. 2 Another account of R. Eliezer's last illness relates there that, while R. Joshua, R. Tarfon, and R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah bewailed the impending loss, R. Akiba said to R. Eliezer, pniD' pa'an, 'beloved is suffering', because it brings about repentance. Already R. Akiba's master. Xahum of Girnzo, when suffering terribly from the effects of leprosy, taught his disciple not to complain of suffering, not to raise any questions and doubts about it, but to welcome it. :! R. Eleazar b. R. Sadok taught that God sends suffering upon the righteous in this world, so that they may inherit the world to come; 4 the latter term denoting, as the context shows, the life after death. And such was already the idea of the pious men at the beginning of the first century, who, as R, Jehudah b. Ilai's report indicates, were conscious of not being entirely free from sin, as there is no human being totally sinless (Eccl. 7. 20). For, in his statement about the suffering of the pious men, R. Jehudah did not give his own interpretation of the effects of their illness, but merely recorded the views of the pious men about God's providence and His object in meting out physical suffering. God watches the indi- vidual actions and the whole life of every human being separately, notes among others the approaching end of a pious man, reviews the sum total of his deeds, and appor- tions bliss to his soul. But, when He finds that a few errors 1 Mekhil. 20. 23, 72 b ; Sifre Deut. G. 5. 32, 73 b top. 2 Synh. 101 a bottom, Halevy, D'JV^Sin Jinn Ie, 141);.. R Jer. Shekal. V, 49b. 19; b. Ta'an. 21 a : cf. R. Akiba in Seuuih. VIII; Bacher, I, 320 S. 4 Kidd.40b; ARN. 39, 60 a. H 114 SOME TYPES OF and wrong actions of the righteous may impair and reduce the future happiness of his soul. God in His love for the pious reminds him by the suffering inflicted on him of his few transgressions, and thus leads him to repentance of them, and purges all his sins. There is in God's arrangements a close connexion between visitation as a punishment on earth and sin ; and when God, by an illness of about twenty days' duration, has removed the few stains from the soul of the righteous, He rewards it in heaven for his consistent obedience to His will. All this was the generally accepted doctrine of the rabbis of the first century, and there is in the belief of the pious men nothing to suggest that they were in this respect anything but Pharisees; as J. Lehmann 1 already rightly emphasized that not a single fact reported about the ancient pious men in rabbinic literature agreed with the details given by Josephus about the Essenes. If Baba b. Buta, the contemporary of Herod, 2 might be taken as a typical Hasid, he was certainly not an Essene. For he was a man of wealth, just as another Hasid who owned cattle and land, which decidedly appears to be opposed to Essenic principles ; he was a disciple in the school of Shammai whose teachings he followed, zealous for God's Temple, altar, and sacrifices, and brought daily a guilt- offering for doubtful sins. The Hasids were married, and had children. If they formed in Jerusalem and elsewhere associations of their own, as they appeared as a body of two groups on the Temple Mount at the Feast of Water- drawing, and recruited their adherents from among the pious and the repentant ; and if they engaged in regular deeds of loving-kindness : no distinctly Essenic trait of character or action can be detected in all that. Only in one respect do they seem in their religious practice more active and even more zealous than the Pharisee teachers of their time: in frequent sacrifices of atonement. Apart from their exaggerated fear of sin committed and their desire for frequent atonement, their contemporary Hillel was like 1 R. B. J.. 30, 1895, 185. 2 Baba b. 3 b ff. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 1 15 them a Hasid. Though modern scholars have come to O admit that, in spite of Joseplms' ambiguous assertion, the Essenes did not refrain from offering sacrifices, 1 the un- paralleled zeal of the Hasids in their frequent offerings of atonement is certainly not Essenic.' 2 9. Several Tannaitic statements refer to D^lt^nn D^PT, the ancient scholars, mainly in connexion with rules of levitical purity. And as Frankel, Weiss, and Kohler identify them with the ancient pious men, it will be necessary to analyse at least one of the traditions, to ascertain the exact date of the reference, and to show how hasty the interpre- tation and how flimsy the evidence, and how little justifica- tion there is for the way in which some scholars use sound halakhic information to support their preconceived ideas. In a Baraitha R. Eleazar (b. Shammu'a) of the school of Usha (136-160) reports the stages of the development of a strictly levitical rule, and mentions as the representatives of the first stage the ancient scholars: 3 ' R. Eleazar said, Some of the ancient scholars said, Half a kabh of human bones and half a log of human blood have defiling force for every- thing, but a quarter of a kabh of bones and a quarter of a log of blood have not such defiling force for everything ; others of the ancient scholars said, Also a quarter of a kabh 1 Geiger, Jiid. ZS., IX, 1871, 34; Kohler in Jew. Encydop.,V, 228 b ; Leszynsky, Sadduzaer, 150. 1. 2 Weiss, Zur Gescltichte, I, 110, who places the ancient pious men at the beginningof the Maccabean rising, points out that they could not have been Essenes on account of their numerous sacrifices, and that they were not an organized sect, but individual pious men of an extreme strictness. The incident at the Feast of Water-drawing he places after the defeat of the Syrians by the Maccabees, and refers it to such as had sinned during the Hellenistic movement and were now repentant. 8 Nazir, 53 a; Tos. V, 1, and Ahil. IV, 13; jer. Nazir, VII, 56 o. 30 : an ION ^SaS: f IN mit? jo inx m yb "wi niDvy up ^n oncns vn jnri FIN D-TOIN vn jnvpci ,b:6 ^b m rrymi nioxy yun ntrn niEsy np ^n nos onnnK bv pi n^a ,b^b m rryn-i-i nnab xb bix D^npi nnnb 01 n^ynn niovy yan ,bib m y\b HDD n^-iyi. H 2 Il6 SOME TYPES OF of bones and a quarter of a log of blood have such defiling force. A later Beth-din (authority) said. Half a kabh of bones and half a log of blood have defiling force for every- thing ; but a quarter of a kabh of bones and a quarter of a log of blood have defiling force only for the priestly heave- offering and for sacrifices, but not for the Xazirite and a person about to offer the Passover sacrifice '. Who the two groups of ancient scholars were, is not indicated, and can only- be established by inference. The earliest authorities that, in the records preserved, dealt with the defiling minimum of human bones were the two schools of the Shammaites and the Hillelites. ; The Shammaites say, The quarter of a kabh of bones must be made up of several bones, of two or three (at least) ; the Hillelites say, It must be made up of the body, either of the greater part of the structure (skeleton) or the greater number of the bones ; Shammai said, Even a bone of the spine or the skull V . As their dispute mentions no distinc- tion between the various things to which the defilement might appl}', it seems that Shammai and the two schools knew only the quarter of a kabh as the minimum measure of bones defiling in all possible cases and degrees. And as R. Joshua tried to reconcile the divergent views of the two schools without introducing any qualification as to the application of that measure, he agreed with them on that point ; as he also on another occasion stated that the requirement of the greater part of the structure or a quarter of a kabh of bones applied to the human corpse. 2 Also 1 Baraitha Nazir, 52 b ; 'Eduy. I, 7; Tos. Ahil. Ill, 5: 'NGC' TVa N*3n rvai nrbeno IN D-aera IN Doxyn jo niDsy yan nnow ycnrr 'an IDN .paon ano IN paan ano man p yan nojN -"xctr , . . nriNs bbn rva nam \xrc-* rva nan nisryb jo w iwwn \o osy. 2 'Eduy. VI, end ; Nazir, 51 b : inoS n^NI HO y^l.T 1 ^-fy *6 11ON noxn apii yani an n E"*J ncn nnicN ON N^ nnb -ON .on-a^a , apll yam an 13 PNK' ""Ha ; the same without the name of the author in Tos. 'Eduy. II, 10: H1DN DN N^ ^mcrn vb& N^IHa m HN UTH . . . api yan an ia c*^ noa. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN T1ETY II? R. Akiba who allowed the minimum measure of bones to be made up by bones from two corpses, as also his oppo- nents name as that measure without any qualification a quarter of a kabh. 1 With this view, shared by all the scholars just enumerated, agrees the opinion of one group of the ancient scholars who say that a quarter of a kabh of bones and a quarter of a log of 1 >lood have defiling force for everything. 2 As to the date of these teachers, they could be either earlier than the two schools of the Shammaites and Hillelites, or identical with them, or later than those. But as the two schools and also Shammai agreed 011 the minimum measure required, and there is quoted neither a contemporary nor an earlier scholar who would have differed from that accepted rule, it is most improbable that Shammai's teachers, Shema'yah and Abtalyon, if they knew the problem at all, held a different opinion. On the other hand, the agreement between the two schools continued in the schools of Jamnia and Lydda, as R. Joshua and his opponent, and R. Akiba and his opponents were all unani- mous on the quarter of a kabh of bones. And so we are forced to look for the origin of the controversy between the two groups of the ancient scholars about the absolute or relative defiling force of a quarter of a kabh of bones in the school of R. Akiba at the earliest ; and as there exist two versions of his opinion on this point, a contemporary of his may have raised the problem, and forced him, in his later years, to qualify his original view. If the inference from the existing information about the minimum measure of bones is correct, the dispute between the two groups of the 1 Ohal. II, 6 ; Tos. 'Eduy. I, 7 : rPJTirn D7V2 "3tt' DTID ^wo non f -ONI DTID ^c'D niosy yam OTIO -O^D on D'Darn NDDE xaipy -an Q^JN wo Tin ;. AS to the parallel Baraitha Nazir, 52 a bottom, where R. Akiba requires for the same defilement half a kabh, instead of a quarter of a kabh, of boner;. se<; further. - In Tos. and jer. this view is quoted in the first place, not, as in h., in the second. Il8 SOME TYPES OF ancient scholars about the minimum measure of blood should lead to the same conclusion. Unfortunately no statement of the view of the two schools on that subject has been preserved, and in itself the rule is very difficult. For Num. 19, the biblical source of all the laws on the defiling force of the corpse and its parts, refers to blood neither under the defilement in the tent in vv. 14, 15, nor even under the defilement by touch in v. 16 where the bone is expressly mentioned. And still, when there appears to have been a dispute about the defiling force of blood altogether, 1 it was only as far as its biblical derivation was concerned, the defiling force of it being accepted by all the teachers. The earliest report about the question states, ' R. Akiba said, I once argued before R. Eliezer, Since a bone of the size of a grain of barley, which does not defile a man in the tent, still defiles, by being touched or carried, the Nazirite so that he has to cut his hair : how much more should a quarter of a log of 1 Sifre Num. 19. 11. 125, 44 b: m nm 1n HN SOnr DIN ton nx N'urb DIN c?D3 bzb IDIN wpy ai ^KJW, R. excludes it from the words D"7N D'QJ2 in Num. 19. 13, which refer to defilement by touching the corpse ; R. Akiba includes it on the generalizing word b?b (different in Hull. 72 a). Zuckermandel in MGWJ., 22, 1873, 157, rightly, but without adducing any evidence, notes that in this dispute not the law itself is in question, but only its biblical source. In Ohal. II, 2 an anonymous teacher holds that a quarter of a log of blood from a corpse, and also a mixture of blood part of which came from the body when still alive, and the rest from the same body, when already dead, are defiling ; R. Akiba extends the rule to blood of the same kind even when it came from two bodies. In Ohal. Ill, 5 R. Akiba and R. Ishmaei differ about the measures of the two parts of the mixed blood : QT IflfK "an "inn vn3 rwen y"ra rwDtr UDD NV^ non ,,101011 vyrV) VTa Wai IBIS bNJW Ul , R. Ishmaei holding that the resulting mixture should be two quarters of a log of blood. This shows that he accepted the defiling force of blood ; but it is not certain from the dispute whether he also agreed as to a quarter of a log of blood as the minimum measure in normal cases, or whether he required half a log. It seems that the word C>23 in DIN JJ>33 Num. 19. 11, 13 suggested the extension of the law of defilement to blood, since in Lev. 17. 11 : Kin Dta "iBOn trSJ *3 the t?B3 is declared to be in the blood, Sifre zuta Num. 19. 11, 136. 3 Horovitz. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN 1MKTV 119 blood which does defile a man in the tent, defile, by being touched or carried, the Na/irite so that he should have to cut his hair. R. Eliezer objected, What is this, Akiba, we cannot argue here a minori a3i /iDirn b\>v fsa pat px NTpy nr HD ^ ncx /ivxro ^yi nabn DCN p X^N niDN n& ->b ncs ysrin 11 ui ^si? onm Ti^nr,i. In Sifre zuta Num. 6. 12, 41 R. Joshua said : ^3N "inDnn^l ^pn> S 3X HSII 31^ *-xn by D'con nuf nvyx no. 2 See Baraitha Nazir 57 a top. and cf. Sifri- zuta Num. 19. 11, ISfi, note 3 bottom. 120 SOME TYPES OF group of the ancient scholars must be of a later date than R. Akiba's argument before R. Eliezer and R. Joshua which he submitted to them, when he was still their disciple in Lydda. This date of the dispute about the measure of blood is the same as that obtained for the measure of bones. Now, of R. Akiba's disciples R. Jose b. Halaftha still adhered, without any qualification, to the measure approved of by his master j 1 similarly two other disciples, R. Jehudah and R. Simeon, give varying traditions about R. Akiba's dispute with one of his colleagues about a quarter of a log of blood which came from two corpses, 2 and neither sug- gests any limitation as to the measure. And the same two disciples define the mixture of blood part of which came from the body when still alive, and the remaining part from the same body after death, and the measure of the blood in their rule is, as in R. Akiba's, a quarter of a log. 3 This would show conclusively that R. Akiba at the time, when R. Jose, R. Jehudah, and R. Simeon were his disciples, still taught that a quarter of a log of blood defiled everything like a corpse. 10. But different seems to have been the attitude of the greatest of R. Akiba's disciples, of R. Meir. 4 R. Eleazar said, When I went to 'Ardiskos, I found R. Meir and 1 Tos. Kelim, 1.1.3: WD1 1JHT 7132^1 1pm 3r & 13 TiDH fD JVJP311 1v3"l, see the wording in the ordinary editions. 2 Tos. Ahil. Ill, 1. 3 Tos. Ahil. IV, 11 ; Mishnah. Ill, 5 ; Sifre zuta Num. 19. 11, 137. 4 Tos. Nazir, V, 1 ; b. 56 b ; Mishnah, VII, 4 : TD^nSJ'3 ITV^S Ul 1DK taw rnTia p mim "VKD "an nx vitwo Dipomy^ n pxi rrby nbm TW p m rvjrai IEIN rrvna p mi.T ^a^na /pB'n JD n^p nxr Nnni I^NO s n-i "b new y cnpo nx'-n by rrby pn WN miontr m n^an ^npcn ns s n by vby pa^n ^pn ^noa , nn^na p mirr *an pn^ ^npron nsu ^y rrby r 2 " 11 ^ byy fn i^ IDS X ^DD p yenn^a (nnx) sin -93 ^ nan non JD noio ^a ytniT *an DIB'D ^ "IDN nrn p^a \b ncj n*Mn PNB> HDH pa nND^o bi c^npcn nx^a by rrby pan n^y n^jo enpcn nx^a ^y n^y pan p n^y nbiD. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN 1'IKTY.: 121 Jehudah b. Pethera sitting and discussing a rule; Jehudah b. Pethera said, Tlie Na/irite, when defiled by a quarter of a log of blood, need not cut his hair, and if a man defiled by a quarter of a log of blood enter the Temple, he is not guilty. To this R. Meir remarked, Should that defile- ment be less grave than that by a dead insect ? Since one defiled by a dead insect, which is a lighter defilement, by entering the Temple incurs guilt, how much more should one defiled by a quarter of a log of blood, which is a graver defilement, be guilty. Jehudah b. Pethera answered nothing '. Here we see the defiling strength of a quarter of a log of blood disputed for the first time, and a declaration that that measure of blood is too weak to defile a Xazirite, or to make a man guilty, when he enters the Temple after that defilement. R. Meir did not dispute the first part of the rule stated by Jehudah b. Pethera ; and when he raised an objection against the second, he was reminded by R. Eleazar that R. Joshua b. Hanaiiiah had declared the two parts of the rule interdependent. From whom Jehudah b. Pethera learned the altered rule, cannot be traced, as nothing is known about his teachers; but R. Meir who had nothing to say against the first part and therefore agreed with Jehudah b. Pethera on that point, must have heard of it before. And as his master R. Akiba had taught his disciples the old rule, was perhaps the other teacher of R. Meir, R. Ishmael, 1 responsible for the new formulation of it, who, in connexion with the measure of the component parts of the mixture of blood, 2 required half a log? If there were any probability in this suggestion, the early scholars who disputed about the minimum of blood to defile the Nazirite, would have been R. Akiba and R. Ishmael, though for the corresponding measure of bones no contemporary of R. Akiba who would have differed about that from him, could so far be found. :i The scholars of 1 Jer. Sotah, II, 18 a, 75 ff. ; b. 'Erub. 13 a. 2 nDIIin DT, Ohal. Ill, 5, above, p. 118, 1. 3 That the original minimum was a quarter of a log, is evident from J22 SOME TYPES OF R. Meir's time adopted his view, and it was incorporated all the passages quoted ; also the report of R. Eleazar, as preserved in jer. Nazir and Tos., puts first that group of the ancient scholars that held that view. As to the wording of R. Eleazar's report, it is clear that the first view consisted only of the words : D'JpT VH n3tt?X"n "lTy7N 3p tn Dnnix fnspei rnxy ys-ni m DT^I D-IOIN jnspo DT 217 ''Vm niDXy, as Tos. and jer. have it, containing only the respective measures in dispute, as it was only Jehudah b. Pethera who the first time mentioned the distinction between the defilement of the Nazir and the Temple on the one hand, and that of other things or persons not named on the other. As R. Meir in the end agreed with him, the Mishnah Nazir, VII, 2 codified his view : . . . n?;C TWn niXDlU 17N* 7V on rvya-n (3) ... on 317 "irn ?jn nicsry 3p ^sn pyi pX ... niD^y; as also Symmachos, his disciple, in Baraitha Nazir, 49 b says that R. Meir taught him that Mishnah of which, it is true, he only quotes the beginning. Accordingly, the conclusion of R. Eleazar's report in Tos. Nazir, V, 1 : JTyai IICN DnnnX 72> JH HU -I'?:? m 317 5rro ninvy np *sn o^nppi roonr6 niosy ynm m B'TpO?!, that a later authority held that a quarter of a log of blood and a quarter of a kabh of bones had defiling force for the priestly heave- offering and sacrifices, but that only half a log of blood and half a kabh of bones could defile the Nazirite and a man for entering the Temple, refers to the adoption of Jehudah b. Pethera's and R. Meir's view by the school of Usha of which R. Meir was a member. (In b. N7 73N D'EHpl HBOT^ riDD ntJ^iyi "iTib instead of the general prohibition from visiting theTemple the special instance of one is selected who has to enter the Temple to do his duty and bring the Passover sacrifice ; see the commentators.) The version of R. Eleazar's report in jer. Nazir is altogether incomplete : ppi7n pm na vn roic-ton nty7N p pycr ' s xn m :i7 ^n D'new jnxpo nicxy yan m n^ym DBQ n^N nn 3py ^nn .venpi cnp nxcio^ nma? *3n ''ED nilON Bm pyDtr. The reference to the final decision is missing ; on the other hand, the four words from D1TT37 are certainly out of place, as no corresponding details were stated in the first part. As the statement of the Amora R. Jacob b. Iddi agrees with that in b., and refers to the final decision, it is evident that, owing to a homoioteleuton, a whole part has fallen out in j., and the sentence must have read : JTIOXy yail DT JVyQ-l 11CN DnnHN 7t? pi TV2 vcnpi tnpD nD^i nma? mcvy 2p nrn on 217 vri o^npi nonn? . Rashi on R. Jacob b. Iddi in Nazir, 53 a has : ""DO NinC? N1H Ip'KB' "ID17 *3N7i nnar *:n *BD nos^ notn nw jvboaNi TyoB', and presupposes in the text of the Talmud, beside the reference to the tradition of the last JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 123 by the redactor of the Mishnah as tin: accepted rule. 1 The difficulty however remains, how R. Eleaxar who himself was a colleague of R. Meir in the school of Vslm, could have spoken of the scholars of his own time as onnns* ^ p JYO. when he himself had participated in the final decision, and he himself reported how he had heard Jehudah b. Pethera and R. Meir discuss the whole question, when all was still undecided. First it must be pointed out that in R. Eleaxar 's report about his visit to 'Ardiskos where he heard that discussion, the relation of R. Eleazar to R. Meir is not at all clear : did he go there to meet him as his equal, and was it a visit of respect paid to a scholar who happened to be in the neigh- bourhood, or was he a regular visitor to that place, and was the meeting accidental? From the not quite clear wording of the report it is not even evident, whether R. Eleaxar in the discussion spoke to R. Meir, as he seems to have addressed himself to Jehudah b. Pethera who was younger than R. Meir, and spoke to the latter as a disciple.- In addition, other accounts of R. Meir's stay in 'Ardiskos introduce another teacher who reported R. Meir's decisions in that place. ' R. Simeon b. Eleaxar says, Once we were sitting before R. Meir in the school of 'Ardiskos. when a man said to him ', &c." It was R. Meir's well-known disciple, R. Simeon b. Eleazar. who, as in the previous report Jehudah b. Pethera, sat, with other disciples, before his master, when in 'Ardiskos. ' R. Simeon b. Eleaxar reports, When an old man in 'Ardiskos, for purposes of exact tithing, weighed his basket first full and afterwards empty, R. Meir praised him '. 4 This seems to make it most pro- prophets, another which mentioned in the first place a tradition of Shema'yah and Abtalyon. 1 Nazir, VII, 2 ; Ohal. II, 1, 2. 2 b. rO^m "VNO "ai *JB? pi a^V iVn, see Rashi and Tosafotli. 3 Tos. 'Erub. IX, 4 ; in the parallel Baraitha 'Erub. 29 a bottom : Once R. Meir was in 'Ardiskos for the Sabbath ; jer. Ill, 20 c. 00 : R. Jehudah says, Once R. Meir was in 'Ardiskos for the Sabbath. 4 Tos. Terum. III. 4. 124 SOME TYPES OF bable that also in the report about the discussion between Jehudah b. Pethera and R. Meir in 'Ardiskos not R. Eleazar, but R. Simeon b. Eleazar came to that place to meet his master and, as in the other instances, heard a statement of his in the school. But, if this is correct, it follows also that the final decision about the rule, discussed in 'Ardiskos and reported by R. Eleazar in connexion with the dispute between the early scholars about the defiling force of blood and bones, was related not by R. Eleazar but by R. Simeon b. Eleazar. In fact, in jer. this very name is given ; and though this part of the wording of the account is not at all free from doubt, it is certain that the name is correct. 1 But there is no doubt whatever that the ancient scholars whom Frankel, Weiss, and Kohler identified with the ancient Hasids, and whom they placed in the early years of the Maccabean movement, were rabbis, at the earliest, of the beginning of the second century; exactly as the ancient scholars referred to by R. Jose b. Dormaskith 2 were mem- bers of the school in Jamnia. Of an earlier date were the ancient scholars mentioned in connexion with another point of levitical purity. The account reads, ' And the woman that is sick in her separa- tion, Lev. 15. 33, the ancient scholars said, She should not paint her eyelids, nor rouge her face, nor adorn herself with a coloured dress ; until R. Akiba came and taught that, if you insist on that, you make her look ugly in the sight of her husband, and he will divorce her '.''' These ancient scholars lived before R. Akiba ; but how long before cannot be deter- 1 See the different arguments of Zuckermandel in MGWJ., 22, 1873, 153-163. 2 Tos. Yad. II, 16, above p. 78, note 2. 3 Baraitha Shabb. 64 b ; jer. Gitt. IX, 50 d. 42 ; Sifra Lev. 15. 33, 79 c : tfh oipsn Nh hrtDn vbw DEK D'oi^&nn n^pr /irrm nnm by njao nnx p DN no^i NTpy -an N2t? ~iy ^^ nrrm nm33 nnm io -noiri no N!>N /IB tfOS NUnt? iy Nnn. InSifra: the matter will lead to ill-feeling, and the husband will desire to divorce her. Neither Sifra nor jer. has the coloured dress. JEWISH- PALESTINIAN I'IKTY 125 mined. 1 Their strictness in tlic separation of the menstru- ous wife is the same as reported by K. Simeon b. Elea/ar of some unnamed early authority ; he said, 2 ' How far levitieal purity spread in Israel! The early (scholars) did not pre- scribe that a levitically pure person must not eat with a menstruous woman, for the early (men) did not eat with menstruous women: but they said, A man who has a running issue shall not eat with a woman who has a run- o ning issue, because it offers an occasion for sin '. As the Shammaites'' 1 prohibited a man who observed the law of levitieal purity on his food, but who had a running issue, from eating with a man who did not observe the law of levitical purity and who had a running issue, while the Hillelites permitted it, it is most probable that the early scholars just mentioned were the Shammaites. Apart from this, R. Akiba opposed arid displaced from practice- other strict rules of the Shammaites which were in vogue in his time: 4 so that it follows with great probability from his opposi- tion in this case that the authors of the earlier rule were the Shammaites. In any case, there is no occasion for seeing in the ancient elders any but scholars of the school of the Shammaites between 70 and 100."' But it is hardly 1 Frankel, Hodegetica, 41 ; I. Halevy, D^Vw'Sin nnVt. I c, 285 a. 2 Tos. Shabb. I, 14 : milD nXlE P'H IS? ITV^X p pyC'J' '21 1EN rmn oy -lino ^to N^ ncii? cp;v^x-in mn xb ^s-ura 'JBn ram ny nrn ^N" i> nos *bx nn^:n ay pioiN vn si? ; injer. I. 3b. 73 and b.!3a D^ltt'Xin is missing. 3 Baraitha jer. Shabb. I, 3 c. 3 ; Tos. I, 15; b. 13 a: 'NOU* H'2 OH i"Tno ^n n*ai pxn ay ar cy c-ns nr brs" N^ cnciN.. 4 Tos. Pesah. I, 7 ; b. 21 a ; Tos. Mof-d kat. II. 10: Xedar. IX. : Tos. V, 1; cp. Nedar. Ill, 2 ; Ma'as. slieni. V, 8 ; II, 4 ; 'Eduy. I, 8. 5 In the rule of the ancient scholars about levitical purity quoted by R. Jose 1 in Tos. Ahil. IV, G, there is no indication whatever of a date, except the Greek word D^DBp which may have been substituted later for a Hebrew word ; but R. Jose's tradition would probably not take u> beyond the Shammaites. The same applies probably to the argument f the ancient scholars about the levitical defilement in L-v. 5. 2 in Sifra 22 d bottom, as it is not clear whether K. Akiba's different inter- pretation had theirs in view. 126 SOME TYPES OF necessary to add that in all these passages no reference to Essenes was intended ; for the strict separation of the men- struous woman is, as far as our information goes, nowhere stated or even suggested as a peculiarity of the Essenes, as little as the strict observance of the points of levitical purity discussed above. Beyond dogmatic assertions neither Frankel, nor Weiss, nor Kohler have adduced the slightest evidence of a scientific character to prove the identity of the ancient scholars with the Essenes. Naturally, there must have been many points of strict religious observance common to the rabbis and the Essenes ; but this very fact should be sufficient warning to scholars against the favourite inference from a peculiar observance or practice of any man in rabbinic literature who can- not otherwise be classified, that he was an Essene. Let this warning, in conclusion, be illustrated by a reference to a non-legal instance taken from Josephus. He reports 1 that Sameas and Pollion refused to take the oath of fealty to Herod, just as did the Essenes. The reason of the latter was their principle, never to swear, for in their opinion it was worse than perjury. 2 And what was the reason of the Pharisee teachers ? Instead of admitting that in matters of oaths these observed the same principle as the Essenes, Dr. Kohler 3 says, ' Whether Sameas and Pollio, the leaders of the Academy, who also refused to take an oath, belonged to the Essenes, is not clear '. The question and the doubt have no foundation whatsoever. For Josephus reports first that the Pharisees refused to take the oath, the Essenes followed only in the second place ; and then he expressly states in the account itself 4 that not only the two leaders, but also their followers and their disciples note the two groups in his words were asked by Herod and refused to 1 Antiquit. XV, 10. 4. 370. 2 Josephus, Wars, II, 8. 6. 135 ; Philo, Quod omnis probus 12, II, 458. 3 Jew. Encycl. V, 224 b. 4 Herod avviirfiOtv Sf Kal TOVS wtpl Ho\\iowa TOV $apiy the adjective 'the Pharisee' which probably referred also to Sameas. 1 The Essenes only adopted the Pharisee principle ; any other explanation, at least in this instance, is unnatural and inadmissible. Had our literature preserved more information of that kind about rules of action and religious doctrines and practices common to both sections of Palestinian Jews, scholars would have been more cautious in their unjustified reference of rabbinic material to the Essenes. And even the prophetic gift or the train- ing in prophesying of which Josephus is speaking as frequently and as emphatically as possible, 2 he reports once of the Pharisees 3 who prophesied to Pheroras and his wife and their descendants that they would rule over Judaea, and to the eunuch Bagoas that he would be called father and benefactor. 4 The Pharisees were believed to know the future by the appearance of God (in a dream). Unless we assume that Nicolas of Damascus, the author of Herod's biography, copied by Josephus often verbally, mistook the Essenes for Pharisees, but intended here Essenes as prophets, we shall have to concede the prophetic gift of an entirely different kind to some Pharisee teachers of Hillel's time, 5 and not infer from the attribution of that capacity to a man whose religious position is otherwise unknown, that he was an Essene. 1 In Aniiqu.lt. XVII, 2. 4. 42 Josephus gives as their number more than six thousand, and expressly states that they were Pharisees ; as Dr. Kohler himself admits in adding that they were scarcely different from those elsewhere called Essenes. 2 Antiquit XIII, 11. 2. 311, XV, JO. 5. 373, XVII, 13. 3. 346 : liars. I. 3. 5. 78, II, 7. 3. 113, II, 8. 12. 159. 3 Antiquit. XVII, 2. 4. 43. 4 See Schiirer. Geschkhte, II 4 , 599. 5 Josephus speaks of his own capacity as an interpreter of dreams. Wars, III, 8. 3. 351, ; his prophecy cf Vespasian's emperorship, Wars, III. 8.9; Sucton., Vesp. 5; Dio Cassius, 66; Schiirer, I, 76; and the interpre- tation of the portenta in Wars, VI, 5. 3. 291. Ill THE PIOUS MEN IN THE PSALMS OF SOLOMON THE eighteen psalms which form this collection and are known as Psalms of Solomon, have been preserved in Greek, but are assumed to have originally been composed in Hebrew by one or several Pharisees in Jerusalem between the years 70 and 40B.C.E. They express the religious views and sentiments of a section of Jews in Jerusalem who called themselves or were termed oa-toi, by which word LXX renders Ton in the biblical Psalms. 1 From the numerous references to the pious men in the Psalms of Solomon Wellhausen and Ryle-James 2 reconstructed the character of the piety of the Judaean Pharisee of the year 50 B. c. E. ; and without entering more deeply into the spirit of his special type in these poems, they declared that he closely approached the type drawn in the New Testament. As the commentators agree that these pious, righteous, God-fearing men were evidently not Essenes, they could very well have been the immediate predecessors and teachers, and in manj- instances even the fathers, of the pious men in the time of Hillel, discussed in the preceding chapter, if only the type of their piety proves to be the same. It is true, these psalms deal with the conquest of Jerusalem by Pompey and the slaughter of many thousands of Jews; a catas- trophe which by its suddenness and greatness brought out certain features of the religious character of the pious, made manifest by terror, submission, resignation, and faith, and consequently different from the traits of piety preserved in rabbinic literature. The fear of the approaching Roman 1 Wellhausen, Pharisder und Sadducaer, 116, and other commentators. 2 Psalms of the Pharisees, by H. E. Ryle and M. R. James, Cambridge. 1891. SOME TYPES OF JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 129 army, the siege and the conquest of the city, the desecra- tion of the Temple, the overthrow of the Sadducean king Aristobul II, the destruction of rulers and warriors, and the suffering of the whole population, including the pious, form the subjects of the author's religious meditations. They afford him the opportunity for expressing his feelings about God's justice and its execution, about sin and atonement, the love of God and patient .submission, and various other religious problems of life. Naturally, it was a one-sided, though varied experience ; but its instructive details con- stitute important evidence of the religious attitude of the pious men in Jerusalem, especially as they offer a few characteristic points identical witli the rabbinic data about the pious, and supplement our knowledge about them to a considerable extent. And as the psalms represent non- rabbinic literature, they enable us to test some of the results of the preceding chapters. 1. An incident in the author's private life, in no way connected with his relations to his neighbour, allows an insight into his thoughts about a terrifying dream which stirred his fears and his hopes, his religious belief, and his faith in God. (6. 6), 1 ' He ariseth from his sleep, and blesseth the name of the Lord : (7) when his heart is at peace, he singeth to the name of his God, and he en- treateth the Lord for all his house. (8) And the Lord heareth the prayer of every one that f eareth God, and every request of the soul that hopeth for Him doth the Lord accomplish. (9) Blessed is the Lord, who showeth mercy to those who love Him in sincerity.' As he is referring to his own dream, he describes in those lines his own mental and religious attitude as of one who fears God, loves Him sincerely, and trusts in Him. No explanation of these' qualities is given, nor is the way indicated in which they were realized in his actions and his life. But they are 1 familiar as characteristic of the pious man in the biblical 1 The translation of Prof. B. Gray in Charles, The Apwrypha and Pseudepigrapha, 1913, vol. II. I 130 SOME TYPES OF Psalms ; and already his stress on the sincere love of God proves him a truly religious man who is attached to his God. As he does not boast of those his qualities, and in the whole psalm never even refers to himself directly, he does not seem to have belonged to the self-righteous. He shared the belief of his time and of his class that evil dreams fore- told trouble. But (4) ' at what he sees in his bad dreams, his soul shall not be troubled ; (5) when (in his dream) he passes through rivers and the tossing of the seas, he shall not be dismayed '. He differed from some of his neighbours by the firmness of his heart which rested on his faith ; and this prompted him, immediately on rising from his disturbed sleep, to bless and praise God, and to pray to Him to obviate the trouble indicated by the dream, and to grant him and his house mercy. He felt reassured that God had listened to his prayer, and will fulfil his request. And such cer- tainty he did not derive from the great number of ' works ' performed in accordance with the law, nor did he present those to God as a bill of claims, nor accompany it by an insistent demand for the equivalent reward; but all he expected in his firm reliance was that God would show 4 mercy ' to those who love Him sincerely. It is true, Well- hausen interprets mercy to be merely another word for reward ; but such assertions may be ignored. The psalmist's true piety is evident from his plain words, and need fear no comparison. 1 The opening lines contain further informa- tion about his faith : (1) ' Happy is the man whose heart is fixed to call upon the name of the Lord; (2) when he remembereth the name of the Lord, he will be saved. (3) His ways are made even by the Lord, and the works of his hands are preserved by the Lord his God '. It is not given to the worldly man, when his mind is anxious, to be ready for prayer ; for God is not his first thought. But He ip near to the soul of the pious man, and he traces his weal and his woe so naturally to God that, on rising from his 1 The parts of his prayer deserve attention : first he blessed God, then he sang praise to Him, and last came the personal request. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 131 disquieting dream, he at once turns to Him for protection. Such a prayer is wholly dissociated from any artificial preparations with which some scholars, without any justifi- cation, credit the Pharisee; it is the natural, spontaneous outpouring of his religious feeling. Such a man is happy, for his heart is ever ready for invoking the help of God which, in his conviction, will soon be granted. 1 God re- moves the trouble indicated by the dream, smoothes the path of the pious man, and preserves his work undisturbed. 2 In calling Him his God, he expresses his close and intimate attachment to Him. 2. Trouble and distress of another kind stirred up and revealed other sentiments of our author, (5. 7) ' God, when we are in distress, we call upon Thee for help, and Thou dost not turn back our petition, for Thou art our God. (8) Cause not Thy hand to be heavy upon us, lest through necessity we sin. (9) Even though Thou restore us not, we will not keep away ; but unto Thee will we come.' Though the biblical Psalms may have suggested to the writer the expression, the urgency of the prayer and the assurance of God's hearing on his own behalf and on that of his fellow-sufferers, which found such words, were his own. Some trouble was weighing upon them ; he knows that it is due to the hand of God. It had continued for some time, and there seemed to be no prospect of relief ; but the repeated disappointment not only did not turn away the pious men from God, but attached them to Him all the more closely, and our author, their spokesman, prayed again. For he was firmly convinced that God alone was sending all the distress, and that He alone could, and certainly would, remove it. To press his urgent call for relief, he reminded God that the sustained sufferino- O might break the strained faith of the heart, which was only human, and lead him thereby to sin. As to the nature of 1 See Hebrew Psalm 18. 