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

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_Shabbath_, fol. 88, col. 2.

Nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the world was created
the law was written and deposited in the bosom of the Holy One--blessed
be He!--and sang praises with the ministering angels.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 31.

If one is sick and at the point of death, he is expected to confess, for
all confess who are about to suffer the last penalty of the law. When a
man goes to the market place, let him consider himself as handed over to
the custody of the officers of judgment. If he has a headache, let him
deem himself fastened with a chain by the neck. If confined to his bed,
let him regard himself as mounting the steps to be judged; for when this
happens to him, he is saved from death only if he have competent
advocates, and these advocates are repentance and good works. And if
nine hundred and ninety-nine plead against him, and only one for him, he
is saved; as it is said (Job xxxiii. 23), "If there be an interceding
angel, one among a thousand to declare for man his uprightness, then He
is gracious unto him and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit."

_Shabbath_, fol. 32, col. 1.

Rav Hunna says, "A quarrel is like a breach in the bank of a river; when
it is once made it grows wider and wider." A certain man used to go
about and say, "Blessed is he who submits to a reproach and is silent,
for a hundred evils depart from him." Shemuel said to Rav Yehuda, "It is
written in Scripture (Prov. xvii. 14), 'The beginning of strife is as
when one letteth out water.'" Strife is the beginning of a hundred
lawsuits.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 7, col. 1.

When Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, she introduced to him a
thousand different kinds of musical instruments, and taught him the
chants to the various idols.

_Shabbath_, fol. 56, col. 2.

When Buneis, the son of Buneis, called on Rabbi (the Holy), the latter
exclaimed, "Make way for one worth a hundred manahs!" Presently another
visitor came, and Rabbi said, "Make way for one worth two hundred
manahs." Upon which Rabbi Ishmael, the son of Rabbi Yossi, remonstrated,
saying, "Rabbi, the father of the first-comer, owns a thousand ships at
sea and a thousand towns ashore!" "Well," replied Rabbi, "when thou
seest his father, tell him to send his son better clad next time." Rabbi
paid great respect to those that were rich, and so did Rabbi Akiva.

_Eiruvin_, fol. 86, col. 1.

Rabbi Elazer ben Charsom inherited from his father a thousand towns and
a thousand ships, and yet he went about with a leather sack of flour at
his back, roaming from town to town and from province to province in
order to study the law. This great Rabbi never once set eye on his
immense patrimony, for he was engaged in the study of the law all day
and all night long. And so strange was he to his own servants, that
they, on one occasion, not knowing who he was, pressed him against his
will to do a day's work as a menial; and though he pleaded with them as
a suppliant to be left alone to pursue his studies in the law, they
refused, and swore, saying, "By the life of Rabbi Elazer ben Charsom,
our master, we will not let thee go till thy task is completed." He then
let himself be enforced rather than make himself known to them.

_Yoma_, fol. 35, col. 2.

The wife of Potiphar coaxed Joseph with loving words, but in vain. She
then threatened to immure him in prison, but he replied (anticipating
Ps. cxlvi. 7), "The Lord looseth the prisoners." Then she said, "I will
bow thee down with distress; I will blind thine eyes." He only answered
(_ibid._, ver. 8), "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind and raiseth
them that are bowed down." She then tried to bribe him with a thousand
talents of silver if he would comply with her request, but in vain.

Ibid.

A Midrash tells us that Potiphar's wife not only falsely accused
Joseph herself, but that she also suborned several of her female
friends to do likewise. The Book of Jasher, which embodies the
Talmudic story quoted above, tells us that an infant in the
cradle spoke up and testified to Joseph's innocence, and that
while Joseph was in prison his inamorata daily visited him. More
on this topic may be found in the Koran, chap. xii. The amours
of Joseph and Zulieka, as told by the glib tongue of tradition,
fitly find their consummation in marriage, and certain Moslems
affect to see in all this an allegorical type of Divine love, an
allegory which some other divines find in the Song of Solomon.

The thickness of the earth is a thousand paces or ells.

_Succah_, fol. 53, col. 2.

The crust of the earth as far as the abyss is a thousand ells,
and the abyss under the earth is fifteen thousand. There is an
upper and a lower abyss mentioned in Taanith, fol. 25, col. 2.
Riddia, the angel who has the command of the waters, and resides
between the two abysses, says to the upper, "disperse thy
waters," and to the lower, "let thy waters flow up."

Many may ask after thy peace, but tell thy secret only to one of a
thousand.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 63, col. 2.

