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 assumed the appearance of a troop of cavalry, and the Rabbi, apprehesive] 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