4. 2 The same in 10. 3 : For He maketh straight the ways of the righteous, and doth not pervert (them) by His chastening. I 2 132 SOME TYPES OF such sin, Ryle-James refer to Prov. 30. 8, Feed me with the food that is needful for me, . . . lest I be poor, and steal, and use profanely the name of my God ; and to Isa. 8. 21, It shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse by their king and their God. Though the two commentators continuously point to the dependence of our author on the Bible ; and though the two parallels adduced fully cover the case ; and though it is borne out by v. 19, ' If a man abound overmuch, he sinneth', which is identical with the continuation of Prov. 30. 9, Ryle-James are not satisfied with their natural explanation. Urged on by some instinct to search for hidden meanings, they suggest a forced, impossible alter- native : ' The prayer . . . contains a hidden allusion to the laws of cleanliness in matters of food, concerning which the Pharisees were minutely particular. In times of scarcity, the difficulty of keeping to the letter the rules which regulated their food, became increasingly formidable ; and the liability to sin, i. e. to transgression of the law, was proportionately aggravated.' The learned authors' information about Jewish life under the legislation of the Pharisees is but pure imagination ; for the law assumed by them, as far as I know, never existed, and unless they quote in full, and give the date and place of their source, their statement is void of all force. Were they speaking of priests of the first century B. c. E. and of priestly food of a sacred character, the bare possibility of the existence of such a rule could be granted ; but where is a trace to be found of its observance in those days by a non-priest ? Even a full century after the Psalms of Solomon (and levitical law did develop in a century), few priests, and non-priestly scholars only in exceptional cases, still handled their food in accordance with the rules of levitical purity, and such scholars are enumerated by name in the Mishnah. 1 'Jose b. Joezer was a pious man among the priests, and his mantle was impure for sacrificial meat; i Hagig. II, 7. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 133 Johanan b. Gudgeda (the Levite) ate his food throughout his life in the purity of sacrificial meat, and his mantle was impure for the ashes of the red heifer.' Both lived in the last decades of the second Temple in Jerusalem. 1 After the destruction of the Temple R. Gamaliel II and Akylas the proselyte are reported to have kept their food in levitical purity ; 2 and even priests were either ignorant of those rules, 3 or did not observe them. 4 And as a closer parallel to the conduct of the Pharisee assumed by Ryle-James, the following incident may be quoted. ' R. Eleazar b. R. Sadok said, When I learned Torah with R. Johanan of Hauran, I noticed in a year of drought that he was eating dry bread with salt (nothing with it). When I told my father of it, he sent olives to him through me ; but when R. Johanan saw that they were wet, he said to me that he did not like olives. When I reported it to my father, he said, Tell him that the cask (from which the olives were taken) had a hole (in its bottom) and only the lees stopped it (that is why the olives were in the juice and wet, and still not fit for receiving defilement from the touch of an unobservant person). 5 Here we have, on the one hand, R. Sadok the priest keeping his olives in a way that prevented their possible defilement : on the other hand, a scholar in Jerusalem of whose priestly descent we are not informed, refuses to eat olives which might possibly have been touched by a levitically unobservant person. Though R. Sadok was a priest, the scholar did not trust him, because he belonged to the school of Shammai which on this point was exceptionally lenient, as it held that the juice of fruit did not make the fruit liable to receive defilement ; 1 See above, 34 ff. 2 Tos. Hagig. Ill, 2, 3. 3 See the noble priest above, p. 35. 4 R. Gamaliel the old gave his daughter to Simeon b. Nethan'el the priest for a wife, and stipulated with his son-in-law that she should not have to prepare levitically pure food for her husband. To this report R. Simeon b. Gamaliel II remarked, There was no need for that stipulation, as an observant person is not forced to prepare levitically pure food for a non-observant person, Tos. 'Abod. zar. Ill, 10. 5 Baraitha Yebam. 15 b top ; Tos. Sukk. II, 3. 134 SOME TYPES OF but in fact R. Sadok followed the stricter view of the Hillelites. The incident probably occurred during the famine in 48, 1 when R. Eleazar b. R. Sadok was a boy. The point of levitical purity in question was based on a dispute between the two schools to whom the develop- ment of the rules of levitical purity was mainly due. 2 It is instructive to see how the Pharisee behaved in a famine. ' when the difficulty of keeping to the letter the rules which regulated their food, became increasingly formidable'; there was on his part not a moment's hesitation to decline the gift, though it \vas not even actuall} T defiled, but only liable to receive possible defilement. To my knowledge, this incident of the year 48 C.E. is the earliest reference to such observance. But Ryle- James, in proceeding from the New Testament, easily bridged the interval of 100 years, and saw no difficulty in applying conditions which in themselves cannot be proved as having ever obtained in any part of Palestine in the first century, to a date 100 years earlier, when rabbinic levitical legislation was in its infancy. 3 The author of the Psalms of Solomon did not think and could not have thought of such a sin; he was rather afraid that in his suffering he might succumb to his human weakness and give up his trust in God. The psalmist proceeds (5. 10), 'For if I hunger, unto Thee will I cry, O God ; and Thou wilt give to me. (11) Birds and fish dost Thou nourish, in that Thou givest rain to the steppes that green grass may spring up, to prepare fodder in the steppe for every living thing ; (12) and if they hunger, unto Thee do they lift up their face. (13) Kings and rulers and peoples Thou dost nourish, O God ; and who is the help of the poor and needy, if not Thou, O Lord "? 1 Josephus, Antiquit. XX, 5. 2. 101 ; 2. 6. 51 ; III, 15. 3. 320 ; Schurer, Geschichte, I s , 567. 8. 2 'Eduy. IV, 6 ; Tos. II, 2 ; Schwarz, Die Erleichterungen der Schammaiten, 49. The account of Tos. adds, It teaches you that the teacher ate his ordinary food in levitical purity. This is important, as it draws atten- tion to the fact as not frequent. 5 Shabb. 15 a; jer. I, 3d. 43-7 ; Weiss, Zur Geschichte, I, 105, 143 ff. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 135 (14) And Thou wilt hearken for who is good and gentle but Thou ? making glad the soul of the humble by opening Thine hand in mercy ! ' He then describes the difference between the hesitating help of a friend and God's ample gift in loving-kindness, and proceeds, (16) 'And he whose hope is on Thee shall have no lack of gifts. (17) Upon the whole earth is Thy mercy, O Lord, in goodness. (18) Happy is he whom God remembereth in (granting to him) a due sufficiency ; (19) if a man abound overmuch, he sinneth. (20) Sufficient are moderate means with righteousness, and hereby the blessing of the Lord (becomes) abundance with righteousness. (21) They that fear the Lord rejoice in good (gifts), and Thy goodness is upon Israel in Thy kingdom. Blessed is the glory of the Lord, for He is our king.' The writer of these lines was poor, and starved during a famine ; he feared God and was humble. 1 He believed that God's providence extended to the needs of every individual, whether high or low ; all food was granted by Him and provided according to His will. He watches the doings of every being, and neither good nor evil escapes His attention (9. 5, 6). Therefore our writer prays to God for food, but not for abundance, for it would lead to self-sufficiency and arrogance ; only a moderate provision, as in Prov. 30. 8, with righteousness is a blessing. The meaning of righteousness here is evident from the sin resulting from poverty as also from abundance : in one case it tends to cursing God, in the other to forgetting Him ; to avoid in the first instance those two sins constitutes righteousness. But it undoubtedly meant more than that, and included obedience to the will of God expressed in the Torah ; for not to forget God (Deut. 8. 11) meant not only gratitude, but the recognition of Him as the giver of every- thing, and submission to His commandments. The first step towards righteousness was the avoidance of sins, as the Pharisee knew human nature and its struggle with 1 It seems tliat here, as in the biblical Psalms, 'OJ? and 13JJ were used side by side. 136 SOME TYPES OF weakness ; and the rest led to positive duties which were not, as the commentators would like us to believe, in the first instance legal, but, as will be shown later, chiefly moral and religious. But even the legal side of righteous- ness, not to steal, and not to curse God, should not be belittled, as without it no foundation for honesty and religion could be laid. The introduction to the cry of distress is not less instructive. (5. 1), ' O Lord God, I will praise Thy name with joy, in the midst of them that know Thy righteous judgments. (2) For Thou art good and merciful, the refuge of the poor ; (3) when I cry to Thee, do not silently disregard me. (4) For no man taketh spoil from a mighty man : (5) who, then, can take aught of all that Thou hast made, except Thou Thyself givest ? (6) For man and his portion (lie) before Thee in the balance ; he cannot add to, so as to enlarge, what has been prescribed by Thee.' Here again the author declares his belief in the providence of God that measures out the portion of food to every individual ; and he adds the negative formulation of the same idea that no man can increase his share. This certainly goes too far, as it discourages man from bending his energy to the hard task ; and perhaps it only intended to say that in those days of famine and want nobody could obtain more food, unless God of His own will provided such. And still he feels confident that his repeated prayer will be accepted, and as his opening line, so the conclusion of the psalm breathes joy and triumph. The words of the last verse, ' And Thy goodness is upon Israel in Thy kingdom. Blessed is the glory of the Lord, for He is our king, 1 are most impressive, though their meaning is not quite clear. Ryle-James interpret God's kingdom as being identical with Israel ; but where is Israel ever so called ? Their alternative explanation : ' in Thy reign ', seems more natural. But just as ' He is our king ' must have been intended as the climax of the poet's repeated certainty of God's help, and meant : He is our protector, He ivill help us, so also 'in Thy JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 137 kingdom' means: in Thy capacity of our king, our saviour (17. I). 1 In his certainty that God will supply food, the poet opens this psalm with the praise of God to be recited in the assembly of those who in the past had many an opportunity of witnessing God's merciful decisions, first to visit the pious, but in the end to relieve him from distress. This established way of God in dealing with those who are attached to Him, our author will also this time describe in the assembly to those who are his fellows in conviction and in suffering. 2 3. The judgments of God which the righteous experiences in his own vicissitudes, reveal to him his sins, and to God his attitude to his trials. (3. 3) ' The righteous remember the Lord at all times, with thanksgiving and declaration of the righteousness of the Lord's judgments. (4) The righteous despiseth not the chastening of the Lord ; his will is always before the Lord. (5) The righteous stumbleth and holdeth the Lord righteous : he falleth and looketh out for what God will do to him ; he seeketh out whence his deliverance will come.' Misfortunes of various degrees, represented as stumbling and falling, 3 befell the pious, who saw in them God's visiting hand ; and though he suffers, and perhaps cannot find in his past actions the reason for it, he declares the chastening inflicted on him by God as just, 4 and thanks Him for it. He does not call it un- deserved and unjust, and does not criticize it, 5 and his willingness to submit to it is noticed by God. c Such 1 In the conclusion of the first of the Eighteen Benedictions of the daily prayer God is called pOl y{J>ll ITiy "]$>D, where the epithets describe Him not as the Master of the Universe, but as the helping, saving, and protecting king of His people, 1 Sam. 8. 20 ; 12. 12, and below in Honi's prayer, p. 220. 2 Cf. Hebr. Psalm 31. 24. 3 Hebr. Psalm 37. 24; Prov. 24. 10. 4 It is the rabbinic |HH JIN V^J? pHYD ; the parallelism in v. 5 requires and looks out for further visitation, and then perhaps H2VD1 11TJ? S3 11 PND. 8 Kyle-James rightly point to Prov. 3. 11 ; Job 5. 17. 6 That is, according to the parallelism, the sense of r/ tvSoKta avrov 5td TTO.VTUS tvav-ri Kvpiov = Tl ""J SOME TYPES OF firmness in adversity is in itself a gift from God, the deliverer (7). When the righteous, by his own exertions, successfully struggled against temptation, it was God that gave him the moral strength for the fight. 1 Is not all this clear evidence of the poet's genuine piety ? And as he is termed here four times, therefore evidently with delibera- tion, the righteous man, is it not clear that what constituted a righteous man's religious character was true fear of God, full trust in Him, patient and ready acceptance of visita- tion, and submission even with gratitude to it 1 He reminds us of the often quoted statement : 2 'To such as are humiliated, but humiliate not, hear themselves reviled, but reply not, do all from love, and rejoice at their suffering, Judges 5. 31 applies, Those who love Him are as the sun, when he goeth forth in his might.' Such stress on the religious character of the pious will not appear superfluous, considering the interpretation put upon the continuation. (7 b) ' There lodgeth not in the house of the righteous sin upon sin. (8) The righteous continually searcheth his house, to remove utterly (all) iniquity (done) by him in error. (9) He maketh atonement for (sins of) ignorance by fasting and afflicting his soul, (10) and the Lord counteth guiltless every pious man and his house.' Having recognized that suffering comes from God, and that He metes it out in justice, the righteous man tells himself that it is a just punishment for sins committed. On the other hand, he is conscious of no deliberate sin, as he has ever been on his guard against any intentional trans- gression ; he therefore concludes that the cause of his suffering must be some offence committed unwittingly. So his search turns not only in distress, but continually and without hesitation, to his house, to remove therefrom all iniquity done in error. Why just to his house and not to himself ? Ryle- James 1 Line 7 a does not belong to the following paragraph, but is the con- cluding part of the preceding. 2 Baraitha Shabb. 88 b. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 139 assert l that the righteousness of the poet was fulfilled especially in such deeds as carried out the rules, or avoided the violation of the ceremonial law, 3. 8-10, 5. 20. There is, however, not only no express mention of ceremonial sins, but not even the remotest suggestion of such. The author unmistakably used here Job 11. 14, If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away, and let not unrighteousness dwell in thy tents. And just as this verse does, he is refer- ring to actions clearly defined by the terms px and n?1J?, to sins against the fellow-man's property, to the acquisition of goods by dishonest means, be it theft, robbery, deceit, or the unlawful retention of a deposit or a pledge. That is why the house of the righteous is twice mentioned in con- nexion with the sin in question : he searches his house carefully and thoroughly for any goods of his neighbour that may not have come there legitimately. If he dis- covers there anything of such an origin, he removes it, that is, restores it to its rightful owner, for he makes scrupulous honesty the strict rule of his dealings. Having thus rectified his error by restitution, he follows it up by genuine repentance for his mistake and by self-humiliation expressed by fasting. Such voluntary fasts of repentance were known to Sirach, 2 the Testaments," and to the rabbis of the first and second centuries ; 4 it is not one of the alleged frequent fasts of the Pharisees, but one of true 1 p. xlix. 2 34 (31). 25, 26. 3 Testam. Simeon. 3. 4. 4 R. Joshua b. Hananiah fasted for many years, because he had in a hala- khic discussion made an offensive remark about the school of the Sliam- maites, Baraitha Hagig. 22 b. His contemporary and friend, R. Tarfon, fasted to the end of his life, because once, when the guards of the fields had taken him for a thief of fruit and beaten him, he mentioned his name to them, and thereby saved his life, jer. Shebi'ith, IV, 35 b. 17 ff. ; in the parallel in Nedar. 62 a he merely grieved to the end of his life. R. Simeon b. Yohai fasted many a day for having made a slighting remark about his teacher after his death, Baraitha Nazir, 52 b. R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah fasted, because his cow was, against the adopted law, driven out on the Sabbath with a leather-strap between her horns, jer. Shabb. V, 7 c. 30. R. Eliezer b. Hyrkanos said that Reuben had fasted in repen- tance for his sin, Sifre Deut. 31, 72 b ; Midr. Tann. Deut. 6. 4, 24 ; Pesik. 159 a; Pesik. r. 199 a; Midr. Prov. 1. 12. 14 SOME TYPES OF contrition. 1 The oral tradition of the Pharisees instituted days of joy in commemoration of great and happy events, and included them in the Scroll of non-fast days : but, to my knowledge, it decreed no fixed fast days either in Judaea or Galilee, either in the days of Jesus or in the sad times of the Psalms of Solomon, and, as far as I know, no such fast days are recorded in rabbinic literature. It would be interesting to learn whence, if not by hasty inference from the Xew Testament, Ryle-James derived their remarkably definite information. 2 Again, by a change in the punctuation and by the transposition of a word, Ryle-James found in e^ 7rapaTr~(ofj.arL avrov a reference to an atoning trespass- offering by which, in accordance with Lev. 5. 1 ff., the transgressor would have brought offerings for sins of which he had been guilty through ignorance. But apart from their misunderstanding of the nature of the sin involved, the manuscript reads, 3 rov egdpai dSiKiav kv TrapaTTr^nan avrov, to remove utterly (all) iniquity (done) by him in error. 4 There is no trace here of an atonement by the sacrifice prescribed in Lev. 5. 21-6 in a case of misappropriation by the embezzlement of a deposit, a pledge or a thing found, or by robbery, or by deceit, when the denial is followed by a false oath ; and it is noteworthy that the author of these psalms never refers to a sacrifice of atonement or any other sacrifice. In trying to account for the destruction of the sinners in the recent catastrophe by their transgressions, the psalmist says, (1.7) 'Their sins were in secret, and even I had no knowledge (of them). (8) Their transgressions (went) beyond those of the heathen before them ; they utterly polluted the holy things of the Lord '. The context shows that the defilement of which the author is speaking, refers 1 F. Perles, Zur ErkUirung der Psalmen Salomo's (reprint from Oriental. Literaturzeilung, V, 1902), on 3. 8, p. 21 suggests as the original Hebrew VB3 uxn mva. 2 About the old fast-day of Abh 9th, see 'Erub. 41 a bottom. 3 Gebhardt. Die Psalmen Salomo's, 99, 75. * IlapdirT(D(*a is used also in 13. 4, 9, but not for a sacrifice. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 141 to actions comparable with those of the Canaanites, mean- ing clearly the kind of immorality described in 8. 10-14, where also the list concludes, ' They left no sin undone, wherein they surpassed not the heathen '. Sucli defile- ments may to modern distinctions appear to be ceremonial ; to the Jew they were grave offences against his religion, because they were sins against the holiness of God, against human natural feeling, and man's higher instincts. Simi- larly in (2. 3), ' Because the sons of Jerusalem had defiled the holy things of the Lord, had profaned with iniqui- ties the offerings of God ', the profanation was caused by iniquities ; consequently, the parallel defilement was brought about in the same way, not by ceremonial im- purity. Ryle- James rightly point to Exek. 5. 11, ' Because thou hast defiled My sanctuary with all thy detestable things and with all thine abominations ' ; but the parallel extends not only to the meaning of the single word TO. ay La, ' sanctuary ', but to the whole verse which unmistakably influenced the poet, as also Ezek. 23. 38, ' They have defiled My sanctuary in the same day (by adultery and idolatry) '. Not levitical laws relating to the priests are meant, but, as in the prophet, immorality. So our author says (2. 11), ' For no man upon it (the earth) had done what they did '. For levitical defilement even of the holy things such lan- guage is too strong; and he expressly mentions (13) harlots and the unnatural intercourse of the daughters of Jerusa- lem, and he again terms such doings iniquities (14). So (8. 24), ' He led away their sons and daughters, whom they had begotten in defilement'. Ryle-James remark, ei/ @/3r)\ti!>(ri seems to mean here ' in the time when they disregarded all laws of ceremonial uncleanness '. But the parallel (2. 14) reads, 'And the daughters of Jerusalem (3e(3r]Xoi, were defiled in accordance with Thy judgement, (15) because they had defiled themselves, tpiaivov lavras, with unnatural intercourse '; here certainly not ceremonial uncleanness, but immorality, is termed defilement. (8. 25) 'They did according to their uncleanness, even as their 142 SOME TYPES OF fathers (had done): (26) they defiled Jerusalem and the things that had been hallowed to the name of God '. Ryle- James say, ' Priests who were neglectful of the levitical ceremonial '. But how was Jerusalem defiled thereby ? Or is this merely poetical exaggeration 1 The land of Canaan was defiled by incest, bestiality, and immoral idolatry, Lev. 18. 25-28, as bloodshed would defile the land of Israel, Num. 35. 33, 34 ; and as Jer. 13. 27 said to Jerusalem, ' I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy harlotry, and thine abominations 011 the hills in the field. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem ! thou wilt not be made clean ! When shall it ever be 1 ' Within the list of stern reproaches of heathen immorality the only ceremonial point is (8. 13), 'They trode the altar of the Lord, (coming straight) from all manner of uncleanness ; and with menstrual blood they defiled the sacrifices, as (though these were) common flesh. (14) They left no sin undone, wherein they surpassed not the heathen '. According to the context those priests plundered the property of the Temple for their adultery and their unnatural mingling, and coming from such moral uncleanness they ascended the altar of God and officiated. And when eating at home of the sacrifices which they received as their dues, with their wives and children, they treated the sacred portions with indifference, as though they were common flesh. 1 Perhaps a parallel in Testament Levi 14. 5 will make this interpretation more certain : ' The offerings of the Lord ye shall rob, and from His portion shall ye steal choice portions, eating (them) contemptuously with harlots. (6) And out of covetousness ye shall teach the commandments of the Lord, wedded women shall ye pollute, and the virgins of Jerusalem shall ye defile; and with harlots and adulteresses shall ye be joined, &c. (8) For ye shall contemn the holy things with jests and laughter '. The reference to the menstrual blood in connexion with the sacrifices only serves to illustrate the terrible irreverence of the priests toward everything holy. And even here the cere- monial defilement is quoted only as relating to the priests, 1 Epistle of Jeremy, v. 29. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 143 the Temple and its sacrifices; out.-ide those it did not apply to anything, not even yet to the priestly heave-offering, the Terumah. In any case, there is no trace in 3. 8-10 of any levitical defilement as suggested, without the slightest justification, by Ryle-James. And it may, at the same time, be stated that the common mistaken assumption of modern Christian historians of rabbinic Judaism that the contraction of a levitical defilement implied a sin, is totally foreign to rabbinic law, especially with reference to Temple times. Not even if the high-priest accidentally contracted the gravest defilement from a human corpse, did he incur the slightest sin, unless he, in his defiled state, entered the Temple or handled holy things. 1 And when Ryle-James with particular insistence point several times to the alleged countless methods of purification multiplied by tradition : and when they assert, without adducing any evidence, that the Sadducees were on that point not as scrupulous as the Pharisees, 2 I confess that any early information in the existing Jewish literature to support the statements just quoted is not accessible, and unknown to me. It is true, the righteous in 3. 8-10 is extremely watchful not to com- mit a sin; but his anxiety did not concern levitical purity or the ceremonial law, but, as stated before, a possible mis- appropriation of any goods belonging to a fellow-man. This is a principle worthy of the highest recognition, as, far from leading to a perversion of the noblest ethics, it inculcated the duty of extreme honesty in business dealings. In the absence of an earlier instance, an incident may be mentioned that occurred in Jerusalem in the last years of the Temple. 3 R. Eleazar b. R. Sadok and Abba Saul 1 On the Day of Atonement, when the high-priest had to take part in the sacrificial service and to enter the Holy of Holies, an accidental defilement was unwelcome to him, as it prevented him from officiating, Josephus, Antiquit., XVII, 6. 4. 166 ; Tos. Yoma, I, 4 ; jer. II, 38 d. i : b. 12 b about the self-defilement of Matthia b. Theophilos by pollution, of Simeon b- Kamhith by spittle in Tos. Yoma, IV, 20 ; jer. I, 38 d. 8 ; b. 47 a ; cf. also Tos. Nid. V, 3 ; b. 33 b. 2 p. xlv, xlvii. 3 Jer. Besah, III, 62 b. 13 ; b. 29 a bottom ; Tos. Ill, 8 ; Mishnah. III. 8. 144 SOME TYPES OF b. Batnith who were grocers in Jerusalem, filled their measures on the day before the festival, and gave them to their customers on the festival ; according to R. Haninah b. 'Akabyah they did the same also on the intermediary days of the festival for the sake of exact measuring. From the drops which remained in the measures, one of them collected three hundred casks of oil, and his companion three hundred casks of wine. These they brought to the treasurer of the Temple who, however, informed them that it was not their duty to hand over the oil and the wine to the Temple. But when they still refused to keep the liquids as not belonging to them, the treasurer of the Temple said, As you impose upon yourselves such strictness, let the equivalent of the oil and the wine be used for public purposes. When Abba Saul fell ill and the teachers visited him, he said to them, Look at this my right hand that measured honestly ! As one of the two scrupulous men, R. Eleazar b. R. Sadok, was, as his title shows, a scholar and not an Essene, probably also his companion who bore the title Abba, was not an Essene, especially as there is no proof of any force that Abba denoted an Essene. 1 In any case, the scholar was most particular in his measuring of oil to his customers, and would not keep for himself the accumulated drops as not belonging to him ; and so Abba Saul on his death-bed felt reassured that he had observed during his life at least this one duty of scrupulous honesty. 2 It is a curious coincidence that, like the author of the Psalms of Solomon, Abba Saul b. Batnith denounced the violence, avarice, injustice, and favouritism of the high priestly families of his own times. 3 1 Kohler in J. Q. R., XIII, 1901, 567-80, above, pp. 34, 108. 2 Another instance of the most scrupulous honesty was that of Abba Hilkiah, the grandson of Honi the circle-drawer, in Ta'an. 23 a, b. According to a report preserved in Aramaic, he did not turn his face to the two teachers sent to him by the authorities to ask him to pray for rain, because he was working as a hired labourer in the field, and would not waste time by returning their greeting, see R. B. J., 48, 1904, 275. 3 Tos. Menah. 13. 21 ; b. Pesah. 57 a, Baraitha. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 145 4. The righteous man who in a similar way removed from his house all that had been acquired in error and was not his property, atoned for his sin of ignorance by humbling himself and by fasting, and prayed for for- giveness. (3. 9) ' And the Lord counteth guiltless every pious man and his house.' His sin still exists, even after such atonement on his part, until God purifies him of his guilt. This grace of His forgiveness is expressed in Lev. 4. 20-5. 26 by v n?D31, here by KaOapi^, probably cor- responding with ino or njp.3. So also in 9. 12, ' He cleanseth from sins a soul when it maketh confession, when it maketh acknowledgement/ where it is the great act of the admission of sin that obtains for man God's forgiveness. Also in 10. 1, 'Happy is the man whom the Lord remembereth with reproving, and whom He restraineth from the way of evil with strokes, that he may be cleansed from sin, that it may not be multiplied. (2) He that maketh ready his back for strokes shall be cleansed, for the Lord is good for them that endure chastening.' As above, also here chastening is inflicted for sin ; it is, how - ever, not implied that thereby alone God cleanses the guilt, as only submission to the chastisement obtains God's grace. On the other hand, (13. 9) ' the Lord spareth His pious ones, and blotteth out their errors by His chastening,' the latter alone may be regarded by God as sufficient. The great stress which, for the removal of sin, the author lays on repentance and atonement appears again. (9. 11) 'Unto whom art Thou good, O God, except to them that call upon the Lord"? (12) He cleanseth from sins a soul when it maketh confession, when it maketh acknowledgement : (.13) for shame is upon us and upon our faces on account of all these things. (14) And to whom doth He forgive sins, except to them that have sinned? (15) Thou blessest the righteous, and dost not reprove them for the sins that they have committed ; and Thy goodness is upon them that sin, when they repent.' First the admission of the sin, and then repentance are necessary for obtaining God's forgive- K H SOME TYPES OF ness and His mercy. The wording of the confession given here and moulded on biblical patterns, expresses the shame which the sinner feels in having to admit that sin is a grave offence against God, that could have been avoided ; on the other hand, forgiveness exists only for the sinner who, if repentant, has almost a claim to it. Expecting his repentance, God does not really punish the pious for his sin of ignorance, and even rewards him for his contrition. The author means by this real and not outward piety of which there is no trace in the whole book, nor of the exhibition of the religious attitude which some theologians call Jewish- legalistic. It is true, Ryle-James have detected in 7. 8 a reference to the yoke alleged to have been laid by the Scribes and Pharisees upon the Jewish people. There the poet prays to God that, if the well-deserved punishment must be inflicted, He should rather send it in the form of a pestilence than in that of a foreign nation ; for God is merciful, whereas the nations would consume Israel. (7, 5) ' While Thy name dwelleth in our midst, we shall find mercy ; (6) and the nations shall not prevail against us. For Thou art our shield, (7) and when we call upon Thee, Thou hearkeneth to us ; (8) for Thou wilt pity the seed of Israel for ever and Thou wilt not reject (them): but we (shall be) under Thy yoke for ever, and (under) the rod of Thy chastening. (9) Thou wilt establish us in the time that Thou helpest us, showing mercy to the house of Jacob on the day wherein Thou didst promise (to help them).' The whole chapter deals with one single idea, chastisement, and contrasts that inflicted directly by God with that imposed by the Roman conqueror. As in 2 Sam. 24. 13, there is no escape here from the alternative, and 9b describes the affliction by God preferred by the psalmist. Already the parallelism in 8b is sufficient to establish punishment as the meaning of God's yoke ; for the rod of chastening is actually found in parallelism with yoke in Isa. 9. 3 where the defeat of the Assyrian conqueror and tyrant is described thus : ' For Thou hast broken the yoke JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 147 of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor.' And also in Isa. 10. 24 : ' Be not afraid of Asshur, though he smite thee with the rod, and lift up his staff against thee ', for which the parallel in v. 27 has the burden and the yoke. In addition, yoke is actually used in Isa. 47. 6 in connexion with the harsh treatment of the Judaeans in the Babylonian captivity, ' Thou didst show them no mercy ; upon the aged hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke'. As it expresses there the heavy and hard labour aggravated by the severity of punishment, so here it means : we prefer to be under God's burden, rod, and yoke, and surfer His visitation rather than be under the cruel rule of the Romans. The object of the chastisement of the righteous by God is stated to be, to cleanse him from the few sins which he committed, and to prevent him from multiplying them (10. 1). He must at all times expect suffering, and be ever ready to receive more, and endure chastening without murmuring. (3) ' For He maketh straight the ways of the righteous, and doth not pervert (them) by His chastening. (4) And the mercy of the Lord (is) upon them that love Him in truth, and the Lord remembereth His servants in mercy ... (6) Just and kind is our Lord in His judgements for ever, and Israel shall praise the name of the Lord in gladness. (7) And the pious shall give thanks in the assembly of the people, and on the poor shall God have mercy in the gladness (?) of Israel ; (8) for good and merci- ful is God for ever, and the assemblies of Israel shall glorify the name of the Lord.' The righteous who not only submit without complaint to the affliction sent by God, but are ready for more to come, are described as those who love God in truth, as His servants, the pious and the poor, clearly defining the character of those who in the terrible calamity of their time proved their love of God by their stoic attitude to suffering. But the central idea of the author is more fully elaborated in the short psalm, and the various effects of affliction upon the religious mind of K 2 148 SOME TYPES OF the pious are considered from several points of view. God's mercy and goodness, and His kindness in executing strict justice are repeatedly emphasized ; when He punishes the righteous, He does not pervert the ways of his life by too heavy chastening, nor make it so miserable as to lead him, as in the case of Job, to sin. While suffering or after pass- ing through affliction, the pious give thanks l to God in the assembly of the people, and the assemblies of Israel glorify Him. The people are those who shared the religious views of the pious, and assembled either on the Temple Mount or in one of the gates of the city to hear, as in Ps. 107. 32, the public recognition of God's help afforded to the pious men. The assemblies of Israel may have been private meetings of their adherents to whom they explained the ways of God as revealed in the experiences of the hard tried righteous, and whom the} 7 confirmed in their faith and their hopes and convictions as to the ultimate triumph of their cause. They derived their expectations from the repeated assur- ances given by God to the obedient in the Torah, and from the way in which God visits the pious for their sins of error. This idea is the subject also of 13. 1 ff. where the poet states how God saved him and his fellows from the sword that passed through the land, and from famine, and from the death of sinners. (4) ' The righteous was troubled on account of his errors, lest he should be taken away along with the sinners; (5) for terrible is the overthrow of the sinner ; but not one of all those things touched the righteous. (6) For not alike are the chastening of the right- eous (for sins done) in ignorance, and the overthrow of the sinners. (7) Secretly (?) is the righteous chastened, lest the sinner rejoice over the righteous. (8) For He correcteth the righteous as a beloved son, and his chastisement is that of a first-born. (9) For the Lord spareth His pious ones, and blotteth out their errors by His chastening'. After a long siege Jerusalem was taken by the blood-thirsty army of Pompey; while thousands of Jews were cut down by 1 If the original was Hebrew, HV meant declare and acknowledge. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 149 the Romans, the righteous did not, as some Christian theologians and historians would make us believe of the Pharisees, rely on his righteousness, nor expect in return for his numerous deeds an equivalent amount of protection. Just the reverse is stated here : he trembles lest he be carried off with the sinners on account of his lesser sins of error ; though he is not actually conscious of any, and they were of a minor character, in judging them and himself most strictly he considers them as sufficiently weighty and certain to cause his death. When he suffered along with sinners, he did not for a single moment protest his inno- cence to God, as Job had done, and therefore think himself as suffering undeserved affliction ; but on the contrary, he expressed gratitude to Him for his special protection in saving him from utter destruction. His suffering differed only in degree and by its privacy from that of the sinners. Thus his justification of his sore trials by his sins, and his whole religious attitude to his suffering, mark a consider- able advance beyond Job. This difference finds fitting- expression more than a century later in the statement of R. Johanan b. Zakkai that Job had served God only from fear, while the true service of Him should be from love. 1 In our psalm it is expressly stated that in his true love of God the pious patiently submitted to all the trials to which He subjected him, and even justified Him and His justice by his errors unknown to himself. As to the reward of the righteous the author says, (9 b) ' For the life of the right- eous shall be for ever ; (10) but sinners shall be taken away into destruction, and their memorial shall be found no more. (11) But upon the pious is the mercy of the Lord, and upon them that fear Him His mercy '. The words ' for ever ' in v. 9 sound at first sight strange, and were by Ryle-James referred to the life after death. But the contrast between the visitation of the sinner and that of the righteous merely suggests that the pious is not carried away into destruction, as in vv. 3b-5, and is not forgotten 1 Sotah, V, 5. 