Read Exempla of the Rabbis (Gaster, 1924) in source order, passage by passage, with the close English translation where available and the original source text for checking.
A Kuthean disputed with R. Meir as to the righteousness of Jacob who only separated Levi tithed as one of the io tribes, instead of separating one more for the remaining two. For he said there were fourteen as Ephraim and Manasseh were also counted. The other replied that the answer was: “There were four mothers and the first-born is exempt as being sacred to the Lord; deduct these four and there remain only ten and Levi is therefore sufficient/'
33. An heathen said to R. Johanan b. Zakkai: “The ceremonies of the red heifer look like witchcraft/' He replied: “What are you doing against demoniac possession?’’ — “Herbs and fumigation drive the demon away/' He then added, “if these are efficacious for the evil spirits the others are still more so for driving away the demon of impurity/' To his pupils he said: “It is a divine statute, moreover the ashes of the heifer atone for the sin of the calf (golden cow)/'
33. Gentile & Red Heifer.
Pesikta, f. 40.
Pesikta R., ch. 14.
Tanh. Numb. Hukkat • •
§ 8 and B. p. 118. Midr. Hagadol, f. 410 a. Numb. R., 19 § 8. Yalk. § 757.
Yalk. Sip. IV, p. 44. Cod. Br. M. 2351, Midr.
Hahefes, f. 257b.
Cod. G. 28, f. 482; 1380, f. 26b,
An heathen said to R. Johanan b. Zakkai: "The ceremonies of the red heifer look like witchcraft/' He replied: "What are you doing against demoniac possession?'' — "Herbs and fumigation drive the demon away/' He then added, "if these are efficacious for the evil spirits the others are still more so for driving away the demon of impurity/' To his pupils he said: "It is a divine statute, moreover the ashes of the heifer atone for the sin of the calf (golden cow)/'
34. Rabbi Zadok, captive in Rome, refused to be tempted to sin by the slave girl sent by the Matrona, as he declared that he was a descendant of the noblest family of high priests and the result of his sin might be doubly heinous. He was then freed.
34 a. R. Akiba was tempted by two slave girls in Rome by order of the Hegemon, but he refused and he explained that they appeared to him like impure beings.
34. Temptation of R. Sa- dok.
Kiddushin, f. 40 a.
Midr. Hagadol, Gen. Vayyesheb.
Abot de R. Nathan, I, ch. 16.
cf. Aboab, Men. Ham. ch. 22.
Yalk. Sip. I, p. 129. Cod. G. 242, f. 85a. 34a. Temptation of R. Akiba. Midr. Hagadol, Gen.
Vayyesheb.
Cod. G. 242, f. 85a.
35. A certain Nathan was saved from committing sin with a famous Hetaera in the Island of the Sea through observing the commandment of the fringes, because on seeing them he was reminded of God's commandments. The girl surprised, asked him the cause of his withdrawal and he replied: “This commandment is mentioned twice in connection with words,’’ “I am the Lord your God’’ namely “I am the One who in future will reward or punish.’’ So he had to give her his name and address before he departed. Then
— 6 1
she distributed all her property, one third to the state, one third to the poor, and one she took with hsr and came to Tiberias in Palestine. She asked Hiya to accept her as a Jewess, and was asked by him, if it was the love of one of the students which prompted her. Then she showed him a letter which Nathan had given her explaning that she wished to join the faith for love of the Law. Then he received her and she led a pure life.
35. Nathan de § us it a. Sabbath, f. 56b. Sanhedrin, f. 31b. Menahot, f. 44a. cf. Gittin, f. 56a.
Sifre, Numb. Shelah
§ ii5- P- 35b,, Tanya". Tana de be Eliahu Zutta, ch. 22. Maamadot, end of Psalms.
Ahai, Sheeltot, No. 42. Rashi, R. Tam.
Yehiel, Maalot, f. 10 b. Tosafot to Sabbath, f. 56.
Midr. Hagadol, Numb. Shelah.
Nissim, f. 10b.
Aboab, Men. Ham.
ch. 123.
Yalk. §750.
Eliah Cohen. Meil Se- daka § 601.
Heilperin, Seder Hado- rot s. v. Nathan, II, p. 292.
