6. From a general, or a particular and a general, the ruling
both of the former and the latter is to be according to the
middle term, i.e., the one which is particularized.
7. From a general text that requires a particular instance, and
_vice versà_.
8. When a particular rule is laid down for something which has
already been included in a general law, the rule is to apply to
all.
9. When a general rule has an exception, the exception mitigates
and does not aggravate the rule.
10. When a general rule has an exception not according
therewith, the exception both mitigates and aggravates.
11. When an exception to a general rule is made to substantiate
extraneous matter, that matter cannot be classed under the said
general rule, unless the Scripture expressly says so.
12. The ruling is to be according to the context, or to the
general drift of the argument.
13. When two texts are contradictory, a third is to be sought
that reconciles them.
Rabbi Akiva was forty years of age when he began to study, and after
thirteen years of study he began publicly to teach.
_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan._
Thirteen treasurers and seven directors were appointed to serve in the
Temple. (More there might be, never less.)
_Tamid_, fol. 27, col. 1.
Thirteen points of law regulate the decisions that require to be made
relative to the carcass of a clean bird.
_Taharoth_, chap. i, mish. 1.
A man must partake of fourteen meals in the booth during the Feast of
Tabernacles.
_Succah_, fol. 27, col. 1.
Traditional chronology records that the Israelites killed the Paschal
lamb on the fourteenth day of Nisan, the month on which they came out of
Egypt. They came out on the fifteenth; that day was a Friday.
_Shabbath_, fol. 88, col. 1.
The fifteen steps were according to the number of the Songs of Degrees
in the Psalms. It is related that whosoever has not seen the joy at the
annual ceremony of the water-drawing, has not seen rejoicing in his
life. At the conclusion of the first part of the Feast of Tabernacles,
the Priests and Levites descended into the women's ante-court, where
they made great preparations (such as erecting temporary double
galleries, the uppermost for women, and those under for men). There were
golden candelabra there, each having four golden bowls on the top, four
ladders reaching to them, and four of the young priests with cruses of
oil ready to supply them, each cruse holding one hundred and twenty logs
of oil. The lamp-wicks were made of the worn-out drawers and girdles of
the priests. There was not a court in all Jerusalem that was not lit up
by the illumination of the "water-drawing." Holy men, and men of
dignity, with flaming torches in their hands, danced before the people,
rehearsing songs and singing praises. The Levites, with harps, lutes,
cymbals, trumpets, and innumerable musical instruments, were stationed
on the fifteen steps which led from the ante-court of Israel to the
women's court; the Levites stood upon the steps and played and sang. Two
priests stood at the upper gate which led from the ante-court for Israel
to that for the women, each provided with a trumpet, and as soon as the
cock crew they blew one simple blast, then a compound or fragmentary
one, and then a modulated or shouting blast. This was the preconcerted
signal for the drawing of the water. As soon as they reached the tenth
step, they blew again three blasts as before. When they came to the
ante-court for women, they blew another three blasts, and after that
they continued blowing till they came to the east gate. When they
arrived at the east gate, they turned their faces westward (i.e., toward
the Temple), and said, "Our fathers, who were in this place, turned
their backs toward the Temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the
East, for they worshiped the sun in the East; but we turn our eyes to
God!" Rabbi Yehudah says, "These words were repeated, echoing, 'We are
for God, and unto God are our eyes directed!'"
_Succah_, fol. 51, col. 1, 2.
Rabbon Shimon ben Gamliel has said there were no such gala-days for
Israel as the fifteenth of Ab and the Day of Atonement, when the young
maidens of Jerusalem used to resort to the vineyard all robed in white
garments, that were required to be borrowed, lest those should feel
humiliated who had none of their own. There they danced gleefully,
calling to the lookers-on and saying, "Young men, have a care; the
choice you now make may have consequences."
_Taanith_, fol. 26, col. 2.
Rabbi Elazar the Great said, "From the fifteenth of Ab the influence of
the sun declines, and from that day they leave off cutting wood for the
altar fire, because it could not be properly dried (and green wood might
harbor vermin, which would make it unfit for use)."
_Taanith_, fol. 31, col. 1.
He who eats turnips to beef, and sleeps out in the open air during the
night of the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the months of summer (that
is, when the moon is full), will most likely bring on an ague fever.
_Gittin_, fol. 70, col. 1.
A lad should, at the age of fifteen, begin to apply himself to the
Gemara.
_Avoth_, chap. 5.
"So I bought her to me for fifteen" (Hosea iii. 2), that is, on the
fifteenth day of Nisan, when Israel was redeemed from the bondage of
Egypt. "Silver;" this refers to the righteous. "An homer and a
half-homer;" these equal forty-five measures, and are the forty-five
righteous men for whose sake the world is preserved. I don't know
whether there are thirty here (that is, in Babylon), and fifteen in the
land of Israel, or _vice versà_; as it is said (Zech. xi. 13), "I took
the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of
the Lord." It stands to reason that there are thirty in the land of
Israel, and, therefore, fifteen here. Abaii says that the greater part
are to be found under the gable end of the synagogue. Rav Yehudah says
the reference is to the thirty righteous men always found among the
nations of the world for whose sake they are preserved (but see No. 103
_infra_). Ulla says it refers to the thirty precepts received by the
nations of the world, of which, however, they keep three only; i.e. they
do not enter into formal marriage-contracts with men; they do not expose
for sale the bodies of such animals as have died from natural causes;
and they have regard for the law.
_Chullin_, fol. 92, col. 1.
Rabbi Cheyah bar Abba says, "I once visited a house-holder at Ludkia,
and they placed before him a golden table so loaded with silver plate,
basins, cups, bottles and glasses, besides all sorts of dishes,
delicacies, and spices, that it took sixteen men to carry it. When they
set the table in its place they said (Ps. xxiv. 1), 'The earth is the
Lord's and the fullness thereof,' and upon removing it, they said (Ps.
cxv. 16), 'The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth
hath He given to the children of men.' I said, 'Son, how hast thou come
to deserve all this?' 'I was,' replied he, 'a butcher by trade, and I
always set apart for the Sabbath the best of the cattle.' 'How happy art
thou,' I remarked (adds Rabbi Cheyah), 'to have merited such a reward,
and blessed be God who has thus rewarded thee.'"
_Shabbath_, fol. 119, col. 1.
Rash Lakish said, "I have seen the flow of milk and honey at Tzipori; it
was sixteen miles by sixteen miles."
_Meggillah_, fol. 6, col. 1.
Rashi explains the above as follows:--The goats fed upon figs
from which honey distilled, and this mingled with the milk which
dropped from the goats as they walked along. On the spot arose a
lake which covered an area of sixteen miles square. (See also
Kethuboth, fol. iii, col. 2.)
A cedar tree once fell down in our place, the trunk of which was so wide
that sixteen wagons were drawn abreast upon it.
_Bechoroth_, fol. 57, col. 2.
Who can estimate the loss the world sustains in its ignorance of
the trees of the Talmud? What a sapling in comparison with this
giant cedar of Lebanon must the far-famed Mammoth tree have been
which was lately cut down in California, and was the largest
known to the present generation!
Rabbi Yochanan plaintively records, "I remember the time when a young
man and a young woman sixteen or seventeen years of age could walk
together in the streets and no harm came of it."
