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

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From the foregoing extract it would seem that it was not the
fashion among Jewish females to wear head-dresses of a red
color, as it was presumed to indicate a certain lightness on the
part of the wearer; so Rav Adda in his pious zeal thought he was
doing a good work in tearing it off from the head of the
supposed Jewess. "Patience, patience is worth four hundred
zouzim."

Custom among the Jews had then, as now, the force of religion.
The Talmud says, "A man should never deviate from a settled
custom. Moses ascended on high and did not eat bread (for there
it is not the custom); angels came down to earth and did eat
bread (for here it is the custom so to do)." Bava Metzia, fol.
86, col. 2.

In the olden time it was not the fashion for a Jew to wear black
shoes (Taanith, fol. 22, col. 1). Even now, in Poland, a pious
Jew, or a Chasid, would on no account wear polished boots or a
short coat, or neglect to wear a girdle. He would at once lose
caste and be subjected to persecution, direct or indirect, were
he to depart from a custom. Custom is law, is an oft-quoted
Jewish proverb, one among the most familiar of their household
words, as "Custom is a tyrant," is among ours. Another saying we
have is, "Custom is the plague of wise men, but is the idol of
fools."

The following anecdotes are related by way of practically illustrating
Ps. ii. 11, "Rejoice with trembling." Mar, the son of Ravina, made a
grand marriage-feast for his son, and when the Rabbis were at the height
of their merriment on the occasion, he brought in a very costly cup,
worth four hundred zouzim, and broke it before them, and this occasioned
them sorrow and trembling. Rav Ashi made a grand marriage-feast for his
son, and when he noticed the Rabbis in high jubilation, he brought in a
costly cup of white glass and broke it before them, and this made them
sorrowful. The Rabbis challenged Rav Hamnunah on the wedding of his son
Ravina, saying, "Give us a song, sir," and he sung, "Woe be to us, for
we must die! Woe be to us, for we must die!" "And what shall we sing?"
they asked in chorus by way of response. He replied, "Sing ye, 'Alas!
where is the law we have studied? where the good works we have done?
that they may protect us from the punishment of hell!'" Rabbi Yochanan,
in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, says, "It is unlawful for a man
to fill his mouth with laughter in this world, for it is said in Ps.
cxxvi., 'Then (but not now) will our mouth be filled with laughter,'"
etc. It is related of Resh Lakish that he never once laughed again all
the rest of his life from the time that he heard this from Rabbi
Yochanan, his teacher.

_Berachoth_, fol. 30, col. 2, and fol. 31, col. 1.

A man once laid a wager with another that he would put Hillel out of
temper. If he succeeded he was to receive, but if he failed he was to
forfeit, four hundred zouzim. It was close upon Sabbath-eve, and Hillel
was washing himself, when the man passed by his door, shouting, "Where
is Hillel? where is Hillel?" Hillel wrapped his mantle round him and
sallied forth to see what the man wanted. "I want to ask thee a
question," was the reply. "Ask on, my son," said Hillel. Whereupon the
man said, "I want to know why the Babylonians have such round heads?" "A
very important question, my son," said Hillel; "the reason is because
their midwives are not clever." The man went away, but after an hour he
returned, calling out as before, "Where is Hillel? where is Hillel?"
Hillel again threw on his mantle and went out, meekly asking, "What now,
my son?" "I want to know," said he, "why the people of Tadmor are
weak-eyed?" Hillel replied, "This is an important question, my son, and
the reason is this, they live in a sandy country." Away went the man,
but in another hour's time he returned as before, crying out, "Where is
Hillel? where is Hillel?" Out came Hillel again, as gentle as ever,
blandly requesting to know what more he wanted. "I have a question to
ask," said the man. "Ask on, my son," said Hillel. "Well, why have the
Africans such broad feet?" said he. "Because they live in a marshy
land," said Hillel. "I have many more questions to ask," said the man,
"but I am afraid that I shall only try thy patience and make thee
angry." Hillel, drawing his mantle around him, sat down and bade the man
ask all the questions he wished. "Art thou Hillel," said he, "whom they
call a prince in Israel?" "Yes," was the reply. "Well," said the other,
"I pray there may not be many more in Israel like thee!" "Why," said
Hillel, "how is that?" "Because," said the man, "I have betted four
hundred zouzim that I could put thee out of temper, and I have lost them
all through thee." "Be warned for the future," said Hillel; "better it
is that thou shouldst lose four hundred zouzim, and four hundred more
after them, than it should be said of Hillel he lost his temper!"

