Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala Part 43

If from a town numbering fifteen hundred footmen, such, for example, as the village of Accho, nine people be borne forth dead in the course of three successive days, it is a sure sign of the presence of the plague; but if this happen in one day or in four, then it is not the plague.

_Taanith_, fol. 21, col. 1.

Seventeen hundred of the arguments and minute rules of the Scribes were forgotten during the days of mourning for Moses. Othniel, the son of Kenaz, by his shrewd arguing restored them all as if they had never lapsed from the memory.

_Temurah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

There was a great court at Jerusalem called Beth Yaazek, where all witnesses (who could testify to the time of the appearance of the new moon) used to a.s.semble, and where they were examined by the authorities.

Grand feasts were prepared for them as an inducement to them to come (and give in their testimony). Formerly they did not move from the place they happened to be in when overtaken by the Sabbath, but Rabbon Gamliel the elder ordained that they might in that case move two thousand cubits either way.

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 21, col. 2.

He that is abroad (on the Sabbath) and does not know the limit of the Sabbath day's journey may walk two thousand moderate paces, and that is a Sabbath day's journey.

_Eiruvin_, fol. 42, col. 1.

Rabbon Gamliel had a hollow tube, through which, when he looked, he could distinguish a distance of two thousand cubits, whether by land or sea. By the same tube he could ascertain the depth of a valley or the height of a palm tree.

Ibid., fol. 43, col. 2.

He who observes carefully the precepts respecting fringes will, as a reward, have two thousand eight hundred slaves to wait upon him; for it is said (Zech. viii. 23), "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pa.s.s that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that G.o.d is with you."

_Shabbath_, fol. 32, col. 2.

Rashi's explanation of this matter is very simple. The merit of the fringes lies in their being duly attached to "the four quarters" or skirts of the garments (Deut. xxii. 12). There are seventy nations in the whole world, and ten of each nation will take hold of each corner of the garment, which gives 70 x 10 x 4 = 2800. Rabbi B'chai, commenting on Num. xv. 39, 40, repeats the same story almost word for word.

This pa.s.sage (Zech. viii. 23) has lately been construed by some into a prophecy of the recent Berlin Congress, and the ten men mentioned are found in the representatives of the contracting parties, i.e., England, France, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Austria, Italy, Greece, Roumania, and Servia.

Rav Hamnunah said, "What is it that is written (1 Kings iv. 32), 'And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five'?"

It is intended to teach that Solomon uttered three thousand proverbs upon each and every word of the law, and for every word of the Scribes he a.s.signed a thousand and five reasons.

_Eiruvin_, fol. 21, col. 2.

When Rabbi Eliezer was sick he was visited by Rabbi Akiva and his party.... "Wherefore have ye come?" he asked. "To learn the law," was the reply. "And why did you not come sooner?" "Because we had no leisure," said they. "I shall be much surprised," said he, "if you die a natural death." Then turning to Rabbi Akiva he said, "Thy death shall be the worst of all." Then folding his arms upon his breast, he exclaimed: "Woe unto my two arms! for they are like two scrolls of the law rolled up, so that their contents are hidden. Had they waited upon me, they might have added much to their knowledge of the law, but now that knowledge will perish with me. I have in my time learned much and taught much, and yet I have no more diminished the knowledge of my Rabbis by what I have derived from them than the waters of the sea are reduced by a dog lapping them. Over and above this I expounded three hundred," some allege he said three thousand, "Halachahs with reference to the growing of Egyptian cuc.u.mbers, and yet no one except Akiva ben Yoseph has ever proposed a single question to me respecting them. He and I were walking along the road one day when he asked me to instruct him regarding the cultivation of Egyptian cuc.u.mbers. I made but one remark, when the entire field became full of them. Then at his request I made a remark about cutting them, when lo! they all collected themselves together in one spot." Thus Rabbi Eliezer kept on talking, when all of a sudden he fell back and expired.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 68, col. 1.

The last words of this eminent Rabbi derive a tragic interest from the fact that he died while under sentence of excommunication.

Three thousand Halachoth were forgotten at the time of mourning for Moses, and among them the Halachah respecting an animal intended for a sin-offering the owner of which died before sacrificing it.

_Temurah_, fol. 16, col. 1.

