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

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_Bava Kama_, fol. 17, col. 1.

Sennacherib the wicked invaded Jewry with forty-five thousand princes in
golden coronets, and they had with them their wives and odalisques; also
eighty thousand mighty men clad in mail and sixty thousand swordsmen ran
before him, and the rest were cavalry. With a similar army they came
against Abraham, and a like force is to come up with Gog and Magog. A
tradition teaches that the extent of his camp was four hundred parsaes
or leagues, the extent of the horses' necks were forty parsaes. The
total muster of his army was two hundred and sixty myriads of thousands,
less one. Abaii asked, "Less one myriad, or one thousand, or one
hundred? or more literally less one?"

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 95, col. 2.

In the immediate context of the above extract we have the following
legend concerning Sennacherib:--As Rabbi Abhu has said, "Were it not for
this Scripture text it would be impossible to repeat what is written
(Isa. vii. 20), 'In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that
is hired, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head and
the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.'" The story
is this:--The Holy One--blessed be He!--once disguised Himself as an
elderly man and came to Sennacherib, and said, "When thou comest to the
kings of the East and of the West, to force their sons into thine army,
what wilt thou say unto them?" He replied, "On that very account I am in
fear. What shall I do?" God answered him, "Go and disguise thyself."
"How can I disguise myself?" said he. God replied, "Go and fetch me a
pair of scissors and I will cut thy hair." Sennacherib asked, "Whence
shall I fetch them?" "Go to yonder house and bring them." He went
accordingly and observed a pair, but there he met the ministering angels
disguised as men, grinding date-stones. He asked them for the scissors,
but they said "Grind thou first a measure of date-stones, and then thou
shalt have the scissors." He did as he was told, and so obtained the
scissors. It was dark before he returned, and God said unto him, "Go and
fetch some fire." This also he did, but while blowing the embers his
beard was singed. Upon which God came and shaved his head and his beard,
and said, "This is it which is written (Isa. vii. 20), 'It shall also
consume the beard.'" Rav Pappa says this is the proverb current among
the people, "Singe the face of a Syrian, and, if it pleases him, also
set his beard in fire, and thou wilt not be able to laugh enough."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 95, col. 2, and fol. 96, col. 1.

"He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel," etc. (Lam.
ii. 3). These are the eighty thousand war-horns or battering-rams that
entered the city of Byther, in which he massacred so many men, women,
and children, that their blood ran like a river and flowed into the
Mediterranean Sea, which was a mile away from the place.

_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 1.

That mule had a label attached to his neck on which it was stated that
its breeding cost a hundred thousand zouzim.

_Bechoroth_, fol. 8, col. 2.

Rabbi Yossi said, "I have seen Sepphoris (Cyprus) in the days of its
prosperity, and there were in it a hundred and eighty thousand marts for
sauces."

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 75, col. 2.

Rav Assi said three hundred thousand swordsmen went up to the Royal
Mount and there slaughtered the people for three days and three nights,
and yet while on the one side of the mount they were mourning, on the
other they were merry; those on the one side did not know the affairs of
those on the other.

_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 1.

A certain disciple prayed before Rabbi Chanina, and said, "O God! who
art great, mighty, formidable, magnificent, strong, terrible, valiant,
powerful, real and honored!" He waited until he had finished, and then
said to him, "Hast thou ended all the praises of thy God? Need we
enumerate so many? As for us, even the three terms of praise which we
usually repeat, we should not dare to utter had not Moses, our master,
pronounced them in the law (Deut. x. 17), and had not the men of the
Great Synagogue ordained them for prayer; and yet thou hast repeated so
many and still seemest inclined to go on. It is as if one were to
compliment a king because of his silver, who is master of a thousand
thousands of gold denarii. Wouldst thou think that becoming?"

_Berachoth_, fol. 33, col. 2.

Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma relates, "I once met a man in my travels and we
saluted one another. In reply to a question of his I said, 'I am from a
great city of sages and scribes.' Upon this he offered me a thousand
thousand golden denarii, and precious stones and pearls, if I would
agree to go and dwell in his native place. But I replied, saying, 'If
thou wert to give me all the gold and silver, all the precious stones
and pearls in the world, I would not reside anywhere else than in the
place where the law is studied.'"

_Avoth_, chap. 6.

Thousands on thousands in Israel were named after Aaron; for had it not
been for Aaron these thousands of thousands would not have been born.
Aaron went about making peace between quarreling couples, and those who
were born after the reconciliation were regularly named after him.

