THE TALMUD_Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala

* * * * *

Where do we learn that the Shechinah rests even upon one who studies the

law? In Exodus xx. 24, where it is written, "In all places where I

record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee."

_Berachoth_, fol. 6, col. 1.

One pang of remorse at a man's heart is of more avail than many stripes

applied to him. (See Prov. xvii. 10.)

Ibid., fol. 7, col. 1.

"Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord!" (Deut. vi. 4.) Whosoever

prolongs the utterance of the word one, shall have his days and years

prolonged to him. So also _Zohar_, syn. tit. ii.

Ibid., fol. 13, col. 2.

Once, as the Rabbis tell us, the Roman Government issued a decree

forbidding Israel to study the law. Whereupon Pappus, the son of

Yehudah, one day found Rabbi Akiva teaching it openly to multitudes,

whom he had gathered round him to hear it. "Akiva," said he, "art thou

not afraid of the Government?" "List," was the reply, "and I will tell

thee how it is by a parable. It is with me as with the fishes whom a

fox, walking once by a river's side, saw darting distractedly to and fro

in the stream; and, addressing, inquired, 'From what, pray, are ye

fleeing?' 'From the nets,' they replied, 'which the children of men have

set to ensnare us.' 'Why, then,' rejoined the fox, 'not try the dry land

with me, where you and I can live together, as our fathers managed to do

before us?' 'Surely,' exclaimed they, 'thou art not he of whom we have

heard so much as the most cunning of animals, for herein thou art not

wise, but foolish. For if we have cause to fear where it is natural for

us to live, how much more reason have we to do so where we needs must

die!' Just so," continued Akiva, "is it with us who study the law, in

which (Deut. xxx. 20) it is written, 'He is thy life and the length of

thy days;' for if we suffer while we study the law, how much more shall

we if we neglect it?" Not many days after, it is related, this Rabbi

Akiva was apprehended and thrown into prison. As it happened, they led

him out for execution just at the time when "Hear, O Israel!" fell to be

repeated, and as they tore his flesh with currycombs, and as he was with

long-drawn breath sounding forth the word one, his soul departed from

him. Then came forth a voice from heaven which said, "Blessed art thou,

Rabbi Akiva, for thy soul and the word one left thy body together."

_Berachoth_, fol. 61, col. 2.

The badger, as it existed in the days of Moses, was an animal of unique

type, and the learned are not agreed whether it was a wild one or a

domestic. It had only one horn on its forehead; and was assigned for the

time to Moses, who made a covering of its skin for the tabernacle; after

which it became extinct, having served the purpose of its existence.

Rabbi Yehudah says, "The ox, also, which the first man, Adam,

sacrificed, had but one horn on its forehead."

_Shabbath_, fol. 28, col. 2.

Once a Gentile came to Shamai, and said, "Proselytize me, but on

condition that thou teach me the whole law, even the whole of it, while

I stand upon one leg." Shamai drove him off with the builder's rod which

he held in his hand. When he came to Hillel with the same challenge,

Hillel converted him by answering him on the spot, "That which is

hateful to thyself, do not do to thy neighbor. This is the whole law,

and the rest is its commentary." (Tobit, iv. 15; Matt. vii. 12.)

Ibid., fol. 31, col. 1.

When Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his son, Rabbi Elazar, came out of

their cave on a Friday afternoon, they saw an old man hurrying along

with two bunches of myrtle in his hand. "What." said they, accosting

him, "dost thou want with these?" "To smell them in honor of the

Sabbath," was the reply. "Would not one bunch," they remarked, "be

enough for that purpose?" "Nay," the old man replied; "one is in honor

of 'Remember' (Exod. xxii. 28); and one in honor of 'Keep' (Deut. v.

8)." Thereupon Rabbi Shimon remarked to his son, "Behold how the

commandments are regarded by Israel!"

Ibid., fol. 33, col. 2.

Not one single thing has God created in vain. He created the snail as a

remedy for a blister; the fly for the sting of a wasp; the gnat for the

bite of a serpent; the serpent itself for healing the itch (or the

scab); and the lizard (or the spider) for the sting of a scorpion.

Ibid., fol. 77. col. 2.

When a man is dangerously ill, the law grants dispensation, for it says,

"You may break one Sabbath on his behalf, that he may be preserved to

keep many Sabbaths."

_Shabbath_, fol. 151, col. 2.

Once when Rabbi Ishmael paid a visit to Rabbi Shimon, he was offered a

cup of wine, which he at once, without being asked twice, accepted, and

drained at one draught. "Sir," said his host, "dost thou not know the

proverb, that he who drinks off a cup of wine at a draught is a greedy

one?" "Ah!" was the answer, "that fits not this case; for thy cup is

small, thy wine is sweet, and my stomach is capacious."

_P'sachim_, fol. 86, col. 2.

