Sanhedrin, fol. 100, col. 1, and Okitzin, chap. 3, mish. 12.

An old woman once complained before Rav Nachman that the Head of the Captivity and certain Rabbis with him were enjoying themselves in her booth, which they had surreptitiously taken possession of and would not surrender, but Rav Nachman gave no heed to her remonstrance. Then she raised her voice and cried aloud, "A woman whose father had three hundred and eighteen slaves is now pleading before you, and you paying no heed to her!" Upon which Rav Nachman turned to his associates and said, "She is a bawling woman, but she has no right to claim the booth, only the value of its timber."

Succah, fol. 31, col. 1.

Elijah the Tishbite once said to Rav Yehudah, the brother of Rav Salla the Holy, "You ask why the Messiah does not come, even though it is just now the Day of Atonement." "And what," asked the Rabbi, "does the Holy One—blessed be He!—say to that?" "He says, 'Sin lieth at the door'" (Gen. iv. 7). "And what has Satan to say?" "He has no permission to accuse any one on the Day of Atonement." "How do we know this?" Ramma bar Chamma replied, "Satan by Gematria equals three hundred and sixty-four, therefore on that number of days only has he permission to accuse; but on the Day of Atonement (i.e., the 365th day) he cannot accuse."

Yoma, fol. 20, col. 1.

Rav Yitzchak said, "What is the meaning of that which is written (Ps. cxl. 8), 'Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves. Selah?'" It is the prayer of Jacob to the Lord of the universe that He would not grant to Esau, "the wicked, the desires of his heart." "Further not his wicked device," this refers to Germamia of Edom (i.e., Rome), for if they (the Romans) were suffered to go forward they would destroy the whole world! Rav Chama bar Chanena said, "There are three hundred crowned heads in Germamia of Edom, and there are three hundred and sixty-five dukes in Babylon. These encounter each other daily, and one of them commits murder, and they strive to set up a king."

Meggillah, fol. 6, col. 2.

In the great city (of Rome) there were three hundred and sixty-five streets, and in each street there were three hundred and sixty-five palaces, and in every one of these there were three hundred and sixty-five steps, each of which palaces contained sufficient store to maintain the whole world.

P'sachim, fol. 118, col. 2.

There are three hundred and sixty-five negative precepts.

There were three hundred and ninety-four courts of law in Jerusalem, and as many synagogues; also the same number of high schools, colleges, and academies, and as many offices for public notaries.

Kethuboth, fol. 105, col. 1.

Rav Hunna had four hundred casks of wine which had turned into vinegar. On hearing of his misfortune, Rav Yehudah, the brother of Rav Salla the Holy, or, as some say, Rav Adda bar Ahavah, came and visited him, accompanied by the Rabbis. "Let the master," said they, "examine himself carefully." "What!" said he, "do you suppose me to have been guilty of wrong-doing?" "Shall we then," said they, "suspect the Holy One—blessed be He!—of executing judgment without justice?" "Well," said Rav Hunna, "if you have heard anything against me, don't conceal it." "It has been reported to us," said they, "that the master has withheld the gardener's share of the prunings." "What else, pray, did he leave me?" retorted Rav Hunna; "he has stolen all the produce of my vineyard." They replied, "There is a saying that whoever steals from a thief smells of theft." "Then," said he, "I hereby promise to give him his share." Thereupon, according to some, the vinegar turned to wine again; and, according to others, the price of vinegar rose to the price of wine.

Berachoth, fol. 5, col. 2.

Rav Adda bar Ahavah once saw a Gentile woman in the market-place wearing a red head-dress, and supposing that she was a daughter of Israel, he impatiently tore it off her head. For this outrage he was fined a fine of four hundred zouzim. He asked the woman what her name was, and she replied, "My name is Mathan." "Methun, Methun," he wittily rejoined, "is worth four hundred zouzim."

Ibid., fol. 20, col. 1.

Methun means patience and Mathan two hundred. The point lies either in the application of the term Methun, which means patience, as if to say, had he been so patient as to have first ascertained what the woman was, he would have saved his four hundred zouzim; or in the identity of the sound Mathan, i.e., two hundred, which doubled, equals four hundred. This has long since passed into a proverb, and expresses the value of patience.

From the foregoing extract it would seem that it was not the fashion among Jewish females to wear head-dresses of a red color, as it was presumed to indicate a certain lightness on the part of the wearer; so Rav Adda in his pious zeal thought he was doing a good work in tearing it off from the head of the supposed Jewess. "Patience, patience is worth four hundred zouzim."

