Hebraic Literature 22

Hebraic Literature 22

Berachoth_, fol. 9, col. 2.

 

One of the most charming women that we find figuring in the

Talmud was the wife of Rabbi Meir, Beruriah by name; and as we

meet with her in the immediate context of the above quotation,

it may be well to introduce her here to the attention of the

reader. The context speaks of a set of ignorant fellows

(probably Greeks) who sorely vexed the soul of Rabbi Meir, her

husband, and he ardently prayed God to take them away. Then

Beruriah reasoned with her husband thus:--"Is it, pray, because

it is written (Ps. civ. 35), 'Let the sinners be consumed'? It

is not written 'sinners,' but 'sins.' Besides, a little farther

on in the text it is said, 'And the wicked will be no more;'

that is to say, 'Let sins cease, and the wicked will cease too.'

Pray, therefore, on their behalf that they may be led to

repentance, and these wicked will be no more." This he therefore

did, and they repented and ceased to vex him. Of this excellent

and humane woman it may well be said, "She openeth her mouth

with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness" (Prov.

xxxi. 26). Her end was tragic. She was entrapped by a disciple

of her husband, and out of shame she committed suicide. See

particulars by Rashi in Avodah Zarah, fol. 18, col. 2.

 

The Hasmoneans ruled over Israel during the time of the second Temple a

hundred and three years; and for a hundred and three the government was

in the hands of the family of Herod.

 

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 1.

 

Rabbi Yochanan the son of Zacchai lived a hundred and twenty years;

forty he devoted to commerce, forty to study, and forty to teaching.

 

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 30, col. 2.

 

One hundred and twenty elders, and among them several prophets, bore a

part in composing the Eighteen Blessings (the Shemonah Esreh).

 

_Meggillah_, fol. 17, col. 2.

 

A similar tradition was current among the early Christians, with

reference to the composition of the Creed. Its different

sentences were ascribed to different apostles. However fitly

this tradition may represent the community of faith with which

the prophets on the one hand and the apostles on the other were

inspired, it is not recommended by the critic as a proceeding

calculated to ensure unity in a work of art.

 

Rabbi Shemuel says advantage may be taken of the mistakes of a Gentile.

He once bought a gold plate as a copper one of a Gentile for four

zouzim, and then cheated him out of one zouz into the bargain. Rav

Cahana purchased a hundred and twenty vessels of wine from a Gentile for

a hundred zouzim, and swindled him in the payment out of one of the

hundred, and that while the Gentile assured him that he confidently

trusted to his honesty. Rava once went shares with a Gentile and bought

a tree, which was cut up into logs. This done, he bade his servant go to

pick him out the largest logs, but to be sure to take no more than the

proper number, because the Gentile knew how many there were. As Rav Ashi

was walking abroad one day he saw some grapes growing in a roadside

vineyard, and sent his servant to see whom they belonged to. "If they

belong to a Gentile," he said, "bring some here to me; but if they

belong to an Israelite, do not meddle with them." The owner, who

happened to be in the vineyard, overheard the Rabbi's order and called

out, "What! is it lawful to rob a Gentile?" "Oh, no," said the Rabbi

evasively; "a Gentile might sell, but an Israelite would not."

 

_Bava Kama_, fol. 113, col. 2.

 

This is given simply as a sample of the teaching of the Talmud

on the subject both by precept and example. There is no

intention to cast a slight on general Jewish integrity, or

suggest distrust in regard to their ethical creed.

 

Rabbon Gamliel, Rabbi Eliezer ben Azaryah, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi

Akiva once went on a journey to Rome, and at Puteoli they already heard

the noisy din of the city, though at a distance of a hundred and twenty

miles. At the sound all shed tears except Akiva, who began to laugh.

"Why laughest thou?" they asked. "Why do you cry?" he retorted. They

answered, "These Romans, who worship idols of wood and stone and offer

incense to stars and planets, abide in peace and quietness, while our

Temple, which was the footstool of our God, is consumed by fire; how can

we help weeping?" "That is just the very reason," said he, "why I

rejoice; for if such be the lot of those who transgress His laws, what

shall the lot of those be who observe and do them?"

 

_Maccoth_, fol. 24, col. 2.

 

When Adam observed that his sin was the cause of the decree which made

death universal he fasted one hundred and thirty years, abstained all

that space from intercourse with his wife, and wore girdles of

fig-leaves round his loins. All these years he lived under divine

displeasure, and begat devils, demons, and spectres; as it is said (Gen.

v. 3), "And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat in his own

likeness, after his image," which implies that, until the close of those

years, his offspring were not after his own image.

 

_Eiruvin_, fol. 18, col. 2.