The Rabbis have taught that if the value of stolen property is a
thousand, and the thief is only worth, say, five hundred, he is to be
sold into slavery twice. But if the reverse, he is not to be sold at
all.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 18, col. 2.

The Behemoth upon a thousand hills (Ps. l. 10), God created them male
and female, but had they been allowed to propagate they would have
destroyed the whole world. What did He do? He castrated the male and
spayed the female, and then preserved them that they might serve for the
righteous at the Messianic banquet; as it is said (Job xl. 16), "His
strength is in his loins (i.e., the male), and his force in the navel of
his belly" (i.e., the female).

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 74, col. 2.

This provision for the coming Messianic banquet is considered of
sufficient importance to be mentioned year after year in the
service for the Day of Atonement and also at the Feast of
Tabernacles. The remark of D. Levi, that the feast here referred
to is to be understood allegorically, involves rather sweeping
consequences, as it is open to any one to annihilate many other
expectations on the same principle.

The Holy One--blessed be He!--will add to Jerusalem gardens extending to
a thousand times their numerical value, which equals one hundred and
sixty-nine, etc.

Ibid., fol. 75, col. 2.

"Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much" (2 Kings xxi. 16).
Here (in Babylon) it is interpreted to mean that he murdered Isaiah, but
in the West (i.e., in Palestine) they say that he made an image of the
weight of a thousand men, which was the number he massacred every day
(as Rashi says, by the heaviness of its weight).

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 103, col. 2.

See Josephus, Antiq., Book X. chap, iii., sec. 1, for
corroborative evidence. Tradition says that Manasseh caused
Isaiah to be sawn asunder with a wooden saw. (See also Yevamoth,
fol. 49, col. 2; Sanhedrin, fol. 103, col. 2.)

Nowhere in the Talmud do we find the name of the great image
here referred to. What if we christen it the "Juggernaut of the
Talmud"? May the tradition not be a prelusion or a reflex of
that man-crushing monster? Anyhow, scholars are aware of a
community of no inconsiderable extent between the conceptions
and legends of the Hindoos and the Rabbis. One notable contrast,
however, between this Juggernaut and that of the Hindoos is,
that whereas in both cases the innocent suffered for the guilty,
in the former that sacrifices were exacted to propitiate Satan,
while in the latter they were freely offered in supposed
propitiation of the gods.

The food consumed by Og, king of Bashan, consisted of a thousand oxen
and as many of all sorts of other beasts, and his drink consisted of a
thousand measures, etc.

_Sophrim_, chap. 21, mish. 9.

Solomon made ten candelabra for the Temple; for each he set aside a
thousand talents of gold, which he refined in a crucible until they were
reduced to the weight of one talent.

_Menachoth_, fol. 29, col. 1.

There was an organ in the Temple which produced a thousand kinds of
melody.

_Eirchin_, fol. 11 col. 1.

The Magrepha, with its ten pipes and its ten-times-ten various
notes (Eirchin, fol. 10, col. 2, and fol. 11, col. 1), which was
said to have been used in the Temple service, must have been an
instrument far superior to any organ in use at the time
elsewhere.

If from a town numbering fifteen hundred footmen, such, for example, as
the village of Accho, nine people be borne forth dead in the course of
three successive days, it is a sure sign of the presence of the plague;
but if this happen in one day or in four, then it is not the plague.

_Taanith_, fol. 21, col. 1.

Seventeen hundred of the arguments and minute rules of the Scribes were
forgotten during the days of mourning for Moses. Othniel, the son of
Kenaz, by his shrewd arguing restored them all as if they had never
lapsed from the memory.

_Temurah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

There was a great court at Jerusalem called Beth Yaazek, where all
witnesses (who could testify to the time of the appearance of the new
moon) used to assemble, and where they were examined by the authorities.
Grand feasts were prepared for them as an inducement to them to come
(and give in their testimony). Formerly they did not move from the place
they happened to be in when overtaken by the Sabbath, but Rabbon Gamliel
the elder ordained that they might in that case move two thousand cubits
either way.

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 21, col. 2.

He that is abroad (on the Sabbath) and does not know the limit of the
Sabbath day's journey may walk two thousand moderate paces, and that is
a Sabbath day's journey.

_Eiruvin_, fol. 42, col. 1.

Rabbon Gamliel had a hollow tube, through which, when he looked, he
could distinguish a distance of two thousand cubits, whether by land or
sea. By the same tube he could ascertain the depth of a valley or the
height of a palm tree.

