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

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_Sanhedrin_, fol. 91, cols, 1, 2.

Rabbi Yehudah, surnamed the Holy, the editor of the Mishnah, is
the personage here and elsewhere spoken of as the Rabbi by pre
eminence. He was an intimate friend of the Roman Emperor
Antoninus Pius.

One thing obtained with difficulty is far better than a hundred things
procured with ease.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, ch. 3.

In the name of Rav, Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abba says, "Whoso buys a scroll
of the law in the market seizes possession of another's meritorious act;
but if he himself copies out a scroll of the law, Scripture considers
him as if he had himself received it direct from Mount Sinai." "Nay,"
adds Rav Yehudah, in the name of Rav, "even if he has amended one letter
in it, Scripture considers him as if he had written it out entirely."

_Menachoth_, fol. 30, col. 1.

He who forgets one thing that he has learned breaks a negative
commandment; for it is written (Deut. iv. 9), "Take heed to thyself ...
lest thou forget the things."

_Menachoth_, fol. 99, col. 2.

A proselyte who has taken it upon himself to observe the law, but is
suspected of neglecting one point, is to be suspected of being guilty of
neglecting the whole law, and therefore regarded as an apostate
Israelite, and to be punished accordingly.

_Bechoroth_, fol. 30, col. 2.

It is written (Gen. xxviii. ii), "And he took from the stones of the
place;" and again it is written (ver. 18), "And he took the stone."
Rabbi Isaac says this teaches that all these stones gathered themselves
together into one place, as if each were eager that the saint should lay
his head upon it. It happened, as the Rabbis tell us, that all the
stones were swallowed up by one another, and thus merged into one stone.

_Chullin_, fol. 91, col. 2.

Though the Midrash and two of the Targums, that of Jonathan and
the Yerushalmi, tell the same fanciful story about these stones,
Aben Ezra and R. Shemuel ben Meir among others adopt the
opposite and common-sense interpretation which assigns to the
word in Gen. xxviii. ii, no such occult meaning.

The psalms commencing "Blessed is the man" and "Why do the heathen rage"
constitute but one psalm.

_Berachoth_ fol. 9, col. 2.

The former Chasidim used to sit still one hour, and then pray for one
hour, and then again sit still for one hour.

Ibid., fol. 32, col. 2.

All the benedictions in the Temple used to conclude with the words
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel unto eternity;" but when the
Sadducees, corrupting the faith, maintained that there was only one
world, it was enacted that they should conclude with the words "from
eternity unto eternity."

_Berachoth_, fol. 54, col. i.

The Sadducees (Zadokim), so called after Zadok their master, as
is known, stood rigidly by the original Mosaic code, and set
themselves determinedly against all traditional developments. To
the Talmudists, therefore, they were especially obnoxious, and
their bald, cold creed is looked upon by them with something
like horror. It is thus the Talmud warns against them--"Believe
not in thyself till the day of thy death, for, behold, Yochanan,
after officiating in the High Priesthood for eighty years,
became in the end a Sadducee." (_Berachoth_, fol. 29, col. 1.)
In Derech Eretz Zuta, chap. i., a caution is given which might
well provoke attention--"Learn or inquire nothing of the
Sadducees, lest thou be drawn into hell."

Rabbi Yehudah tells us that Rav says a man should never absent himself
from the lecture hall, not even for one hour; for the above Mishnah had
been taught at college for many years, but the reason of it had never
been made plain till the hour when Rabbi Chanina ben Akavia came and
explained it.

_Shabbath_, fol. 83, col. 2.

The Mishnah alluded to is short and simple, viz, Where is it
taught that a ship is clean to the touch? From Prov. xxx. 19,
"The way of a ship in the midst of the sea." (i.e., as the sea
is clean to the touch, therefore a ship must also be clean to
the touch).

It is indiscreet for one to sleep in a house as the sole occupant, for
Lilith will seize hold of him.