15 SOME TYPES OF by the next generation ; ^o that ' for ever ' seems only to mean : prolonged life and continued protection to the end of his life. 1 And even the more definite terms in the parallel (9. 9) appear to signify the same : ' He that doeth righteousness layeth up life for himself with the Lord ; and he that doeth wrongly forfeits his life to destruction ; (10) for the judgements of the Lord are (given) in right- eousness to (every) man and (his) house '. Here the just judgment of God, as also the whole context shows, clearly refers to the Roman slaughter in Jerusalem, and the de- struction, as elsewhere in numerous passages of these psalms, is that of the sinners by Pompey ; and the contrast meant for the pious their escape from the terrible slaughter and their survival for several years after the catastrophe. Consequently, there is no reference here to life after death as the reward of the righteous. 5. A pious man, whether the same person as in the psalms considered so far or another, reviewed in chapter 16 a recent phase of his life, when on account of his associa- tion with sinners he nearly forgot God and was, within a little, carried oft' in their destruction. Again the sins of the pious, the merciful reminder by God, the thanks and the prayer of the righteous reveal some characteristic features of their piety and some of their ideals. (16. 1)' When my soul slumbered (being afar) from the Lord, I had all but slipped down to the pit, when (I was) far from God, (2) my soul had been wellnigh poured out unto death, nigh unto the gates of Sheol with the sinner, (3) when iny soul departed from the Lord God of Israel, had not the Lord helped me with His everlasting mercy. (4) He pricked me, as a horse is pricked, that I might serve Him, my saviour and helper at all times saved me. (5) I will give thanks unto Thee, O God, for Thou hast helped me to (my) salvation ; and hast not counted me with sinners to (my) destruction.' He was in the company of sinners, and through that, so he feels, he temporarily turned away 1 Cf. Hebr. Psalm 37. 9, 10. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 151 his thoughts from God; but He, while destroying his companions, merely grazed him with the grave danger, and not merely saved his physical life, but restored his soul to salvation. 1 (6) 'Remove not Thy mercy from me, O God, nor Thy memorial from my heart until I die. (7) Rule me, O God, (keeping me back) from wicked sin, and from every wicked woman that causeth the simple to stumble. (8) And let not the beauty of a lawless woman beguile me, nor any one that is subject to (?) unprofitable sin.' Here his sin is fairly clearly stated : the sinners with whom he associated brought him into the company of women, perhaps of their families, to induce him to rnarry one of them. From the injurious influence that seemed to con- tinue even after his separation from the sinners, it appears that he was attached to one of those women ; so that he can be saved only if God helps him to keep the thought of Him in his heart. (9) ' Establish the works of my hands before Thee, and preserve my goings in the remembrance of Thee. (10) Protect my tongue and my lips with words of truth ; anger and unreasoning wrath put far from me. (11) Murmuring, and impatience in affliction, remove far from me, when, if I sin, Thou chasteneth me that I ma}' return (unto Thee). (12) But with goodwill and cheerful- ness support my soul : when Thou strengthenest my soul, what is given (to me) will be sufficient for me. (13) For if Thou givest not strength, who can endure chastisement with poverty 1 ? (14) When a man is rebuked by means of his corruption, Thy testing (of him) is in his flesh and in the affliction of poverty. (15) If the righteous endureth in all these (trials), he shall receive mercy from the Lord.' When God chastizes the pious for his sin, or in order to pull him back from sin, he does not pray for the removal of his suffering by God ; but whereas the righteous of other psalms bore the trials patiently and in his love of God sub- mitted to them, and felt reassured that his firm endurance 1 Israel, as Ryle-James note, means not the whole people, but only its pious section. 152 SOME TYPES OF would obtain for him God's mercy., in this psalm he bears his affliction impatiently and murmurs. Like Job, he is full of anger, and words of wrath, unworthy of the righteous, escaped from his lips. His soul is deficient in moral strength, and his prayer for patience and cheerfulness betrays the unsatisfactory state of his mind. His doings and his life are endangered by his conduct, because in his sufferings of poverty and physical pain he did not remember God. He could bear poverty calmly, if only God granted him the strength to stand illness. His prayer reflects not only the frank admission of his sin and of his relative moral weakness, but also the ideals of the pious which we found similarly stated in other psalms. The religious and moral character of the righteous is again reflected in 14. 1, ' Faithful is the Lord to them that love Him in truth, to them that endure His chastening, to them that walk in the righteousness of His command- ments. 1 in the law which He commanded us that we might live. (2) The pious of the Lord shall live by it for ever ; the Paradise of the Lord, the trees of life, are his pious ones. (3) Their planting is rooted for ever ; they shall not be plucked up all the days of heaven : for the portion and the inheritance of God is Israel. (4) But not so are the sinners and transgressors. . . (6) but the pious of the Lord shall inherit life in gladness.' The description of the pious as those that love God in truth and bear His trials patiently was analysed before. New is here the statement that they walk in the righteousness of His commandments by which life is obtained. Of course, nobody had the slightest doubt that the pious observed the enactments of the Torah ; and as that was understood, no special and 1 The meaning of the phrase is not clear, but it is certainly not the righteousness consisting in the observance of the enactments of the law. As it is intended as a praise of the Torah, as in Hebr. Psalm 19.10. 'The ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether', and 119. 144, 'The righteousness of Thy testimonies is everlasting', it means the per- fectness of the laws. To obey them is one of the ways of loving God, Deut. 10. 12, 13. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 153 emphatic reference to it by the poet was necessary, nor expected. Did he mention it only to contrast with it the disobedience of the sinners ' The meaning of his words is clear : God gave Israel the Torah to show them the way to life, to the prolongation of life. The pious man acts in accordance with its commandments, and there- by will live long, while the sinners are carried oft' before their time. Ryle-James see also here eternal life, as it is referred to in the question of the young Pharisee in Mark 10. 17, ' What shall I do to inherit eternal life?' and in ' the day of mercy ' they see the resurrection in the messianic kingdom. For this interpretation they find a support in 3. 13, ' The destruction of the sinner is for ever, (14) and he shall not be remembered, when the righteous is visited. (15) This is the portion of sinners for ever. (16) But they that fear the Lord shall rise to life eternal, and their life (shall be) in the light of the Lord, and shall come to an end no more.' But let us clearly realize the situation from which these sentences arose. God's chastening had fallen upon both, the sinners and the righteous, but, as several passages state, with this difference : the sinner was completely crushed, and dis- appeared for ever, while the pious was sparingly hit. and, as he hoped, only temporarily. (15. 13) 'And sinners shall perish for ever in the day of the Lord's judgement, (14) when God visiteth the earth with His judgement. (15) But they that fear the Lord shall find mercy therein, and shall live by the compassion of their God ; but sinners shall perish for ever.' God will not allow him to suffer long, but visit, remember him again, while the sinner is destroyed for ever, and is never again remembered by God. 'When the righteous is visited ' would be a strange expression for the resurrection, or for the bliss of the soul in the presence of God. Not one single word in the poem suggests that the pious died, and that the change promised would only come after his death. (3. 13) ' But the sinner falleth . . . and riseth no more. (16) But they that fear the Lord rise to life 154 SOME TYPE8 OF eternal, and . . . shall come to an end no more.' ] God visits in either of two ways, either by judgment, that is punish- ment, or with His mercy, to help those who, by His decree, temporarily suffer for their sins of ignorance, and will be lifted out of their affliction by Him. The righteous con- tinues to live in happiness in the presence of God in Jerusalem for many years after the sudden end of the sinner. 2 This does not mean to say that the pious men of Jerusalem in the year 63 B.C.E. did not believe in a life after death or in the resurrection of the body. Daniel 12. 2, 3 is sufficient evidence for it. But the strikingly different fate of the sinners and of the righteous in the catastrophe under Pompey riveted the attention of the poet to the complete destruction of the lawless men and to the miraculous survival of the pious, and to his hope for a speedy recovery from the sudden, but still sufficiently heavy punishment. And, as he was thus absorbed by the recognition of God's punishing justice, in confession of sin, in thanks for his rescue, and in prayer for help, he had no 1 Cf. Hebr. Psalm 37. 27 : ' Depart from evil, and do good ; and dwell for evermore. (28) For the Lord loveth justice, and forsaketh not His saints ; they are preserved for eier ; but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. (29) The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever. Deut. 15. 17 : And he shall be thy bondman for ever.' 2 This Pharisee, unlike that drawn from imagination and prejudice by Wellhausen, Schiirer, Bousset, and other theological historians of Judaism, did not work for reward, as no such idea is to be found in the whole book, nor did that thought obsess his religious mind. When Wellhausen, Phariscier, 119, says that the poet did not refer to a mathematical compensation for his deeds, because he was dealing not with an individual, but with the whole community, he did not prove his case as to the reward of the individual. In Chapter 1 the poet introduces the city of Jerusalem or the nation speaking as a person of its own perfect righteousness as proved by its wealth and the multitude of its children. As the writer does not combat the force of the proof, it would seem that he agreed with it. But as he was poor, we should have expected him either to pray for wealth to prove him righteous, or to show that worldly possessions were no proof of a man's righteousness. As he never refers to wealth except in Chapter 1, where he in fact shows that the wealthy Sadducees were sinners, it is clear that property and treasures were no evidence of a man's piety to him. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 155 thought left for the reward of the righteous in the distant future, in heaven. 6. Righteousness is referred to in 9. 5 in a very instruc- tive way : ' For from Thy knowledge none that doeth unjustly is hidden, (6) and the righteous deeds of the pious ones (are) before Thee, O Lord; (7) our works are subject to our own choice and power to do right or wrong in the works of our hands ; ... (9) He that doeth righteousness layeth up life for himself with the Lord ; and he that doeth wrongly forfeits his life to destruction.' The author is speaking of actions which are either good or bad ; as the latter, like stealing, robbery, cheating, lying, are trans- gressions of biblical prohibitions, good deeds carry out one or several of the numerous positive commandments of the Torah. And the only pertinent question is, whether by the righteous deeds the writer referred indiscriminately to all of those positive duties, or had a special class of good actions in mind. The comment of Kyle-James on this is : 'To the Jewish mind the acts included would be of two kinds principally : (a) ceremonial observances, (b) works of mercy. . . . The general conclusion of the fore- going is that we seem to be justified in attaching the special meaning of works of mercy to iK.aiocri>vai in this passage.' For one not trained in that peculiar method of interpretation it is difficult to understand how the righteous deeds of the pious which are set over against the aSiKa of the sinners could have a meaning so different in idea and compass from aSiKa. One would think that as these denoted every kind of wrong, so ai SiKaioa-vvai meant every kind of proper actions. LXX renders Gen. 15. 6, ' And he believed in the Lord ; and He counted it to him for righteousness ', by Kal eXoyio-Or) avrw e/y SLKaior], as has been observed by scholars, charity or ceremonial acts intended by that strange Greek word. The nine cases in which LXX has the plural form of the word SLKaioa-vvr), are in no way more instructive for the present purpose than the Hebrew nipiv which, when referring to God's righteous deeds, can undoubtedly include neither ceremonial nor charitable works. And when Psalm 11. 7 says, ' For the Lord is righteous, He loveth righteous- ness', the juxtaposition of the adjective and the noun, formed from the same root and describing God's character and man's deeds, makes the meaning of nipix and Siicaiooijveu clear, at least to this extent that it cannot refer even in the case of man to ceremonial works and to charity. The same applies to Ezek. 18. 24; 33. 13 where the tradition hesitates between the plural and the singular form, but where the prophet must have used ' righteous deeds ' in the same sense as repeatedly in the rest of the chapter, and that was, as will be shown presently, neither charity nor ceremonial observances. As that chapter in Ezekiel is frequently referred to as the earliest legalistic and Pharisean exposition of righteous- ness, a few words on its spirit will not be superfluous. In four paragraphs Ezek. 18. 5-21 deals with the right acts of the good man and the sins of the sinner. The shortest is vv.21, 22: Tnpn b ns nctn npy -t?x vnKBn 5>ao r\vy nB>s we b (22) .nio vb rvrv rvn np .DTP ntyy -|5?N inpixn h i-OP xb The repentance of the sinner is expressed by his observance of God's statutes and by his practice of equity and justice, and both are summed up in WJJ 1B>N inpixu. The only doubt that could arise is, whether npnxi DDB>ID ne>jn is an explanation of mpn ^3 nx lOBn or not. But v. 19 says of the righteous son of the sinner: iBt? Tnpn *?3 nN ntry npnxi BSC>D pni and not only the inversion of the parts, but JEWISH-PALESTINIAN 1TETY 15? also the two verbs aniK niryi "1C"' referring to Tiipn are in favour of distinguishing between the statutes and the rules of equity. And with reference to the same righteous son of the sinner, v. 17 says : "j^n vnpra nvy 'ua-'E where 'aatrE- stands for npnn uaK'E, and Tilpra is, by having its own verb, clearly separated from it. The three or two nouns with their respective verbs sum up very briefly the abstention from the sins, and the practising of the right actions, enumerated in vv. 15-17: 'That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife, (16) neither hath wronged any, hath not taken aught to pledge, neither hath taken by robbery, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment, (17) that hath withdrawn his hand from the poor, that hath not received interest nor increase, hath executed Mine ordinances, hath walked in My statutes.' The parallel left in vv. 5-9 is even more explicit. ' But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, (6) and hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a woman in her impurity ; (7) and hath not wronged any, but hath restored his pledge for a debt, hath taken nought by robbery, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment : (8) he that hath not given forth upon interest, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true justice between man and man, (9) hath walked in My statutes, and hath kept Mine ordinances, to deal truly ; he is just.' Apart from the introductory line, every group contains the same division of the duties enumerated into VTipn and npnxi D>:?E ; and it seems that the obligations termed nipn are of a nature different from that of those contained in npivi Dac-'E. 1 Now 1 Of. Lev. 25. 18 ; 18. 4, 26; Exod. 15. 26, and especially Lf>v. 18. :iO : cm iNEDn N^I D33B$> iBW iK>N nnjnnn nipno nvjy vibab, about peculiar forms of idolatrous worship and of immorality. 158 SOME TYPES OF it is a striking fact that in the list in vv. 6-8 the prophet most clearly grouped his roll of duties, in so far as v. 8 deals exclusively with the relations between a man and his fellows, whereas v. 7 exclusively refers to so-called ceremonial laws. 1 Would it not be natural that Him") DS!?O should refer to vv. 7. 8, and Tnpn to v. 6 ? But pnx and npnv are also used as the comprehensive terms for both groups of laws together ; and there is no justification for Smend's remark - that the standard of morality set by the moral- social duties that are more numerous than the rest in Ezek. 18, is not sufficiently high. All that one could safely say is that modern social life has not succeeded yet in realizing the prophet's postulates of righteousness. Wellhausen 3 says about the Jewish righteousness of the Psalms of Solomon : ' As the New Testament shows and Josephus repeats many times, righteousness is on the one hand the goal of the whole of Jewry, 4 on the other hand the special cue of the Pharisees, as the same sources, especially Matt. 5 and Antiquit., XIII, 10. 5 prove. When Hyrkanos saw that the Pharisees were in a good mood, he told them that, as they knew, he endeavoured to be right- eous and to do everything to please God and them ; and he asked them, if he should deviate from the righteous 1 The first two prohibitions refer to two forms of idolatry, the fourth to the intercourse with menstruous women, and the third to adultery expressed in a peculiar way. The parallels in vv. 11, 15 do not mention No. 4, and consequently put No. 3 next to the two forms of idolatry. Does not all this suggest that the defilement of the neighbour's wife took place in connexion with some idolatrous worship of Astarte, as also in Ezek. 22. 9 : ' And in thee they have eaten upon the mountains; in the midst of thee they have committed lewdness. (10) In thee have they uncovered their father's nakedness ; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in her impurity. (11) And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife ; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter- in-law ; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.' Here it is my impression that all the cases of immorality and incest belonged to the cult of Astarte, as in the earlier Canaanite- Phoenician service in Hos. 4. 13, 18 ; Amos 2. 7, and later in the Psalms of Solomon 8. 9, 10. 2 Commentary on Ezekiel, p. 117. 3 Pharisder, 17 ff. 4 Antiquit. XVI, 2. 4 ; 5. 4 ; 6. 8. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 159 way, to bring him back to it. Then a certain Eleazar answered him, f lf thou really wishest to be righteous, do this', &c. Now, it must have been clear to Wellhausen that, in order to please God, even the ordinary Jew had to live according to His will and to observe the command- ments of the Torah, as far as and when they applied to him, and in order to please the Pharisees, he had to fulfil the very same enactments according to their interpretation. To observe one of those commandments and, at the same time, to neglect another, could not obtain God's pleasure for him ; so that to be righteous or to walk in the right way l unmistakably comprised not a selection of a certain group of duties, say of the ceremonial rules, but the fulfil- ment of all the laws of the Torah applying to the indi- vidual concerned. Hyrkanos consequently must have known about himself that he had always lived and acted in accordance with the law ; and that was confirmed by the fact that his opponent had to single out the violation of a rule on his part for which not the high- priest, but the alleged captivity of his mother was responsible. That Hyrkanos could have pleased God by his observance of the ceremonial laws only, nobody would suggest ; for even only as the ruler of his people he had according to Deut. 17. 19 to possess a copy of the Torah, and to read in it throughout his life, ' that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this Torah and these statutes, to do them '. Consequently, ' righteous ' in Hyrkanos' case de- scribed him as obeying the Torah, therefore as religiously and morally blameless, good, pious. So when Josephus 2 says of Onias whose prayer for rain in the days of Aris- tobul II and Hyrkanos II was accepted by God : SIKCIIOS dvrjp KO.I 6foVCTt SlKaiO) KOL OeOCTtfitl Kdt TOVS TTOLTpLOVS VOp.OVS custom ; and though the Torah is the embodiment of God's will, he did not mean to say that the Pharisee weighed every action of his by what God would say to it. It is true, in Antiquit., VI, 7. 4. 147 he freely renders 1 Sam. 15. 22 by these words : God delights not in sacrifices, but in good and righteous men ; good and righteous, however, are those who obey the will and the orders of God, and who consider good and laudable only what God Himself commanded to do. Though here the text of the Bible influenced Josephus, we have a welcome definition of a righteous man : one that obeys the commandments of God. See also 1 Mace. 2. 29, where the strictly observant, pious men are described as seeking righteousness and justice. 1 Quod omn. prob. liber, 13. 83, II, 458: oaion/ra xai Sucaioavvriv ; of the treasurer of the Temple who trusted Crassus, Antiquit. , XIV, 7. 1 . 106 says : d-yaOos yap TJV KOL 5('cuoy. 2 De Septen., II, 282 = De spec, leg., II, 63 ; the saintliness of the Essenes, oc-ioTjjy, is referred to by Philo several times (Schiirer, Geschichte, IP, 654. 3). 3 Eefutatio haeres. IX, 23 ; Kohler in Jew. Encyd., V, 22S ff. and in Hermann Cohen's Festschrift, Judaica, p. 476. * Antiquit., VII, 7. 1. 130. L l62 SOME TYPES OF la-\vp>s (fivXdo-o-ovTi, ' he was by nature righteous and God- fearing, and kept the ancient laws zealously '. The same terms are applied to King Hezekiah : (fivcns 8' r\v avrSt XP^O-TT] Kal SiKaia Kal dfoa-fftrj^. 1 The distinction between righteous and God-fearing at once suggests that the first meant the king's conduct towards men, as the command- ments of the Torah which he conscientiously obeyed, deal with the duties to both God and men. At the dedication of the Temple King Solomon prayed to God 2 that He might keep their minds pure from all wickedness kv SiKaioa-vvij Kal OpTjo-Ktia, in righteousness and the fear of God, and in the practice of the laws which He had given them through Moses for all times. Then the king warned the people that ; as they had obtained their well-being SL' evo-eftfiav Kal SiKaio- v T rwv f]/j.Tpae@eias tet; xal TOV StKaiov, the last word being identical with St/caioavvi]. Antiquit., XVI, 2. 4. 42. 7 Aristobul, the Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher, describes the contents JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 163 explicit is that distinction in his statement 1 that, while the customs (of worship) of one and the same nation vary in almost every town, TO 8tKaioi> is recognized as most useful by both, Greeks and barbarians ; our laws have the greatest sense of TO SiKaiov, so that, if we only keep them properly, we must be kind and friendly to all men. Here Josephus explains as clearly as possible that TO SiKaiov is the proper conduct, prescribed by our law, towards the fellow-man. 2 John the Baptist 3 taught the Jews Kal 777 npb? aAA^Aof y SiKaiocrvi/r) Kal 777)09 TOV Qtov eva-f^tta xpco/ie^ou? /?a7r~icr/z<5 vvvitvai., to practise two things, righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, 4 clearly stating that the proper and perfect conduct towards the neighbour, as he understood it, was SiKaioavvr), as that towards God eucre/Seia, exactly as in the passages quoted from Philo and Josephus. 5 of the Jewish law book in the same way, Ensebius, Praepar. <.-mny., XIII, 12. 666 d; Bernays, Ueler das Phokylideische Gedicht, XXXIII, 1 ; Gesamm. Abhandlungen, I, 248. 1 Antiquit., XVI, 6. 8. 176. 2 Cf. Contra Apion., I, 12. 60 : We most of all things strive to educate our children to keep the laws and the ancient piety. The last word, though God is not added, undoubtedly means the same as above, as the parallel in I. 22. 212 has it: the observance of the laws and piety towards God. Montgomery in J. Q. JR., XI, 1921, 297. 26 adopts the view of Schlatter in his 'Wie sprach Josephus von Gott ? ' in Beitrage zur Ft> perhaps be substituted ? JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 167 and deceit ... (4) to involve households in warfare by means of slanderous lips. May God remove far from the innocent the lips of transgressors by (bringing them to) want, and may the bones of slanderers be scattered (far) away from them that fear the Lord ! (6) May the Lord preserve the quiet soul that hateth the unrighteous ; and may the Lord establish the man that followeth peace at home.' The righteous man had no interest in conspiracies, he was for peace in his house and kept away from dangerous politics, as also Psalrn 120 puts it; he was not a quietist, but a peaceful and peace-loving citizen. 7. There is, however, one idea that absorbed a con- siderable part of the author's attention and pervades all the psalms of the book : the interpretation of God's justice revealed in the recent sudden destruction of the sinners, the suffering of the righteous, and their religious attitude to the grave affliction during and after the conquest of Jerusalem by Pompey. When in the course of the terrible events many noble men and their families were killed and others degraded and sold into slavery : when King Aristobul himself was deposed and, along with his sons and his sur- viving supporters, was taken to Rome into captivity ; and when on the day of the great disaster the lives and the substance of the wealthy inhabitants were annihilated : the author of our psalms was stunned and dumb (3. 1). He found no word to express his despair ; for all that he could grasp was the fact of the downfall of his people, incapable of collecting his thoughts, and of searching for God's reason and object in sending so great a calamity upon His people. Only after a time he began to meditate, and he soon recog- nized that it was the work of God's punishing justice ; and his old conviction of His perfect justice assisted him in the interpretation of His intentions. In looking round, he found that chiefly the active military and political section of the people had been crushed, while the pious had suffered comparatively less ; and his religious explana- tion of the sad events was definitely formulated. Those 1 68 SOME TYPES OF had openly and heavily sinned against God, and even more gravely in secret ; hence their overwhelming destruction by which His justice was revealed to the earth (2. 36). For as rulers and priests they had sinned grievously against God, His Temple, and His holy things, against justice and morality, and against the righteous by oppressing him (2. 39). Though the approach of the Roman army and its progress, the conquest of Jerusalem, the desecration of the sanctuary, the mocking and the cruelties of the enemy, and the fearful humiliation of the Jewish heads and leaders by the conquerors had struck awe into the psalmist and had filled him with deep pain and grief, he still acknow- ledged the unequalled visitation as sent by God and as fully justified (2. 12: 4. 9; 8. 7, 8, 27, 30, 31, 40 ; 9. 3, 4), with uprightness of heart (2. 16). l As the king of Assyria 1 Bousset, Religion 2 , 473, says that the author of the Psalms of Solomon exulted over the punishment which God had decreed against the unlawful ruling house, a profligate race of priests, as also later against the arch-enemy of Israel, the dragon Pompey. First of all, I am unable to discover in the whole book a trace of exultation. Bousset misunderstood the fundamental idea of the book : to prove, perhaps against some writer who declared the catastrophe an undeserved and harsh punishment and questioned God's justice, that it was fully merited, and that God's justice was vindicated by having punished the sinners measure for measure. That is also the reason why the author dealt so frequently with the problem of punishment, and only very incidentally and casually with that of the reward of the righteous. In this connexion one of Hillel's difficult theological sentences deserves to be mentioned (Aboth, II, 6) : ' He saw also a skull floating on the surface of the water : he said to it, Because thou drownedst others, they have drowned thee. and at the last they that drowned thee shall themselves be drowned.' Only a natural death in old age required no explanation ; but death by drowning must have had a reason in a specially grave sin of the victim. As God alone guides man and, as the judge of the world, punishes sinners, we must try to understand His principles of justice. Hillel and others before him found that God punished measure for measure, so that the punishment revealed the sin for which the man was drowned : he had drowned somebody. Though he may have been God's instrument in executing His punishment, he knew nothing of his employment as God's instrument and committed a crime of his own free will, for which he deserved to be drowned. Of course, the first case of drowning, as Abel's death, must have had in God's providence a special reason. See also Testam. Zebul. 5. 4 ; Jubil. 4. 31, and Oppenheim in Kobak's Jeschurun V, 1866. 102 ff. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN 1'IETY 169 in Isa. 10, so the Roman conqueror executed God's charge too zealously and far beyond the orders given to him ; therefore he will also be punished by God, the King of the Universe, the judge of kings and rulers (2. 34) ; and here again God's justice will be made manifest to the world (2. 36). It is true, in the catastrophe also the righteous suffered ; it was, because they also had sinned. But as their sins had been committed only in ignorance and error, God separated between the pious and the wicked (2. 38) by marking them differently (15. 8, 10) and by showing mercy to the righteous (2. 39, 40). so that they were not destroyed (13. 1-11) by the sword, famine, and pestilence, and by poverty (15. 6-8: 4. 19; 1C. 13; 18. 3). Without the faintest inclination to self-righteousness the pious patiently submitted to God's visitation (2. 40 ; 10. 2 ; 14. 1), without murmur (16. 11) and without losing their faith in Him (16. 9-12). They, moreover, recognized their sufferings as a sparing punishment for their sins (10. 1 ; 16. 11 ; 18. 4, 5) committed in ignorance (13. 6) 1 and blotted out by God's chastening after their confession and repen- tance (9. 12, 15). God's object in His visitation was also to awaken the pious from temporary sloth (16. 4), and to warn him as a beloved son (13. 8 : J8. 4i, and to restore his soul to salvation (16. 4, 11). Therefore the righteous not only did not despise chastening (3. 4). but justified God by their own errors (3. 5 ; 10. 6), and in their distress praised God full of trust in Him (15.1-8; 6.1; 2.40) and His mercy (2. 37, 40 ; 6. 9 ; 9. 15 ; 13. 11). thanking Him in the assembly of the people (10. 7, 8) for rousing their soul by affliction from torpor (16. 4-6), and because suffering brought God's mercy (2. 39; 10. 3); and they called him whom He chastised, happy (10. 1). 1 18.4: Thy chastisement is upon us as (upon) a first-born. >nly- begftten son, (5) to turn back the obedient soul from folly that is wrought) in ignorance, aito apaOias tv dyvoiq (in 13. G only tv uyrma . The phrase is evidently taken from Ezek. 45. 20 : TISJD1 HJL^ C"ND. where LXX is in a hopeless condition ; see Cornill, and the second tradition about Symmachos' translation in Field's TJexapla. 17 SOME TYPES OF 8. Strange appears to be the psalmist's attitude to the Temple and the sacrifices. Unlike the biblical Psalms, the Psalms of Solomon never mention a vow in distress or any sacrifice, which in a pious man who lived in Jerusalem between 70 and 40 B. C.E.. seems rather strange. In his prayer for the future king of the house of David (17. 23 If.) he refers to the purging of Jerusalem (32) ' making it holy as of old : (34) so that nations shall come from the ends of the earth to see His glory, bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted, (35) and to see the gloiy of the Lord, wherewith God hath glorified her'. Here a reference to the Temple and its sacrifices would not only have been natural, but is even demanded by the context in Isa. 66. 18- 20 whence v. 34 was taken. 'Why did he leave out the offering? Did he disapprove of the Temple and its sacrifices on principle, or was there some special reason for his attitude 1 It was noticed by scholars that not in a single passage did he even allude to the high-priest Hyrkanos II who was in charge of the Temple before the Roman invasion, and was reinstated by Pompey after the Temple had been cleansed by the latter's order. Or did all the blame in 2, 3 if. refer to him and his management, and was the writer not reconciled to his high-priesthood, when the terrible catastrophe had atoned for the sins of the past ? Was he opposed to the Temple, as was suggested, because he considered the Maccabean high-priests usurpers of the dignity, and therefore the altar and its sacrifices dis- qualified ? This seems hardly warranted, as, in connexion with the sins of the Sadducean priests committed in the service of the Temple, he refers to ' the holy things of the Lord which they polluted (1. 8), the sons of Jerusalem had defiled the holy things of the Lord, and profaned with iniquities the offerings of God (2. 3), they plundered the sanctuary of God (8. 12), as though there was no avener. They trode the altar of the Lord, (coming straight) from all manner of uncleanness ; and with menstrual blood they defiled the sacrifices as common flesh (13). They defiled JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY I? 1 Jerusalem and the things that had been hallowed to the name of God ' (8. 26). In all this he blames the noble priests ministering immediately before Pompey's invasion. And though once (8. 25) he says, ' They did according to their uncleanness, even as their fathers (had done) : (26) they defiled Jerusalem and the things that had been hallowed to the name of God ', extending the blame to their fathers, it is almost certain that he is referring to the im- morality and the Sadducean indifference to holy things pre- vailing under Alexander Jamiaeus. Had he objected, as the author of the Assumptio Mosis (6. 1) did. to the whole race of the Maccabean high-priests, he would not have described the sanctuary as of God. the altar as of God, the offerings as of God, the things of the Temple as holy, but defiled and polluted by their occasional uncleanness, as he would have considered them permanently unholy. It is from the same point of view that he says of the Roman conqueror (2. 2), ' Alien nations ascended Thine altar, they trampled it proudly with their sandals ; (3) because the sons of Jerusalem had defiled the holy things of the Lord, had profaned with iniquities the offerings of God '. Should he not have rather said : (3) Because unworthy priests had ascended Thine altar and had defiled the sacrifices and the Holy of Holies ? Again, the attack of our author on the assumption of the royal title by the Hasmonaean high-priests (17. 5-12) also shows that he did not assail their high-priestly position. (5) 'Thou, Lord, didst choose David (to be) king over Israel, and swaredst to him touching his seed that never should his kingdom fail before Thee. (6) But, for our sins, sinners rose up against us ; they assailed us and thrust us out; what Thou hadst not promised to them, they took away (from us) with violence. (7) They in no wise glori- fied Thy honourable name ; they set a monarchy in place of (that which was) their excellency ; (8) they laid waste the throne of David in tumultuous arrogance. But Thou, O God, didst cast them down, and remove their seed from the I? 2 SOME TYPES OF earth, (9) in that there rose up against them a man that was alien to our race . . . (11) God showed them no pity ; he sought out their seed and let no one of them go free '. As Ryle-James rightly pointed out, according to v. 14, 'In the heat of his anger he sent them away even to the west . . . ', only Pompey's treatment of Aristobul and his family can be referred to here, as lie took all the members of the royal family, except Hyrkanos, to Rome into cap- tivity. Consequently, the whole group of the verses quoted above blames the Hasmonaean high-priests for their as- sumption of the royal title since Aristobul 1 in 104 B.C. E. But the interpretation of the individual sentences, as Ryle- James's notes show, is very difficult. The author does not object on principle to a monarch, as he prays for the restora- tion of David's dynasty in accordance with God's promise ; but he opposes the Hasmonaean kings as usurpers. And the way in which he refers to the treatment of David's descendants by the Hasmonaeans, sounds rather strange. Was there an obvious possibility of restoring the old dynasty 1 Was there, besides the line living in Babylonia and descended from King Jehoiachin, any representative of the family in Judaea? 