shoes (Taanith, fol. 22, col. 1). Even now, in Poland, a pious
Jew, or a Chasid, would on no account wear polished boots or a
short coat, or neglect to wear a girdle. He would at once lose
caste and be subjected to persecution, direct or indirect, were
he to depart from a custom. Custom is law, is an oft-quoted
Jewish proverb, one among the most familiar of their household
words, as "Custom is a tyrant," is among ours. Another saying we
have is, "Custom is the plague of wise men, but is the idol of
fools."
The following anecdotes are related by way of practically illustrating
Ps. ii. 11, "Rejoice with trembling." Mar, the son of Ravina, made a
grand marriage-feast for his son, and when the Rabbis were at the height
of their merriment on the occasion, he brought in a very costly cup,
worth four hundred zouzim, and broke it before them, and this occasioned
them sorrow and trembling. Rav Ashi made a grand marriage-feast for his
son, and when he noticed the Rabbis in high jubilation, he brought in a
costly cup of white glass and broke it before them, and this made them
sorrowful. The Rabbis challenged Rav Hamnunah on the wedding of his son
Ravina, saying, "Give us a song, sir," and he sung, "Woe be to us, for
we must die! Woe be to us, for we must die!" "And what shall we sing?"
they asked in chorus by way of response. He replied, "Sing ye, 'Alas!
where is the law we have studied? where the good works we have done?
that they may protect us from the punishment of hell!'" Rabbi Yochanan,
in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, says, "It is unlawful for a man
to fill his mouth with laughter in this world, for it is said in Ps.
cxxvi., 'Then (but not now) will our mouth be filled with laughter,'"
etc. It is related of Resh Lakish that he never once laughed again all
the rest of his life from the time that he heard this from Rabbi
Yochanan, his teacher.
_Berachoth_, fol. 30, col. 2, and fol. 31, col. 1.
A man once laid a wager with another that he would put Hillel out of
temper. If he succeeded he was to receive, but if he failed he was to
forfeit, four hundred zouzim. It was close upon Sabbath-eve, and Hillel
was washing himself, when the man passed by his door, shouting, "Where
is Hillel? where is Hillel?" Hillel wrapped his mantle round him and
sallied forth to see what the man wanted. "I want to ask thee a
question," was the reply. "Ask on, my son," said Hillel. Whereupon the
man said, "I want to know why the Babylonians have such round heads?" "A
very important question, my son," said Hillel; "the reason is because
their midwives are not clever." The man went away, but after an hour he
returned, calling out as before, "Where is Hillel? where is Hillel?"
Hillel again threw on his mantle and went out, meekly asking, "What now,
my son?" "I want to know," said he, "why the people of Tadmor are
weak-eyed?" Hillel replied, "This is an important question, my son, and
the reason is this, they live in a sandy country." Away went the man,
but in another hour's time he returned as before, crying out, "Where is
Hillel? where is Hillel?" Out came Hillel again, as gentle as ever,
blandly requesting to know what more he wanted. "I have a question to
ask," said the man. "Ask on, my son," said Hillel. "Well, why have the
Africans such broad feet?" said he. "Because they live in a marshy
land," said Hillel. "I have many more questions to ask," said the man,
"but I am afraid that I shall only try thy patience and make thee
angry." Hillel, drawing his mantle around him, sat down and bade the man
ask all the questions he wished. "Art thou Hillel," said he, "whom they
call a prince in Israel?" "Yes," was the reply. "Well," said the other,
"I pray there may not be many more in Israel like thee!" "Why," said
Hillel, "how is that?" "Because," said the man, "I have betted four
hundred zouzim that I could put thee out of temper, and I have lost them
all through thee." "Be warned for the future," said Hillel; "better it
is that thou shouldst lose four hundred zouzim, and four hundred more
after them, than it should be said of Hillel he lost his temper!"
_Shabbath_, fol. 31, col. 1.
Rabbi Perida had a pupil to whom he had to rehearse a lesson four
hundred times before the latter comprehended it. One day the Rabbi was
hurriedly called away to perform some charitable act, but before he went
he repeated the lesson in hand the usual four hundred times, but this
time his pupil failed to learn it. "What is the reason, my son," said he
to his dull pupil, "that this time my repetitions have been thrown
away?" "Because, master," naively replied the youth, "my mind was so
pre-occupied with the summons you received to discharge another duty."
"Well, then," said the Rabbi to his pupil, "let us begin again." And he
repeated the lesson a second four hundred times.
_Eiruvin_, fol. 54, col. 2.
Between Azel and Azel (1 Chron. viii. 38 and ix. 44), there are four
hundred camel-loads of critical researches due to the presence of
manifold contradictions.
_Psachim_. fol. 62, col. 2.
Egypt has an area of four hundred square miles.
Ibid., fol. 94, col. 1.
The Targum of the Pentateuch was executed by Onkelos the proselyte at
the dictation of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, and the Targum of the
prophets was executed by Jonathan ben Uzziel at the dictation of Haggai,
Zachariah, and Malachi (!), at which time the land of Israel was
convulsed over an area of four hundred square miles.
_Meggillah_, fol. 3, col. 1.
Mar Ukva was in the habit of sending on the Day of Atonement four
hundred zouzim to a poor neighbor of his. Once he sent the money by his
own son, who returned bringing it back with him, remarking, "There is no
need to bestow charity upon a man who, as I myself have seen, is able to
indulge himself in expensive old wine." "Well," said his father, "since
he is so dainty in his taste, he must have seen better days. I will
therefore double the amount for the future." And this accordingly he at
once remitted to him.
_Kethuboth_, fol. 67, col. 2.
"And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, ... ye shall carry
up my bones from hence" (Gen. l. 25). Rabbi Chanena said, "There is a
reason for this oath. As Joseph knew that he was perfectly righteous,
why then, if the dead are to rise in other countries as well as in the
land of Israel, did he trouble his brethren to carry his bones four
hundred miles?" The reply is, "He feared lest, if buried in Egypt, he
might have to worm his way through subterranean passages from his grave
into the land of Israel."
Ibid., fol. 111, col. 1.
To this day among the Polish Jews the dead are provided for
their long subterranean journey with little wooden forks, with
which, at the sound of the great trumpet, they are to dig and
burrow their way from where they happen to be buried till they
arrive in Palestine. To avoid this inconvenience there are some
among them who, on the approach of old age, migrate to the Holy
Land, that their bones may rest there against the morning of the
resurrection.
Rav Cahana was once selling ladies' baskets when he was exposed to the
trial of a sinful temptation. He pleaded with his tempter to let him off
and he promised to return, but instead of doing so he went up to the
roof of the house and threw himself down headlong. Before he reached the
ground, however, Elijah came and caught him, and reproached him, as he
caught him up, with having brought him a distance of four hundred miles
to save him from an act of willful self-destruction. The Rabbi told him
that it was his poverty which had given to the temptation the power of
seduction. Thereupon Elijah gave him a vessel full of gold denarii and
departed.
_Kiddushin_, fol. 40, col. 1.
"Pashur, the son of Immer the priest" (Jer. xx. 1) had four hundred
servants, and every one of them rose to the rank of the priesthood. One
consequence was that an insolent priest hardly ever appeared in Israel
but his genealogy could be traced to this base-born, low-bred ancestry.
Rabbi Elazar said, "If thou seest an impudent priest, do not think evil
of him, for it is said (Hos, iv. 4), 'Thy people are as they that strive
with the priest.'"
Ibid., fol. 70, col. 2.
David had four hundred young men, handsome in appearance and with their
hair cut close upon their foreheads, but with long flowing curls behind,
who used to ride in chariots of gold at the head of the army. These were
men of power (men of the fist, in the original), the mighty men of the
house of David, who went about to strike terror into the world.
_Kiddushin_, fol. 76, col. 2.
