Hebraic Literature 28

Hebraic Literature 28

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."

 

_Bereshith Rabbah_, chap. 8.

 

Rabbi Hoshaiah said, "When God created Adam the ministering angels

mistook him for a divine being, and were about to say, 'Holy! holy!

holy!' before him. But God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, so

that all knew he was only a man. This explains what is written (Isa. ii.

22), 'Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is

he to be accounted of'?"

 

Ibid.

 

Rabbi Yochanan saith, "Adam and Eve seemed as if they were about twenty

years old when they were created."

 

Ibid., chap. 14.

 

Rav Acha said when God was about to create Adam He consulted the

ministering angels, and asked them, saying, "Shall we make man?" They

enquired, "Of what good will this man be?" He replied, "His wisdom will

be greater than yours." One day, therefore, He brought together the

cattle, the beasts, and the birds, and asked them the name of them

severally, but they knew not. He then caused them to pass before Adam,

and asked him, "What is the name of this and the other?" Then Adam

replied, "This is an ox, this is an ass," and so on. "And thou, why is

thy name Adam?" (i.e. in Hebrew, man). "I ought to be called Adam," was

his reply, "for I was created from Adamah" (the ground). "And what is My

name?" "It is meet Thou shouldst be called Lord, for Thou art Lord over

all Thy creatures." Rav Acha says, "'I am the Lord, that is My name'

(Isa. xlii. 8). 'That is My name which Adam called Me.'"

 

_Bereshith Rabbah_, chap. 17.

 

Rabba Eliezer says Adam was skilled in all manner of crafts. What proof

is there of this? It is said (Isa. xliv. 11), "And the artisans, they

are of Adam."

 

Ibid., chap. 24.

 

"And the Lord said, I will destroy man" (Gen. vi. 7). Rabbi Levi, in the

name of Rabbi Yochanan, says that even millstones were destroyed. Rabbi

Yuda, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, declares even the very dust of Adam

was destroyed. Rabbi Yuda, in the name of Rabbi Shimon, insists that

even the (resurrection) bone of the spine, from which God will one day

cause man to sprout forth again, was destroyed.

 

Ibid., chap. 28.

 

Concerning the bone, the _os coccygis_, there is an interesting

story in Midrash Kohelet (fol. 114, 3), which may be

appropriately inserted here. Hadrian (whose bones may they be

ground, and his name blotted out) once asked Rabbi Joshua ben

Chanania, "From what shall the human frame be reconstructed when

it rises again?" "From Luz in the backbone," was the answer.

"Prove this to me," said Hadrian. Then the Rabbi took Luz, a

small bone of the spine, and immersed it in water, but it was

not softened; he put it into the fire, but it was not consumed;

he put it into a mill, but it could not be pounded; he placed it

upon an anvil and struck it with a hammer, but the anvil split

and the hammer was broken. (See also Zohar in "Genesis," 206,

etc. etc.)

 

"A window shalt thou make to the ark" (Gen. vi. 16). Rabbi Amma says,

"It was a real window." Rabbi Levi, on the other hand, maintained that

it was a precious stone, and that during the twelve months Noah was in

the ark he had no need of the light of the sun by day nor of the moon by

night because of that stone, which he had kept suspended, and he knew

that it was day when it was dim, and night when it sparkled.

 

_Bereshith Rabbah_, chap. 31.

 

The transparency, ascribed to the ark, has given rise to various

conjectures. The idea of Rabbi Levi, that it was a precious

stone, has the sanction of the Targum of Jonathan; which

volunteers the additional information that the gem was found in

the river Pison.

 

Noah was deficient in faith, for he did not enter the ark till the water

was up to his ankles.

 

Ibid., chap. 32.

 

"And he sent forth a raven" (Gen. viii. 7). The raven remonstrated,

remarking, "From all the cattle, beasts, and fowls thou sendest none but

me." "What need has the world for thee?" retorted Noah; "thou art good

neither for food nor for sacrifice." Rabbi Eliezer says God ordered Noah

to receive the raven, as the world would one day be in need of him.

"When?" asked Noah. "When the waters are dried up from off the earth,

there will in a time to come arise a certain righteous man who shall dry

up the world, and then I shall want it." This explains what is written

(1 Kings xvii. 6), "And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the

morning."

 

Ibid., chap. 33.

 

At the time God said to the serpent, "Upon thy belly thou shalt go"

(Gen. iii. 14), the ministering angels descended and lopped off his

hands and his feet. Then his voice was heard from one end of the world

to the other.

 

_Bereshith Midrash Rabbah_, chap. 20.

 

When God said to the serpent, "And upon thy belly thou shalt go" (Gen.

iii. 14), the serpent replied, "Lord of the universe! if this be Thy

will, then I shall be as a fish of the sea without feet." But when God

said to him, "And dust shalt thou eat," he replied, "If fish eat dust,

then I also will eat it." Then God seized hold of the serpent and tore

his tongue in two, and said, "O thou wicked one! thou hast commenced (to

sin) with thy evil tongue; thus I will proclaim it to all that come into

the world that it was thy tongue that caused thee all this."