At the time when Nimrod the wicked had cast our Father Abraham into the

fiery furnace, Gabriel stood forth in the presence of the Holy

One--blessed be He!--and said, "Lord of the universe, let me, I pray

thee, go down and cool the furnace, and deliver that righteous one from

it." Then the Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto him, "I am One in my

world and he is one in his world; it is more becoming that He who is one

should deliver him who is one." But as God does not withhold His reward

from any creature, He said to Gabriel, "For this thy good intention, be

thine the honor of rescuing three of his descendants." At the time when

Nebuchadnezzar the wicked cast Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the

fiery furnace, Yourkami, the prince of hail, arose before God and said,

"Lord of the universe, let me, I pray thee, go down and cool the fiery

furnace, and rescue these righteous men from its fury." Whereupon

Gabriel interposed, and said, "God's power is not to be demonstrated

thus, for thou art the prince of hail, and everybody knows that water

quenches fire; but I, the prince of fire, will go down and cool the

flame within and intensify it without (so as to consume the

executioners), and thus will I perform a miracle within a miracle." Then

the Holy One--blessed be He!--said to him, "Go down." Upon which Gabriel

exclaimed, "Verily the truth of the Lord endureth forever!" (Ps. cxvii.

2.)

_P'sachim_, fol. 118, col. 1.

One peppercorn to-day is better than a basketful of pumpkins to-morrow.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 10, col. 1.

One day of a year is counted for a whole year.

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 2, col. 2.

If a king be crowned on the twenty-ninth of Adar (the last month

of the Sacred year), on the morrow--the first of Nissan--it is

reckoned that he commences his second year, that being the new

year's day for royal and ecclesiastical affairs.

For the sake of one righteous man the whole world is preserved in

existence, as it is written (Prov. x. 25), "The righteous man is an

everlasting foundation."

_Yoma_, fol. 38, col. 2.

Rabbi Meyer saith, "Great is repentance, because for the sake of one

that truly repenteth the whole world is pardoned; as it is written

(Hosea xiv. 4), 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely,

for mine anger is turned away from him.'" It is not said, "from them,"

but "from him."

Ibid., fol. 86, col. 2.

He who observes one precept, in addition to those which, as originally

laid upon him, he has discharged, shall receive favor from above, and is

equal to him who has fulfilled the whole law.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 39, col. 2.

If any man vow a vow by only one of all the utensils of the altar, he

has vowed by the corban, even although he did not mention the word in

his oath. Rabbi Yehuda says, "He who swears by the word Jerusalem is as

though he had said nothing."

_Nedarim_, fol. 10, col. 2.

Balaam was lame in one foot and blind in one eye.

_Soteh_, fol. 10, col. 1, and _Sanhedrin_, fol. 105, col. 1.

One wins eternal life after a struggle of years; another finds it in one

hour (see Luke xxiii. 43).

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 17, col. 1.

This saying is applied by Rabbi the Holy to Rabbi Eliezar, the son of

Durdia, a profligate who recommended himself to the favor of heaven by

one prolonged act of determined penitence, placing his head between his

knees and groaning and weeping till his soul departed from him, and his

sin and misery along with it; for at the moment of death a voice from

heaven came forth and said, "Rabbi Eliezar, the son of Durdia, is

appointed to life everlasting." When Rabbi the Holy heard this, he wept,

and said, "One wins eternal life after a struggle of years; another

finds it in one hour." (Compare Luke xv. 11-32.)

Whosoever destroyeth one soul of Israel, Scripture counts it to him as

though he had destroyed the whole world; and whoso preserveth one soul

of Israel, Scripture counts it as though he had preserved the whole

world.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 37, col. 1.

The greatness of God is infinite; for while with one die man impresses

many coins and all are exactly alike, the King of kings, the Holy

One--blessed be He!--with one die impresses the same image (of Adam) on

all men, and yet not one of them is like his neighbor. So that every one

ought to say, "For myself is the world created."

Ibid., fol. 37, col. 1.

"He caused the lame to mount on the back of the blind, and judged them

both as one." Antoninus said to the Rabbi, "Body and soul might each

plead right of acquittal at the day of judgment." "How so?" he asked.

"The body might plead that it was the soul that had sinned, and urge,

saying, 'See, since the departure of the soul I have lain in the grave

as still as a stone.' And the soul might plead, 'It was the body that

sinned, for since the day I left it, I have flitted about in the air as

innocent as a bird.'" To which the Rabbi replied and said, "Whereunto

this thing is like, I will tell thee in a parable. It is like unto a

king who had an orchard with some fine young fig trees planted in it. He

set two gardeners to take care of them, of whom one was lame and the

other blind. One day the lame one said to the blind 'I see some fine

figs in the garden; come, take me on thy shoulders, and we will pluck

them and eat them.' By and by the lord of the garden came, and missing

the fruit from the fig trees, began to make inquiry after them. The lame

one, to excuse himself, pleaded, 'I have no legs to walk with;' and the

blind one, to excuse himself, pleaded, 'I have no eyes to see with.'

What did the lord of the garden do? He caused the lame to mount upon the

back of the blind, and judged them both as one." So likewise will God

re-unite soul and body, and judge them both as one together; as it is

written (Ps. 1, 4), "He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the

earth, that He may judge His people." "He shall call to the heavens from

above," that alludes to the soul; "and to the earth, that He may judge

His people," that refers to the body.

_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.)

"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 _Ægilops 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 Græcas_. 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.

All Israelites are holy.

Ibid., fol. 86, col. 1.

Happy are ye, O Israel! for every one of you, from the least to the

greatest, is a great philosopher. (_Eiruvin_, fol. 53, col. 1.) The

Machzor for Pentecost says, Israelites are as "full of meritorious works

as a pomegranate is full of pips."