Hebraic Literature (1901) Reader

day, supplied each with an extra garment folded up and stowed away in an earthern vessel. Thus provided, they were each at a given signal to snatch up one of the eighty witches and carry her away, a task they would find of easy execution, as, except in contact with the earth, these creatures were powerless. Then Simeon the son of Shetach, leaving his men in ambush, entered the rendezvous of the witches, who, accosting him, asked, " Who art thou? }> He replied, " I am a wizard, and am come to experiment in magic.

"What trick have you to show? y> they said. He answered, " Even though the day is wet, I can produce eighty young men all in dry clothes. J) They smiled incredulously and said, " Let us see! He went to the door, and at the signal the young men took the dry clothes out of the jars and put them on, then starting from their ambush, they rushed into the witches' den, and each seizing one, lifted her up and carried her off as directed. Thus overpowered, they were brought before the court, convicted of malpractices and led forth to execution

This is the season when the Lord pardoned the Israelites who had worshiped the molten calf. He commanded Moses to reascend the mount for a second tablet, after he had destroyed the first. Thus say the sages, "The Lord said unto Moses in the month Elul, < Go up unto me on the mountain,* and Moses went up and received the second tablet at the end of forty days. Before he ascended he caused the trumpet to be sounded through the camp.® Since that time it is customary to sound the shophar (cornet) in the synagogues, to give warning to the people that the day of judgment, New Year, is rapidly approaching, and with it the Day of Atonement.

Therefore, propitiatory prayers are said twice every day, morning and evening, from the second day of Elul until the eve of the Day of Atonement, which period comprises the last forty days which Moses passed on Sinai, when God was reconciled to Israel and pardoned their transgressions with the molten calf.

But who is the ignorant one from whom this mercy is to be withheld? Here the doctors disagree. He, says Rabbi Eliezer, who does not read the Shema, " Hear, O Israel, M etc., both morning and evening. According to Rabbi Yehudah, he that does not put on phylacteries is an ignorant one. Rabbi Azai affirms that he who wears no fringes to his garment is an ignorant one, etc. Others again say he who even reads the Bible and the Mishna but does not serve the disciples of the wise, is an ignorant one. Rabbi Huna winds up with the words "the law is as the others have said," and so leaves the difficulty where he finds it. (Berachoth, fol. 47, col. 2.)

one He wrote the tables; as it is said (Exod. xxxi. i8)r "Tables of stone written by the finger of God." (4.) With the fourth finger, that which is next the thumb, the Holy One — blessed be He! — pointed out to Moses how much the Israelites should give as a ransom for their souls; as it is said (Exod. xxx. 13), " This shall they give." (5.) With the thumb and the whole hand the Holy One — blessed be He I — will in the future destroy the children of Esau, for they oppress the children of Israel, as also the children of Ishmael, for they are their enemies; as it is said (Micah v. 9), " Thine hand shall be uplifted upon thy adversaries, and all thy enemies shall be cut off." Pirke d'Rab.

Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua, says, "Since the destruction of the Temple a day has not passed without a curse; the dew does not come down with a blessing, and the fruits have lost their proper taste. Rabbi Yossi adds, C( Also the lusciousuess of the fruit is gone. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says, " With the decay of purity the taste and aroma (of the fruit) has disappeared, and with the tithes and richness of the corn." The sages say, "Lewdness and witchcraft ruin everything."

and he hinted to the besiegers in the Greek language that, so long as the Temple services were kept up the city could not be taken. The next day accordingly, when the money had been let down, they sent back a pig in return. When about half-way up the animal pushed with its feet against the stones of the wall, and thereupon an earthquake was felt throughout the land of Israel to the extent of four hundred miles. At that time it was the saying arose, " Cursed be he that rears swine, and he who shall teach his son the wisdom of the Greeks. (See Matt. viii. 30.)

It is written (Ps. cii. 17), "He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and it is not written, " He will hear.* What else can the term " regard mean than that there is a distinction between the prayer of an individual and the prayer of a community? For when a community prays, their prayer enters before the Holy One — blessed be He! — and He is not particular to regard and criticise their works and their intentions and thoughts, but receives their prayers immediately.