 

_Letters of Rabbi Akiva._

 

"And Noah only remained" (Gen. vii. 23), except Og, king of Bashan, who

sat on a beam of the ladders (which projected from the ark), and swore

to Noah and his sons that he would be their slave forever. Noah made a

hole in the ark through which he handed to Og his daily food. Thus he

also remained, as it is said (Deut. iii. 11), "For only Og, king of

Bashan, remained."

 

_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 23.

 

"Unto Adam and his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins" (Gen. iii.

21), viz, to cover their nakedness; but with what? With fringes and

phylacteries, "Coats of skins," viz, the leathern straps of the

phylacteries; "and they sewed fig-leaves" (Gen. iii. 7), viz, fringes;

"and made themselves aprons," this means the proclaiming of the Shema,

"Hear, O Israel," etc.

 

_Yalkut Chadash._

 

The aprons, which some (as Rashi, for instance) take to denote

furs, the Targum of Jonathan says were made "from the skin of

the serpent." The wardrobe of Adam afterward came into the

possession of Esau and Jacob (see Targ. Yon. in Toledoth, and p.

199, No. 161, _ante_).

 

All the presents which our father Jacob gave to Esau will one day be

returned by the nations of the world to the Messiah, and the proof of

this is (Ps. lxxii. 10), "The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall

return presents." It is not written here, "They shall bring," but they

shall restore or return.

 

_Midrash Rabbah Vayishlach_, chap. 78.

 

A philosopher once posed Rabbi Eliezer with the question, "Does not the

prophet say (Mal. i. 4), 'They shall build, but I will throw down'? and

do not buildings still exist?" To which the Rabbi answered, "The prophet

does not speak of buildings, but of the schemes of designers. Ye all

think to contrive and build up devices, to destroy and make an end of

us, but He bringeth your counsels to nought. He throweth them down, so

that your devices against us have no effect." "By thy life," said the

philosopher, "it is even so; we meet annually for the purpose of

compassing your ruin, but a certain old man comes and upsets all your

projects" (namely, Elijah).

 

_Yalkut Malachi._

 

When Israel came out of Egypt, Samael rose to accuse them, and thus he

spoke: "Lord of the Universe! these have till now worshiped idols, and

art Thou going to divide the sea for such as they?" What did the Holy

One--blessed be He!--then do? Job, one of Pharaoh's high counselors, of

whom it is written (Job i. 1), "That man was perfect and upright," He

took and delivered to Samael, saying, as He did so, "Behold, he is in

thy hand; do with him as thou pleasest." God thought to divert his evil

designs by keeping him thus occupied with Job, that Israel meanwhile

might cross the sea without any hindrance, after which He would return

and rescue Job from his tender mercies. God then said to Moses, "Behold

I have delivered Job to Satan; make haste. Speak unto the children of

Israel that they go forward" (Exod. xiv. 15).

 

_Midrash Rabbah Shemoth_, chap. 21.

 

No man ever received a mite (in charity) from Job, and needed to receive

such a second time (because of the good-luck it brought along with it).

 

Ibid.

 

A superstitious belief prevails to some extent in Poland, among

the Christian population as well as the Jews, that coins

obtained in certain circumstances bring luck apart altogether

from any virtue they may be supposed to convey from the giver. A

penny obtained, for instance, the first thing in the morning, by

stumbling on it in the street, by the sale of an article in the

market, or by gift of charity, is considered to bode luck, and

cherished as a pledge of good fortune by being slightly spat

upon several times on receipt, and then carefully stowed away,

for a longer or shorter period, in some safe sanctum. Job was

the luckiest man that ever lived; his very goats even were so

lucky as to kill the wolves that came to devour them; and a

beggar, as we see, who received a mite from his hands, never

needed afterward to beg an alms from him again. (See "Genesis

according to the Talmud," p. 288, No. 16.)

 

"And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, etc.; for ye showed

kindness to all the children of Israel" (1 Sam. xv. 6). And did they

show kindness to all the children of Israel? No; but what is written is

to teach that he who receives a disciple of the wise as a guest into his

house, and gives him to eat and to drink, is as if he had shown kindness

to all the children of Israel.

 

_Midrash Sh'muel_, chap. 18.

 

Rabbi Levi says, "When Solomon introduced the ark into the Temple, all

the woodwork thereof freshened with sap and began to yield fruit, as it

is said (Ps. xcii. 13), 'Those that be planted in the house of the Lord

shall flourish in the courts of our God.' And thus it continued to bear

fruit, which abundantly supplied the juveniles of the priestly caste

till the time of Manasseh; but he, by introducing an image into the

Temple, caused the Shechinah to depart and the fruit to wither; as it is

said (Nah. i. 4), 'And the flower of Lebanon languisheth.'"

 

_Midrash Tillin Terumah._

 

The land of Israel is situated in the centre of the world, and Jerusalem

in the centre of the land of Israel, and the Temple in the centre of

Jerusalem, and the Holy of holies in the centre of the Temple, and the

foundation-stone on which the world was grounded, is situated in front

of the ark.

