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

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The occurrence of a fish and a ring on the arms of the city of
Glasgow memorializes a legend in which we find the same singular
combination of circumstances. A certain queen of the district
one day gave her paramour a golden ring which the king her
husband had committed to her charge as a keepsake. By some means
or other the king got to know of the whereabouts of the ring,
and cleverly contriving to secure possession of it, threw it
into the sea. He then went straight to the queen and demanded to
know where it was and what she had done with it. The queen in
her distress repaired to St. Kentigern, and both made full
confession of her guilt and her anxiety about the recovery of
the ring, that she might regain the lost favor of her husband.
The saint set off at once to the Clyde, and there caught a
salmon and the identical ring in the mouth of it. This he handed
over to the queen, who returned it to her lord with such
expressions of penitence that the restoration of it became the
bond and pledge between them of a higher and holier wedlock.

There were thirteen horn-shaped collecting-boxes, and thirteen tables,
and thirteen devotional bowings in the Temple service. Those who
belonged to the houses of Rabbi Gamliel and of Rabbi Chananiah, the
president of the priests, bowed fourteen times. This extra act of bowing
was directed to the quarter of the wood store, in consequence of a
tradition they inherited from their ancestors that the Ark of the
Covenant was hidden in that locality. The origin of the tradition was
this:--A priest, being once engaged near the wood store, and observing
that part of the plaster differed from the rest, went to tell his
companions, but died before he had time to relate his discovery. Thus it
became known for certain that the Ark was hidden there.

_Shekalim_ chap. 3, hal, 1.

It is more than probable that the Chananiah, mentioned above, is
the person alluded to in the Acts, chap, xxiii. 2, as "the high
priest Ananias." For the tradition about the Ark. see also 2
Macc. ii. 4, 5.

There were thirteen horn-shaped collecting-boxes in the Temple, and upon
them were inscribed new shekels, old shekels, turtle-dove offerings,
young-pigeon offerings, fire-wood, contributions for Galbanus, gold for
the mercy-seat; and six boxes were inscribed for voluntary
contributions. New shekels were for the current year, old shekels were
for the past one.

_Yoma_, fol. 55, col, 2.

Once on account of long-continued drought Rabbi Eliezer proclaimed
thirteen public fasts, but no rain came. At the termination of the last
fast, just as the congregation was leaving the synagogue, he cried
aloud, "Have you then prepared graves for yourselves?" Upon this all the
people burst into bitter cries, and rain came down directly.

_Taanith_, fol. 25, col. 2.

A boy at thirteen years of age is bound to observe the usual fasts in
full, i.e., throughout the whole day. A girl is bound to do so when only
twelve. Rashi gives this as the reason:--A boy is supposed to be weaker
than a girl on account of the enervating effect of much study.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 5, col. 1.

A poor man once came to Rava and begged for a meal. "On what dost thou
usually dine?" asked Rava. "On stuffed fowl and old wine," was the
reply. "What!" said Rava, "art thou not concerned about being so
burdensome to the community?" He replied, "I eat nothing belonging to
them, only what the Lord provides; as we are taught (Ps. cxlv. 15),
'The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat in his
season.' It is not said in their season, for so we learn that God
provides for each individual in his season of need." While they were
thus talking, in came Rava's sister, who had not been to see him for
thirteen years, and she brought him as a present a stuffed fowl and some
old wine also. Rava marveled at the coincidence, and turning to his poor
visitor said, "I beg thy pardon, friend; rise, I pray thee, and eat."

Ibid., fol. 67, col. 2.

So great is circumcision that thirteen covenants were made concerning
it. Tosafoth says that covenant is written thirteen times in the chapter
of circumcision.

_Nedarim_, fol. 31, col. 2.

Rabbi (the Holy) says sufferings are to be borne with resignation. He
himself bore them submissively for thirteen years; for six he suffered
from lithiasis, and for seven years from stomatitis (or, as some say,
six years from the former and seven from the latter). His groans were
heard three miles off.

_Bava Metzia_, fol. 85, col. 1.

The Rabbis have taught thirteen things respecting breakfast
(morning-morsel):--It counteracts the effects of heat, cold or draught;
it protects from malignant demons; it makes wise the simple by keeping
the mind in a healthy condition; it enables a man to come off clear from
a judicial inquiry; it qualifies him both to learn and to teach the law;
it makes him eagerly listened to, to have a retentive memory, etc.

Ibid. fol. 107, col. 2.

