Book: Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and

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The prutah was the smallest coin then current. It is estimated
to have been equal to about one-twentieth of an English penny.
In some quarters of Poland the Jews have small thin bits of
brass, with the Hebrew word prutah impressed upon them, for the
uses in charity on the part of those among them that cannot
afford to give a kreutzer to a poor man. The poor, when they
have collected a number of these, change them into larger coin
at the almoner's appointed by the congregation. Thus even the
poor are enabled to give alms to the poor. (See my "Genesis," p.
277, No. 31.)

Rabbi Yochanan said eleven sorts of spices were mentioned to Moses on
Sinai. Rav Hunna asked, "What Scripture text proves this?" (Exod. xxx.
34), "Take unto thee sweet spices" (the plural implying two), "stacte,
myrrh, and galbanum" (these three thus making up five), "sweet spices"
(the repetition doubling the five into ten), "with pure frankincense"
(which makes up eleven).

_Kerithoth_, fol. 6, col. 2.

"Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken and forgotten me" (Isa. xlix. 14).
The community of Israel once pleaded thus with the Holy One--blessed be
He!--"Even a man who marries a second wife still bears in mind the
services of the first, but Thou, Lord, hast forgotten me." The Holy
One--blessed be He!--replied, "Daughter, I have created twelve
constellations in the firmament, and for each constellation I have
created thirty armies, and for each army thirty legions, each legion
containing thirty divisions, each division thirty cohorts, each cohort
having thirty camps, and in each camp hang suspended 365,000 myriads of
stars, as many thousands of myriads as there are days in the year; all
these have I created for thy sake, and yet thou sayest, 'Thou hast
forsaken and forgotten me!' Can a woman forget her sucking-child, that
she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may
forget, yet will I not forget thee."

_Berachoth_, fol. 32, col. 2.

No deceased person is forgotten from the heart (of his relatives that
survive him) till after twelve months, for it is said (Ps. xxxi. 12), "I
am forgotten as a dead man out of mind; I am like a lost vessel" (which,
as Rashi explains, is like all lost property, not thought of as lost for
twelve months, for not till then is proclamation for it given up).

Ibid., fol. 58, col. 2.

Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Yossi, and Rabbi Shimon (ben Yochai) were sitting
together, and Yehudah ben Gerim (the son, says Rashi, of proselyte
parents) beside them. In the course of conversation Rabbi Yehudah
remarked, "How beautiful and serviceable are the works of these Romans!
They have established markets, spanned rivers by bridges, and erected
baths." To this remark Rabbi Yossi kept silent, but Rabbi Shimon
replied, "Yea, indeed; but all these they have done to benefit
themselves. The markets they have opened to feed licentiousness, they
have erected baths for their own pleasure, and the bridges they have
raised for collecting tolls." Yehudah ben Gerim thereupon went direct
and informed against them, and the report having reached the Emperor's
ears, an edict was immediately issued that Rabbi Yehudah should be
promoted, Rabbi Yossi banished to Sepphoris, and Rabbi Shimon taken and
executed. Rabbi Shimon and his son, however, managed to secret
themselves in a college, where they were purveyed to by the Rabbi's
wife, who brought them daily bread and water. One day mistrust seized
the Rabbi, and he said to his son, "Women are light-minded; the Romans
may tease her and then she will betray us." So they stole away and hid
themselves in a cave. Here the Lord interposed by a miracle, and created
a carob-tree bearing fruit all the year round for their support, and
opened a perennial spring for their refreshment. To save their clothes
they laid them aside except at prayers, and to protect their naked
bodies from exposure they would at other times sit up to their necks in
sand, absorbed in study. After they had passed twelve years thus in the
cave, Elijah was sent to inform them that the Emperor was dead, and his
decree powerless to touch them. On leaving the cave, they noticed some
people plowing and sowing, when one of them exclaimed, "These folk
neglect eternal things and trouble themselves with the things that are
temporal." As they fixed their eyes upon the place, fire came and burnt
it up. Then a Bath Kol was heard exclaiming, "What! are ye come forth to
destroy the world I have made? Get back to your cave and hide you."
Thither accordingly they returned, and after they had stopped there
twelve months longer, they remonstrated, pleading that even the judgment
of the wicked in Gehenna lasted no longer than twelve months; upon which
a Bath Kol was again heard from heaven, which said, "Come ye forth from
your cave." Then they arose and obeyed it.