Four hundred boys and as many girls were once kidnapped and torn from
their relations. When they learned the purpose of their capture, they
all exclaimed, "Better drown ourselves in the sea; then shall we have an
inheritance in the world to come." The eldest then explained to them the
text (Ps. lxviii. 22), "The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan; I
will bring again from the depths of the sea." "From Bashan," i.e., from
the teeth of the lion; "from the depths of the sea," i.e., those that
drown themselves in the sea. When the girls heard this explanation they
at once jumped all together into the sea, and the boys with alacrity
followed their example. It is with reference to these that Scripture
says (Ps. xliv. 22), "For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we
are counted as sheep for the slaughter."
_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 2.
There were four hundred synagogues in the city of Byther, in each there
were four hundred elementary teachers, and each had four hundred pupils.
When the enemy entered the city they pierced him with their pointers;
but when at last the enemy overpowered them, he wrapped them in their
books and then set fire to them; and this is what is written (Lam. iii.
51), "Mine eye affecteth my heart because of all the daughters of my
city."
Ibid., fol. 58, col 1.
The total population of Byther must have been something enormous
when the children in it amounted to 64,000,000! The elementary
teachers alone came to 160,000.
Once when the Hasmonean kings were engaged in civil war it happened that
Hyrcanus was outside Jerusalem and Aristobulus within. Every day the
besieged let down a box containing gold denarii, and received in return
lambs for the daily sacrifices. There chanced to be an old man in the
city who was familiar with the wisdom of the Greeks, and he hinted to
the besiegers in the Greek language that so long as the Temple services
were kept up the city could not be taken. The next day accordingly, when
the money had been let down, they sent back a pig in return. When about
half-way up the animal pushed with its feet against the stones of the
wall, and thereupon an earthquake was felt throughout the land of Israel
to the extent of four hundred miles. At that time it was the saying
arose, "Cursed be he that rears swine, and he who shall teach his son
the wisdom of the Greeks." (See Matt. viii. 30.)
_Soteh_, fol. 49, col. 2.
If one strikes his neighbor with his fist, he must pay him one sela; if
he slaps his face, he is to pay two hundred zouzim; but for a
back-handed slap the assailant is to pay four hundred zouzim. If he
pulls the ear of another, or plucks his hair, or spits upon him, or
pulls off his mantle, or tears a woman's head-dress off in the street,
in each of these cases he is fined four hundred zouzim.
_Bava Kama_, fol. 90, col. 1.
There was once a dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and the Mishnic sages as
to whether a baking-oven, constructed from certain materials and of a
particular shape, was clean or unclean. The former decided that it was
clean, but the latter were of a contrary opinion. Having replied to all
the objections the sages had brought against his decision, and finding
that they still refused to acquiesce, the Rabbi turned to them and said,
"If the Halacha (the law) is according to my decision, let this
carob-tree attest." Whereupon the carob-tree rooted itself up and
transplanted itself to a distance of one hundred, some say four hundred,
yards from the spot. But the sages demurred and said, "We cannot admit
the evidence of a carob-tree." "Well, then," said Rabbi Eliezer, "let
this running brook be a proof;" and the brook at once reversed its
natural course and flowed back. The sages refused to admit this proof
also. "Then let the walls of the college bear witness that the law is
according to my decision;" upon which the walls began to bend, and were
about to fall, when Rabbi Joshuah interposed and rebuked them, saying,
"If the disciples of the sages wrangle with each other in the Halacha,
what is that to you? Be ye quiet!" Therefore, out of respect to Rabbi
Joshuah, they did not fall, and out of respect to Rabbi Eliezer they did
not resume their former upright position, but remained toppling, which
they continue to do to this day. Then said Rabbi Eliezer to the sages,
"Let Heaven itself testify that the Halacha is according to my
judgment." And a Bath Kol or voice from heaven was heard, saying, "What
have ye to do with Rabbi Eliezer? for the Halacha is on every point
according to his decision!" Rabbi Joshuah then stood up and proved from
Scripture that even a voice from heaven was not to be regarded, "For
Thou, O God, didst long ago write down in the law which Thou gavest on
Sinai (Exod. xxiii. 2), 'Thou shalt follow the multitude.'" (See
context.) We have it on the testimony of Elijah the prophet, given to
Rabbi Nathan, on an oath, that it was with reference to this dispute
about the oven God himself confessed and said, "My children have
vanquished me! My children have vanquished me!"
_Bava Metzia_ fol. 59, col. 1.
In the sequel to the above we are told that all the legal
documents of Rabbi Eliezer containing his decisions respecting
things "clean" were publicly burned with fire, and he himself
excommunicated. In consequence of this the whole world was
smitten with blight, a third in the olives, a third in the
barley, and a third in the wheat; and the Rabbi himself, though
excommunicated, continued to be held in the highest regard in
Israel.
The Rabbis said to Rabbi Hamnuna, "Rav Ami has written or copied four
hundred copies of the law." He replied to them, "Perhaps only (Deut.
xxxiii. 4) 'Moses commanded us a law.'" (He meant he did not imagine
that any one man could possibly write out four hundred complete copies
of the Pentateuch.)
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 14, col. 1.
Rabbi Chanena said, "If four hundred years after the destruction of the
Temple one offers thee a field worth a thousand denarii for one
denarius, don't buy it."
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 2.
We know by tradition that the treatise "Avodah Zarah," which our father
Abraham possessed, contained four hundred chapters, but the treatise as
we now have it contains only five.
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 14, col. 2.
The camp of Sennacherib was four hundred miles in length.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 95, col. 2.
"Curse ye Meroz," etc. (Judges v. 23). Barak excommunicated Meroz at the
blast of four hundred trumpets (lit. horns or cornets).
_Shevuoth_, fol. 36, col. 1.
What is the meaning where it is written (Ps. x. 27), "The fear of the
Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened;"
"The fear of the Lord prolongeth days" alludes to the four hundred and
ten years the first Temple stood, during which period the succession of
high priests numbered only eighteen. But "the years of the wicked shall
be shortened" is illustrated by the fact that during the four hundred
and twenty years that the second Temple stood the succession of high
priests numbered more than three hundred. If we deduct the forty years
during which Shimon the Righteous held office, and the eighty of Rabbi
Yochanan, and the ten of Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi, it is evident that not
one of the remaining high priests lived to hold office for a whole year.
_Yoma_, fol. 9, col. 1.
"The souls which they had gotten in Haran" (Gen. xii. 5). From this time
to the giving of the law was four hundred and forty-eight years.
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 1.
A young girl and ten of her maid-servants were once kidnapped, when a
certain Gentile bought them and brought them to his house. One day he
gave a pitcher to the child and bade her fetch him water, but one of her
servants took the pitcher from her, intending to go instead. The master,
observing this, asked the maid why she did so. The servant replied, "By
the life of thy head, my lord, I am one of no less than five hundred
servants of this child's mother." The master was so touched that he
granted them all their freedom.
_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 17.
Cæsar once said to Rabbi Yoshua ben Chananja, "This God of yours is
compared to a lion, as it is written (Amos iii. 8), 'The lion hath
roared, who will not fear?' Wherein consists his excellency? A horseman
kills a lion." The Rabbi replied, "He is not compared to an ordinary
lion, but to a lion of the forest Ilaei." "Show me that lion at once,"
said the Emperor. "But thou canst not behold him," said the Rabbi. Still
the Emperor insisted on seeing the lion; so the Rabbi prayed to God to
help him in his perplexity. His prayer was heard; the lion came forth
from his lair and roared, upon which, though it was four hundred miles
away, all the walls of Rome trembled and fell to the ground. Approaching
three hundred miles nearer, he roared again, and this time the teeth of
the people dropped out of their mouths and the Emperor fell from his
throne quaking. "Alas! Rabbi, pray to thy God that He order the lion
back to his abode in the forest."