— 193
Farhi, O. P. Ill, f. 68a. Araki Cohen, Sef. Ha- maasiyot, ch. 108. Eisenstein, Oser, p. 325. Yalk. Sip. II,’ p. 64; IV,
P- 37-
Arabic Maase Nissim, i- 34-
Perles, Sagenkunde, p. 85.
Ben Gorion I, p. 144, 370-
1001 Nights ed. Weil, IV, 89.
Codd. G. 130, f. 124a; 185, No. 16; 242, f. 28ff.; 942, 13b. (Evidently confused later on with a certain Sisit Hacaset and Mar Ukba.)
(cf. No. 333.)
A certain Nathan was saved from committing sin with a famous Hetaera in the Island of the Sea through observing the commandment of the fringes, because on seeing them he was reminded of God's commandments. The girl surprised, asked him the cause of his withdrawal and he replied: “This commandment is mentioned twice in connection with words,’’ “I am the Lord your God’’ namely “I am the One who in future will reward or punish.’’ So he had to give her his name and address before he departed. Then
— 6 1
she distributed all her property, one third to the state, one third to the poor, and one she took with hsr and came to Tiberias in Palestine. She asked Hiya to accept her as a Jewess, and was asked by him, if it was the love of one of the students which prompted her. Then she showed him a letter which Nathan had given her explaning that she wished to join the faith for love of the Law. Then he received her and she led a pure life.
This story, drawn from the Exempla of the Rabbis, recounts a frightening episode in the life of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrkanos, one of the great sages of the generation after the Temple’s destruction. He was arrested and charged with heresy by the Roman authorities, a capital accusation. Brought before the governor, the Hegemon, Rabbi Eliezer answered with a single carefully chosen phrase: “The judge knows the truth.”
In his own heart he meant the true Judge above, God, who knows the innocence of his servant. But the Roman magistrate heard the words as a flattering tribute to his own fairness, taking them as praise of his judicial integrity. Pleased, the Hegemon released him, and Rabbi Eliezer escaped punishment through the double meaning of his reply.
Yet the tradition does not end with relief; it asks why so righteous a sage was caught in such peril in the first place. The answer it gives is sobering. Once, Rabbi Eliezer had heard and accepted an attractive interpretation of the Torah from Jacob of Kefar-Sekhanya, a teaching that had been transmitted in the name of a certain sectarian teacher outside the rabbinic fold. Because he had taken pleasure in words of teaching that flowed from a heretical source, he was made to taste the danger of heresy himself. The lesson the sages draw is that even a fleeting embrace of a teaching from the wrong quarter leaves a mark, and a scholar must guard with care the channels through which he receives words of Torah.
Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus was one of the greatest sages of his generation, a man whose knowledge of Torah was said to be like a plastered cistern that never lost a drop. But even he once found himself in trouble with the Roman authorities.
The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 16b) records that Rabbi Eliezer was once arrested by the Romans on suspicion of heresy. He was brought before a Roman governor who could not believe that a man of such learning would entertain forbidden teachings. "How can a sage like you occupy himself with such idle matters?" the governor asked.
Rabbi Eliezer replied cryptically: "I trust the Judge to judge truly." The governor, thinking this referred to him, released the sage. But Rabbi Eliezer had meant the Judge above, God Himself.
Afterward, Rabbi Eliezer was deeply troubled. He searched his memory to understand why God had allowed him to be arrested. His student Rabbi Akiba came to him and asked: "Perhaps some teaching of a heretic once pleased you, and you did not reject it strongly enough?"
Rabbi Eliezer remembered. Once, while walking in the upper marketplace of Tzippori, he had encountered a man who shared a novel interpretation of a Torah verse. The teaching had delighted him. That moment of pleasure in a heretic's words, that was the sin. From then on, Rabbi Eliezer guarded himself fiercely against any teaching that did not come from a recognized master of Torah.
37. Turnus Rufus and Akiba disputed about the merits of charity; as God decreed that a man be poor why should the rich contravene God's command? Akiba replied: “Men are not strangers to one another, they are all God's children, and even if a father is angry with a child he still appreciates another feeding him in the time of disgrace, and God also promises to give bread to every living one. Man stepping in to help, God rewards him."
