Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala Part 3

He who observes but one precept secures for himself an advocate, and he who commits one single sin procures for himself an accuser.

_Avoth_, chap. 4, mish. 15.

He who learns from another one chapter, one halachah, one verse, or one word or even a single letter, is bound to respect him.

Ibid., chap. 6, mish. 3.

The above is one evidence, among many, of the high esteem in which learning and the office of a teacher are held among the Jews. Education is one of the virtues--of which the following, extracted from the Talmud, is a list--the interest of which the Jew considers he enjoys in this world, while the capital remains intact against the exigencies of the world to come. These are:--The honoring of father and mother, acts of benevolence, hospitality to strangers, visiting the sick, devotion in prayer, promotion of peace between man and man, and study in general, but the study of the law outweighs them all. (_Shabbath_, fol.

127, col. 1.) The study of the law, it is said, is of greater merit to rescue one from accidental death, than building the Temple, and greater than honoring father or mother.

(_Meggillah_, fol. 16, col 2.)

"Repent one day before thy death." In relation to which Rabbi Eliezer was asked by his disciples, "How is a man to repent one day before his death, since he does not know on what day he shall die?" "So much the more reason is there," he replied, "that he should repent to-day, lest he die to-morrow; and repent to-morrow, lest he die the day after: and thus will all his days be penitential ones."

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 15.

He who obliterates one letter from the written name of G.o.d, 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 G.o.d" (Deut. xii. 3, 4).

_Sophrim_, chap. 5, hal. 6.

Rabbi Chanina could put on and off his shoes while standing on one leg only, though he was eighty years of age.

_Chullin_, fol. 24, col. 2.

A priest who is blind in one eye should not be judge of the plague; for it is said (Lev. xiii. 12), "Wheresoever the priest (with both eyes) looketh."

_Negaim_, chap. 2, mish. 3.

The twig of a bunch without any grapes is clean; but if there remained one grape on it, it is unclean.

_Okzin_, chap, i, mish. 5.

Not every man deserves to have two tables.

_Berachoth_, fol. 5, col. 2.

The meaning of this rather ambiguous sentence may either be, that all men are not able to succeed in more enterprises than one at a time; or that it is not given to every one to make the best both of the present world and of that which is to come.

Abba Benjamin used to say "There are two things about which I have all my life been much concerned: that my prayer should be offered in front of my bed, and that the position of my bed should be from north to south."

Ibid., fol. 5, col. 2.

There are several reasons which may be adduced to account for Abba Benjamin's anxiety, and they are all more or less connected with the important consequences which were supposed to depend upon determining his position with reference to the Shechinah, which rested in the east or the west.

Abba Benjamin felt anxious to have children, for "any man not having children is counted as dead," as it is written (Gen. x.x.x.

1), "Give me children, or else I die." (_Nedarin_, fol. 64, col.

2.)

With the Jew one great consideration of life is to have children, and more especially male children; because when a boy is born all rejoice over him, but over a girl they all mourn.

When a boy comes into the world he brings peace with him, and a loaf of bread in his hand, but a girl brings nothing. (_Niddah_, fol. 31, col. 2.)

It is impossible for the world to be without males and females, but blessed is he whose children are boys, and hapless is he whose children are girls. (_Kiddus.h.i.+n_, fol. 82, col. 2.)

Whosoever does not leave a son to be heir, G.o.d will heap wrath upon him. (Scripture is quoted in proof of this, compare Numb.

xxvii. 8 with Zeph. i. 15.) (_Bava Bathra_, fol. 116, col. 1.)

"There are two ways before me, one leading into Paradise, the other into h.e.l.l." When Yochanan, the son of Zachai, was sick unto death, his disciples came to visit him; and when he saw them he wept, upon which his disciples exclaimed, "Light of Israel! Pillar of the right! Mighty Hammer! why weepest thou?" He replied, "If I were going to be led into the presence of a king, who is but flesh and blood, to-day here and to-morrow in the grave, whose anger with me could not last forever, whose sentence against me, were it even unto death, could not endure forever, and whom perhaps I might pacify with words or bribe with money, yet for all that should I weep; but now that I am about to enter the presence of the King of kings, the Holy One--blessed be He forever and ever!--whose anger would be everlasting, whose sentence of death or imprisonment admits of no reprieve, and who is not to be pacified with words nor bribed with money, and in whose presence there are two roads before me, one leading into Paradise and the other into h.e.l.l, and should I not weep?" Then prayed they him, and said, "Rabbi, give us thy farewell blessing;" and he said unto them, "Oh that the fear of G.o.d may be as much upon you as the fear of man."

_Berachoth_, fol. 28, col. 2.

Rabbi Ami says, "Knowledge is of great price, for it is placed between two divine names, as it is written (I Sam. ii. 3), 'A G.o.d of knowledge is the Lord,' and therefore mercy is to be denied to him who has no knowledge; for it is written (Isa. xxvii. 11), 'It is a people of no understanding, therefore He that hath made them will not have mercy on them.'"

_Berachoth_ fol. 33, col. 1.