1 Would Aristobul I and his suc- cessors have allowed him to live in that country 1 ? The pronouns of the first person plural are certainly strange (6), and are accounted for by Ryle-James in this way: ' We believe that he represents not only the Pharisees, but the priests who had been alienated by the setting aside of the legitimate line of the High Priesthood. It is noteworthy that the fourfold repetition of the first Person Pronoun is followed by the mention of this spoliation '. But not in a single word is there a reproach raised against their priest- hood ; and also the introduction ( 1-4) emphasizes only God's kingdom to lead over to David's eternal rule, and v. 7 speaks only of QacriXtiov, and there is not even a faint allusion to their high-priesthood. Was the author himself a descen- 1 The Mishnah Ta'an. IV, 5 mentions iTNiT J3 "1H ')! in the last years of the second Temple ; but were descendants of David meant ? JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 1 73 dant of one of the lines of the Davidic dynasty? 1 That would certainty make the attack and the pronouns clear. But did Aristobul I assail and thrust out a Davidic represen- tative ? or are those verbs merely poetical expressions for Aristobul's usurpation? 2 Only Testament Levi, 8. 14 asserts that God promised the kingship to Levi ; and against such attempts at legitimation our author protests, and declares that the priests violently appropriated the dignity, and destroyed David's throne. Up to that time they had v-fy-os for 'which, however, they substituted pao-LXeiov ; the first may be an allusion to the title of the high-priests, ^n; jm pvj? 7X7 , 3 in which God's name occurs, ' they in no wise glorified Thy honourable name '. Here the author, if he had objected to the high-priestly dignity of the Hasmonaeans, could have added that even that was usurped. As they were legitimate priests just as others, there could have been no objection to their ministration ; and Josephus reports that the priests who were on duty, when the Romans under Pompey penetrated into the Temple, continued the sacri- ficial service, and were cut down before the altar. 4 So it was not on this head that our author never vowed a thank- offering, and that he eliminated from his messianic picture a reference to the Temple and sacrifices. The author of the book of Enoch 89. 73 declared all sacrifices offered in the second Temple unclean, and added that in the messianic 1 Interesting is 15. 5 : ' A new psalm with song in gladness of heart, the fruit of the lips with the well-tuned instrument of the tongue, the firstfruits of the lips from a pious and righteous heart (6) he that offereth those things shall never be shaken by evil.' As it seems, the imagery is taken from the bringing of the firstfruit or of an offering with joy, song, and music, arid the realities of the offering are turned into a song of gratitude. He knew all these details, but did not refer to a real sacrifice. Cf. Hebr. Psalm 119. 108. 2 Two usurpers, John Hyrkanos and Herod, are reported to have opened David's grave (Josephus, Antiquit.,VII, 15. 3. 393 ; XIII, 8. 4. 249 ; XVI, 7. 1 . 179) for money; perhaps they tried to obtain the insignia of the ancient royalty. 3 Assumptio Mosis, 6. 1 ; Jubil. 32. 1 ; (36, 16) ; Josephus, Antiqml., XVI, 6. 2. 163 ; Charles on Test. Levi, 8. 14 ; KoshhaShan., 18 b bottom ; Geiger, Urschnft. 32 ff. 4 Antiquit., XIV, 4. 3.167. 1 74 SOME TYPES OF times that building would be removed and a new one erected in its place. 1 But our author, as just mentioned, does not refer at all to the new Temple in his messianic picture. Assumptio Mosis, 4. 7, in referring to the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile says, ' Then some portions of the tribes shall go up and they shall come to their appointed place, and they shall anew surround the place with walls. (8) And the two tribes shall continue in their prescribed faith, sad and lamenting because they will not be able to offer sacrifices to the Lord of their fathers.' Charles remarks, ' For the low value set on the worship of the restored Temple, cf. 2 Baruch 68. 5, 6,- " not as fully as in the beginning". The sacrifices were unacceptable, cf. " the polluted bread " of Mai. 1. 7, and 1 Enoch 89, 73. The objection here indeed is not an Essene one to sacrifice as such, but to the imperfection of the worship of God's people as long as they were subject to heathen powers. God would restore their glory and freedom when they repented, 1. 17, but on no other condition, IX '. But all this is in the case of our author beside the point, as he did recognize the Temple, the altar and its sacrifices ; and the reasons of his attitude must be sought elsewhere. His poverty could account for the absence of vows and voluntary sacrifices, but certainly not for that of a reference to the Temple and the public offerings. 9. The psalms refer several times to the relations between God and Israel, and their point of view is the biblical. (7. 1) ' Make not Thy dwelling afar from us, O God ; lest they assail us that hate us without cause. (5) While Thy name dwelleth in our midst, we shall find mercy '. God Himself, or, as also the Bible expresses it, His name dwells in Israel. 3 But, as this, as a rule, refers to His presence in the Temple and in the city of Jerusalem, the prayer would suggest that 1 90. 29; NGWJ. 39, 1895, 20 ff. 2 The words of Baruch do not criticize the sacrifices, but merely state that the number of the worshippers will be smaller, which is no criticism. 3 Lev. 15. 31 ; 26. 11 ; Deut. 12. 11, &c. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 1 75 God was about to leave His sanctuary ; as in connexion with the destruction of the second Temple the Apocalypse of Baruch 8. 1 says, ' A voice was heard from the interior of the Temple, after the wall had fallen, saying: (2) Enter, ye enemies, and come ye, adversaries, for He who kept the house has forsaken it '- 1 Accordingly, the prayer was written, when the poet had reason to fear that the Temple might soon be taken and entered by the Romans under Pompey. Wellhauseii refers it to the siege of Jerusalem by Sosius for Herod ; but Ryle-James adduced cogent argu- ments against that explanation. In addition, v. 2 is difficult to understand : ' For Thou hast rejected them, O God ; let not their foot trample upon Thy holy inheritance '. If this refers to the Romans, as Ryle-James suggest, 'rejected' is not appropriate, and too strong. More probable is their other explanation that it refers to the rejection of Aris- tobul II and his followers by God, who are now trying to come back and to take possession of Jerusalem and the Temple ; the danger is that their return might bring a new siege by Pompey, who could not allow an overthrow of the Roman conquest, and the destruction of the city and the sanctuary. Now, Josephus 2 reports how Aristobul's son Alexander with ten thousand men tried to regain Judaea and the capital ; but he retired before Gabinius to the neigh- bourhood of Jerusalem where he was defeated. From the statement (5. 4) that Gabinius brought Hyrkanos to Jeru- salem and handed over to him the care of the Temple, it follows that the high- priest had left the city during the military operations. Immediately after Alexander's failure Aristobul escaped from Rome, came to Judaea, and gathered many Jews round him ; 3 and though he also was soon defeated, the poet of the psalm might have trembled lest, if Aristobul succeeded in entering Jerusalem, the Romans would soon follow him. In any case, God was still dwelling in Jerusalem. 1 Charles refers to Tacitus, Hist., V, 13 : ' Et apertae repente delubri fores et audita maior humana vox, excedere deos '. 2 Antiguit., XIV, 5. 2. 3 Ibid., C. 1. I? 6 SOME TYPES OF Ryle-James see in this an emphasis on Israel's privi- leged position with God. 1 ' But the universality of Divine mercy and justice in no way affects the peculiar relations of Isi'ciel with God. He is the God of Israel, 4. 1: 9.2; 12.6; 18.6: cf. 8. 37; 9.16, and the God of Jacob, 16. 3. Israel is His portion and heritage, 14. 3. The seed of Abraham was chosen above all the nations, the Divine name set upon it. the holy covenant established with the patriarchs, 9. 17-20. God's love and mercy are always towards Israel, 5. 21 ; 7. S : 18. 2-4. Israel is His servant, 12. 7: 17. 23, for whom He hath promised blessings, 11. 8; cf. 17. 50. Jerusalem is the holy city, 18. 4.' This is all quite correct : the spokesman of his down-trodden nation still believes in his Bible, all parts of which taught him and every Jew those ideas : and also many a warning and, at the same time, several reassuring messages of the prophets told him that Israel would for all times and in all circum- stances remain God's people. The universality of Divine mercy and justice did not affect in his mind Israel's privileged position with God. But the two commentators of the psalms did not pursue their inquiry into the close relations of Israel with God, though Amos could have given them the clue to it. Does He grant Israel special protec- tion even when it is sinning, or the favour of a remission of iniquity 1 ? Does not, moreover, the author of the short psalm 7 that emphasizes the presence of God in Jerusalem and His protection of it (7. 5, 6), at the same time tremble at His anger at Israel (7. 4), at His impending withdrawal from the capital, His rejection of His people, and His most severe punishments (7. 4) ? God's presence in Jerusalem not only condones no failings, but, on the contrary, brings with it quicker visitation for them, and even the righteous feel His stern justice. God sends against privileged Israel the punishing enemy, and it does not occur to the psalmist, just as little as to Amos 7, to pray to Him to withdraw all afflic- tion ; but all he requests with King David in 2 Sam. 24. 14, 1 L. ff. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 177 is that God may execute the severe punishment Him- self and not employ the Romans. Again and again he prays for God's mercy, but for no privilege : only His mercy will have the effect that the nations will not prevail over Israel (7. 5, 6), and He will pity the seed of Israel for ever and not reject them (7. 8). The prayer concludes with 1 the self-assurance (9), ' Thou wilt establish us in. the time that Thou helpest us, showing merc}^ to the house of Jacob on the day wherein Thou didst promise (to help them).' Sins provoke the God of Israel (4. 1), and their consequences for every individual Israelite are emphatically stated again and again. Even when God will remember His people (11. 2), it will be due to His mercy; and the prayer for the messianic redemption (11. 9) reads, ' The mercy of the Lord be upon Israel for ever and ever '. And as throughout the book, as Ryle-James note, Israel includes only the pious part of the nation, the servant of God, even His mercy is granted in the first instance only to such as merit it by their piety. The special love of God for the seed of Abraham (18. 1-6) deserves a short consideration. (1) ' Lord, Thy mercy is over the works of Thy hands for ever ; Thy goodness is over Israel with a rich gift. (2) Thine eyes look upon them, so that none of them suffers want ; (3) Thine ears listen to the hopeful prayer of the poor. Thy judgements (are executed) upon the whole earth in mercy ; (4) and Thy love (is) toward the seed of Abraham, the children of Israel. Thy chastisement is upon us as (upon) a first-born, only- begotten son, (5) to turn back the obedient soul from folly in ignorance. (6) May God cleanse Israel against the day of mercy and blessing, against the day of choice when He bringeth back His anointed '. These lines were composed after God had accepted the prayer of the starving and poor righteous men, and everybody had food again. God is merciful to all His creatures at all times (la), but to Israel with a rich gift (1 b), which, in the grateful and exaggerat- ing words of the humble poet, merely means, as he himself explains, that everybody has sufficient. God judges the M 178 SOME TYPES OF whole earth in mercy (3 b), but towards Israel there is love (4 a) ; and what does that great distinction imply ? The next line explains it as clearly as possible. According to Prov. 3. 12, ' For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth ' ; and Deut. 8. 5, 'As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee , our author states, (13. 8) ' For He correcteth the right- eous as a beloved son, and His chastisement is as that of a firstborn'. The only expression of God's love and its special object is correction for the purpose of cleansing the beloved pious man from sin. This is what the pious Pharisee saw in his God's special love to him, and, as he suffered, in his own love to God : he not only readily submitted to His chastening, but bore it patiently and without a murmur, as he saw in it the love of his Father in heaven. This deeply religious idea of the Pharisee would have deserved, on the part of the commentators and of the historians of Jewish- religious thought, greater attention and appreciation. Another instance is 8. 29, ' Worthy to be praised is the Lord that judgeth the whole earth in His justice. (30) Behold now, O God, Thou hast shown us Thy judgement in Thy justice; (31) our eyes have seen Thy judgements, O God. We have justified Thy name that is honoured for ever ; (32) for Thou art the God of justice, judging Israel with chastening. (33) Turn, O God, Thy mercy upon us, and have pity upon us; (34) gather together the dis- persed of Israel, with mercy and goodness ; (35) for Thy faithfulness is with us. And (though) we have stiffened our neck, yet Thou art our chastener ; . . . (38) and we will not depart from Thee, for good are Thy judgements upon us. (40) The Lord is worthy to be praised for His judgements with the mouth of the pious ones'. The last lines quoted praise God for His special goodness to Israel ; and again, what favour did it bestow upon them? Sparing punish- ment! Special thanks are offered by the poet for God's judgments which are acknowledged by the people as just and fully deserved for their sins, and because towards Israel JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 1 79 He exercises special kindness by judging it with chastening ; and He keeps His promise to the patriarchs by not allowing Israel to perish completely. And all that the poet is pray- ing for, is mercy and pity in the catastrophe that threatens to swallow up the people. The beautiful prayer of the Pharisee writer deserves special attention, as it is full of deep sentiment and true inwardness (31-8). Again, when- ever the psalmist stresses the special love of God to Israel in the past, it is in distress. (9. 16) And now, Thou art our God, and we the people whom thou hast loved : behold and show pity, O God of Israel, for we are Thine ; and remove not Thy mercy from us, lest they assail us. (17) For Thou didst choose the seed of Abraham before all the nations, and didst set Thy name upon us, Lord, (18) and Thou wilt not reject (us) for ever. Thou madest a covenant with our fathers concerning us; (19) and we hope in Thee, when our soul turneth (unto Thee). The mercy of the Lord be upon the house of Israel for ever and ever '. The author's whole mind is sunk in the terrible suffering of his people, caused by Pompey's cruelty ; he points to no merit of his own, to no privileged position or claim of Israel. At the time of the prayer he saw nothing favourable in the life of the nation by which to support his supplication : and amid the depression and the despair of his heart and the pre- vailing distress his mind turned to the past, and he reminded God of all that he knew of the glorious position of his ancestors. There is no trace of pride at the descent of Israel from the patriarchs or at God's particular measures for the people ; nothing but the humble cry of an anguished heart for mercy, that Israel may not be rejected. And the same spirit is evident in 14. 3, ' For the portion and inheri- tance of God is Israel '. where Deut. 3:2. 9 is applied to the pious men who loved God in truth, endured patiently His chastening, and obeyed His commandments ; they will not be uprooted, for they are God's portion. No idea of Israel's distinctive position or its closer relations with God was intended here. M 2 l8o SOME TYPES OF Neither in his meditations nor in his prayers does the poet ever refer in the same definite way to a reward merited by the righteous as he refers to the punishment incurred by the sinner. Though incidental reference was repeatedly made in these notes to his conception of God's intervention on earth, a short explanation of his connected statement about the problem (2. 32-40) will give a clearer view of it. ' He (Pompey) reflected not that he was a man, (32) and reflected not on the latter end : (33) he said : I will be lord of land and sea; and he recognized not that it is God who is great, mighty in His great strength. (34) He is king over the heavens, and judgeth kings and kingdoms. (35) (It is He) who setteth me up in glory, and bringeth down the proud to eternal destruction in dishonour, because they knew Him not. (36) And now behold, ye princes of the earth, the judgement of the Lord, for a great king and righteous (is He), judging (all) that is under heaven. (37) Bless God, ye that fear the Lord with wasdom, for the mercy of the Lord will be upon them that fear Him, in the judgement ; (38) so that He will distinguish between the righteous and the sinner, (and) recompense the sinners for ever according to their deeds ; (39) and have mercy on the righteous, (delivering him) from the affliction of the sinner, and recompensing the sinner for w r hat he hath done to the righteous. (40) For the Lord is good to them that call upon Him in patience, doing according to His mercy to His pious ones, establishing (them) at all times before Him in strength. (41) Blessed be the Lord for ever before His servants.' Most of the ideas referring to the arrogant conqueror are familiar from Isa. 10 and 37, and Hannah's psalm in 1 Sam. 2. The poet reminded Pompey that not he, but God alone was the ruler of the Universe, and that kings and kingdoms were called to account by Him for their wantonness. Also the Roman conqueror had been raised by Him for His own purposes, as He brought low the Jewish king and his supporters, because they had not known God. The same sin had been committed by them JEWISIM'ALKSTINIAN I'IKTY l8l (4. 24) '(In robbing people of tlieir houses and driving tliem away), they have not remembered God, nor feared God in all these things ; (25) but they have provoked God's anger and vexed Him,' and they were punished by Him through the Romans. His justice was manifest, and should be recognized by rulers. But the chief interest of the poet was in those of his own section, the pious, and their religious convictions. They should thank God, for they would be rewarded by Him for their deeds by His mercy in judgment, by giving them the strength to stand firm in the catastrophe and not be crushed ; that is His great goodness to them. So we see that God watches, on the one hand, the deeds of the righteous and the sinners in Judaea, on the other the treatment of both sections by the Romans whom He called from the ends of the earth to execute His punish- ment. The principle of God's providence and of man's free will the poet explains in 9. 5, ' For from Thy knowledge none that doeth unjustly is hidden, (6) and the righteous deeds of Thy pious ones (are) before Thee, O Lord ; where, then, can a man hide himself from Thy knowledge, O God ? (7) Our works are subject to our own choice and power to do right or wrong in the works of our hands; and in Thy righteousness Thou visitest the sons of men.' And in 14. 4, 'But not so are the sinners and transgressors, who love (the brief) day (spent) in companionship with their sin ; their delight is in fleeting corruption, (5) and they remember not God. For the ways of men are known before Him at all times, and He knoweth the secrets of the heart before they come to pass. (6) Therefore their inheritance is Sheol and darkness and destruction, and they shall not be found in the day when the righteous obtain mercy ; (7) but the pious of the Lord shall inherit life in gladness.' This emphatic statement seems to have deliberately set out one of the essential differences of religious doctrine between the Pharisees and the most advanced among the Sadducees. As in Psalms 10. 4; 14. 1 ; 36. 2; 53. 2, and Job 22. 12 ft!. 1 82 SOME TYPES OF so in the passage quoted the wicked maintains that God cares nothing for, nor sees, the doings of man ; so that there is before Him neither account nor responsibility, neither reward nor punishment for anybody, and life may be enjoyed without any restraint as long as it lasts. Against that, probabty fairly general, teaching our author stresses the conviction that God does see and know every deed of man and even the intention rising in his heart, and that He does take an interest in man s actions, as He recom- penses good and evil. On the other hand, there seem to have been others who held that man was not responsible for his deeds, as they were not a matter of his choice, but probably of fate. 1 Against those our poet emphasizes our free will and power in our actions, and the consequences for the sinners of their transgressions. When they, not thinking of God, enjoy life too freely, they will suffer for it ; for God sees even their secret sins (8. 9-15), their hypocrisy, their injustice in judgment, their dishonesty, their immorality and their enormities, and their contempt for things holy to God. Without respect for any person, meaning the nobles and the king, He punishes them justly, even, where possible, measure for measure. All classes of the population were sinful (17. 21, 22), and the righteous lived among them as innocent lambs and remained pious, though associating with the sinners ; they were poor, modest and humble, and acted always in accordance with God's will, His commandments. Their prayers were submitted in humility, accompanied by the admission of sin committed in ignorance, by repentance, and by fasts to humble themselves. Even in the greatest affliction their faith in God never wavered ; for they knew that His justice even in their own case of suffering was unassailable ; therefore they bore it with resignation as a punishment not as full as deserved, and as the father's chastisement of his beloved son. In true devotion and inwardness, and from a pure and obedient heart they 1 Schiirer, Geschichle, II 4 , 463. about free will. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 183 thanked God for His sparing visitation, and prayed for mercy for themselves and their people. He showed them pity, fortified their souls to endure suffering, saved them, and prolonged their lives, while the sinners were crushed before their eyes. On that day God distinguished between the pious and the transgressors, for He is just and kind for ever (10. 6), merciful and good for ever (10. 8). the hope and the refuge of the poor (15. '2 : 5. 2), has mercy upon the needy (10. 7), He is good, gentle, merciful, sparing, helping the poor and the humble in loving-kindness, feeding the hungry in a famine, keeping away all the forms of destruc- tion from the pious, and delivering the righteous from deceitful and sinful men (4. 27). When speaking of God, the poet often says name of God ; this tendency, marked already in the biblical Psalms, grew in the course of the succeeding centuries, though in our psalms it is not used as frequently and as consistently as we would have expected. It seems that the author resorted to it only in certain definite phrases (8. 31). ' Our eyes have i-een Thy judgements, O God. We have justified Thy name that is honoured for ever. (10. 6) Just and kind is our Lord in His judgements for ever, and Israel shall praise the name of the Lord in gladness. (8) For good and merciful is God for ever, and the assemblies of Israel shall glorify the name of the Lord. 1 (15. 1), I called upon the name of the Lord ; (4) in giving thanks to Thy name ; (17. 7) they in no wise glorified Thy honourable name ; (7. 5) while Thy name dwelleth in our midst. (11. 9) Let the Lord raise up Israel by His glorious name, and (5. 22) Blessed be the glory of the Lord, for He is our king,' were prepar- ing the ground for, or perhaps already presupposing, the formula innta "ina DE> "p-Q used in the Temple service on the Day of Atonement. 2 (6. 2) ' When lie remembereth the name of the Lord, he will be saved; (8. 26) they defiled 1 So 5. 1 ; 6. 6, 7. 2 Yoma,III, 8; IV, 1, 2; VI, 2; and in the service of tin- pul.lie fast on the Temple Mount, Baraithn Ta'an. 16 !>. I4 SOME TYPES OF Jerusalem and the things that had been hallowed to the name of God; (9. 17) and didst set Thy name upon us, O Lord'. God only in extreme cases brings great catastrophes to punish the sins of kings and of the leaders of the people ; in the normal course of life He employs the affliction of drought with which Deut. 11. 17 threatens disobedience. Our book refers to such a calamity once ; after a statement of Pompey's cruelties, he proceeds (17. 17), 'And the children of the covenant in the midst of the mingled peoples surpassed (?) them, there was not among them one that wrought mercy and truth in the midst of Jeru- salem. (18) They that loved the assemblies of the pious fled from them, as sparrows that fly from their nest. (19) They wandered in deserts that their lives might be saved from harm, and precious in the eyes of them that lived abroad was any that escaped alive from them. (20) Over the \vhole earth were they scattered by lawless (men). (21) For the heavens withheld the rain from dropping upon the earth, springs were stopped (that sprang) perennially ) out of the deeps, (that ran down) from lofty mountains. For there was none among them that wrought righteousness and justice; from the chief of them to the least (of them) all were sinful ; (22) the king was a transgressor, and the judge disobedient, and the people sinful.' The wording of the whole passage is not at all clear, and the historical references were not suffi- ciently elucidated by the commentators ; and as they bear on the problem of sin and punishment in question, a few words of explanation are necessary. As v. 17 follows immediately after the description of the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the offensive Roman practices, Pompey's garrison is stationed in Jerusalem, and the new administra- tion is at work (17). As Aristobul and his followers were gone, who were now the leaders of whom the author expected loving-kindness 1 ? Ot viol rfjs ScaOiJKijs tv fj. a-vp.fjLiKTa)v are at first sight obscure, and Ryle- James JEWISH-PALESTINIAN 1'IKTY 185 otter as the only help to understanding LXX on E/ek. 30. 5 : Kal TrdvTes oi 6Tri/j.iKroi Kal TMI' vicai' rrjs ScaOrJKrj^ fj.ov for man px ^ai TDl myn bi. The similarity is indeed very close, and may contain the clue to a satisfactory interpre- tation of the line. From Josephus l we learn that Antipater was already in 63/2 assisting, at Hyrkaiios' order, the Roman representative of Pompey in Syria, Aemilius Scaurus ; so that he was, from the clay of Hyrkaiios' reinstatement by Pompey, by his side in Jerusalem as in former years, and governed Judaea on his behalf." He, his sons, and his friends could in a twofold sense be referred to as the sons of the covenant, as they were circumcised, and were Hyrkaiios' allies and friends. The Romans who were also represented, might have been described as 2iyn 'jn. the sons of the west, Italy being termed the west (17. 14), and the trans- lator took the words, as in Ezekiel, to mean mingled people. The poet expected Antipater to be more kind to the Jews than the Romans, but he proved worse. The adherents of the pious/' from reasons not indicated, were forced to tiee from Jerusalem ; they scattered in various directions, and wandered for safety in deserts, probably hoping to be allowed soon to return. At this point (19) some new persons are introduced by the poet, called napoLKLa, Jews who had settled outside Judaea, and who valued every life of those who wandered in the deserts and who suc- ceeded in escaping, as most precious. To those sojourners in countries outside Judaea the next lines are devoted. As the king who was never referred to before, was still in power, when the lawless drove out those men, it was before Pompey's invasion ; perhaps they were identical with those who were deprived of their property by guile (4. 11-15) 1 Antiquit., XIV, 5. 1. 80. 2 ' AndGabinius settled the affairs of Jerusalem according to Antipater s wishes,' Antiquit., XIV, 6. 4. 103; Wars, I, 8. 7. 175 ; Schiirer, Gesckichte, I, 343, 14; Wellhausen in Gottinger Gelehrte Anscigen, 189U, 245. 3 In 10. 7, 'And the pious shall give thanks in the assembly of the people,' we see that those who loved the assemblies of the pious, belonged to the people. l86 SOME TYPES OF and driven out from Jerusalem. At first they fled probably to the mountains of Judaea where, for some time, they found the most necessary food and water ; but on account of a long drought the water supply failed them, many perished, and others emigrated to neighbouring countries. Naturally, they took deep interest in the safety of their former adherents and friends who under Antipater's administration were compelled to flee for their lives from Jerusalem. The drought was. in the opinion of the writer, due to the sinfulness l of the whole population of Judaea ; not only of the king, the rulers and the judges of whose injustice and lawlessness other psalms speak, but even of the ordinary men of the people to whose sins no other passage refers. Was this addition necessary to account for the terrible drought by which many pious men and others of the people had perished, as without the sin of the ordinary man the calamity Avould not have been so general ? 10. The author of the psalms and his friends were bitterly disappointed in their expectations that the rein- statement of Hyrkanos by Pompey as the ruler and high- priest would inaugurate conditions more fair and just to the section of the pious. Antipater saw his own interests best served by an absolute support of the Roman rule and by the unconditional suppression of everybody and everything opposing him, whether political or religious ; and conse- quentl}* many a pious man was expelled. Such violence only strengthened the messianic longing and hope which the recent catastrophe and the Roman yoke had again 1 The words StKatoavvij /cat /rpi'/ia cover the sins of all, as they correspond with t3Bt?D1 np"TX in Gen. 18. 19 and elsewhere, and, as was shown above, p. 160-64, refer neither to ceremonial law nor to charity, but to the general good conduct of every individual in his own sphere in conformity with the Torah. The judge was reproached by the poet not for his neglect of the ceremonial rules, but, as in 4. 1-7, with partiality in his public and with immorality in his private life. The king's sins are nowhere mentioned ; but if what is said against the priests and leaders, refers also to him, he treated the altar and the holy things with irreverence, and was immoral. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN" PIETY 187 aroused. The impressive and clear picture of the messianic king was fully analysed by Kyle-James; 1 lut as their chief interest centred round the person of the Messiah and his character, one eminently characteristic quality of the essen- tial figures in the picture, holiness, though mentioned several times, did not attract their attention, and its mean- ing was not sufficiently realized. Holy is the adjective of Jerusalem, of the people of Israel and of the king. The author says of the messianic king (17. 32), ' And he shall have the heathen nations to serve him under his yoke ; and he shall glorify the Lord in a place to be seen of (?) all the earth ; (33) and he shall purge Jerusalem, making it holy as of old : (34) so that nations shall come from the ends of the earth to see his glory, bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted, (35) and to see the glory of the Lord, wherewith God hath glorified her. And he (shall be) a righteous king, taught of God, over them, (36) and there shall lie no unrighteousness in his days in their midst, for all shall be holy and their king the anointed of the Lord '. In describ- ing the attitude of the king to the nations, the author distinguished between the heathen whose cruel and offen- sive conduct he had recently witnessed in Jerusalem, and other peoples outside Judaea. Of his attitude to the Romans he said (24), 'And gird him (the king) with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous rulers, (25) and that lie may purge Jerusalem from nations that trample (her) down to destruction. Wisely, righteously (26) he shall thrust out sinners from (the) inheritance, he shall destroy the pride of the sinner as a potter's vessel. With a rod of iron he shall break in pieces all their substance, (27) he shall destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth : at his rebuke nations shall flee before him, and he shall reprove sinners for the thoughts of their heart '. That he sincerely wished such conquerors to be shattered and Jerusalem purged of them, is only natural. He places, however, the Jewish violent and sinful rulers on the same level, and his first 1 p. lii-lviii, cf. Bousset. Religion 2 , 200-77. 188 SOME TYPES OF wish was that they might be removed from the Jewish inheritance ; for he was, in the first instance, thinking of the Idumaean Antipater and his non-Jewish followers. Their power and their pride with which they oppressed l their fellow-Jews, deserved the same thorough destruction, and their evil plans frustration. His hope of the removal of the Romans and of Antipater, one would think, would appeal as obvious to every fair-minded commentator. When these foreign oppressors have been purged away by the messianic king, he will proceed to gather together the exiles, and place the returned all over Palestine, so that no room will be left in the territories of the various tribes for the sojourner and the alien (28-31). The psalmist did not apply to the inhuman, blood-thirsty conquerors the words of Isa. 52. 1 about the Babylonians : ' O Jerusalem, the holy city ; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean '. Though the opportunity for it would have been most appropriate, no adjective except ' lawless ' is applied to the Romans ; for it was not any uncleanness attaching to his person, but the cruelty and the haughty conduct that were to the pious man unclean in the Roman. And when he said (17. 51), 'May the Lord hasten His mercy upon Israel ! May He deliver us from the uncleanness of unholy enemies, airo aKaOap- ', he meant their desecration of the Temple and of the Holy of Holies with reference to which even the pious layman was only little less unclean; 2 and Ryle-James's remark, ' notice the prominence given to the uncleanness of the oppressors,' is entirely misleading. The word aKaOapcria is applied three times in ch. 8, once or twice not to any non- Jews, but to the leading priests ; them (13) the writer accuses of having gone up to the altar coming from every uncleanness, meaning immorality and 1 Pride, or more correctly haughtiness and presumption revealed in the oppression of others, 17. 46 ; 4. 28. 2 Josephus, Antiquit^ XIV, 4. 4. 72 : Pompey and not a few of his com- panions went inside (the Temple) and saw the things which no other men but the high-priests only are permitted to see. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 189 sin. And (24) ' He led away their sons and daughters, whom they had begotten in defilement (kv fie (3rj \axre i). (25) They did according to their uncleanness (Kara -as aKadapa-ias), even as their fathers (had done)'. 1 And that Poinpey should have appeared to the author of the psalm more moral and purer than those priests, could not possibly be expected. When, in the progress of the messianic king, the whole of Palestine is free from all non-Jews, the heathen nations submit to the rule of the king of the Jews, as they see him from all parts of the earth glorify God on the high mountain of Zion. He only now purges Jerusalem in holiness or sanctification (e^ ayiaa-fj.^), as of old ; probably in the same sense as King Josiali purged the city of all idola- try to the last vestige, so he removes all that Roman and Idumaean worship and their unjust and violent administra- tion left behind. In the now holy city no wrong will be done, everybody will be holy (36). This last statement shows the moral and spiritual meaning of holiness which excludes every kind of wrong-doing. The same is expressed in 17. 28, 'And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he shall lead in righteousness, and he shall judge the tribes of the people that has been sanctified by the Lord his God. (29) And he shall not suffer unrighteousness to lodge any more in their midst, nor shall there dwell with them any man that knoweth wickedness, (30) for he shall know them, that the}' are all sons of their God'. The Israelites gathered from abroad are termed here a holy people, as also in v. 48, ' In the assemblies he will judge the peoples, the tribes of the sanc- tified. (49) His words (shall be) like the words of the holy ones in the midst of sanctified peoples'. God sanctified, that is, purified them, as in the messianic prophecy in Ezek. 36. 24-9 God will bring the people back from the 1 In 8. 23, He poured out the blood of the inhabitants of Jerusalem like the water of uncleanness ', is, no doubt, a wrong rendering of ' unclean water'; for the water used for the purification of a person defiled by a corpse in Num. 19. 9, 17, 18, 21 ; 31. 23 is holy and not unclean. igo SOME TYPES OF exile, and purify them from all their impurities, and give them a new spirit ; and in 37. 23, ' But I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them ; so shall they be My people, and I will be their God. (24) And David my servant shall be king over them '. Again we see that holiness implied the exclusion of unrighteousness and even the knowledge of wickedness, and that the holy man is a son of God. The king will see to it that that spirit continue in the holy people, (41) ' he will rebuke rulers, and remove sinners by the might of his word ; (46) he will lead them all aright, and there will be no pride among them that any among them should be oppressed '. And his qualifications are, (35) ' he (shall be) a righteous king, taught of God, over them, (36) the anointed of the Lord, he will not increase horses, riders and bows, nor gold or silver nor big armies (37), but (38) God Himself is his king, the hope of him that is mighty through (his) hope in God '. The contrast here clearly shows that God Himself will be Israel's protector, as in 1 Sam. 12. 