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 91, col. 2.
On the deposition of Rabbon Gamliel, Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah was
chosen as his successor to the presidential chair of the academy. On
being told of his elevation, he consulted with his wife as to whether or
not he should accept the appointment. "What if they should depose thee
also?" asked his wife. He replied, "Use the precious bowl while thou
hast it, even if it be broken the next." But she rejoined, "Thou art
only eighteen years old, and how canst thou at such an age expect folks
to venerate thee?" By a miracle eighteen of his locks turned suddenly
gray, so that he could say, "I am as one of seventy."
_Berachoth_, fol. 27, col. 2.
The Rabbis have taught that Shimon Happikoli had arranged the eighteen
benedictions before Rabbon Gamliel at Javneh. Rabbon Gamliel appealed to
the sages, "Is there not a man who knows how to compose an imprecation
against the Sadducees?" Then Samuel the Little stood up and extemporized
it.
Ibid., fol. 28, col. 2.
The "imprecation against the Sadducees" stands twelfth among the
collects of the Shemoneh Esreh. It is popularly known as
"Velama-leshinim" from its opening words, and is given thus in
modern Ashkenazi liturgies:--"Oh, let the slanderers have no
hope, all the wicked be annihilated speedily, and all the
tyrants be cut off, hurled down and reduced speedily; humble
Thou them quickly in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who
destroyest enemies and humblest tyrants." There has been much
misconception with regard to this collect against heretics.
There is every reason to believe it was composed without any
reference whatever to the Christians. One point of interest,
however, in connection with it is worth relating here. Some have
sought to identify the author of it, Samuel the Little, with the
Apostle Paul, grounded the conclusion on his original Hebrew
name, Saul. They take Paulus as equal to _pusillus_, which means
"very little" or "the less," and answers to the word _Hakaton_,
a term of similar import. Samuel, however, died a good Jew (see
Semachoth, chap. 8), and Rabbon Gamliel Hazaken and Rabbi
Eleazar ben Azariah pronounced a funeral oration at his burial.
"His key and his diary were placed on his coffin, because he had
no son to succeed him." (See also Sanhedrin, fol. ii, col. 1.)
Eighteen denunciations did Isaiah make against the people of Israel, and
he recovered not his equanimity until he was able to add, "The child
shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against
the honorable" (Isa. iii. 5).
_Chaggigah_, fol. 14, col. 1.
The Rabbis have related that there was once a family in Jerusalem the
members of which died off regularly at eighteen years of age. Rabbi
Yochanan ben Zacchai shrewdly guessed that they were descendants of Eli,
regarding whom it is said (1 Sam. ii. 25), "And all the increase of
thine house shall die in the flower of their age;" and he accordingly
advised them to devote themselves to the study of the law, as the
certain and only means of neutralizing the curse. They acted upon the
advice of the Rabbi; their lives were in consequence prolonged; and they
thenceforth went by the name of their spiritual father.
_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 18, col. 1.
Eighteen handbreadths was the height of the golden candlestick.
_Menachoth_, fol. 28, col. 2.
If a man remain unmarried after the age of twenty, his life is a
constant transgression. The Holy One--blessed be He!--waits until that
period to see if one enters the matrimonial state, and curses his bones
if he remain single.
_Kiddushin_, fol. 29, col. 2.
A woman marrying under twenty years of age will bear till she is sixty;
if she marries at twenty she will bear until she is forty; if she
marries at forty she will not have any family.
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 119, col. 2.
At twenty pursue the study of the law.
_Avoth_, chap. 5.
Rabbi Yehudah says the early Pietists used to suffer some twenty days
before death from diarrhoea, the effect of which was to purge and purify
them for the world to come; for it is said, "As the fining pot for
silver, and the furnace for gold, so is a man to his praise" (Prov.
xxvii. 21).
_Semachoth_, chap. 3, mish. 10.
It may not be out of place to append two or three parallel
passages here by way of illustration:--"Bodily suffering purges
away sin" (_Berachoth_, fol. 5, col. 1). "He who suffers will
not see hell" (_Eiruvin_, fol. 41, col. 2). "To die of diarrhoea
is an augury for good, for most of the righteous die of that
ailment" (_Kethuboth_, fol. 103, col. 2, and elsewhere).
The bathing season at (the hot baths of) Dimsis lasted twenty-one days.
_Shabbath_, fol. 147, col. 2.
A fowl hatches in twenty-one days, and the almond tree ripens its fruit
in twenty-one days.
_Bechoroth_, fol. 8, col. 1.
Rabbi Levi says the realization of a good dream may be hopefully
expected for twenty-two years; for it is written (Gen. xxxvii. 2),
"These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph being seventeen years old
when he had the dreams." And it is written also (Gen. xli. 46), "And
Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh," etc. From
seventeen to thirty are thirteen, to which add the seven years of plenty
and the two years of famine, which make the sum total of twenty-two.
_Berachoth_, fol. 55, col. 2.
In the pages which precede and follow the above quotation there
is much that is interesting on the subject of dreams and their
interpretation, and one is strongly tempted to append
selections, but we refrain in order to make room for a prayer
which occurs in the morning service for the various festivals,
and is given in the preceding context:--"Sovereign of the
Universe! I am thine, and my dreams are thine. I have dreamed a
dream, but know not what it portendeth. May it be acceptable in
Thy presence, O Lord my God, and the God of my fathers, that all
my dreams concerning myself and concerning all Israel may be for
my good. Whether I have dreamt concerning myself, or whether I
have dreamt concerning others, or whether others have dreamt
concerning me, if they be good, strengthen and fortify them,
that they may be accomplished in me, as were the dreams of the
righteous Joseph; and if they require cure, heal them as Thou
didst Hezekiah, king of Judah, from his sickness; as Miriam the
prophetess from her leprosy, and Naaman from his leprosy; as the
bitter waters of Marah by the hands of our legislator Moses, and
those of Jericho by the hands of Elisha. And as Thou wast
pleased to turn the curse of Balaam, the son of Beor, to a
blessing, be pleased to convert all my dreams concerning me and
all Israel to a good end. Oh, guard me; let me be acceptable to
Thee, and grant me life. Amen." (The translation of this prayer
is borrowed from the Jewish liturgy.)
Rabbi Levi said, "Come and see how unlike the character of the Holy
One--blessed be He!--is to that of those who inherit the flesh and blood
of humanity. God blessed Israel with twenty-two benedictions and cursed
them with eight curses (Lev. xxvi. 3-13, xv. 43). But Moses, our Rabbi,
blessed them with eight benedictions and cursed them with twenty-two
imprecations" (see Deut. xxviii. 1-4, xv. 68).
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 59, col. i.
Once as they were journeying to Chesib (in Palestine), some of Rabbi
Akiva's disciples were overtaken by a band of robbers, who demanded to
know where they were going to. "We are going to Acco," was the reply;
but on arriving at Chesib, they went no farther. The robbers then asked
them who they were? "Disciples of Rabbi Akiva," they replied. Upon
hearing this the robbers exclaimed, "Blessed surely is Rabbi Akiva and
his disciples too, for no man can ever do them any harm." Once as Rabbi
Menasi was traveling to Thurtha (in Babylonia), some thieves surprised
him on the road and asked him where he was bound for. "For Pumbeditha,"
was the reply; but upon reaching Thurtha, he stayed and went no farther.
