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WHERE do we learn that the Shechinah rests even upon one who studies the law? In Exodus xx. 24, where it is written, "In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee."
Berachoth, fol. 6, col. 1.
One pang of remorse at a man's heart is of more avail than many stripes applied to him. (See Prov. xvii. 10.)
Ibid., fol. 7, col. 1.
"Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord!" (Deut. vi. 4.) Whosoever prolongs the utterance of the word one, shall have his days and years prolonged to him. So also Zohar, syn. tit. ii.
Ibid., fol. 13, col. 2.
Once, as the Rabbis tell us, the Roman Government issued a decree forbidding Israel to study the law. Whereupon Pappus, the son of Yehudah, one day found Rabbi Akiva teaching it openly to multitudes, whom he had gathered round him to hear it. "Akiva," said he, "art thou not afraid of the Government?" "List," was the reply, "and I will tell thee how it is by a parable. It is with me as with the fishes whom a fox, walking once by a river's side, saw darting distractedly to and fro in the stream; and, addressing, inquired, 'From what, pray, are ye fleeing?' 'From the nets,' they replied, 'which the children of men have set to ensnare us.' 'Why, then,' rejoined the fox, 'not try the dry land with me, where you and I can live together, as our fathers managed to do before us?' 'Surely,' exclaimed they, 'thou art not he of whom we have heard so much as the most cunning of animals, for herein thou art not wise, but foolish. For if we have cause to fear where it is natural for us to live, how much more reason have we to do so where we needs must die!' {p. 4} Just so," continued Akiva, "is it with us who study the law, in which (Deut. xxx. 20) it is written, 'He is thy life and the length of thy days;' for if we suffer while we study the law, how much more shall we if we neglect it?" Not many days after, it is related, this Rabbi Akiva was apprehended and thrown into prison. As it happened, they led him out for execution just at the time when "Hear, O Israel!" fell to be repeated, and as they tore his flesh with currycombs, and as he was with long-drawn breath sounding forth the word one, his soul departed from him. Then came forth a voice from heaven which said, "Blessed art thou, Rabbi Akiva, for thy soul and the word one left thy body together."
Berachoth, fol. 61, col. 2.
The badger, as it existed in the days of Moses, was an animal of unique type, and the learned are not agreed whether it was a wild one or a domestic. It had only one horn on its forehead; and was assigned for the time to Moses, who made a covering of its skin for the tabernacle; after which it became extinct, having served the purpose of its existence. Rabbi Yehudah says, "The ox, also, which the first man, Adam, sacrificed, had but one horn on its forehead."
Shabbath, fol. 28, col. 2.
Once a Gentile came to Shamai, and said, "Proselytize me, but on condition that thou teach me the whole law, even the whole of it, while I stand upon one leg." Shamai drove him off with the builder's rod which he held in his hand. When he came to Hillel with the same challenge, Hillel converted him by answering him on the spot, "That which is hateful to thyself, do not do to thy neighbor. This is the whole law, and the rest is its commentary." (Tobit, iv. 15; Matt. vii. 12.)
Ibid., fol. 31, col. 1.
When Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his son, Rabbi Elazar, came out of their cave on a Friday afternoon, they saw an old man hurrying along with two bunches of myrtle in his hand. "What," said they, accosting him, "dost thou want with these?" "To smell them in honor of the Sabbath," was the reply. "Would not one bunch," they remarked, "be enough for that purpose?" "Nay," the old man replied; "one is in honor of 'Remember' (Exod. xxii. 28);
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and one in honor of 'Keep' (Deut. v. 8)." Thereupon Rabbi Shimon remarked to his son, "Behold how the commandments are regarded by Israel!"
Ibid., fol. 33, col. 2.
Not one single thing has God created in vain. He created the snail as a remedy for a blister; the fly for the sting of a wasp; the gnat for the bite of a serpent; the serpent itself for healing the itch (or the scab); and the lizard (or the spider) for the sting of a scorpion.
Ibid., fol. 77. col. 2.
When a man is dangerously ill, the law grants dispensation, for it says, "You may break one Sabbath on his behalf, that he may be preserved to keep many Sabbaths."