_Shabbath_, fol. 31, col. 1.

Rabbi Perida had a pupil to whom he had to rehearse a lesson four
hundred times before the latter comprehended it. One day the Rabbi was
hurriedly called away to perform some charitable act, but before he went
he repeated the lesson in hand the usual four hundred times, but this
time his pupil failed to learn it. "What is the reason, my son," said he
to his dull pupil, "that this time my repetitions have been thrown
away?" "Because, master," naively replied the youth, "my mind was so
pre-occupied with the summons you received to discharge another duty."
"Well, then," said the Rabbi to his pupil, "let us begin again." And he
repeated the lesson a second four hundred times.

_Eiruvin_, fol. 54, col. 2.

Between Azel and Azel (1 Chron. viii. 38 and ix. 44), there are four
hundred camel-loads of critical researches due to the presence of
manifold contradictions.

_Psachim_. fol. 62, col. 2.

Egypt has an area of four hundred square miles.

Ibid., fol. 94, col. 1.

The Targum of the Pentateuch was executed by Onkelos the proselyte at
the dictation of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, and the Targum of the
prophets was executed by Jonathan ben Uzziel at the dictation of Haggai,
Zachariah, and Malachi (!), at which time the land of Israel was
convulsed over an area of four hundred square miles.

_Meggillah_, fol. 3, col. 1.

Mar Ukva was in the habit of sending on the Day of Atonement four
hundred zouzim to a poor neighbor of his. Once he sent the money by his
own son, who returned bringing it back with him, remarking, "There is no
need to bestow charity upon a man who, as I myself have seen, is able to
indulge himself in expensive old wine." "Well," said his father, "since
he is so dainty in his taste, he must have seen better days. I will
therefore double the amount for the future." And this accordingly he at
once remitted to him.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 67, col. 2.

"And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, ... ye shall carry
up my bones from hence" (Gen. l. 25). Rabbi Chanena said, "There is a
reason for this oath. As Joseph knew that he was perfectly righteous,
why then, if the dead are to rise in other countries as well as in the
land of Israel, did he trouble his brethren to carry his bones four
hundred miles?" The reply is, "He feared lest, if buried in Egypt, he
might have to worm his way through subterranean passages from his grave
into the land of Israel."

Ibid., fol. 111, col. 1.

To this day among the Polish Jews the dead are provided for
their long subterranean journey with little wooden forks, with
which, at the sound of the great trumpet, they are to dig and
burrow their way from where they happen to be buried till they
arrive in Palestine. To avoid this inconvenience there are some
among them who, on the approach of old age, migrate to the Holy
Land, that their bones may rest there against the morning of the
resurrection.

Rav Cahana was once selling ladies' baskets when he was exposed to the
trial of a sinful temptation. He pleaded with his tempter to let him off
and he promised to return, but instead of doing so he went up to the
roof of the house and threw himself down headlong. Before he reached the
ground, however, Elijah came and caught him, and reproached him, as he
caught him up, with having brought him a distance of four hundred miles
to save him from an act of willful self-destruction. The Rabbi told him
that it was his poverty which had given to the temptation the power of
seduction. Thereupon Elijah gave him a vessel full of gold denarii and
departed.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 40, col. 1.

"Pashur, the son of Immer the priest" (Jer. xx. 1) had four hundred
servants, and every one of them rose to the rank of the priesthood. One
consequence was that an insolent priest hardly ever appeared in Israel
but his genealogy could be traced to this base-born, low-bred ancestry.
Rabbi Elazar said, "If thou seest an impudent priest, do not think evil
of him, for it is said (Hos, iv. 4), 'Thy people are as they that strive
with the priest.'"

Ibid., fol. 70, col. 2.

David had four hundred young men, handsome in appearance and with their
hair cut close upon their foreheads, but with long flowing curls behind,
who used to ride in chariots of gold at the head of the army. These were
men of power (men of the fist, in the original), the mighty men of the
house of David, who went about to strike terror into the world.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 76, col. 2.

Four hundred boys and as many girls were once kidnapped and torn from
their relations. When they learned the purpose of their capture, they
all exclaimed, "Better drown ourselves in the sea; then shall we have an
inheritance in the world to come." The eldest then explained to them the
text (Ps. lxviii. 22), "The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan; I
will bring again from the depths of the sea." "From Bashan," i.e., from
the teeth of the lion; "from the depths of the sea," i.e., those that
drown themselves in the sea. When the girls heard this explanation they
at once jumped all together into the sea, and the boys with alacrity
followed their example. It is with reference to these that Scripture
says (Ps. xliv. 22), "For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we
are counted as sheep for the slaughter."