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 12.

It is related by the Rabbis that Rabbon Yochanan ben Zacchai was once
riding out of Jerusalem accompanied by his disciples, when he saw a
young woman picking barley out of the dung on the road. On his asking
her name, she told him that she was the daughter of Nikodemon ben
Gorion. "What has become of thy father's riches?" said he, "and what has
become of thy dowry?" "Dost thou not remember," said she, "that charity
is the salt of riches?" (Her father had not been noted for this virtue.)
"Dost thou not remember signing my marriage contract?" said the woman.
"Yes," said the Rabbi, "I well remember it. It stipulated for a million
gold denarii from thy father, besides the allowance from thy husband,"
etc.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 66, col. 2.

Abba Benjamin says, "If our eye were permitted to see the malignant
sprites that beset us, we could not rest on account of them." Abaii has
said, "They out-number us, they surround us as the earthed-up soil on
our garden-beds." Rav Hunna says, "Every one has a thousand at his left
side and ten thousand at his right" (Ps. xci. 7). Rava adds, "The
crowding at the schools is caused by their pushing in; they cause the
weariness which the Rabbis experience in their knees, and even tear
their clothes by hustling against them. If one would discover traces of
their presence, let him sift some ashes upon the floor at his bedside,
and next morning he will see, as it were, the footmarks of fowls on the
surface. But if one would see the demons themselves, he must burn to
ashes the after-birth of a first-born black kitten, the offspring of a
first-born black cat, and then put a little of the ashes into his eyes,
and he will not fail to see them," etc., etc.

_Berachoth_, fol. 6, col. 1.

In each camp there are suspended three hundred and sixty-five myriads of
stars, etc.

Agrippa, being anxious to ascertain the number of the male population of
Israel, instructed the priest to take accurate note of the Paschal
lambs. On taking account of the kidneys, it was found that there were
sixty myriad couples (which indicated) double the number of those that
came up out of Egypt, not reckoning those that were ceremonially unclean
and those that were out traveling. There was not a Paschal lamb in which
less than ten had a share, so that the number represented over six
hundred myriads of men.

_P'sachim_, fol. 64, col. 2.

"It is unlawful to enumerate Israel even with a view to a
meritorious deed" (_Yoma_, fol. 22, col. 2). From Rashi's
comment on the former text it seems that the priest merely held
up the duplicate kidneys, upon which the king's agent regularly
laid aside a pea or a pebble into a small heap, which were
afterwards counted up. See also Josephus, Book VI. chap. ix.
sec. 3.

It might not be amiss to remind the reader in passing that if
one were to reckon one hundred per minute for ten hours a day,
it would take no less than sixteen days six hours forty minutes
to count a million; and that it would take twenty men, reckoning
at the same rate, to sum up the total number stated in the text
in one day, so as to ascertain that there were 1,200,000
sacrifices at the Passover under notice, representing no less
than 12,000,000 celebrants.

At the time when Israel in their eagerness first said, "We will do," and
then, "We will hear" (Exod. xxix. 7), there came sixty myriads of
ministering angels to crown each Israelite with two crowns, one for "we
will do" and one for "we will hear." But when after this Israel sinned,
there came down a hundred and twenty myriads of destroying angels and
took the crowns away from them, as it is said (Exod. xxxiii. 6), "And
the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount
Horeb." Resh Lakish says, "The Holy One--blessed be He!--will, in the
future, return them to us; for it is said (Isa. xxxv. 10), 'The ransomed
of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads,' i.e., the joy they had in days of yore, upon their
heads."

_Shabbath_, fol. 88, col. 1.

Let no one venture out alone at night-time on Wednesdays and Saturdays,
for Agrath, the daughter of Machloth, roams about accompanied by
eighteen myriads of evil genii, each one of which has power to destroy.

_P'sachim_, fol. 112, col. 2.

It is related of Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom that his mother made him a
shirt which cost two myriads of manahs, but his fellow-priests would not
allow him to wear it, because he appeared in it as though he were naked.

_Yoma_, fol. 35, col. 2.