The highwaymen, thus balked, retorted, "Thou art the disciple of Yehuda
the deceiver!" "Oh, you know my master, do you?" said the Rabbi. "Then
in the name of God be every one of you anathematized." For twenty-two
years thereafter they carried on their nefarious trade, but all their
attempts at violence ended only in disappointment. Then all save one of
them came to the Rabbi and craved his pardon, which was immediately
granted. The one who did not come to confess his guilt and obtain
absolution was a weaver, and he was eventually devoured by a lion. Hence
the proverbs, "If a weaver does not humble himself, he shortens his
life;" and, "Come and see the difference there is between the thieves of
Babylon and the banditti of the land of Israel."
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 26, col. 1.
Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus was twenty-two years of age when, contrary to
the wishes of his father, he went to Rabbon Yochanan ben Zaccai
purposing to devote himself to the study of the law. By the time he
arrived at Rabbon Yochanan's he had been without food four-and-twenty
hours, and yet, though repeatedly asked whether he had had anything to
eat, refused to confess he was hungry. His father having come to know
where he was, went one day to the place on purpose to disinherit him
before the assembled Rabbis. It so happened that Rabbon Yochanan was at
that time lecturing before some of the great men of Jerusalem, and when
he saw the father enter, he pressed Rabbi Eliezer to deliver an
exposition. So racy and cogent were his observations that Rabbon
Yochanan rose and styled him his own Rabbi, and thanked him in the name
of the rest for the instruction he had afforded them. Then the father of
Rabbi Eliezer said, "Rabbis, I came here for the purpose of
disinheriting my son, but now I declare him sole heir of all I have, to
the exclusion of his brothers."
_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 6.
The father of Eliezer acts more magnanimously by his son than
does the father of St. Francis. Like the Rabbi, as Mr. Ruskin
relates in his "Mornings in Florence," St. Francis, one of whose
three great virtues was obedience, "begins his spiritual life by
quarreling with his father. He 'commercially invests' some of
his father's goods in charity. His father objects to that
investment, on which St. Francis runs away, taking what he can
find about the house along with him. His father follows to claim
his property, but finds it is all gone already, and that St.
Francis has made friends with the Bishop of Assisi. His father
flies into an indecent passion, and declares he will disinherit
him; on which St. Francis, then and there, takes all his clothes
off, throws them frantically in his father's face, and says he
has nothing more to do with clothes or father."
Not the same strict scrutiny is required in money matters as in cases of
capital punishment; for it is said (Lev. xxiv. 23), "Ye shall have one
manner of law." What distinction is there made between them? With regard
to money matters three judges are deemed sufficient, while in cases of
capital offense twenty-three are required, etc.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 32, col. 1.
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, "In twenty-four cases doth the tribunal
excommunicate for the honor of a Rabbi, and all are explained in our
Mishna." Rabbi Elazer interposed and asked, "Where are they?" The reply
was, "Go and seek, and thou shalt find." He went accordingly and sought,
but found only three--the case of the man who lightly esteems the
washing of hands; of him who whispers evil behind the bier of a disciple
of the wise; and of him who behaves haughtily toward the Most High.
_Berachoth_, fol. 19, col. 1.
There are three degrees of excommunication, i.e., separation,
exclusion, and execration. That mentioned in the above extract
is of the lowest degree, and lasts never less than thirty days.
The second degree of excommunication is a prolongation of the
first by thirty days more. The third or highest degree lasts for
an indefinite time. See Moed Katon, fol. 17, col. 1; Shevuoth,
fol. 36, col. 1; and consult Index II. appended.
A certain matron once said to Rabbi Yehuda ben Elaei, "Thy face is like
that of one who breeds pigs and lends money on usury." He replied,
"These offices are forbidden me by the rules of my religion, but between
my residence and the academy there are twenty-four latrinæ; these I
regularly visit as I need."
_Berachoth_, fol. 55, col. 1.
The Rabbi meant to say that paying attention to the regular
action of his excretory organs was the secret of his healthy
looks, and to imply that a disordered stomach is the root of
most diseases,--a physiological opinion well worthy of regard by
us moderns.
Rav Birim says that the venerable Rav Benaah once went to all the
interpreters of dreams in Jerusalem, twenty-four in number. Every one of
them gave a different interpretation, and each was fulfilled; which
substantiates the saying that it is the interpretation and not the dream
that comes true.
Ibid., fol. 55, col. 2.
Twenty-four fasts were observed by the men of the Great Synagogue, in
order that the writers of the books, phylacteries, and Mezuzahs might
not grow rich, lest in becoming rich they might be tempted not to write
any more.
_P'sachim_, fol. 50, col. 2.
When Solomon was desirous of conveying the Ark into the Temple, the
doors shut themselves of their own accord against him. He recited
twenty-four psalms, yet they opened not. In vain he cried, "Lift up your
heads, O ye gates" (Ps. xxiv. 9). But when he prayed, "O Lord God, turn
not Thy face away from Thine anointed; remember the mercies of David,
Thy servant" (2 Chron. vi. 42), then the gates flew open at once. Then
the enemies of David turned black in the face, for all knew by this that
God had pardoned David's transgression with Bathseheba.
_Moed Katon_, fol. 9, col. 1.
In the Midrash Rabbah (Devarim, chap. 15) the same story is
told, with this additional circumstance among others, that a
sacred respect was paid to the gates when the Temple was sacked
at the time of the Captivity. When the glorious vessels and
furniture of the Temple were being carried away into Babylon,
the gates, which were so zealous for the glory of God, were
buried on the spot (see Lam. ii. 9), there to await the
restoration of Israel. This romantic episode is alluded to in
the closing service for the Day of Atonement.
There are twenty-four species of unclean birds, but the clean birds are
innumerable.
_Chullin_, fol. 63, col. 2.
In twenty-four places priests are called Levites, and this is one of
them (Ezek. xliv. 15), "But the priests, the Levites, the sons of
Zadok."
_Tamid_, fol. 27, col. 1.
There are twenty-four extremities of members in the human body which do
not suffer defilement in the case of diseased flesh (see Lev. xiii. 10,
24). The tip-ends of the fingers and toes, the edges of the ears, the
tip of the nose, etc.
_Negaim_, chap. 6, mish. 7.
Twenty-five children is the highest number there should be in a class
for elementary instruction. There should be an assistant appointed, if
there be forty in number; and if fifty, there should be two competent
teachers. Rava says, "If there be two teachers in a place, one teaching
the children more than the other, the one that teaches less is not to be
dismissed, because if so, the other is liable to lapse into negligence
also." Rav Deimi of Nehardaa, on the other hand, thinks the dismissal of
the former will make the latter all the more eager to teach more, both
out of fear lest he also be dismissed, and out of gratitude that he has
been preferred to the other. Mar says, "The emulation of the scribes (or
teachers) increaseth wisdom." Rava also says, "When there are two
teachers, one teaching much but superficially, and one teaching
thoroughly but not so much, the former is to be preferred, for the
children will, in the long run, improve most by learning much." Rav
Deimi of Nehardaa, however, thinks the latter is to be preferred, for a
mistake or an error once learned is difficult to unlearn; as it is
written in 1 Kings xi. 16, "For six months did Joab remain there with
all Israel, until he cut off every male in Edom." When David asked Joab
why he killed only the males and not the females, he replied, "Because
it is written in Deut. xxv. 19, 'Thou shalt blot out the male portion of
Amalek.'" "But," said David, "we read 'the remembrance of Amalek.'" To
this Joab replied, "My teacher taught me to read zachar and not
zeichar," i.e., male, and not remembrance. The teacher of Joab was sent
for; and being found guilty of having taught his pupil in a superficial
manner, he was condemned to be beheaded. The poor teacher pleaded in
vain for his life, for the king's judgment was based on Scripture (Jer.
xlviii. 10), "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully,
and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood."