Shabbath, fol. 151, col. 2.
Once when Rabbi Ishmael paid a visit to Rabbi Shimon, he was offered a cup of wine, which he at once, without being asked twice, accepted, and drained at one draught. "Sir," said his host, "dost thou not know the proverb, that he who drinks off a cup of wine at a draught is a greedy one?" "Ah!" was the answer, "that fits not this case; for thy cup is small, thy wine is sweet, and my stomach is capacious."
P'sachim, fol. 86, col. 2.
At the time when Nimrod the wicked had cast our Father Abraham into the fiery furnace, Gabriel stood forth in the presence of the Holy One--blessed be He!--and said, "Lord of the universe, let me, I pray thee, go down and cool the furnace, and deliver that righteous one from it." Then the Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto him, "I am One in my world and he is one in his world; it is more becoming that He who is one should deliver him who is one." But as God does not withhold His reward from any creature, He said to Gabriel, "For this thy good intention, be thine the honor of rescuing three of his descendants." At the time when Nebuchadnezzar the wicked cast Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the fiery furnace, Yourkami, the prince of hail, arose before God and said, "Lord of the universe, let me, I pray thee, go down and cool the fiery furnace, and rescue these righteous men from its fury." Whereupon Gabriel interposed, and said,
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"God's power is not to be demonstrated thus, for thou art the prince of hail, and everybody knows that water quenches fire; but I, the prince of fire, will go down and cool the flame within and intensify it without (so as to consume the executioners), and thus will I perform a miracle within a miracle." Then the Holy One--blessed be He!--said to him, "Go down." Upon which Gabriel exclaimed, "Verily the truth of the Lord endureth forever!" (Ps. cxvii. 2.)
P'sachim, fol. 118, col. 1.
One peppercorn to-day is better than a basketful of pumpkins to-morrow.
Chaggigah, fol. 10, col. 1.
One day of a year is counted for a whole year.
Rosh Hashanah, fol. 2, col. 2.
If a king be crowned on the twenty-ninth of Adar (the last month of the sacred year), on the morrow--the first of Nissan--it is reckoned that he commences his second year, that being the new year's day for royal and ecclesiastical affairs.
For the sake of one righteous man the whole world is preserved in existence, as it is written (Prov. x. 25), "The righteous man is an everlasting foundation."
Yoma, fol. 38, col. 2.
Rabbi Meyer saith, "Great is repentance, because for the sake of one that truly repenteth the whole world is pardoned; as it is written (Hosea xiv. 4), 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him. It is not said, "from them," but "from him."
Ibid., fol. 86, col. 2.
He who observes one precept, in addition to those which, as originally laid upon him, he has discharged, shall receive favor from above, and is equal to him who has fulfilled the whole law.
Kiddushin, fol. 39, col. 2.
If any man vow a vow by only one of all the utensils of the altar, he has vowed by the corban, even although be did not mention the word in his oath. Rabbi Yehuda says, "He who swears by the word Jerusalem is as though he had said nothing."
Nedarim, fol. 10, col. 2.
Balaam was lame in one foot and blind in one eye.
Soteh, fol. 10, col. 1, and Sanhedrin, fol. 105, col. 1.
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One wins eternal life after a struggle of years, another finds it in one hour (see Luke xxiii. 43).
Avodah Zarah, fol. 17, Col.
This saying is applied by Rabbi the Holy to Rabbi Eliezar, the son of Durdia, a profligate who recommended himself to the favor of heaven by one prolonged act of determined penitence, placing his head between his knees and groaning and weeping till his soul departed from him, and his sin and misery along with it; for at the moment of death a voice from heaven came forth and said, "Rabbi Eliezar, the son of Durdia, is appointed to life everlasting." When Rabbi the Holy heard this, he wept, and said, "One wins eternal life after a struggle of years; another finds it in one hour." (Compare Luke xv. 11-32.)
Whosoever destroyeth one soul of Israel, Scripture counts it to him as though he had destroyed the whole world; and whoso preserveth one soul of Israel, Scripture counts it as though he had preserved the whole world.
Sanhedrin, fol. 37, col. 1.
