Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala Part 14

Four men entered Paradise--these are their names:--Ben Azai, Ben Zoma, Acher, and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva thus warned his companions: "When you come across pavements of pellucid marble, do not cry out 'Water!

water!' for it is said (Ps. ci. 7), 'He that uttereth falsehood shall not dwell in my sight.'" Ben Azai looked and died; concerning him the Scripture says (Ps. cxvi. 15), "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Ben Zoma looked and went out of his mind; of him the Scripture says (Prov. xxv. 16), "Hast thou found honey? eat only so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomit it." Acher cut the plants. Only Akiva departed in peace.

_Chaggigah_, fol. 14, col. 2.

Rashi explains this by saying these men went up to heaven; but Maimonides much more rationally teaches that the Paradise or garden here is merely the retreat of profound philosophic meditation. These five intuitions were;--(1.) To know that there is a G.o.d; (2.) to ignore every other beside Him; (3.) to feel His unity; (4.) to love His person; and (5.) to stand in awe of His Majesty (see Vad Hachaz, chap. 4, sec. 19). Deep thought in these matters was spoken of by the Rabbis as _promenading in the garden_.

Four times a year is the world subject to an ordeal of judgment:--At Pa.s.sover, which is decisive of the fruits of the field; at Pentecost, which is decisive of the fruits of the garden; at the feast of Tabernacles, which is decisive in respect of rain; on New Year's Day, when all who come into the world pa.s.s before the Lord like sheep, as it is said (Ps. x.x.xiii. 15), "Who formed their hearts together; who understandeth all their works."

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

There are four varieties of cedar:--Erez, Karthom, Etz-Shemen, and Berosh.

Ibid., fol. 23, col. 1.

Ben Kamzar would not teach the art of writing, and yet it is related of him that he could, by taking four pens between his fingers, write off a word of four letters at one stroke.

_Yoma_, fol. 38, col. 2.

There are four kinds of quails:--Sichli, Kibli, Pisyoni, and the common quail. The first was of superior quality, and the last inferior.

Ibid., fol. 75, col. 2.

A man may obtain forgiveness after the third transgression, but if he repeat the offense a fourth time, he is not pardoned again; for it is said (Amos ii. 4), "For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof;" and again (Job x.x.xiii. 29), "Lo! all these things doth G.o.d two or three times" (and so inferentially not four times) "with man to bring back his soul from the pit."

_Yoma_, fol. 86, col. 2.

For four reasons does their property pa.s.s out of the hands of the avaricious:--Because they are backward in paying the wages of their hired servants; because they altogether neglect their welfare; because they shift the yoke from themselves and lay the burden upon their neighbors; and because of pride, which is of itself as bad as all the rest put together; whereas of the meek it is written (Ps. x.x.xvii. n), "The meek shall inherit the earth."

_Succah_, fol. 29, col. 2.

"And the Lord showed me four carpenters" (Zech. i, 20). Who are these four carpenters? Rav Ghana bar Bizna says that Rabbi Shimon Cha.s.sida said they were Messiah the son of David, Messiah the son of Joseph, Elijah, and the Priest of Righteousness.

Ibid., fol. 52, col. 2.

No Synagogue is to be sold except on condition that there be power of re-purchase. These are the words of Rabbi Meir; but the sages say it may be sold unconditionally, except in these four particular cases: that it be not turned into a bath-house, a tannery, a wash-house, or a laundry.

_Meggillah_, fol. 27, col. 2.

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai was once asked by his disciples how he had attained such length of days. "Never once," he said, "in my life have I acted irreverently within four cubits of a place where prayer is offered; never have I called a person by a wicked name; nor have I ever failed to sanctify the Sabbath over a cup of wine. Once my aged mother sold her head-dress to buy the consecration wine for me."

Ibid., fol. 27, col. 2.

When a sage is approaching, one should rise up before he gets within four ells' distance, and remain standing until he has gone as far past.

When a chief magistrate is about to pa.s.s, one must rise as soon as he comes in sight, and not resume the seat until he has pa.s.sed four ells.

When a prince pa.s.ses, one must stand up whenever he appears, and not sit down again until the prince himself is seated; for it is said (Exod.

x.x.xiii, 8), "All the people rose up, ... and looked after Moses until he was gone into the tabernacle."

_Kiddushin_, fol. 33, col. 2.

When Nero came to the Holy Land, he tried his fortune by belemnomancy thus:--He shot an arrow eastward, and it fell upon Jerusalem; he discharged his shafts towards the four points of the compa.s.s, and every time they fell upon Jerusalem. After this he met a Jewish boy, and said unto him, "Repeat to me the text thou hast learned to-day." The boy repeated, "I will lay my vengeance upon Edom (i.e., Rome) by the hand of my people Israel" (Ezek. xxv. 14). Then said Nero, "The Holy One--blessed be He!--has determined to destroy His Temple and then avenge Himself on the agent by whom its ruin is wrought." Thereupon Nero fled and became a Jewish proselyte, and Rabbi Meir is of his race.