Custom among the Jews had then, as now, the force of religion. The Talmud says, "A man should never deviate from a settled custom. Moses ascended on high and did not eat bread (for there it is not the custom); angels came down to earth and did eat bread (for here it is the custom so to do)." Bava Metzia, fol. 86, col. 2.

In the olden time it was not the fashion for a Jew to wear black 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.

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

Gittin, fol. 57, col. 1.

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

Gittin, fol. 57, col. 2.

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

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

Ibid.

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

Nazir, fol. 23, col. 2.

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

Yevamoth, fol. 64, col. 1.

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

Sanhedrin, fol. 18, col. 1.

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

Ibid., fol. 91, col. 1.

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

Sanhedrin, fol. 94, col. 1.

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

Menachoth, fol. 85, col. 2.



THE MIDRASHIM

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



INTRODUCTORY NOTE

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

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



THE MIDRASHIM

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

Midrash Rabbah, Gen. chap. 1.

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

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

Ibid., chap. 14.

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

Ibid., chap. 63.

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

Ibid., chap. 68.

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

Midrash Rabbah, chap. 78.

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

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

Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer, chap. 36.

See also the previous quotation from the Midrash Rabbah. The Targum of Jonathan and also the Yerushalmi record the same fantastic tradition. In the latter it is given thus, "And Esau ran to meet him, and hugged him, and fell upon his neck and kissed him. Esau wept for the crushing of his teeth, and Jacob wept for the tenderness of his neck."

Abraham made a covenant with the people of the land, and when the angels presented themselves to him, he thought they were mere wayfarers, and he ran to meet them, purposing to make a banquet for them. This banquet he told Sarah to get prepared, just as she was kneading cakes. For this reason he did not offer them the cakes which she had made, but "ran to fetch a calf, tender and good." The calf in trepidation ran away from him and hid itself in the cave of Machpelah, into which he followed it. Here he found Adam and Eve fast asleep, with lamps burning over their couches, and the place pervaded with a sweet-smelling odor. Hence the fancy he took to the cave of Machpelah for a "possession of a burying-place."

Ibid.

Shechem, the son of Hamor, assembled girls together playing on tambourines outside the tent of Dinah, and when she "went out to see them," he carried her off, ... and she bare him Osenath. The sons of Jacob wished to kill her, lest the people of the land should begin to talk scandal of the house of their father. Jacob, however, engraved the holy Name on a metal plate, suspended it upon her neck, and sent her away. All this being observed before the Holy One—blessed be He!—the angel Michael was sent down, who led her to Egypt, into the house of Potipherah; for Osenath was worthy to become the wife of Joseph.

Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer, chap. 48.

In Yalkut Yehoshua 9, Osenath is styled a proselyte; and indeed it might seem likely enough that Joseph induced her to worship the true God. The Targum of Jonathan agrees with the version of the Midrash above, while another tradition makes Joseph marry Zuleika, the virgin widow of Potiphar, and says that she was the same woman that is called Osenath (Koran, note to p. 193).

When Joseph's brethren recognized him, and were about to kill him, an angel came down and dispersed them to the four corners of the house. Then Judah screamed with such a loud voice that all the walls of Egypt were leveled with the dust, all the beasts were smitten to the ground, and Joseph and Pharaoh, their teeth having fallen out, were cast down from their thrones; while all the men that stood before Joseph had their heads twisted round with their faces toward their backs, and so they remained till the day of their death; as it is said (Job iv. 10), "The roaring of the lion (Judah), and the voice of the fierce lion," etc.

Vayegash, chap. 5.

The tradition of a legend in our possession says that Judah killed Esau. When? When Isaac died, Jacob and (the chiefs of) the twelve clans went to bury him; as it is written (Gen. xxxv. 29), "And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him." In the Midrash it is, "And Esau and Jacob and his sons buried him," which fits the legend better. Arrived at the cave, they entered it, and they stood and wept. The (heads of the) tribes, out of respect to Jacob, left the cave, that Jacob might not be put to shame in their presence. Judah re-entered it, and finding Esau risen up as if about to murder Jacob, he instantly went behind him and killed him. But why did he not kill him from the front? Because the physiognomy of Esau was exactly like that of Jacob, and it was out of respect to the latter that he slew Esau from behind.