 

There is a tradition that there was once a disciple in Yabneh who gave a

hundred and fifty reasons to prove a reptile to be clean (which the

scripture regards as unclean.--Compare Lev. xi. 29).

 

Ibid., fol 13, col 2.

 

The ablutionary tank made by Solomon was as large as a hundred and fifty

lavatories.

 

Ibid., fol. 14, col. 1.

 

A hundred and eighty years before the destruction of the Temple, the

empire of idolatry (Rome) began the conquest of Israel.

 

_Shabbath_, fol. 15, col. 1.

 

The empire of Rome was, some think, so designated, because it

strove with all its might to drag down the worship of God to the

worship of man, and resolve the cause of God into the cause of

the Empire.

 

During the time of the second Temple Persia domineered over Israel for

thirty-four years and the Greeks held sway a hundred and eighty.

 

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 1.

 

Foolish saints, crafty villains, sanctimonious women, and

self-afflicting Pharisees are the destroyers of the world. What is it to

be a foolish saint? To see a woman drowning in the river and refrain

from trying to save her because of the look of the thing. Who is to be

regarded as a crafty villain? Rabbi Yochanan says, "He who prejudices

the magistrates by prepossessing them in favor of his cause before his

opponent has had time to make his appearance." Rabbi Abhu says, "He who

gives a denarius to a poor man to make up for him the sum total of two

hundred zouzim; for it is enacted that he who possesses two hundred

zouzim is not entitled to receive any gleanings, neither what is

forgotten in the field, nor what is left in the corner of it (see Lev.

xxiii. 22), nor poor relief either. But if he is only one short of the

two hundred zouzim, and a thousand people give anything to him, he is

still entitled to the poor man's perquisites."

 

_Soteh_, fol. 21, col. 2.

 

The cup of David in the world to come will contain two hundred and

twenty-one logs; as it is said (Ps. xxiii. 5), "My cup runneth over,"

the numerical value of the Hebrew word, "runneth over," being two

hundred and twenty-one.

 

_Yoma_, fol. 76, col. 2.

 

In the world to come the Holy One will make a grand banquet for

the righteous from the flesh of the leviathan. _Bava Bathra_,

fol. 75, col. 1. (See the Morning Service for the middle days of

the Feast of Tabernacles.) God will make a banquet for the

righteous on the day when He shows His mercy to the posterity of

Isaac. After the meal the cup of blessing will be handed to

Abraham, in order that he may pronounce the blessing, but he

will plead excuse because he begat Ishmael. Then Isaac will be

told to take the cup and speak the benediction of grace, but he

also will plead his unworthiness because he begat Esau. Next

Jacob also will refuse because he married two sisters. Then

Moses, on the ground that he was unworthy to enter the land of

promise, or even to be buried in it; and finally Joshua will

plead unworthiness because he had no son. David will then be

called upon to take the cup and bless, and he will respond,

"Yea, I will bless, for I am worthy to bless, as it is said (Ps.

cxvi. 13), 'I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the

name of the Lord.'" P'sachim, fol. 119, col. 2. This cup, as we

are told above, will contain two hundred and twenty-one logs

(which the Rabbis tell us, is the twenty-fourth part of a seah,

therefore this cup will hold rather more than one-third of a

hogshead of wine).

 

Beruriah once found a certain disciple who studied in silence. As soon

as she saw him she spurned him and said, "Is it not thus written (2 Sam.

xxiii. 5), 'Ordered in all and sure'? If ordered with all the two

hundred and forty-eight members of thy body, it will be sure; if not, it

will not be sure." It is recorded that Rabbi Eliezer had a disciple who

also studied in silence, but that after three years he forgot all that

he had learned.

 

_Eiruvin_, fol. 53, col. 2, and fol. 54, col. 1.

 

In continuation of the above we read that Shemuel said to Rav

Yehudah, "Shrewd fellow, open thy mouth when thou readest, etc.,

so that thy reading may remain and thy life may be lengthened;

as it is written in Prov. iv. 22, 'For they are life unto those

that find them;' read not, 'that find them,' but read, 'that

bring them forth by the mouth,' i.e., that read them aloud." It

was and is still a common custom in the East to study aloud.

 

As an anathema enters all the two hundred and forty-eight members of the

body, so does it issue from them all. Of the entering-in of the anathema

it is written (Josh. vi. 17), "And the city shall be accursed;" by

Gematria amounting to two hundred and forty-eight. Of the coming-out of

the anathema it is written (Hab. iii. 2), "In wrath remember mercy;" a

transposition of the letters of the word for accursed, also amounting by

Gematria to two hundred and forty-eight. Rabbi Joseph says, "Hang an

anathema on the tail of a dog and he will still go on doing mischief."

 

_Moed Katon_, fol. 17, col. 1.