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 21, col. 1.
The Romans faithfully observed their compact with Israel for twenty-six
years. After that time they began to oppress them.
_Avoda Zarah_, fol. 8, col. 2.
The Rabbis have taught that a small salt fish will cause death if
partaken of after seven, seventeen, or twenty-seven days; some say after
twenty-three days. This is said with reference to half-cooked fish, but
when properly cooked there is no harm in it. Neither does any harm
result from eating half-cooked fish, if strong drink be taken after it.
_Berachoth_, fol. 44, col. 2.
On the twenty-eighth day of Adar there came good news to the Jews. The
Roman Government had passed a decree ordaining that they should neither
study the law, nor circumcise their children, nor observe the
Sabbath-days. Yehudah ben Shamua and his associates went to consult a
certain matron, whom all the magnates of Rome were in the habit of
visiting. She advised them to come at night and raise a loud outcry
against the decree they complained of. They did so, and cried, "O
heavens! are we not your brethren? are we not the children of one
mother?" (Alluding to Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.) "Wherein
are we worse than all other nations and tongues, that you should oppress
us with such harsh decrees?" Thereupon the decrees were revoked; to
commemorate which the Jews established a festival.
_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 19, col. 1.
The renewal of the moon comes round in not less than twenty-nine days
and a half and forty minutes.
Ibid., fol. 25, col. 1.
Rav Mari reports that Rabbi Yochanan had said, "He who indulges in the
practice of eating lentils once in thirty days keeps away quinsy, but
they are not good to be eaten regularly because by them the breath is
corrupted." He used also to say that mustard eaten once in thirty days
drives away sickness, but if taken every day the action of the heart is
apt to be affected.
_Berachoth_, fol. 40, col. 1.
He who eats unripe dates and does not wash his hands will for thirty
day be in constant fear, without knowing why, of something untoward
happening.
_P'sachim_, fol. 111, col. 2.
The Rabbis have taught that the lighter kind of excommunication is not
to last less than thirty days, and censure not less than seven. The
latter is inferred from what is said in Num. xii. 14, "If her father had
but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?"
_Moed Katon_, fol. 16, col. 1.
If we meet a friend during any of the thirty days of his mourning for a
deceased relative, we must condole with him but not salute him; but
after that time he may be saluted but not condoled with. If a man
(because he has no family) re-marries within thirty days of the death of
his wife, he should not be condoled with at home (lest it might hurt the
feelings of his new partner); but if met with out of doors, he should be
addressed in an undertone of voice, accompanied with a slight
inclination of the head.
Ibid., fol. 21, col. 2.
During the thirty days of mourning for deceased friends or relatives,
the bereaved should not trim their hair; but if they have lost their
parents, they are not to attend to such matters until their friends
force them to do so.
Ibid., fol. 22, col. 2.
"And Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his
children" (Esth. v. 11). And how many children were there? Rav said
thirty; ten had died, ten were hanged, and ten went about begging from
door to door. The Rabbis say, "Those that went about begging from door
to door were seventy; for it is written (1 Sam. ii. 5), 'They that were
full have hired themselves for bread.'"
_Meggillah_, fol. 15, col. 2.
When Rabbi Chanena bar Pappa was about to die, the Angel of Death was
told to go and render him some friendly service. He accordingly went and
made himself known to him. The Rabbi requested him to leave him for
thirty days, until he had repeated what he had been learning; for it is
said, "Blessed is he who comes here with his studies in his hand." He
accordingly left, and at the expiration of thirty days returned to him.
The Rabbi then asked to be shown his place in Paradise, and the Angel of
Death consented to show him while life was still in him. Then said the
Rabbi, "Lend me thy sword, lest thou surprise me on the road and cheat
me of my expectation." To this the Angel of Death said, "Dost thou mean
to serve me as thy friend Rabbi Yoshua did?" and he declined to intrust
the sword to the Rabbi.
_Kethuboth_, fol. 77, col. 2.
If a man says to a woman, "Thou art betrothed to me after thirty days,"
and in the interim another comes and betroths her, she is the second
suitor's.
_Kiddushin_, fol. 58, col 2.
If one finds a scroll, he may peruse it once in thirty days, but he must
not teach out of it, nor may another join him in reading it; if he does
not know how to read, he must unroll it. If a garment be found, it
should be shaken and spread out once in thirty days, for its own sake
(to preserve it), but not for display. Silver and copper articles should
be used to take care of them, but not for the sake of ornament. Gold and
glass vessels he should not meddle with--till the coming of Elijah.
_Bava Metzia_, fol. 29, col. 2.
Rabbi Zira so inured his body (to endurance) that the fire of Gehenna
had no power over it. Every thirty days he experimented on himself,
ascending a fiery furnace, and finally sitting down in the midst of it
without being affected by the fire. One day, however, as the Rabbis
fixed their eyes upon him, his hips became singed, and from that day
onward he was noted in Jewry as the little man with the singed hips.
Ibid., fol. 85, col. 1.
An Arab once said to Rabbah bar Channah, "Come and I will show thee the
place where Korah and his accomplices were swallowed up." "There," says
the Rabbi, "I observed smoke coming out from two cracks in the ground.
Into one of these he inserted some wool tied on to the end of his spear,
and when he drew it out again it was scorched. Then he bade me listen. I
did so, and as I listened heard them groan out, 'Moses and his law are
true, but we are liars.' The Arab then told me that they come round to
this place once in every thirty days, being stirred about in the
hell-surge like meat in the boiling caldron."
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 74, col. 1.
Rabbi Yochanan, in expounding Isa. liv. 12, said, "The Holy One--blessed
be He!--will bring precious stones and pearls, each measuring thirty
cubits by thirty, and polishing them down to twenty cubits by ten, will
place them in the gates of Jerusalem." A certain disciple contemptuously
observed, "No one has ever yet seen a precious stone as large as a small
bird's egg, and is it likely that such immense ones as these have any
existence?" He happened one day after this to go forth on a voyage, and
there in the sea he saw the angels quarrying precious stones and pearls
like those his Rabbi had told him of, and upon inquiry he learned that
they were intended for the gates of Jerusalem. On his return he went
straight to Rabbi Yochanan and told him what he had seen and heard.
"Raca!" said the latter, "hadst thou not seen them thou wouldst have
kept on deriding the words of the wise!" Then fixing his gaze intently
upon him, he with the glance of his eye reduced to a heap of bones the
carcass of his body.
Ibid., fol. 75, col. 1.
He who lends unconditionally a sum of money to his neighbor is not
entitled to demand it back within thirty days thereafter.
_Maccoth_, fol. 3, col. 2.