_Chullin_, fol. 59, col. 2.
All this is as nothing compared to the voice of Judah, which
made all Egypt quake and tremble, and Pharaoh fall from his
throne headlong, etc., etc. See Jasher, chap. 64, verses 46, 47.
The distance from the earth to the firmament is five hundred years'
journey, and so it is from each successive firmament to the next,
throughout the series of the seven heavens.
_P'sachim_, fol. 94, col. 2.
"Now, as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel upon the earth
by the living creatures" (Ezek. i. 15). Rabbi Elazar says it was an
angel who stood upon the earth, and his head reached to the living
creatures. It is recorded in a Mishna that his name is Sandalphon, who
towers above his fellow-angels to a height of five hundred years'
journey; he stands behind the chariot and binds crowns on the head of
his Creator.
_Chaggigah_, fol. 13, col. 2.
In the Liturgy for the Feast of Tabernacles it is said that
Sandalphon gathers in his hands the prayers of Israel, and,
forming a wreath of them, he adjures it to ascend as an orb for
the head of the supreme King of kings.
The mount of the Temple was five hundred yards square.
_Middoth_, chap. 2.
One Scripture text (1 Chron. xxi. 25) says, "So David gave to Ornan for
the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight." And another Scripture
(2 Sam. xxiv. 24) says, "So David bought the threshing-floor and the
oxen for fifty shekels of silver." How is this? David took from each
tribe fifty shekels, and they made together the total six hundred, i.e.,
he took silver to the value of fifty shekels of gold.
_Zevachim_, fol. 116, col. 2.
Rabbi Samlai explains that six hundred and thirteen commandments were
communicated to Moses; three hundred and sixty-five negative, according
to the number of days in the year, and two hundred and forty-eight
positive, according to the number of members in the human body. Rav
Hamnunah asked what was the Scripture proof for this. The reply was
(Deut. xxxiii. 4), "Moses commanded us a law" (Torah), which by Gematria
answers to six hundred and eleven. "I am," and "Thou shalt have no
other," which we heard from the Almighty Himself, together make up six
hundred and thirteen.
_Maccoth_, fol. 23, col. 2.
David, we are told, reduced these commandments here reckoned at
six hundred and thirteen, to eleven, and Isaiah still further to
six, and then afterward to two. "Thus saith the Eternal, Observe
justice and act righteously, for my salvation is near." Finally
came Habakkuk, and he reduced the number to one
all-comprehensive precept (chap. ii. 4), "The just shall live by
faith." (See _Maccoth_, fol. 24, col. 1.)
The precept concerning fringes is as weighty as all the other precepts
put together; for it is written, says Rashi (Num. xv. 39), "And remember
all the commandments of the Lord." Now the numerical value of the word
"fringes" is six hundred, and this with eight threads and five knots
makes six hundred and thirteen.
_Shevuoth_, fol. 29, col. 1.
"For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem
and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the
whole stay of water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and
the prophet," etc. (Isa. iii. 1, 2). By "the stay" is meant men mighty
in the Scriptures, and by "the staff" men learned in the Mishna; such,
for instance, as Rabbi Yehudah ben Tima and his associates. Rav Pappa
and the Rabbis differed as to the Mishna; the former said there were six
hundred orders of the Mishna, and the latter that there were seven
hundred orders. "The whole stay of bread" means men distinguished in the
Talmud; for it is said, "Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine
which I have mingled" (Prov. ix. 5). And "the whole stay of water" means
men skillful in the Haggadoth, who draw out the heart of man like water
by means of a pretty story or legend, etc.
_Chaggigah_, fol. 14, col. 1.
There are seven hundred species of fish, eight hundred of locusts,
twenty-four of birds that are unclean, while the species of birds that
are clean cannot be numbered.
_Chullin_, fol. 63, col. 2.
"The same was Adino the Eznite," etc. (2 Sam. xxiii. 8). This mighty man
when studying the law was as pliant as a worm; but when engaged in war
he was as firm and unyielding as a tree; and when he discharged an arrow
he killed eight hundred men at one shot.
_Moed Katon_, fol. 16, col. 2.
"Ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land" (Deut. iv. 26). The
term soon uttered by the Lord of the Universe means eight hundred and
fifty-two years.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 38, col. 1.
There are nine hundred and three sorts of deaths in the world; for the
expression occurs (Ps. lxviii. 20), "Issues of death." The numerical
value of "issues" is nine hundred and three. The hardest of all deaths
is by quinsy, and the easiest is the Divine kiss (of which Moses, Aaron,
and Miriam died). Quinsy is like the forcible extraction of prickly
thorns from wool, or like a thick rope drawn through a small aperture;
the kiss referred to is like the extracting of a hair from milk.
_Berachoth_, fol. 8, col. 1.
When Moses went up on high, the ministering angels asked, "What has one
born of a woman to do among us?" "He has come to receive the law," was
the Divine answer. "What!" they remonstrated again, "that cherished
treasure which has lain with Thee for nine hundred and seventy-four
generations before the world was created, art Thou about to bestow it
upon flesh and blood? What is mortal man that Thou art mindful of him,
and the son of earth that Thou thus visitest him? O Lord! our Lord! is
not Thy name already sufficiently exalted in the earth? Confer Thy glory
upon the heavens" (Ps. viii. 4, 6). The Holy One--blessed be He!--then
called upon Moses to refute the objection of the envious angels. "I
fear," pleaded he, "lest they consume me with the fiery breath of their
mouth." Thereupon, by way of protection, he was bid approach and lay
hold of the throne of God; as it is said (Job xxvi. 9), "He lays hold of
the face of His throne and spreads His cloud over him." Thus encouraged,
Moses went over the Decalogue, and demanded of the angels whether they
had suffered an Egyptian bondage and dwelt among idolatrous nations, so
as to require the first commandment; or were they so hardworked as to
need a day of rest, etc., etc. Then the angels at once confessed that
they were wrong in seeking to withhold the law from Israel, and they
then repeated the words, "O Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the
earth!" (Ps. viii. 9), omitting the words, "Confer Thy glory upon the
heavens." And not only so, but they positively befriended Moses, and
each of them revealed to him some useful secret; as it is said (Ps.
lxviii. 18), "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast captured spoil, thou
hast received gifts; because they have contemptuously called thee man."
_Shabbath_, fol. 88, col. 2.
Nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the world was created
the law was written and deposited in the bosom of the Holy One--blessed
be He!--and sang praises with the ministering angels.
_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 31.
If one is sick and at the point of death, he is expected to confess, for
all confess who are about to suffer the last penalty of the law. When a
man goes to the market place, let him consider himself as handed over to
the custody of the officers of judgment. If he has a headache, let him
deem himself fastened with a chain by the neck. If confined to his bed,
let him regard himself as mounting the steps to be judged; for when this
happens to him, he is saved from death only if he have competent
advocates, and these advocates are repentance and good works. And if
nine hundred and ninety-nine plead against him, and only one for him, he
is saved; as it is said (Job xxxiii. 23), "If there be an interceding
angel, one among a thousand to declare for man his uprightness, then He
is gracious unto him and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit."
_Shabbath_, fol. 32, col. 1.
Rav Hunna says, "A quarrel is like a breach in the bank of a river; when
it is once made it grows wider and wider." A certain man used to go
about and say, "Blessed is he who submits to a reproach and is silent,
for a hundred evils depart from him." Shemuel said to Rav Yehuda, "It is
written in Scripture (Prov. xvii. 14), 'The beginning of strife is as
when one letteth out water.'" Strife is the beginning of a hundred
lawsuits.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 7, col. 1.
When Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, she introduced to him a
thousand different kinds of musical instruments, and taught him the
chants to the various idols.
_Shabbath_, fol. 56, col. 2.
