Alphabet of Ben Sira Reader

ט"ו He said to him, "Why are there 'stitches' on a mouse's mouth?" He said to him, "During the days of the Flood, the creeping crawling animals entered the ark, male and female. Once the mouse was sitting with his female companion near the cat. The cat said, 'I remember that my father ate him, and I am permitted to eat his offspring...'

Immediately he went to eat him. The mouse ran away and was looking for a hole to hide, but could not find one. Immediately a miracle was done for him, and he found a hole and entered there. The cat came to the hole and wanted to enter after him, but he could not because the hole was too small.

He put his hand in to take him out, the mouse opened his mouth, and he caught his cheeks with his claws, and below his mouth it was torn about half a finger-width. When the cat left, the mouse exited the hold and went to Noah and said to him, 'Righteous man, do a righteous act for me, and stitch up my cheeks which my enemy the cat has torn.' He said to him, 'Go bring me a hair from the pig's tail [so he went to the pig, and found him asleep, and stole hair from his tail], and he went to Noah and he stitched it, and until today the stiches can be seen."

ט"ז He said to him, "Why does the raven dance while it walks?" He said to him, "Once, the raven saw the dove walking well, with a finer walk than any other bird. He approved of how the dove walked, and said to himself, 'I will also walk the way she does!' And he would take pains with his walking, and the other birds made fun of him. The raven got embarrassed and said, 'I will go back to my original walk.' He tried to go back, but he could not, because he forgot his original walk, and he seemed like a dancer, and he was left holding neither the original walk nor the later walk. And they say the parable about this: One who tries to grasp more ends up holding less. Thus, he was left holding nothing."

י"ז He said to him, "And why does the raven produce seed from his mouth?" He said to him, "The Sages of Israel disagreed about this. Some said that because he mated on the ark, he was made odd (and likewise, the dog was decreed to become tied during mating), while some said that because he is wicked, a thief, and damaging, therefore he was made different from all creatures. One Sage came and said to the disagreeing Sages, 'I will uphold your words.'

He said, 'In the ark, when Noah wanted to send him to see whether the waters had receded, he got himself away from Noah and went under the eagle's wing, so that Noah would not send him. They searched for him and found him under the eagle's wing. Noah said to him, "Wicked one, go out of the ark and see if the waters have lessened from upon the land." He said to him, "Of all the birds, you only found me?!"

He said to him, "I only have permission to send out two, whose names begin with the letters ayin and yud, raven and dove." He said to him, "But why the raven, and not the eagle and the dove?" He said to him, "Because there is one city and its name is Ai, and its residents will in the future kill Yair, who captured Orev and released Yonah." The raven said to Noah brazenly, "You only send me in order to kill me and to mate with my wife, and for this reason everything that you brought into the ark is two by two, and I am part of a couple."

Immediately, Noah cursed him and said to him, "By the thing about which you are slandering me falsely, you will be cursed, for you will never mate with your female partner except with your mouth!" And all the animals that were on the ark answered and said, "Amen!" The raven said to him, "Why have you cursed me? I have a legal case against you!"

He said to him, "Because you are promiscuous and a fool and you project suspicion on the worthy." He [Noah] said to him, "Wicked one! Even my wife, who is in my form, in my image, and permitted to me, I am not intimate with, so your female partner, who is not in my form, and in contrast is even prohibited to me, how could I be intimate?!" He said to him, "And why did you tell me 'You are promiscuous?'"

He said to him, "You certainly are promiscuous, as your words prove, and I have not slandered you falsely." From that time on, the raven used his mouth for mating, as Noah had cursed him.'"

י"ט He said to him, "Why is it that all species on land have their parallel in the sea except for the species of fox (and weasel) which are not in the sea?" He said to him, "Because the fox is intelligent, and when the Holy Blessed One created the Angel of Death and he saw the creatures, he said to Them, 'Ruler of the world, give me permission to kill them.' They said to him, 'You have permission for any of the creatures and their offspring except for the offspring of Malchas the bird, who must not taste the flavor of death [and therefore he is called Malchas the bird, for he has compassion (chas) on his life to escape (lehimalet) from sin.]

He said to Them, 'Master of the world, separate them, because they are righteous, so that they do not learn the habits of the other creatures and sin before you, so they will not taste the flavor of sin.' Immediately, They gave him permission, and he built them a large city and brought them into it, and signed on the doors of that city and said, 'It is decreed that my sword will not rule over you, nor the sword of another, and you will not taste the flavor of death until the end of all generations.'