Here we have a clear law, drawn from Scripture, forbidding, or at any rate denying, mercy to the ignorant. The words of Rabbi (the Holy) are a practical commentary on the text worth quoting, "Woe is unto me because I have given my morsel to an ignorant one." (_Bava Bathra_, fol. 8, col. 1.)

But who is the ignorant one from whom this mercy is to be withheld? Here the doctors disagree. He, says Rabbi Eliezer, who does not read the Shema, "Hear, O Israel," etc., both morning and evening. According to Rabbi Yehudah, he that does not put on phylacteries is an ignorant one. Rabbi Azai affirms that he who wears no fringes to his garment is an ignorant one, etc. Others again say he who even reads the Bible and the Mishna but does not serve the disciples of the wise, is an ignorant one. Rabbi Huna winds up with the words "the law is as the others have said," and so leaves the difficulty where he finds it.

(_Berachoth_, fol. 47, col. 2.)

Of him "who transgresses the words of the wise, which he is commanded to obey," it is written, "He is guilty of death and has forfeited his life." (_Berachoth_, fol. 4, col. 2, and _Yevamoth_, fol. 20, col. 1.) Whoso, therefore, shows mercy to him contradicts the purpose and incurs the displeasure of G.o.d.

It was in application of this principle, literally interpreted, that the wise should hold no parley with the ignorant, which led the Jews to condemn the contrary procedure of Jesus Christ.

It was this prohibition to show mercy to the ignorant, together with the solemn threatenings directed against those who neglected the study of the law, that worked such a wonderful revolution in Hezekiah's time; for it is said that then "they searched from Dan to Beersheba, and did not find an ignorant one." (_Sanhedrin_, fol. 94, col. 2.)

When the Holy One--blessed be He!--remembers that His children are in trouble among the nations of the world, He drops two tears into the great ocean, the noise of which startles the world from one end to the other, and causes the earth to quake.

_Berachoth_, fol. 59, col. 1.

We read in the Talmud that a Gentile once came to Shamai and said, "How many laws have you?" Shamai replied, "We have two, the written law and the oral law." To which the Gentile made answer, "When you speak of the written law, I believe you, but in your oral law I have no faith.

Nevertheless, you may make me a proselyte on condition that you teach me the written law only." Upon this Shamai rated him sharply, and sent him away with indignant abuse. When, however, this Gentile came with the same object, and proposed the same terms to Hillel, the latter proceeded at once to proselytize him, and on the first day taught him Aleph, Beth, Gemel, Daleth. On the morrow Hillel reversed the order of these letters, upon which the proselyte remonstrated and said, "But thou didst not teach me so yesterday." "True," said Hillel, "but thou didst trust me in what I taught thee then; why, then, dost thou not trust me now in what I tell thee respecting the oral law?"

_Shabbath_, fol. 31, col. 1.

Every man as he goes on the eve of the Sabbath from the synagogue to his house is escorted by two angels, one of which is a good angel and the other an evil. When the man comes home and finds the lamps lit, the table spread, and the bed in order, the good angel says, "May the coming Sabbath be even as the present;" to which the evil angel (though with reluctance) is obliged to say, "Amen." But if all be in disorder, then the bad angel says, "May the coming Sabbath be even as the present," and the good angel is (with equal reluctance), obliged to say "Amen" to it.

Ibid., fol. 119, col. 2.

Two are better than three. Alas! for the one that goes and does not return again.

_Shabbath_, fol. 152, col. 1.

As in the riddle of the Sphinx, the "two" here stands for youth with its two sufficient legs, and the "three" for old age, which requires a third support in a staff.

There were two things which G.o.d first thought of creating on the eve of the Sabbath, which, however, were not created till after the Sabbath had closed. The first was fire, which Adam by divine suggestion drew forth by striking together two stones; and the second, was the mule, produced by the crossing of two different animals.

_P'sachim_, fol. 54, col. 1.

"Every one has two portions, one in paradise and another in h.e.l.l."

Acheer asked Rabbi Meyer, "What meaneth this that is written (Eccl. vii.

14), 'G.o.d also has set the one over against the other'?" Rabbi Meyer replied, "There is nothing which G.o.d has created of which He has not also created the opposite. He who created mountains and hills created also seas and rivers." But said Acheer to Rabbi Meyer, "Thy master, Rabbi Akiva, did not say so, but spake in this way: He created the righteous and also the wicked; He created paradise and h.e.l.l: every man has two portions, one portion in paradise, and the other in h.e.l.l. The righteous, who has personal merit, carries both his own portion of good and that of his wicked neighbor away with him to paradise; the wicked, who is guilty and condemned, carries both his own portion of evil and also that of his righteous neighbor away with him to h.e.l.l." When Rav Meshars.h.i.+a asked what Scripture guarantee there was for this, this was the reply: "With regard to the righteous, it is written (Isa. lxi. 7), 'They shall rejoice in their portion, therefore in their land (beyond the grave) they shall possess the double.' Respecting the wicked it is written (Jer. xvii. 18), 'And destroy them with double destruction.'"