The land of Israel is in the future to be divided among thirteen tribes,
and not, as at first, among twelve.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 122, col. 1.

Rabbi Abhu once complimented Rav Saphra before the Minim by singling him
out in their hearing as a man distinguished by his learning, and this
led them to exempt him from tribute for thirteen years. It so happened
that these Minim once posed Saphra about that which is written in Amos
iii. 2, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." "Ye say you are
God's friends, but when one has a friend does he pour out his wrath upon
him?" To this Rav Saphra make no reply. They then put a rope round his
neck and tormented him. When he was in this sorry plight, Rabbi Abhu
came up and inquired why they tormented him thus. To this they made
answer, "Didst thou not tell us that he was a very learned man, and he
does not even know how to explain a text of Scripture?" "Yes, I did so
say," replied Rabbi Abhu; "he is an adept in the Talmud only, but not in
the Scriptures." "Thou knowest the Scriptures;" they replied, "and why
ought he not to know them as well?" "I have daily intercourse with you,"
said the Rabbi, "and therefore I am obliged to study the Scriptures, but
he, having no intercourse with you, has no need to trouble himself, and
does not at all care about them."

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 4, col. 1.

In order to understand aright the grounds on which Rabbi Abhu
would fain excuse Rav Saphra for not caring at all about the
Scriptures, certain passages from both Talmuds should be read,
which, in the usual metaphorical style of the Rabbis, set forth
the respective merits of Scripture and Tradition. The three
times three in Sophrim (chap. 15), in which the Scripture is
compared to water, the Mishna to wine, and the Gemara to mulled
wine, and that in which the Scripture is likened to salt, the
Mishna to pepper, and the Gemara to spice, and so on, are too
well known to need more than passing mention; but far less
familiar and much more explicit is the exposition of Zech. viii.
10, as given in T.B. Chaggigah, fol. 10, col. 1, where,
commenting on the Scripture text, "Neither, was there any peace
to him that went out or came in," Rav expressly says, "He who
leaves a matter of Halachah for a matter of Scripture shall
never more have peace;" to which Shemuel adds, "Aye, and he also
who leaves the Talmud for the Mishna;" Rabbi Yochanan chiming in
with "even from Talmud to Talmud;" as if to say, "And he who
turns from the Babli to the Yerushalmi, even he shall have no
peace." If we refer to the Mishna (chap. 1, hal. 7) of Berachoth
in the last-named Talmud, we read there that Rabbi Tarphon,
bent, while on a journey, on reading the Shema according to the
school of Shammai, ran the risk of falling into the hands of
certain banditti whom he had not noticed near him. "It would
have served you right," remarked one, "because you did not
follow the rule of Hillel." In the Gemara to this passage Rabbi
Yochanan says, "The words of the scribes are more highly valued
than the words of the law, for, as Rabbi Yuda remarks, 'If Rabbi
Tarphon had not read the Shema at all he would only have broken
a positive command,' but since he transgressed the rule of
Hillel he was guilty of death, for it is written, 'He who breaks
down a hedge (the Rabbinic hedge to the law, of course), a
serpent shall bite him'" (Eccles. x. 8). Then Rabbi Chanina, the
son of Rabbi Ana, in the name of Rabbi Tanchum, the son of Rabbi
Cheyah, says, "The words of the elders are more important than
the words of the prophets." A prophet and an elder, whom do they
resemble? They are like two ambassadors sent by a king to a
province. About the one he sends word saying, "If he does not
present credentials with my signature and seal, trust him not;"
whereas the other is accredited without any such token; for in
regard to the prophet it is written (Deut. xiii. 2), "He giveth
thee a sign or token;" while in reference to the elders it is
written (Deut. xvii. 11), "According to the decision which they
may say unto thee shalt thou do; thou shalt not depart from the
sentence which they may tell thee, to the right or to the left."
Rashi's comment on this text is worth notice: "Even when they
tell thee that right is left and left is right." In a word, a
wise man (i.e., a Rabbi) is better than a prophet. (_Bava
Bathra_ fol. 12, col. 1.)

Oved, the Galilean, has expounded that there are thirteen _vavs_ (i.e.,
the letter _vav_ occurs thirteen times) in connection with wine. _Vav_
in Syriac means woe.

_Sanhedrin_ fol. 70, col. 1.