Ibid., fol. 151, col. 2.

Lilith (the night-visiting one) is the name of a night spectre,
said to have been Adam's first wife, but who, for her refractory
conduct, was transformed into a demon endowed with power to
injure and even destroy infants unprotected by the necessary
amulet or charm.

"Thou hast acknowledged the Lord this day to be thy God; and the Lord
hath acknowledged thee this day to be His peculiar people" (Deut. xxvi.
17, 18). The Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto Israel, "Ye have made
Me a name in the world, as it is written (Deut. vi. 4), 'Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God is one Lord;' and so I will make you a name in the
world, as it is said (1 Chron. xvii. 21), 'And what one nation in the
earth is like Thy people Israel?'"

_Chaggigah_, fol. 3, col. 1.

Why are the words of the Law compared to fire? (Jer. xxiii. 29.)
Because, as fire does not burn when there is but one piece of wood, so
do the words of the Law not maintain the fire of life when meditated on
by one alone (see, in confirmation, Matt, xviii. 20).

_Taanith_, fol. 7, col. i.

"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo"
(Deut. xxxiv, i). Tradition says there were twelve stairs, but that
Moses surmounted them all in one step.

_Soteh_, fol. 13, col. 2.

Pieces of money given in charity should not be counted over by twos, but
one by one.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 8, col. 2.

"Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?"
(Job xxxix. 1.) The wild goat is cruel to her offspring. As soon as they
are brought forth, she climbs with them to the steep cliffs, that they
may fall headlong and die. But, said God to Job, to prevent this I
provide an eagle to catch the kid upon its wings, and then carry and lay
it before its cruel mother. Now, if that eagle should be too soon or too
late by one second only, instant death to the kid could not be averted;
but with Me one second is never changed for another. Shall Job be now
changed by Me, therefore, into an enemy. (Comp. Job ix. 17, and xxxiv.
35.)

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 16, cols. 1, 2.

A generation can have one leader only, and not two.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 8, col. 1.

"Like the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces" (Jer. xxiii. 29). As
a hammer divideth fire into many sparks, so one verse of Scripture has
many meanings and many explanations.

Ibid., fol. 34, col. 1.

In the Machser for Pentecost (p. 69) God is said to have
"explained the law to His people, face to face, and on every
point ninety-eight explanations are given."

Adam was created one without Eve. Why? That the Sadducees might not
assert the plurality of powers in heaven.

Ibid., fol. 37, col. i.

As the Sadducees did not believe in a plurality of powers in
heaven, but only the Christians, in the regard of the Jews, did
so (by their profession of the doctrine of the Trinity), it is
obvious that here, as well as often elsewhere, the latter and
not the former are intended.

"And the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt" (Exod. viii. i; A.
V. viii. 6). "There was but one frog," said Rabbi Elazar, "and she so
multiplied as to fill the whole land of Egypt." "Yes, indeed," said
Rabbi Akiva. "there was, as you say, but one frog, but she herself was
so large as to fill all the land of Egypt." Whereupon Rabbi Elazar ben
Azariah said unto him, "Akiva, what business hast thou with Haggadah? Be
off with thy legends, and get thee to the laws thou art familiar with
about plagues and tents. Though thou sayest right in this matter, for
there was only one frog, but she croaked so loud that the frogs came
from everywhere else to her croaking."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 67, col. 2.

Rabba, the grandson of Channa, said that he himself once saw a
frog larger than any seen now, though not so large as the frog
in Egypt. It was as large as Acra, a village of some sixty
houses (_Bava Bathra_, fol. 73, col. 2.)

Apropos to the part the frog was conceived to play or symbolize
in the Jewish conception of the mode and ministry of Divine
judgment, we quote the following:--"We are told that Samuel once
saw a frog carrying a scorpion on its back across a river, upon
the opposite bank of which a man stood waiting ready to be
stung. The sting proving fatal, so that the man died; upon which
Samuel exclaimed, 'Lord, they wait for Thy judgments this day:
for all are Thy servants.' (Ps. cxix. 91.)" (_Nedarim_, fol. 41,
col. 1.)