If a man has lost a relative, he is forbidden to engage in business
until thirty days after the death. In the case of the decease of a
father or a mother, he is not to resume work until his friends rebuke
him and urge him to return.
_Semachoth_, chap. 9.
It is unlawful for one to enter a banqueting-house for thirty days after
the death of a relative; but he must refrain from so doing for twelve
months after the demise of either father or mother, unless on the behest
of some higher requirement of piety.
Ibid.
But I know not whether there are thirty righteous men here and fifteen
in the land of Israel, or _vice versâ_.
_Chullin_, fol. 92, col. 1.
Thirty days in a year are equivalent to a whole year.
_Niddah_, fol. 44, col. 2.
"Moses, thou didst say unto me, 'What is Thy name?' And now thou dost
say, 'Neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all.' Now shalt thou see
what I will do to Pharaoh (Exod. v. 23, vi. 1), but not what I am about
to do to the thirty-one kings."
_Sanhedrin_, fol. III, col. 1.
When Rav Deimi arrived at Babylon, he reported that the Romans had
fought thirty-two battles with the Greeks without once conquering them,
until they allied themselves with Israel, on the stipulation that where
Rome appointed the commanding officers the Jews should appoint the
governors, and _vice versâ_.
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 8, col. 2.
Manasseh did penance thirty-three years.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 103, col. 1.
Balaam was thirty-three years of age when Phineas, the robber, slew him.
Ibid., fol. 106, col. 2.
For thirty-four years the kingdom of Persia lasted contemporaneously
with the Temple.
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 1.
Abaii has said, "There are never fewer than thirty-six righteous men in
every generation who receive the presence of the Shechinah; for it is
said (Isa. xxx. 18), 'Blessed are all those who wait upon Him.'" The
numerical value (by Gematria) of Him, is thirty-six.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 97, col. 2.
The sons of Esau, of Ishmael, and of Keturah went on purpose to dispute
the burial (of Jacob); but when they saw that Joseph had placed his
crown upon the coffin, they did the same with theirs. There were
thirty-six crowns in all, tradition says. "And they mourned with a great
and very sore lamentation." Even the very horses and asses joined in it,
we are told. On arriving at the Cave of Machpelah, Esau once more
protested, and said, "Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and
Rebekah, are all buried here. Jacob disposed of his share when he buried
Leah in it, and the remaining one belongs to me." "But thou didst sell
thy share with thy birthright," remonstrated the sons of Jacob. "Nay,"
rejoined Esau, "that did not include my share in the burial-place."
"Indeed it did," they argued, "for our father, just before he died, said
(Gen. l. 5), 'In my grave which I have bought for myself.'" "Where are
the title-deeds?" demanded Esau. "In Egypt," was the answer. And
immediately the swift-footed Naphthali started for the records. ("So
light of foot was he," says the Book of Jasher, "that he could go upon
the ears of corn without crushing them.") Hushim, the son of Dan, being
deaf, asked what was the cause of the commotion. On being told what it
was, he snatched up a club and smote Esau so hard that his eyes dropped
out and fell upon the feet of Jacob; at which Jacob opened his eyes and
grimly smiled. This is that which is written (Ps. lviii. 10), "The
righteous shall rejoice when he sees vengeance; he shall wash his feet
in the blood of the wicked." Then Rebekah's prophecy came to pass (Gen.
xxvii. 45), "Why shall I be deprived also of you both in one day?" For
although they did not both die on the same day, they were both buried on
the same day.
_Soteh_, fol. 13, col. 1.
This story slightly varied, is repeated in the Book of Jasher
and in the Targum of Ben Uzziel.
The principal works of the hand are forty save one:--To sow, to plow, to
reap, to bind in sheaves, to thrash, to winnow, to sift corn, to grind,
to bolt meal, to knead, to bake, to shear, to wash wool, to comb wool,
to dye it, to spin, to warp, to shoot two threads, to weave two threads,
to cut and tie two threads, to tie, to untie, to sew two stitches, to
tear two threads with intent to sew, to hunt game, to slay, to skin, to
salt a hide, to singe, to tan, to cut up a skin, to write two letters,
to scratch out two letters with intent to write, to build, to pull down,
to put out a fire, to light a fire, to smite with a hammer, to convey
from one Reshuth [a private property in opposition to a public] to
another.
_Shabbath_, fol. 73, col. 1.
King Yanai had a single tree on the royal mound, whence once a month
they collected forty seahs (about fifteen bushels) of young pigeons of
three different breeds.
_Berachoth_, fol. 44, col. 1.
Forty years before the destruction of the Temple the Sanhedrin were
exiled, and they sat in the Halls of Commerce.
_Shabbath_, fol. 15, col. 1.
Until one is forty eating is more advantageous than drinking. After that
age the rule is reversed.
Ibid., fol. 152, col. 1.
The Rabbis have taught that during the forty years in which Simeon the
Just officiated in the Temple the lot always fell on the right (see Lev.
xvi. 8-10). After that time it sometimes fell on the right and sometimes
on the left. The crimson band also, which in his time had always turned
white, after that period sometimes turned white, and at others it did
not change color at all.
_Yoma_, fol. 39, col. 1.
The Rabbis have taught:--Forty years before the destruction of the
Temple the lot did not fall on the right, and the crimson band did not
turn white; the light in the west did not burn, and the gates of the
Temple opened of themselves, so that Rabbi Yochanan ben Zacchai rebuked
them, and said, "O Temple! Temple! why art thou dismayed? I know thy end
will be that thou shalt be destroyed, for Zachariah the son of Iddo has
already predicted respecting thee (Zech. xi. i), 'Open thy doors, O
Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.'"
Ibid., fol. 39, col. 2.
During the forty years that Israel were in the wilderness there was not
a midnight in which the north wind did not blow.
_Yevamoth_, fol. 71, col. 1.
Rabbi Zadok fasted forty years that Jerusalem might not be destroyed,
and so emaciated was he, that when he ate anything it might be seen
going down his throat.
_Gittin_, fol. 56, col. 1.
Forty days before the formation of a child a Bath Kol proclaims, "The
daughter of so-and-so shall marry the son of so-and-so; the premises of
so-and-so shall be the property of so-and-so."
_Soteh_, fol. 2, col. 1.
Rav Hunna and Rav Chasda were so angry with one another that they did
not meet for forty years. After that Rav Chasda fasted forty days for
having annoyed Rav Hunna, and Rav Hunna forty days for having suspected
Rav Chasda.
_Bava Metzia_, fol. 33, col. 1.
A female who marries at forty will never have any children.
He who eats black cummin the weight of a denarius will have his heart
torn out; so also will he who eats forty eggs or forty nuts, or a
quarter of honey.
_Tract Calah._
He that cooks in milk the nerve Nashe on a yearly festival, and then
eats it, receives five times forty stripes save one, etc.
_Baitza_, fol. 12, col. 1.
He who passes forty consecutive days without suffering some affliction
has received his good reward in his lifetime (_cf._ Luke xvi. 25).
_Erachin_, fol. 16, col. 2.
If a bath contain forty measures of water and some mud, people may,
according to Rabbi Elazar, immerse themselves in the water of it, but
not in the mud; while Rabbi Yehoshua says they may do so in both.