But when an individual prays, the Holy One — blessed be He! — regards and scrutinizes his heart, whether it be devout and whether he be a righteous man. Therefore, one should always pray with the community, and this is why the text (Ps. cvii. 17) ends with the words, "And not despise their prayer.* Although there are some of the community whose prayers, on account of their evil deeds, deserve to be despised, He, nevertheless, does not despise their prayer

the vast congregation were required to say Amen at the end of any benediction, which, of course, it was impossible for all to hear in so stupendous a synagogue. The congregation did not sit promiscuously, but in guilds; goldsmiths apart, silversmiths apart, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, embroiderers, weavers, etc., all apart from each other. When a poor craftsman came in, he took his seat among the people of his guild, who maintained him till he found employment. Abaii says all this immense population was massacred by Alexander of Macedon. Why were they thus punished? Because they transgressed the Scripture, which says (Deut. xvii. 16), wYe shall henceforth return no more that way.*'

The Tempter is known by seven distinctive epithets: — ( 1.) The Holy One — blessed be He! — calls him evil; as it is said, " For the imagination of man's heart is evil.* (2.) Moses calls him uncircumcised; as it is said (Deut. x. 16), " Circumcise therefore the uncircumcised foreskin of your heart.* (3.) David calls him unclean; as it is said (Ps. li. 10), " Create in me a clean heart, O God!* Consequently there must be an unclean one. (4.) Solomon calls him enemy; as it is said (Prov. xxv. 21, 22), " If thine enemy hunger, give him bread to eat; if he be thirsty, give him water to drink; for thus thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee" ("*. e., oppose him with the law.

The word rendered bread, is metaphorically taken for the law, Prov. ix. 5, so that give him water to drink means also the law, Isa. lv. 1 — Rashi. And the Lord reward thee, read not reward, but cause him to make peace with thee, not to war against thee.) (5.) Isaiah calls him stumbling-block; as it is said (Isa. lvii. 14), " Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.* (6.) Ezekiel calls him stone; as it is said

(Ezek. xxxvi. 26), " I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh.* (7.) Joel calls him the hidden one; as it is said (Joel ii. 20), " I will remove far from you the hidden one," i. e.y the tempter who remains hidden in the heart of man; "and I will drive him into a land barren and desolate, " 1. e., where the children of men do not usually dwell; "with his face toward the former sea," i. e., with his eyes set upon the first Temple, which he destroyed, slaying the disciples of the wise that were in it; and his hinder part toward the latter sea," i. e., with his eyes set on the second Temple, which he destroyed, also slaying the disciples of the wise that were in it.

Ten things were created during the twilight of the first Sabbath-eve. These were: — The well that followed Israel in the wilderness, the manna, the rainbow, the letters of the alphabet, the stylus, the tables of the law, the grave of Moses, the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood, the opening of the mouth of Balaam's ass, the opening of the earth to swallow the wicked (Korah and his clique). Rav Nechemiah said, in his father's name, also fire and the mule. Rav Yosheyah, in his father's name, added also the ram which Abraham offered up instead of Isaac, and the Shameer. Rav Yehudah says the tongs also, etc

Certain philosophers once asked the elders at Rome, " If your God has no pleasure in idolatry, why does He not destroy the objects of it?® "And so He would,® was the reply, *if only such objects were worshiped as the world does not stand in need of; but you idolators will worship the sun and moon, the stars and the constellations. Should He destroy the world because of the fools there are in it? No! The world goes on as it has done all the same, but they who abuse it will have to answer for their conduct. On your philosophy, when one steals a measure of wheat and sows it in his field it should by rights produce no crop; nevertheless the world goes on as if no wrong had been done, and they who abuse it will one day smart for it.®

The stone which Og, king of Bashan, meant to throw upon Israel is the subject of a tradition delivered on Sinai. "The camp of Israel I see,8 he said, " extends three miles; I shall therefore go and root up a mountain three miles in extent and throw it upon them." So off he went, and finding such a mountain, raised it on his head, but the Holy One — blessed be He! — sent an army of ants against him, which so bored the mountain over his head that it slipped down upon his shoulders, from which he could not lift it, because his teeth, protruding, had riveted it upon him.

This explains that which is written (Ps. iii. 7), " Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly; where read not "Thou hast broken, ■ but "Thou hast ramified, that is, " Thou hast caused to branch out. Moses being ten ells in height, seized an axe ten ells long, and springing up ten ells, struck a blow on Og's ankle and killed him

In the pages which precede and follow the above quotation there is much that is interesting on the subject of dreams and their interpretation, and one is strongly tempted to append selections, but we refrain in order to make room for a prayer which occurs in the morning service for the various festivals, and is given in the preceding context: — " Sovereign of the Universe! I am thine, and my dreams are thine.