Ibid., fol. 43, col. 2.

He who observes carefully the precepts respecting fringes will, as a
reward, have two thousand eight hundred slaves to wait upon him; for it
is said (Zech. viii. 23), "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days
it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages
of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew,
saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."

_Shabbath_, fol. 32, col. 2.

Rashi's explanation of this matter is very simple. The merit of
the fringes lies in their being duly attached to "the four
quarters" or skirts of the garments (Deut. xxii. 12). There are
seventy nations in the whole world, and ten of each nation will
take hold of each corner of the garment, which gives 70 x 10 x 4
= 2800. Rabbi B'chai, commenting on Num. xv. 39, 40, repeats the
same story almost word for word.

This passage (Zech. viii. 23) has lately been construed by some
into a prophecy of the recent Berlin Congress, and the ten men
mentioned are found in the representatives of the contracting
parties, i.e., England, France, Germany, Turkey, Russia,
Austria, Italy, Greece, Roumania, and Servia.

Rav Hamnunah said, "What is it that is written (1 Kings iv. 32), 'And he
spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five'?"
It is intended to teach that Solomon uttered three thousand proverbs
upon each and every word of the law, and for every word of the Scribes
he assigned a thousand and five reasons.

_Eiruvin_, fol. 21, col. 2.

When Rabbi Eliezer was sick he was visited by Rabbi Akiva and his
party.... "Wherefore have ye come?" he asked. "To learn the law," was
the reply. "And why did you not come sooner?" "Because we had no
leisure," said they. "I shall be much surprised," said he, "if you die a
natural death." Then turning to Rabbi Akiva he said, "Thy death shall be
the worst of all." Then folding his arms upon his breast, he exclaimed:
"Woe unto my two arms! for they are like two scrolls of the law rolled
up, so that their contents are hidden. Had they waited upon me, they
might have added much to their knowledge of the law, but now that
knowledge will perish with me. I have in my time learned much and taught
much, and yet I have no more diminished the knowledge of my Rabbis by
what I have derived from them than the waters of the sea are reduced by
a dog lapping them. Over and above this I expounded three hundred," some
allege he said three thousand, "Halachahs with reference to the growing
of Egyptian cucumbers, and yet no one except Akiva ben Yoseph has ever
proposed a single question to me respecting them. He and I were walking
along the road one day when he asked me to instruct him regarding the
cultivation of Egyptian cucumbers. I made but one remark, when the
entire field became full of them. Then at his request I made a remark
about cutting them, when lo! they all collected themselves together in
one spot." Thus Rabbi Eliezer kept on talking, when all of a sudden he
fell back and expired.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 68, col. 1.

The last words of this eminent Rabbi derive a tragic interest
from the fact that he died while under sentence of
excommunication.

Three thousand Halachoth were forgotten at the time of mourning for
Moses, and among them the Halachah respecting an animal intended for a
sin-offering the owner of which died before sacrificing it.

_Temurah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

All the prophets were rich men. This we infer from the account of Moses,
Samuel, Amos, and Jonah. Of Moses, as it is written (Num. xvi. 15), "I
have not taken one ass from them." Of Samuel, as it is written (1 Sam.
xii. 3), "Behold, here I am; witness against me before the Lord, and
before His anointed, whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken?"
Of Amos, as it is written (Amos vii. 14), "I was an herdsman and a
gatherer of sycamore fruit," i.e., I am proprietor of my herds and own
sycamores in the valley. Of Jonah, as it is written (Jonah i. 3), "So he
paid the fare thereof and went down into it." Rabbi Yochanan says he
hired the whole ship. Rabbi Rumanus says the hire of the ship amounted
to four thousand golden denarii.

_Nedarim_, fol. 38, col. 1.

Four thousand two hundred and thirty-one years after the creation of the
world, if any one offers thee for one single denarius a field worth a
thousand denarii, do not buy it.

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 2.

Rashi gives this as the reason of the prohibition: For then the
restoration of the Jews to their own land will take place, so
that the denarius paid for a field in a foreign land would be
money thrown away.

Four thousand two hundred and ninety-one years after the creation of the
world the wars of the dragons and the wars of Gog and Magog will cease,
and the rest of the time will be the days of the Messiah; and the Holy
One--blessed be He!--will not renew His world till after seven thousand
years.... Rabbi Jonathan said, "May the bones of those who compute the
latter days (when the Messiah shall appear) be blown; for some say,
'Because the time (of Messiah) has come and Himself has not, therefore
He will never come!' But wait thou for Him, as it is said (Hab. ii. 3),
'Though He tarry, wait for Him.' Perhaps you will say, 'We wait, but He
does not wait;' learn rather to say (Isa. xxx. 18), 'And therefore will
the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you; and therefore will He
be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you.'"