_Mikvaoth_, chap. ii. 10.
Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav:--The Divine name, which consists of
forty-two letters, is revealed only to him who is prudent and meek, who
has reached the meridian of life, is not prone to wrath, not given to
drink, and not revengeful. He that knows that name, and acts
circumspectly in regard to it, and retains it sacredly, is beloved in
heaven and esteemed on earth; He inspires men with reverence, and is
heir both to the world that now is and that which is to come.
_Kiddushin_, fol. 71, col. 1.
A man should always devote himself to the study of the law and to the
practice of good deeds, even if he does not do so for their own sake, as
self-satisfied performance may follow in due course. Thus, in recompense
for the forty-two sacrifices he offered, Balak was accounted worthy to
become the ancestor of Ruth. Rav Yossi bar Hunna has said, Ruth was the
daughter of Eglon, the grandson of Balak, king of Moab.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 105, col. 2.
These are the forty-five righteous men for whose sake the world is
preserved.
_Chullin_, fol. 92, col. 1.
Rabbi Meir had a disciple named Sumchus, who in every case assigned
forty-eight reasons why one thing should be called clean and why another
should be called unclean, though Scripture declared the contrary. (A
striking illustration of Rabbinical ingenuity!)
_Eiruvin_, fol. 13, col. 2.
Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses prophesied unto Israel, and
they have neither diminished nor added to that which is written in the
law, except the reading of the Book of Esther.
_Megillah_, fol. 14, col. 1.
The Rabbis teach that in future (in the days of the Messiah) all
Scripture will be abolished except the Book of Esther, also all
festivals except the feast of Purim. (See _Menorath Hamaor_,
fol. 135, col. 1.)
By forty-eight things the law is acquired. These are study, attention,
careful conversation, mental discernment, solicitude, reverential fear,
meekness, geniality of soul, purity, attention to the wise, mutual
discussion, debating, sedateness, learning in the Scripture and the
Mishna, not dabbling in commerce, self-denial, moderation in sleep,
aversion to gossip, etc., etc.
_Avoth_, chap. 6.
When God gave the law to Moses, He assigned forty-nine reasons in every
case for pronouncing one thing unclean and as many for pronouncing other
things clean.
_Sophrim_, chap. 16, mish. 6.
He that has fifty zouzim, and trades therewith, may not glean what is
left in the corner of the field (Lev. xix. 9). He that takes it, and has
no right to it, will come to want before the day of his departure. And
if one who is entitled to it leaves it to others more needy, before he
dies he will not only be able to support himself, but be a stay to
others.
_Peah_, chap. 8, mish. 9.
Fifty measures of understanding were created in the world, and all
except one were given to Moses; as it is said (Ps. viii. 5), "Thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels."
_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 21, col, 2.
Poverty in a house is harder to bear than fifty plagues.
_Bava Bathra_, fol 116, col. 1.
The above saying is based on Job xix. 21, compared with Exod.
viii. 19.
For fifty-two years no man traveled through the land of Judea.
_Yoma_. fol. 54, col. 1.
Black cummin is one of the sixty deadly drugs.
_Berachoth_, fol. 40, col. 1.
Ulla and Rav Chasda were once traveling together, when they came up to
the gate of the house of Rav Chena bar Chenelai. At sight of it Rav
Chasda stooped and sighed. "Why sighest thou?" asked Ulla, "seeing, as
Rav says, sighing breaks the body in halves; for it is said (Ezek. xxi.
6), 'sigh, therefore, O son of man, with the breaking of thy loins;' and
Rabbi Yochanan says a sigh breaks up the whole constitution; for it is
said (Ezek. xxi. 7), 'And it shall be when they say unto thee, Wherefore
sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings because it cometh,
and the whole heart shall melt,'" etc. To this Rav Chasda replied, "How
can I help sighing over this house, where sixty bakers used to be
employed during the day, and sixty during the night, to make bread for
the poor and needy; and Rav Chena had his hand always at his purse, for
he thought the slightest hesitation might cause a poor but respectable
man to blush; and besides he kept four doors open, one to each quarter
of the heavens, so that all might enter and be satisfied? Over and above
this, in time of famine he scattered wheat and barley abroad, so that
they who were ashamed to gather by day might do so by night; but now
this house has fallen into ruin, and ought I not to sigh?"
Ibid., fol. 58, col. 2.
Egypt is a sixtieth of Ethiopia, Ethiopia a sixtieth of the world, the
world is a sixtieth part of the garden of Eden, the garden itself is but
a sixtieth of Eden, and Eden a sixtieth of Gehenna. Hence the world in
proportion to Gehenna is but as the lid to a caldron.
_P'sachim_, fol. 94, col. 1.
They led forth Metatron and struck him sixty bastinadoes with a cudgel
of fire.
_Chaggigah_, fol. 15, col. 1.
In the context of the foregoing quotation occurs an anecdote of
Rabbi Elisha ben Abuyah which is too racy to let pass, and too
characteristic to need note or comment. One day Elisha ben
Abuyah was privileged to pry into Paradise, where he saw the
recording angel Metatron on a seat registering the merits of the
holy of Israel. Struck with astonishment at the sight, he
exclaimed, "Is it not laid down that there is no sitting in
heaven, no shortsightedness or fatigue?" Then Metatron, thus
discovered, was ordered out and flogged with sixty lashes from a
fiery scourge. Smarting with pain, the angel asked and obtained
leave to cancel the merits of the prying Rabbi. One day--it
chanced to be on Yom Kippur and Sabbath--as Elisha was riding
along by the wall where the Holy of Holies once stood, he heard
a Bath Kol proclaiming, "Return, ye backsliding children, but
Acher abide thou in thy sin" (Acher was the Rabbi's nickname). A
faithful disciple of his hearing this, and bent on reclaiming
and reforming him, invited him to go and hear the lads of a
school close by repeat their lessons. The Rabbi went, and from
that to another and another, until he had gone the round of a
dozen seminaries, in the last of which he called up a lad to
repeat a verse who had an impediment in his speech. The verse
happened to be Ps. l. 16, "But unto the wicked, God saith, Why
dost thou declare my law?" Acher fancied the boy said, and to
Elisha (his own name), instead of and to Rasha, that is, the
wicked. This roused the Rabbi into such fury of passion, that he
sprang to his feet, exclaiming, "If I only had a knife at hand I
would cut this boy into a dozen pieces, and send a piece to each
school I have visited!"
A woman of sixty runs after music like a girl of six.
_Moed Katon_, fol. 9, col. 2.
Rabba, who only studied the law, lived forty years; Abaii, who both
studied the law and exercised benevolence, lived sixty.
_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 18, col. 1.
The manna which came down upon Israel was sixty ells deep.
_Yoma_, fol. 76, col. 1.
It is not right for a man to sleep in the daytime any longer than a
horse sleeps. And how long is the sleep of a horse? Sixty respirations.
_Succah_, fol. 26, col. 2.
Abaii says, "When I left Rabbah, I was not at all hungry; but when I
arrived at Meree, they served up before me sixty dishes, with as many
sorts of viands, and I ate half of each, but as for hotch-potch, which
the last dish contained, I ate up all of it, and would fain have eaten
up the dish too." Abaii said, "This illustrates the proverb, current
among the people, 'The poor man is hungry, and does not know when he has
eaten enough; or, there is always room for a tit-bit.'"