When Buneis, the son of Buneis, called on Rabbi (the Holy), the latter
exclaimed, "Make way for one worth a hundred manahs!" Presently another
visitor came, and Rabbi said, "Make way for one worth two hundred
manahs." Upon which Rabbi Ishmael, the son of Rabbi Yossi, remonstrated,
saying, "Rabbi, the father of the first-comer, owns a thousand ships at
sea and a thousand towns ashore!" "Well," replied Rabbi, "when thou
seest his father, tell him to send his son better clad next time." Rabbi
paid great respect to those that were rich, and so did Rabbi Akiva.
_Eiruvin_, fol. 86, col. 1.
Rabbi Elazer ben Charsom inherited from his father a thousand towns and
a thousand ships, and yet he went about with a leather sack of flour at
his back, roaming from town to town and from province to province in
order to study the law. This great Rabbi never once set eye on his
immense patrimony, for he was engaged in the study of the law all day
and all night long. And so strange was he to his own servants, that
they, on one occasion, not knowing who he was, pressed him against his
will to do a day's work as a menial; and though he pleaded with them as
a suppliant to be left alone to pursue his studies in the law, they
refused, and swore, saying, "By the life of Rabbi Elazer ben Charsom,
our master, we will not let thee go till thy task is completed." He then
let himself be enforced rather than make himself known to them.
_Yoma_, fol. 35, col. 2.
The wife of Potiphar coaxed Joseph with loving words, but in vain. She
then threatened to immure him in prison, but he replied (anticipating
Ps. cxlvi. 7), "The Lord looseth the prisoners." Then she said, "I will
bow thee down with distress; I will blind thine eyes." He only answered
(_ibid._, ver. 8), "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind and raiseth
them that are bowed down." She then tried to bribe him with a thousand
talents of silver if he would comply with her request, but in vain.
Ibid.
A Midrash tells us that Potiphar's wife not only falsely accused
Joseph herself, but that she also suborned several of her female
friends to do likewise. The Book of Jasher, which embodies the
Talmudic story quoted above, tells us that an infant in the
cradle spoke up and testified to Joseph's innocence, and that
while Joseph was in prison his inamorata daily visited him. More
on this topic may be found in the Koran, chap. xii. The amours
of Joseph and Zulieka, as told by the glib tongue of tradition,
fitly find their consummation in marriage, and certain Moslems
affect to see in all this an allegorical type of Divine love, an
allegory which some other divines find in the Song of Solomon.
The thickness of the earth is a thousand paces or ells.
_Succah_, fol. 53, col. 2.
The crust of the earth as far as the abyss is a thousand ells,
and the abyss under the earth is fifteen thousand. There is an
upper and a lower abyss mentioned in Taanith, fol. 25, col. 2.
Riddia, the angel who has the command of the waters, and resides
between the two abysses, says to the upper, "disperse thy
waters," and to the lower, "let thy waters flow up."
Many may ask after thy peace, but tell thy secret only to one of a
thousand.
_Yevamoth_, fol. 63, col. 2.
The Rabbis have taught that if the value of stolen property is a
thousand, and the thief is only worth, say, five hundred, he is to be
sold into slavery twice. But if the reverse, he is not to be sold at
all.
_Kiddushin_, fol. 18, col. 2.
The Behemoth upon a thousand hills (Ps. l. 10), God created them male
and female, but had they been allowed to propagate they would have
destroyed the whole world. What did He do? He castrated the male and
spayed the female, and then preserved them that they might serve for the
righteous at the Messianic banquet; as it is said (Job xl. 16), "His
strength is in his loins (i.e., the male), and his force in the navel of
his belly" (i.e., the female).
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 74, col. 2.
This provision for the coming Messianic banquet is considered of
sufficient importance to be mentioned year after year in the
service for the Day of Atonement and also at the Feast of
Tabernacles. The remark of D. Levi, that the feast here referred
to is to be understood allegorically, involves rather sweeping
consequences, as it is open to any one to annihilate many other
expectations on the same principle.
The Holy One--blessed be He!--will add to Jerusalem gardens extending to
a thousand times their numerical value, which equals one hundred and
sixty-nine, etc.
Ibid., fol. 75, col. 2.
"Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much" (2 Kings xxi. 16).
Here (in Babylon) it is interpreted to mean that he murdered Isaiah, but
in the West (i.e., in Palestine) they say that he made an image of the
weight of a thousand men, which was the number he massacred every day
(as Rashi says, by the heaviness of its weight).
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 103, col. 2.
See Josephus, Antiq., Book X. chap, iii., sec. 1, for
corroborative evidence. Tradition says that Manasseh caused
Isaiah to be sawn asunder with a wooden saw. (See also Yevamoth,
fol. 49, col. 2; Sanhedrin, fol. 103, col. 2.)
Nowhere in the Talmud do we find the name of the great image
here referred to. What if we christen it the "Juggernaut of the
Talmud"? May the tradition not be a prelusion or a reflex of
that man-crushing monster? Anyhow, scholars are aware of a
community of no inconsiderable extent between the conceptions
and legends of the Hindoos and the Rabbis. One notable contrast,
however, between this Juggernaut and that of the Hindoos is,
that whereas in both cases the innocent suffered for the guilty,
in the former that sacrifices were exacted to propitiate Satan,
while in the latter they were freely offered in supposed
propitiation of the gods.
The food consumed by Og, king of Bashan, consisted of a thousand oxen
and as many of all sorts of other beasts, and his drink consisted of a
thousand measures, etc.
_Sophrim_, chap. 21, mish. 9.
Solomon made ten candelabra for the Temple; for each he set aside a
thousand talents of gold, which he refined in a crucible until they were
reduced to the weight of one talent.
_Menachoth_, fol. 29, col. 1.
There was an organ in the Temple which produced a thousand kinds of
melody.
_Eirchin_, fol. 11 col. 1.
The Magrepha, with its ten pipes and its ten-times-ten various
notes (Eirchin, fol. 10, col. 2, and fol. 11, col. 1), which was
said to have been used in the Temple service, must have been an
instrument far superior to any organ in use at the time
elsewhere.
If from a town numbering fifteen hundred footmen, such, for example, as
the village of Accho, nine people be borne forth dead in the course of
three successive days, it is a sure sign of the presence of the plague;
but if this happen in one day or in four, then it is not the plague.
_Taanith_, fol. 21, col. 1.
Seventeen hundred of the arguments and minute rules of the Scribes were
forgotten during the days of mourning for Moses. Othniel, the son of
Kenaz, by his shrewd arguing restored them all as if they had never
lapsed from the memory.
_Temurah_, fol. 16, col. 1.
There was a great court at Jerusalem called Beth Yaazek, where all
witnesses (who could testify to the time of the appearance of the new
moon) used to assemble, and where they were examined by the authorities.
Grand feasts were prepared for them as an inducement to them to come
(and give in their testimony). Formerly they did not move from the place
they happened to be in when overtaken by the Sabbath, but Rabbon Gamliel
the elder ordained that they might in that case move two thousand cubits
either way.
_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 21, col. 2.
He that is abroad (on the Sabbath) and does not know the limit of the
Sabbath day's journey may walk two thousand moderate paces, and that is
a Sabbath day's journey.
_Eiruvin_, fol. 42, col. 1.
Rabbon Gamliel had a hollow tube, through which, when he looked, he
could distinguish a distance of two thousand cubits, whether by land or
sea. By the same tube he could ascertain the depth of a valley or the
height of a palm tree.
Ibid., fol. 43, col. 2.
He who observes carefully the precepts respecting fringes will, as a
reward, have two thousand eight hundred slaves to wait upon him; for it
is said (Zech. viii. 23), "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days
it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages
of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew,
saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."
_Shabbath_, fol. 32, col. 2.