"According to the days of one king" (Isa. xxiii. 15). What king is this
that is singled out as one? Thou must say this is the King Messiah, and
no other.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 99, col. 1.

Rabbi Levi contends that Manasseh has no portion in the world to come,
while Rabbi Yehudah maintains that he has; and each supports his
conclusion in contradiction of the other, from one and the same
Scripture text.

Ibid., fol. 102, col. 2.

The words, "Remember the Sabbath day," in Exod. xx. 8, and "Keep the
Sabbath day," in Deut. v. 12, were uttered in one breath, as no man's
mouth could utter them, and no man's ear could hear.

_Shevuoth_, fol. 20, col. 2.

The officer who inflicts flagellation on a criminal must smite with one
hand only, but yet with all his force.

_Maccoth_, fol. 22, col. 2.

I would rather be called a fool all my days than sin one hour before
God.

_Edioth_, chap. 5, mish. 6.

He who observes but one precept secures for himself an advocate, and he
who commits one single sin procures for himself an accuser.

_Avoth_, chap. 4, mish. 15.

He who learns from another one chapter, one halachah, one verse, or one
word or even a single letter, is bound to respect him.

Ibid., chap. 6, mish. 3.

The above is one evidence, among many, of the high esteem in
which learning and the office of a teacher are held among the
Jews. Education is one of the virtues--of which the following,
extracted from the Talmud, is a list--the interest of which the
Jew considers he enjoys in this world, while the capital remains
intact against the exigencies of the world to come. These
are:--The honoring of father and mother, acts of benevolence,
hospitality to strangers, visiting the sick, devotion in prayer,
promotion of peace between man and man, and study in general,
but the study of the law outweighs them all. (_Shabbath_, fol.
127, col. 1.) The study of the law, it is said, is of greater
merit to rescue one from accidental death, than building the
Temple, and greater than honoring father or mother.
(_Meggillah_, fol. 16, col 2.)

"Repent one day before thy death." In relation to which Rabbi Eliezer
was asked by his disciples, "How is a man to repent one day before his
death, since he does not know on what day he shall die?" "So much the
more reason is there," he replied, "that he should repent to-day, lest
he die to-morrow; and repent to-morrow, lest he die the day after: and
thus will all his days be penitential ones."

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 15.

He who obliterates one letter from the written name of God, breaks a
negative command, for it is said, "And destroy the names of them out of
that place. Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God" (Deut. xii. 3,
4).

_Sophrim_, chap. 5, hal. 6.

Rabbi Chanina could put on and off his shoes while standing on one leg
only, though he was eighty years of age.

_Chullin_, fol. 24, col. 2.

A priest who is blind in one eye should not be judge of the plague; for
it is said (Lev. xiii. 12), "Wheresoever the priest (with both eyes)
looketh."

_Negaim_, chap. 2, mish. 3.

The twig of a bunch without any grapes is clean; but if there remained
one grape on it, it is unclean.

_Okzin_, chap, i, mish. 5.

Not every man deserves to have two tables.

_Berachoth_, fol. 5, col. 2.

The meaning of this rather ambiguous sentence may either be,
that all men are not able to succeed in more enterprises than
one at a time; or that it is not given to every one to make the
best both of the present world and of that which is to come.

Abba Benjamin used to say "There are two things about which I have all
my life been much concerned: that my prayer should be offered in front
of my bed, and that the position of my bed should be from north to
south."

Ibid., fol. 5, col. 2.

There are several reasons which may be adduced to account for
Abba Benjamin's anxiety, and they are all more or less connected
with the important consequences which were supposed to depend
upon determining his position with reference to the Shechinah,
which rested in the east or the west.