_Meggillah_, fol. 7, col. 2.
There are sixty kinds of wine; the best of all is the red aromatic wine,
and bad white wine is the worst.
_Gittin_, fol. 70, col. 1.
Samson's shoulders were sixty ells broad.
_Soteh_, fol. 10, col. 1.
Ebal and Gerizim were sixty miles from Jordan.
Ibid., fol. 36, col. 1.
One who makes a good breakfast can outstrip sixty runners in a race (who
have not).
_Bava Kama_, fol. 92, col. 2.
A (hungry) person who looks on while another eats, experiences sixty
unpleasant sensations in his teeth.
Ibid.
His wife made him daily sixty sorts of dainties, and these restored him
again.
_Bava Metzia_, fol. 84, col. 2.
Rabbi Blazar, the son of Rabbi Shimon, once vindictively caused
a man to be put to death, merely because he had spoken of him as
Vinegar the son of Wine, a round-about way of reproaching him
that he was the bad son of a good father, though it turned out
afterward that the condemned man deserved death for a crime that
he was not known to be guilty of at the time of his execution;
yet the mind of the Rabbi was ill at ease, and he voluntarily
did penance by subjecting himself in a peculiar fashion to great
bodily suffering. Sixty woolen cloths were regularly spread
under him every night, and these were found soaked in the
morning with his profuse perspiration. The result of this was
greater and greater bodily prostration, which his wife strove,
as related above, day after day to repair, detaining him from
college, lest the debates there should prove too much for his
weakened frame. When his wife found that he persisted in
courting these sufferings, and that her tender care, as well as
her own patrimony, were being lavished on him in vain, she tired
of her assiduity, and left him to his fate. And now, waited on
by some sailors, who believed they owed to him deliverance from
a watery grave, he was free to do as he liked. One day, being
ministered to by them after a night's perspiration of the kind
referred to, he went straight to college, and there decided
sixty doubtful cases against the unanimous dissent of the
assembly. Providential circumstances, which happened afterward,
both proved that he was right in his judgment and that his wife
was wrong in suffering her fondness for him to stand in the way
of the performance of his public duties.
Elijah frequently attended the Rabbi's seat of instruction, and once, on
the first of a month, he came in later than usual. Rabbi asked what had
kept him so late. Elijah answered, "I have to wake up Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob one after the other, to wash the hands of each, and to wait
until each has said his prayers and retired to rest again." "But," said
Rabbi, "why do they not all get up at the same time?" The answer was,
"Because if they prayed all at once, their united prayers would hurry on
the coming of the Messiah before the time appointed." Then said Rabbi,
"Are there any such praying people among us?" Elijah mentioned Rabbi
Cheyah and his sons. Then Rabbi announced a fast, and the Rabbi Cheyah
and his sons came to celebrate it. In the course of repeating the
Shemoneh Esreh [a prayer consisting of eighteen Collects, which is
repeated three times each day] they were about to say, "Thou restoreth
life to the dead" when the world was convulsed, and the question was
asked in heaven, "Who told them the secret?" So Elijah was bastinadoed
sixty strokes with a cudgel of fire. Then he came down like a fiery
bear, and dashing in among the people, scattered the congregation.
_Bava Metzia_, fol. 85, col. 2.
When love was strong, we could lie, as it were, on the edge of a sword;
but now, when love is diminished, a bed sixty ells wide is not broad
enough for us.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 7, col. 1.
The pig bears in sixty days.
_Bechoroth_, fol. 8, col. 1.
Sixty iron mines are suspended in the sting of a gnat.
_Chullin_, fol. 58, col. 2.
An egg once dropped out of the nest of a bird called Bar-Yuchnei, which
deluged sixty cities and swept away three hundred cedars. The question
therefore arose, "Does the bird generally throw out its eggs?" Rav Ashi
replied, "No; that was a rotten one."
_Bechoroth_, fol. 57, col. 2.
Everybody knows why a bride enters the nuptial chamber, but against him
who sullies his lips by talking about it, the decree for good, though of
seventy years' standing, shall be reversed into a decree for evil. Rav
Chasda says, "Whosoever disgraces his mouth (by evil communication),
Gehenna shall be deepened for him; for it is said in Prov. xxii. 14, 'A
deep pit for the mouth of strange words (immoral talk).'" Rav Nachman
bar Yitzchak says, "The same punishment will be inflicted on him who
listens to it and is silent; for it is said (Prov. xxii. 14), 'And he
that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.'"
_Shabbath_, fol. 33, col. 1.
(Jer. xxiii. 29), "Like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces," so
is every utterance which proceedeth from the mouth of God, divided
though it be into seventy languages.
Ibid., fol. 88, col. 2.
Rabbi Eliezer asked, "For whose benefit were those seventy bullocks
intended?" See Num. xxix. 12-36. For the seventy nations into which the
Gentile world is divided; and Rashi plainly asserts that the seventy
bullocks were intended to atone for them, that rain might descend all
over the world, for on the Feast of Tabernacles judgment is given
respecting rain, etc. Woe to the Gentile nations for their loss, and
they know not what they have lost! for as long as the Temple existed,
the altar made atonement for them; but now, who is to atone for them?
_Succah_, fol. 55, col. 2.
Choni, the Maagol, once saw in his travels an old man planting a
carob-tree, and he asked him when he thought the tree would bear fruit.
"After seventy years," was the reply. "What!" said Choni, "dost thou
expect to live seventy years and eat the fruit of thy labor?" "I did not
find the world desolate when I entered it," said the old man; "and as my
fathers planted for me before I was born, so I plant for those that will
come after me."
_Taanith_, fol. 23, col. 1.
Mordecai was one of those who sat in the hall of the Temple, and he knew
seventy languages.
_Megillah_, fol. 13, col. 2.
The Rabbis have taught:--During a prosperous year in Israel, a place
that is sown with a single measure of seed produces five myriad cors of
grain. In the tilled districts of Zoan, one measure of seed produces
seventy cors; for we are told that Rabbi Meir said he himself had
witnessed in the vale of Bethshean an instance of one measure of seed
producing seventy cors. And there is no better land anywhere than the
land of Egypt; for it is said, "As the garden of the Lord, like the land
of Egypt." And there is no better land in ail Egypt than Zoan, where
several kings have resided; for it is written (Isa. xxx. 4), "His
princes were in Zoan." In all Israel there was no more unsuitable soil
than Hebron, for it was a burying-place, and yet Hebron was seven times
more prolific than Zoan; for it is written (Num. xiii. 22), "Now Hebron
was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt." For it is said (Gen. x. 6),
"And the sons of Ham, Cush, Mizraim (that is, Egypt), Phut, and Canaan"
(that is, Israel). It must, therefore, mean that it was seven times more
prolific (the verb meaning both to build and to produce) than Zoan. This
is only in the unsuitable soil of the land of Israel, Hebron, but in the
suitable soil (the increase) is five hundred times. All this applies to
a year of average return, but in one of special prosperity, it is
written (Gen. xxvi. 12), "Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in
the same year an hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him." (The word
years, is conveniently overlooked in working out the argument.)
_Kethuboth_, fol. 112, col. 1.