He who has not seen the double gallery of the Synagogue in Alexandria of
Egypt, has not seen the glory of Israel.... There were seventy-one seats
arranged in it according to the number of the seventy-one members of the
greater Sanhedrin, each seat of no less value than twenty-one myriads of
golden talents. A wooden pulpit was in the centre, upon which stood the
reader holding a Sudarium (a kind of flag) in his hand, which he waved
when the vast congregation were required to say Amen at the end of any
benediction, which, of course, it was impossible for all to hear in so
stupendous a synagogue. The congregation did not sit promiscuously, but
in guilds; goldsmiths apart, silversmiths apart, blacksmiths,
coppersmiths, embroiderers, weavers, etc., all apart from each other.
When a poor craftsman came in, he took his seat among the people of his
guild, who maintained him till he found employment. Abaii says all this
immense population was massacred by Alexander of Macedon. Why were they
thus punished? Because they transgressed the Scripture, which says
(Deut. xvii. 16), "Ye shall henceforth return no more that way."

_Succah_, fol. 51, col. 2.

The Rabbis teach that during a prosperous year in the land of Israel, a
place sown with a measure of seed produces five myriad cors (a cor being
equal to thirty measures).

_Kethuboth_, fol. 112, col. 1.

Rav Ulla was once asked, "To what extent is one bound to honor his
father and mother?" To which he replied, "See what a Gentile of Askelon
once did, Dammah ben Nethina by name. The sages one day required goods
to the value of sixty myriads, for which they were ready to pay the
price, but the key of the store-room happened to be under the pillow of
his father, who was fast asleep, and Dammah would not disturb him."
Rabbi Eliezer was once asked the same question, and he gave the same
answer, adding an interesting fact to the illustration: "The sages were
seeking after precious stones for the high priest's breastplate, to the
value of some sixty or eighty myriads of golden denarii, but the key of
the jewel-chest happened to be under the pillow of his father, who was
asleep at the time, and he would not wake him. In the following year,
however, the Holy One--blessed be He!--rewarded him with the birth of a
red heifer among his herds, for which the sages readily paid him such a
sum as compensated him fully for the loss he sustained in honoring his
parent."

_Kiddushin_, fol. 31, col. 1.

"The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob" (Lam. ii. 2).
Ravin came to Babylon and said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, "These are
the sixty myriads of cities which King Yannai (Jannnaeus) possessed on
the royal mount. The population of each equalled the number that went up
out of Egypt, except that of three cities in which that number was
doubled. And these three cities were Caphar Bish (literally, the village
of evil), so called because there was no hospice for the reception of
strangers therein; Caphar Shichlaiim (village of water-cresses), so
called because it was chiefly on that herb that the people subsisted;
Caphar Dichraya (the village of male children), so called, says Rabbi
Yochanan, because its women first gave birth to boys, and afterward to
girls, and then left off bearing." Ulla said, "I have seen that place,
and am sure that it could not hold sixty myriads of sticks." A Sadducee
upon this said to Rabbi Chanina, "Ye do not speak the truth." The
response was, "It is written (Jer. iii. 19), 'The inheritance of a
deer,' as the skin of a deer, unoccupied by the body of the animal,
shrinks, so also the land of Israel, unoccupied by its rightful owners,
became contracted."

_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 1.

Rabbi Yoshua, the son of Korcha, relates: "An aged inhabitant of
Jerusalem once told me that in this valley two hundred and eleven
thousand myriads were massacred by Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard,
and in Jerusalem itself he slaughtered upon one stone ninety-four
myriads, so that the blood flowed till it touched the blood of
Zachariah, that it might be fulfilled which is said (Hos. ii. 4), 'And
blood toucheth blood.' When he saw the blood of Zachariah, and noticed
that it was boiling and agitated, he asked, 'What is this?' and he was
told that it was the spilled blood of the sacrifices. Then he ordered
blood from the sacrifices to be brought and compared it with the blood
of the murdered prophet, when, finding the one unlike the other, he
said, 'If ye tell me the truth, well and good; if not, I will comb your
flesh with iron currycombs!' Upon this they confessed, 'He was a
prophet, and because he rebuked us on matters of religion, we arose and
killed him, and it is now some years since his blood has been in the
restless condition in which thou seest it.' 'Well,' said he, 'I will
pacify him.' He then brought the greater and lesser Sanhedrin and
slaughtered them, but the blood of the prophet did not rest. He next
slaughtered young men and maidens, but the blood continued restless as
before. He finally brought school-children and slaughtered them, but the
blood being still unpacified, he exclaimed, 'Zachariah! Zachariah! I
have for thy sake killed the best among them; will it please thee if I
kill them all?' As he said this the blood of the prophet stood still and
quiescent. He then reasoned within himself thus, 'If the blood of one
individual has brought about so great a punishment, how much greater
will my punishment be for the slaughter of so many!' In short, he
repented, fled from his house, and became a Jewish proselyte."