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 97, col. 2.

It is related of Rabbi Tarphon (probably the Tryphon of polemic fame)
that he was very rich, but gave nothing to the poor. Once Rabbi Akiva
met him and said, "Rabbi, dost thou wish me to purchase for thee a town
or two?" "I do," said he, and at once gave him four thousand gold
denarii. Rabbi Akiva took this sum and distributed it among the poor.
Some time after Rabbi Tarphon met Rabbi Akiva and said, "Where are the
towns thou purchasedst for me?" The latter seized hold of him by the arm
and led him to the Beth Hamedrash, where, taking-up a psalter, they read
together till they came to this verse, "He hath dispersed, he hath given
to the poor, his righteousness endureth forever" (Ps. cxii. 9). Here
Rabbi Akiva paused and said, "This is the place I purchased for thee,"
and Rabbi Tarphon saluted him with a kiss.

_Tract. Callah._

The Pentateuch contains five thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight
verses. The Psalms have eight verses more than, and the Chronicles eight
verses short of, that number.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 30, col. 1.

The number of verses in the Pentateuch is usually stated at
5845, the mnemonic sign of which is a word in Isaiah xxx. 26,
the letters of which stand for 5845. The verse reads, "Moreover,
the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun." The
Masorites tell us that the number of verses in the Psalms is
2527, and in the two Books of Chronicles 1656.

The world is to last six thousand years. Two thousand of these are
termed the period of disorder, two thousand belong to the dispensation
of the law, and two thousand are the days of the Messiah; but because of
our iniquities a large fraction of the latter term is already passed and
gone without the Messiah giving any sign of His appearing.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 97, col. 1.

As the land of Canaan had one year of release in seven, so has the world
one millennium of release in seven thousand years; for it is said (Isa.
ii. 17), "And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day;" and again
(Ps. xcii. 1), "A psalm or song for the Sabbath day," which means a long
Sabbatic period; and again (Ps. xc. 4), "For a thousand years in Thy
sight are but as the day of yesterday."

Ibid.

Tradition records that the ladder (mentioned Gen. xxviii. 12) was eight
thousand miles wide, for it is written, "And behold the angels of God
ascending and descending upon it." Angels ascending, being in the
plural, cannot be fewer than two at a time, and so likewise must those
descending, so that when they passed they were four abreast at least. In
Daniel x. 6 it is said of the angel, "His body was like Tarshish," and
there is a story that Tarshish extended two thousand miles.

_Chullin_, fol. 91, col. 2.

The tithes from the herds of Elazer ben Azaryah amounted to twelve
thousand calves annually.

_Shabbath_, fol. 54, col. 2.

It is said that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of disciples
dispersed about between Gabbath and Antipatris, and all of them died
within a short period because they paid no honor to one another. The
land was then desolate until Rabbi Akiva came among our Rabbis of the
south and taught the law to Rabbis Meir, Yehudah, Yossi, Shimon, and
Elazer ben Shamua, who re-established its authority.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 26, col. 2.

After a lapse of twelve years, he returned accompanied by twelve
thousand disciples, etc.