Rashi's explanation of this matter is very simple. The merit of
the fringes lies in their being duly attached to "the four
quarters" or skirts of the garments (Deut. xxii. 12). There are
seventy nations in the whole world, and ten of each nation will
take hold of each corner of the garment, which gives 70 x 10 x 4
= 2800. Rabbi B'chai, commenting on Num. xv. 39, 40, repeats the
same story almost word for word.
This passage (Zech. viii. 23) has lately been construed by some
into a prophecy of the recent Berlin Congress, and the ten men
mentioned are found in the representatives of the contracting
parties, i.e., England, France, Germany, Turkey, Russia,
Austria, Italy, Greece, Roumania, and Servia.
Rav Hamnunah said, "What is it that is written (1 Kings iv. 32), 'And he
spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five'?"
It is intended to teach that Solomon uttered three thousand proverbs
upon each and every word of the law, and for every word of the Scribes
he assigned a thousand and five reasons.
_Eiruvin_, fol. 21, col. 2.
When Rabbi Eliezer was sick he was visited by Rabbi Akiva and his
party.... "Wherefore have ye come?" he asked. "To learn the law," was
the reply. "And why did you not come sooner?" "Because we had no
leisure," said they. "I shall be much surprised," said he, "if you die a
natural death." Then turning to Rabbi Akiva he said, "Thy death shall be
the worst of all." Then folding his arms upon his breast, he exclaimed:
"Woe unto my two arms! for they are like two scrolls of the law rolled
up, so that their contents are hidden. Had they waited upon me, they
might have added much to their knowledge of the law, but now that
knowledge will perish with me. I have in my time learned much and taught
much, and yet I have no more diminished the knowledge of my Rabbis by
what I have derived from them than the waters of the sea are reduced by
a dog lapping them. Over and above this I expounded three hundred," some
allege he said three thousand, "Halachahs with reference to the growing
of Egyptian cucumbers, and yet no one except Akiva ben Yoseph has ever
proposed a single question to me respecting them. He and I were walking
along the road one day when he asked me to instruct him regarding the
cultivation of Egyptian cucumbers. I made but one remark, when the
entire field became full of them. Then at his request I made a remark
about cutting them, when lo! they all collected themselves together in
one spot." Thus Rabbi Eliezer kept on talking, when all of a sudden he
fell back and expired.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 68, col. 1.
The last words of this eminent Rabbi derive a tragic interest
from the fact that he died while under sentence of
excommunication.
Three thousand Halachoth were forgotten at the time of mourning for
Moses, and among them the Halachah respecting an animal intended for a
sin-offering the owner of which died before sacrificing it.
_Temurah_, fol. 16, col. 1.
All the prophets were rich men. This we infer from the account of Moses,
Samuel, Amos, and Jonah. Of Moses, as it is written (Num. xvi. 15), "I
have not taken one ass from them." Of Samuel, as it is written (1 Sam.
xii. 3), "Behold, here I am; witness against me before the Lord, and
before His anointed, whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken?"
Of Amos, as it is written (Amos vii. 14), "I was an herdsman and a
gatherer of sycamore fruit," i.e., I am proprietor of my herds and own
sycamores in the valley. Of Jonah, as it is written (Jonah i. 3), "So he
paid the fare thereof and went down into it." Rabbi Yochanan says he
hired the whole ship. Rabbi Rumanus says the hire of the ship amounted
to four thousand golden denarii.
_Nedarim_, fol. 38, col. 1.
Four thousand two hundred and thirty-one years after the creation of the
world, if any one offers thee for one single denarius a field worth a
thousand denarii, do not buy it.
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 2.
Rashi gives this as the reason of the prohibition: For then the
restoration of the Jews to their own land will take place, so
that the denarius paid for a field in a foreign land would be
money thrown away.
Four thousand two hundred and ninety-one years after the creation of the
world the wars of the dragons and the wars of Gog and Magog will cease,
and the rest of the time will be the days of the Messiah; and the Holy
One--blessed be He!--will not renew His world till after seven thousand
years.... Rabbi Jonathan said, "May the bones of those who compute the
latter days (when the Messiah shall appear) be blown; for some say,
'Because the time (of Messiah) has come and Himself has not, therefore
He will never come!' But wait thou for Him, as it is said (Hab. ii. 3),
'Though He tarry, wait for Him.' Perhaps you will say, 'We wait, but He
does not wait;' learn rather to say (Isa. xxx. 18), 'And therefore will
the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you; and therefore will He
be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you.'"
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 97, col. 2.
It is related of Rabbi Tarphon (probably the Tryphon of polemic fame)
that he was very rich, but gave nothing to the poor. Once Rabbi Akiva
met him and said, "Rabbi, dost thou wish me to purchase for thee a town
or two?" "I do," said he, and at once gave him four thousand gold
denarii. Rabbi Akiva took this sum and distributed it among the poor.
Some time after Rabbi Tarphon met Rabbi Akiva and said, "Where are the
towns thou purchasedst for me?" The latter seized hold of him by the arm
and led him to the Beth Hamedrash, where, taking-up a psalter, they read
together till they came to this verse, "He hath dispersed, he hath given
to the poor, his righteousness endureth forever" (Ps. cxii. 9). Here
Rabbi Akiva paused and said, "This is the place I purchased for thee,"
and Rabbi Tarphon saluted him with a kiss.
_Tract. Callah._
The Pentateuch contains five thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight
verses. The Psalms have eight verses more than, and the Chronicles eight
verses short of, that number.
_Kiddushin_, fol. 30, col. 1.
The number of verses in the Pentateuch is usually stated at
5845, the mnemonic sign of which is a word in Isaiah xxx. 26,
the letters of which stand for 5845. The verse reads, "Moreover,
the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun." The
Masorites tell us that the number of verses in the Psalms is
2527, and in the two Books of Chronicles 1656.
The world is to last six thousand years. Two thousand of these are
termed the period of disorder, two thousand belong to the dispensation
of the law, and two thousand are the days of the Messiah; but because of
our iniquities a large fraction of the latter term is already passed and
gone without the Messiah giving any sign of His appearing.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 97, col. 1.
As the land of Canaan had one year of release in seven, so has the world
one millennium of release in seven thousand years; for it is said (Isa.
ii. 17), "And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day;" and again
(Ps. xcii. 1), "A psalm or song for the Sabbath day," which means a long
Sabbatic period; and again (Ps. xc. 4), "For a thousand years in Thy
sight are but as the day of yesterday."
Ibid.
Tradition records that the ladder (mentioned Gen. xxviii. 12) was eight
thousand miles wide, for it is written, "And behold the angels of God
ascending and descending upon it." Angels ascending, being in the
plural, cannot be fewer than two at a time, and so likewise must those
descending, so that when they passed they were four abreast at least. In
Daniel x. 6 it is said of the angel, "His body was like Tarshish," and
there is a story that Tarshish extended two thousand miles.
_Chullin_, fol. 91, col. 2.
The tithes from the herds of Elazer ben Azaryah amounted to twelve
thousand calves annually.
_Shabbath_, fol. 54, col. 2.
It is said that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of disciples
dispersed about between Gabbath and Antipatris, and all of them died
within a short period because they paid no honor to one another. The
land was then desolate until Rabbi Akiva came among our Rabbis of the
south and taught the law to Rabbis Meir, Yehudah, Yossi, Shimon, and
Elazer ben Shamua, who re-established its authority.
_Yevamoth_, fol. 26, col. 2.
After a lapse of twelve years, he returned accompanied by twelve
thousand disciples, etc.