_Shabbath_, fol. 33, col 2.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that at every utterance which proceeded
from the mouth of the Holy One--blessed be He!--on Mount Sinai, Israel
receded twelve miles, being conducted gently back by the ministering
angels; for it is said (Ps. lxviii. 12), "The angels of hosts kept
moving."

_Shabbath_, fol. 88, col. 2.

A Sadducee once said to Rabbi Abhu, "Ye say that the souls of the
righteous are treasured up under the throne of glory; how then had the
Witch of Endor power to bring up the prophet Samuel by necromancy?" The
Rabbi replied, "Because that occurred within twelve months after his
death; for we are taught that during twelve months after death the body
is preserved and the soul soars up and down, but that after twelve
months the body is destroyed and the soul goes up never to return."

Ibid., fol. 152, col. 2.

Clever answers to puzzling questions like the above, are of frequent
occurrence in the Talmud; and we select here a few out of the many
specimens of Rabbinical ready wit and repartee.

Turnus Rufus once said to Rabbi Akiva, "If your God is a friend to the
poor, why doesn't he feed them?" To which he promptly replied, "That we
by maintaining them may escape the condemnation of Gehenna." "On the
contrary," said the Emperor, "the very fact of your maintaining the poor
will condemn you to Gehenna. I will tell thee by a parable whereto this
is like. It is as if a king of our own flesh and blood should imprison a
servant who has offended him, and command that neither food nor drink
should be given him, and as if one of his subjects in spite of him
should go and supply him with both. When the king hears of it will he
not be angry with that man? And ye are called servants, as it is said
(Lev. xxv. 55), 'For unto me the children of Israel are servants.'" To
this Rabbi Akiva replied, "And I too will tell thee a parable whereunto
the thing is like. It is like a king of our own flesh and blood who,
being angry with his son, imprisons him, and orders that neither food
nor drink be given him, but one goes and gives him both to eat and
drink. When the king hears of it will he not handsomely reward that man?
And we are sons, as it is written (Deut. xiv. 1), 'Ye are the sons of
the Lord your God.'" "True," the Emperor replied, "ye are both sons and
servants; sons when ye do the will of God; servants when ye do not; and
now ye are not doing the will of God."

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 10, col. 1.

Certain philosophers once asked the elders at Rome, "If your God has no
pleasure in idolatry, why does He not destroy the objects of it?" "And
so He would," was the reply, "if only such objects were worshiped as the
world does not stand in need of; but you idolaters will worship the sun
and moon, the stars and the constellations. Should He destroy the world
because of the fools there are in it? No! The world goes on as it has
done all the same, but they who abuse it will have to answer for their
conduct. On your philosophy, when one steals a measure of wheat and sows
it in his field it should by rights produce no crop; nevertheless the
world goes on as if no wrong had been done, and they who abuse it will
one day smart for it."

_Avoda Zarah_, fol. 54, col. 2.

Antoninus Caesar asked Rabbi (the Holy), "Why does the sun rise in the
east and set in the west?" "Thou wouldst have asked," answered the
Rabbi, "the same question if the order had been reversed." "What I
mean," remarked Antoninus, "is this, is there any special reason why he
sets in the west?" "Yes," replied Rabbi, "to salute his Creator (who is
in the east), for it is said (Neh. ix. 6), 'And the host of heaven
worship Thee.'"

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 91, col. 2.

Caesar once said to Rabbi Tanchum, "Come, now, let us be one people."
"Very well," said Rabbi Tanchum, "only we, being circumcised, cannot
possibly become like you; if, however, ye become circumcised we shall be
alike in that regard anyhow, and so be as one people." The Emperor said,
"Thou hast reasonably answered, but the Roman law is, that he who
nonpluses his ruler and puts him to silence shall be cast to the lions."
The word was no sooner uttered than the Rabbi was thrown into the den,
but the lions stood aloof and did not even touch him. A Sadducee, who
looked on, remarked, "The lions do not devour him because they are not
hungry," but, when at the royal command, the Sadducee himself was thrown
in, he had scarcely reached the lions before they fell upon him and
began to tear his flesh and devour him.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 39, col. 1.

A certain Sadducee asked Rabbi Abhu, "Since your God is a priest, as it
is written (Exod. xxv. 2), 'That they bring Me an offering,' in what did
He bathe Himself after He was polluted by the burial (Num. xix. 11, 18)
of the dead body of Moses? It could not be in the water, for it is
written (Isa. xl. 12), 'Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His
hand?' which therefore are insufficient for Him to bathe in." The Rabbi
replied, "He bathed in fire, as it is written (Isa. lxvi. 15), 'For
behold the Lord will come with fire.'"