Midrash Shochar Tov, chap. 18.

Tradition varies respecting the tragic end of Esau. The Book of Jasher (chap. 56, v. 64) and the Targum of Jonathan (in Vayechi) both say that Cushim the son of Dan slew Esau at the burial, not of Isaac, but of Jacob, because he sought to hinder the funeral obsequies, disputing the title to the sepulchre.

"Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then I would fly away, and be at rest" (Ps. lv. 6). This is spoken of Abraham. But why like a dove? Rabbi Azariah, in the name of Rabbi Yudan, says, "Because all birds when tired rest on a rock or on a tree, but a dove, when tired of flying, draws in one wing to rest it, and continues her flight with the other."

Bereshith Rabbah, chap. 39.

The Holy One—blessed be He!—said unto Abraham, "What should I tell thee? and with what shall I bless thee? Shall I tell thee to be perfectly righteous, or that thy wife Sarah be righteous before me? That ye both are already. Or shall I say that thy children shall be righteous? They are so already. But I will bless thee so that all thy children which shall in future ages come forth from thee shall be just like thee." Whence do we learn this? From Gen xv. 5: "And he said unto him, So (like thee) shall thy seed be."

Bamidbar Rabbah, chap. 2.

"Every man ... by his own standard" (Num. ii. 2). The several princes of Israel selected the colors for their banners from the color of the stones that were upon the breastplate of Aaron. From them other princes have learned to adorn their standards with different distinguishing colors. Reuben had his flag red, and leaves of mandrakes upon it. Issachar had his flag blue, and the sun and moon upon it. Naphtali had on his flag an olive tree, for this reason that (Gen. xlix. 20) "Out of Asher his bread shall be fat."

Ibid., chap. 7.

"And Abraham rose up early and saddled his ass" (Gen. xxii. 3). This is the ass on which Moses also rode when he came into Egypt; for it is said (Exod. iv. 20), "And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass." This is the ass on which the Son of David also shall ride; as it is said (Zech, ix. 9), "Poor, and riding upon an ass."

Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer, chap. 31.

In the morning service for Yom Kippur, there is an allusion to the Scripture passage with which our quotation opens. It is said that Abraham in "his great joy perverted the usual order," which a footnote explains thus—"In the greatness of his joy, that he had thus an opportunity of showing his obedience to God, he set aside the usual order of things, which was that the servant should saddle the ass, and saddled the ass himself, as mentioned Gen. xxii. 3." The animal referred to in the above remarks is spoken of in Sanhedrin, fol. 98, col. 1, as being of a hundred colors.

When Joseph saw the signs of Judah's anger, he began to tremble, and said (to himself), "Woe is me, for he may kill me!" And what were these signs? Tears of blood rolling down from Judah's right eye, and the hair that grew on his chest rising and penetrating through the five garments that he wore. Joseph then kicked the marble seat on which he was sitting, so that it was instantly shattered into fragments. Upon this Judah observed, "He is a mighty man, like one of us."

Yalkut Vayegash.

Abraham married three wives—Sarah, a daughter of Shem; Keturah, a daughter of Japheth; and Hagar, a daughter of Ham.

Yalkut, Job, chap. 8.

Rashi supposes that Keturah was one and the same with Hagar—so the Midrash, the Targum Yerushalmi, and that of Jonathan. The latter says, "Keturah, she is Hagar, who had been bound to him from the beginning," but Aben Ezra and most of the commentators contend that Keturah and Hagar are two distinct persons, and the use of the plural concubines, in verse 6, bears them out in this assertion.

The Holy One—blessed be He!—daily proclaims a new law in the heavenly court, and even all these were known to Abraham.

Ibid., chap. 37.

A Gentile once asked Rabbi Yoshua ben Kapara, "Is it true that ye say your God sees the future?" "Yes," was the reply. "Then how is it that it is written (Gen. vi. 6), 'And it grieved Him at His heart'?" "Hast thou," replied the Rabbi, "ever had a boy born to thee?" "Yes," said the Gentile; "and I rejoiced and made others rejoice with me." "Didst thou not know that he would eventually die?" asked the Rabbi. "Yes," answered the other; "but at the time of joy is joy, and at the time of mourning, mourning." "So it is before the Holy One—blessed be He!—seven days He mourned before the deluge destroyed the world."

Bereshith Rabbah, chap. 27.