12, making all other means of defence super- fluous. Consequently, the king will have to use only his word (39), and wisdom and righteousness for the removal of sinners (17. 25, 31, 42; 18. 8), and bless the people with wisdom and gladness (40). He will be pure from sin (41), 1 that is, he will be holy, so that he may rule a great people. (42) ' God will make him mighty by means of (His) holy spirit, and wise by means of the spirit of understanding, with strength and righteousness '. There is no doubt that the author used Isa. 11. 2 here, but introduced some very interesting changes. It is very probable that for the spirit of the Lord he put the spirit of holiness, an expression occurring already in Isa. 63. 10, ' But they rebelled, and vexed His holy spirit; (11) where is He that put His holy spirit in the midst of them ' ? and in LXX Dan. 4. 5, 15 ; Susanna 44. Accordingly, it was used already a generation before Hillel in whose time it denoted the prophetic gift, 1 See Apoc. Baruch, 9. 1. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 191 called in the Bible the spirit of the Lord. By that holy spirit the messianic king will be the ideal ruler of his people (37-46), and, like David (2 Sam. 15. 2-4 : Ps. 122. 5) and Solomon (1 Reg. 3. 16, 28 : 7. 7), 1 the chief judge who (48) decides disputes in the assembly'- 2 and instructs the people (47) ; his words will be wisdom as precious as the teachings of Wisdom (Prov. 8. 10-21). As a good shepherd he will tend the flock of God faithfully and in righteous- ness (45), his spirit will be that of wisdom and righteous- ness (25, 28, 31,42 ; 18. 8), ' that he may direct (every) man in the works of righteousness by the fear of God, that he may establish them all before the Lord (9), a good genera- tion (living) in the fear of God in the days of mercy' (10). Even Ryle-James do not refer the righteousness of the messianic king to ceremonial rules, but concede here a wider and fuller meaning to it. As the king, however, directs every man in the works of righteousness, and the meaning of the virtue which he teaches others, must be the same as he himself also possesses, it follows that the works of righteousness are of the highest moral character. It was only natural that the writer applied the virtues that characterized the actions of the pious, righteousness and the fear of God, to the lives of those who under the messianic king would be free from sin and holy, and would possess the most perfect righteousness, the highest possible piety. For the comparison of the piety of the pious men in the Psalms of Solomon with that of the Hasids and of Hillel 1 Cf. 2 Reg. 15. 5 ; Prov. 2i>. U ; Jer. 21. 12 ; 22. 15, 1G ; Ps. 72. 4, 14. 2 'Ev awayosyais Siatcpivtt \aovs, lie will judge peoples in assemblies ; the peoples do not fit well in the context which is devoted exclusively to the king's activities within Israel. At a criminal trial 'the people' is mentioned not only in Deut. 13. 10; 17. 7, hut 1 Reg. 21. ',. and the proceedings take place in an assembly, Jer. 2G. 11, 16 ; Prov. 5. 14 ; Sirach, 23.24; 42.11; Ezek. 16. 37-40; 23.22-6; MGWJ., 55, 1911, 198. 207. 214. The king would hear cases either in the gate of the city or in some other open space and in the presence of the people constituting the assembly. His words will be accepted, as those of the most pious men are accepted, .by the now sanctified people. A reference to angels would give no satisfactory sense in the context. But Gebhardl reads \aov t>Adj. I9 2 SOME TYPES OF there are, as stated at the beginning of this chapter, only few points of contact preserved in the respectively most characteristic traits. The psalms were occasioned by the terrible events of Pompey's conquest of Jerusalem and the subsequent destruction of the Sadducean rulers and nobles ; and all the meditations and prayers of the author referred, as was shown, mainly to two subjects : the just punishment of the sinners and the protection of the pious men. On that line of thought nothing- is recorded of the Hasids in the rabbinic literature, though they witnessed Jerusalem's conquest by Herod followed by a slaughter similar in its character and extent. Instead, the records inform us of their love of God as the guiding principle of their actions, their humility, their active love and kindness to their neighbours as the determining features of their character, their attachment to God and their close relations with Him expressed in their general piety, their devout prayer, their humble interpretation of their illness as a cleansing of sin, their overgreat fear of unknown transgressions, and the frequent atonement for such by sacrifices. The meditations of the psalmist fortunately extended to a number of reli- gious subjects on which he held the same views as the Hasids, and which are sufficiently characteristic to prove that he belonged to the stock of the Hasids. God watches the actions of every individual, determines in His provi- dence even his daily sustenance, rewards good deeds by protection from misfortune and by the prolongation of life, leaves no transgression unpunished, but punishes sometimes measure for measure or by a sudden and violent death for which He employs human agents or beasts. In His love God sends illness, poverty, and other sufferings upon the pious to purge him of his unintentional sins, and then rewards him for all his good deeds. God is ever present in the mind of the pious who in all adversity trusts abso- lutely in Him and is not discomfited by misfortune ; but in his love of God patiently submits to, and even rejoices at, His trials, and in humility and devotion prays to Him. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 193 Contented with his lot, he thanks God for his daily susten- ance and protection. In strict obedience to His will, ex- pressed in the precepts of the Torah, and in his love of God, he detests haughtiness and lawlessness, practises the com- mandments, especially works of righteousness which com- prise scrupulous honesty, love of peace, and loving-kindness to the fellow-man, and also strict sexual morality, reverence for the Temple and all that is holy to God. Even the pious does not trust his own religious and moral firmness, as he discovered himself sinning in his dealings with his neigh- bour; he, therefore, continually searches his house for possi- ble transgressions, and frequently atones for his errors : the psalmist for an established sin by confession, restitution, and fasts, the Hasid for suspected mistakes by frequent sacrifices of atonement. The pious men in Jerusalem formed a group of their own, met on certain special occa- sions to relate to each other their religious experiences, to thank God for His spiritual help, and to teach the people important religious truths derived from their own lives. The psalmist and his fellows met in assemblies in the city, the Hasids on the Temple Mount. There were, accordingly, two schools of thought among the pious about the necessity of sacrifices for obtaining God's forgiveness and for rendering Him homage and thanks. One saw in the love and fear of God, in strict obedience to the life-giving Torah and its precepts, in the works of righteousness, in repentance and fast, in sub- mission to suffering and in holiness the only right and, at the same time, sufficient means of atonement for sins of error, and of gratitude to God. Sacrifices of any kind were ignored ; and the author went so far as to exclude the Temple and its sacrifices from the glorification of God by the nations on Mount Zion in the messianic age, when even the Jewish-Hellenistic Sibyl (III, 772-6) announced that incense and gifts would be brought from all parts of the earth to the house of God which will be the only one in the world. In determined opposition to that new N 194 SOME TYPES OF tendency that contradicted the Torah, the other school of the pious men took a different stand. They not only clung to the ways of atonement hy sin- and guilt-offerings prescribed by the Torah, but, as a conscious defence of established law and custom naturally would, overstressed the indispensability of the atoning sacrifices. They demanded as frequent a sin-offering as possible, and Baba b. Buta even brought every day a trespass-offering for sins only suspected. How much older than the year 63 B.C.E. this most important difference of opinion and practice was, cannot easily be proved. Professor Cheyne 1 and other Bible commentators found the two schools of thought in the biblical Psalms, in Proverbs and Job : and among the various passages quoted by him as evidence, Prov. 16. 6 expresses the tendency of the Psalms of Solomon most clearly, ' By mercy and truth (true loving-kindness, nN1 nora) iniquity is expiated (atoned for, "as" 1 ), and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil '. 2 But it would be a mistake to identify the first school with the Essenes ; for there is in the Psalms of Solomon not only nothing to indicate an Essene as their author, but there is much to oppose it. Even if we take the statement of Josephus about the attitude of the Essenes to sacrificing in the Temple to be exact in all its details, they recognized the Temple and sent dvaO^ara, gifts to it, 3 whereas our author never mentions any contribution of his or of the pious men to it ; they would have also offered sacrifices, if their stricter purifications had been adopted in the sacrificial service. There is no reference in the psalms to the laws of purity which the pious observed, though the attacks on the 1 The origin and religious contents of the Paalter, 1891, 364-8. 2 See Sirach 35 ( = 32). 1 ff., He that keepeth the law bringeth offerings; he that taketh heed to the commandments offereth a peace-offering. (2) He that requiteth a good turn offereth fine flour ; and he that giveth alms sacrificeth a thank-offering. (3) To depart from wickedness is a thing pleasing to the Lord ; and to forsake unrighteousness is a propitiation. Cf. Schmitz, Opferanschauung, 65. 66 ff. 8 Antiquit. XVIII, 1. 5. 19 ; Cheyne 375. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 195 defiling priests would have afforded the author a very good opportunity for it. Leaving further negative arguments aside, the doctrine of the free will and man's responsibility for his actions 1 so strongly emphasized seems deliberately to oppose the view of the Essenes about the determination of all things by destiny. In his just anger at the violent and unscrupulous practices of the lawless, the psalmist not only did not pray for his enemies, but. as he expressly stated (12. 6), hated and cursed them most vehemently. He was not an Essene. but a pious man of the type described, distinguished by his strong attachment to God and by his righteous, loving attitude to his fellow-men, who, in accordance with the teachings of a school of the Hasids in Jerusalem, worshipped his Father in heaven without sacrifices. 1 Ryle-James, 95 b ff. N 2 IV HONI THE HASID AND HIS PRAYER FOR RAIN THE personality of Honi the circle-drawer and his alleged Essenism have often been casually referred to ; but his prayer for rain and his sacrifice which express very interesting and instructive religious thought and reflect important ideas of his school about God and His providence, have, to my knowledge, never been analysed and appre- ciated. It would be most important to ascertain the section of the population of Jerusalem or Judaea of 70-63 B.C.E. which he represented, and the religious doctrine which his words, spoken on a solemn occasion, implied. Both can undoubtedly be inferred at least with as high a degree of certainty from his purely personal and highly charac- teristic praj'er as from one single detail of his external conduct in preparation for the prayer. Unfortunately, the information preserved in the rabbinic accounts about Honi is too scanty to help to establish the share of the peculiar, personal contribution of the pious man to the characteristic features of his prayer and its distinctive religious thought, and the part representing the religious ideas common to all pious men of his type and his time. The censure which the official representative of Pharisaim, Simeon b. Shetah passed on Honi's conduct towards God on that occasion, would not necessarily imply that Honi did not share fully the views of the Pharisees. But he certainly represented a characteristic type of Jewish piety that deserves greater attention than it has so far found. 1. A Baraitha reports, 1 ' Once they asked a Hasid to 1 Tos. Ta'an. Ill, 1 : D'Ot?: HTB> ^SDH *6 VlDNB> 1HN TDrG p nTir fiT^y nn^annp DIW -6 no p'Ei": n-n SOME TYPES OF JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 197 pray for the rain to fall ; when he had prayed and the rain fell, they asked him to pray for the rain to stop, as he had prayed for the rain to fall. He replied, Go and see whether a man standing at the corner of 'Ophel shakes his feet in the brook of Kidron ; if so, wo shall pray for the rain not to fall ; but we are confident that God will not bring a flood upon the world according to Gen. 9. 15.' 1 ' 'Ophel was situated on the eastern hill on which Jerusalem is built, somewhere between the southern end of the Temple and Siloam. This is a spur which becomes narrow to the south until above Siloam it ends abruptly and precipitously '. 2 That the water of the Kidron could have ever risen 500 feet, is naturally out of the question ; and to that impossibility the Hasid referred in order to reassure the anxious people. The reference to the 'Ophel and the Kidron is sufficient to show that the whole incident happened in Jerusalem before the year 70. A similar incident is reported of Honi : 3 ' When once they asked pp hy DIN noy ON 1*01 INS nn^ -ION ,nr6 -u^i jrv^y >3N D'B>3 TIT N^B> p^BJIO UN JlTlp bnj3 V^l DN iiy rprp N^>I nNJU> ohy^> ^n N^E Dipcn PNP. 1 The second part of this statement is quoted by R. Eliezer in jer. Ta'an. Ill, 67 a. 5; b. 22 b bottom : 'When they asked R. Eliezer, When do they pray for the rain to go away, he answered them, When a man is standing at the corner of 'Ophel and shakes his feet in the brook of Kidron ; but we are confident that the God of mercy will not bring a flood upon the world according to Isa. 54. 9, For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me ; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn, &c.' R. Eliezer quoted probably to his disciples, between 90 and 120, the rule of an earlier time in Jerusalem which was pronounced at the latest between 60 and 70, when he was a disciple of R. Johanan b. Zakkai in the capital ; but it could be of an earlier date. b. reads "JJJOB'D, moving the feet in the brook to wash them. 2 Warren in Hastings, DB., Ill, 626 b. 3 Ta'an. Ill, 8 : ION JCPKW) 1TW ^EflH ^J?n \Jir6 "6 nNB> riB'SiD ITV sbi ^>snn / ip'iE'> vbw ^ntrn n'nDB -nun louam IN* cr6 T33 ctay ^ um V3B^ new n^inn nojji TOW ay "B>y no ^^csy: n U"KB' bnan itot^a 'JN y3tw TJB^ n^a |33 uNy ^y onua ice* I9 8 SOME TYPES OF Honi the circle-drawer to pray for the rain to fall, he said to them, Go out and take in the ovens for the Passover sacrifice so that they may not be dissolved (by the rain). When he had prayed and no rain fell, he drew a circle (or dug a pit), stood up in it and prayed to God, ' Master of the Universe, Thy children have set their faces upon me, because I am before Thee like a son of the house ; I swear by Thy great name that I shall not move hence until Thou hast had mercy upon Thy children.' When it began to rain in small drops, he said, ' Not such rain have I asked, but rain to fill pits, ditches, and caverns ' ; when now the rain fell in anger (storm), he said, ' Not such rain have I asked, but rain of favour, blessing and gift '. Then it rained normally, (but so long) that the Israelites w r ent out on account of the rain from Jerusalem to the Temple Mount. When they came and asked him, ' As thou hast prayed for the rain to fall, pray now that it should go away,' he said, Go and see, whether the stone of the erring has dissolved.' l The account about the incident stops here, and is evidently incomplete, as also the parallels, to be quoted presently, show r . The continuation of the Mishnah describes Honi as a contemporary of Simeon b. Shetah. According to rabbinic y Dmnc? iy \txso p *6 TDK SIVTI "rib i^nnn ^nyni prvt? nnn DPS ^ now 1x2 ^otwn JBD rvan nni? DX INTI IKV nni? ION ni> 1 This rock is mentioned again in Baraitha Baba mes. 28 b ; jer. Ta'an. Ill, 66 d. 72 : There was the stone of the erring in Jerusalem to which any one who had lost or found a thing, turned ; the finder announced his find, the loser gave a description of his lost article and received it back. The position of the rock is nowhere indicated. Jerusalem in the account suggests a part of the city as opposed to the Temple Mount ; and JVTOJ , as in the other report the reference to the 'Ophel, suggests the certainty of Honi that either the rising floods could not reach the rock, or the rain was not sufficiently strong to dissolve it. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 1 99 reports, Simeon was a brother of Salome Alexandra, the queen of Alexander Jannaeus, and a leader of the Pharisees and a scholar under that king and his successor, Salome Alexandra. Hence the correct and generally accepted view is that Honi is identical with the Onias mentioned by Josephus, 1 who was in the camp of Hyrkanos II, when he with Aretas besieged his brother Aristobul II in O Jerusalem. The account of Josephus says : ' A certain Onias, a righteous and God-beloved man who had once in a drought prayed to God for rain, and to whom God listened and sent rain. Owing to the prolongation of the war he hid, but was brought to the camp and was asked by Hyrkanos 1 followers to curse Aristobul and his supporters. He refused to do so; and when the crowd tried to force him, he stood up and prayed, O God, King of the Universe, since those who are standing around me are Thy people, and the besieged are Thy priests, I pray that Thou mayest not listen to these against those, nor realize that which these ask against those.' So far the interesting report of Josephus. The Jews attributed to Onias' prayer an immediate effect, 2 and, as far as the account goes, Onias did not protest against their belief. The two adjectives applied to him by Josephus do not suggest that Onias was an Essene :>> ; for, as shown above, 4 ' righteous ' was a com- prehensive term for piety and was applied also to men who undoubtedly were not Essenes. ' Beloved by God ' is a rare attribute, and refers to the acceptance of Onias' prayer by God. Josephus never misses an occasion to point to the Essenes and their wonderful y their piety. For the further miraculous intervention of God Xikodemos referred to such men as were distinguished by His special love l ; and the granting of his prayer showed Xikodemos, as also to Onias, that they were beloved by God. 2 Nor does the fuller rabbinic account of Honi's prayer afford any more definite evidence about his Essenism. As in various passages in the Pentateuch and in 1 Reg. 17. 1 ; Jer. 14. 1, 7, 20-22 ; Amos 4. 7, 8, so in Honi's words the drought was a punishment inflicted by God upon the whole country for provocation by sin. The degree of the drought and its duration were commensurate to the sins of the people, and fixed by God beforehand, as in the days of King Ahab, 1 Reg. 17. 1 ; and unless mercy and forgiveness were granted to them, no prayer could reduce the sentence. But from their past history the Jews knew that the prayer of Moses had on several occasions averted the impending doom of Israel in the wilderness, 3 as also the intercession of Samuel, 4 of Isaiah, 5 Jeremiah,' 1 and Xoah, Daniel, and Job. 7 And in a drought Jeremiah had prayed for rain s : and though God refused to accept his intercession, he still continued his prayer. Such entreaty for rain was naturally attempted on many an occasion in post-exilic times, though no information about it and the various intercessors has been preserved ; and even about the practice of the first century very little has been recorded. Two grandsons 1 Josephus, Wars, I, 17. 4. 331. Sirach. 45. 1 says that Moses was loved by God and men, and in 46. 13 that Samuel was beloved of God ; 4 E/ra 3.14. 2 See Abrahams in J. Q. R., XX, 1908, 273 ff. If Midr. Tanh. N"1N1 B. 22, 19 a, which describes Honi as a direct descendant of Moses, is to be taken literally, he was a Levite. Ynhasin, ed. Philipowski. <>o b quotes from 'Arukh, s. v. fvJJD R. SemahGaon's statement that Honi lived in a town called 173E. In 'Arukh, V, 76 b the quotation is wanting, and Kohut refers to the explanation of R. Simeon b. Semah Duran, N3p 3 Exod. 32. 11 ; Deut, 9. 18, 26; Num. 14. 13 ff. ; JO. 22; 21. 7. 4 1 Sam. 12. 19, 23 ; Jer. 15. 1. s Isa. 37. 4. 6 Jer. 42. 2, 9, 20. 7 Ezek. 14. 13-20 ; cf. Job 42. 8 ; Gen. 20. 7. 8 Jer. 14. II, 19-22. 202 SOME TYPES OF of Honi were invited to pray for rain, but only in their houses and not in public : were they really Essenes, as was suggested ? Two scholars were sent to one of them, to Abba Hilkiah, to ask him to pray for rain ; as he was not at home, they went after him to the field where he was working as a hired labourer. He did not return their salutation, nor pay any attention to their presence, because every second of his time belonged to the farmer for whom he was working. The mantle which he wore on his way home, he treated with the greatest care, for he had borrowed it. His wife came f ully adorned to meet him, thus to attract all his attention and to prevent his eyes from turning to another woman ; and as she entered the house first, he would not allow the scholars to follow her before him. because he did not know them and their moral character. At the table he did not offer them of his food which was scantily measured for his wife and his children ; for he would not utter an untruth even in the form of a social compliment. After the meal he and his wife left the room and prayed on the roof for rain, the wife being favoured by God with the first cloud which appeared over her head ; and when the rain fell immediately, they claimed no merit in it. 1 Another grandson of Honi, Hanan Naran, was also approached by the scholars ; whenever rain was wanted, 1 The report is in Aramaic, Ta'an. 23 a ff. Kohler in J. Q. R., XIII, 1901. 571, not deterred by the humble circumstances of the man, ingeniously tried to identify him with Hilkiah the Great in Josephus, Antiquit., XVIII, 8. 4. 273. But there is a very serious objection to that identifica- tion. Josephus introduces his Hilkiah by these words: 'Aristobul, a brother of King Agrippa, and Helkias the Great, and other most noble members of the same house, and the leaders (of the community) with them ', stating expressly that Hilkiah was one of the members of the royal house of Agrippa, who went at the head of a deputation to Petronius, the governor of Syria under Caligula ; so that the suggestion has no foundation. In jer. Ta'an. I. 64 b. 63, the same is reported of a Hasid in K'far-Imm6 as of Abba Hilkiah, and it is of interest to find here a Hasid chosen by the scholars to pray for rain. If he is identical with Abba Hilkiah, the latter would have lived in a village or a small town ; as also the fact that the scholars invited him to pray suggests that he lived not far from a school in the country. See Levi, R. K J., 48, 1904, 275. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 203 they sent school-children to him to invite him to pray for rain. He evidently lived in a village or a small town. Where now is the character of the Essene evident in the two pious men ? Is it in Abba Hilkiah's personal qualities, in his wife or his children, in his scrupulous honesty, in his extremely strict morality, or in his prayer? As we have seen, his title Abba was claimed by Dr. Kohler as charac- teristic of an Essene ; but in his learned article not a single real proof is to be found for it. It is true, Abba Hilkiah neither knew nor trusted the scholars that visited him, because he did not belong- to their ranks, nor probably to any school. The same would apply to some of the men who are quoted in the rabbinic literature with the title Abba; while others were scholars, like Abba Hanin, the disciple of R. Eliezer, and Abba Saul, the author of a con- siderable number of halakhic and haggadic sentences. As Abba Saul b. Batnith in Jerusalem, so Abba Hilkiah in some provincial town was a pious man, distinguished by several practical virtues, and as such was considered by public opinion, and therefore by the scholars in his neigh- bourhood, worthy to pray to God for the community ; and his title may reflect the rare fact that he practised the virtues taught and realized in the schools without being a scholar. The same may have applied to Honi who is not mentioned with the title Abba, probably because it did not yet exist, but who states himself the reason for his being called upon to pray : because I am like a son of the house before Thee. This means an intimate slave who enjoys his master's confidence 1 and may, without hesitation and 1 R. Johanan b. Zakkai said of R. Haninah b. Do*a whom lie had requested to pray for his son who was seriously ill : He is like ;i slave before the king, while I am like a high official before the king, Berakh. 34 b bottom. Rashi explains this by ITU p, belonging to the household and going in and out without having to ask permission. It corresponds with the Latin familiar-is, as familia appears in the Baraitha jer. Sotah, V, 20 c. 73 in R. Ishmael's sentence, and in Abba Saul's in Sifra Lev. 19. 1, 86 c for all the slaves in the household ; also in Sifre Num. 25. 1. lol. 47 b ; jer. Synh. X, 28 d. 12 JVQ p. 204 SOME TYPES OF fear, approach him and intervene for a friend who has been sentenced to death ; his request is listened to and often granted. In addition, Honi may have had a good knowledge of the special prayers for the exceptional occasion ; as we find another Honi who was probably his grandson acting as a reader of public prayers. A discussion took place between the tw r o schools as to whether, on the festival that falls on the Sabbath, in the prayer usually consisting of seven bles- sings the special reference to the Sabbath should be inserted in the blessing about the festival, or should form a separate, eighth blessing. The Hillelites said to the Shammaites, Did not Honi the Small act as the reader in the presence of all of you, elders of the Shammaites, and he recited only seven blessings, and all the people expressed their satisfaction ? The Shammaites replied, Because there was reason for shortening the prayer; to which the Hillelites retorted, If there was reason for shortening the prayer, all the blessings should have been shortened ! l This happened undoubtedly before the year 70 in Jerusalem, not only because the elders of the Shammaites are referred to,- but because even the legendary Honi III lived before the destruction of the Temple. 3 The service mentioned on that holy day was public, and was attended by the leading members of the two schools and by a large congregation. As far as can be seen from the Tannaitic accounts, the prayers even for the festivals were not yet written down, and, consequently, it required special knowledge to master them by heart, and even great learning to know the formulation of the occa- sional insertions which were a matter of learned tradition 1 Tos. Rosh haShan. IV, 11 : lOyO3 N^.TI "KDt? mb &1 IVa nDK io ib ncNi yzv xbx ne xh jopn iy\n TV 'NCL? jva "Jpr oaina rriNn nytrn njvriB> -OED II NCE> rvn onb nK /i^n rvn rim nyn rcpS> "f? rvn -rep^> mNi nytpn nrrn I^N ^n Ira orb ncs* ,-ivpS> fha ns. * Cf. R. Joshua's reference in Baraitha Hagig. '22 b top ; Tos. Ohal. V, 11 ; Sifre Num. 15. 38. 115, 34a; Menah. 41 b bottom ; Sukkah II, 7. 3 Jer. Ta'an. III. 66 d. 53, cf. Heller in R. . J., 49, 1904, 206. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 205 and not yet fixed. For those reasons even after 70 scholars were acting as readers : and so this Honi was either a scholar or a specialist on the prayers. As he recited them at a place of worship where the leading 1 members of the two schools attended the service, he was considered a well-in- formed and reliable reader ; and he, in that instance, formu- lated the special blessing in question according to the opinion of the Hillelites. He was evidently a member of neither school, as otherwise the Shammaites would not have accepted his formulation as a proof; and still he was recognized as an authority on the prayer, as both schools entered into a discussion of his formulation as correct. That his assumed Essenic character would have obtained for him such recog- nition on a question that constituted a matter of dispute between the schools of Pharisee teachers and was based on a principle and on learned argument, is very far from probable ; and in addition, nothing whatever is known from any source about the special authority of the Essenes on the formulation of the prayers. 1 2. The place in Jerusalem where in the drought Honi I prayed for rain, is evident from the statement that, when later the people urged him to pray for the rain to stop, he asked them to bring him a bull for a sacrifice, and when they had brought one to him, he laid his hands upon it and prayed. 2 As the laying of the hands upon the sacrifice could only be performed in the inner forecourt of the Temple, Honi must have spoken his last, and consequently also his first prayers in the same place, or close by it on the Temple Mount. This is in fact expressly stated about 1 Though scholars refer Megil. IV, 8, ' He who says, I am not going to step before the ark in coloured garments (to read the prayer 1 , must not read even in white garments ; I am not going before the ark in sandals, must not read even barefoot', to the Essenes who on certain occasions dressed in white, it is just as probable that it refers to priests who per- formed the sacrificial service in white garments and barefoot. Kohler in MGWJ., 37, 1893, 447 ff. ascribes the earliest prayers, without any proof whatever, to the Essenes. 2 Baraitha Ta'an. 23 a. 206 SOME TYPES OF another occasion for prayers for rain in Jerusalem. When once in the days of R. Halaftha and R. Hananiah b. Teradyon a service was held on a fast-day and the congre- gation did (not) respond to the benedictions with Amen, the scholars who heard of their unusual procedure, remarked that such was the practice only at the eastern gates on the Temple Mount. 1 For both religious and political meetings were held in that place throughout the centuries of the second Temple, as already in Joel 1. 14 the whole nation was convened in the Temple to pray to God in the terrible calamity caused by locusts, 2. 16, 17. Ezra 10. 9 relates how all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled in the broad place before the Temple. 2 The prayer-meeting in Neh. 8. 1 was held in the broad place before the water- gate 3 which is rendered by Josephus : 4 in the open space of the Temple, which looks towards the eastern gate. 5 The assembly convened by Nehemiah for the building of the city wall was held, according to Josephus, 6 in the middle of the Temple. Joseph, the son of Tobias, went up to the Temple and called the people together to a (political) meet- ing. 7 Jonathan, the Hasmonaean, convoked the people to the Temple; 8 this detail Josephus did not find in 1 Mace. 12. 35, but added the same place here and to 1 Mace. 13, 2 about Simeon's assembly 9 from his own time. For during the revolution the high-priests assembled the people in the 1 Ta'an. II, 5 : rP3fl ->mi mTB nj7C> 3 N^N p pjmj Vil tib, see Kabbinovicz, RN. and RI.Trani ; Halevy, D^lfNIH DITTI , Ie, 76 a ff. 2 Josephus, Antiquit., XI, 5. 4. 149 renders it by the upper storey of the Temple. 3 In Tos. Sotah, VII, 13 ; Baraitha Toma, 69 b top, R. Eliezer b. Jacob who was well informed about the Temple, says that the king read from the Torah (Deut. 31. 10-13) on the Temple Mount and not in the inner forecourt of the Temple, and supports his statement by Neh. 8. 1. 4 AntiquiL, XI, 5. 5. 154. 5 In 2 Chron. 20. 5, 9 King Jehoshaphat assembled the people to a fast in the house of the Lord before the new court, and prayed to God, If evil come upon us, ... we will stand before this house, and before Thee. e Antiqv.it., XI, 5. 7. 168. 7 Ibid., XII, 4. 2. 164. 6 Ibid., XIII, 5. 11. 181. 9 Ibid., XIII, 6. 3. 197. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PJETY 207 Temple, 1 and King Agrippa went up to the Temple and called the people together.- After the repulse of Cestius, 3 the leaders of Jerusalem held a meeting in the Temple in order to appoint additional generals for the war. The place is more exactly described, when the nobles and the high-priests assembled the people in front of the brass gate which was situated in the inner space of the Temple towards the east. 4 The same is meant by the eastern gates in the Mishnah about the service on the public fast quoted before, 5 and in the account about the agreement which in 67 B.C.E. Aristobul II and Hyrkan II made in the Temple and confirmed by an oath and joining of hands, and after which they embraced each other before the eyes of the assembled people.' 1 After his return from Rome, King Herod went up to the Temple and gave to the people convoked an account of his success ;" and his son and successor Archelaos, after a week's mourning for his father, put on a white garment and went up to the Temple where the people received him with many blessings, and he in his turn greeted the people from a golden throne. 8 As on all 1 Wars, II, 15. 3. 320. 2 Wars,II,16.2. 340; in 11,16. 3.344 he assembled the people at the Xystos which was connected with the Temple by a bridge, placed his sister in such a way by his side that she could be seen by all, and addressed the gathering in front of the palace of the Hasmonaeans which stood over the Xystos on the border of the upper city. This was not a public meeting of the people, and for such scenery the Temple was not a suitable place. 3 Wars, II, 20. 3. 562. * Wars, 11,17.3.411 ; the same was intended in the obscure description inAntiquit. XI, 5. 5 154 quoted above, as already 1 Ezra 5. 47 added to the words taken from Ezra 3 Ithe same explanatory note as. Josephus : But when the seventh month was at hand, and when the children of Israel were every man in his own place, they came altogether with one eonsent into the open place before the east gate. 5 Ta'an. II, 5 ; the Cambridge Mishnah, the Mishnah in the Palestinian Talmud, and Tos. Ta'an. I end, Rabbinovicz, 42 a, note, line 3, omit the words JT3n ~I!"Q. The eastern gates are those of Nikanor in Midd. II, 3, see J.Q.R., X, 1898, 714 ff., XI, 1899, 59, and Buchler, Synhedrion, 120, note on Wars, II, 16. 2. 340 ff., and 128. s Antiquit., XIV, 1. 2. 7 ; Wars, I, 6. 1. 7 Antiquit . XVI, 4. (5. 13l\ 8 Wars, II, 1. 1. 1 ; Antiquit., XVII, 8. 4. 200. 208 SOME TYPES OF those public occasions, when the people were present, so also at the public prayer of Honi for rain, all were gathered on the Temple Mount and listened to the words recited, and probably joined in the service of the devout reader. As to the time of the year, when Honi was asked to pray for rain, his order to the people to remove under shelter the ovens prepared in the open yards for roasting the Passover sacrifices, 1 points to a date not far from Nisan 14th ; and a note in the Palestinian Talmud thinks of that date only. 2 But a Baraitha quoted immediately after that says, On the 20th of the month everybody fasted for rain and it fell. 3 This is taken from the note in the Scroll of Fasts on Adar where, however, the entry itself, owing to its brevity, mentions neither the day of the occurrence nor Honi's name. But there must have been known to the Palestinian teachers of the Talmud and to the glossator of the Scroll of Fasts a definite tradition that the entry referred to the day on which Honi, with the people of Jerusalem, had success- fully prayed for rain. For also the Baraitha 4 about Honi's prayer opens with the words : 'When once the greater part of Adar had passed and no rain had fallen, they sent to Honi and asked him to pray for rain'. This account would, at the same time, appear to imply that no public prayer and fast had preceded his intercession ; this, however, seems most im- probable, as the autumn rains were due towards the end of October, and the anxiety of the farming, that is the whole, population, must have grown daily, as the season advanced and the rain continued to fail. Is it probable that the intervening four or five months should have been allowed O to pass without public fasts and prayers, and none were instituted by the religious authorities ? Unfortunately, no early information on this point is afforded by the reports preserved. Only the Mishnah 5 records that, when the rain had not fallen by Marheshvan 17, the select men observed 1 Ta'an. Ill, 8. 2 Jer. Ta'an. Ill, 66 d. 51. 3 r6 nmi Kio'D^ xoy i?3 pox rra pipya p ym. 4 Ta'an. 23 a. 5 Ta'an. I, 4-7. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 209 three fast days, then on Kislcv 1st the authorities decreed three general fasts which were followed by another three, and ultimately by another seven, each successive group of fasts increasing in the severity of observance. But as the source and the authors of the rule are not stated, it probably reflects only the custom which obtained in Galilee in the second half of the second century. . On the other hand, Rabbi's, the Mishnah redactor's discussion with his father, R. Simeon b. Gamaliel II, as to why only thirteen fasts were instituted, 1 presupposes these fasts as a custom established for some time. And apart from several anonymous Barai- thas all of which belong to the second century,- colleagues of R. Simeon b. Gamaliel II discuss some details of the observances and the services of the thirteen fasts. 3 But the father of R. Simeon b. Gamaliel II, R. Gamaliel II, and his colleagues (90-120) had already referred to the several fasts. ' The authorities must not decree public fasts on the day of the new moon, on Hanukkah or on Purim ; but if the fasts began before one of those days, they need not be interrupted according to R. Gamaliel. R. Meir remarked, Though R. Gamaliel said that they need not be interrupted, he agreed that the fast observed 011 one of those days should 1 Baraitha Ta'an. 14 b : ty HV:yn mt?J? Bt2> 1W fnTtt fN pyne> pn /2i nan ^no nnv nmn ns* pmu PKB> *z nya-i *?w njror N^B> oan N^N nr Kin DBM p xb ncrix i^ ' l Ta'an. 13 b ; 14 a ; 14 b ; Tos. Megil. I, 8 ; b. Ta'an. 13 b bottom. 3 Baraitha Ta'an. 15 b : 0^0333 nr^l ni31B>N~i nV3J?n SJ^P nunns ya^ai r6ia iwn ^ p^sno^ iina p^snoi nown n^nn ^ ^y -IDS* pjnui n^y ^ min-6 nn^nn n px'sitt /trxna jm:i ^nu nnxi nns bai pn n^3 nx trs-ai x^on JH H^pO 1DX f)K 101N, where R. Nathan differs from an anonymous colleague of his on one point of the ceremonial during the last seven of the thirteen fasts ; (the Mishnah Ta'an. II, 1 codified R. Nathan's view). R. Jose b. Halaftha, a leading member of the school of Usha and Sepphoris between 137 and 170, fixed in the Baraitha Ta'an. 6 a, Tos. I, 3, jer. I, 64 a. 69 as the date of the first fast of the select Kislev 1st, differing from his anonymous colleague, either R. Jehudah or R. Meir whose view the Mishnah codified. 