The Rabbis have a curious Haggada respecting the origin of the
culture of the vine. Once while Noah was hard at work breaking
up the fallow ground for a vineyard, Satan drew near and
inquired what he was doing. On ascertaining that the patriarch
was about to cultivate the grape, which he valued both for its
fruit and its juice, he at once volunteered to assist him at his
task, and began to manure the soil with the blood of a lamb, a
lion, a pig, and a monkey. "Now," said he, when his work was
done, "of those who taste the juice of the grape, some will
become meek and gentle as the lamb, some bold and fearless as
the lion, some foul and beastly as the pig, and others
frolicsome and lively as the monkey." This quaint story may be
found more fully detailed in the Midrash Tanchuma (see Noah) and
the Yalkut on Genesis. The Mohammedan legend is somewhat
similar. It relates how Satan on the like occasion used the
blood of a peacock, of an ape, of a lion, and of a pig, and it
deduces from the abuse of the vine the curse that fell on the
children of Ham, and ascribes the color of the purple grape to
the dark hue which thenceforth tinctured all the fruit of their
land as well as their own complexions.

At thirteen years of age, a boy becomes bound to observe the (613)
precepts of the law.

_Avoth_, chap. 5.

Rabbi Ishmael says the law is to be expounded according to thirteen
logical rules.

_Chullin_, fol. 63, col. 1.

The thirteen rules of Rabbi Ishmael above referred to are not to
be found together in any part of the Talmud, but they are
collected for repetition in the Liturgy, and are as follows:--

1. Inference is valid from minor to major.

2. From similar phraseology.

3. From the gist or main point of one text to that of other
passages.

4. Of general and particular.

5. Of particular and general.

6. From a general, or a particular and a general, the ruling
both of the former and the latter is to be according to the
middle term, i.e., the one which is particularized.

7. From a general text that requires a particular instance, and
_vice versa_.

8. When a particular rule is laid down for something which has
already been included in a general law, the rule is to apply to
all.

9. When a general rule has an exception, the exception mitigates
and does not aggravate the rule.

10. When a general rule has an exception not according
therewith, the exception both mitigates and aggravates.

11. When an exception to a general rule is made to substantiate
extraneous matter, that matter cannot be classed under the said
general rule, unless the Scripture expressly says so.

12. The ruling is to be according to the context, or to the
general drift of the argument.

13. When two texts are contradictory, a third is to be sought
that reconciles them.

Rabbi Akiva was forty years of age when he began to study, and after
thirteen years of study he began publicly to teach.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan._

Thirteen treasurers and seven directors were appointed to serve in the
Temple. (More there might be, never less.)

_Tamid_, fol. 27, col. 1.

Thirteen points of law regulate the decisions that require to be made
relative to the carcass of a clean bird.

_Taharoth_, chap. i, mish. 1.

A man must partake of fourteen meals in the booth during the Feast of
Tabernacles.

_Succah_, fol. 27, col. 1.

Traditional chronology records that the Israelites killed the Paschal
lamb on the fourteenth day of Nisan, the month on which they came out of
Egypt. They came out on the fifteenth; that day was a Friday.

_Shabbath_, fol. 88, col. 1.

The fifteen steps were according to the number of the Songs of Degrees
in the Psalms. It is related that whosoever has not seen the joy at the
annual ceremony of the water-drawing, has not seen rejoicing in his
life. At the conclusion of the first part of the Feast of Tabernacles,
the Priests and Levites descended into the women's ante-court, where
they made great preparations (such as erecting temporary double
galleries, the uppermost for women, and those under for men). There were
golden candelabra there, each having four golden bowls on the top, four
ladders reaching to them, and four of the young priests with cruses of
oil ready to supply them, each cruse holding one hundred and twenty logs
of oil. The lamp-wicks were made of the worn-out drawers and girdles of
the priests. There was not a court in all Jerusalem that was not lit up
by the illumination of the "water-drawing." Holy men, and men of
dignity, with flaming torches in their hands, danced before the people,
rehearsing songs and singing praises. The Levites, with harps, lutes,
cymbals, trumpets, and innumerable musical instruments, were stationed
on the fifteen steps which led from the ante-court of Israel to the
women's court; the Levites stood upon the steps and played and sang. Two
priests stood at the upper gate which led from the ante-court for Israel
to that for the women, each provided with a trumpet, and as soon as the
cock crew they blew one simple blast, then a compound or fragmentary
one, and then a modulated or shouting blast. This was the preconcerted
signal for the drawing of the water. As soon as they reached the tenth
step, they blew again three blasts as before. When they came to the
ante-court for women, they blew another three blasts, and after that
they continued blowing till they came to the east gate. When they
arrived at the east gate, they turned their faces westward (i.e., toward
the Temple), and said, "Our fathers, who were in this place, turned
their backs toward the Temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the
East, for they worshiped the sun in the East; but we turn our eyes to
God!" Rabbi Yehudah says, "These words were repeated, echoing, 'We are
for God, and unto God are our eyes directed!'"