Afterwards, he returned to before the Holy Blessed One. They said to him, 'Throw into the sea some of all the creatures, pair by pair, and what remains you will rule over.' Immediately he did this, and was throwing into the sea some pairs from all the species and drowning them in the sea. When the fox saw this, what did he do?

Immediately he stood and was crying. The Angel of Death said, 'Why are you crying?' He said to him, 'For my friends, who you threw into the sea.' He said to him, 'And where are your friends?'

Immediately the fox stood on the seashore and the Angel of Death saw the fox's shadow in the sea and thought that he had thrown in a pair other than him. He said to him, 'Get away from here.' Immediately the fox ran away and escaped. The weasel ran into him, and he told him what he had done.

The weasel went and did it too, and escaped. After a year, Leviathan gathered up all the creatures in the sea, and the fox and the weasel were missing, for they had not entered the sea. He sent for them, and they told him what the fox had done, and that he and the weasel had escaped through their wisdom, and they said to him they he was extremely wise. And when Leviathan heard about him that he was intelligent, he was jealous of him and sent after him big fish and commanded them to steal his intelligence and bring it to him.

They went and found him strolling along the seashore. When the fox saw that the fish were playing on the seashore, he was astounded and entered among them. When they saw him, they asked him, 'Who are you?' He said to them, 'I am a fox.'

They said to him, 'Do you know that a great honor is coming to you, and that we have come for you?' He said to them, 'What is it?' They said to him, 'Leviathan is sick, and leaning towards death. He has commanded that nobody but the fox should rule in his place, because he has heard that you are wiser and more understanding than all other creatures.

So come with us, for we are messengers and have come for your honor.' He said to them, 'But how could I enter the sea and not die?' They said to him, 'You will ride on one of us, and he will steer you above the sea, and the sea will not touch even one drop on the edge of your paw, until you arrive to the royalty, and we will bring you down, and you will not understand [how] and you will rule over everything, and you will be king, and you will be happy all your days, and you will not need to seek out food anymore or have evil animals larger than you attack and eat you.'

When he heard their words, he believed them, and he rode on one of them, and they steered him in the sea. When the waves came over him, he began to get uncomfortable. His mind left him and he said, 'Oy, what have I done? The fish have pranked me in return for all the pranks that I pranks that I played on the creatures, and now I have fallen into their hands, and how can I be saved from their hands?'

He said to them, 'Now that I have come with you and I am in your possession, tell me the truth. Why do you want me?' They said to him, 'We will tell you the truth. Leviathan heard your reputation, that you are the wisest, and he said, "I will tear his belly and eat his heart and I will become wise."'

He said to them, 'And why did you not tell you the truth? I would have brought my heart with me, and I would have given it to King Leviathan and he would have honored me. But now you are going wrongly.' They said to him, 'Your heart is not with you?'

He said to them, 'No, for our custom is such that we leave our hearts in our residences while we travel here and there. If we need it we bring but if not, it remains in our residence.' They said to him, 'So now what will we do?' He said to them, 'My residence, my lodging, is on the seashore.

If you want, bring me back to the place where you took me from, and I will get my heart and I will come with you and I will give it to Leviathan, so he will honor me and he will honor you too. But if you bring me like this, with no heart, he will be angry with you and he will eat you. For myself, I am not afraid, because I can tell him, "My master, they did not tell me ahead of time, and when they did tell me about you I told them to go back with me so I could get my heart, but they did not want to."'

Immediately, the fish said, 'He is speaking well.' So they returned to the place from where they had taken him, to the seashore, and he descended off from the fish, and he started dancing and throwing himself onto the sand and laughing. They said to him, 'Quickly, get your heart and we will go!' He said to them, 'Go away, fools!

If my heart was not with me, I would not have entered the sea with you! Unless you know of any creature who can walk while their heart is not with them?' They said to him, 'You have pranked us.' He said to them, 'Oh, fools.

I pranked the angel of death, how much more so you!' Immediately, they returned embarrassed, and told him [Leviathan] this. He said to them, 'Truly, he is clever and you are simpletons, and about you it is said: (Proverbs 1:32) "For the tranquility of the simpleton will kill him." And he ate them.

And from that time forward, all the species from all of creation, even Adam and his wife, exist in the sea, except for the fox and the weasel, which are not in the sea."

כ He said to him, "Why does the angel of death have dominion over all creatures except for the generation of Malchas the Bird?" He said to him, "It is not just the generation of Malchas the Bird over which the angel of death has no dominion, but even the generation of Yonadav, and some say that human beings entered Gan Eden alive." כ"א He said to him, "Who were they?" He said to him, "Enoch; and Serach bat Asher; and Bitya bat Paroh; and Hiram, King of Tyre; and Eliezer the, servant of Abraham; and Eved-Melech the Ethiopian; and the servant of Rabbi Yehudah; and Yabetz; and Rabbi Yehushua ben Levi; and all the descendents of Yonadav; and all the descendents of Malchas the Bird."