_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 2.

The same story is repeated in _Sanhedrin_, fol. 96, col. 2, with
some variations; notably this, among others, that it was because
the prophet prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem that they
put him to death.

(Gen, xxvii. 2), "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the
hands of Esau." The first-named "voice" alludes to the voice of
lamentation caused by Hadrian, who had at Alexandria in Egypt massacred
twice the number of Jews that had come forth under Moses. The "voice of
Jacob" refers to a similar lamentation occasioned by Vespasian, who put
to death in the city of Byther four hundred myriads, or, as some say,
four thousand myriads. "The hands are the hands of Esau," that is, the
empire which destroyed our house, burned our Temple, and banished us
from our country. Or the "voice of Jacob" means that there is no
effectual prayer that is not offered up by the progeny of Jacob; and
"the hands are the hands of Esau," that there is no victorious battle
which is not fought by the descendants of Esau.

Ibid.

Tamar and Zimri both committed fornication. The former (actuated by a
good motive, see Gen. xxxviii. 26) became the ancestress of kings and
prophets. The latter brought about the destruction of myriads in Israel.
Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says, "To do evil from a good motive is better
than observing the law from a bad one" (e.g., Tamar and Zimri, Lot and
his daughters).

_Nazir_, fol. 23, col. 2.

The Rabbis have taught that the text, "And when it rested, he said,
Return, O Lord, to the myriads and thousands of Israel" (Num. x. 36),
intimates that the Shechinah does not rest upon less than two myriads
and two thousands (two being the minimum plurality). Suppose one of the
twenty-two thousand neglect the duty of procreation, is he not the cause
of the Shechinah's departure from Israel?

_Yevamoth_, fol. 64, col. 1.

"And place over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds,
and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens" (Exod. xviii. 21). The rulers
of thousands were six hundred in number, the rulers of hundreds six
thousand, of fifties twelve thousand, and rulers of tens six myriads.
The total number of rulers in Israel, therefore, was seven myriad eight
thousand six hundred.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 18, col. 1.

Once upon a time the people of Egypt appeared before Alexander of
Macedon to complain of Israel. "It is said (Exod. xii. 36), they argued,
'The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that
they lent unto them,' etc.;" and they prayed, "Give us now back the gold
and the silver that ye took from us." Givia ben Pesisa said to the wise
men (of Israel), "Give me permission to plead against them before
Alexander. If they overcome me, say, 'You have overcome a plebeian
only,' but if I overcome them, say, 'The law of Moses our master has
triumphed over you.'" They accordingly gave him leave, and he went and
argued thus, "Whence do ye produce your proof?" "From the law," said
they. Then said he, "I will bring no other evidence but from the law. It
is said (Exod. xii. 40), 'The sojourning of the children of Israel, who
dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.' Pay us now the
usufruct of the labor of the sixty myriads whom ye enslaved in Egypt for
four hundred and thirty years." Alexander gave the Egyptians three days'
grace to prepare a reply, but they never put in an appearance. In fact,
they fled away and left both their fields and vineyards.

Ibid., fol. 91, col. 1.

"And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you" (Exod.
xviii. 10). A tradition says, in the name of Rabbi Papyes, "Shame upon
Moses and upon the sixty myriads (of Israel), because they had not said,
'Blessed be the Lord,' till Jethro came and set the example."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 94, col. 1.

"And let him dip his foot in oil" (Deut. xxxiii. 24), the Rabbis say,
refers to the portion of Asher, which produces oil like a well. Once on
a time, they relate, the Laodiceans sent an agent to Jerusalem with
instructions to purchase a hundred myriads' worth of oil. He proceeded
first to Tyre, and thence to Gush-halab, where he met with the oil
merchant earthing up his olive trees, and asked him whether he could
supply a hundred myriads' worth of oil. "Stop till I have finished my
work," was the reply. The other, when he saw the business-like way in
which he set to work, could not help incredulously exclaiming, "What!
hast thou really a hundred myriads' worth of oil to sell? Surely the
Jews have meant to make game of me." However he went to the house with
the oil merchant, where a female slave brought hot water for him to wash
his hands and feet, and a golden bowl of oil to dip them in afterward,
thus fulfilling Deut. xxxiii. 24 to the very letter. After they had
eaten together, the merchant measured out to him the hundred myriads'
worth of oil, and then asked whether he would purchase more from him.
"Yes," said the agent, "but I have no more money here with me." "Never
mind," said the merchant; "buy it and I will go with thee to thy home
for the money." Then he measured out eighteen myriads' worth more. It is
said that he hired every horse, mule, camel, and ass he could find in
all Israel to carry the oil, and that on nearing his city the people
turned out to meet him and compliment him for the service he had done
them. "Don't praise me," said the agent, "but this, my companion, to
whom I owe eighteen myriads." This, says the narrator, illustrates what
is said (Prov. xiii. 7), "There is that maketh himself (appear to be)
rich, yet hath nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath
great riches."