Ravah bar Nachmaini was impeached for depriving the revenue of the
poll-tax on twelve thousand Jews, by detaining them annually at his
academy for one month in the spring, and for another month in the
autumn; for great multitudes from various parts of the country were
wont, at the two seasons of the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles,
to come to hear him preach, so that when the king's officers came to
collect the taxes they found none of them at home. A royal messenger was
accordingly despatched to apprehend him, but he failed to find him, for
the Rabbi fled to Pumbeditha, and from thence to Akra, to Agmi, Sichin,
Zeripha, Ein d'Maya, and back again to Pumbeditha. Arrived at this
place, both the royal messenger and the fugitive Rabbi happened to put
up at the same inn. Two cups were placed before the former on a table,
when, strange to say, after he had drunk and the table was removed, his
face was forcibly turned round to his back. (This was done by evil
spirits because he drank even numbers--against which we are earnestly
warned in _P'sachim_, fol. 110, col. 1.) The inn-keeper, fearing the
consequences of such a misfortune happening to so high an official at
his inn, sought advice of the lurking Rabbi, when the latter suggested
that the table be placed again before him with one cup only on it, and
thus the even number would become odd, and his face would return to its
natural position. They did so, and it was as the Rabbi had said. The
official then remarked to his host, "I know the man I want is here," and
he hastened and found him. "If I knew for certain," he said to the
Rabbi, "that thy escape would cost my life only, I would let thee go,
but I fear bodily torture, and therefore I must secure thee." And
thereupon he locked him up. Upon this the Rabbi prayed, till the prison
walls miraculously giving way he made his escape to Agma, where he
seated himself at the root of a tree and gave himself up to meditation.
While thus engaged he all at once heard a discussion in the academy of
heaven on the subject of the hair mentioned in Lev. xiii. 25. The Holy
One--blessed be He!--declared the case to be "clean," but the whole
academy were of a different opinion, and declared the case to be
"unclean." The question then arose, "Who shall decide?" "Ravah bar
Nachmaini shall decide," was the unanimous reply, "for he said, 'I am
one in matters of leprosy; I am one in questions about tents; and there
is none to equal me.'" Then the angel of death was sent for to bring him
up, but he was unable to approach him, because the Rabbi's lips never
ceased repeating the law of the Lord. The angel of death thereupon
assumed the appearance of a troop of cavalry, and the Rabbi,
apprehensive of being seized and carried off, exclaimed, "I would rather
die through that one (meaning the angel of death) than be delivered into
the hands of the Government!" At that very instant he was asked to
decide the question in dispute, and just as the verdict "clean" issued
from his lips his soul departed from his body, and a voice was heard
from heaven proclaiming, "Blessed art thou, Ravah bar Nachmaini, for thy
body is clean. 'Clean' was the word on thy lips when thy spirit
departed." Then a scroll fell down from heaven into Pumbeditha
announcing that Ravah bar Nachmaini was admitted into the academy of
heaven. Apprised of this, Abaii, in company with many other Rabbis, went
in search of the body to inter it, but not knowing the spot where he
lay, they went to Agma, where they noticed a great number of birds
hovering in the air, and concluded that the shadow of their wings
shielded the body of the departed. There, accordingly, they found and
buried him; and after mourning three days and three nights over his
grave, they arose to depart, when another scroll descended threatening
them with excommunication if they did so. They therefore continued
mourning for seven days and seven nights, when, at the end of these, a
third scroll descended and bade them go home in peace. On the day of the
death of this Rabbi there arose, it is said, such a mighty tempest in
the air that an Arab merchant and the camel on which he was riding were
blown bodily over from one side of the river Pappa to the other. "What
meaneth such a storm as this?" cried the merchant, as he lay on the
ground. A voice from heaven answered, "Ravah bar Nachmaini is dead."
Then he prayed and fled, "Lord of the universe, the whole world is
Thine, and Ravah bar Nachmaini is Thine! Thou art Ravah's and Ravah is
Thine; but wherefore wilt Thou destroy the world?" On this the storm
immediately abated, and there was a perfect calm.
_Bava Metzia_, fol. 86, col. 1.
The above seems to be a Rabbinical satire on the Talmud itself
although the orthodox Jews believe that every word in it is
historically true. Well, perhaps it is so; and we outsiders are
ignorant, and without the means of judging.
Now we know what God does during the day, but how does He occupy Himself
in the night-time? We may say He does the same as at day-time; or that
during the night He rides on a swift cherub over eighteen thousand
worlds; as it is said (Ps. lxviii. 17), "The chariots of God are twenty
thousand," less two thousand Shinan; read not Shinan but She-einan,
i.e., two thousand less than twenty thousand, therefore eighteen
thousand.
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 3. col. 2.
Prince Contrukos asked Rabbon Yochanan ben Zacchai how, when the
detailed enumeration of the Levites amounted to twenty-two thousand
three hundred (the Gershonites, 7500; the Kohathites, 8600; the
Merarites, 6200, making in all 22,300), the sum total given is only
twenty-two thousand, omitting the three hundred. "Was Moses, your
Rabbi," he asked, "a cheat or a bad calculator?" He answered, "They were
first-borns, and therefore could not be substitutes for the first-born
of Israel."
_Bechoroth_, fol. 5, col. 1.
"And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death" (2 Chron.
xxxii. 33). This is Hezekiah, king of Judah, at whose funeral thirty-six
thousand people attended bare-shouldered, ... and upon his bier was laid
a roll of the law, and it was said, "This man has fulfilled what is
written in this book."
_Bava Kama_, fol. 17, col. 1.
Sennacherib the wicked invaded Jewry with forty-five thousand princes in
golden coronets, and they had with them their wives and odalisques; also
eighty thousand mighty men clad in mail and sixty thousand swordsmen ran
before him, and the rest were cavalry. With a similar army they came
against Abraham, and a like force is to come up with Gog and Magog. A
tradition teaches that the extent of his camp was four hundred parsaes
or leagues, the extent of the horses' necks were forty parsaes. The
total muster of his army was two hundred and sixty myriads of thousands,
less one. Abaii asked, "Less one myriad, or one thousand, or one
hundred? or more literally less one?"
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 95, col. 2.
In the immediate context of the above extract we have the following
legend concerning Sennacherib:--As Rabbi Abhu has said, "Were it not for
this Scripture text it would be impossible to repeat what is written
(Isa. vii. 20), 'In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that
is hired, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head and
the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.'" The story
is this:--The Holy One--blessed be He!--once disguised Himself as an
elderly man and came to Sennacherib, and said, "When thou comest to the
kings of the East and of the West, to force their sons into thine army,
what wilt thou say unto them?" He replied, "On that very account I am in
fear. What shall I do?" God answered him, "Go and disguise thyself."
"How can I disguise myself?" said he. God replied, "Go and fetch me a
pair of scissors and I will cut thy hair." Sennacherib asked, "Whence
shall I fetch them?" "Go to yonder house and bring them." He went
accordingly and observed a pair, but there he met the ministering angels
disguised as men, grinding date-stones. He asked them for the scissors,
but they said "Grind thou first a measure of date-stones, and then thou
shalt have the scissors." He did as he was told, and so obtained the
scissors. It was dark before he returned, and God said unto him, "Go and
fetch some fire." This also he did, but while blowing the embers his
beard was singed. Upon which God came and shaved his head and his beard,
and said, "This is it which is written (Isa. vii. 20), 'It shall also
consume the beard.'" Rav Pappa says this is the proverb current among
the people, "Singe the face of a Syrian, and, if it pleases him, also
set his beard in fire, and thou wilt not be able to laugh enough."
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 95, col. 2, and fol. 96, col. 1.
"He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel," etc. (Lam.
ii. 3). These are the eighty thousand war-horns or battering-rams that
entered the city of Byther, in which he massacred so many men, women,
and children, that their blood ran like a river and flowed into the
Mediterranean Sea, which was a mile away from the place.
_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 1.
That mule had a label attached to his neck on which it was stated that
its breeding cost a hundred thousand zouzim.
_Bechoroth_, fol. 8, col. 2.