All the prophets were rich men. This we infer from the account of Moses, Samuel, Amos, and Jonah. Of Moses, as it is written (Num. xvi. 15), "I have not taken one a.s.s from them." Of Samuel, as it is written (1 Sam.

xii. 3), "Behold, here I am; witness against me before the Lord, and before His anointed, whose ox have I taken? or whose a.s.s have I taken?"

Of Amos, as it is written (Amos vii. 14), "I was an herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit," i.e., I am proprietor of my herds and own sycamores in the valley. Of Jonah, as it is written (Jonah i. 3), "So he paid the fare thereof and went down into it." Rabbi Yochanan says he hired the whole ship. Rabbi Ruma.n.u.s says the hire of the ship amounted to four thousand golden denarii.

_Nedarim_, fol. 38, col. 1.

Four thousand two hundred and thirty-one years after the creation of the world, if any one offers thee for one single denarius a field worth a thousand denarii, do not buy it.

_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 9, col. 2.

Rashi gives this as the reason of the prohibition: For then the restoration of the Jews to their own land will take place, so that the denarius paid for a field in a foreign land would be money thrown away.

Four thousand two hundred and ninety-one years after the creation of the world the wars of the dragons and the wars of Gog and Magog will cease, and the rest of the time will be the days of the Messiah; and the Holy One--blessed be He!--will not renew His world till after seven thousand years.... Rabbi Jonathan said, "May the bones of those who compute the latter days (when the Messiah shall appear) be blown; for some say, 'Because the time (of Messiah) has come and Himself has not, therefore He will never come!' But wait thou for Him, as it is said (Hab. ii. 3), 'Though He tarry, wait for Him.' Perhaps you will say, 'We wait, but He does not wait;' learn rather to say (Isa. x.x.x. 18), 'And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you; and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you.'"

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 97, col. 2.

It is related of Rabbi Tarphon (probably the Tryphon of polemic fame) that he was very rich, but gave nothing to the poor. Once Rabbi Akiva met him and said, "Rabbi, dost thou wish me to purchase for thee a town or two?" "I do," said he, and at once gave him four thousand gold denarii. Rabbi Akiva took this sum and distributed it among the poor.

Some time after Rabbi Tarphon met Rabbi Akiva and said, "Where are the towns thou purchasedst for me?" The latter seized hold of him by the arm and led him to the Beth Hamedrash, where, taking-up a psalter, they read together till they came to this verse, "He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness endureth forever" (Ps. cxii. 9). Here Rabbi Akiva paused and said, "This is the place I purchased for thee,"

and Rabbi Tarphon saluted him with a kiss.

_Tract. Callah._

The Pentateuch contains five thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight verses. The Psalms have eight verses more than, and the Chronicles eight verses short of, that number.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 30, col. 1.

The number of verses in the Pentateuch is usually stated at 5845, the mnemonic sign of which is a word in Isaiah x.x.x. 26, the letters of which stand for 5845. The verse reads, "Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun." The Masorites tell us that the number of verses in the Psalms is 2527, and in the two Books of Chronicles 1656.

The world is to last six thousand years. Two thousand of these are termed the period of disorder, two thousand belong to the dispensation of the law, and two thousand are the days of the Messiah; but because of our iniquities a large fraction of the latter term is already pa.s.sed and gone without the Messiah giving any sign of His appearing.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 97, col. 1.

As the land of Canaan had one year of release in seven, so has the world one millennium of release in seven thousand years; for it is said (Isa.

ii. 17), "And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day;" and again (Ps. xcii. 1), "A psalm or song for the Sabbath day," which means a long Sabbatic period; and again (Ps. xc. 4), "For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as the day of yesterday."

Ibid.

Tradition records that the ladder (mentioned Gen. xxviii. 12) was eight thousand miles wide, for it is written, "And behold the angels of G.o.d ascending and descending upon it." Angels ascending, being in the plural, cannot be fewer than two at a time, and so likewise must those descending, so that when they pa.s.sed they were four abreast at least. In Daniel x. 6 it is said of the angel, "His body was like Tarshish," and there is a story that Tarshish extended two thousand miles.

_Chullin_, fol. 91, col. 2.

The t.i.thes from the herds of Elazer ben Azaryah amounted to twelve thousand calves annually.

_Shabbath_, fol. 54, col. 2.