The greatness of God is infinite; for while with one die man impresses many coins and all are exactly alike, the King of kings, the Holy One--blessed be He!--with one die impresses the same image (of Adam) on all men, and yet not one of them is like his neighbor. So that every one ought to say, "For myself is the world created."
Ibid., fol. 37, col. 1.
"He caused the lame to mount on the back of the blind, and judged them both as one." Antoninus said to the Rabbi, "Body and soul might each plead right of acquittal at the day of judgment." "How so?" he asked. "The body might plead that it was the soul that had sinned, and urge, saying, 'See, since the departure of the soul I have lain in the grave as still as a stone.' And the soul might plead, 'It was the body that sinned, for since the day I left it, I have flitted about in the air as innocent as a bird.'" To which the Rabbi replied and said, "Whereunto this thing is like, I will tell thee in a parable. It is like unto a king who had an orchard with some fine young fig trees planted in it. He set two gardeners to take care of them, of whom one was lame and the other blind. One day the lame one said to the blind,
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'I see some fine figs in the garden; come, take me on thy shoulders, and we will pluck them and eat them.' By and, by the lord of the garden came, and missing the fruit from the fig trees, began to make inquiry after them. The lame one, to excuse himself, pleaded, 'I have no legs to, walk with;` and the blind one, to excuse himself, pleaded, 'I have no eyes to see with.' What did the lord of the garden do? He caused the lame to mount upon the back of the blind, and judged them both as one." So likewise will God re-unite soul and body, and judge them both as one together; as it is written (Ps. 1. 4), "He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people." "He shall call to the heavens from above," that alludes to the soul; "and to the earth, that He may judge His people," that refers to the body.
Sanhedrin, fol. 91, cols. 1, 2.
Rabbi Yehudah, surnamed the Holy, the editor of the Mishnah, is the personage here and elsewhere spoken of as the Rabbi by pre-eminence. He was an intimate friend of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius.
One thing obtained with difficulty is far better than a hundred things procured with ease.
Avoth d'Rab. Nathan, ch. 3.
In the name of Rav, Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abba says, "Whoso buys a scroll of the law in the market seizes possession of another's meritorious act; but if he himself copies out a scroll of the law, Scripture considers him as if he had himself received it direct from Mount Sinai." "Nay," adds Rav Yehudah, in the name of Rav, "even if he has amended one letter in it, Scripture considers him as if he had written it out entirely."
Menachoth, fol. 30, col. 1.
He who forgets one thing that he has learned breaks a negative commandment; for it is written (Deut. iv. 9), "Take heed to thyself . . . lest thou forget the things."
Menachoth, fol. 99, col. 2.
A proselyte who has taken it upon himself to observe the law, but is suspected of neglecting one point, is to be suspected of being guilty of neglecting the whole law, and therefore regarded as an apostate Israelite, and to be punished accordingly.
Bechoroth, fol. 30, col. 2.
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It is written (Gen. xxviii. 11), "And he took from the stones of the place;" and again it is written (ver. 18), "And he took the stone." Rabbi Isaac says this teaches that all these stones gathered themselves together into one place, as if each were eager that the saint should lay his head upon it. It happened, as the Rabbis tell us, that all the stones were swallowed up by one another, and thus merged into one stone.
Chullin, fol. 91, col. 2.
Though the Midrash and two of the Targums, that of Jonathan and the Yerushalmi, tell the same fanciful story about these stones, Aben Ezra and R. Shemuel ben Meir among others adopt the opposite and common-sense interpretation which assigns to the word in Gen. xxviii. 11, no such occult meaning.
The psalms commencing "Blessed is the man" and "Why do the heathen rage" constitute but one psalm.
Berachoth, fol. 9, col. 2.
The former Chasidim used to sit still one hour, and then pray for one hour, and then again sit still for one hour.
Ibid., fol. 32, col. 2.
All the benedictions in the Temple used to conclude with the words "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel unto eternity;" but when the Sadducees, corrupting the faith, maintained that there was only one world, it was enacted that they should conclude with the words "from eternity unto eternity."
Berachoth, fol. 54, col. 1.
