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

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"The man with two wives, one young and the other old." Rav Ami and Rav
Assi were in social converse with Rabbi Isaac Naphcha, when one of them
said to him, "Tell us, sir, some pretty legend," and the other said,
"Pray explain to us rather some nice point of law." When he began the
legend he displeased the one, and when he proceeded to explain a point
of law, he offended the other. Whereupon he took up this parable in
illustration of the plight in which their obstinacy placed him. "I am
like the man with the two wives, the one young and the other old. The
young one plucked out all his gray hairs (that he might look young), and
the old wife pulled out all his black hairs (that he might look old);
and so between the one and the other he became bald. So is it with me
between you. However, I've something nice for both of you. It is written
(Exod. xxii. 6), 'If a fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the
stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field be consumed
therewith, he that kindled the fire shall surely make restoration.' The
Holy One--blessed be He!--hath said, 'I must both judge myself and take
upon myself to indemnify the evil of the conflagration I have caused,
for I have kindled a fire in Zion,' as it is written (Lament, iv. 11),
'He hath kindled a fire in Zion, and hath devoured the foundations
thereof.' I must therefore rebuild her with fire, as it is written
(Zech. ii. 5), 'I will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will
be the glory in the midst of her.'"

_Bava Kama_, fol. 60, col. 2.

Rabbi Oshaia asked, "What is this that is written, (Zech. xi. 7), 'I
took unto me two staves; the one I called Amiable and the other
Destroyer'?" The staff called Amiable represents the disciples of the
wise in the land of Israel, who were friendly one toward another in
their debates about the law. The staff called Destroyer represents the
disciples of the wise of Babylon, who in the like debates were fierce
tempered and not friendly toward one another. What is the meaning of
Babel or Babylon? Rabbi Yochanan says it means "confused in the Bible,
confused in the Mishna, and confused in the Talmud." "He hath set me in
dark places, as they that be dead of old" (Lam. iii. 6). Rabbi Jeremiah
said by this we are to understand the Babylonian Talmud.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 24, col. 1.

The Rabbis say these three hate their fellows--dogs, cocks, and
conjurors; to which some add, among others, the disciples of the
wise of Babylon. (_P'sachim_, fol. 113, col. 2.)

On his return from Babylon to the land of Israel, Rabbi Zira
fasted a hundred fasts, during which he prayed that he might be
enabled to forget the Babylonian Talmud. (_Bava Metzia_, fol.
85, col. 1.)

Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Yonathan traveled one day together; they came
to two roads, one of which led by the door of a place devoted to the
worship of idols, and the other by a place of ill fame. Upon which one
said to the other, "Let us go by the former, because our inclination to
the evil that waylays us there is already extinguished." "Nay, rather,"
said the other, "let us go by the latter, and curb our desires; so shall
we receive a reward in recompense." In this resolution they went on, and
as they passed the place the women humbled themselves before them and
withdrew ashamed into their chambers. Then Yochanan asked the other,
"How didst thou know that this would occur to us?" He made answer, "From
what is written (in Prov. ii. 2), 'Discretion (in the law) shall
preserve thee.'"

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 17, cols. 1, 2.

Given two dry firebrands and one piece of green wood, the dry will set
fire to the green.

_Sanhedrin_, fol 93, col. 1.

With two dogs they caught the lion.

Ibid., fol. 95, col. 1.

Both these proverbs express the same idea, that a minority, be
it ever so strong, must give way to a majority.

"And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed together"
(Numb. xxii. 7). Midian and Moab were never friendly toward each other;
they were like two dogs tending a flock, always at variance. When the
wolf came upon the one, however, the other thought, "If I do not help my
neighbor to-day, the wolf may come upon myself to-morrow;" therefore the
two dogs leagued together and, killed the wolf. Hence, says Rabbi Pappa,
the popular saying, "The mouse and the cat are combined to make a feast
on the fat of the unfortunate."

Ibid., fol. 105, col. 1.

Rabbi Yochanan, in the name of Yossi, the son of Zimra, asks, "What is
this that is written (Ps. cxx. 3), 'What shall be given unto thee, or
what shall be added unto thee, O thou false tongue'?" The Holy
One--blessed be He!--said to the tongue, "All the members of the body
are erect, thou only art recumbent; all other members are without, thou
art within, and not only so, for I have surrounded thee with two walls,
one of bone and the other of flesh. What shall be given to thee, or what
shall be added unto thee, O thou false tongue?" Rabbi Yochanan, in the
name of Yossi, says, "He who slanders is an atheist, for it is written
(Ps. xii. 4), 'Who have said, With our tongues will we prevail; Our lips
are with us; who is lord over us?'"