210 SOME TYPES OF not be observed till nightfall ; and the same applies to the fast of Abh 9th, when it falls on the Friday. 1 That this was not merely an academic rule, is evident from another Baraitha : ' It is reported that after the death of R. Gama- liel R. Joshua tried to carry the abolition of that rule, but R. Johanan b. Nuri prevented it'. 2 And it is stated ex- pressly that, when R. Eliezer, the leading scholar in Lydda before 120, once decreed thirteen fasts, the rain did not fall. 3 As he was a very conservative Shammaite scholar, it may be assumed as very probable that those numerous fasts were not only not introduced by him, but would not have been decreed with his approval, if he had not known them as an institution established and practised in earlier times in Jerusalem. Of its earlier existence the Mishnah gives evidence. ' On the first three fast-days the division of the priests (who i Ta-an. ii, 10 : DniMi nauna win BW3 -imn ?y nnyn pna px *a *?y j TND *an IBK / taboa jan nan PPDBD ps i^nnn OKI ana rwn pi pn^D fw rrn rmo PPDBD px hptaa fan new? natr anya nvn^ W. 3 'Erub. 41 a ; Tos. Ta'an. II, 5. The Talmud refers the controversy to the question about pOvt^D, whether on the days of joy enumerated the fast may be observed till nightfall ; though it was only R. Meir who introduced the subject, and R. Gamaliel had not mentioned it. It seems more probable that the dispute referred to pp^DDD, whether a group of fast-days which was begun before one of those days of joy, might be continued on those days ; so that R. Joshua differed on that point. Now Tos. Ta'an. II, 5; jer. Ill, 66 a. 43 reports: 'When once a public fast was decreed in Lydda for Hanukkah, R. Eliezer demonstrated his disapproval by having his hair cut, and R. Joshua by bathing, and the latter told the congregation that they would have to fast for the sin committed by fasting on Hanukkah. Immediately after this follows the report of R. Joshua's attempt to overthrow R. Gamaliel's rule ; and the juxtaposition suggests that the fast in Lydda was based on R. Gamaliel's opinion. As in fact R. Joshua fully agreed with R. Gamaliel on the prohibition of decreeing a new fast for Hanukkah, his opposition in Lydda could only have referred to the continuance of a group of fasts begun before Hanukkah, so that the fast in Lydda was one of several. s Baraitha Ta'an. 25 b ; cf. jer. Ill, 66 c. 75. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 211 are on a week's duty in the Temple) fasts, but not till nightfall, while the section of it (who are on the day's duty) did not fast at all ; on the second three fast- days the division of the priests fasts till nightfall, while the section of the priests fasts, but not till nightfall ; on the last seven fast-days the division and also the section fast till night- fall according to R. Joshua; but his opponents hold that on the first three fast-days neither fasts.' : It is true, this controversy may have been one of the numerous academic discussions carried on in the school of Jamnia after the year 00 about the priests and their services in the Temple. But R. Joshua was not only born in Jerusalem and attended there as a grown up disciple the school of R. Johanan b. Zakkai, but acted as a levitical singer in the choir of the Temple. As he had many an opportunity for observing things connected with the service of the priests, and the life and the customs of the capital, his references to an observance of the priests should not be treated as academic. His anonymous opponent here was, as in many instances, probably R. Eliezer who, though not born in Jerusalem, attended the same school, and acquired a good knowledge of old traditions about the Temple and the priests ; ac- cording to his rule, he would not have contradicted R. Joshua without such information at his disposal. And so both teachers presuppose the observance of the thirteen fasts already in Temple times in Jerusalem in connexion with some serious calamity. It cannot, however, be denied that some reports about actual occurrences seem to refer to only one day's fast, and appear to know nothing of groups of fasts. When once a fast was decreed in Lydda, and the rain fell before noon, R. Tarfon told the congregation 1 Ta'an. II, 6: fB>D Nl pjym lOB'D >EWN nUV^fcOn nVJyn 'J'C' Po B>JK nwB> vfay ,^3 pjyno vn xb ax rra TTJSI nunnx yat? ,pota?o K/I payno as rra B>:XI po^Di nvoyn t^t? DnoiN o^cam y ya>iiT "ai nan po^Di p:yno pjyno vn vh KI -6s. 2 212 SOME TYPES OF to go home, to eat and to drink, and to have a holiday. 1 And the same seems to have been the case on the two occasions, when Samuel the Small decreed fasts, and when on one of them the rain fell before sunrise, and on the other after sunset. 2 But the formula rvjyn 1T3 could just as well refer to any day in the series of continued fasts, as in the incident of the fast in Lydda decreed for Hanukkah, where one of several fast-days was meant. Difficult, how- ever, is the short and not at all clear account of a fast of R. Johanan b. Zakkai. ' When once R. Johanan b. Zakkai wished that the rain should fall, he said to his barber, Stand up before the Temple (and say), My Master is grieved, because he wants his hair to be cut and must not do so ; and immediately the rain fell.' 3 This occurred in Jerusalem before 70, when the Temple still stood. Owing to the long drought R. Johanan must have observed for several days the same degree of abstention as a mourner ; for had it been only one fast-day, even if he should have followed the custom of some persons of high standing and had his hair cut every week, he would not have felt it so heavily, as he could have had his hair cut next day. He sent his barber, and did not go himself to the Temple, perhaps on account of his weakness due to the fast ; the barber did not fast, because it was one of the first three fast-days, when only the select fasted. 4 The message was intended for the congregation that was assembled at the service of the fast in front of the Temple, and was perhaps waiting for the rabbi to join in their prayer ; and his reference to his own discomfort was intended to stimulate their devotion. But all this scanty information does not take us further back than the years 5070 ; and it leaves without the support of earlier and direct evidence the very 1 Ta'an. Ill, 9. 2 Ta'an. 25 b bottom. 3 Jer. Ta'an. Ill, 67 a. 46: H1H N^O mrP ""iD nifl 13 "3T p pnv p"> rr^ra n^i NIDDB 'yn :m pan vbm nwp Dip ivn: tnDT3 mn TD / 4 Ta'an. I, 4. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 213 probable inference that, before Honi was invited on Adar 20th to pray for rain, several public fasts had been observed with public prayers in the presence of congre- gations specially convoked, and that perhaps other pious men had already interceded before Honi, though with- out avail. 3. For public prayers in connexion with a general calamity are known not only from Joshua 7. 6-9 ; Judges 20. 26 ; 1 Sam. 7. 5 ; Jer. 14 11-22 ; 36. 9 ; Joel 2. 12-17; Judith 4. 9-15 ; 2 Mac. 13. 12, but even outside Palestine and from other sources. 1 In describing the terrible drought under King Ahab, Josephus quotes a statement of the Phoenician historian Menander about the same visitation to this effect : 2 Under King Ithobal of Tyre a drought prevailed for a whole year; . . . when he ordered urgent prayers, terrible storms are said to have come. And of a much later occurrence in Gaza Marcus Diaconus in the Life of St. Porphyry 3 reports that in a drought the inhabitants gathered in the temple of their god Marnas and for seven days offered up many sacrifices and prayers, and then went outside the city to a place called that of the sermon. And of Carthage Tertullian states : 4 ' But more than that : the heathen recognize every form of self-humiliation. When the heaven is rigid and the year arid, barefooted proces- sions are enjoined by public proclamation ; the magistrates lay aside their purple, reverse the fasces, utter prayer, offer a victim. There are, moreover, some colonies where, besides, the people, by an annual rite, clad in sackcloth and besprent with ashes, present a suppliant importunity to their idols, while baths and shops are kept shut till the ninth hour. They have one single fire in public, on the altars ; and no 1 The letter of Baruch to the ten tribes in Apoc. Bar. 86. 1, 2 asks these to read the letter in their assemblies with care, and to meditat thereon, above all on the days of their fasts. The author seems to have known a custom of reading appropriate literature on some definite fast days ; Baruch 1. 3-6, Thackeray, Septaagint and Jewish Worship, 80 ft'. 2 Antiquit., VIII, 13. 2. 324. 3 J-. Q. K., XIII, 1901, 593 ff. 4 Dejejuniis, 16, Ante-Ntcetie Christian Library, XVIII, 151. 214 SOME TYPES OF water even in their platters. There is. I believe, a Ninevitan suspension of business ! A Jewish fast, at all events, is universally celebrated ; while, neglecting the temples, throughout all the shore, in every open place, they continue long to send prayer up to heaven. And though by the dress and ornamentation of mourning they disgrace the duty, still they do affect a faith in abstinence, and sigh for the arrival of the long-lingering star to sanction (their eating).' About the Jewish-Palestinian rites the rabbinic sources have more detailed accounts. Already in the course of the several fasts, according to a Baraitha, 1 on the last seven of the thirteen fast-days, when the ark was brought from the synagogue to the market, the place of these public prayers outside Jerusalem, an old man or a scholar, specially chosen for the occasion, addressed the congregation. ' The eldest among them ~ addressed them with words of humiliation : Brethren, of the people of Nineveh it says not, God saw their sackcloth and their fast, but God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way, Jonah 3. 10 ; and in the prophets, Joel 2. 13, it says, Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to your God. (2) When about to begin the prayer, they send down before the ark an old man versed in the prayer, who has children and a house empty of food, so that his heart may be fully devout in the prayer; 3 and 1 Ta'an. 15 b. 2 Ta'an. II, 1. 3 In the Baraitha Ta'an. 16 a bottom R. Jehudah says, He should be a man with children and no means, who has work in the field and an empty house, who has an unblemished past, is humble and is liked by the people, who knows the tune and has a pleasant voice, is versed in the Torah, the prophets, and the holy writings, in Midrash, Halakhah, and Haggadah, and in all the blessings (in jer. II, 65 b. 74 much shorter). Accordingly, in the middle of the second century the rule may have been to select a poor and humble scholar ; but R. Jehudah may have derived that rule from his experience in Judaea or in Galilee, as an interesting reference suggests. In jer. Berakh. V, 9b. 18, R. Samuel b. Nahman, of the second half of the third century in Tiberias, says, When Israel come to sins and evil deeds, and on account of those the rain is withheld, they take a scholar like R. Jose the Galilean, and when he entreats for them, the rain falls. Though very little has been preserved about R. Jose's JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 215 he recites before them the twenty-four blessings. 1 The words of the speaker aim at stirring up genuine confession of sin and repentance, 2 just as the fast is not imposed for its own sake, but as a means of humiliation. As some personal character, one very instructive trait of it is important for our question (Gen. r. 17. 3 ; Lev. r. 34. 14 ; jor. Kethub. XI, 34 b. (52). His wife who was his sister's daughter, was very bad, and abused him before his disciples ; when they suggested to him to divorce her, because she did not honour him, he replied tbat he did not possess the means to pay her her marriage settlement, and therefore could not divorce her. When once he invited R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah to his house and his wife again behaved disrespectfully, R. Elea/ar suggested to him to divorce her, and, on learning of his financial difficulty, offered to advance him the amount required. She then became the wife of a watchman of the town ; when he lost his eyesight, he had to beg and she had to lead him round. When she refused to go near the house of R. Jose, her husband beat her and caused public scandal in the town. When R. Jose heard of it and saw the shame of his former wife, he took the couple into his house and provided for them to the end of their lives. In Lev. r. 34. 14 and Gen. r. 33. 3 it is further reported, how, in a drought, R. Tanhuma ordered a public fast ; when two fasts had proved unsuccessful, he, on the third day, called on the congregation to distribute charity. One man then fetched all that he had at home, and, when about to distribute it among the poor, he met his divorced wife ; when she asked him for assistance and he saw her poverty, he gave her some money. The morally objectionable conversation between them and the handing of money were reported to R. Tanhuma who summoned the man and reproved him ; but when he learned the facts, he lifted up his face to heaven and prayed, Master of the Universe, this man who is mortal and had no obligation to maintain that woman, was filled with pity and gave her money: we who are Thy children, the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Avhose maintenance depends on Thee, how much more shouldst Thou be filled with mercy for us ! Then the rain fell and people were again relieved. 1 According to the parallel in Baraitha Ta'an. 16 a the elder said to the congregation, Brethren, not sackcloth and fasting bring it about, but repentance and good deeds, as we find about the men of Nineveh. In another account in Tos. I, 8, jer. II, 65 a. 70 he said, My sons, let no one be ashamed (to admit) before his fellow-man, no one (to admit" his deeds ; it is better that a man be ashamed before his fellow-man and of his deeds than that he and his children should starve. . . . While a man is holding a dead insect in his hands, even if he bathe in the Shiloah or any water, he will never become pure ; but as soon as he throws away the insect, a dip in a bath of forty Se'ahs will be effective, for it is said, Prov. 28. 13, Whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy ; and again it says, Lam. 3. 41, Let us lift up our heart with our hands. 2 LSvi in R. B. J., 47, 1903, 162. 2l6 SOME TYPES OF superficial members of the congregation might be contented with the outward signs of mourning and fasting, the speaker did not fail to point to true repentance, and to the essential preliminary act of determination to cast off sin and to substitute good deeds for it. The character of the second elder who was appointed to recite the prayer, is given in detail by R. Jehudah b. Ilai and an anonymous colleague of his; 1 this, however, would reflect only the conditions prevailing in Galilee about 150. But his master, R. Eliezer b. Hyrkanos, on two occasions took an active part in the service of a public fast ; he ordered thirteen fasts, went down before the ark and recited the twenty-four blessings, but was not answered by God. Then R. Akiba went down before the ark ; and when he said, Our Father, our King, we have no king but Thee, our Father, our King, for Thy sake have mercy on us, the rain fell. 2 It was on the last fasts that R. Eliezer acted as the reader ; and before the last of the thirteen fasts had ter- minated and the congregation was dismissed, R. Akiba made a last effort on behalf of the suffering people. Though his intercession seems very similar to that of Honi, it is in fact of the same character as R. Eliezer's. Not only because it is introduced in the same way by his going down before the ark ; but even more so, because the com- parison, in the contemporary account, of the prayers of the two teachers and of the different characters of the two intercessors presupposes that both acted on that occasion in the same capacity and had the same standing in the service. In addition, R. Akiba was the disciple of R. Eliezer, and in spite of his greatness would not, in the presence of his master, have accepted a superior office corresponding to that of Honi. It seems, moreover, to have been the custom that at the service on a public fast more than one reader recited prayers. For a younger 1 Ta'an. 16 a ; jer. II, 65 b. 74. 2 Ta'an. 25b: 1jytD^> 1J3^D W3 13vJ7 Dm , see Rabbinovicz. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 217 contemporary of R. Eliezer, R. Eloazar of Mode'im, inter- preted Moses' words in Exod. 17. 9, ' To-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill ', as decreeing in the straits of the Amalekite war a public fast for the next day ; and as Moses, when going up, was accompanied by Aaron and Hur, an anonymous teacher, probably R. Eleazar himself, in- ferred that not less than three men should go before the ark on the public fast. 1 On the other occasion, as the Baraitha states, R. Eliezer ordered the full number of thirteen fasts to be observed, but they had no effect. When, at the con- clusion of the service of the last of them, the congregation began to leave, R. Eliezer said to them, Have you prepared graves for yourselves 1 The whole congregation burst into tears, and immediately the rain fell. This clearly shows that R. Eliezer in that instance also must have recited the prayers up to the last day of the fast. But it did not occur to him in his despair to call in the assistance of a specially pious man who, in the opinion of the people, might, l>y his urgent prayer, have moved God to mercy. Either he did not countenance the type of piety, or there was 110 repre- sentative of it available in Lydda who would have enjoyed his and the people's confidence. Or the time of the men of prayer had passed ; and R. Haninah b. Dosa whose inter- cession was sought by R. Eliezer's master, R. Johanaii b. Zakkai, and by R. Eliezer's brother-in-law and colleague, R. Gamaliel II. in the illness of their sons, was an excep- tion, a single survivor of the past. 2 Mekhil.Exod. 17.12, 54 b:pniy CHS -03 7\vw pnrrt2 f'S TlCX fSTO OyrO rtTTin ^D!?, and 17. 9, 54 a. In jer. Ta'an. II, 65 a. CO 5 Threni r. 3. 40, R. Abba b. Zabda, R. Tanhum b. Hanilai, and R. Joshia went to a public fast, and all of them addressed the congregation to move it to humility. Was it at the end of the third century, and perhaps already at an earlier date in Jerusalem, the custom to have at public fasts three preachers, as they had three readers? 2 Similarly, Samuel the Small acted as the reader, when once he ordered a public fast ; when the rain fell before the sun rose and the congregation claimed the merit for themselves, Samuel retorted by this parable : When the slave asked his master for food, the master told his household to give it to him, so that he might not have to hear the slave's 2l8 SOME TYPES OF When R. Akiba's prayer was immediately followed by the fall of rain, the scholars who attended the service, could not refrain from attributing the success to R. Akiba's personality ; for it was so different from that of R. Eliezer whose long prayers had not obtained God's acceptance. A heavenly voice, explained by Bacher l as authoritative opinion, declared both equally great, but R. Akiba of a yielding, R. Eliezer of an unyielding nature. Accordingly, the effect of the reader's prayer at the service of the public fast depended on his personality; and among the various good qualities found in scholars meekness and humility were essential in his equipment, just as important as the true repentance and contrition of the congregation. As these were the two indispensable factors of success, it appears natural that the speedy rain was claimed by the congregation as their merit, while a long delay or the failure of the rain was attributed entirely to the reader. An incident, though of the middle of the third century in Galilee, vividly illustrates the open criticism and blame levelled by the suffering and disappointed community of Sepphoris against a teacher whose prayers were not answered. When once a drought prevailed in that town, R. Haninah decreed a fast, but the rain did not fall, while the prayers of R. Joshua b. Levi in the Darom, Lydda, did bring the desired rain. On this the inhabitants of Sepphoris com- mented with the remark, ' R. Joshua b. Levi brings down the rain to the people of the Darom, whereas R. Haninah keeps the rain away from the inhabitants of Sepphoris'. When another occasion for public prayers for rain arose, the people of Sepphoris invited R. Joshua b. Levi to pray who, in his turn, asked R. Haninah to come out to the voice any longer. When, on another occasion, Samuel decreed a fast and the rain fell after the sun had set, the congregation claimed the merit for themselves ; but Samuel said that it was not their merit, and gave them this parable : When the slave asked his master for food, the master told his household to keep him waiting, until he was curbed and felt the pain. 1 Agada der Tannaiten, I, 85, note. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 219 service. When, in spite of the united prayers of the two teachers, the rain failed to fall, R. Joshua addressed these words to the congregation,' Neither does R. Joshua b. Levi bring down the rain to the people of the Darom, nor does R. Haninah keep it away from the inhabitants of Sepphoris ; but the hearts of those of the Darom are tender and, on hearing words of the Torah, they humble themselves, whereas the people of Sepphoris are hard and, on hear- ing words of the Torah, they do not humble themselves '. When, on his way home, R. Haninah saw that the skies were still clear, he said, After all that (the prayers) it is still so (and no rain) ! When the rain immediately fell, he vowed not to act again in the same way and not to ask God, the creditor, not to exact His debt, punishment. 1 As here, so already about the year 100-120 the congregation of Samuel the Small claimed all the merit for themselves in favour- able cases. But while that rabbi, by his illustrations, only hinted at the unsatisfactory conduct of the assembly, R.Joshua b. Levi expressly told the people of Sepphoris that the sole object of the preacher's address was to stir humility before God in the hearts of the fasting assembly, and that it had failed in their instance. Nor had R. Eliezer's prayer any result, because, in his opinion, neither their numerous fasts nor his impressive warnings had moved the congregation to contrition. And his assumption was proved right by the effect of his last attempt : to rouse such feeling, he, in his despair at the impending famine, asked the audience whether they had prepared graves for themselves ; and by his terrifying words he succeeded in bringing about the attitude of the mind by which alone God is moved to mercy. This is an old maxim of Judaism which already the prophet, Joel expressed clearly in his impressive warning at the public fast and prayer, when Palestine was in his days visited by locusts. (2. 12) 'Yet even now, saith the Lord, turn ye unto Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and 1 Jer. Ta'an. III. 66 c. 50-61. 220 SOME TYPES OF with weeping, and with lamentation ; (13) and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God ; for He is gracious and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and repenteth Him of the evil '. It is to be regretted that none of the addresses of teachers of Honi's days and of the century and a half after his time has been preserved, to acquaint us with the ideas by which they strove to stir in the hearts of the fasting congrega- tions feelings of humiliation before God. Fortunately, the short prayer of R. Akiba informs us at least of the thoughts which filled him, when he tried to intercede for his people, and hoped to obtain God's grace that had been refused to R. Eliezer. In the first of his two sentences he called upon God as ' our Father ' ; not in his own name, but on behalf of the whole congregation he turned to the Father of Israel. 1 As was shown above, the conception of God as our Father was familiar to the rabbis, and its reli- gious force was especially manifest in prayers. Here ' our Father ' is followed by the invocation ' our King ' ; already the association of King with Father suggests that they were synonymous, and the stress laid in the great calamity on God as our only King makes it clear that King means here one whose help alone can free his people from the oppressive distress. 2 To Him R. Akiba addresses his fervent, insis- 1 In Midr. Tann. Deut.26. 3, 172 it is reported : When once R. Gamaliel and his disciples were caught in a terrible sea-storm and they asked him to pray for them, he said, Our God, have mercy on us ! The disciples said to him, Thou art worthy that the name of God fall upon thee (to call on God in thy own name). He then prayed, My God, have mercy on us ! It was considered immodest to invoke God's help for others in one's own name, for it would suggest that he thought himself sufficiently important to have a claim on God. It is more appropriate to include oneself in the congregation or among those for whom one is praying. 2 Even in some passages of the Bible this special meaning of king as saviour is evident, aslsa.44. 6,Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer. Here it cannot possibly signify the ruler and master, but, standing next to Redeemer, it means the Defender, as next to DD1B' in Isa. 33. 22, For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King ; He will save us. Here the verb attached to it defines the King as Saviour. The same in Psalm 44. 5 ; 74. 12 where He brings JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 221 tent prayer, for He alone can deliver them : and unless He helps them, they will perish. He appeals to His mercy; for not only can the people point to no merit to support their supplication, but, by his asking for mercy for His sake, he admits their sinfulness and their unworthiness of consideration by God. So his words expressed, on the one hand, the recognition that God alone and nobody else could save them, and, on the other hand, the deepest humiliation and contrition in R. Akiba's mind ; and it is certain that, if the terse declarations were understood and fully realized by the already crushed congregation, they must have pene- trated with their full force to every heart. 4. When Honi, at the request of the authorities, prayed for rain, his prayer might as to its contents have been a free composition, wholly dictated by the inspiration of the moment ; and as to its form, it either followed the structure and expression of earlier prayers of a similar character like those in Jer. 14. 19-22 ; Joel 2. 17 ; 1 Reg. 18. 36, 37, or was shaped in his individual style. As droughts and other serious calamities were not infrequent in Judaea, and, as the prophetic instances show, the spokesman's prayer was an old institution, it might have, in the course of time, evolved, at least in its main lines, a definite trend of thought and of form. As Honi's second prayer was, as will be shown, in its daring attitude to God and in its pre- sumptuousness exceptional and even unique, the early report hastened to present the strange details of the un- paralleled scene, and had no word left for his first prayer which was probably built on familiar lines. Consequently, there is for the establishment of the contents of Honi's first prayer and of its formulation no other way open but an examination of the earliest statements available about other prayers for rain. As in Lydda R. Eliezer and R. Akiba, salvation to His people ; therefore the psalmist turns to God as King in his prayer for help in distress, 5. 3 ; 89. 19 ; Isa. 43. 15. In Zeph. 3. 15 God has removed the oppressor, and is now in their midst as their mighty protector. 222 SOME TYPES OF and probably in Jamnia Samuel the Small, so in Galilee, at the same time, two well-known rabbis are mentioned in connexion with the prayer on public fasts. ' In the days of R. Halaftha and R. Haninah b. Teradyon a man went before the ark and recited the first blessing to its end, and the congregation responded (not) by Amen. The attendant then called on the priests to blow the trumpets ; and when they had blown the trumpets, the reader proceeded to recite another sentence of the same paragraph of the prayer, the attendant called on the priests to blow an alarm, and they blew an alarm ; and then the reader began to recite the second blessing. When the rabbis (of the central school) learnt of the way (in which the blessings were recited), they remarked that such had been the custom only in the eastern gates (on the Temple Mount) V According to the last state- ment some formulated prayers for the public fast were already recited in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount before the year 70, when the Temple still stood ; they were recited in sections which were followed by the responses of the congregation. Perhaps, as in Galilee, even an ark contain- ing a scroll of the Torah was brought out in front of the eastern gates for the service, as the two scholars in Sep- phoris and Sikhnin seem to have followed, certainly in more than one detail, the practice on the Temple Mount. In the above account only two paragraphs of the prayer are men- tioned, and even the wording of these is evidently not quoted in its original entirety. The same is the case in the several, older, parallel Baraithas which, while giving addi- tional information about other details, also quote only two paragraphs of the prayer. The third of those Baraithas states the constituent parts of the two paragraphs in full. In examining the second part of the Baraitha 2 which deals 1 Ta'an. II, 5, 16 b. JD tane* vkx 'n "jna nin tnn nauwnn i> pan wi maa DP Tina vnn piy jm i?xn^ taw 11-0 D^nyn njn now nnm iypn ffanan lypn nix nwan jrm nyi JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 223 with the second blessing, we find that the reader opened it with the praise of God to which the congregation responded with an appropriate formula ; then the attendant of the synagogue called on the priests to blow an alarm, and they blew an alarm : the reader recited a sentence bejnnnino; with c!5 o ' He who answered ', after which the priests blew three blasts of which the first was an alarm, the second a plain blast, and the third again an alarm. The repeated blowing of the trumpets in the course of the recital of one paragraph of the prayer is not mentioned in the other parallel Baraithas, but is stated also in the Mishnah's description of the services held in Galilee. As to the first benediction, the first part of the Baraitha states the same arrangement of the corresponding parts in it, and the same repetition of blasts ; only the order of the blasts in the second group is a plain, an alarm, a plain blast. 1 So every paragraph of the prayer had the same structure : it opened with a doxology which closed by a benediction followed by the response of the congregation ; then came the blasts of the priests followed by the reader's good wishes addressed to the congregation, and again the blasts of the priests. 2 As to the order of the various blasts in the two groups, the call nvn D3npyv p3 JJBBM DDFIK ruy sin nnion nna cmnx nx 'n ins "IDIN ton n^n by\ ^P^pi py'ici pypin pi) nrn inns pjiy fm niratwn IDIT inn ohyn nyi oi>iyn f i>tw iynn pnx 'J3 iynn IDIN nwsn fmi nyi tbwb in-ah yB''i DnriN n:y Kin fjio o 11 by IJTI'DN ns my^- ^ H3-i3 ^33 pi /yiEi pypim pynD jni nin nvn c y |bi3 n"3n nN -no: 11 ^ ny lynn noiN nnsni iypn now 131 Na^ai /WD3 }VTin p N^jn uii nia^M Nnai?n *3i rn:n 121 .nun "in3i HITD nyt^a s^s* p pjni: vn N^ nox D^rn ^vx 1 The words are bracketed by R. Samuel Edels as incorrect, but are undoubtedly correct, as manuscripts and Tos. I, 14 also have them. 2 Note that ^fcOK" ^Ni:> "jra and TYirm'Jn 131? 1113 have their places in the first halves of their respective paragraphs, which contradicts the above analysis ; they were shifted to the end at a later stage of develop- ment, see below. 224 SOME TYPES OF of the attendant to blow was carried out by a plain blast, an alarm and again a plain blast : while his call to blow an alarm was followed by an alarm, a plain blast and again an alarm, as several manuscripts and texts expressly have it. The words with which the first paragraph of the prayer opened in Temple times, read in all the three Baraithas : ' Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity, blessed be the Redeemer of Israel '. It seems strange that a prayer in distress should begin with ' blessed be ', and that immediately after the doxology another shorter sentence beginning with the same word should form the conclusion. To my knowledge, such repetition has no parallel in early short prayers, except in the opening paragraph of the Eighteen Benedictions l And our bles- sing appears all the more difficult, as an early report 2 states that in all the closing formulas of benedictions in the Temple D/iyn jo was originally said, but when the heretics went astray and taught that there was only one world, the authorities instituted that t6iyn *iyi ahyn p should be said instead. Though ours is not a closing, but an opening formula, the assertion in the statement is strange, as already the closing doxologies of several Psalms contain 1 Only 1 Chron. 20. 10 is a similarly characteristic instance of God's praise, and exceptionally begins with ' Blessed art Thou ', but has no concluding formula; but, as the king continued without a break to v. 19, it became necessary to repeat in v. 20 that David invited the assembly to praise God. As the response contains a description of God as the God of our fathers, different from the king's call, it would seem that in the days of the author there existed a fixed formula like : Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, and its recital was followed by a prostration. In Neh. 8. 6 the response of the people consisted only of a double Amen, in 1 Chron. 16. 36 ; Psalm 106. 48 of Amen Hallelujah. In Neh. 9. 5 the Levites, after the prayer of the public fast, call on the congregation to bless the Lord their God from everlasting to everlasting, but the response is not stated ; evidently it is contained in the next sentence where a slight change has to be introduced, see the commentaries. 2 Berakh. ix. 5 : jcbwn p D^DiK vpi BHpoa 1TI&' ni:m p DmoiN iw wpnn "inx N^N obiy px noxi n^on njn JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 225 not only Amen which according to the Baraithas in Ta'an. 16 b was not used in the Temple, but also the very formulas which are stated to have been a new and late institution in the Temple. 1 The shortest and the longest of these doxologies at the ends of the books of the Psalms have in common the formula : ' Blessed be the Lord for evermore ', and the reponse of the congregation : Amen and Amen, or Amen Hallelujah ; only Psalm 72 has two doxolo- gies, the second being : ' And blessed be His glorious name V 2 With the formula in 1 Chron. 16. 36 agrees the benediction in the first paragraph of the prayer spoken on the Temple Mount on the public fast. And just as the response of Amen, so that of ' Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom ', was not created by the rabbis, but both were the responses of the congregation to certain Psalms sung by the choir of the Levites in the sacrificial service of the Temple, and used also in the service of the public fast. Consequently, the statement in the Mishnah and the Barai- tha 3 that in the Temple Amen was not usual as a response, must refer to some services held independently of the sacri- ficial service ; namely to such as were held on the Temple Mount in front of the eastern gates, just as was that on the public fast. To the doxology of our prayer which concluded with ' Blessed be the Redeemer of Israel ', the congregation re- 1 So Psalm 89 closes : Blessed be the Lord for evermore, Amen, and Amen ; 41 with Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting, Amen, and Amen ; 106 with Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting, and let all the people say, Amen, Hallelujah ; and in its parallel in 1 Chron. 1(5. 36 the last word appears as two : praise to the Lord. 72 ends with the longest formula : Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things ; and blessed be His glorious name for ever ; and let the whole earth be filled with His glory, Amen, and Amen. See the commentaries, and Gratz in MGWJ., 21, 1872, 482 ff. ; Lehmann in R. E. J., 31, 1895, 34 ff. 2 Gratz compares it with Neh. 9. 5 : Let them bless Thy glorious name ; see further. 3 Ta'an. 16 b ; jer. II, 65 d. 56 ; b. Berakh. 63 a ; Tos. VII, 22 ; jer. IX, 14 c. 12; Blau in E. E. J., 31, 1895, 188; Gratz in MGWJ., 21, 1872,483. P 226 SOME TYPES OF sponded not by Amen which became the rule in the service of the synagogue, but by ' Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom '. About this and various other responses a report of the second century supplies some information; 1 but, as R. Jose b. Halaftha expressly stated, the responses discussed were in vogue in the synagogue in his own days. To the call of the reader (at the beginning of the daily morn- ing and evening prayer) to praise God, the fixed response was iyi D^iy^> 1113DH 'n 7113 : in another, unknown case 2 to the call ' Bless ' the otherwise rare response was 1133 DP "]113 lyi D^iy^ ttlttfo. When the reader recites a benediction, as e.g. one of the Eighteen Benedictions, the response is the familiar Amen ; when he recites a certain part of the Kad- dish, which is otherwise known only as a response, the congregation responds by ' For Eternity of Eternity '. an unfamiliar response. In a parallel account 3 Haninah, the nephew of R. Joshua and an older contemporary of R. Jose, also terms the reader "psen, as one who recites a bles- sing and praises God, and refers to the response quoted by R. Jose first ; then he says, When he calls on God's name, the response is iyi D^iyi> inista 1133 DP 7112. Though here also the occasion of the call is not stated, it seems obvious 1 Sif re Deut. 32. 3. 306, 132 b: "DV '31 /IDTt 3 13n SIpS 'n CP "3 vins D':iyp linen 'n nx 1313 icnsi nwan n-33 onoiyb pje- /u 13,1 sips 'n DP a 101^ nic^n nyi nhyb ^non 'n 'n DP a ioii> nin^n iiaen ins [JDK] &y\yv pi . , inns D^iy onp 1313 leisb pjei ^rnbsb ^nj un i3 N2i .TCP NT IDIK^ p3oi . . . njn ohy^ ini3 . . . onsbiy 'Dbufo 'D/iy^ onnns. 2 In pointing to Ta'an. 16 b, Friedmann (see Rashi on Dent. 32. 