Rabbi Yossi said, "I have seen Sepphoris (Cyprus) in the days of its
prosperity, and there were in it a hundred and eighty thousand marts for
sauces."
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 75, col. 2.
Rav Assi said three hundred thousand swordsmen went up to the Royal
Mount and there slaughtered the people for three days and three nights,
and yet while on the one side of the mount they were mourning, on the
other they were merry; those on the one side did not know the affairs of
those on the other.
_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 1.
A certain disciple prayed before Rabbi Chanina, and said, "O God! who
art great, mighty, formidable, magnificent, strong, terrible, valiant,
powerful, real and honored!" He waited until he had finished, and then
said to him, "Hast thou ended all the praises of thy God? Need we
enumerate so many? As for us, even the three terms of praise which we
usually repeat, we should not dare to utter had not Moses, our master,
pronounced them in the law (Deut. x. 17), and had not the men of the
Great Synagogue ordained them for prayer; and yet thou hast repeated so
many and still seemest inclined to go on. It is as if one were to
compliment a king because of his silver, who is master of a thousand
thousands of gold denarii. Wouldst thou think that becoming?"
_Berachoth_, fol. 33, col. 2.
Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma relates, "I once met a man in my travels and we
saluted one another. In reply to a question of his I said, 'I am from a
great city of sages and scribes.' Upon this he offered me a thousand
thousand golden denarii, and precious stones and pearls, if I would
agree to go and dwell in his native place. But I replied, saying, 'If
thou wert to give me all the gold and silver, all the precious stones
and pearls in the world, I would not reside anywhere else than in the
place where the law is studied.'"
_Avoth_, chap. 6.
Thousands on thousands in Israel were named after Aaron; for had it not
been for Aaron these thousands of thousands would not have been born.
Aaron went about making peace between quarreling couples, and those who
were born after the reconciliation were regularly named after him.
_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 12.
It is related by the Rabbis that Rabbon Yochanan ben Zacchai was once
riding out of Jerusalem accompanied by his disciples, when he saw a
young woman picking barley out of the dung on the road. On his asking
her name, she told him that she was the daughter of Nikodemon ben
Gorion. "What has become of thy father's riches?" said he, "and what has
become of thy dowry?" "Dost thou not remember," said she, "that charity
is the salt of riches?" (Her father had not been noted for this virtue.)
"Dost thou not remember signing my marriage contract?" said the woman.
"Yes," said the Rabbi, "I well remember it. It stipulated for a million
gold denarii from thy father, besides the allowance from thy husband,"
etc.
_Kethuboth_, fol. 66, col. 2.
Abba Benjamin says, "If our eye were permitted to see the malignant
sprites that beset us, we could not rest on account of them." Abaii has
said, "They out-number us, they surround us as the earthed-up soil on
our garden-beds." Rav Hunna says, "Every one has a thousand at his left
side and ten thousand at his right" (Ps. xci. 7). Rava adds, "The
crowding at the schools is caused by their pushing in; they cause the
weariness which the Rabbis experience in their knees, and even tear
their clothes by hustling against them. If one would discover traces of
their presence, let him sift some ashes upon the floor at his bedside,
and next morning he will see, as it were, the footmarks of fowls on the
surface. But if one would see the demons themselves, he must burn to
ashes the after-birth of a first-born black kitten, the offspring of a
first-born black cat, and then put a little of the ashes into his eyes,
and he will not fail to see them," etc., etc.
_Berachoth_, fol. 6, col. 1.
In each camp there are suspended three hundred and sixty-five myriads of
stars, etc.
Agrippa, being anxious to ascertain the number of the male population of
Israel, instructed the priest to take accurate note of the Paschal
lambs. On taking account of the kidneys, it was found that there were
sixty myriad couples (which indicated) double the number of those that
came up out of Egypt, not reckoning those that were ceremonially unclean
and those that were out traveling. There was not a Paschal lamb in which
less than ten had a share, so that the number represented over six
hundred myriads of men.
_P'sachim_, fol. 64, col. 2.
"It is unlawful to enumerate Israel even with a view to a
meritorious deed" (_Yoma_, fol. 22, col. 2). From Rashi's
comment on the former text it seems that the priest merely held
up the duplicate kidneys, upon which the king's agent regularly
laid aside a pea or a pebble into a small heap, which were
afterwards counted up. See also Josephus, Book VI. chap. ix.
sec. 3.
It might not be amiss to remind the reader in passing that if
one were to reckon one hundred per minute for ten hours a day,
it would take no less than sixteen days six hours forty minutes
to count a million; and that it would take twenty men, reckoning
at the same rate, to sum up the total number stated in the text
in one day, so as to ascertain that there were 1,200,000
sacrifices at the Passover under notice, representing no less
than 12,000,000 celebrants.
At the time when Israel in their eagerness first said, "We will do," and
then, "We will hear" (Exod. xxix. 7), there came sixty myriads of
ministering angels to crown each Israelite with two crowns, one for "we
will do" and one for "we will hear." But when after this Israel sinned,
there came down a hundred and twenty myriads of destroying angels and
took the crowns away from them, as it is said (Exod. xxxiii. 6), "And
the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount
Horeb." Resh Lakish says, "The Holy One--blessed be He!--will, in the
future, return them to us; for it is said (Isa. xxxv. 10), 'The ransomed
of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads,' i.e., the joy they had in days of yore, upon their
heads."
_Shabbath_, fol. 88, col. 1.
Let no one venture out alone at night-time on Wednesdays and Saturdays,
for Agrath, the daughter of Machloth, roams about accompanied by
eighteen myriads of evil genii, each one of which has power to destroy.
_P'sachim_, fol. 112, col. 2.
It is related of Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom that his mother made him a
shirt which cost two myriads of manahs, but his fellow-priests would not
allow him to wear it, because he appeared in it as though he were naked.
_Yoma_, fol. 35, col. 2.
He who has not seen the double gallery of the Synagogue in Alexandria of
Egypt, has not seen the glory of Israel.... There were seventy-one seats
arranged in it according to the number of the seventy-one members of the
greater Sanhedrin, each seat of no less value than twenty-one myriads of
golden talents. A wooden pulpit was in the centre, upon which stood the
reader holding a Sudarium (a kind of flag) in his hand, which he waved
when the vast congregation were required to say Amen at the end of any
benediction, which, of course, it was impossible for all to hear in so
stupendous a synagogue. The congregation did not sit promiscuously, but
in guilds; goldsmiths apart, silversmiths apart, blacksmiths,
coppersmiths, embroiderers, weavers, etc., all apart from each other.
When a poor craftsman came in, he took his seat among the people of his
guild, who maintained him till he found employment. Abaii says all this
immense population was massacred by Alexander of Macedon. Why were they
thus punished? Because they transgressed the Scripture, which says
(Deut. xvii. 16), "Ye shall henceforth return no more that way."
_Succah_, fol. 51, col. 2.
The Rabbis teach that during a prosperous year in the land of Israel, a
place sown with a measure of seed produces five myriad cors (a cor being
equal to thirty measures).
_Kethuboth_, fol. 112, col. 1.
Rav Ulla was once asked, "To what extent is one bound to honor his
father and mother?" To which he replied, "See what a Gentile of Askelon
once did, Dammah ben Nethina by name. The sages one day required goods
to the value of sixty myriads, for which they were ready to pay the
price, but the key of the store-room happened to be under the pillow of
his father, who was fast asleep, and Dammah would not disturb him."
Rabbi Eliezer was once asked the same question, and he gave the same
answer, adding an interesting fact to the illustration: "The sages were
seeking after precious stones for the high priest's breastplate, to the
value of some sixty or eighty myriads of golden denarii, but the key of
the jewel-chest happened to be under the pillow of his father, who was
asleep at the time, and he would not wake him. In the following year,
however, the Holy One--blessed be He!--rewarded him with the birth of a
red heifer among his herds, for which the sages readily paid him such a
sum as compensated him fully for the loss he sustained in honoring his
parent."