_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 2.

There were four hundred synagogues in the city of Byther, in each there
were four hundred elementary teachers, and each had four hundred pupils.
When the enemy entered the city they pierced him with their pointers;
but when at last the enemy overpowered them, he wrapped them in their
books and then set fire to them; and this is what is written (Lam. iii.
51), "Mine eye affecteth my heart because of all the daughters of my
city."

Ibid., fol. 58, col 1.

The total population of Byther must have been something enormous
when the children in it amounted to 64,000,000! The elementary
teachers alone came to 160,000.

Once when the Hasmonean kings were engaged in civil war it happened that
Hyrcanus was outside Jerusalem and Aristobulus within. Every day the
besieged let down a box containing gold denarii, and received in return
lambs for the daily sacrifices. There chanced to be an old man in the
city who was familiar with the wisdom of the Greeks, and he hinted to
the besiegers in the Greek language that so long as the Temple services
were kept up the city could not be taken. The next day accordingly, when
the money had been let down, they sent back a pig in return. When about
half-way up the animal pushed with its feet against the stones of the
wall, and thereupon an earthquake was felt throughout the land of Israel
to the extent of four hundred miles. At that time it was the saying
arose, "Cursed be he that rears swine, and he who shall teach his son
the wisdom of the Greeks." (See Matt. viii. 30.)

_Soteh_, fol. 49, col. 2.

If one strikes his neighbor with his fist, he must pay him one sela; if
he slaps his face, he is to pay two hundred zouzim; but for a
back-handed slap the assailant is to pay four hundred zouzim. If he
pulls the ear of another, or plucks his hair, or spits upon him, or
pulls off his mantle, or tears a woman's head-dress off in the street,
in each of these cases he is fined four hundred zouzim.

_Bava Kama_, fol. 90, col. 1.

There was once a dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and the Mishnic sages as
to whether a baking-oven, constructed from certain materials and of a
particular shape, was clean or unclean. The former decided that it was
clean, but the latter were of a contrary opinion. Having replied to all
the objections the sages had brought against his decision, and finding
that they still refused to acquiesce, the Rabbi turned to them and said,
"If the Halacha (the law) is according to my decision, let this
carob-tree attest." Whereupon the carob-tree rooted itself up and
transplanted itself to a distance of one hundred, some say four hundred,
yards from the spot. But the sages demurred and said, "We cannot admit
the evidence of a carob-tree." "Well, then," said Rabbi Eliezer, "let
this running brook be a proof;" and the brook at once reversed its
natural course and flowed back. The sages refused to admit this proof
also. "Then let the walls of the college bear witness that the law is
according to my decision;" upon which the walls began to bend, and were
about to fall, when Rabbi Joshuah interposed and rebuked them, saying,
"If the disciples of the sages wrangle with each other in the Halacha,
what is that to you? Be ye quiet!" Therefore, out of respect to Rabbi
Joshuah, they did not fall, and out of respect to Rabbi Eliezer they did
not resume their former upright position, but remained toppling, which
they continue to do to this day. Then said Rabbi Eliezer to the sages,
"Let Heaven itself testify that the Halacha is according to my
judgment." And a Bath Kol or voice from heaven was heard, saying, "What
have ye to do with Rabbi Eliezer? for the Halacha is on every point
according to his decision!" Rabbi Joshuah then stood up and proved from
Scripture that even a voice from heaven was not to be regarded, "For
Thou, O God, didst long ago write down in the law which Thou gavest on
Sinai (Exod. xxiii. 2), 'Thou shalt follow the multitude.'" (See
context.) We have it on the testimony of Elijah the prophet, given to
Rabbi Nathan, on an oath, that it was with reference to this dispute
about the oven God himself confessed and said, "My children have
vanquished me! My children have vanquished me!"

_Bava Metzia_ fol. 59, col. 1.

In the sequel to the above we are told that all the legal
documents of Rabbi Eliezer containing his decisions respecting
things "clean" were publicly burned with fire, and he himself
excommunicated. In consequence of this the whole world was
smitten with blight, a third in the olives, a third in the
barley, and a third in the wheat; and the Rabbi himself, though
excommunicated, continued to be held in the highest regard in
Israel.

The Rabbis said to Rabbi Hamnuna, "Rav Ami has written or copied four
hundred copies of the law." He replied to them, "Perhaps only (Deut.
xxxiii. 4) 'Moses commanded us a law.'" (He meant he did not imagine
that any one man could possibly write out four hundred complete copies
of the Pentateuch.)