_Gittin_, fol. 56, col. 1.

They whose banquet is accompanied with four kinds of instruments of music bring five calamities on the world; as it is said (Isa. v. 11-15), "Woe unto those that get up early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink; and continue until late at night, till flushed with wine. And the harp and psaltery, tambourine and flute, and wine are at their carousals."

_Soteh_, fol. 48, col. 1.

Let him carry the purse, and halt every time he accomplishes less than four cubits forward.

_Shabbath_, fol. 153, cols, 1, 2.

Rav Yitzchak here explains how the good Jew, belated on Sabbath-eve, may carry his purse himself, and so save his conscience. The traveler is to halt at about every other step, and so measure off the journey in four-cubit stages.

Though ever since the destruction of the Temple the Sanhedrin has ceased to exist, the four kinds of capital punishment have not failed to a.s.sert themselves. If a man incurs the penalty of death by stoning, he is in the course of Providence either punished by a fatal fall from a roof or slain by some beast of prey; if he has exposed himself to the penalty of death by burning, it happens that he is either burned to death in the end or mortally stung by a serpent; if the penalty of the law is that he should be beheaded for his offense, he meets his death either from the Government officer or by the hand of an a.s.sa.s.sin; if the penalty be strangulation, he is sure to be drowned or suffocated.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 37, col. 2.

When a person is in a state of apprehension and cannot make out the cause of it (the star that presided at his birth and his genii know all about it), what should he do? Let him jump from where he is standing four cubits, or else let him repeat, "Hear, O Israel," etc. (Deut. vi.

4); or if the place be unfit for the repet.i.tion of Scripture, let him mutter to himself, "The goat at the butcher's is fatter than me."

Ibid., fol. 94, col. 1.

It is written in 2 Chron. x.x.xiii. 7, "A carved image;" and again it is written in verse 19, "Graven images." Rabbi Yochanan said, "At first he made the image with one face, but afterwards he made it with four--four, so that the Shechinah might see it from every point, and thus be exasperated."

Ibid., fol. 103, col. 2.

Moses uttered four judgments upon Israel, but four prophets revoked them:--(1.) First Moses said (Deut. x.x.xiii. 28), "Israel then shall dwell in safety alone;" then came Amos and set it aside (Amos vii. 5), "Cease, I beseech thee," etc.; and then it is written (verse 6), "This shall not be, saith the Lord." (2.) First Moses said (Deut. xxviii. 65), "Among these nations thou shalt find no ease;" then came Jeremiah and set this saying aside (Jer. x.x.xi. 2), "Even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest." (3.) First Moses said (Exod. x.x.xiv. 7), "Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children;" then came Ezekiel and set this aside (Ezek. xviii. 4), "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (4.) First Moses said (Lev. xxvi. 38), "And ye shall perish among the heathen;" then came Isaiah and reversed this (Isa. xxvii. 13), "And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish."

_Maccoth_, fol. 24, col. 1.

When Akavyah ben Mahalalel appeared to four halachahs contradicting the judgment of the wise on a certain important point of law, "Retract,"

they said, "and we will promote thee to be president of the tribunal."

To which he replied, "I would rather be called a fool all the days of my life than be judged wicked for one hour before Him who is omnipresent."

_Edioth_, chap. 5, mish. 6.

Let thy house be open wide toward the south, the east, the west, and the north, just as Job, who made four entrances to his house, in order that the poor might find entrance without trouble from whatever quarter they might come.

_Avoth d'Rav. Nathan_, chap. 7,

Rabbah once saw a sea-monster on the day it was brought forth, and it was as large as Mount Tabor. And how large is Mount Tabor? Its neck was three miles long, and where it laid its head a mile and a half. Its dung choked up the Jordan, till, as Rashi says, its waters washed it away.

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 73, col. 2.

Shemuel said, "We know remedies for all maladies except three:--That induced by unripe dates on an empty stomach; that induced by wearing a damp linen rope round one's loins; and that induced by falling asleep after meals without having first walked a distance of at least four cubits."

_Bava Metzia_, fol. 113, col. 2.

The five times repeated "Bless the Lord, O my soul" (Ps. ciii. civ.), were said by David with reference both to G.o.d and the soul. As G.o.d fills the whole world, so does the soul fill the whole body; as G.o.d sees and is not seen, so the soul sees and is not seen; as G.o.d nourishes the whole world, so does the soul nourish the whole body; as G.o.d is pure, so also is the soul pure; as G.o.d dwelleth in secret, so does the soul dwell in secret. Therefore let him who possesses these five properties praise Him to whom these five attributes belong.