I have dreamed a dream, but know not what it portendeth. May it be acceptable in Thy presence, O Lord my God, and the God of my fathers, that all my dreams concerning myself and concerning all Israel may be for my good. Whether I have dreamt concerning myself, or whether I have dreamt concerning others, or whether others have dreamt concerning me, if they be good, strengthen and fortify them, that they may be accomplished in me, as were the dreams of the righteous Joseph; and if they require cure, heal them as Thou didst Hezekiah, king of Judah, from his sickness; as Miriam the prophetess from her leprosy, and Naaman from his leprosy; as the bitter waters of Marah by the hands of our legislator Moses, and those of Jericho by the hands of Elisha.

And as Thou wast pleased to turn the curse of Balaam, the son of Beor, to a blessing, be pleased to convert all my dreams concerning me and all Israel to a good end. Oh, guard me; let me be acceptable to Thee, and grant me life. Amen.8*

Rabbi Eliezer asked, "For whose benefit were those seventy bullocks intended?" See Num. xxix. 12-36. For the seventy nations into which the Gentile world is divided; and Rashi plainly asserts that the seventy bullocks were intended to atone for them, that rain might descend all over the world, for on the Feast of Tabernacles judgment is given respecting rain, etc. Woe to the Gentile nations for their loss, and they know not what they have lost! for as long as the Temple existed, the altar made atonement for them; but now, who is to atone for them?

Bar Kamtzah accepted the invitation, and was on hand at the appointed time, but when the host saw his enemy enter his house, he ordered him to leave at once. "Nay," said Bar Kamtzah, "now that I am here, do not so insult me as to send me forth. I will pay thee for all that I may eat and drink.*. "I want not thy money," returned the other, neither do I desire thy presence; get thee gone at once.

But Bar Kamtzah persisted. * I will pay the entire expense of thy feast, he said; do not let me be degraded in the eyes of thy guests. The host was determined, and Bar Kamtzah withdrew from the banquet-room in anger. " Many Rabbis were present, said he in his heart, " and not one of them interfered in my behalf, therefore this insult which they saw put upon me must have pleased them.". So Bar Kamtzah spoke treacherously of the Jews unto the king, saying, "The Jews have rebelled against thee.". " How can I know this? inquired the king. " Send a sacrifice to their Temple and it will be rejected," replied Bar Kamtzah.

The ruler then sent a well-conditioned calf to be sacrificed for him in the Temple, but through the machinations. of Bar Kamtzah the messenger inflicted a blemish upon it, and, of course, not being fit for the sacrifice it was not accepted.

After the destruction of the storehouses, Rabbi Jochanan in walking through the city saw the populace boiling straw in water and drinking of the same for sustenance. Ah, woe is me for this calamity! he exclaimed; " how can such a people strive against a mighty host? He applied to Ben Batiach, his nephew, one of the chiefs of the city, for permission to leave Jerusalem. But Ben Batiach replied, " It may not be; no living body may leave the city.w "Take me out then as a corpse,8 entreated Jochanan. Ben Batiach assented to this, and Jochanan was placed in a coffin and carried through the gates of the

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 compass, 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 (". <?., 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.

Six things were done by Hezekiah the king, but the sages praised him for three only: — ( 1.) He dragged the bones of his father Ahaz on a hurdle of ropes, for this they commended him; (2.) he broke to pieces the brazen serpent, for this they commended him; (3.) he hid the Book of Remedies, and for this too they praised him. For three they blamed him: — ( 1.) He stripped the doors of the Temple and sent the gold thereof to the King of Assyria; (2.) he stopped up the upper aqueduct of Gihon; (3.) he intercalated the month Nisan.

day he happened to pass a blacksmith's forge, when the noise of the hammer soothed the gnawing at his brain. "Aha!" said Titus, "I have found a remedy at last;w and he ordered a blacksmith to hammer before him. To a Gentile for this he (for a time) paid four zuzim a day, but to a Jewish blacksmith he paid nothing, remarking to him, "It is payment enough to thee to see thy enemy suffering so painfully.

For thirty days he felt relieved, but after, no amount of hammering in the least relieved him. As to what happened after his death, we have this testimony from Rabbi Phineas, the son of Aruba: " I myself was among the Roman magnates when an inquest was held upon the body of Titus, and on opening his brain they found therein a gnat as big as a swallow, weighing two selas.M Others say it was as large as a pigeon a year old and weighed two litras.