Ibid.

Turnus Rufus asked this question also of Rabbi Akiva, "Why is the
Sabbath distinguished from other days?" Rabbi Akiva replied, "Why art
thou distinguished from other men?" The answer was, "Because it hath
pleased my Master thus to honor me." And so retorted Akiva, "It hath
pleased God to honor His Sabbath." "But what I mean," replied the other,
"was how dost thou know that it is the Sabbath-day?" The reply was, "The
river Sambatyon proves it; the necromancer proves it; the grave of thy
father proves it, for the smoke thereof rises not on the Sabbath."

Ibid., fol. 65, col. 2.

See Bereshith Rabba, fol. 4, with reference to what is here said
about Turnus Rufus and his father's grave. The proof from the
necromancer lies in the allegation that his art was unsuccessful
if practiced on the Sabbath-day. The Sambatyon, Rashi says, is a
pebbly river which rushes along all the days of the week except
the Sabbath, on which it is perfectly still and quiet. In the
Machsor for Pentecost (D. Levi's ed. p. 81), it is styled "the
incomprehensible river," and a footnote thereto informs us that
"This refers to the river said to rest on the Sabbath from
throwing up stones, etc., which it does not cease to do all the
rest of the week." (See Sanhedrin, fol. 65, col. 2; Yalkut on
Isaiah, fol. 3, 1; Pesikta Tanchuma. See also Shalsheleth
Hakabbala and Yuchsin.)

Those Israelites and Gentiles who have transgressed with their bodies
(the former by neglecting to wear phylacteries, and the latter by
indulging in sensuous pleasures), shall go down into Gehenna, and there
be punished for twelve months, after which period their bodies will be
destroyed and their soul consumed, and a wind shall scatter their ashes
under the soles of the feet of the righteous; as it is said (Mal. iv.
3), "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be as ashes
under the soles of your feet." But the Minim, the informers, and the
Epicureans, they who deny the law and the resurrection of the dead, they
who separate themselves from the manners of the congregation, they who
have been a terror in the land of the living, and they who have sinned
and have led the multitude astray, as did Jeroboam the son of Nebat and
his companions,--these shall go down into Gehenna, and there be judged
for generations upon generations, as it is said (Isa. lxvi, 24), "And
they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have
transgressed against me," etc. Gehenna itself shall be consumed but they
shall not be burned up in the destruction; as it is said (Ps. xlix, 14;
Heb. xv.), "And their figures shall consume hell from being a dwelling."

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 17, col. 1.

Once when Israel went up by pilgrimages to one of the three annual
feasts at Jerusalem (see Exod. xxxiv. 23, 24), it so happened that there
was no water to drink. Nicodemon ben Gorion therefore hired of a
friendly neighbor twelve huge reservoirs of water promising to have them
replenished against a given time, or failing this to forfeit twelve
talents of silver. The appointed day came and still the drought
continued, and therewith the scarcity of water; upon which the creditor
appeared and demanded payment of the forfeit. The answer of Nicodemon to
the demand was, "There's time yet; the day is not over." The other
chuckled to himself, inwardly remarking, "There's no chance now; there's
been no rain all the season," and off he went to enjoy his bath. But
Nicodemon sorrowful at heart, wended his way to the Temple. After
putting on his prayer scarf, as he prayed, he pleaded, "Lord of the
Universe! Thou knowest that I have not entered into this obligation for
my own sake, but for Thy glory and for the benefit of Thy people." While
he yet prayed the clouds gathered overhead, the rain fell in torrents,
and the reservoirs were filled to overflowing. On going out of the house
of prayer he was met by the exacting creditor, who still urged that the
money was due to him, as he said, the rain came after sunset. But in
answer to prayer the clouds immediately dispersed, and the sun shone out
as brightly as ever.

_Taanith_, fol. 19. col. 2.

Nicodemon ben Gorion of the above story is by some considered to
be the Nicodemus of St. John's Gospel, iii. 1-10; vii. 50; xix
30.

Would that my husband were here and could listen to me; I should permit
him to stay away another twelve years.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 63. col. 1.