_Erchin_, fol. 15, col. 2.

Here are a few sayings from the Talmud on the abuse of the
tongue.

He who slanders, he who receives slander, and he who bears false witness
against his neighbor, deserve to be cast to the dogs.

_Psachim_, fol. 118, col. 1.

All animals will one day remonstrate with the serpent and say, "The lion
treads upon his prey and devours it, the wolf tears and eats it, but
thou, what profit hast thou in biting?" The serpent will reply (Eccl.
viii. II), "I am no worse than a slanderer."

_Taanith_, fol. 8, col. 1.

Adonijah was deprived of life for no other reason than that he was given
to quarreling. It is lawful to slander one so evil disposed as he was.

_Perek Hashalom._

God will say to the prince of hell, "I from above and thou from below
shall judge and condemn the slanderer."

_Erchin_, fol. 15, col. 2.

The third tongue (i.e., slander) hurts three parties: the slanderer
himself, the receiver of slander, and the person slandered.

Ibid.

Four classes do not receive the presence of the Shechinah: scorners,
liars, flatterers, and slanderers.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 103, col. 1.

Where are we told that when two sit together and study the law the
Shechinah is with them? In Mal. iii. 16, where it is written, "They that
feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and
heard it."

_Berachoth_, fol. 6, col. 1.

Why did Elijah employ two invocations, saying twice over, "Hear me! hear
me!" (1 Kings xviii. 37.) Elijah first prayed before God, "O Lord, King
of the universe, hear me!" that He might send fire down from heaven and
consume all that was upon the altar; and again he prayed, "Hear me!"
that they might not imagine that the result was a matter of sorcery; for
it is said, "Thou hast turned their heart back again."

_Berachoth_, fol. 9, col. 2.

The twofold invocation of Elijah, which betokens his intense
earnestness, anagrammatically expressed, is echoed in the words
of the bystanders, "The Lord He is the God, the Lord He is the
God."

"I dreamed," said Bar Kappara one day to Rabbi (the Holy), "that I
beheld two pigeons, and they flew away from me." "Thy dream is this,"
replied Rabbi, "thou hast had two wives, and art separated from them
both without a bill of divorcement."

Ibid., fol. 56, col. 2.

The Rabbis teach concerning the two kidneys in man, that one counsels
him to do good and the other to do evil; and it appears that the former
is situated on the right side and the latter on the left. Hence it is
written (Eccl. x. 2), "A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a
fool's heart is at his left."

Ibid., fol. 61, col. 1.

For two sins the common people perish: they speak of the holy ark as a
box and the synagogue as a resort for the ignorant vulgar.

_Shabbath_, fol. 32, col. 1.

On the self-same day when Jeroboam introduced the two golden calves, the
one into Bethel and the other into Dan, a hut was erected in a part of
Italy which was then subject to the Greeks.

Ibid., fol. 56, col. 2.

In the context where the above tradition occurs, which, as is
obvious, relates to the founding of Rome, we meet with another
on the same subject as follows:--When Solomon married the
daughter of Pharaoh, the Angel Gabriel thrust a reed into the
sea, stirring up therewith the sand and mud from the bottom.
This, gradually collecting, first shaped itself into an island
and then expanded so as to unite itself with the continent. And
thus was the land created for the erection of the hut which
should one day swell into the proportion of a proud imperial
city.

If Israel kept only two Sabbaths, according to the strict requirement of
the law, they would be freed at once from their compelled dispersion;
for it is written (Isa. lvi. 4, 7), "Thus saith the Lord unto the
eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, Even them will I bring to my holy
mountain."

_Shabbath_, fol. 118, col. 2.

Adam had two faces; for it is said (Ps. cxxxix. 5), "Thou hast made me
behind and before."

_Eiruvin_, fol. 18, col. 1.

There is a notion among the Rabbis that Adam was possessed
originally of a bisexual organization, and this conclusion they
draw from Gen. i. 27, where it is said, "God created man in his
own image; male-female created He them." These two natures, it
was thought, lay side by side; according to some, the male on
the right and the female on the left; according to others, back
to back; while there were those who maintained that Adam was
created with a tail, and that it was from this appendage Eve was
fashioned. Other Jewish traditions tell us that Eve was made
from "the thirteenth rib of the right side" (Targ. Jonath.), and
that "she was not drawn out by the head, lest she should be
vain; nor by the eyes, lest she should be wanton; nor from the
mouth, lest she should be given to garrulity; nor by the ears,
lest she should be an eavesdropper; nor by the hands, lest she
should be intermeddling; nor by the feet, lest she be a gadder;
nor by the heart, for fear she should be jealous; but she was
taken out from the side. Yet, in spite of all these precautions,
she had all the faults so carefully provided against."