Abba Benjamin felt anxious to have children, for "any man not
having children is counted as dead," as it is written (Gen. xxx.
1), "Give me children, or else I die." (_Nedarin_, fol. 64, col.
2.)

With the Jew one great consideration of life is to have
children, and more especially male children; because when a boy
is born all rejoice over him, but over a girl they all mourn.
When a boy comes into the world he brings peace with him, and a
loaf of bread in his hand, but a girl brings nothing. (_Niddah_,
fol. 31, col. 2.)

It is impossible for the world to be without males and females,
but blessed is he whose children are boys, and hapless is he
whose children are girls. (_Kiddushin_, fol. 82, col. 2.)

Whosoever does not leave a son to be heir, God will heap wrath
upon him. (Scripture is quoted in proof of this, compare Numb.
xxvii. 8 with Zeph. i. 15.) (_Bava Bathra_, fol. 116, col. 1.)

"There are two ways before me, one leading into Paradise, the other into
Hell." When Yochanan, the son of Zachai, was sick unto death, his
disciples came to visit him; and when he saw them he wept, upon which
his disciples exclaimed, "Light of Israel! Pillar of the right! Mighty
Hammer! why weepest thou?" He replied, "If I were going to be led into
the presence of a king, who is but flesh and blood, to-day here and
to-morrow in the grave, whose anger with me could not last forever,
whose sentence against me, were it even unto death, could not endure
forever, and whom perhaps I might pacify with words or bribe with money,
yet for all that should I weep; but now that I am about to enter the
presence of the King of kings, the Holy One--blessed be He forever and
ever!--whose anger would be everlasting, whose sentence of death or
imprisonment admits of no reprieve, and who is not to be pacified with
words nor bribed with money, and in whose presence there are two roads
before me, one leading into Paradise and the other into Hell, and should
I not weep?" Then prayed they him, and said, "Rabbi, give us thy
farewell blessing;" and he said unto them, "Oh that the fear of God may
be as much upon you as the fear of man."

_Berachoth_, fol. 28, col. 2.

Rabbi Ami says, "Knowledge is of great price, for it is placed between
two divine names, as it is written (I Sam. ii. 3), 'A God of knowledge
is the Lord,' and therefore mercy is to be denied to him who has no
knowledge; for it is written (Isa. xxvii. 11), 'It is a people of no
understanding, therefore He that hath made them will not have mercy on
them.'"

_Berachoth_ fol. 33, col. 1.

Here we have a clear law, drawn from Scripture, forbidding, or
at any rate denying, mercy to the ignorant. The words of Rabbi
(the Holy) are a practical commentary on the text worth quoting,
"Woe is unto me because I have given my morsel to an ignorant
one." (_Bava Bathra_, fol. 8, col. 1.)

But who is the ignorant one from whom this mercy is to be
withheld? Here the doctors disagree. He, says Rabbi Eliezer, who
does not read the Shema, "Hear, O Israel," etc., both morning
and evening. According to Rabbi Yehudah, he that does not put on
phylacteries is an ignorant one. Rabbi Azai affirms that he who
wears no fringes to his garment is an ignorant one, etc. Others
again say he who even reads the Bible and the Mishna but does
not serve the disciples of the wise, is an ignorant one. Rabbi
Huna winds up with the words "the law is as the others have
said," and so leaves the difficulty where he finds it.
(_Berachoth_, fol. 47, col. 2.)

Of him "who transgresses the words of the wise, which he is
commanded to obey," it is written, "He is guilty of death and
has forfeited his life." (_Berachoth_, fol. 4, col. 2, and
_Yevamoth_, fol. 20, col. 1.) Whoso, therefore, shows mercy to
him contradicts the purpose and incurs the displeasure of God.
It was in application of this principle, literally interpreted,
that the wise should hold no parley with the ignorant, which led
the Jews to condemn the contrary procedure of Jesus Christ.