He said to him, ["And why?" He said to him,] "I will tell you: Enoch- because he was righteous in his generation, for nobody was like him, and he lives in Gan Eden. Eliezer, servant of Abraham- he is the son of Ham, son of Noah, and when he heard the curse of his father, he gave himself over to Abraham and became righteous and he is in Gan Eden. Serach bat Asher- because she told Jacob, 'Joseph is alive.'

Jacob said to her, 'This mouth that informed me about Joseph being alive will not taste the flavor of death.' Bitya bat Paroh- because she raised Moshe our teacher from his infancy, so that they do not say, 'what was her reward for that?' Eved-Melech the Ethiopian- who saved Jeremiah from the muddy pit. The servant of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi- because he was righteous, humble, and of a low spirit.

Yabetz- he is in Gan Eden too, because he was the most righteous from his whole generation. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi- for he too was completely righteous, and beloved by the angel of death. Once he said to the angel of death, 'Show me Gan Eden.' He said to him, 'With pleasure!'

He walked with him on the way. He said to him, 'I am afraid of you- perhaps you will kill me with your sword unintentionally. If you love me and want me to come with you, let me carry your blade in my hand while I walk with you and you show me Gan Eden the right way, until I have looked at its rooms from the gate.' He said to him, 'The right way,' and immediately he brought him.

What did Rabbi Yehoshua do? He stood in the entryway to Gan Eden and began looking and suddenly jumped and entered Gan Eden. The angel of death's blade was in his hand too, and he had it his hand for seven years until the Holy Blessed One said to him, 'Yehoshua ben Levi, you have done a serious thing. Return the angel of death's blade.'

And when he had jumped from before the angel of death and entered Gan Eden, the angel of death had shouted a great shout, and had wanted to destroy the world, but God had quieted him. And after seven years, he returned it (the blade) to him. Hiram, King of Tyre- the Holy Blessed One gave him entry to Gan Eden because he built the Temple. He was originally God-fearing, and was made to live in Gan Eden for a thousand years, but afterwards he became haughty and said, 'I am a god.'

As it says: (Ezekiel 28:2) "Mortal man, say..." And therefore he was disturbed from Gan Eden and he entered Gehennom. The generation of Yonadav ben Rechav- because he wrote all the matters that are in the book of Jeremiah, and he was righteous and reproved Israel, and he lives in Gan Eden. And the generation of Malchas the Bird- when Chava ate from the Tree of Knowledge and gave to her husband too and he ate with her, she grew jealous of the other creatures and fed it to all of them.

She saw Malchas the Bird and she said to him, 'Eat from this, which your friends have eaten from.' He said to her, 'Is it not enough for you that you have sinned to Blessed Hashem, and that you have caused others to die, that you are also coming to me to entice me to negate the command of the Holy Blessed One, so I will eat it and I will die? I am not listening to you.' And then he reproved Chava and all the creatures.

A heavenly voice speedily called out and said to Chava and to Adam, 'You are commanded, but you did not observe, and you sinned, and you came to Malchas the Bird to make him sin too, and he did not accept that, and he feared Me, even though I had not commanded him, and he kept my decree. Therefore, eternally, he will not taste the flavor death, neither him nor his descendants." כ"ב He said to him, "And why does the eagle reach closer to the firmament than any other bird?"

He said to him, "When they left the ark, the (female) eagle was standing with a bird in front of her, and she wanted to eat it. All the animals said, 'One who wants to eat his companion deserves the death penalty!' They hit her and shaved her wings and threw her into a lions' den. But after a year, her wings grew, and she flew away.

The birds caught her and tried to kill her, but the raven used trickery to help her escape. He had sex with her and she became pregnant by him, and gave birth to an eagle, and that is why it is called an eagle [nesher]. And the raven is called raven ['orev] because he mixed ['irbev] his seed in all directions, due to the magnitude of his promiscuity. All the animals were searching for her, and a miracle was done and the Holy Blessed One manifested Their Shechinah over her so that his creation should not go extinct, and gave her the strength to fly above all the birds.

Therefore it is called an eagle [nesher], because the Holy Blessed One manifested [hishrah] Their Shechinah over her. That is why she flies above, up to the firmament, so that her enemies will not catch her and kill her, extinguishing one type of the Holy Blessed One's creatures from the world." He said to him, "Blessed is the One who distributes Their wisdom to those who fear Them, and has revealed secret, deep matters."