3) suggests as the occasion a prayer in the Temple ; but there is, to my knowledge, no such or similar call mentioned in connexion with any service in the Temple, nor would R. Jose, the historian, have failed to refer to the Temple. 3 Mekhil. Exod. 13. 3, 19 b : 'n DP "3 "HOIK yPIT m 'nX |2 6O\jn "31 vins pJiy in TOI vinx o^iyn I^N wrbtb i>ia nn ^inen nr DP 1113 VinS pJiy liT 1JDP3 Nltp NMP31 oW 111301 r .1 vin" IDP noonai ''ns 'rb i!?u IDIS sin pi ijn o^iyb ini3^D 1133 . JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 227 to think of the Temple service on the Day of Atonement, when the high-priest pronounced the name of God, or of the priestly blessing at the conclusion of the daily morning and afternoon sacrifice. But, as already stated, it is not at all likely that the rabbi of the beginning of the second century who, in the other parts of his statement, dealt only with the service of the synagogue, should, without special indication, have referred to a response in the Temple. On the other hand, R. Akiba's example of a response in the Synagogue service to a call ending with the name of God, 1 as in Pss. 103. 20, 22; 135. 19, 20, is not in^o nua n&'-jra. To think of the recital of the first verse of the yap which, as the reliable R. Jehudah b. Ilai reported,- was already in Temple times followed by irnr^E TQ3 DP "jra, is hardly admissible, as the call to which the same words were the response in the synagogue, was according to the express statement of R. Jose ' Bless '. In the prayer of the public fast the doxology and the response of the congregation were followed by three blasts of the priests; as the same was the case also after the second sentence of the prayer, it is evident that the blasts were an essential part of each section of it. Was, in the first half of the paragraph, the praise of God to be enhanced by the sounding of the horn (Ps. 98. 6), or was it the closing ' Blessed be the Redeemer of Israel ', which, though in its form a statement, was in reality an urgent appeal to God as the Redeemer 1 ? 3 According to Num. 10. 9 the trum- pets were to be blown by the priests as a pressing cry in distress, to remind God of His people's suffering. And so in 1 Mace. 3. 46-50 it is reported : ' Wherefore the Israelites assembled themselves together, and came to Maspha, over against Jerusalem. (4-7) Then they fasted that day, and 1 Berakh. VII, 8 : nnSl D'UIIO IPIX' HD^H W12 l^i'D X^'py '2~l -X innon 'n DN 13-12 -IOIN Wot^ ^~i /n nx wna ICIN Q-uyie. 2 Pesah. IV, 8 ; Tos. II, 19; jer. IV, 31 b. 27 ; Blau in R.E.J., 31, 1895, 186, 188. 8 See Oppenheim in Beth Talmud, III, 1883, 176 ff. P 2 228 SOME TYPES OF put on sackcloth, and cast ashes upon their heads, and rent their clothes ... (50) Then cried they with a loud voice toward heaven, saying, What shall we do with these, and whither shall we carry them away ? . . . (52) And, lo, the heathen are assembled together against us to destroy us : what things they imagine against us, Thou knowest. (53) How shall we be able to stand against them except Thou, O God, be our help 1 (54) Then sounded they with trumpets, and cried with a loud voice '. And in 1 Mace. 4. 37 : ' Upon this all the host assembled themselves together, and went up into Mount Sion. (38) And when they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned up, and shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest, or in one of the mountains, yea, and the priests' chambers pulled down ; (39) they rent their clothes, and made great lamentation, and cast ashes upon their heads, (40) and fell down flat to the ground upon their faces, and blew an alarm with the trumpets, and cried toward heaven' - 1 So were also at the public fast in Ta'an. II all the signs of mourn- ing applied, prayers of distress were spoken, and after the second sentence an alarm was sounded. And though neither the Mishnah nor the Baraithas mention the pro- stration after the blasts of the trumpets, it seems to be understood, as also several instances of a similar character in the sacrificial service suggest. So 2 Chron. 29. 27 says, ' And when the burnt-offering began, the song of the Lord began also, and the trumpets, together with the instruments of David, king of Israel. (28) And all the congregation prostrated themselves, and the singers sang, and the trum- pets sounded ; all this continued until the burnt-offering was finished'. 2 Even more definitely in Siraeh 50. 15: ' He (the high-priest) stretched out his hand to the cup, and 1 In Judith 4. 9-15 a public fast with all its rites is described iu detail ; but, as in 2 Mace. 13. 12, the sounding of an alarm with the trumpets is missing, while the prostrations are mentioned. See also the prayer of Izates of Adiabene in Josephus, Antiquit., XX, 4. 2. 89. 2 ZATW., 19, 1899, 335 ff. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN 1METY 229 poured out the blood of the grape ; lie poured out at the foot of the altar a sweet-smelling savour unto the most hio-h t~* O King of all. (16) Then shouted the sons of Aaron, and sounded the silver trumpets, they made a great noise to be heard, for a remembrance before the Most High. (17) Then all the people together hasted, and fell down to the earth upon their faces to worship their Lord, God Almighty, the most High '. And in its description of the daily morning sacrifice the Mishnah * says of the song of the Levites at the libation : At every break a blast, and on every blast a prostration. As on none of those occasions did the priests pronounce the name of God, 2 the prostration was not, as 011 the Day of Atonement and at the daily priestly blessing, 3 due to the name of God. It seems to have marked, just as the blow- ing of the trumpets, the importance of the wine-offering and the adoration of God who was thought of as present in the Temple at the moment of the libation ; as in Neh. 8. 6, ' And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God ; and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with the lifting up of their hands ; and they bowed their heads, and fell down before the Lord with their faces to the ground '. 4 The closest parallel to our prayer on the public fast is the description of the public fast in Neh. 9. 1-3 : ' And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the Law of the Lord their God a fourth part of the day ; and another fourth part they confessed, and prostrated themselves before the Lord their God.' Rabh, the Babylonian teacher of the first half of the third century, ordered the family of R. Aha, and R. Ammi directed his own household, when they went out (to the market) to the service of the public fast, not to lie down in the usual way, when carrying out the old custom of the prostration. 5 R. Samuel in Tiberias reports 1 Tamid vn, 3: ii'inn^n nypn bz by\ nrpn pis ^n ^y. 2 See, however, Ginzberg in Oriental. Studien in honour of Noldeke, C25. 3 Sirach, 50. 21, and R. Tarfon in Kohel. r. 3. 11 end ; Tosafotli Sotah 40 b, s.v. ^31. 4 Z.4TTF., 19, 1899, 338. 5 Jer. 'Abort, zar., IV, 43d. 0-19. 230 SOME TYPES OF that he saw R. Abahu lie down in the usual manner ; R. Assi questioned R. Abalm about it, as Lev. 26. 1 pro- hibited the prostration upon a stone which had figures carved on it. R. Jonah and R. Aha lay on their sides. R. Johanan remarked to his disciple R. Hiyya b. Abba who had emigrated from Babylonia to Tiberias. ' Babylonian, two things have come to us from your country : the stretching out of the limbs at the public fast, and the taking of willows on the seventh day of Tabernacles'. 1 R. Johanan did not mean that the whole custom of the prostration at the service of the public fast had recently been introduced from Babylonia, but merely the stricter form of it, the stretching out of the arms and the legs, while lying flat on the ground, as is evident from the word NJVDKraD; but the prostration at the service of the fast was an old established custom in Palestine. The stricter observance of the Babylonian Jews is proved by another incident. When Rabh once came to a service on a fast-day in Babylonia, he rose from his place, recited the prescribed blessing over the Torah and read therefrom ; and when, on finishing his reading, he did not recite the blessing after it, the whole congregation immediately prostrated themselves, but Rabh did not follow their example. 2 The Talmud tried to account for his attitude in various ways. As Rabh had spent many years in the school of R. Jehudah I in Galilee, he had learnt to prostrate himself on the public fast only in the market and only after the prescribed blessings and prayers ; whereas the service which he attended in Babylonia, seems to have been held in the synagogue, just as that arranged during the revolution in 67 in the synagogue in Tiberias and described by Josephus. 3 The Jews in Babylonia had their own and stricter rules regarding that custom. 4 son Kronjn 2 Megil. 22 b. s vita, 56. 290-93. 4 If Jerome may be trusted, he once or several times saw the annual mourning of the Jews on Abh 9th before the wall of Jerusalem, Ad Zephan. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 231 5. In the days of the Mislmah, whenever the rain con- tinued to fail after Kislev 1st, thirteen fasts were pre- scribed by the authorities to be observed by the community. Of those the last seven were stricter than the first six, for on them an alarm was blown and the shops were closed. 1 It was after each of the six blessing of the prayer that three blasts were blown, altogether eighteen, on every one of the seven fasts. When before the year 135 R. Akiba and his colleagues discussed the public and private calamities which affected only one town and for which an alarm should be sounded, 2 they defined the various kinds of visita- tions in which the trumpets should be blown ; consequently, the continuation of the anonymous Mishnah III, 5 belongs to R. Akiba. As this teacher only defined the details," the general rules themselves and the custom of sounding an 1. 15 ff. ; Schiirer, Gescliichte, I, 703 if. : Habent enim ct in luctu tubas, et juxta prophetiam vox sollennitatis versa est in planctum; they blew the trumpets at those prayers of mourning in the same way as in 1 Mace. 4. 39 ff. and at the service of the public fast. 1 Ta'an. I, 6; Baraitha, 14 a bottom : pynn 1^N32>J instead of the denominative verb Tos. Megil. I, 8 has the noun nyiin, b. also niyinn. 2 Ta'an. in, 3: ruyno i mynno N/I nuyn mynnc 3 SifreNum.10.9.76: flpl-'l pint? ivn by noib ii^n p:o D'-a nanoon .1^201 nb'b nt^po by Nnn xbc' nivi mx ba by D^nx nivn ; Ta'an. 22 & . i:n byi ppnn byi jism'n by mpo b^a pynno ibx by ;:ai ^.IB' baa ppiM byi PEHEM by ICIN wpy ^i ,nyn n^n byi b^om .frvby pynnD IHN ^:D xbs* btnty pxa nsi: xb ib'2x b^om nnix p pn un ,bm3 iDib nns PNI nntr3 imn by pynno N^:n (_'2 b) by pynno PK noiN wpy "31 mcro N3?y "ni b:r n^bn DI-:^ ba 232 SOME TYPES OF alarm at public fasts must have been established before him. 1 This, in fact, is evident from the description of the service held in two Galilean towns before 135, and of those held on the Temple Mount before 70,- and, what is of special weight for our investigation, of that expressly recorded in the Scroll of Fasts on Adar 8th. as here we read : ' On Adar 8th and 9th was a day of blowing the alarm for rain. 3 And it may be assumed with the greatest probability that the alarm was sounded also on the two fasts which the Mishnah and Baraitha report of Temple times as illus- trations of the rules quoted above. 4 ' When some elders \vere on their w r ay down from Jerusalem to their towns and noticed some blasting of corn in Ashkalon, they ordered a fast ' ; and another fast was decreed because w T olves had , eaten two children on the other side of the Jordan ; R. Jose said, ' Because wolves had merely been noticed there '. The very fact that priests w r ere chosen for the blowing, suggests that, as in Num. 10. 8 and 31.6, the silver trumpets of the Temple, which only priests were permitted to blow, were used for the purpose. This was actually the case in the sacrificial service ; 5 and, as also on other occasions con- nected directly with the Temple, priests blew the same trumpets, 6 it seems very probable that also at the service of the public fast, held in front of the eastern gates of the inner forecourt of the Temple, the trumpets blown by priests were the same. For not only at the actual morning-, evening-, and the additional Sabbath- and festival sacrifices which were offered within the inner forecourt, did the acting O priests do so ; but at the solemn procession that took place on the Feast of Tabernacles in connexion with the drawing 1 See also jer. Ill, 66 c. 15; Tos. II, 8. 2 Baraithas Ta'an. 16 b. 3 K-I3 nSmn DV nyeTai N'iCm, Gratz, Geschickte, III, note 1, 576, l, which, as Friedmann had already I'emarked, is very difficult to justify. A manuscript rightly reads : iai'Q Dmsan Dyai bnpm NDt?, perhaps it was at the great gathering or on the Day of Atonement in the jubilee year, Lev. 25. 9. Similarly, Yalkut has : toV21 DniESH DV2 bnpm where in the last word the first letter must be struck out. Though Pesik. r. 39. 165b: NTpy U1 11DN nynn nail? mnym nnawt? ^nvai rucrn PK-Q yipnb -ico m i?y2 IN^ DTDm *?y bl$ DDVIN ^33 'i:i also had before it in R. Akiba's question toR. Tarfon the reading rOBTJ tS'K" 1 ; ^ ^ s undoubtedly a mistake, and cannot be justified in the presence of the only correct reading : S~lp!"l. 234 SOME TYPES OF the Torah in the inner forecourt of the Temple, 1 or on the Temple Mount where R. Tarfon's uncle blew the trumpet. 2 This was a non-sacrificial act, and the priests still blew the trumpets which, however, did not belong to the Temple. And the signals which informed the people of Jerusalem of the beginning and the conclusion of the Sabbath, were also given by a priest who blew the trumpet 011 the pinnacle of the Temple. 3 1 Sot. VII, 8 ; Biichler, Priesler und Cultus, 14 ; see, however, R. Eliezer b. Jacob in Baraitha Yoma, 69 b ; Tos. Sot. VII, 13, who names the Temple Mount instead. Cf. Halevy D^ICWin mill, Ie 4 b, note. 2 Tos. Sot. VII, 15 describes the same very vividly : On that day priests stood in the breaches of the wall and in the closed parts of it (cf. Midd. II, 3 : Within the wall of the Temple Mount was the Soreg ten hand- breadths high into which Greek kings, jer. Shekal. VI, 50 a. 2, broke thirteen breaches ; later on these were closed, and in their direction thirteen prostrations were instituted, Tos. Shekal. II, 17) with golden trumpets in their hands and blew a plain blast and an alarm ; he who had no trumpet was criticized as appearing not to be a priest. The inhabitants of Jerusalem earned money by letting their trumpets. On the same day R. Tarfon saw a lame priest blow the trumpet and inferred from it that a lame priest was permitted to blow the trumpet in the Sanctuary. In the name of R. Nathan it is reported, The Jews incurred destruction by flattering Agrippa. 3 Josephus, Wars, IV, 9. 12.582 ; it is true, he speaks of ad\m'y and not of &VKO.VTI, so that the nature of the instrument may seem doubtful. But the parallel reference in Sukk. V, 5 where, as we have seen, the blasts of the priests were, on several occasions, sounded with trumpets, makes it almost certain that the signals of the Sabbath which are included in the same list of the Mishnah, were also blown with the same trumpets. This is clearly stated in Tos. Sukk. IV, 11, 12: p DJ?D fltf b^in . . . ~vy ta rrai;6 jun B>xn^ r6ijn ni-wvn taw nD^n jrn . . . . mmn taw noisn jm ,i>ir6 tnp pn ^-iirf? BB> "NTD (12) . . . now N'JTim nnVWn TIN ph&SB 13 lai^n DN ptafcoia?, mentions the horn and the trumpets side by side as used for announcing the Sabbath. It seems JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 235 But there is some additional and, as it appears, early information about the blasts at the service of the public fast, which mentions the horn also by the side of the trumpets. ' The horn for the New Year is extended and straight, c5 " and is of a gazelle, and its mouthpiece is overlaid with gold; by the side of the horn are two trumpets, the horn blows longer, the trumpets blow a shorter time, for on the New Year the horn is prescribed. (4) On the fast-days they blow [two] bent rain horns the mouthpieces of which are overlaid with silver ; between the horns arc two trum- pets, the horns blow a shorter time, the trumpets longer, for the duty of the day are trumpets '. T All that we know otherwise from rabbinic literature about the use of the ram's horn on the New Year in the service of the Synagogue, contradicts the rule of the Mishnah just quoted. When a Babylonian scholar, R. Papa b. Samuel proposed to follow that rule, Rabha remarked to him that that Mishnah referred to the Sanctuary ; and also a Baraitha says, ' That rule applied only to the Sanctuary, whereas outside it either trumpets only or a horn only are to be used '. So R. Halaftha introduced it in Sepphoris and R. Haninah b. Teradyon in Sikhnin ; but when the scholars (of the central that some authorities objected to the religious use of the trumpet outside the Temple ; but in the Temple and on the Temple Mount, it is clear, the signal of the Sabbath was given with the trumpet. See also Revel in J.Q.R., III, 1913, 386; Ginzberg in R. E.J., 67, 1914, 150. 1 Rosh haShan. Ill, 3 : PIS1XO VB1 BV.TB by ^ iWH B>N1 b& "IBI?? niVEt? nnvpD nrraivm TINE naiB> p-ivn p nnvwn TIPI am "nan f]D3 nairo fiTai D'aiea D'nar bvi ivjyna W .iDi^a avn nnmna ovn mro^ rnmNE nnxwm -ivpo naia> cf. TOS. Rosh haShan. in, 3 : myooai ^^ vhv ya onniN D^am mw 'an nan ^m bn bi by vbv wbv vbwb '-b'c an y n^3 rvyyw nnmna pypin jn neat ^nun nu bi by B^c- 1 ^avai nnar i?{ya pypin mtrn c\s-ia ID-IS' mm" W^B' ni 'IVD^ ^sen ns o^nan . b. 20 b : x^n paiaa nnar bfa pypin rn n^'n % ^x~ia IOIN mm 11 "an 236 SOME TYPES OF school) heard of it, they said that such a practice had been followed only at the eastern gates and on the Temple Mount. 1 Accordingly, the above Mishnah described an early custom followed before the year 70 on the Temple Mount, and transplanted by those two scholars to Galilee. 2 But in what connexion was the horn blown in the Sanctuary along with the trumpets on the New Year? With our present information it appears nearly impossible to detect in our sources any indication that in the Temple service a horn was at any time or ever blown, as at the sacrifices in Num. 10. 10 as well as in the passages discussed only trumpets are mentioned. It is true, the horn is included among the instruments used in the Temple in the statement of the Mishnah : ' In Jericho they heard from the Temple the sounds of the flute, the cymbal and the Shofar, and, accord- ing to some, also the voice of the high-priest, as he pro- nounced the name of God on the Day of Atonement '. 3 But the occasion on which the horn was blown, is not suggested. In his explanation of the passage Maimonides refers to Sukk. V, 5 where the word Shofar does not occur at all ; so 1 R. H. 27 a : pU32 2N CnpCQ DniEN Dnan HCO "an j'run pi nnron px new B*C> nipo naie> px nnxrcn w nipo ^VN i3i Kaaoi /won pmn p aojjn *a-n mava xna^n -21 naba jvan "irm mrc> nypa N^>K p pjnu vn $b nx D'oan. In jer. Rosh haShan. Ill, 58 d. 31 it is reported : ' In the presence of R. Joshua b. Levi they blew on the public fast (the horn). R. Jose asked, Why did they not blow the trumpets before him ? Did R. Jose not know the Baraitha, Trumpets in the Sanctuary, but not outside it'? In jer. Ta'an. II, 65 a. 34 ; b. 14 a R. Jacob of the Darom said, Why do they blow the horns on the fast ? All this shows that on the public fast the Shofar and not the trumpets were blown in the third and fourth centuries ; see also Oppenheim in Beth Talmud, III, 1883, 175-8. Jerome's report about the mourning of the Jews before the wall of Jerusalem on Abh 9th, quoted above, 230, 4, speaks of tubae, trumpets, not horns. 2 In Gaonic times at public fusts in Babylonia the horn was blown, see n:n px naixn, 1, 1911, 153. 8 Tamid in, 8: !?ip pyuit? vn irrvD ^bnn ^p pyoiB> iTi irvvo jna bw hp PJN D^DW cm naitrn ^ip pyow vn irn^o . . . ova DB'n ns n^aro Nintr ny^a JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 237 that he must have identified it with the trumpet blown by the priests, which presupposes a loose use of terms in an early report about the service of the Temple. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that this account of the miraculously loud sounds heard in Jericho does not fit in with the sober tone of the whole tractate of Tamid. It evidently belonged to another source which, as its interest in the musical instruments of the Temple suggests, was concerned with a subject for which the author of the tractate had little attention left. Did perhaps the Levites and not the priests, blow the horn 1 l Very curious is the statement quoted by R. Joshua b, Hananiah who was once a levitical singer in the Temple : ' A live ram lias only one voice, but, when dead, it produces seven sounds: its two horns are made into two trumpets, its two legs into two flutes, its hide is made into a drum, its entrails are used for psalteries, and its viscera for (strings of) harps '.- As R. Joshua naturally knew that mwn denoted in the Bible and in the Mishnahs of Sukkah and Tamid a metal trumpet and not a horn, it must be assumed that he knew from his experience in the Temple that HSVJ-' and rnvsn were used promiscuously for the animal horn. The reverse is, how- ever, found in a passage," evidently a Baraitha, which ex- plains the trumpets of the priests in Num. 31. 6 by i2ia>; while another reference, representing another school, em- phasizes the distinction between the two. 4 To the blowing of the Shofar in the service of the Temple on the New Year no other reference is to be found any- 1 See 1 Chron. 25. 5. 2 Kinnim. III. C>. 3 Sotah, 43 a top. 4 SifrezutaonNum. 10.8 ff., 72 : nnsVJQ tik rm^TD 1J?prP ; ver. i : rmDlKO i>6 rmXVrQ DnijnrVl . The instruments enumerated by R. Joshua were levitical, or at least non-priestly; so that Tosafoth in Menah. 28 a see in the trumpets such as were used by the Levites, as in 1 Chrou. 16. 42 (cf. 1 Chron. 15. 19, and Sukk. V, 4 ; the parallel Tos. Sukk. IV. 7 does not mention the trumpets). Perhaps the Levites were at some time deprived of their privilege of i sing the trumpets in the Temple, and they transferred the name m5flfn to the horn. For R. Hisda's opinion in Shabb. 36a the Mishnah of R. Joshua offers no proof. 238 SOME TYPES OF where, nor is it stated that at the special, additional offering of that festival the usual trumpets were not blown ; l while in a question about the blowing on the New Year only the trumpets are presupposed as used on that day. 2 The designation of the festival as the day of nynn in Num. 29. 1, Lev. 23. 24 is not conclusive, as in Num. 31. 6 ; 10. 9 the word is connected with the priests' trumpets, and in Lev. 25. 9 and several other passages with the Shofar. 3 If it were certain that Ps. 81.4, 'Blow the horn at the new moon, at the full moon for our feast-day ', referred to the New Year, as those interpreted it who instituted the psalm to be sung by the Levites on that festival at the sacrifice, the blowing of the horn should have been the custom in the Temple on the New Year. Philo's explanation of the character of that festival is very instructive. ' Then follows the festival of the sanctification of the holy month, on which at the offering of the sacrifices in the Temple it is the custom to blow the trumpet ; on account of that this festival is rightly called the feast of the trumpet '. 4 This interest- ing description seems to have been derived neither from Num. 10. 10, where the blowing of the trumpets at the sacrifices is prescribed for all the festivals, nor from Lev. 23. 24, Num. 29. 1 where only the word nynn characterizes the day, but from Philo's knowledge of the actual practice in the Temple of Jerusalem. 5 Again, trumpets and not horns are pointed out as characteristic of the day ; and it seems impossible to reconcile with that the Mishnah G the 1 Sukk. V, 5 ; Sifre Num. 10. 30. 77 ; Sifre zut. Num. 10. 9, 72 S. 2 Sukk. 54 a; jer. V, 55 c. 39 ff. 3 The alarm blast with the Shofar is the signal of war and battle in Amos 2. 2 ; Zeph. 1. 16 ; Jer. 4. 19. The word nynn, which means shout, sometimes refers to joy and accompanies the blast of the horn, 1 Chron. 15. 28 ; cf. Ezra 3. 13 and 1 Sam. 4. 5, 6 ; 2 Sam. 6. 15. In Ps. 47. 6 it is the greeting of the king by the people, as in Num. 23. 21, and is in Ps. 98. 6 followed by the combined blasts of the horn and the trumpets. 4 De Sabb. 22 = De spec, leg., II, 188 = M., II, 295. 8 See, however, Treitel's remark in MGWJ., 47, 1903, 502 ff., and Heinemann in Cohn's German translation of Philo, II, 160, 2: 'It is derived from fj.vr)p.davvov aa\-ni^(av LXX.' 6 Rosh haShan. Ill, 3. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 239 correctness of which is borne out by a Baraitha and by the practice of the two Galilean scholars about the year 100-135 who ordered the horn and the trumpets to be blown at the same time at the service of the public fast. The Mishnah either represented a time and a practice different from those described in Sukkah, or, what is more probable, in spite of the word ' in the Sanctuary ' did not refer to the sacrificial service of the Temple. As the parallel Baraitha expressly states that it was held at the eastern gates and on the Temple Mount, it would first follow that on the New Year a service was held outside the Temple, though close to it, at which two trumpets and one horn were blown, just as at the service of the public fast, held in the same place, the same two instruments were sounded. And it is of special interest that in the Baraitha about the New Year Bnp designates not the Temple itself and its sacrificial service, but the area in front of the eastern gates of the forecourt ; and the same enpo is used with reference to the service of the fast, and again the Mishnah substitutes for it the eastern gates and the Temple Mount. 1 And its bearing on the service on the New Year is corroborated by another statement. 'On the New Year that fell on the Sabbath, they blew in the Sanctuary, but not outside it ; Jerusalem had this additional privilege over Jamnia that even a town in its close neigh- bourhood was permitted to blow on the Sabbath '.- A Baraitha reports : ' When once the New Year fell on the Sabbath and the inhabitants of all the places had gathered together, K. Johanan b. Zakkai said to the sons of Bethera. Let us blow ! But they replied, Let us first argue it, 1 Baraitha Ta'an. 16 b: p irx B>Tpm i?3K f6n32 DHIEN Dnm n3 enpOH }ON p:iy PKE> &, Ta'an. II, 5; see Zipser in Warnheim's DMn njnap, i-s. 2 Rosh haShan. IV, 2: "Vy ^yy Jl^ ^? HTTP D^BTP HD'H fiST T.yi pypin yn &6 nnui pypin x:6 niwi naiipi nyioiw'i nxii tvny "IjPS pi JT33 &OK. This statement about the privileged position of Jerusalem contradicts the previous report about the exclusive right of the Sanctuary ; evidently we have here the opinions of two different schools. 240 SOME TYPES OF (whether it is permitted) ; R. Johanan answered, Let us first blow, and argue afterwards. When after the blowing they said to him, Let us argue it, he said, Since the horn has already been heard in Jamnia, you cannot refute it after the fact '. x As the arguments of the opposing parties indicate, the dispute occurred at the meeting of the highest religious authority whom the Mishnah describes as the p*i rca ; and as R. Johanan b. Zakkai had transferred to the beth-din in Jamnia the privileges of the highest beth-din, once in the stone chamber of the Temple in Jerusalem, he claimed for it the right to have the horn blown at its meeting on the New Year that fell 011 the Sabbath. 2 On the other hand, as, in addition to the official blowing in the beth-din, the trumpets and the horn were blown at the eastern gates of the forecourt of the Temple, as in the prayers of the public fast consisting of several blessings, there seems to have been held on the New Year in the same place a similar service in which the horn and the trumpets 1 Rosh haShan. 29 b bottom. 2 Cf. Rashi R. H. 30 a : When the New Year fell on the Sabbath, they blew only in the Great Synhedrion that sanctified the new-moon-days. With this agrees the early report in Tos. R. H. IV, 3 : Simeon, the son of the vice-high-priest said, If the witnesses (who reported the appearance of the new moon on Elul 30th) only came after the afternoon-sacrifice had been offered up, the horn was blown, but the additional sacrifice of the festival was brought only after the sanctification of the new moon. As those witnesses had to give their evidence before the beth-din in Jerusalem, and the same authority sanctified the new moon, it seems most probable that also the blowing of the horn, characteristic of Tishri 1st and closely bound up with that evidence, was ordered by the same beth-din, just as this regulated the sacrifices to be brought on the New Year. A Baraitha in R. H. 30 a expressly states the fact that the horn was blown in the beth-din that sanctified the new moon. But as the people had on the day of the New Year gathered in Jamnia and before in Jerusalem, and could hardly have found room in the chamber of the meeting, the announcement of the beth-din must have been made in the Temple in the spacious inner forecourt, and the horn been blown before the large gathering (cf. Pesik. r. 41. 172 b: bnfc? nJKT! B>K1 pn rra vne> nipon aoa^jn xta Dipn f>an D^ypin p naea D'ennrTI D^trn n OnayOI D'aSJ'V for the time when the meeting for fixing the calendar was held in 'En-Tabh). JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 241 occupied a place of considerable importance. And as already the two schools of the Shammaites and Hillelites differed only on the detail as to the place of the special reference to the Sabbath in the prayer for the New Year, but were agreed without any doubt about the number of the bles- sings constituting the prayer for that festival, 1 it is certain that the additional blessings expressing the spirit of the New Year were already in existence in Temple times. On the other hand, in the discussion between R. Akiba and R. Johanan b. Nuri about the exact place in the prayer of the New Year where the horn is to be blown, nimar nva^D nnsicn are referred to as fixed parts of that prayer, and R. Simeon b. Gamaliel II states that in the service held in Jamnia (in the days of his father Gamaliel II) the order suggested by R. Akiba was followed. 2 It seems most probable that the three additional insertions just mentioned already formed a part of the prayer for the New Year in Jerusalem, and that the blowing of the horn and the trum- pets on the Temple Mount followed the recital of every one of those insertions, as in the prayer of the public fast held in front of the eastern gates of the inner foreoourt of the Temple. 6. The prayer for rain itself has, strange to say. not been preserved in the Baraithas about the service of the public fast. All that is quoted, is the reader's wishes to the people which were similar to those of Eli to Hannah in 1 Sam. 1.17. ' May He who answered Abraham on Mount Moriah, answer you and listen to the voice of your cry this day'. 3 But neither the prayer which God may answer, nor the cry sent up to Him is reported. As all the three Baraithas; which describe the service, agree in all the details in the 1 Tos. R.H. IV, 11: iKOB> TV2 r\2&2 nVi" H3B>n BW 310 DV ytwi ^sno onois &i irai -ipy i&ano onoiK . 2 R. H. IV, 5; Baraitha b. 32 a; jer. IV, 59 c. 11 ; Sifra Lev. 23. 24. 101 d ; Tos. R. H. IV, 5. 3 ^ip3 ywi nanx my Kin nnion ina arms* ns nays? *e nrn ovn Danpy*. Q 242 SOME TYPES OF two paragraphs, it seems that nothing has fallen out ; so that the first blessing with its concluding benediction would have constituted the prayer proper. In support of the unusual form of the prayer as a blessing, 1 Mace. 4. 30 could be adduced: 'And when he saw that mighty army, he prayed and said, Blessed art Thou, O Saviour of Israel, who didst quell the violence of the mighty man by the hand of Thy servant David, . . . (31) Deliver this army into the hand of Thy people Israel '. Here also the prayer opens with the praise of God as the Redeemer in the past ; l but the part corresponding with Judah's prayer to which the benediction was merely the introduction, seems to be missing. Again, R. Eleazarof Mode'im interprets Exod. 17. 9 as referring to a public fast at which (in the prayer) the history of the patriarchs and matriarchs, as that of Levi and Judah, is mentioned. 2 The prayer quoted in the Mishnah and the Baraithas refers to the acceptance of the supplica- tions of Abraham on Mount Moriah, of the Israelites by the Red Sea, of Joshua in Gilgal, of Samuel in Mispah, of Elijah on Mount Karmel, and of Jonah,David, and Solomon; but there i| no reference to Levi and Judah, nor to the matriarchs. And it would again appear that the prayer of the fast has in that part not been preserved in the complete form as R. Eleazar of Mode'im knew it. Again, in his description of a public fast for rain Jer. 14. 12 says, ' When they fast, I will not hear their cry, and when they offer burnt-offering and meal-offering, I will not accept them ' ; he presupposes that the people fasted, brought sacrifices, and called to God in nn 3 which seems to denote the cry of the congregation at their prostration before God. 4 1 Imitated in Tobit 8. 5-8, and in the iree composition in 'Azariah's prayer in LXX on Dan. 3. (26). 2 Mekhil. Exod. 17. 9, 54 a top ; Mekhil. R. Simeon, 17. 9, 82 ; Mekhil. 17. 12, 54 b. 8 As in Isa. 58. 4, ' Ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high '. 4 ZATW. 19, 1899, 100 ff., 337 ft., and H^BITI fin in 1 Reg. 8. 28; Jer. 7. 16; 11. 14 ; Ps. 17. 1 ; 61. 2 ; 88. 3 ; 119. 169 ; 142. 7 ; and the cry of JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 243 With this could be identified ' the voice of your cry ' in our prayer, by which alone the congregation participated in the service, 1 as already in Joel 1. 14, 'Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord'.* Again, the Mishmih <| notes as the parts of the reader's prayer six appropriate verses from various books of the Bible, Ps. UO. 1 : 121. 1 ; 130. 1 ; 102. 1 which are termed ninais'i m:roT, 3 known also from the prayer of the New Year discussed above, and 1 Reo-. 8. 37 : Jer. 14. 1. ' (5 And if Jerome deserves credit, he once saw how hosts of distress in Ps. 106. 44, as in 1 Mace. 3. 54 : Then sounded they with trumpets, and cried with a loud voice. 1 Of. pyy in Ta'an. in, 7 : &K nis^nsr Ty i?s? natra pynn I^K ^y npj&6 h mry$> now 'DV 'an ,D'a naniaon rweon byi nnj IN. Rashi explains the last part thus : We may call in people to come to help, but we must not pray on the Sabbath, as we are not certain of the effect of our prayer, to be permitted to cry on the Sabbath to God for them. In Baraitha Ta'an. 14 a bottom, the word is evidently used in the same sense : ppyi* N^>N pynno IT! N^> . . . ni'JjniD ^"'O bl nNB>1 ; Berakh. ix, 3 : Nitr r6an IT nn -nywb pyixn ; ix, 4 : DTK? bisno TI yanx IDIN 'sry p ^nx^^a nnsi inooaa NTin }ni31 in^S^, where it clearly means a prayer, as in Exod. 14. 15, 'And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto Me', which is rendered by R. Eliezer in Mekhil. 29 a by nbsm nniDI lEiy nnW. In Bab. mes. 75 b bottom : p'NI ppyiS TVsh'ff pjyj, where, as in our prayer, p^yj indicates that it means a prayer addressed to God. Rashi explains this as a complaint before a human court, as pyif actually means complaint in Exod. 22. 22 ; 2 Reg. 6. 26 ; Jer. 20. 8; but pjyj hardly suits that meaning. 2 Cf. 2 Chron. 20, 9, If evil come upon us, the sword, judgement, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before Thee, for Thy name is in this house, and cry unto Thee in our affliction, then Thou wilt hear and save. 3 Ta'an. II, 3: M ^N ^IIBIK"! niJllUT ]il "6x1 .C'k? "11 y fiT 'n -j^nNip D^poyorD 'ui n^inn ^N vy N^N ^yi ^nmp b -ICIN min^ ^an ^tay ^ 'jy^ nban 'n nan n\n n^N psa n^n 11 ^ uyn ;;vnnn nroix x^s* nmaic'i noisi nmsan ^an ^y in^on^. 244 SOME TYPES OF locusts covered the soil of Judaea ; and when a service of supplication had been held by the Jews at which Joel's prayer in 2. 17 was recited, at once a wind arose and carried the locusts into the sea. 1 Accordingly, instead of special prayers composed for such an occasion, appropriate passages from the Bible would have been recited. So R. Jehudah b. Ilai suggested 1 Reg. 8. 37 instead of the opening verses of four Psalms ; though he might have more appropriately read 1 Reg. 8. 35 : When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against Thee ; if they pray toward this place, and confess (?) Thy name, and turn from their sin, when Thou dost afflict them : (36) then hear Thou in heaven. The Baraithas about the service of the public fast quote only the wording of two paragraphs of the prayer. But the rule at the end of their statement about the alternation of the two groups of the three blasts of the trumpets reads: 'And so at every benediction, after one he (the attendant of the synagogue) says to the priests, Blow a plain blast, and after the other he says, Blow an alarm, until he finishes all the benedictions ' ; 2 this presupposes at least two more paragraphs. According to the Mishnah the reader added six benedictions to the fixed prayer of the Eighteen Benedictions. 3 Similarly a Baraitha says, ' He recites before them twenty-four blessings, the eighteen of the daily prayer to which he adds another six '.* This combination was probably due to the fact that at the time which those sources reflect, the service for rain was no longer read as a prayer by itself, but, as R. Zerahyah haLevi suggested 5 , as a kind of Musaf -service which was held in 1 Comment on Joel 2 ; MGWJ., 41, 1897, 633. 2. 2 Ta-an. 16 b : -HOIK nnN3i typn iiN Dciio ro-ai mm i>33 pi 3 Ta'an. II, 2. 4 Ta'an. 16 b : m&y rmOB> ni:m >B? *1iy "fiT^y BpDIDl DV $>33B>. 5 In his Ma' or on Berakh. I ; Herzfeld, Geschichte, III, 189. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 245 the days of R. Johanan after nine o'clock in the morning. 1 R. Eliezer who died about the year 1:20, already recited the twenty-four benedictions on a public fast ; so that the insertion of the six blessings of the prayer of the fast into the Eighteen Benedictions was then already an established custom. 