_Kiddushin_, fol. 31, col. 1.
"The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob" (Lam. ii. 2).
Ravin came to Babylon and said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, "These are
the sixty myriads of cities which King Yannai (Jannnæus) possessed on
the royal mount. The population of each equalled the number that went up
out of Egypt, except that of three cities in which that number was
doubled. And these three cities were Caphar Bish (literally, the village
of evil), so called because there was no hospice for the reception of
strangers therein; Caphar Shichlaiim (village of water-cresses), so
called because it was chiefly on that herb that the people subsisted;
Caphar Dichraya (the village of male children), so called, says Rabbi
Yochanan, because its women first gave birth to boys, and afterward to
girls, and then left off bearing." Ulla said, "I have seen that place,
and am sure that it could not hold sixty myriads of sticks." A Sadducee
upon this said to Rabbi Chanina, "Ye do not speak the truth." The
response was, "It is written (Jer. iii. 19), 'The inheritance of a
deer,' as the skin of a deer, unoccupied by the body of the animal,
shrinks, so also the land of Israel, unoccupied by its rightful owners,
became contracted."
_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 1.
Rabbi Yoshua, the son of Korcha, relates: "An aged inhabitant of
Jerusalem once told me that in this valley two hundred and eleven
thousand myriads were massacred by Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard,
and in Jerusalem itself he slaughtered upon one stone ninety-four
myriads, so that the blood flowed till it touched the blood of
Zachariah, that it might be fulfilled which is said (Hos. ii. 4), 'And
blood toucheth blood.' When he saw the blood of Zachariah, and noticed
that it was boiling and agitated, he asked, 'What is this?' and he was
told that it was the spilled blood of the sacrifices. Then he ordered
blood from the sacrifices to be brought and compared it with the blood
of the murdered prophet, when, finding the one unlike the other, he
said, 'If ye tell me the truth, well and good; if not, I will comb your
flesh with iron currycombs!' Upon this they confessed, 'He was a
prophet, and because he rebuked us on matters of religion, we arose and
killed him, and it is now some years since his blood has been in the
restless condition in which thou seest it.' 'Well,' said he, 'I will
pacify him.' He then brought the greater and lesser Sanhedrin and
slaughtered them, but the blood of the prophet did not rest. He next
slaughtered young men and maidens, but the blood continued restless as
before. He finally brought school-children and slaughtered them, but the
blood being still unpacified, he exclaimed, 'Zachariah! Zachariah! I
have for thy sake killed the best among them; will it please thee if I
kill them all?' As he said this the blood of the prophet stood still and
quiescent. He then reasoned within himself thus, 'If the blood of one
individual has brought about so great a punishment, how much greater
will my punishment be for the slaughter of so many!' In short, he
repented, fled from his house, and became a Jewish proselyte."
_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 2.
The same story is repeated in _Sanhedrin_, fol. 96, col. 2, with
some variations; notably this, among others, that it was because
the prophet prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem that they
put him to death.
(Gen, xxvii. 2), "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the
hands of Esau." The first-named "voice" alludes to the voice of
lamentation caused by Hadrian, who had at Alexandria in Egypt massacred
twice the number of Jews that had come forth under Moses. The "voice of
Jacob" refers to a similar lamentation occasioned by Vespasian, who put
to death in the city of Byther four hundred myriads, or, as some say,
four thousand myriads. "The hands are the hands of Esau," that is, the
empire which destroyed our house, burned our Temple, and banished us
from our country. Or the "voice of Jacob" means that there is no
effectual prayer that is not offered up by the progeny of Jacob; and
"the hands are the hands of Esau," that there is no victorious battle
which is not fought by the descendants of Esau.
Ibid.
Tamar and Zimri both committed fornication. The former (actuated by a
good motive, see Gen. xxxviii. 26) became the ancestress of kings and
prophets. The latter brought about the destruction of myriads in Israel.
Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says, "To do evil from a good motive is better
than observing the law from a bad one" (e.g., Tamar and Zimri, Lot and
his daughters).
_Nazir_, fol. 23, col. 2.
The Rabbis have taught that the text, "And when it rested, he said,
Return, O Lord, to the myriads and thousands of Israel" (Num. x. 36),
intimates that the Shechinah does not rest upon less than two myriads
and two thousands (two being the minimum plurality). Suppose one of the
twenty-two thousand neglect the duty of procreation, is he not the cause
of the Shechinah's departure from Israel?
_Yevamoth_, fol. 64, col. 1.
"And place over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds,
and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens" (Exod. xviii. 21). The rulers
of thousands were six hundred in number, the rulers of hundreds six
thousand, of fifties twelve thousand, and rulers of tens six myriads.
The total number of rulers in Israel, therefore, was seven myriad eight
thousand six hundred.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 18, col. 1.
Once upon a time the people of Egypt appeared before Alexander of
Macedon to complain of Israel. "It is said (Exod. xii. 36), they argued,
'The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that
they lent unto them,' etc.;" and they prayed, "Give us now back the gold
and the silver that ye took from us." Givia ben Pesisa said to the wise
men (of Israel), "Give me permission to plead against them before
Alexander. If they overcome me, say, 'You have overcome a plebeian
only,' but if I overcome them, say, 'The law of Moses our master has
triumphed over you.'" They accordingly gave him leave, and he went and
argued thus, "Whence do ye produce your proof?" "From the law," said
they. Then said he, "I will bring no other evidence but from the law. It
is said (Exod. xii. 40), 'The sojourning of the children of Israel, who
dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.' Pay us now the
usufruct of the labor of the sixty myriads whom ye enslaved in Egypt for
four hundred and thirty years." Alexander gave the Egyptians three days'
grace to prepare a reply, but they never put in an appearance. In fact,
they fled away and left both their fields and vineyards.
Ibid., fol. 91, col. 1.
"And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you" (Exod.
xviii. 10). A tradition says, in the name of Rabbi Papyes, "Shame upon
Moses and upon the sixty myriads (of Israel), because they had not said,
'Blessed be the Lord,' till Jethro came and set the example."
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 94, col. 1.
"And let him dip his foot in oil" (Deut. xxxiii. 24), the Rabbis say,
refers to the portion of Asher, which produces oil like a well. Once on
a time, they relate, the Laodiceans sent an agent to Jerusalem with
instructions to purchase a hundred myriads' worth of oil. He proceeded
first to Tyre, and thence to Gush-halab, where he met with the oil
merchant earthing up his olive trees, and asked him whether he could
supply a hundred myriads' worth of oil. "Stop till I have finished my
work," was the reply. The other, when he saw the business-like way in
which he set to work, could not help incredulously exclaiming, "What!
hast thou really a hundred myriads' worth of oil to sell? Surely the
Jews have meant to make game of me." However he went to the house with
the oil merchant, where a female slave brought hot water for him to wash
his hands and feet, and a golden bowl of oil to dip them in afterward,
thus fulfilling Deut. xxxiii. 24 to the very letter. After they had
eaten together, the merchant measured out to him the hundred myriads'
worth of oil, and then asked whether he would purchase more from him.
"Yes," said the agent, "but I have no more money here with me." "Never
mind," said the merchant; "buy it and I will go with thee to thy home
for the money." Then he measured out eighteen myriads' worth more. It is
said that he hired every horse, mule, camel, and ass he could find in
all Israel to carry the oil, and that on nearing his city the people
turned out to meet him and compliment him for the service he had done
them. "Don't praise me," said the agent, "but this, my companion, to
whom I owe eighteen myriads." This, says the narrator, illustrates what
is said (Prov. xiii. 7), "There is that maketh himself (appear to be)
rich, yet hath nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath
great riches."
_Menachoth_, fol. 85, col. 2.