The Sadducees (Zadokim), so called after Zadok their master, as is known, stood rigidly by the original Mosaic code, and set themselves determinedly against all traditional developments. To the Talmudists, therefore, they were especially obnoxious, and their bald, cold creed is looked upon by them with something like horror. It is thus the Talmud warns against them--"Believe not in thyself till the day of thy death, for, behold, Yochanan, after officiating in the High Priesthood for eighty years, became in the end a Sadducee." (Berachoth, fol. 29, col. 1.) In Derech Eretz Zuta, chap. 1., a caution is given which might well provoke attention--" Learn or inquire nothing of the Sadducees, lest thou be drawn into hell."
Rabbi Yehudah tells us that Rav says a man should never absent himself from the lecture hall, not even for one hour; for the above Mishnah had been taught at college for many years, but the reason of it had never been
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made plain till the hour when Rabbi Chanina ben Akavia came and explained it.
Shabbath, fol. 83, col. 2.
The Mishnah alluded to is short and simple, viz, Where is it taught that a ship is clean to the touch? From Prov. xxx. 19, "The way of a ship in the midst of the sea" (i. e., as the sea is clean to the touch, therefore a ship must also be clean to the touch).
It is indiscreet for one to sleep in a house as the sole occupant, for Lilith will seize hold of him.
Ibid., fol. 151, col. 2.
Lilith (the night-visiting one) is the name of a night spectre, said to have been Adam's first wife, but who, for her refractory conduct, was transformed into a demon endowed with power to injure and even destroy infants unprotected by the necessary amulet or charm.
"Thou hast acknowledged the Lord this day to be thy God; and the Lord hath acknowledged thee this day to be His peculiar people" (Deut. xxvi. 17, 18). The Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto Israel, "Ye have made Me a name in the world, as it is written (Deut. vi. 4), 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord;' and so I will make you a name in the world, as it is said (1 Chron. xvii. 21), 'And what one nation in the earth is like Thy people Israel?'"
Chaggigah, fol. 3, col. 1.
Why are the words of the Law compared to fire? (Jer. xxiii. 29.) Because, as fire does not burn when there is but one piece of wood, so do the words of the Law not maintain the fire of life when meditated on by one alone (see, in confirmation, Matt. xviii. 20).
Taanith, fol. 7, col. 1.
"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo" (Deut. xxxiv. 1). Tradition says there were twelve stairs, but that Moses surmounted them all in one step.
Soteh, fol. 13, col. 2.
Pieces of money given in charity should not be counted over by twos, but one by one.
Bava Bathra, fol. 8, col. 2.
"Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?" (Job xxxix. 1.) The wild goat is cruel to her offspring. As soon as they are brought forth, she climbs with them to the steep cliffs, that they may fall headlong
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and die. But, said God to Job, to prevent this I provide an eagle to catch the kid upon its wings, and then carry and lay it before its cruel mother. Now, if that eagle should be too soon or too late by one second only, instant death to the kid could not be averted; but with Me one second is never changed for another. Shall Job be now changed by me, therefore, into an enemy. (Comp. Job ix. 17, and xxxiv. 35.)
Bava Bathra, fol. 16, cols. 1, 2.
A generation can have one leader only, and not two.
Sanhedrin, fol. 8, col. 1.
"Like the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces" (Jer. xxiii. 29). As a hammer divideth fire into many sparks, so one verse of Scripture has many meanings and many explanations.
Ibid., fol. 34, col. 1.
In the Machser for Pentecost (p. 69) God is said to have "explained the law to His people, face to face, and on every point ninety-eight explanations are given."
Adam was created one without Eve. Why? That the Sadducees might not assert the plurality of powers in heaven.
Ibid., fol. 37, col. 1.
As the Sadducees did not believe in a plurality of powers in heaven, but only the Christians, in the regard of the Jews, did so (by their profession of the doctrine of the Trinity), it is obvious that here, as well as often elsewhere, the latter and not the former are intended.