37. 38-
Wiinsche, J. Talmud, p. 148 f.
Griinbaum, Jud.Deutsch Deu ts ch. Chres t. p. 400.
Singer, Z. V. Vlksd. II, p. 298.
Ancona, II Cavaliero Senso, p. 97 — 130; 151—187. _
Gaster, Chrest. I, p. 296, Amartolon Sotirie.
Gaster, Gypsy Tales.
Gering,Aeventyri,No.43, vol. 2, p. 120 — 122.
Grimm, D. S. No. 392.
Grohmann, Sagenbuch aus Bohmen u. Mah- ren, I, p. 17.
Hertz, D. Sagen inElsass, p. 203b
Ispirescu, Legende sau Basmele No. 1.
Liebrecht, Gervasius, Note 89.
Liebrecht, Zur Volks- kunde, p. 28 f.
Menzel, Vorchristliche Unsterblichkeitslehre, I, p. I04ff.
cf. Schott. Wallach.Mar. No. 2.
— 265
Turnus Rufus and Akiba disputed about the merits of charity; as God decreed that a man be poor why should the rich contravene God's command? Akiba replied: “Men are not strangers to one another, they are all God's children, and even if a father is angry with a child he still appreciates another feeding him in the time of disgrace, and God also promises to give bread to every living one. Man stepping in to help, God rewards him."
38. A child learned part of the book of Genesis, is captured and put into prison. The Emperor asked for a book from the library and it happened to be the Jewish Bible. No one could read it and they then asked the young boy whether he knew how to read it. He was willing to run the risk of being killed if found unable to read and he began to read from the Creation. He told the Emperor his story who acknowledged that the unknown cause which had promted him to ask for the book was that the child be restored to his parents. Great reward for even studying a small part.
38. Child & Book of Genesis. Tana debe Eliahu. Eliah Zutta, ch. 17,
f. 45 a.
Mahaneh Levi.
Midr. Hagadol Deut. Ekeb.
Midr. Decalogue V, 3. Nissim, f. 21b.
Ben Atar, No. 12. Kohut, al-Dhamari, App. I, No. 11, p. XII. Eliah Cohen, Meil Se-
7 m
daka § 440.
Eisenstein, Oser, p. 320. Yalk. Sip. II, p. 145 & 211.
Tendlau, Fellmeier,
No. 12.
Ben Gorion II, p. 76, 340-
Cod. Vatican, 285, No. 13. Codd. G. 130, No. 43 f. 110a; 184, No. 3 and 247; 185, f. 4a— 6a; 259, No. 1 7; 942, f. 23a.
A child learned part of the book of Genesis, is captured and put into prison. The Emperor asked for a book from the library and it happened to be the Jewish Bible. No one could read it and they then asked the young boy whether he knew how to read it. He was willing to run the risk of being killed if found unable to read and he began to read from the Creation. He told the Emperor his story who acknowledged that the unknown cause which had promted him to ask for the book was that the child be restored to his parents. Great reward for even studying a small part.
39. Simeon b. Kamhith, a high priest, walked about with a heathen king and got his clothes defiled and was incapacitated from acting on the day of atonement. His place was taken by his brother Judah. Thus the mother saw two
V
of her sons high priests in one day. She had seven sons each of whom was high priest in turn all through the merit of her extreme modesty.
39. Kamhit 6* her Sons High Priests.
Yoma, f. 47a.
J. Yoma, I, 1.
J. Horiot, III, 3.
Tanh. Levit. Ahare Mot • •
§ 7 and B. Levit. Ahare Mot p. 65.
Midr. Hagadol, Levit. Ahare Mot.
Levit. R. 20 § ii. Numb. R. 2 § 26. Nissim, f. 10 b.
Codd. G. 28, 368; 184, No. 2d; 942, f. 3b.
Simeon b. Kamhith, a high priest, walked about with a heathen king and got his clothes defiled and was incapacitated from acting on the day of atonement. His place was taken by his brother Judah. Thus the mother saw two
V
of her sons high priests in one day. She had seven sons each of whom was high priest in turn all through the merit of her extreme modesty.
40. A Matrona asked R. Jose b. Halafta why it was said "God gives wisdom to the wise.” The answer was: "Because they know how to make use of it, they study in schools and colleges and do not waste it in circuses and amphitheatres."