Ravah bar Nachmaini was impeached for depriving the revenue of the
poll-tax on twelve thousand Jews, by detaining them annually at his
academy for one month in the spring, and for another month in the
autumn; for great multitudes from various parts of the country were
wont, at the two seasons of the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles,
to come to hear him preach, so that when the king's officers came to
collect the taxes they found none of them at home. A royal messenger was
accordingly despatched to apprehend him, but he failed to find him, for
the Rabbi fled to Pumbeditha, and from thence to Akra, to Agmi, Sichin,
Zeripha, Ein d'Maya, and back again to Pumbeditha. Arrived at this
place, both the royal messenger and the fugitive Rabbi happened to put
up at the same inn. Two cups were placed before the former on a table,
when, strange to say, after he had drunk and the table was removed, his
face was forcibly turned round to his back. (This was done by evil
spirits because he drank even numbers--against which we are earnestly
warned in _P'sachim_, fol. 110, col. 1.) The inn-keeper, fearing the
consequences of such a misfortune happening to so high an official at
his inn, sought advice of the lurking Rabbi, when the latter suggested
that the table be placed again before him with one cup only on it, and
thus the even number would become odd, and his face would return to its
natural position. They did so, and it was as the Rabbi had said. The
official then remarked to his host, "I know the man I want is here," and
he hastened and found him. "If I knew for certain," he said to the
Rabbi, "that thy escape would cost my life only, I would let thee go,
but I fear bodily torture, and therefore I must secure thee." And
thereupon he locked him up. Upon this the Rabbi prayed, till the prison
walls miraculously giving way he made his escape to Agma, where he
seated himself at the root of a tree and gave himself up to meditation.
While thus engaged he all at once heard a discussion in the academy of
heaven on the subject of the hair mentioned in Lev. xiii. 25. The Holy
One--blessed be He!--declared the case to be "clean," but the whole
academy were of a different opinion, and declared the case to be
"unclean." The question then arose, "Who shall decide?" "Ravah bar
Nachmaini shall decide," was the unanimous reply, "for he said, 'I am
one in matters of leprosy; I am one in questions about tents; and there
is none to equal me.'" Then the angel of death was sent for to bring him
up, but he was unable to approach him, because the Rabbi's lips never
ceased repeating the law of the Lord. The angel of death thereupon
assumed the appearance of a troop of cavalry, and the Rabbi,
apprehensive of being seized and carried off, exclaimed, "I would rather
die through that one (meaning the angel of death) than be delivered into
the hands of the Government!" At that very instant he was asked to
decide the question in dispute, and just as the verdict "clean" issued
from his lips his soul departed from his body, and a voice was heard
from heaven proclaiming, "Blessed art thou, Ravah bar Nachmaini, for thy
body is clean. 'Clean' was the word on thy lips when thy spirit
departed." Then a scroll fell down from heaven into Pumbeditha
announcing that Ravah bar Nachmaini was admitted into the academy of
heaven. Apprised of this, Abaii, in company with many other Rabbis, went
in search of the body to inter it, but not knowing the spot where he
lay, they went to Agma, where they noticed a great number of birds
hovering in the air, and concluded that the shadow of their wings
shielded the body of the departed. There, accordingly, they found and
buried him; and after mourning three days and three nights over his
grave, they arose to depart, when another scroll descended threatening
them with excommunication if they did so. They therefore continued
mourning for seven days and seven nights, when, at the end of these, a
third scroll descended and bade them go home in peace. On the day of the
death of this Rabbi there arose, it is said, such a mighty tempest in
the air that an Arab merchant and the camel on which he was riding were
blown bodily over from one side of the river Pappa to the other. "What
meaneth such a storm as this?" cried the merchant, as he lay on the
ground. A voice from heaven answered, "Ravah bar Nachmaini is dead."
Then he prayed and fled, "Lord of the universe, the whole world is
Thine, and Ravah bar Nachmaini is Thine! Thou art Ravah's and Ravah is
Thine; but wherefore wilt Thou destroy the world?" On this the storm
immediately abated, and there was a perfect calm.

_Bava Metzia_, fol. 86, col. 1.

The above seems to be a Rabbinical satire on the Talmud itself
although the orthodox Jews believe that every word in it is
historically true. Well, perhaps it is so; and we outsiders are
ignorant, and without the means of judging.

Now we know what God does during the day, but how does He occupy Himself
in the night-time? We may say He does the same as at day-time; or that
during the night He rides on a swift cherub over eighteen thousand
worlds; as it is said (Ps. lxviii. 17), "The chariots of God are twenty
thousand," less two thousand Shinan; read not Shinan but She-einan,
i.e., two thousand less than twenty thousand, therefore eighteen
thousand.

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 3. col. 2.

Prince Contrukos asked Rabbon Yochanan ben Zacchai how, when the
detailed enumeration of the Levites amounted to twenty-two thousand
three hundred (the Gershonites, 7500; the Kohathites, 8600; the
Merarites, 6200, making in all 22,300), the sum total given is only
twenty-two thousand, omitting the three hundred. "Was Moses, your
Rabbi," he asked, "a cheat or a bad calculator?" He answered, "They were
first-borns, and therefore could not be substitutes for the first-born
of Israel."

_Bechoroth_, fol. 5, col. 1.

"And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death" (2 Chron.
xxxii. 33). This is Hezekiah, king of Judah, at whose funeral thirty-six
thousand people attended bare-shouldered, ... and upon his bier was laid
a roll of the law, and it was said, "This man has fulfilled what is
written in this book."

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