Hereto hangs a tale stranger than fiction, yet founded on fact.
Rabbi Akiva was once a poor shepherd in the employ of Calba
Shevua, one of the richest men in all Jerusalem. While engaged
in that lowly occupation his master's only daughter fell in love
with him, and the two carried on a clandestine courtship for
some time together. Her father, hearing of it, threatened to
disinherit her, to turn her out of doors and disown her
altogether, if she did not break off her engagement. How could
she connect herself with one who was the base-born son of a
proselyte, a reputed descendant of Sisera and Jael, an ignorant
fellow that could neither read nor write, and a man old enough
to be her father? Rachel--for that was her name--determined to
be true to her lover, and to brave the consequences by marrying
him and exchanging the mansion of her father for the hovel of
her husband. After a short spell of married life she prevailed
upon her husband to leave her for a while in order to join a
certain college in a distant land, where she felt sure that his
talents would be recognized and his genius fostered into
development worthy of it. As he sauntered along by himself he
began to harbor misgivings in his mind as to the wisdom of the
step, and more than once thought of returning. But when musing
one day at a resting-place a waterfall arrested his attention,
and he remarked how the water, by its continual dropping, was
wearing away the solid rock. All at once, with the tact for
which he was afterward so noted, he applied the lesson it
yielded to himself. "So may the law," he reasoned, "work its way
into my hard and stony heart;" and he felt encouraged and
pursued his journey. Under the tuition of Rabbi Eliezer, the son
of Hyrcanus, and Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Chananiah, his
native ability soon began to appear, his name became known to
fame, and he rose step by step until he ranked as a professor in
the very college which he had entered as a poor student. After
some twelve years of hard study and diligent service in the law
he returned to Jerusalem, accompanied by a large number of
disciples. On nearing the dwelling of his devoted wife he caught
the sound of voices in eager conversation. He paused awhile and
listened at the door, and overheard a gossiping neighbor blaming
Rachel for her _mesalliance_, and twitting her with marrying a
man who could run away and leave her as a widow for a dozen of
years or more on the crazy pretext of going to college. He
listened in eager curiosity, wondering what the reply would be.
To his surprise, he heard his self-sacrificing wife exclaim,
"Would that my husband were here and could listen to me; I
should permit, nay, urge him to stay other twelve years, if it
would benefit him." Strange to say Akiva taking the hint from
his wife, turned away and left Jerusalem without ever seeing
her. He went abroad again for a time, and then returned for
good; this time, so the story says, with twice twelve thousand
disciples. Well-nigh all Jerusalem turned out to do him honor,
every one striving to be foremost to welcome him. Calba Shevua,
who for many a long year had repented of his hasty resolution,
which cost him at once his daughter and his happiness, went to
Akiva to ask his opinion about annulling this vow. Akiva replied
by making himself known as his quondam servant and rejected
son-in-law. As we may suppose, the two were at once reconciled,
and Calba Shevua looked upon himself as favored of Heaven above
all the fathers in Israel.

The Rabbis say that at first they used to communicate the Divine name of
twelve letters to every one. But when the Antinomians began to abound,
the knowledge of this name was imparted only to the more discreet of the
priestly order, and they repeated it hastily while the other priests
pronounced the benediction of the people. (What the name was, says
Rashi, is not known.) Rabbi Tarphon, the story goes on to say, once
listened to the high priest, and overheard him hurriedly pronouncing
this name of twelve letters while the other priests were blessing the
people.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 71, col. 1.

Twelve hours there are in the day:--The first three, the Holy
One--blessed be He!--employs in studying the law; the next three He sits
and judges the whole world; the third three He spends in feeding all the
world; during the last three hours He sports with the leviathan; as it
is said (Ps. civ. 26), "This leviathan Thou hast created to play with
it."

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 3, col. 2.

Rabbi Yochanan bar Chanena said:--The day consists of twelve hours.
During the first hour Adam's dust was collected from all parts of the
world; during the second it was made into a lump; during the third his
limbs were formed; during the fourth his body was animated; during the
fifth he stood upon his legs; during the sixth he gave names to the
animals; during the seventh he associated with Eve; during the eighth
Cain and a twin sister were born (Abel and his twin sister were born
after the Fall, says the Tosephoth); during the ninth Adam was ordered
not to eat of the forbidden tree; during the tenth he fell, during the
eleventh he was judged; and during the twelfth he was ejected from
paradise; as it is said (Ps. xlix. 13, A.V. 12), "Man (Adam) abode not
one night in his dignity."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 38, col. 2.