It is said that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of disciples dispersed about between Gabbath and Antipatris, and all of them died within a short period because they paid no honor to one another. The land was then desolate until Rabbi Akiva came among our Rabbis of the south and taught the law to Rabbis Meir, Yehudah, Yossi, Shimon, and Elazer ben Shamua, who re-established its authority.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 26, col. 2.

After a lapse of twelve years, he returned accompanied by twelve thousand disciples, etc.

Ravah bar Nachmaini was impeached for depriving the revenue of the poll-tax on twelve thousand Jews, by detaining them annually at his academy for one month in the spring, and for another month in the autumn; for great mult.i.tudes from various parts of the country were wont, at the two seasons of the Pa.s.sover and the Feast of Tabernacles, to come to hear him preach, so that when the king's officers came to collect the taxes they found none of them at home. A royal messenger was accordingly despatched to apprehend him, but he failed to find him, for the Rabbi fled to Pumbeditha, and from thence to Akra, to Agmi, Sichin, Zeripha, Ein d'Maya, and back again to Pumbeditha. Arrived at this place, both the royal messenger and the fugitive Rabbi happened to put up at the same inn. Two cups were placed before the former on a table, when, strange to say, after he had drunk and the table was removed, his face was forcibly turned round to his back. (This was done by evil spirits because he drank even numbers--against which we are earnestly warned in _P'sachim_, fol. 110, col. 1.) The inn-keeper, fearing the consequences of such a misfortune happening to so high an official at his inn, sought advice of the lurking Rabbi, when the latter suggested that the table be placed again before him with one cup only on it, and thus the even number would become odd, and his face would return to its natural position. They did so, and it was as the Rabbi had said. The official then remarked to his host, "I know the man I want is here," and he hastened and found him. "If I knew for certain," he said to the Rabbi, "that thy escape would cost my life only, I would let thee go, but I fear bodily torture, and therefore I must secure thee." And thereupon he locked him up. Upon this the Rabbi prayed, till the prison walls miraculously giving way he made his escape to Agma, where he seated himself at the root of a tree and gave himself up to meditation.

While thus engaged he all at once heard a discussion in the academy of heaven on the subject of the hair mentioned in Lev. xiii. 25. The Holy One--blessed be He!--declared the case to be "clean," but the whole academy were of a different opinion, and declared the case to be "unclean." The question then arose, "Who shall decide?" "Ravah bar Nachmaini shall decide," was the unanimous reply, "for he said, 'I am one in matters of leprosy; I am one in questions about tents; and there is none to equal me.'" Then the angel of death was sent for to bring him up, but he was unable to approach him, because the Rabbi's lips never ceased repeating the law of the Lord. The angel of death thereupon a.s.sumed the appearance of a troop of cavalry, and the Rabbi, apprehensive of being seized and carried off, exclaimed, "I would rather die through that one (meaning the angel of death) than be delivered into the hands of the Government!" At that very instant he was asked to decide the question in dispute, and just as the verdict "clean" issued from his lips his soul departed from his body, and a voice was heard from heaven proclaiming, "Blessed art thou, Ravah bar Nachmaini, for thy body is clean. 'Clean' was the word on thy lips when thy spirit departed." Then a scroll fell down from heaven into Pumbeditha announcing that Ravah bar Nachmaini was admitted into the academy of heaven. Apprised of this, Abaii, in company with many other Rabbis, went in search of the body to inter it, but not knowing the spot where he lay, they went to Agma, where they noticed a great number of birds hovering in the air, and concluded that the shadow of their wings shielded the body of the departed. There, accordingly, they found and buried him; and after mourning three days and three nights over his grave, they arose to depart, when another scroll descended threatening them with excommunication if they did so. They therefore continued mourning for seven days and seven nights, when, at the end of these, a third scroll descended and bade them go home in peace. On the day of the death of this Rabbi there arose, it is said, such a mighty tempest in the air that an Arab merchant and the camel on which he was riding were blown bodily over from one side of the river Pappa to the other. "What meaneth such a storm as this?" cried the merchant, as he lay on the ground. A voice from heaven answered, "Ravah bar Nachmaini is dead."

Then he prayed and fled, "Lord of the universe, the whole world is Thine, and Ravah bar Nachmaini is Thine! Thou art Ravah's and Ravah is Thine; but wherefore wilt Thou destroy the world?" On this the storm immediately abated, and there was a perfect calm.