_Menachoth_, fol. 85, col. 2.




THE MIDRASHIM


"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the Aggadah, as explained in the
Midrashim"




INTRODUCTORY NOTE


The Midrashim are ancient Rabbinical expositions of Holy Writ. The term
Midrash (of which Midrashim is the plural form) occurs twice in the
Hebrew Bible (2 Chron. xiii. 22, and xxiv. 27); and in both passages it
is represented in the Anglican version by the word "story," while the
more correct translation, "commentary," is relegated to the margin.
"Legendary exposition" best expresses the full meaning of the word
Midrash.

The Midrashim, for the most part, originated in a praiseworthy desire to
familiarize the people with Holy Writ, which had, in consequence of
changes in the vernacular, become to them, in the course of time, almost
a dead letter. These Midrashim have little or nothing to do with the
Halachoth or legal decisions of the Talmud, except in aim, which is that
of illustration and explanation. They are not literal interpretations,
but figurative and allegorical, and as such enigmatic. They are,
however, to be received as utterances of the sages, and some even regard
them of as binding obligation as the law of Moses itself. The following
are fairly representative extracts.




THE MIDRASHIM


The name of Abraham always precedes those of Isaac and Jacob except in
one place (Lev. xxvi. 42), where it is said, "And I will remember my
covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my
covenant with Abraham will I remember;" and thus we learn that all were
of equal importance.

_Midrash Rabbah_, Gen. chap. 1.

In the Selichoth for the Day of Atonement the above reversal of
the usual order of the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is
thus referred to: "The first covenant Thou didst exalt, and the
order of the contracting parties to it Thou hast reversed."

Abraham deserved to have been created before Adam, but the Holy
One--blessed be He!--said, "Should he pervert things as I make them,
then there will be no one to rectify them; so behold I will create Adam
first, and if he should make things crooked, then Abraham following him
will make them straight again."

Ibid., chap. 14.

Abram was called Abraham, and Isaac was also called Abraham; as it is
written (Gen. xxv. 19), "Isaac, Abraham's son, Abraham."

Ibid., chap. 63.

"And he lay down in that place" (Gen. xxviii. 11). Rabbi Yuda said,
"There he lay down, but he did not lie down during all the fourteen
years he was hid in the house of Eber." Rabbi Nehemiah said, "There he
lay down, but he did not lie down all the twenty years in which he stood
in the house of Laban."

Ibid., chap. 68.

Vayash Kihu, "And kissed him" (Gen. xxxiii. 4), Rabbi Yanai asks, "Why
is this word (in the original Hebrew) so pointed?" "It is to teach that
Esau did not come to kiss him, but to bite him; only the neck of Jacob
our father became as hard as marble, and this blunted the teeth of the
wicked one." "And what is taught by the expression 'And they wept'?"
"The one wept for his neck and the other for his teeth."

_Midrash Rabbah_, chap. 78.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai in Sifri deliberately controverts this
interpretation, and Aben Ezra says it is an "exposition fit only
for children."

Esau said, "I will not kill my brother Jacob with bow and arrow, but
with my mouth I will suck his blood," as it is said (Gen. xxxiii. 4),
"And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and they
wept." Read not "and he kissed him," but read, "and he bit him." The
neck of Jacob, however, became as hard as ivory, and it is respecting
him that Scripture says (Cant. vii. 5), "Thy neck is as a tower of
ivory,"--so that the teeth of Esau became blunted; and when he saw that
his desire could not be gratified, he began to be angry, and gnashed his
teeth, as it is said (Ps. cxii. 10), "The wicked shall see it and be
grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth."

_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 36.

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