2 Whether the insertion was effected before 70 in Jerusalem, or owed its origin to R. Johanan b. Zakkai after the destruction, we are not in a position to establish, as it is not even certain whether all the six benedictions were already in use before the year 70. :1 All these details of the service of the public fast for rain prove that there was already in the time of the Temple such a service held on the Temple Mount in front of the eastern gates of the Temple court, that a prayer was there 1 Jer. Berakh. I, 3c. 49 ff. As already I. Levi in 1!. E. J., 47, 11(03, 165 and Elbogen in MGWJ., 46, 11)02, 346 ff. noted, the list of the sentences beginning with i"ljy!2> S D in Ta'an. II, 4 contains seven items, and counts the seventh of the daily Eighteen Benedictions to which the additional prayer is joined, as the first in the list ; so also the Baraitha Ta'an. 16 b ; jer. Berakh. I, 3 c. 59 : flND ^NIC" btflia. This represents a later development, when the six benedictions of the prayer for rain, constituting an independent prayer, were inserted into the daily Eighteen Benedictions after PK"^" 1 ?K1j, whereby two consecutive benedictions in the amalga- mated prayers closed with the "same formula : bN~c" ?xij / n nnx "JTG. To avoid this, the two successive benedictions were combined into one which now formed the first of the special benedictions of the prayer of the fast. But some scholars regarded it even in its new and longer form as the seventh of the Eighteen Benedictions ; and as they insisted on the addition on the fast day of six complete and separate benedictions, they had to compose a new sixth paragraph : njyj? ' ~IC!X X1H rvy^T! t>y canpyx hpn yotri orinx ruy Kin D^BTIVJ un nzbv nxi in nx pxn ^y nrron 'n nnx 71-13 nrn nvn, cf. TOS. R. H. in, 3: mynai E'PtJ'l V/?& y3B> pypin, which presupposes seven benediction^ in the prayer of the fast, after each of which three blasts were blown. The concluding formula of this additional benediction differs entirely from those of the first six benedictions; and this alone is sufficient to indicate its later origin. As Symmachos, a disciple of R. Meir. in Ta'an. 17 a : jer. II, 65 d. 49; Tos. I, 10, Q^Oin ^BB> Ilia T1OX D13D1D Dlt? WD suggested another concluding formula, it seems that the seventh additional paragraph was still fluid in the second half of the second century. 2 Baraitha Ta'an. 25 b. 3 Herzfeld, Geschichte, III, 130. 246 SOME TYPES OF recited which consisted of four or six paragraphs, that after each of these priests blew trumpets and a horn, and that the assembled congregation responded and probably pro- strated itself. But there is nothing in the sources extant to indicate how long before 70 that form of the service had been in practice in Jerusalem : and there is no possibility of proving that already in 70 B.C.E., when praying for rain on the Temple Mount, Honi recited the same four or six blessings of the prayer preserved. He certainly differed in his conduct toward God from all those who, in the first and second centuries, acted on similar occasions as the spokes- men of the suffering community. When asked to pray, his ready acceptance, without any hesitation, of the office of an intercessor, offered to him, no doubt, by some responsible authority, seems to evidence too great a measure of self- reliance. And even more so his order which he gave to the people before his prayer, to remove from the open yards the earthen ovens set up for the roasting of the Passover lambs on the ensuing eve of Nisan 15th, shows his confidence, as he seems to have entertained no doubt about the immediate and full effect of his impending supplica- tion. God reproved him for his immodest demeanour by not complying with his prayer of intercession ;* and still he did not appear chastened, as God's refusal urged him on to even greater insistence. He drew a circle or dug a pit in the ground, and stood up in it ; and, as though he intended or were able to force Him to yield and to send rain, he swore by His great name that he would not move thence until God had shown mercy to His children. Such self- confinement to a spot or a circle or a pit in connexion with prayer is nowhere reported in Jewish literature either of the Essenes or of anybody else; 2 and it is nothing else but 1 Jer. Ta'an. Ill, 66 d. 53. 2 Except in Targum on Hab. 2. 1 as an interpretation of the words of the prophet, ' I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower' ; probably the author took it from the Bavaitha Ta'an. 23 a about Honi. Schorr in pl^nn, VII, 1865, 33 ff. accepts the explanation that Honi dug a pit, and declares his procedure as Persian, for which he refers to JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 247 a drastic illustration of his declaration. I shall not move from the spot in which I am standing. His prayer became now, at least in its opening words, less self-asserting : he apologizes to God for his acting as the intercessor by stating that it was the opinion of him held by the people that placed him in his present position, and that he is praying as its spokesman and on behalf of God's children. Acting in the capacity of His familiar is, he adjures God by His great name, as any one entreating a king for mercy would urge him by all that is dear to him and ma}' weigh with him, not to persist in carrying out his strict and crushing judgment. 7. Many a characteristic detail of religious thought and belief is clearly implied by Honi's words. He prayed for God's mercy, for he knew that the prevailing calamity was fully deserved as a just punishment for the people's sins ; for God is just. Would it not have been appropriate for Kleucker, III, 211 whose evidence I could not verify. Dr. Kohler in J.Q.R., V. 1893, 415, 1 adduces only a late haggadic parallel which was undoubtedly based on Honi's example, and stamps it a part of the mystic practice of the Gnostics, Dietrich, Abraxas, 158, where, however, no circle or pit is mentioned. In Neumark's Journal of Jeicish Lore and Philosophy, I, 1919, 31, Dr. Kohler says, 'The best illustration of such an Essene wonder-worker is furnished in Ta'an. Ill, 8 in Onias, the Rainmaker, or, as the people called him, 7;j?cn , the one who used to draw a circle around him for his prayer. ... he shut himself up in the hole he had digged. . . . We have here ... a striking characteristic of the typical Essene, who does not hesitate to force his will upon God by the use of the Great Name in his prayer.' Where do we find Essenes as wonder-workers ? How do we know that Honi was an Essene? Where is it stated that the people called him ^JJflDTI? Where is it reported that he used to draw circles? How do we know that that was typical of the Essene ? When- and when did any Essene force his will upon God? A comparison of Honi s method with the various magical and other practices all over the world for obtaining rains, in Frazer, Golden Bovgh z . I, 1. 247-311, and Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, X, 1918, 562-5, shows that Honi applied none of them, nor any magic at all ; for even the circle which he drew and which reminds us of the circle drawn by Popilius Laenas round Antiochus IV Epiphanes in Egypt (Livy. XLV, 12 ; Schiirer, Gescliich^, I s , 197), has nothing in common with the magical circle drawn by the conjurer for his own protection from the ghost 'Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion, VlH, 321 ff.). 248 SOME TYPES OF him, before appealing for God's mercy, first to try to move the congregation to repentance ? It seems that in his first prayer which is not reported, he had already done so. and not only the long drought with its perils, but Honi's admo- nition had stirred contrition in the hearts of the assembly ; still the rain had not fallen. He addressed God as the Master of the Universe, the Ruler of the world to whose law every individual is subject, who watches and notes the actions of every person, especially in Israel, and who judges the deeds of His people ; and as His omnipotence and provi- dence give the rain or withhold it, He shows His anger at their sins by the terrible drought. Honi called the Jews the children of God, thereby describing the intimate rela- tion between Israel and their Father in heaven, as we found it among the early pious men seventy years later. His appeal was now addressed to God for His children ; and it is for them that he most solemnly swore that he would not move from the spot until God had mercy on His children. In His justice God did not allow even His children to go on sinning without punishment ; for they knew His will better than any other nation, as it was revealed to them in His Torah, therefore their disobedience was punished sooner and more severely. By his oath Honi imposed upon him- self the heavy restraint of having to remain within the circle for an indefinite period ; and he added the solemn oath to bind himself firmly to his undertaking. As he did this for his people, he was confident and even convinced that God who loved His children and also him, would not allow him to suffer long for their sake ; only in this his certainty has his oath any sense. Was it then again his great self-consciousness that had prompted those words, or was it his mission as Israel's representative, as the spokesman of God's children, who felt sure that their Father would not much longer withhold His mercy ? l 1 Is his oath Essenic? According to Josephus in Wars, II, 8. 6. 135 ; Antiquit., XV, 10. 4. 371; Hippolytus, EefuL, IX, 18-28; Philo, II, 458; Kohler in Jew. Encyclop., V, 229 a, the Essenes never took an oath ; but JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 249 God accepted the more humble prayer, and it began to rain gently. But the scanty drops indicated to Honi and his disciples that, while yielding to his supplication, God either did not grant to Israel more than a very partial measure of mercy, or still disapproved of Honi's attitude in his prayer. In the account of the Baraitha which so far agrees with that of the Mishnah, a remark of Honi's disciples expressed their interpretation of God's answer. 1 The disciples who were standing round him, said to him that they were looking to him for their rescue from death by famine, and they interpreted the poor rain, as sent by God only to annul Honi's oath. They meant to say that God did not like His beloved son to suffer in the circle drawn, and now enabled him to leave it. When, on his further request, the rain poured down in wild streams, the disciples interpreted it as sent by God to destroy the world. But who had just then sinned so gravely as to justify such an assumption ? Not their master, as God had when a new member was admitted, oaths of an awful character were administered to him and he had to swear that he would undertake the duties and obey the rules of the order. It is true. Honi's oath was not to confirm and to support a statement, but to strengthen him in his own undertaking; but that an Essene would have used the sacred name of God even in sucli an oath is even less probable, unless Dr. Kohler adduces some evidence to the contrary. 1 Ta'an. 23 a : tfh *^K"l "Q1 VTobn "6 HN BDiO DW3 p t IDK /jnyiae> TTin x rnv D^DL"; pst? i:s penoa zv ly f\yn n-v ,nnyoi prw nma 'o^a N^X HUM xi>i jirso *ai wobn ib IICN . . . rv3n ^s -ja N^ VJD^ ICN .c^iyn nns^ vbtt pniv D 11 ^- -in^ nyn ba by iy PP'na m 7 n3n:i nana pyi ^ann ia rrw n^enn^ DB>a -ai i^ iirrs ^ p 'a iy PIS nmon an ^y p^snt? PKB> ^b.ipo ID nni? vaab ->CKI v^y VT "nB' ICD ns-nn is ib iN'an ^s'nin ID ^ wan aiia sb niByi? pha 11 p'N onoo nNSint? bwy ivy nhy nn^y nysOT niy^ p^a' p* on^y noya y nujma 3113 nin N.TI n^DB'an ipoa^ Tasbo pvi ^n^ nioyij pbia 1 ' ; nonn nnnn D"3yn inarm nun n3B ( j TO .nbiya. 250 SOME TYPES OF only a short while ago shown a sign of mercy to him; but the people that had in the drought experienced His punishing anger, and now continued to be punished by the threatening flood. His further prayer for a rain of favour and of gift made the rain more normal ; but as it fell densely, the people had to seek shelter on the Temple Mount. There they asked Honi to pray for the rain to stop : l he refused, as God whom he called D'omn 7JO, the Merciful, would certainly not destroy men, though they full}* deserved it. Though God's justice would demand the extreme penalty to be inflicted, it would certainly not happen, as in His infinite mercy He had promised, even for the gravest sin never to destroy the earth by a flood again. The rain is a blessing, and even too much of it is still a blessing ; and a tradition in his possession taught him not to pray for its stopping. Still, in the end, he consented to pray ; but not, as till now, by words of supplication only, but by entreating God over a sacrifice for which, at his request, they brought him a bull. He laid both hands upon the animal and prayed, 'Master of the Universe, Thy people Israel whom Thou broughtest out from Egypt, cannot exist either in the over- great measure of blessing or in the overgreat measure of visitation ; when Thou wast angry with them, the}' could not subsist, and when Thou showerest on them blessing, they cannot subsist. May it be Thy wall that the rain stop, and ease prevail in the world ! ' Immediately a wind blew, the clouds dispersed, the sun shone and the people 1 Here would follow suitably, as jer. Ta'an. Ill, 66 d. 71 actually has it, the statement of Tos. and partly of the Mishnah, that, in order to reassure the anxious people, he asked them to look whether the water of the Kidron had risen to, and flooded, the rock of the erring, or, as the parallel, without containing Honi's name, has it, whether the corner of the 'Ophel was reached by the floods ; and his further remark in jer. Ill, 66 d. 74, similarly understood as the reason for his refusal to pray again : Just as this rock cannot be dissolved by the rain, so I cannot pray for the rain to stop. He refuses to pray, unless the city be really threatened with destruction by the floods ; but this cannot happen, as God assured humanity that He would never send a flocd again. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 251 went out into the fields to gather mushrooms and truffles. In this and the previous prayers no reference occurs to himself and his own person, but they all urge only the claims of Israel : it is God's people, as in Exod, 33. 1 3, Deut. 9. 29, the same that had enjoyed His special love, when He liberated it from Egypt, as in Exod. 32. 11; Deut. 9. 29. In his circumlocution in which he acknow- ledged the superabundance of the rain as a very great boon, Honi actually avoided praying for the rain to stop, 1 but expressly declared that it made it impossible for the people to subsist, and he asked for relief. His sacrifice he called DNIirt is ; 2 the difficult term is explained by Rashi : to confess sins over it," but the prayer contains no reference to any form of confession, nor was there just at that moment any occasion for it. On the other hand, the word cannot here have its usual meaning of thanksgiving, as Honi in his prayer expressed no thanks to God, but entreated Him for help in the trouble of the people. Now, in connexion with a prayer in a drought, in I Reg. 8. 35 we read, ' When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against Thee ; if they pray toward this place, and confess Thy name, and turn from their sin, when Thou afflictest them ; (36) then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy servants and of Thy people Israel, when Thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk ; and send rain upon Thy land.' As in Honi's prayer, so here the drought is God's punishment for the people's sins : it prays to Him and turns away from its evil ways, and, after having disregarded Him, again acknowledges both Him as the Master of its destinies and the justice of His visitations.* The same seems to have 1 The words D'DB'jn 1pDS'B> are absent in jer. 2 Jer. nVTin hv "ID. 3 Similarly Samuel Edels : In any case, he was ungrateful, for at first he prayed for rain that was a blessing for the world, but now, as Rashi explains, he is going to confess that he will act wrongly in praying for the stopping of the great measure of good. * So in Isa. 12. 1 : I acknowledge Thee, Lord, as the just Judge in visiting me in Thine anger with severe punishments. 252 SOME TYPES OF been Honi's idea in his declaration that both the oppressive drought and the now dangerous blessing of the rain have been sent by God, and were punishments which meant destruction to the people. The report of the Baraitha continues, ' Simeon b. Shetah sent Honi this message, "If thou wert not Honi, I should have decreed the ban against thee ; for if the years (of the present drought) were like the years (of the drought) of Elijah, when the keys of the rain were in Elijah's hands, would not the result (of thine intercession) be a profanation of God's name ? But what can I do to thee, since, though thou provest thyself a sinner against God, He still granteth thy request, just as a father granteth the wishes of a son who proveth himself a sinner against him. . . To thee applieth Prov. 23. 25, Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bare thee rejoice " '- 1 The leading Pharisee teacher knew Honi as a man of importance who could not, without due consideration, be punished by the ban, even when his strange conduct seemed to merit it ; for his past and his character made it clear that in his prayer neither his offensive words nor his blasphemous procedure had been intended to offend God or to profane His holy name. Assuming that an Elijah of the present generation had sworn, as the prophet in 1 Reg. 17. 1 had done, no rain would possibly have been permitted, in response to Honi's prayers, to fall this year; and so his oath by God's great name that he would not leave the circle drawn by him until the rain fell, would in the end prove as uttered in vain, and thereby the name of God be profaned. 2 The 1 Ta'an. 23 a : l^y '^M nnX 'Jin vbckto IDP 12 no bat* ,-JT by bbnnn D' T$>jn . . . unn b nenjn va by NDI-IDE^ pa -pra-i i jm&i bm "jDxi yaw noB'* IDW mron. - An anonymous statement in Gen. r. 13. 7, in interpreting Gen. 2. 5 haggadically, says : riN T'lyni? pN D1K1 ^DlNn DK nj6 pK JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 253 parallel account bears out this interpretation of Rashi, and, at the same time, supplies very valuable information about the ideas of the two scholars concerning the influence of the righteous man upon God. 1 Simeon 1). Shetah sent Honi this message, 'Thou deservest the ban, for had the same been decreed (by God) as in the days of Elijah, thou wouldst have brought the people to a profanation of God's name, and he who brings others to a profanation of God's name, deserves the ban.' To this Honi replied, ' Does not God annul His decree in favour of the decree of a righteous man ? ' Simeon answered, ' Yes, God does annul His decree in favour of the decree of a righteous man, but dues not annul the decree of one righteous man in favour of the decree of another righteous man. But what can I do, &c. ? ' If this most interesting part of the report is authentic in all its details, and, considering the source in which it has been preserved, there is no occasion for questioning it, the religious belief implied here deserves special attention. Honi who applied to himself indirectly the epithet of ' righteous ', used of him also in the account of Josephus, believed that the prayer of a pious man could persuade God to withdraw the visitation decreed by Him ; for was not Moses' prayer in Exod. 32. 11-14; Deut, 9. 18, 19, 26-29 a convincing instance of such power 1 ~ Simeon, naturally, i>3yn ^TOl l.T^O Sin 7TU mpr6 nVUn, there was none to bring men to the service of God like Elijah and Honi the circle-drawer. See Theodor's note on p. 117. 1 Jer. Ta'an. III. 67 a. 9 : nns "p* 6 1OS Ht3^ \2 |iyOB> li? r6w" NUO nnxxoa Nb in^s ^a n-iTaatr ntra n-rra mi;: lijw nnai? opn W'n T$> Q':nn nx ios ,pnv ^c' IHT:; bty ^mva 'JEJD pnv ^ imva !>t33 sin 1112 ^npn psi pns i?t' sin^ pa mpon "asb stinno nnxi i? nc>ys no bns /i^n pnv 1:1^ ^ n^iy sim vns iy st^nnc. 2 Weiss, Zur Geschichte, I, 145, thinks that Simeon objected to Honi'.-s arrogant words against God and to his believing himself and his making 254 SOME TYPES OF shared Honi's view about the acceptance of such a prayer by God, as not only that of Moses, but those spoken in distress by various prophets, kings, and psalmists supported it. In spite of Honi's argument and defence, Simeon adhered to his opinion of the sinfulness of Honi's conduct as deserving the severe disciplinary punishment which, at that time, as it appears, was only imposed on a public man for a grave and public sin. On the other hand, Simeon considered him a righteous man, and admitted that, in spite of his unreasonable, nay sinful conduct, God had accepted his prayer as that of a spoiled child ; and this favour of God protected him from the imposition of the ban which he fully deserved. ' But whether, by this his admission and his illustration, Simeon credited Horn with exceptional piety by which he was brought nearer to God than Simeon him- self, is not at all evident. And even if we granted that, there is nothing to be discovered in his words that could be identified with any of the traits enumerated by Philo, Josephus, and Hippolytus as characteristic of the Essenes. The apparent presumption of Honi that was, in his mind, fully compatible with his piety, but objectionable to the Pharisee teacher, is certainly contrary to all that can be thought of the Essenes ; it is not in agreement with general Jewish principles, and rather reminds one of the methods of a magician or a heathen priest in praying for rain. In another Baraitha a message of the members of the beth-din that met in the chamber of hewn stones in the Temple, is recorded. 1 It is an application of Job 22. 28-30 the congregation believe that he could force God to yield by his prayer ; aud that the reference to God's decree showed that Simeon held that against that the prayer of the pious man availed nothing. But the whole statement clearly snows that Simeon, without any hesitation, admitted Honi's belief and only qualified it in one instance ; on the main question and their mode of thought there was no difference between the two teachers. 1 Ta'an. 23 a: nTJJYI 7 ^Vn Wrb IVUH TQvh ^a irfo? DO pai 13H HOD^D mra nn IDIK inni pi njj -pm i>jn i? opn IDIX rrrre> in TIN naa -pam bjn ,nfepbhs TIOKD D"po Nin ina empm JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 255 to Honi's prayer and its success, and to the relief which he brought to his contemporaries who had been oppressed by their sins and the consequent sufferings. If the message did not consist merely of the three verses, so appropriate to the occasion by themselves, the interpretation attached intended to express the unqualified recognition of Honi's pure deeds by the highest authoritative religious body. They referred, by the biblical quotation and evidently also by their present application, to his honest, blameless deal- ings with his fellow-men. His uprightness and his piety were his equipment that had lent force to his prayer, com- mended it to God for acceptance, and saved his suffering contemporaries. Though the religious ideas embodied in the interpretation of the verses were, to a great extent, suggested naturally by the wording of the passage chosen, they still reflect some of the beliefs of that time, and agree with some of those expressed by Hoiii and Simeon b. Shetah. The prevailing long drought was decreed and sent by God as a punishment for the grave sins of that generation ; but the will and the prayer of the pious man who was distinguished by virtues, induced God to revoke His decree and to send rain before it was, according to His will, due. Honi's piety which is emphasized here, consisted neither in an ascetic life or that of a hermit, nor in frequent fasting, religious contemplation or mystic thought, but of pure deeds of the hands, of works of honesty, charity and loving-kindness. Though the stress laid on Honi's deeds in the message of the learned body seems to suggest some superiority of his actions, it is only the degree and not the kind of work that distinguished him from others. The parallel account explains the purity of his hands more distinctly as his fulfilment of the positive commandments inraan hw imp in m: -IEKDI ii>wn ^ /jnbsnn rnsn ^2$ 'K ate* /irtara nypin uijn rwr in yw &yy nun mt^'D TB3 "032 D^O:I ,ir6arn inc^o s p: rvn xta in p-iran T 256 SOME TYPES OF and the practice of good deeds to the fellow-man from the beginning. 1 The last word points to the fact that he began to realize such principles not in his later years, as among the pious men and the men of deed the repentant, but he followed that rule from his youth ; and it was the practice of the two groups of positive duties, towards God and men, that made him a righteous man.' 2 That those virtues were especially Essenic, cannot be proved from any record ; whereas, according to express reports, they distinguished Hillel and his disciples, and there is nothing to suggest that they had learned them from the Essenes. 8. As it was the custom of all scholars of his time to be everywhere accompanied by their disciples, Honi was at his public prayer surrounded by his, though their number is not evident. Thus there were not a few disciples with Judas the Essene, when, on the Feast of Tabernacles in the Temple, he referred to his prophecy of the impending death of Antigonos, the brother of Aristobul I. 3 As Hillel was accompanied by his students outside the school, so R. Johanan b. Zakkai, the Pharisee teacher, was in the company of his disciples, when in Ma'on in Judaea, 4 and again when, after the destruction of Jerusalem, he once came out from Jerusalem,"' and when a heathen expressed to him his surprise at the strange procedure in connexion with the burning of the red heifer and the 1 Jer. Ta'an. Ill, 67 a. 28 : ITDD T33 nyVQa /^ED TQ2 jjvsjwn "JT3 vntr D^IID o^ytDi rm*c. 2 The continuation of the report quotes the interpretation of TV. 29 and 30, and puts these into the mouth of God as addressed to Honi : ' I said that I would bring them low, thou saidst to bring them high, and thy word was realized, and not mine ; I said to lower their eyes by evil, and thou saidst to save them, and thy word was established and not mine ; I said, the pure shall be saved, thou saidst, even the non-pure shall be saved, thy word was established and not mine '. 3 In the year 103 B. c. E., Josephus, Wars, I, 3. 5. 78 ; Antiquit., XIII, 11. 2. 811. Mekhil. Exod. 19. 1, 61 a, b. * Baraitha Kethub. 66 b ; Sifre Deut. 31. 14. 305, 130 a ; Bacher, I, 42. 4. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 257 purification of a defiled person with its ashes, 1 and also when a hegemon 'asked him about some difficulties in the Pentateuch.^ In the last two instances, it is true, it would appear obvious that the conversations took place in his school where the students would naturally be with him. But the question of the non-Jew about the ashes of the red heifer was put to R Johanan before the year 70, when the heathen had not only read the law in Num. 19, but observed in Jerusalem the details, not stated in the Bible, of the pounding of the ashes and the declaration of the priest to the purified person that after the sprinkling he was now clean. :>> And it is not only not stated in the reports that the non-Jew visited the school, but it is not probable. In their continued personal intercourse with their teacher, Honi's disciples desired, no doubt, to learn from him the order, the formulation and the wording of the special, and, as the instance of his grandson. Honi the Small shows, 4 also of the festival prayers, and probably also his conduct on the solemn occasions. Simi- larly the disciples of the Essene Judas received practical training in the art of prophesying, even when he spoke to them about his alleged error in his forecast. Had corresponding information been preserved about Honi's contemporaries', Simeon b. Shetah's and Jehudah b. Tabbai's relations to their disciples, we should have learned that these also watched outside the school the religious decisions, the moral and social sayings and directions, and the conver- sations and actions of their masters, as w^e find it reported of teachers and students in the second half of the first and the beginning of the second centuries. It would be of great interest for the question before us to establish whether the three different kinds of teachers, the praying Honi, the prophesying Essene Judas, and the Pharisee scholar Simeon b. Shetah, confined themselves to their 1 Pesik. 40 a and parallels noted by Buher. 2 Hull. 27 b ; jer. Synh. I, 19 b. 18 ; Bacher, I, 3G ff. 3 R. Johanan b. Zakkai was present at the burning of a red heifer, Tos. Parali, III, 8 ; IV, 7, cf. X, 2. 4 Tos. Rosh haShan. IV, 11. above, p. 204. 11 258 SOME TYPES OF respective peculiar public activities reported, or whether each one of them practised two or all of them. The Essenes who exceptionally prophesied and inter- preted dreams 1 , shared those acts, at least in the first century, with non-Essenes. Josephus, the historian, claimed to possess the knowledge of prophecy, and asserted that God had revealed to him in dreams of the night the im- pending misfortune of the Jews and the future fate of the Roman generals in the Jewish revolution ; for he under- stood, when interpreting dreams, how to explain also such hints as God had left ambiguous, as he, as a priest and the son of a priest, was well acquainted with the prophecies of the holy books. 2 In comparing this with his statement that there were among the Essenes some who, having acquainted themselves from their youth with the holy books and various sanctifications and the utterances of the prophets, believed to know the future, 3 we note that both drew on the same books. Josephus claimed as a priest and not as a disciple of the Essene Banus, 4 to derive his prophetic information from the w r ords of the holy books just as did the Essenes, though he applied it to the interpretation of his own pro- phetic dreams. And again he stated that a passage in the holy books about the quadrilateral form of the Temple, as well as an ambiguous prophecy in the holy books about the Messiah had been misinterpreted in the years 66-70 by the wise men of the Jews, and that various miraculous signs of warning had been interpreted by their /epoypa/z^arefr and Aoytof ; 5 and here again not Essenes, but scholars are meant. Just as Josephus claimed to have foretold his future great- ness to Vespasian, 6 so R. Johanan b. Zakkai was credited with the same prophecy 7 which he derived from an interpreta- tion of Isa. 10. 34 b; as on the occasion, when the gate of 1 Josephus, Wars, III, 8. 3. 351 ; Antiquit., XVII, 13. 3. 346. 2 Wars, III, 8. 3. 352. 3 Ibid ^ II; 8 12 159 4 Montgomery in J. Q. R., XI, 1921. 281, 291. 5 Wars, VI, 5. 4, 3. 6 Ibid., Ill, 8. 9.401 ; Schiirer, Gescliichte, I s , 75 ff. ? Threni r. 1. 5. 31 ; ARN. I, 12 a. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 259 the Temple opened of its own accord, lie interpreted the portentous incident, according to Zech. 11. 1, to indicate the coming destruction of the Temple. 1 In the days of Herod some Pharisees prophesied to the eunuch Bagoas that he would have children,- probably from Isa. 56. 4, 5. So a few Essenes and some distinguished Pharisee scholars equally continued one of the activities of the ancient prophets. Again, not only Josephus reports that God con- versed intimately with the high-priest and ruler Hyrkanos I, and that nothing about the future was hidden from him ; for he knew beforehand that his two eldest sons would not reign long. 3 Also a rabbinic source states that a heavenly voice from the Holy of Holies informed him that his sons were victorious in Antioch. 4 And the high-priest Simeon the Just heard a heavenly voice from the Holy of Holies telling him of Caligula's death; 5 as also the scholars assembled in Jericho, one of whom was Hillel, heard a heavenly voice saying that one of them was worthy of the holy spirit. Accordingly, a few pious high-priests were, though only once, distinguished by God by a much higher and more direct form of revelation than the Essenes who, however, possessed the gift once acquired for many years. As the information at our disposal has only acci- dentally preserved just those references to a few instances of occasional prophecy, the fact could be established that the interpretation of dreams and the foretelling of future events were practised not only by Essenes, but by some learned Pharisees, pious high -priests, and even by the priest Josephus. Unfortunately, on the important point of Honi's speciality of intercession no similar parallels of an early date have been recorded. In conjunction with the revelation of God to some high- 1 Baraitha Yoma, 39 b, and parallel in Baclier, I, 23. '2. 2 Antiquit., XVII, 2. 4. 41-5. s Wars, I, 2. 8 ; Antiquit,, XIII. 10. 7. 300. 4 Baraitha jer. Sotah, IX, 24 b. 26 ; b. 33 a ; Tos. XIII, 5. 5 Jer. Sotah, IX, 24 b. 25 ; b. 33 a ; Tos. XIII, 6. To Yaddua the high-priest God suggested in his sleep how he should receive Alexander the Great outside Jerusalem. Antiquit., XI, 8. 4. 327. 260 SOME TYPES OF priests, it should be noted that before the destruction of the first Temple a prophet, Jeremiah, prayed once for rain ; while in Joel's days this prophet had no share in the prayer for the removal of the plague of locusts, but only the priests in the Temple interceded for the people in one single sentence, 2. 17. On the Day of Atonement the high- priest read a section from the Torah, recited all the prayers for forgiveness and mercy, and spoke a short prayer, while in the Holy of Holies ; one of the high-priests who is not named, added once a special prayer for the preservation of the Temple and the people. 1 Josephus reports that, when the high-priest Yaddua learned of the hostile approach of Alexander the Great, he was terrified, ordered general prayers, offered sacrifices with the people, and prayed to God for help. 2 So to Josephus the high-priest seems to have been the intercessor before God not only in the sacrificial worship, but in the special prayers." When there was no high-priest available, as in 1 Mace. 7. 36, when Nikanor threatened the Temple with destruction, the priests on duty went in, stood up before the altar and the Temple, and wept and prayed. 4 All this, however, was done within the Temple ; but whether also outside it, when, on the Temple Mount, in front of the eastern gates of the forecourt, a prayer was recited for rain, the high- priest or a priest was the reader, as priests blew the trumpets, or a learned Pharisee, or a Hasid, or an Essene read, is nowhere stated, except in the case of Honi. The Apocalypse of Baruch which reflects the religious condi- tions prevailing immediately before and after the destruction of the second Temple, several times refers to prayers for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when in distress, and may be used, at least for the first century, as a source of information on the point in question. God told Baruch to ask Jeremiah and all those who were like them, to leave Jerusalem (2. 2), 1 Baraitha Yoma, 53 b ; Tos. Ill, 5. 2 Antiquit., XI, 8. 4. 326 ; cf. Judith 4. 9-15 ; 3 Mace. 2. 1-20. 8 See Philo, De sacerd. 6. 97, M. II, 227. * Cf. 2 Mace. 1, 23-9. JEWISH-PALESTINIAN PIETY 261 'because your works arc to this city as a firm pillar, and your prayers as a strong wall '. Several passages in the book make it clear that the author was referring to those whom he called righteous, as in the interesting statement in Baruch's letter to the ten tribes (85. 1), 'Know ye, moreover, that in former times and in the generations of old those our fathers had helpers, righteous men and holy prophets. (2) Nay more, we were in our own land, and they helped us when we sinned, and they prayed for us to Him who made us, because they trusted in their works, 1 and the Mighty One heard their prayer and was gracious unto us. (3) But now the righteous have been gathered and the prophets have fallen asleep, and we also have gone forth from the land, and Zion has been taken from us, and we have nothing now save the Mighty One and His law '. The righteous who trusted in their works - and who prayed for the people when in sins and distress, were men who not only refrained carefully from transgressing any of the prohibitions of the Torah, but carried out conscientiously the positive commandments of it, such actions constituting their works and deeds. In a further characteristic descrip- tion of the same men, he says (51. 7), ' But those who have been saved by their works, and to whom the law has been now a hope, and understanding an expectation, and wisdom a confidence, to them wonders will appear in their time '. It is evident that he referred to scholars who, on the one hand, were filled with the desire and determination to carry out the commandments of the Torah, and, on the other hand, devoted their thought and their lives to the study of it. 3 And it is most instructive that for ' the vapour of the smoke of the incense of righteousness which is by the law ' (67. 6), after the destruction of the Temple, when incense was no longer burnt on the altar, the observance of the law and its study were declared an equivalent and the 1 The same is said of King Hezekiah in 63. o. 2 See the note of Charles on 14. 7. 3 See 15. 5 and Charles's note. 262 SOME TYPES OF full substitute for it. R. Johanan b. Zakkai declared to his disciple R. Joshua b. Hananiah who lamented over the loss of the altar as the means of the atonement for Israel's sins, that loving-kindness was an equivalent atonement. 1 And he interpreted the white garments and the oil in Eccles. 9. 8 as meaning the observance of the commandments, good deeds and the study of the Torah ; 2 and he advised some priests in Jerusalem whose sons, on account of their descent from Eli, were dying young, to study the Torah, for it atoned for the gravest sin, when sacrifice was useless. 3 R. Johanan b. Zakkai and his fellow-teachers were a strong protection for Jerusalem and its inhabitants, and by their instruction and their prayers obtained forgiveness for their sins. And their lay supporters, the councillors Kalba Sabu'a, ben-Sisith noan, and Nakdimon b. Goryon whose prayer was analysed above, 4 contributed by their rdligious deeds, their charity and loving-kindness an important share to the temporary preservation of the city. In any case, in the opinion of the author of the Apocalypse of Baruch, the prayers, private and public, of the learned Pharisees were eminently effective before 70 ; and though he may have referred only to the section of the population with which he sympathized and agreed, it may safely be inferred from his words that R. Johanan b. Zakkai and his fellow- scholars, and before them their teachers Hillel and Shammai and their colleagues, were called upon in Jerusalem to recite the prayers at the service of public fasts. The difference between the religious attitude of those scholars and that of Honi was so slight that the people and the authorities considered all these teachers their equally worthy spokesmen before God. For Hillel, as the first chapter endeavoured to demon- strate, was in Jerusalem not only a great scholar who expounded and applied all parts of the Torah, and a patient 1 ARN. 4, 11 a. 2 Kohel. r. "ML Off JUN18198P