_Succah_, fol. 51, col. 1, 2.

Rabbon Shimon ben Gamliel has said there were no such gala-days for
Israel as the fifteenth of Ab and the Day of Atonement, when the young
maidens of Jerusalem used to resort to the vineyard all robed in white
garments, that were required to be borrowed, lest those should feel
humiliated who had none of their own. There they danced gleefully,
calling to the lookers-on and saying, "Young men, have a care; the
choice you now make may have consequences."

_Taanith_, fol. 26, col. 2.

Rabbi Elazar the Great said, "From the fifteenth of Ab the influence of
the sun declines, and from that day they leave off cutting wood for the
altar fire, because it could not be properly dried (and green wood might
harbor vermin, which would make it unfit for use)."

_Taanith_, fol. 31, col. 1.

He who eats turnips to beef, and sleeps out in the open air during the
night of the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the months of summer (that
is, when the moon is full), will most likely bring on an ague fever.

_Gittin_, fol. 70, col. 1.

A lad should, at the age of fifteen, begin to apply himself to the
Gemara.

_Avoth_, chap. 5.

"So I bought her to me for fifteen" (Hosea iii. 2), that is, on the
fifteenth day of Nisan, when Israel was redeemed from the bondage of
Egypt. "Silver;" this refers to the righteous. "An homer and a
half-homer;" these equal forty-five measures, and are the forty-five
righteous men for whose sake the world is preserved. I don't know
whether there are thirty here (that is, in Babylon), and fifteen in the
land of Israel, or _vice versa_; as it is said (Zech. xi. 13), "I took
the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of
the Lord." It stands to reason that there are thirty in the land of
Israel, and, therefore, fifteen here. Abaii says that the greater part
are to be found under the gable end of the synagogue. Rav Yehudah says
the reference is to the thirty righteous men always found among the
nations of the world for whose sake they are preserved (but see No. 103
_infra_). Ulla says it refers to the thirty precepts received by the
nations of the world, of which, however, they keep three only; i.e. they
do not enter into formal marriage-contracts with men; they do not expose
for sale the bodies of such animals as have died from natural causes;
and they have regard for the law.

_Chullin_, fol. 92, col. 1.

Rabbi Cheyah bar Abba says, "I once visited a house-holder at Ludkia,
and they placed before him a golden table so loaded with silver plate,
basins, cups, bottles and glasses, besides all sorts of dishes,
delicacies, and spices, that it took sixteen men to carry it. When they
set the table in its place they said (Ps. xxiv. 1), 'The earth is the
Lord's and the fullness thereof,' and upon removing it, they said (Ps.
cxv. 16), 'The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth
hath He given to the children of men.' I said, 'Son, how hast thou come
to deserve all this?' 'I was,' replied he, 'a butcher by trade, and I
always set apart for the Sabbath the best of the cattle.' 'How happy art
thou,' I remarked (adds Rabbi Cheyah), 'to have merited such a reward,
and blessed be God who has thus rewarded thee.'"

_Shabbath_, fol. 119, col. 1.

Rash Lakish said, "I have seen the flow of milk and honey at Tzipori; it
was sixteen miles by sixteen miles."

_Meggillah_, fol. 6, col. 1.

Rashi explains the above as follows:--The goats fed upon figs
from which honey distilled, and this mingled with the milk which
dropped from the goats as they walked along. On the spot arose a
lake which covered an area of sixteen miles square. (See also
Kethuboth, fol. iii, col. 2.)

A cedar tree once fell down in our place, the trunk of which was so wide
that sixteen wagons were drawn abreast upon it.

_Bechoroth_, fol. 57, col. 2.

Who can estimate the loss the world sustains in its ignorance of
the trees of the Talmud? What a sapling in comparison with this
giant cedar of Lebanon must the far-famed Mammoth tree have been
which was lately cut down in California, and was the largest
known to the present generation!

Rabbi Yochanan plaintively records, "I remember the time when a young
man and a young woman sixteen or seventeen years of age could walk
together in the streets and no harm came of it."