If in time of national calamity a man withdraw himself from his kindred
and refuse to share in their sorrow, his two guardian angels come and
lay their hands upon his head and say, "This man has isolated himself
from his country in the day of its need, let him not live to see and
enjoy the day when God shall restore its prosperity." When the community
is in trouble, let no man say, "I will go home and eat and drink, and
say, Peace be unto thee, oh my soul!" (Luke xii. 19); for to him
Scripture hath solemnly said (Isa. xxii. 13, 14), "Surely this iniquity
shall not be purged from you till you die."

_Taanith_, fol. 11, col. 1.

An infant that has died under a month old is (to be) carried to the
grave in the arms (not in a coffin), and buried by one woman and two
men, but not by one man and two women.

_Moed Katan_, fol. 24, col. 1.

Both Rashi and the Tosephoth allude to a case which justifies
the rule given here, where a woman actually carried a living
child in a coffin, in order to avoid the suspicion of an
assignation she had made with a man, who set out to join her.
But the Tosephoth, after noticing this version of Rashi, gives
another more to the point. The story in the Tosephoth is to this
effect:--A woman was once weeping and groaning over the grave of
her husband, and not very far away was a man who was guarding
the corpse of a person who had been crucified. In the moment of
mourning an affection sprung up between the two, and in the
engrossment of it the corpse which the man guarded was stolen.
He was in great trepidation for fear of the king's command. The
woman said, "Don't be afraid; exhume my husband, and hang him up
instead." This was accordingly done. (See _Kiddushin_, fol. 80,
col. 2.)

There were two date trees in the Valley of Hinnom from between which
smoke ascended, and this is the gate of hell.

_Succah_, fol. 32, col. 2.

According to Jewish tradition, there are three gates to
Gehinnom, one in the desert, one in the sea, and one in
Jerusalem: In the desert, as it is written (Numb. xvi. 33),
"They went down, and all that belonged to them, alive into
hell." In the sea, as it is written (Jonah ii. 2), "Out of the
belly of hell have I called," etc. In Jerusalem, as it is
written (Isa. xxxi. 9), "Thus saith the Lord, whose fire is in
Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem."

When two women are seen sitting on opposite sides of a cross road facing
each other, it is to be presumed that they are up to witchcraft and
contemplate mischief. What in that case must you do? Go by another road,
if there is one, and if not, with a companion, should such turn up,
passing the crones arm-in-arm with him; but should there be no other
road and no other man, then walk straight on repeating the
counter-charm, as you pass them--

Agrath is to Asia gone,
And Blussia's killed in battle.

_P'sachim_, fol. 111, col. 2.

Agrath and Blussia are two Amazons well known to those familiar
with Rabbinic demonology.

"If Mordecai, before whom thou hast began to fall, be of the seed of the
Jews, expect not to prevail against him, but thou shalt fall" (Esth. vi.
13). Wherefore these two fallings? They told Haman, saying, "This nation
is likened to the dust, and is also likened to the stars; when they are
down, they are down even to the dust, but when they begin to rise, they
rise to the stars."

_Meggillah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

If any two disciples of the wise, dwelling in the same city, have a
difference respecting the Halachah, let them remember what Scripture
denounces against them, "And also I gave them statutes that are not
good, and judgments by which they shall not live" (Ezek. xx. 25).

Ibid., fol. 32, col. 1.

If a man espouse one of two sisters, and does not know which he has
espoused, he must give both a bill of divorce. If two men espouse two
sisters, and neither of them know which he has espoused, then each man
must give two bills of divorce, one to each woman.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 23, col. 2.

There is a time coming (i.e., in the days of the Messiah), when a grain
of wheat will be as large as the two kidneys of the great ox.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 111, col. 1.