40. Wisdom to the Wise. Berakhot, f. 57 a.
Tanh. Exod. Vayyakhel
§2.
Eccles. R. I, 7 § 5. Yalk. II § 919 and § 1060.
Yalk. Sip. II, p. 224. Cod. G. 28, f. 305.
A Matrona asked R. Jose b. Halafta why it was said "God gives wisdom to the wise.” The answer was: "Because they know how to make use of it, they study in schools and colleges and do not waste it in circuses and amphitheatres."
41. A Matrona asked R. Jose b. Halafta why the covenant of Abraham was not mentioned in the ten commandments and the reply was: "The proselyte mentioned therein implies to the covenant."
41. Abrahamic Covenant in Decalogue.
Pesikta R. ch. 23. Tanh. Gen. Lekh § 20 (f. 32 a).
cf. Midr. Hagadol Exod. Jithro.
Yalk. Sip. Ill, p. 45. Bacher, Aggad. d. Tan- naiten, I, p. 117, note 1.
42. A heathen asked R. Gamliel why God revealed Himself to Moses in the bush. The answer was "to show that God is everywhere.”
42. God Revealed in Bush. Exod. R. ch. 2.
Numb. R. ch. 12.
Song R. ch. 3.
Yalk. Sip. II, p. 29.
A heathen asked R. Gamliel why God revealed Himself to Moses in the bush. The answer was "to show that God is everywhere.”
43. A Matrona charged R. Jeliuda b. Hai with being an usurer or rearer of swine (that was why he looked so well-fed): He denied it and explained that it was due to his cleanliness and attention to dress.
43. Shining through Cleanliness.
cf. Nedarim, f. 49 a.
J. Sabbath, VIII, 1.
J. Pesahim, X, 1.
J. Shekalim, III, 2.
Midr. Hagadol, Gen. Vayehi and Numb. Hukkat.
Eccles. R. VIII, 1 § 4.
A Matrona charged R. Jeliuda b. Hai with being an usurer or rearer of swine (that was why he looked so well-fed): He denied it and explained that it was due to his cleanliness and attention to dress.
44. An heathen accused R. Jehuda b. Hai of usury because he looked so well-fed. The reply was, that it was not from usury, rearing of swine or drinking, all forbidden to the Jews that his face shone, but from the study of the Law.
44. Shining through Cleanliness.
Nedarim, f. 49.
Baba Kama, f. 79 b. Berakhot, f. 54.
Midr. Hagadol, Numb. Hukkat.
Eccles. R. VIII, 1 § 4. Yalk. Sip. V, p. 94. (See preceding number.)
An heathen accused R. Jehuda b. Hai of usury because he looked so well-fed. The reply was, that it was not from usury, rearing of swine or drinking, all forbidden to the Jews that his face shone, but from the study of the Law.
45. A man whilst praying did not return the salute of the Hegemon. The excuse he gave was that standing before the King of Kings, he could not pay respect to inferiors.
45. Praying before the King of Kings.
Berakhot, f. 32 b.
Tanh. Exod. Vaera, ch. 4, f. 103b.
Aboab, Men. Ham. ch. 108.
Yalk. Sip. V, p. 28. Maase Buch. No. 130. Ben Gorion. II, p. 74, 340-
cf. Pauli, Schimpf, ch. 617.
Cod. Paris, 583, f. 88 b. Cod. G. 184, No. 199; 185, No. 35.
46. Beruria taught her husband R. Meir, who was troubled by wicked people, to pray against sin and not against sinners.
46. Beruria & Prayer against Sin.
Berakhot, f. 10 a.
Midr. Psalms, Ps. 104, v. 35-
Midr. Hagadol, Numb. Balak.
— 195
47- Beruria & Barren Woman.
Berakhot, f. ioa.
Aboda Zara, f. 18. Nissim, f. 13 b.
Beruria taught her husband R. Meir, who was troubled by wicked people, to pray against sin and not against sinners.
47. Beruria and the wife of a Min disputed about the words "Rejoice O barren one”, and the woman asked why she should rejoice because she had not had any children and the answer was, let her rejoice that she had not borne a child, since it would have been destined for Gehinom.