"And the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt" (Exod. viii. 1; A. V. viii. 6). "There was but one frog," said Rabbi Elazar, "and she so multiplied as to fill the whole land of Egypt.)" "Yes, indeed,)" said Rabbi Akiva, "there was, as you say, but one frog, but she herself was so large as to fill all the land of Egypt." Whereupon Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said unto him, "Akiva, what business hast thou with Haggadah? Be off with thy legends, and get thee to the laws thou art familiar with about plagues and tents. Though thou sayest right in this matter, for there was only one frog, but she croaked so loud that the frogs came from everywhere else to her croaking."
Sanhedrin, fol. 67, col. 2.
Rabba, the grandson of Channa, said that he himself once saw a frog larger than any seen now, though not so large as the frog in
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Egypt. It was as large as Acra, a village of some sixty houses. (Bava Bathra, fol. 73, col. 2.)
Apropos to the part the frog was conceived to play or symbolize in the Jewish conception of the mode and ministry of Divine judgment, we quote the following:--"We are told that Samuel once saw a frog carrying a scorpion on its back across a river, upon the opposite bank of which a man stood waiting ready to be stung. The sting proving fatal, so that the man died; upon which Samuel exclaimed, 'Lord, they wait for Thy judgments this day: for all are Thy servants.' (Ps. cxix. 91.)" (Nedarim, fol. 41, col. 1.)
"According to the days of one king" (Isa. xxiii. 15). What king is this that is singled out as one? Thou must say this is the King Messiah, and no other.
Sanhedrin, fol. 99, col. 1.
Rabbi Levi contends that Manasseh has no portion in the world to come, while Rabbi Yehudah maintains that he has; and each supports his conclusion in contradiction of the other, from one and the same Scripture text.
Ibid., fol. 102, col. 2.
The words, "Remember the Sabbath day," in Exod. xx. 8, and "Keep the Sabbath day," in Deut. v. 12, were uttered in one breath, as no man's mouth could utter them, and no man's ear could hear.
Shevuoth, fol. 20, col. 2.
The officer who inflicts flagellation on a criminal must smite with one hand only, but yet with all his force.
Maccoth, fol. 22, col. 2.
I would rather be called a fool all my days than sin one hour before God.
Edioth, chap. 5, mish. 6.
He who observes but one precept secures for himself an advocate, and he who commits one single sin procures for himself an accuser.
Avoth, chap, 4, mish. 15.
He who learns from another one chapter, one halachah, one verse, or one word or even a single letter, is bound to respect him.
Ibid., chap. 6, mish. 3.
The above is one evidence, among many, of the high esteem in which learning and the office of a teacher are held among the Jews. Education is one of the virtues--of which the following, extracted from the Talmud, is a list--the interest of which the Jew considers he enjoys in this world, while the capital remains intact against the exigencies of the world to come. These are:--The honoring of father and mother, acts of benevolence, hospitality to strangers, visiting the
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sick, devotion in prayer, promotion of peace between man and man, and study in general, but the study of the law outweighs them all. (Shabbath, fol. 127, col. 1.) The study of the law, it is said, is of greater merit to rescue one from accidental death, than building the Temple, and greater than honoring father or mother. (Meggillah, fol. 16, col. 2.)
"Repent one day before thy death." In relation to which Rabbi Eliezer was asked by his disciples, 'How is a man to repent one day before his death, since he does not know on what day he shall die?" "So much the more reason is there," he replied, "that he should repent to-day, test he die to-morrow; and repent to-morrow, lest he die the day after: and thus will all his days be penitential ones."
Avoth d'Rab. Nathan, chap. 15.
He who obliterates one letter from the written name of God, breaks a negative command, for it is said, "And destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God" (Deut. xii. 3, 4).
Sophrim, chap. 5, hal. 6.
Rabbi Chanina could put on and off his shoes while standing on one leg only, though he was eighty years of age.
Chullin, fol. 24, col. 2.
A priest who is blind in one eye should not be judge of the plague; for it is said (Lev. xiii. 12), "Wheresoever the priest (with both eyes) looketh."
Negaim, chap. 2, mish. 3.
The twig of a bunch without any grapes is clean; but if there remained one grape on it, it is unclean.
Okzin, chap. 1, mish. 5.