According to a recent discovery, which has been confirmed by
subsequent observation and experiment, wheat is a development by
cultivation of the tiny grain of the _AEgilops ovata_, a sort of
grass; but we are indebted to Rabbinic lore for the curious
information that before the Fall of man wheat grew upon a tree
whose trunk looked like gold, its branches like silver, and its
leaves like so many emeralds. The wheat ears themselves were as
red as rubies, and each bore five sparkling grains as white as
snow, as sweet as honey, and as fragrant as musk. At first the
grains were as big as an ostrich's egg, but in the time of Enoch
they diminished to the size of a goose's egg, and in Elijah's to
that of a hen, while at the commencement of the common era, they
shrank so small as not to be larger than grapes, according to a
law the inverse of the order of nature. Rabbi Yehudah
(_Sanhedrin_, fol. 70, col. 1) says that wheat was the forbidden
fruit. Hence probably the degeneracy.

Of two that quarrel, the one that first gives in shows the nobler
nature.

Ibid., fol. 71, col. 2.

He who sets aside a portion of his wealth for the relief of the poor
will be delivered from the judgment of hell. Of this the parable of the
two sheep that attempted to ford a river is an illustration; one was
shorn of its wool and the other not; the former, therefore, managed to
get over, but the latter, being heavy-laden, sank.

_Gittin_, fol. 7, col. 1.

Zoreah and Eshtaol (Josh. xv. 33) were two large mountains, but Samson
tore them up and grated the one against the other.

_Soteh_, fol. 9, col. 2.

The above tradition is founded on Judges xiii. 25, in which it
is said of Samson, "And the spirit of God began to move him at
times in the camp of Dan, between Zoreah and Eshtaol," in which
the word "move," signifies also to "strike a stroke," "step a
step," and "once." Founding on which last two meanings, Rabbi
Yehudah says, "Samson strode in one stride from Zoreah to
Eshtaol," a giant stride of two miles or more. Taking the word
in the sense of "strike," or "producing a ringing sound,"
another Rabbi tells us that the hairs of Samson's head stood
upright, tinkling one against another like bells, the jingle of
which might be heard from Zoreah to Eshtaol. The version in the
text takes the same word in the sense of to "strike together."

On the day when Isaac was weaned, Abraham made a great feast, to which
he invited all the people of the land. Not all of those who came to
enjoy the feast believed in the alleged occasion of its celebration, for
some said contemptuously, "This old couple have adopted a foundling, and
provided a feast to persuade us to believe that the child is their own
offspring." What did Abraham do? He invited all the great men of the
day, and Sarah invited their wives, who brought their infants, but not
their nurses, along with them. On this occasion Sarah's breasts became
like two fountains, for she supplied, of her own body, nourishment to
all the children. Still some were unconvinced, and said, "Shall a child
be born to one that is a hundred years old, and shall Sarah, who is
ninety years old, bear?" (Gen. xvii. 17.) Whereupon, to silence this
objection, Isaac's face was changed, so that it became the very picture
of Abraham's; then one and all exclaimed, "Abraham begat Isaac."

_Bara Metzia_, fol. 87, col. 1.

Rava relates the following in the name of Rabbi Yochanan:--"Two Jewish
slaves were one day walking along, when their master, who was following,
overheard the one saying to the other, 'There is a camel ahead of us, as
I judge--for I have not seen--that is blind of one eye and laden with
two skin-bottles, one of which contains wine and the other oil, while
two drivers attend it, one of them an Israelite, and the other a
Gentile.' 'You perverse men,' said their master, 'how can you fabricate
such a story as that?' The slave answered, and gave this as his reason,
'The grass is cropped only on one side of the track, the wine, that must
have dripped, has soaked into the earth on the right, and the oil has
trickled down, and may be seen on the left; while one of the drivers
turned aside from the track to ease himself, but the other has not even
left the road for the purpose.' Upon this the master stepped on before
them in order to verify the correctness of their inferences, and found
the conclusion true in every particular. He then turned back, and ...
after complimenting the two slaves for their shrewdness, he at once gave
them their liberty."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 104, col. 2.

When the disciples of Shamai and Hillel increased in Israel, contention
increased along with them, so much so, that the one law became as two
laws (and these contradictory).

_Soteh_, fol. 47, col. 2.

If two parties deposit money with a third, one a single manah and the
other two hundred, and both afterward appear and claim the larger sum,
the depositary should give each depositor one manah only, and leave the
rest undivided till the coming of Elijah.

_Bava Metzia_, fol. 37, col. 2.

"Till Elijah comes" is a phrase which is in use among the Jews
to express postponement forever, like _ad Kalendas Graecas_. It
is applied to questions that would take Elijah to settle, which,
it is believed, he will not appear to do till doomsday.