All the strength of the soul's mourning is from the third to the thirtieth day, during which time she sits on the grave, still thinking her beloved might yet return (to the body whence she departed). When she notices that the color of the face is changed, she leaves and goes away; and this is what is written (Job. xiv. 22), "But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul shall mourn over him." Then the mouth and the belly quarrel with one another, the former saying to the latter, "All I have robbed and taken by violence I deposited in thee;" and the latter, having burst three days after its burial, saying to the former, "There is all thou hast robbed and taken by violence! as it is written (Eccles. xii. 6), 'The pitcher is broken at the fountain.'"

Ibid., chap. 100.

Job said, "Even the devil shall not dissuade me from comforting those that mourn; for I would tell him that I am not better than my Creator, who comforts Israel; as it is said (Isa. li. 12), 'I, even I, am He that comforteth you.'"

Psikta Nachmu.

Once Rabbi Shimon ben Yehozedek addressed Rabbi Sh'muel ben Nachman and said, "I hear that thou art a Baal Aggadah; canst thou therefore tell me whence the light was created?" "We learn," he replied in a whisper, "that God wrapped Himself with light as with a garment, and He has caused the splendor thereof to shine from one end of the world to the other." The other said, "Why whisperest thou, I wonder, since Scripture says so plainly (Ps. civ. 2) 'Who covereth Himself with light as with a garment'?" The reply was, "I heard it in a whisper, and in a whisper I have told it to thee."

Bereshith Rabbah, chap. 3.

"As the tents of Kedar" (Cant. i. 5). As the tents of the Ishmaelites are ugly without and comely within, so also the disciples of the wise, though apparently wanting in beauty, are nevertheless full of Scripture, and of the Mishnah and of the Talmud, of the Halacha and of the Aggadoth.

Shemoth Rabbah, chap. 23.

"Write thou these words" (Exod. xxxiv. 37). That applies to the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, which were given in writing, but not to the Halachoth, the Midrashim, the Aggadoth, and the Talmud, which were given by the mouth.

Ibid., chap. 47.

Rabbi Samlai said to Rabbi Yonathan, "Instruct me in the Aggada." The latter replied, "We have a tradition from our forefathers not to instruct either a Babylonian or a Daromean in the Aggada, for though they are deficient in knowledge they are haughty in spirit."

Tal. Yerushalmi P'sachim, v. fol. 32, col. 1.

He who transcribes the Aggada has no portion in the world to come; he who expounds it is excommunicated; and he who listens to the exposition of it shall receive no reward.

Tal. Yerushalmi P'sachim, Shabbath, xvi. fol. 30, col. 2.

"Day unto day uttereth speech" (Ps. xix. 2, 3, 4); this means the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa. "And night unto night showeth knowledge;" this is the Mishnaioth. "There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard;" these are the Halachoth. "Their line is gone out through all the earth;" these are the Aggadoth, by which His great name is sanctified.

T. debei Aliahu, chap. 2.

Rabbi Yeremiah, the son of Elazar, said, "When the Holy One—blessed be He!—created Adam, He created him an androgyne, for it is written (Gen. v. 2), 'Male and female created He them.'" Rabbi Sh'muel bar Nachman said, "When the Holy One—blessed be He!—created Adam, He created him with two faces; then He sawed him asunder, and split him (in two), making one back to the one-half, and another to the other."

Midrash Rabbah, chap. 8.

"And it repented the Lord that He had made man (Adam) on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart" (Gen. vi. 6). Rabbi Berachiah says that when God was about to create Adam, He foresaw that both righteous people and wicked people would come forth from him. He reasoned therefore with Himself thus: "If I create him, then will the wicked proceed from him; but if I do not create him, how then shall the righteous come forth?" What then did God do? He separated the ways of the wicked from before Him, and assuming the attribute of mercy, so He created him. This explains what is written (Ps. i. 6), "For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall be lost." The way of the wicked was lost before Him, but assuming to Himself the attribute of mercy, He created him. Rabbi Chanina says, "It was not so! But when God was about to create Adam, He consulted the ministering angels and said unto them (Gen. i. 26), 'Shall we make man in our image after our likeness?' They replied, 'For what good wilt thou create him?' He responded, 'That the righteous may rise out of him.' This explains what is written, 'For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall be lost.' God informed them only about the righteous, but He said nothing about the wicked, otherwise the ministering angels would not have given their consent that man should be created."