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 91, col. 2.

On the deposition of Rabbon Gamliel, Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah was
chosen as his successor to the presidential chair of the academy. On
being told of his elevation, he consulted with his wife as to whether or
not he should accept the appointment. "What if they should depose thee
also?" asked his wife. He replied, "Use the precious bowl while thou
hast it, even if it be broken the next." But she rejoined, "Thou art
only eighteen years old, and how canst thou at such an age expect folks
to venerate thee?" By a miracle eighteen of his locks turned suddenly
gray, so that he could say, "I am as one of seventy."

_Berachoth_, fol. 27, col. 2.

The Rabbis have taught that Shimon Happikoli had arranged the eighteen
benedictions before Rabbon Gamliel at Javneh. Rabbon Gamliel appealed to
the sages, "Is there not a man who knows how to compose an imprecation
against the Sadducees?" Then Samuel the Little stood up and extemporized
it.

Ibid., fol. 28, col. 2.

The "imprecation against the Sadducees" stands twelfth among the
collects of the Shemoneh Esreh. It is popularly known as
"Velama-leshinim" from its opening words, and is given thus in
modern Ashkenazi liturgies:--"Oh, let the slanderers have no
hope, all the wicked be annihilated speedily, and all the
tyrants be cut off, hurled down and reduced speedily; humble
Thou them quickly in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who
destroyest enemies and humblest tyrants." There has been much
misconception with regard to this collect against heretics.
There is every reason to believe it was composed without any
reference whatever to the Christians. One point of interest,
however, in connection with it is worth relating here. Some have
sought to identify the author of it, Samuel the Little, with the
Apostle Paul, grounded the conclusion on his original Hebrew
name, Saul. They take Paulus as equal to _pusillus_, which means
"very little" or "the less," and answers to the word _Hakaton_,
a term of similar import. Samuel, however, died a good Jew (see
Semachoth, chap. 8), and Rabbon Gamliel Hazaken and Rabbi
Eleazar ben Azariah pronounced a funeral oration at his burial.
"His key and his diary were placed on his coffin, because he had
no son to succeed him." (See also Sanhedrin, fol. ii, col. 1.)

Eighteen denunciations did Isaiah make against the people of Israel, and
he recovered not his equanimity until he was able to add, "The child
shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against
the honorable" (Isa. iii. 5).

_Chaggigah_, fol. 14, col. 1.

The Rabbis have related that there was once a family in Jerusalem the
members of which died off regularly at eighteen years of age. Rabbi
Yochanan ben Zacchai shrewdly guessed that they were descendants of Eli,
regarding whom it is said (1 Sam. ii. 25), "And all the increase of
thine house shall die in the flower of their age;" and he accordingly
advised them to devote themselves to the study of the law, as the
certain and only means of neutralizing the curse. They acted upon the
advice of the Rabbi; their lives were in consequence prolonged; and they
thenceforth went by the name of their spiritual father.

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 18, col. 1.

Eighteen handbreadths was the height of the golden candlestick.

_Menachoth_, fol. 28, col. 2.

If a man remain unmarried after the age of twenty, his life is a
constant transgression. The Holy One--blessed be He!--waits until that
period to see if one enters the matrimonial state, and curses his bones
if he remain single.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 29, col. 2.

A woman marrying under twenty years of age will bear till she is sixty;
if she marries at twenty she will bear until she is forty; if she
marries at forty she will not have any family.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 119, col. 2.

At twenty pursue the study of the law.

_Avoth_, chap. 5.

Rabbi Yehudah says the early Pietists used to suffer some twenty days
before death from diarrhoea, the effect of which was to purge and purify
them for the world to come; for it is said, "As the fining pot for
silver, and the furnace for gold, so is a man to his praise" (Prov.
xxvii. 21).

_Semachoth_, chap. 3, mish. 10.

It may not be out of place to append two or three parallel
passages here by way of illustration:--"Bodily suffering purges
away sin" (_Berachoth_, fol. 5, col. 1). "He who suffers will
not see hell" (_Eiruvin_, fol. 41, col. 2). "To die of diarrhoea
is an augury for good, for most of the righteous die of that
ailment" (_Kethuboth_, fol. 103, col. 2, and elsewhere).

The bathing season at (the hot baths of) Dimsis lasted twenty-one days.

_Shabbath_, fol. 147, col. 2.

A fowl hatches in twenty-one days, and the almond tree ripens its fruit
in twenty-one days.

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