"And I will make thy windows of agates" (Isa. liv. 12). Two of the
angels in heaven, Gabriel and Michael, once disputed about this: one
maintained that the stone should be an onyx, and the other asserted it
should be a jasper; but the Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto them,
"Let it be as both say, which, in Hebrew, abbreviated, is an agate."

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 75, col. 1.

"The horseleech has two daughters, crying, Give! give!" (Prov. xxx. 15.)
Mar Ukva says, "This has reference to the voice of two daughters crying
out from torture in hell, because their voice is heard in this world
crying, 'Give! give!'--namely--heresy and officialism."

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 17, col. 1.

Rashi says heresy here refers to the "heresy of James," or, in
other words, Christianity.

Two cemeteries were provided by the judicial authorities, one for
beheaded and strangled criminals, and the other for those that were
stoned or burned. When the flesh of these was consumed, they collected
the bones and buried them in their own place, after which the relations
came and saluted the judge and the witnesses, and said, "We owe you no
grudge, for you passed a just judgment."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 46, col. 1.

Alas! for the loss which the world has sustained in the degradation of
the helpful serpent. If the serpent had not been degraded, every
Israelite would have been attended by two of kindly disposition, one of
which might have been sent to the north, and the other to the south, to
bring for its owner precious corals and costly stones and pearls.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 59, col. 2.

Here are two or three other sayings from the Talmud relative to the
serpent.

Benjamin the son of Jacob, Amram the father of Moses, and Jesse the
father of David all died, not because of their own sin (for they had
none, says Rashi), but because of the (original) sin committed under the
serpent's temptation.

_Shabbath_, fol. 55, col. 2.

No man was ever injured by a serpent or scorpion in Jerusalem.

_Yoma_, fol. 21, col. 1.

"And dust is the serpent's food" (Isa. lxv. 25). Rav Ammi says, "To the
serpent no delicacy in the world has any other flavor than that of
dust;" and Rav Assi says, "No delicacy in the world satisfies him like
dust."

Ibid., fol. 75, col. 1.

Two negatives or two affirmatives are as good as an oath.

_Shevuoth_, fol. 36, col. 1.

Like two pearls were the two drops of holy oil that were suspended from
the two corners of the beard of Aaron.

_Horayoth_, fol. 12, col. 1.

For two to sit together and have no discourse about the law, is to sit
in the seat of the scornful; as it is said (Ps. i. I), "And sitteth not
in the seat of the scornful."

_Avoth_, chap. iii.

When two are seated together at table, the younger shall not partake
before the elder, otherwise the younger shall be justly accounted a
glutton.

_Derech Eretz_, chap. vii.

Philemo once asked Rabbi (the Holy), "If a man has two heads, on which
is he to put the phylactery?" To which Rabbi replied, "Either get up and
be off, or take an anathema; for thou art making fun of me."

_Menachoth_, fol. 37, col. 1.

It is thus Rav Yoseph taught what is meant when it is written in Isaiah
xii. I, "I will praise Thee, O Lord, because Thou wast angry with me:
Thine anger will depart and Thou wilt comfort me." "The text applies,"
he says, "to two men who were going abroad on a mercantile enterprise,
one of whom, having had a thorn run into his foot, had to forego his
intended journey, and began in consequence to utter reproaches and
blaspheme. Having afterward learned that the ship in which his companion
had sailed had sunk to the bottom of the sea, he confessed his
shortsightedness and praised God for His mercy."

_Niddah_, fol. 31, col. 1.

The night is divided into three watches, and at each watch the Holy
One--blessed be He!--sits and roars like a lion; as it is written (Jer.
xxv. 30), "The Lord will roar from on high, ... roaring, He will roar
over his habitation." The marks by which this division of the night is
recognized are these:--In the first watch the ass brays; in the second
the dog barks; and in the third the babe is at the breast and the wife
converses with her husband.

_Berachoth_, fol. 3, col. 1.

The Rabbis have taught that there are three reasons why a person should
not enter a ruin:--1. Because he may be suspected of evil intent; 2.
Because the walls might tumble upon him; 3. And because of evil spirits
that frequent such places.

Ibid., fol. 3, col. 1.

He who three times a day repeats David's psalm of praise (Ps. cxlv.) may
be sure of an inheritance in the world to come.

Ibid., fol. 4, col. 2.

Three precious gifts were given to Israel, but none of them without a
special affliction: these three gifts were the law, the land of Israel,
and the world to come.

Ibid., fol. 5, col. 1.

These are also from the Talmud anent Israel and the Israelites.

All Israelites are princes.

_Shabbath_, fol. 57, col. 1.

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