Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala. Various

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СКАЧАТЬ 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 he 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.

      One wins eternal life after a struggle of years; another finds it in one hour (see Luke xxiii. 43).

      Avodah Zarah, fol. 17, col. 1.

      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 '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.

      It is written (Gen. xxviii. ii), "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. ii, 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. i.

      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, СКАЧАТЬ