It was this prohibition to show mercy to the ignorant, together
with the solemn threatenings directed against those who
neglected the study of the law, that worked such a wonderful
revolution in Hezekiah's time; for it is said that then "they
searched from Dan to Beersheba, and did not find an ignorant
one." (_Sanhedrin_, fol. 94, col. 2.)

When the Holy One--blessed be He!--remembers that His children are in
trouble among the nations of the world, He drops two tears into the
great ocean, the noise of which startles the world from one end to the
other, and causes the earth to quake.

_Berachoth_, fol. 59, col. 1.

We read in the Talmud that a Gentile once came to Shamai and said, "How
many laws have you?" Shamai replied, "We have two, the written law and
the oral law." To which the Gentile made answer, "When you speak of the
written law, I believe you, but in your oral law I have no faith.
Nevertheless, you may make me a proselyte on condition that you teach me
the written law only." Upon this Shamai rated him sharply, and sent him
away with indignant abuse. When, however, this Gentile came with the
same object, and proposed the same terms to Hillel, the latter proceeded
at once to proselytize him, and on the first day taught him Aleph, Beth,
Gemel, Daleth. On the morrow Hillel reversed the order of these letters,
upon which the proselyte remonstrated and said, "But thou didst not
teach me so yesterday." "True," said Hillel, "but thou didst trust me in
what I taught thee then; why, then, dost thou not trust me now in what I
tell thee respecting the oral law?"

_Shabbath_, fol. 31, col. 1.

Every man as he goes on the eve of the Sabbath from the synagogue to his
house is escorted by two angels, one of which is a good angel and the
other an evil. When the man comes home and finds the lamps lit, the
table spread, and the bed in order, the good angel says, "May the coming
Sabbath be even as the present;" to which the evil angel (though with
reluctance) is obliged to say, "Amen." But if all be in disorder, then
the bad angel says, "May the coming Sabbath be even as the present," and
the good angel is (with equal reluctance), obliged to say "Amen" to it.

Ibid., fol. 119, col. 2.

Two are better than three. Alas! for the one that goes and does not
return again.

_Shabbath_, fol. 152, col. 1.

As in the riddle of the Sphinx, the "two" here stands for youth
with its two sufficient legs, and the "three" for old age, which
requires a third support in a staff.

There were two things which God first thought of creating on the eve of
the Sabbath, which, however, were not created till after the Sabbath had
closed. The first was fire, which Adam by divine suggestion drew forth
by striking together two stones; and the second, was the mule, produced
by the crossing of two different animals.

_P'sachim_, fol. 54, col. 1.

"Every one has two portions, one in paradise and another in hell."
Acheer asked Rabbi Meyer, "What meaneth this that is written (Eccl. vii.
14), 'God also has set the one over against the other'?" Rabbi Meyer
replied, "There is nothing which God has created of which He has not
also created the opposite. He who created mountains and hills created
also seas and rivers." But said Acheer to Rabbi Meyer, "Thy master,
Rabbi Akiva, did not say so, but spake in this way: He created the
righteous and also the wicked; He created paradise and hell: every man
has two portions, one portion in paradise, and the other in hell. The
righteous, who has personal merit, carries both his own portion of good
and that of his wicked neighbor away with him to paradise; the wicked,
who is guilty and condemned, carries both his own portion of evil and
also that of his righteous neighbor away with him to hell." When Rav
Mesharshia asked what Scripture guarantee there was for this, this was
the reply: "With regard to the righteous, it is written (Isa. lxi. 7),
'They shall rejoice in their portion, therefore in their land (beyond
the grave) they shall possess the double.' Respecting the wicked it is
written (Jer. xvii. 18), 'And destroy them with double destruction.'"

_Chaggigah_, fol. 15, col. 1.