 

_Midrash Tillin Terumah, Kedoshim._

 

In Ezek. v. 5 we read, "I have set Jerusalem in the midst of the

nations and countries that are round about her." On the literal

interpretation of these words it was asserted that Jerusalem was

the very centre of the world, or, as Jerome quaintly called it,

"the navel of the earth." In the Talmud we find a beautiful

metaphor in illustration of this view. It is in the last six

lines of the ninth chapter of Derech Eretz Zuta, which read

thus: "Issi ben Yochanan, in the name of Shemuel Hakaton, says,

'The world is like the eyeball of man; the white is the ocean

which surrounds the world, the black is the world itself, the

pupil is Jerusalem, and the image in the pupil is the Temple.

May it be built in our own days, and in the days of all Israel!

Amen!'" The memory of this conceit is kept alive to this day

among the Greek Christians, who still show the sacred stone in

the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. This notion is

not confined to Jewry. Classic readers will at once call to mind

the appellation Omphalos or navel applied to the temple at

Delphi (Pindar, Pyth., iv. 131, vi. 3; Eurip. Ion., 461; Æsch.

Choeph., 1034; Eum. 40, 167; Strabo, etc.).

 

Two sparks issued from between the two cherubim and destroyed the

serpents and scorpions and burned the thorns in the wilderness. The

smoke thereof, rising and spreading, perfumed the world, so that the

nations said (Cant. iii. 6), "Who is this that cometh out of the

wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed," etc.

 

_Ibid., Vayakhel._

 

Better to lodge in the wilderness of the land of Israel than dwell in

the palaces outside of it.

 

_Midrash Rabbah_, chap. 39.

 

"And give thee a pleasant land" (a coveted land) (Jer. iii. 19). Why is

it called a coveted land? Because the Temple was in it. Another reason

why it was so called is, because the fathers of the world have coveted

it. Rabbi Shimon ben Levi says, "Because they (who are buried) there

will be the first to be raised in the days of the Messiah."

 

_Shemoth Rabbah_, chap. 32.

 

"When the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border, as He hath promised

thee" (Deut. xii. 20). Rabbi Yitzchak said, "This scroll no man knows

how long and how broad it is, but when unrolled it speaks for itself,

and shows how large it is. It is so with the land of Israel, which, for

the most part, consists of hills and mountains; but when the Holy

One--blessed be He!--shall level it, as it is said (Isa. xl. 4), 'Every

valley shall be raised and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth,'

then shall that land speak, as it were, for herself, and its extent

stand revealed."

 

_Devarim Rabbah_, chap. 4.

 

Blessed are they who dwell in the land of Israel, for they have no sin,

no iniquity, either in their lives or in their deaths.

 

_Midrash Shochar Tov on Ps. lxxxv._

 

"Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith" (Prov. xvii. 1). This,

saith Rabbi, means the land of Israel, for even if a man have nothing

but bread and salt to eat, yet if he dwells in the land of Israel he is

sure that he is a son of the world to come. "Than a house full of

sacrifices with strife." This means the outside of the land, which is

full of robbery and violence. Rabbi Y---- says, "He who walks but an

hour in the land of Israel, and then dies within it may feel assured

that he is a son of the world to come; for it is written (Deut. xxxii.

43), 'And his earth shall atone for his people.'"

 

_Midrash Mishle._

 

See also the Talmud, Kethuboth, fol. 111, col. 1. Dr. Benisch

renders "and make expiation for His ground and His people." The

Targums of Jonathan and the Yerushalmi have, "He will make

atonement for His land and for His people;" and Onkelos puts it

thus, "He will show mercy unto His land and His people." Our

rendering, however, is in accordance with the sense given to it

in the Talmud. There are Jews who travel about the world with

bags of earth from the Holy Land, which they sell in small

quantities for high prices to such as can afford it, and believe

in its virtue as a protection against the worms of the grave.

 

Jerusalem is the light of the world; as it is said, "And the Gentiles

shall come to Thy light" (Isa. lx. 3). And the light of Jerusalem is the

Holy One--blessed be He!--as it is written, but "the Lord shall be unto

thee an everlasting light" (Isa. Ix. 19).

 

_Bereshith Rabbah_, chap. 59.

 

Ten portions of wisdom, ten portions of the law, and ten portions of

hypocrisy are in the world; nine portions of each are in the land of

Israel and one outside of it.

 

_Midrash Rabbah Esther._

 

"And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from

one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith

the Lord" (Isa. lxvi. 23). But how is it possible that all flesh shall

come every new moon and Sabbath to Jerusalem? Rabbi Levi saith, "In the

future Jerusalem will be as the land of Israel, and the land of Israel

will be as the whole world." But how will they come from the end of the

world every new moon and Sabbath? "The clouds will come and carry them

and bring them to Jerusalem, where they will perform their morning

prayer, and will carry them back to their several homes; and this is the

meaning of the prophet's saying (Isa. Ix. 8), 'Who are these that fly as

a cloud (in the morning), and as the doves to their windows (in the

evening)?'"

 

_Pesikta._