Rabbi Akiva used to say:--Of five judgments, some have lasted twelve
months, others will do so;--those of the deluge, of Job, of the
Egyptians, of Gog and Magog, and of the wicked in Gehenna.

_Edioth_, chap. 2, mish. 10.

Plagues come upon those that are proud, as was the case with Uzziah (2
Chron. xxvi. 16), "But when he was strong (proud), his heart was lifted
up to destruction." When the leprosy rose up in his forehead, the Temple
was cleft asunder twelve miles either way.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 9.

This hyperbole is evidently a mere fiction joined on to a truth
for the purpose of frightening the proud into humility. The end
sanctifieth the means, as we well know from other instances
recorded in the Talmud.

Those who mourn for deceased relatives are prohibited from entering a
tavern for thirty days, but those who mourn for either father or mother
must not do so for twelve months.

_Semachoth_, chap. 9.

A creature that has no bones in his body does not live more than twelve
months.

_Chullin_, fol. 58, col. 1.

The Alexandrians asked Rabbi Joshua twelve questions; three related to
matters of wisdom, three to matters of legend, three were frivolous, and
three were of a worldly nature--viz, how to grow wise, how to become
rich, and how to ensure a family of boys.

_Niddah_, fol. 69, col. 2.

There was once a man named Joseph, who was renowned for honoring the
Sabbath-day. He had a rich neighbor, a Gentile, whose property a certain
fortune-teller had said would eventually revert to Joseph the
Sabbatarian. To frustrate this prediction the Gentile disposed of his
property, and with the proceeds of the sale he purchased a rare and
costly jewel which he fixed to his turban. On crossing a bridge a gust
of wind blew his turban into the river and a fish swallowed it. This
fish being caught, was brought on a Friday to market, and, as luck would
have it, it was bought by Joseph in honor of the coming Sabbath. When
the fish was cut up the jewel was found, and this Joseph sold for
thirteen purses of gold denarii. When his neighbor met him, he
acknowledged that he who despised the Sabbath the Lord of the Sabbath
would be sure to punish.

_Shabbath_, fol. 119, col. 1.

This story cannot fail to remind those who are conversant with
Herodotus or Schiller of the legend of King Polycrates, which
dates back five or six centuries before the present era.
Polycrates, the king of Samos, was one of the most fortunate of
men, and everything he took in hand was fabled to prosper. This
unbroken series of successes caused disquietude to his friends,
who saw in the circumstance foreboding of some dire disaster;
till Amasis, king of Egypt, one of the number advised him to
spurn the favor of fortune by throwing away what he valued
dearest. The most valuable thing he possessed was an emerald
signet-ring, and this accordingly he resolved to sacrifice. So,
manning a galley, he rowed out to the sea, and threw the ring
away into the waste of the waters. Some five or six days after
this, a fisherman came to the palace and made the king a present
of a very fine fish that he had caught. This the servants
proceeded to open, when, to their surprise, they came upon a
ring, which on examination proved to be the very ring which had
been cast away by the king their master. (See Herodotus, book
iii.)

Among the many legends that have clustered round the memory of
Solomon, there is one which reads very much like an adaptation
of this classic story. The version the Talmud gives of this
story is quoted in another part of this Miscellany (chap. vi.
No. 8, note), but in Emek Hammelech, fol. 14, col. 4, we have
the legend in another form, with much amplitude and variety of
detail, of which we can give here only an outline. When the
building of the Temple was finished, the king of the demons
begged Solomon to set him free from his service, and promised in
return to teach him a secret he would be sure to value. Having
cajoled Solomon out of possession of his signet-ring, he first
flung the ring into the sea, where it was swallowed by a fish,
and then taking up Solomon himself, he cast him into a foreign
land some four hundred miles away, where for three weary long
years he wandered up and down like a vagrant, begging his bread
from door to door. In the course of his rambles he came to Mash
Kemim, and was so fortunate as to be appointed head cook at the
palace of the king of Ammon (Ana Hanun, see 1 Kings xii. 24;
LXX.). While employed in this office, Naama, the king's daughter
(see 1 Kings xiv. 21, 31, and 2 Chron. xii. 13), fell in love
with him, and, determining to marry him, eloped with him for
refuge to a distant land. One day as Naama was preparing a fish
for dinner, she found in it a ring, and this turned cut to be
the very ring which the king of the demons had flung into the
sea, and the loss of which had bewitched the king out of his
power and dominion. In the recovery of the ring the king both
recovered himself and the throne of his father David.

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