Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala Part 34

The outside of the sh.e.l.l of the purple mollusk resembles the sea in color; its bodily conformation is like that of a fish; it rises once in seventy years; its blood is used to dye wool purple, and therefore this color is dear.

_Menachoth_, fol. 44, col. 1.

The bearing-time of the flat-headed otter lasts seventy years; a parallel may be found in the carob-tree, from the planting to the ripening of the pods of which is seventy years.

_Berachoth_, fol. 8, col. 1.

The Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members. It is recorded that Rabbi Yossi said, "Seldom was there contention in Israel, but the judicial court of seventy-one sat in the Lishkath-hagazith, i.e., Paved Hall, and two (ordinary) courts of justice consisting of twenty-three, one of which sat at the entrance of the Temple-Mount, and the other at the entrance of the ante-court; and also (provincial) courts of justice, also comprising twenty-three members, which held their sessions in all the cities of Israel. When an Israelite had a question to propose, he asked it first of the court in his own city. If they understood the case, they settled the matter; but if not, they applied to the court of the next city. If the neighboring justices could not decide, they went together and laid the case in debate before the court which held its session at the entrance of the Temple-Mount. If these courts, in turn, failed to solve the problem, they appealed to the court that sat in the entrance of the ante-court, where a discussion was entered into upon the moot points of the case; if no decision could be arrived at, they all referred to the (supreme) court of seventy-one, where the matter was finally decided by the majority of votes."

As the disciples of Shammai and Hillel multiplied who had not studied the law thoroughly, contentions increased in Israel to such an extent that the law lost its unity and became as two.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 88, col. 2.

The Sanhedrin sat in a semicircle, in order that they might see one another; and two notaries stood before them, the one on the right and the other on the left, to record the pros and cons in the various processes. Rabbi Yehudah says there were three such notaries, one for the pros, one for the cons, and one to record both the pros and the cons.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 36, col. 2.

The witnesses (in capital cases) were questioned on seven points, as follows:--In what Shemitah (or septennial cycle) did it occur? In which year (of the cycle)? In what month? Upon what day? At what hour? In what place? ... The more one questioned the more he was commended. (See Deut.

xiii. 15; A.V., ver. 14.)

Ibid., fol. 40, col. 1.

In connection with the foregoing subject, let us string together some of the gems of forensic wisdom to be met with in the Talmud. A score or so of bona fide quotations, respecting judges, criminals and criminal punishment, and witnesses, will serve to ill.u.s.trate this part of our subject.

JUDGES.

The judge, says the Scripture, who for but one hour administers justice according to true equity, is a partner, as it were, with G.o.d in His work of creation.

_Shabbath_, fol. 10, col. 1.

Despicable is the judge who judges for reward; yet his judgment is law, and must, as such, be respected.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 105, col. 1.

The judge who accepts a bribe, however perfectly righteous otherwise, will not leave this world with sane mind.

Ibid., fol. 105, col. 2.

A judge will establish the land if, like a king, he want nothing; but he will ruin it if, like a priest, he receive gifts from the thres.h.i.+ng-floor.

Ibid.

Once when Shemuel was crossing a river in a ferryboat, a man lent a sustaining hand to prevent him from falling. "What," said the Rabbi, "have I done for thee, that thou art so attentive with thy services?"

The man replied, "I have a lawsuit before thee." "In that case," said Shemuel, "thy attention has disqualified me from judging in thy lawsuit."

Ameimar was once sitting in judgment, when a man stepped forward and removed some feathers that were clinging to his hair. Upon this the judge asked, "What service have I done thee?" The man replied, "I have a case to bring up before thee, my lord." The Rabbi replied, "Thou hast disqualified me from being judge in the matter."

Mar Ukva once noticed a man politely step up and cover some saliva which lay on the ground before him. "What have I done for thee?" said the Rabbi. "I have a case to bring before thee," said the man. "Thou hast bribed me with thy kind attention," said the Rabbi; "I cannot be thy judge."

Rabbi Ishmael, son of Rabbi Yossi, had a gardener who regularly brought him a basket of grapes every Friday. Bringing it once on a Thursday, the Rabbi asked him the reason why he had come a day earlier. "My lord,"

said the gardener, "having a lawsuit to come off before thee to-day, I thought by so doing I might save myself the journey to-morrow." Upon this the Rabbi both refused to take the basket of grapes, though they were really his own, and declined to act as judge in the process. He, however, appointed two Rabbis to judge the case in his stead, and while they were investigating the evidence in the litigation he kept pacing up and down, and saying to himself, if the gardener were sharp he might say so-and-so in his own behalf. He was at one time on the point of speaking in defense of his gardener, when he checked himself and said, "The receivers of bribes may well look to their souls. If I feel partial who have not even taken a bribe of what was my own, how perverted must the disposition of those become who receive bribes at the hands of others!"

_Kethuboth_, fol. 105, col. 1.

The judge who takes a bribe only provokes wrath, instead of allaying it; for is it not said (Prov. xxi. 14), "A reward in the bosom bringeth strong wrath"?

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 9, col. 2.

Let judges know with whom and before whom they judge, and who it is that will one day exact account of their judgments; for it is said (Ps.

lx.x.xii. 1), "G.o.d standeth in the a.s.sembly of G.o.d, and judgeth with the judges."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 6, col. 2.

A judge who does not judge justly causeth the Shechinah to depart from Israel; for it is said (Ps. xii. 5), "For the oppression of the poor, the sighing of the needy, now will I depart, saith the Lord."

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 7, col. 1.

The judge should ever regard himself as if he had a sword laid upon his thigh, and Gehenna were yawning near him; as it is said (Solomon's Song, iii. 7, 8), "Behold the bed of Solomon (the judgment-seat of G.o.d), threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords, being expert in war (with injustice). Every one has his sword upon his thigh, for fear of the night" (the confusion that would follow).

_Yevamoth_, fol. 109, col. 2; _Sanhedrin_, fol. 7, col. 1.

Seven have, in the popular regard, no portion in the world to come: a notary, a schoolmaster, the best of doctors, a judge in his native place, a conjuror, a congregational reader, and a butcher.

_Avoth d' Rabbi Nathan_, chap. 36.

WITNESSES.

An ignoramus is ineligible for a witness.

The following are ineligible as witnesses of the appearance of the new moon:--Dice-players, usurers, pigeon-fliers, sellers of the produce of the year of release, and slaves. This is the general rule; in any case in which women are inadmissible as witnesses, they also are inadmissible here.

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 22, col. 1.

Two disciples of the wise happened to be s.h.i.+pwrecked with Rabbi Yossi ben Simaii, and the Rabbi allowed their widows to re-marry on the testimony of women. Even the testimony of a hundred women is only equal to the evidence of one man (and that only in a case like the foregoing; it is inadmissible in any other matter).

_Yevamoth_, fol. 115, col. 1.

"Whosoever is not instructed in Scripture, in the Mishna, and in good manners," says Rabbi Yochanan, "is not qualified to act as a witness."

"He who eats in the street," say the Rabbis, "is like a dog;" and some add that such a one is ineligible as a witness, and Rav Iddi bar Avin says the Halachah is as "some say."

_Kiddus.h.i.+n_, fol. 40, col. 2.

Even when a witness is paid, his testimony is not thereby invalidated.

_Kiddus.h.i.+n_, fol. 58, col. 2.

Testimony that is invalidated in part is invalidated entirely.