The astrologers in Egypt said to Pharaoh, "What! shall a slave whose
master bought him for twenty pieces of silver rule over us?" Pharaoh
replied, "But I find him endowed with kingly qualities." "If that is the
case," they answered, "he must know seventy languages." Then came the
angel Gabriel, and taught him seventy languages.
_Soteh_, fol. 36, col. 2.
When the leviathan makes the deep boil, the sea does not recover its
calm for seventy years; for it is said (Job xli. 32), "One would think
the deep is to be hoary," and we cannot take the word "hoary" to imply a
term of less than seventy years.
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 75, col. 1.
Abba Chalepha Keruya once remarked to Rav Cheyah bar Abba, "The sum
total of Jacob's family thou findest reckoned at seventy, whereas the
numbers added up make only sixty-nine. How is that?" Rav Cheyah made
answer that the particle in verse 15, implies that Dinah must have been
one of twin-sisters. "But," objected the other, "the same particle
occurs also in connection with Benjamin, to say nothing of other
instances." "Alas!" said Rav Cheyah, "I am possessed of a secret worth
knowing, and thou art trying to worm it out of me." Then interposed Rav
Chama bar Chanena, "The number may be made up by reckoning Jochebed in,
for of her it is said (Num. xxvi. 59) 'that her mother bare her to Levi
in Egypt;' her birth took place in Egypt, though she was conceived on
the journey."
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 123, cols, 1, 2.
Rav Yehudah says in the name of Shemuel:--There is yet another festival
in Rome, which is observed only once in seventy years, and this is the
manner of its celebration. They take an able-bodied man, without
physical defect, and cause him to ride upon the back of a lame one. They
dress up the former in the garments of Adam (such as God made for him in
Paradise), and cover his face with the skin of the face of Rabbi
Ishmael, the high priest, and adorn his neck with a precious stone. They
illuminate the streets, and then lead the two men through the city, a
herald proclaiming before them, "The account of our Lord was false; it
is the brother of our Lord that is the deceiver! He that sees this
festival sees it, and he that does not see it now will never see it.
What advantage to the deceiver is his deception, and to the crafty his
craftiness?" The proclamation finishes up thus--"Woe to this one when
the other shall rise again!"
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 11, col. 2.
The Targum Yarushalmi informs us that the Lord God wrought for
Adam and his wife robes of honor from the cast-off skin of the
serpent. We learn elsewhere that Nimrod came into possession of
Adam's coat through Ham, who stole it from Noah while in the
Ark. The glib tongue of tradition also tells how Esau slew
Nimrod and appropriated the garment, and wore it for luck when
hunting; but that on the day when he went to seek venison at the
request of his dying parent, in his hurry he forgot the
embroidered robe of Adam, and had bad luck in consequence. Then
Jacob borrowed the left-off garment, and kept it for himself.
The mask alluded to is accounted for thus:--The daughter of a
Roman emperor took a fancy to have the skin of Rabbi Ishmael's
face, and it accordingly, when he was dead, was taken off, and
so embalmed as to retain its features, expression, and
complexion, and the Jews say that it is still preserved among
the relics at Rome. The able-bodied man in this prophetic
mystery-play represents Esau, and the limping man is intended
for Jacob. Rome (or Esau) is uppermost in that ceremonial, but
the time is coming when Jacob will rise and invest himself in
the blessings he so craftily obtained the reversion of.
Rabbi Yochanan said:--None were elected to sit in the High Council of
the Sanhedrin except men of stature, of wisdom, of imposing appearance,
and of mature age; men who knew witchcraft and seventy languages, in
order that the High Council of the Sanhedrin should have no need of an
interpreter.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 17, col. 1.
Yehudah and Chiskiyah, the sons of Rabbi Cheyah, once sat down to a meal
before Rabbi (the Holy) without speaking a word. "Give the boys some
wine," said Rabbi, "that they may have boldness to speak." When they had
partaken of the wine, they said, "The son of David will not come until
the two patriarchal houses of Israel are no more," that is, the head of
the Captivity in Babylon and the Prince in the land of Israel; for it is
written (Isa. viii. 14), "And he shall be for a sanctuary, and for a
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel."
"Why, children," said Rabbi (who was patriarch of Tiberias), "you are
thrusting thorns into my eyes." Rabbi Cheyah said, "Do not be offended
at them. Wine is given with seventy, and so is a secret (the numerical
value of each of these words is seventy); when wine enters the secret
oozes out."
Ibid., fol. 38, col. 1.
A certain star appears once in seventy years and deceives the sailors
(who guide their vessels by the position of the heavenly bodies; and
this star appears sometimes in the north and sometimes in the
south.--_Rashi_.)
_Horayoth_, fol. 10, col. 1.
As eating olive berries causes one to forget things that he has known
for seventy years, so olive oil brings back to the memory things which
happened seventy years before.
Ibid., fol. 13, col. 2,
The outside of the shell of the purple mollusk resembles the sea in
color; its bodily conformation is like that of a fish; it rises once in
seventy years; its blood is used to dye wool purple, and therefore this
color is dear.
_Menachoth_, fol. 44, col. 1.
The bearing-time of the flat-headed otter lasts seventy years; a
parallel may be found in the carob-tree, from the planting to the
ripening of the pods of which is seventy years.
_Berachoth_, fol. 8, col. 1.
The Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members. It is recorded that
Rabbi Yossi said, "Seldom was there contention in Israel, but the
judicial court of seventy-one sat in the Lishkath-hagazith, i.e., Paved
Hall, and two (ordinary) courts of justice consisting of twenty-three,
one of which sat at the entrance of the Temple-Mount, and the other at
the entrance of the ante-court; and also (provincial) courts of justice,
also comprising twenty-three members, which held their sessions in all
the cities of Israel. When an Israelite had a question to propose, he
asked it first of the court in his own city. If they understood the
case, they settled the matter; but if not, they applied to the court of
the next city. If the neighboring justices could not decide, they went
together and laid the case in debate before the court which held its
session at the entrance of the Temple-Mount. If these courts, in turn,
failed to solve the problem, they appealed to the court that sat in the
entrance of the ante-court, where a discussion was entered into upon the
moot points of the case; if no decision could be arrived at, they all
referred to the (supreme) court of seventy-one, where the matter was
finally decided by the majority of votes."
As the disciples of Shammai and Hillel multiplied who had not studied
the law thoroughly, contentions increased in Israel to such an extent
that the law lost its unity and became as two.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 88, col. 2.
The Sanhedrin sat in a semicircle, in order that they might see one
another; and two notaries stood before them, the one on the right and
the other on the left, to record the pros and cons in the various
processes. Rabbi Yehudah says there were three such notaries, one for
the pros, one for the cons, and one to record both the pros and the
cons.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 36, col. 2.
The witnesses (in capital cases) were questioned on seven points, as
follows:--In what Shemitah (or septennial cycle) did it occur? In which
year (of the cycle)? In what month? Upon what day? At what hour? In what
place? ... The more one questioned the more he was commended. (See Deut.
xiii. 15; A.V., ver. 14.)
Ibid., fol. 40, col. 1.
In connection with the foregoing subject, let us string together some of
the gems of forensic wisdom to be met with in the Talmud. A score or so
of bona fide quotations, respecting judges, criminals and criminal
punishment, and witnesses, will serve to illustrate this part of our
subject.