 

The human body has two hundred and forty-eight members:--Thirty in the

foot--that is, six in each toe--ten in the ankle, two in the thigh, five

in the knee, one in the hip, three in the hip-ball, eleven ribs, thirty

in the hand--that is, six in each finger--two in the fore-arm, two in

the elbow, one in the upper arm, four in the shoulder. Thus we have one

hundred and one on each side; to this add eighteen vertebrae in the

spine, nine in the head, eight in the neck, six in the chest, and five

in the loins.

 

_Oholoth_, chap. I, mish. 8.

 

See also Eiruvin, fol. 53, col. 2, and the Musaph for the second

day of Pentecost. In the Musaph for the New Year there is a

prayer that runs thus, "Oh, deign to hear the voice of those who

glorify Thee with all their members, according to the number of

the two hundred and forty-eight affirmative precepts. In this

month they blow thirty sounds, according to the thirty members

of the soles of their feet; the additional offerings of the day

are ten, according to the ten in their ankles; they approach the

altar twice, according to their two legs; five are called to the

law, according to the five joints in their knees; they observe

the appointed time to sound the cornet on the first day of the

month, according to the one in their thigh; they sound the horn

thrice, according to the three in their hips; lo! with the

additional offering of the new moon they are eleven, according

to their eleven ribs; they pour out the supplication with nine

blessings, according to the muscles in their arms, and which

contain thirty verses, according to the thirty in the palms of

their hands; they daily repeat the prayer of eighteen blessings,

according to the eighteen vertebrae in the spine; at the

offering of the continual sacrifice they sound nine times,

according to the nine muscles in their head," etc., etc.

 

It is related of Rabbi Ishmael's disciples that they dissected a low

woman who had been condemned by the Government to be burned, and upon

examination they found that her body contained two hundred and fifty-two

members.

 

_Bechoroth_, fol. 45, col. 1.

 

The regular period of gestation is either two hundred and seventy-one,

two hundred and seventy-two, or two hundred and seventy-three days.

 

_Niddah_, fol. 38, col. 1.

 

Revere the memory of Chananiah ben Chiskiyah, for had it not been for

him the Book of Ezekiel would have been suppressed, because of the

contradictions it offers to the words of the law. By the help of three

hundred bottles of oil, which were brought up into an upper chamber, he

prolonged his lucubrations, till he succeeded in reconciling all the

discrepancies.

 

_Shabbath_, fol. 13, col. 2.

 

It is related of Johanan, the son of Narbai, that he used to eat three

hundred calves, and to drink three hundred bottles of wine, and to

consume forty measures of young pigeons by way of dessert. (Rashi says

this was because he had to train many priests in his house.)

 

_P'sachim_, fol. 57, col. 1.

 

The keys of the treasury of Korah were so many that it required three

hundred white mules to carry them. These, with the locks, were said to

be made of white leather.

 

Ibid., fol. 119, col. 1.

 

The Midrash repeats the same story, and adds, "His wealth was

his ruin." "He is as rich as Korah" is now a Jewish proverb.

 

Rav Chiya, the son of Adda, was tutor to the children of Resh Lakish,

and once absented himself from his duties for three days. On his return

he was questioned as to the reason of his conduct, and he gave the

following reply: "My father bequeathed to me a vine, trained on high

trellis-work as a bower, from which I gathered the first day three

hundred bunches, each of which yielded a gerav of wine (a gerav is a

measure containing as much as 288 egg-shells would contain). On the

second day I again gathered three hundred bunches of smaller size, two

only producing one gerav (one bunch yielding the quantity of wine 144

egg-shells would contain). The third day I also gathered three hundred

bunches, but only three bunches to the gerav, and have yet left more

than half of the grapes free for any one to gather them." Thereupon Resh

Lakish observed to him, "If thou hadst not been so negligent (losing

time in the instruction of my children), it would have yielded still

more."

 

_Kethuboth_, fol. 111, col. 2.

 

There were three hundred species of male demons in Sichin, but what the

female demon herself was like is known to no one.

 

_Gittin_, fol. 68, col. 1.

 

"Now, when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon

him, they came each from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildah the

Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment

together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him" (Job ii. 11).

What is meant when it is said, "They had made an appointment together"?

Rab. Yehudah says in the name of Rav, "This is to teach that they all

came in by one gate." But there is a tradition that each lived three

hundred miles away from the other. How then came they to know of Job's

sad condition? Some say they had wreaths, others say trees (each

representing an absent friend), and when any friend was in distress the

one representing him straightway began to wither. Rava said, "Hence the

proverb, 'Either a friend as the friends of Job, or death.'"

 

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 16, col. 2.