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 14, col. 1.

Rabbi Chanena said, "If four hundred years after the destruction of the
Temple one offers thee a field worth a thousand denarii for one
denarius, don't buy it."

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 2.

We know by tradition that the treatise "Avodah Zarah," which our father
Abraham possessed, contained four hundred chapters, but the treatise as
we now have it contains only five.

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 14, col. 2.

The camp of Sennacherib was four hundred miles in length.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 95, col. 2.

"Curse ye Meroz," etc. (Judges v. 23). Barak excommunicated Meroz at the
blast of four hundred trumpets (lit. horns or cornets).

_Shevuoth_, fol. 36, col. 1.

What is the meaning where it is written (Ps. x. 27), "The fear of the
Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened;"
"The fear of the Lord prolongeth days" alludes to the four hundred and
ten years the first Temple stood, during which period the succession of
high priests numbered only eighteen. But "the years of the wicked shall
be shortened" is illustrated by the fact that during the four hundred
and twenty years that the second Temple stood the succession of high
priests numbered more than three hundred. If we deduct the forty years
during which Shimon the Righteous held office, and the eighty of Rabbi
Yochanan, and the ten of Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi, it is evident that not
one of the remaining high priests lived to hold office for a whole year.

_Yoma_, fol. 9, col. 1.

"The souls which they had gotten in Haran" (Gen. xii. 5). From this time
to the giving of the law was four hundred and forty-eight years.

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 1.

A young girl and ten of her maid-servants were once kidnapped, when a
certain Gentile bought them and brought them to his house. One day he
gave a pitcher to the child and bade her fetch him water, but one of her
servants took the pitcher from her, intending to go instead. The master,
observing this, asked the maid why she did so. The servant replied, "By
the life of thy head, my lord, I am one of no less than five hundred
servants of this child's mother." The master was so touched that he
granted them all their freedom.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 17.

Caesar once said to Rabbi Yoshua ben Chananja, "This God of yours is
compared to a lion, as it is written (Amos iii. 8), 'The lion hath
roared, who will not fear?' Wherein consists his excellency? A horseman
kills a lion." The Rabbi replied, "He is not compared to an ordinary
lion, but to a lion of the forest Ilaei." "Show me that lion at once,"
said the Emperor. "But thou canst not behold him," said the Rabbi. Still
the Emperor insisted on seeing the lion; so the Rabbi prayed to God to
help him in his perplexity. His prayer was heard; the lion came forth
from his lair and roared, upon which, though it was four hundred miles
away, all the walls of Rome trembled and fell to the ground. Approaching
three hundred miles nearer, he roared again, and this time the teeth of
the people dropped out of their mouths and the Emperor fell from his
throne quaking. "Alas! Rabbi, pray to thy God that He order the lion
back to his abode in the forest."

_Chullin_, fol. 59, col. 2.

All this is as nothing compared to the voice of Judah, which
made all Egypt quake and tremble, and Pharaoh fall from his
throne headlong, etc., etc. See Jasher, chap. 64, verses 46, 47.

The distance from the earth to the firmament is five hundred years'
journey, and so it is from each successive firmament to the next,
throughout the series of the seven heavens.

_P'sachim_, fol. 94, col. 2.

"Now, as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel upon the earth
by the living creatures" (Ezek. i. 15). Rabbi Elazar says it was an
angel who stood upon the earth, and his head reached to the living
creatures. It is recorded in a Mishna that his name is Sandalphon, who
towers above his fellow-angels to a height of five hundred years'
journey; he stands behind the chariot and binds crowns on the head of
his Creator.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 13, col. 2.

In the Liturgy for the Feast of Tabernacles it is said that
Sandalphon gathers in his hands the prayers of Israel, and,
forming a wreath of them, he adjures it to ascend as an orb for
the head of the supreme King of kings.

The mount of the Temple was five hundred yards square.

_Middoth_, chap. 2.

One Scripture text (1 Chron. xxi. 25) says, "So David gave to Ornan for
the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight." And another Scripture
(2 Sam. xxiv. 24) says, "So David bought the threshing-floor and the
oxen for fifty shekels of silver." How is this? David took from each
tribe fifty shekels, and they made together the total six hundred, i.e.,
he took silver to the value of fifty shekels of gold.

_Zevachim_, fol. 116, col. 2.