The question asked above by Acheer has been practically resolved
by all wise men from the beginning of the world, but it is the
boast of the Hegelians that it has for the first time been
resolved philosophically by their master. Others had maintained
that you could not think a thing but through its opposite; he
first maintained it could not exist but through its opposite,
that, in fact, the thing and its opposite must needs arise
together, and that eternally, as complements of one unity: the
white is not there without the black, nor the black without the
white; the good is not there without the evil, nor the evil
without the good.

Pride is unbecoming in women. There were two proud women, and their
names were contemptible; the name of the one, Deborah, meaning wasp, and
of the other, Huldah, weasel. Respecting the wasp it is written (Judges
iv. 6), "And she sent and called Barak," whereas she ought to have gone
to him. Concerning the weasel it is written (2 Kings xxii. 15), "Tell
the man that sent you," whereas she should have said, "Tell the king."

_Meggillah_, fol. 14, col. 2.

If speech is worth one sela (a small coin so called), silence is worth
two.

Ibid., fol. 18, col. 1.

The Swiss motto, "Speech is worth silver, silence worth gold,"
expresses a sentiment which finds great favor with the authors
and varied expression in the pages of the Talmud.

If silence be good for wise men, how much better must it be for fools!

_P'sachim_, fol. 98, col. 2.

For every evil silence is the best remedy.

_Meggillah_, fol. 18, col. 1.

Silence is as good as confession.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 87, col. 1.

Silence in a Babylonian was a mark of his being of good family.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 71, col. 2.

Simeon, the son of Gamliel, said, "I have been brought up all my life
among the wise, and I have never found anything of more material benefit
than silence."

_Avoth_, chap. 1.

Rabbi Akiva said, "Laughter and levity lead a man to lewdness; but
tradition is a fence to the law, tithes are a fence to riches, vows are
a fence to abstinence, while the fence of wisdom is silence."

Ibid., chap. 3.

When they opened his brain, they found in it a gnat as big as a swallow
and weighing two selas.

_Gittin_, fol. 56, col. 2.

The context of the above states a tradition current among the
Jews in reference to Titus, the destroyer of Jerusalem. It is
said that when, after taking the city, he had shamefully
violated and profaned the Temple, he took the sacred vessels of
the sanctuary, wrapped them in the veil of the holy place, and
sailed with them to Rome. At sea a storm arose and threatened to
sink the ship; upon which he was heard reflecting, "It seems the
God of these Jews has no power anywhere but at sea. Pharaoh He
drowned, and Sisera He drowned, and now He is about to drown me
also. If He be mighty, let Him go ashore and contend with me
there." Then came a voice from heaven and said, "O thou wicked
one, son of a wicked man and grandson of Esau the wicked, go
ashore. I have a creature--an insignificant one in my world--go
and fight with it."

This creature was a gnat, and is called insignificant because it
must receive and discharge what it eats by one aperture.
Immediately, therefore, he landed, when a gnat flew up his
nostrils and made its way to his brain, on which it fed for a
period of seven years. One day he happened to pass a
blacksmith's forge, when the noise of the hammer soothed the
gnawing at his brain. "Aha" said Titus, "I have found a remedy
at last;" and he ordered a blacksmith to hammer before him. To a
Gentile for this he (for a time) paid four zuzim a day, but to a
Jewish blacksmith he paid nothing, remarking to him, "It is
payment enough to thee to see thy enemy suffering so painfully."
For thirty days he felt relieved, but after, no amount of
hammering in the least relieved him. As to what happened after
his death, we have this testimony from Rabbi Phineas, the son of
Aruba: "I myself was among the Roman magnates when an inquest
was held upon the body of Titus, and on opening his brain they
found therein a gnat as big as a swallow, weighing two selas."
Others say it was as large as a pigeon a year old and weighed
two litras. Abaii says, "We found its mouth was of copper and
its claws of iron." Titus gave instructions that after his death
his body should be burned, and the ashes thereof scattered over
the surface of the seven seas, that the God of the Jews might
not find him and bring him to judgment. (_Gittin_, fol. 56, col.
2.)

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