 

Rashi tenders this explanation, that Job and his friends had

each wreaths with their names engraved on them, and if

affliction befell any one his name upon the wreath would change

color.

 

Rabbi Yochanan says that Rabbi Meir knew three hundred fables about

foxes, but we have only three of them, viz, "The fathers have eaten sour

grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" (Ezek. xviii. 2);

"Just balances and just weights" (Lev. xix. 36); "The righteous is

delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead" (Prov. xi.

8).

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 38, col. 2, and fol. 39, col. 1.

 

Quite apropos to this we glean the following from Rashi:--A fox

once induced a wolf to enter a Jewish dwelling to help the

inmates to get ready the Sabbath meal. No sooner did he enter

than the whole household set upon him, and so belabored him with

cudgels that he was obliged to flee for his life. For this trick

the wolf was indignant at the fox, and sought to kill him, but

he pacified him with the remark, "They would not have beaten

thee if thy father had not on a former occasion belied

confidence, and eaten up the choicest pieces that were set aside

for the meal." "What!" rejoined the wolf, "the fathers have

eaten sour grapes, and shall the children's teeth be set on

edge?" "Well," interrupted the fox, "come with me now and I will

show thee a place where thou mayest eat and be satisfied." He

thereupon took him to a well, across the top of which rested a

transverse axle with a rope coiled round it, to each extremity

of which a bucket was attached. The fox, entering the bucket,

which happened to be at the top, soon descended by his own

weight to the bottom of the well, and thereby raised the other

bucket to the top. On the wolf inquiring at the fox why he had

gone down there, he replied, because he knew there was meat and

cheese to eat and be satisfied, in proof of which he pointed to

a cheese, which happened to be the reflection of the moon on the

water. Upon which the wolf inquired, "And how am I to get down

beside you?" The fox replied, "By getting into the bucket at the

top." He did as directed, and as he descended the bucket with

the fox rose to the top. The wolf in this plight again appealed

to the fox. "But how am I to get out?" The reply was, "The

righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in

his stead;" and is it not written, "Just balances just weights?"

 

When Rabbi Eliezer, on his deathbed, taught Rabbi Akiva three hundred

particulars to be observed in regard to the white spot covered with hair

which was the sign of leprosy, the former lifted up his arms and placed

them on his chest and exclaimed, "Woe is me, because of these my two

arms, these two scrolls of the law, that are about to depart from this

world; for if all the seas were ink, and all the reeds were quills, and

all the men were scribes, they could not record all I have learned and

all I have taught, and how much I have heard at the lips of sages in the

schools. And what is more, I also taught three hundred laws based on the

text, 'A witch shall not live.'"

 

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 25.

 

This truly Oriental exaggeration, which Rabbi Eliezer ben

Azariah so complacently applies to himself, was spoken also of

Rabbi Yochanan before him (Bereshith Rabba); an acrostic poem in

the Morning Service for Pentecost adopts the same hyperbole

almost word for word, and turns it to very pious account. It is

interesting to note how contemporary sacred literature abounds

in similar hyperbolic __EXPRESSION__s. In John xxi 25 it is said,

"There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if

they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world

itself could not contain the books that should be written."

Cicero, too, speaks of a glory of such a weight that even heaven

itself is scarcely able to contain it; and Livy, on one

occasion, describes the power of Rome as with difficulty

restrained within the limits of the world.

 

Here it may not be out of place if we introduce a few of the

many passages in the Talmud that treat of enchantment and

witchcraft, as well as magic, charms, and omens. The list of

quotations might be extended to a hundred, but we must confine

ourselves to a score or so.

 

The daughters of Israel burn incense for (purposes of) sorcery.

 

_Berachoth_, fol. 53, col. 1.

 

Ben Azai (son of impudence), says, "... he who seats himself and then

feels ... (which must not be explained), the effects of witchcraft, even

when practiced in Spain, will come upon him. What is the remedy when one

forgets and first sits down and then feels?.... When he rises let him

say, 'Not these and not of these; not the witchcraft of sorcerers and

not the sorcery of witches.'"

 

_Berachoth_, fol. 62, col. 1.

 

The daughters of Israel in later generations lapsed into the practice of

witchcraft.

 

_Eiruvin_ fol. 64, col. 2.

 

Ameimar says, "The superior of the witches told me that when a person

meets any of them he should mutter thus, 'May a potsherd of boiling dung

be stuffed into your mouths, you ugly witches! may the hair with which

you perform your sorcery be torn from your heads, so that ye become

bald. May the wind scatter the crumbs wherewith ye do your divinations.

May your spices be scattered and may the wind blow away the saffron you

hold in your hands for the practicing of sorcery.'"

 

_P'sachim_, fol. 110, cols, 1, 2.