Rabbi Samlai explains that six hundred and thirteen commandments were
communicated to Moses; three hundred and sixty-five negative, according
to the number of days in the year, and two hundred and forty-eight
positive, according to the number of members in the human body. Rav
Hamnunah asked what was the Scripture proof for this. The reply was
(Deut. xxxiii. 4), "Moses commanded us a law" (Torah), which by Gematria
answers to six hundred and eleven. "I am," and "Thou shalt have no
other," which we heard from the Almighty Himself, together make up six
hundred and thirteen.

_Maccoth_, fol. 23, col. 2.

David, we are told, reduced these commandments here reckoned at
six hundred and thirteen, to eleven, and Isaiah still further to
six, and then afterward to two. "Thus saith the Eternal, Observe
justice and act righteously, for my salvation is near." Finally
came Habakkuk, and he reduced the number to one
all-comprehensive precept (chap. ii. 4), "The just shall live by
faith." (See _Maccoth_, fol. 24, col. 1.)

The precept concerning fringes is as weighty as all the other precepts
put together; for it is written, says Rashi (Num. xv. 39), "And remember
all the commandments of the Lord." Now the numerical value of the word
"fringes" is six hundred, and this with eight threads and five knots
makes six hundred and thirteen.

_Shevuoth_, fol. 29, col. 1.

"For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem
and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the
whole stay of water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and
the prophet," etc. (Isa. iii. 1, 2). By "the stay" is meant men mighty
in the Scriptures, and by "the staff" men learned in the Mishna; such,
for instance, as Rabbi Yehudah ben Tima and his associates. Rav Pappa
and the Rabbis differed as to the Mishna; the former said there were six
hundred orders of the Mishna, and the latter that there were seven
hundred orders. "The whole stay of bread" means men distinguished in the
Talmud; for it is said, "Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine
which I have mingled" (Prov. ix. 5). And "the whole stay of water" means
men skillful in the Haggadoth, who draw out the heart of man like water
by means of a pretty story or legend, etc.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 14, col. 1.

There are seven hundred species of fish, eight hundred of locusts,
twenty-four of birds that are unclean, while the species of birds that
are clean cannot be numbered.

_Chullin_, fol. 63, col. 2.

"The same was Adino the Eznite," etc. (2 Sam. xxiii. 8). This mighty man
when studying the law was as pliant as a worm; but when engaged in war
he was as firm and unyielding as a tree; and when he discharged an arrow
he killed eight hundred men at one shot.

_Moed Katon_, fol. 16, col. 2.

"Ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land" (Deut. iv. 26). The
term soon uttered by the Lord of the Universe means eight hundred and
fifty-two years.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 38, col. 1.

There are nine hundred and three sorts of deaths in the world; for the
expression occurs (Ps. lxviii. 20), "Issues of death." The numerical
value of "issues" is nine hundred and three. The hardest of all deaths
is by quinsy, and the easiest is the Divine kiss (of which Moses, Aaron,
and Miriam died). Quinsy is like the forcible extraction of prickly
thorns from wool, or like a thick rope drawn through a small aperture;
the kiss referred to is like the extracting of a hair from milk.

_Berachoth_, fol. 8, col. 1.

When Moses went up on high, the ministering angels asked, "What has one
born of a woman to do among us?" "He has come to receive the law," was
the Divine answer. "What!" they remonstrated again, "that cherished
treasure which has lain with Thee for nine hundred and seventy-four
generations before the world was created, art Thou about to bestow it
upon flesh and blood? What is mortal man that Thou art mindful of him,
and the son of earth that Thou thus visitest him? O Lord! our Lord! is
not Thy name already sufficiently exalted in the earth? Confer Thy glory
upon the heavens" (Ps. viii. 4, 6). The Holy One--blessed be He!--then
called upon Moses to refute the objection of the envious angels. "I
fear," pleaded he, "lest they consume me with the fiery breath of their
mouth." Thereupon, by way of protection, he was bid approach and lay
hold of the throne of God; as it is said (Job xxvi. 9), "He lays hold of
the face of His throne and spreads His cloud over him." Thus encouraged,
Moses went over the Decalogue, and demanded of the angels whether they
had suffered an Egyptian bondage and dwelt among idolatrous nations, so
as to require the first commandment; or were they so hardworked as to
need a day of rest, etc., etc. Then the angels at once confessed that
they were wrong in seeking to withhold the law from Israel, and they
then repeated the words, "O Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the
earth!" (Ps. viii. 9), omitting the words, "Confer Thy glory upon the
heavens." And not only so, but they positively befriended Moses, and
each of them revealed to him some useful secret; as it is said (Ps.
lxviii. 18), "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast captured spoil, thou
hast received gifts; because they have contemptuously called thee man."

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