Abaii says, " We found its mouth was of copper and its claws of iron.M Titus gave instructions that after his death his body should be burned, and the ashes thereof scattered over the surface of the seven seas, that the God of the Jews might not find him and bring him to judgment." (Gittin, fol. 56, col. 2.)

In the context where the above tradition occurs, which, as is obvious, relates to the founding of Rome, we meet with another on the same subject as follows: — When Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, the Angel Gabriel thrust a reed into the sea, stirring up therewith the sand and mud from the bottom. This, gradually collecting, first shaped itself into an island and then expanded so as to unite itself with the continent. And thus was the land created for the erection of the hut which should one day swell into the proportion of a proud imperial city.

Seven years did the nations of the world cultivate their vineyards with no other manure than the blood of Israel. Rabbi Chiya, the son of Abin, says that Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Korcha, said, " An old man, an inhabitant of Jerusalem, related to me that Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, killed in this valley 211 myriads (about 2,110,000), and in Jerusalem he slaughtered upon one stone 94 myriads (940,000), so that the blood flowed until it reached the blood of Zechariah, in order that that might be fulfilled which is said (Hosea iv. 2), ( And blood toucheth blood.*

Gittin, fol. 57, col. 1. Rabbi Yoshua, the son of Korcha, relates: " An aged inhabitant of Jerusalem once told me that in this valley two hundred and eleven thousand myriads were massacred by Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, and in Jerusalem itself he slaughtered upon one stone ninety-four myriads, so that the blood flowed till it touched the blood of Zachariah, that it might be fulfilled which is said (Hos. ii. 4), And blood toucheth blood. ' When he saw the blood of Zachariah, and noticed that it was boiling and agitated, he asked, i What is this? and he was told that it was the spilled blood of the sacrifices.

Then he ordered blood from the sacrifices to be brought and compared it with the blood of the murdered prophet, when, finding the one unlike the other, he said, "If ye tell me the truth, well and good; if not, I will comb your flesh with iron currycombs! Upon this they confessed, ( He was a prophet, and because he rebuked us on matters of religion, we arose and killed him, and it is now some years since his blood has been in the restless condition in which thou seest it.* <Well,) said he, (I will pacify him.' He then brought the greater and lesser Sanhedrin

Four hundred boys and as many girls were once kidnapped and torn from their relations. When they learned the purpose of their capture, they all exclaimed, " Better drown ourselves in the sea; then shall we have an inheritance in the world to come.* The eldest then explained to them the text (Ps. lxviii. 22), " The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan; I will bring again from the depths of of the sea.* " From Bashan,* i. e., from the teeth of the lion; " from the depths of the sea, i. e., those that drown themselves in the sea.

When the girls heard this explanation they at once jumped all together into the sea, and the boys with alacrity followed their example. It is with reference to these that Scripture says (Ps. xliv. 22), " For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.*

Once a Jewish mother with her seven sons suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Emperor. The sons, when ordered by the latter to do homage to the idols of the Empire, declined, and justified their disobedience by quoting each a simple text from the sacred Scriptures. When the seventh was brought forth, it is related that Caesar, for appearance' sake, offered to spare him if only he would stoop and pick up a ring from the ground which had been dropped on purpose. " Alas for thee, O Caesar! answered the boy; " if thou art so zealous for thine honor, how much more zealous ought we to be for the honor of the Holy One — blessed be He!

On his being led away to the place of execution, the mother craved and obtained leave to give him a farewell kiss. " Go, my child," said she, " and say to Abraham, Thou didst build an altar for the sacrifice of one son, but I have erected altars for seven sons." She then turned away and threw herself down headlong from the roof and expired, when the echo of a voice was heard exclaiming (Ps. cxiii. 9), "The joyful mother of children" (or, the mother of the children rejoiceth).

A man once overheard his wife telling her daughter that, though she had ten sons, only one of them could fairly claim her husband as his father. After the father's death it was found that he had bequeathed all his property to one son, but that the testament did not mention his name. The question therefore, arose, which of the ten was intended? So they came one and all to Rabbi Benaah and asked him to arbitrate between them.

"Go," said he to them, "and beat at your father's grave, until he rises to tell you to which of you it was that he left the property.8 All except one did so; and he, because by so doing he showed most respect for his father's memory, was presumed to be the one on whom the father had fixed his affections; he accordingly was supposed to be the one intended, and the others were therefore excluded from the patrimony.

The disappointed ones went straight to the government and denounced the Rabbi. "Here is a man,8 said they, "who arbitrarily deprives people of their rights, without proof or witnesses. The consequence was that the Rabbi was sent to prison, but he gave the authorities such evidence of his shrewdness and sense of justice, that he was soon restored to freedom.

Ulla and Rav Chasda were once traveling together, when they came up to the gate of the house of Rav Chena bar Chenelai. At sight of it Rav Chasda stooped and sighed. " Why sighest thou? asked Ulla, " seeing, as Rav says, sighing breaks the body in halves; for it is said (Bzek. xxi. 6), ^igh, therefore, O son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and Rabbi Yochanan says a sigh breaks up the whole constitution; for it is said (Ezek. xxi. 7), 'And it shall be when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings because it cometh, and the whole heart shall melt, > etc. To this Rav Chasda replied, "How can I help sighing over this house, where sixty bakers used to be employed during the day, and sixty during the night, to make bread for the poor and needy; and Rav Chena had his hand always at his purse, for he thought the slightest hesitation might cause a poor but respectable man to blush; and besides he kept four doors open, one to each quarter of the heavens, so that all might enter and be satisfied?

Over and above this, in time of famine he scattered wheat and barley abroad, so that they who were ashamed to gather by day might do so by night; but now this house has fallen into ruin, and ought I not to sigh?*

There was once a dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and the Mishnic sages as to whether a baking-oven, constructed from certain materials and of a particular shape, was clean or unclean. The former decided that it was clean, but the latter were of a contrary opinion. Having replied to all the objections the sages had brought against his decision, and finding that they still refused to acquiesce, the Rabbi turned to them and said, " If the Halacha (the law) is according to my decision, let this carob-tree attest.

Whereupon the carob-tree rooted itself up and transplanted itself to a distance of one hundred, some say four hundred, yards from the spot. But the sages demurred and said, "We cannot admit the evidence of a carob-tree. " Well, then," said Rabbi Eliezer, "let this running brook be a proof; and the brook at once reversed its natural course and flowed back. The sages refused to admit this proof also. " Then let the walls of the college bear witness that the law is according to my decision; 8 upon which the walls began to bend, and were about to fall, when Rabbi Joshuah interposed and rebuked them, saying, " If the disciples of the sages wrangle with each other in the Halacha, what is that to you?

Be ye quiet!" Therefore, out of respect to Rabbi Joshuah, they did not fall, and out of respect to Rabbi Eliezer they did not resume their former upright position, but remained toppling, which they continue to do to this day. Then said Rabbi Eliezer to the sages, " Let Heaven itself testify that the Halacha is according to my judgment." And a Bath Kol or voice from "heaven was heard, saying, " What have ye to do with Rabbi Eliezer? for the Halacha is on every point according to his decision!

B Rabbi Joshuah then stood up and proved from Scripture that even a voice from heaven was not to be regarded, " For Thou, O God, didst long ago write down in the law which Thou gavest on Sinai (Exod. xxiii. 2), (Thou shalt follow the multitude. ' (See context.) We have it on the testimony of Elijah the prophet, given to Rabbi Nathan, on an oath, that it was with reference to this dispute about the oven God himself confessed and said, " My children have vanquished me! My children have vanquished me! •

iii. 8), 'The lion hath roared, who will not fear?* Wherein consists his excellency? A horseman kills a Hon.* The Rabbi replied, " He is not compared to an ordinary lion, but to a lion of the forest Ilaei. " Show me that lion at once," said the Emperor. " But thou canst not behold him," said the Rabbi. Still the Emperor insisted on seeing the lion; so the Rabbi prayed to God to help him in his perplexity.

His prayer was heard; the lion came forth from his lair and roared, upon which, though it was four hundred miles away, all the walls of Rome trembled and fell to the ground. Approaching three hundred miles nearer, he roared again, and this time the teeth of the people dropped out of their mouths and the Emperor fell from his throne quaking. " Alas! Rabbi, pray to thy God that He order the lion back to his abode in the forest."

The Rabbis have taught that when pestilence is abroad no one should walk along the middle of the road, for there the angel of death would be sure to cross him. Neither when there is pestilence in a town should a person go to the synagogue alone, because there, provided no children are taught there, and ten men are not met to pray there, the angel of death hides his weapons. The Rabbis have also taught that (like the Banshee of Ireland), the howling of dogs indicates the approach of the angel of death, whereas when they sport it is a sign that Elijah the prophet is at hand, unless one of them happen to be a female, for it is her presence among them, and not any super-natural instinct, that is to be understood as the cause of the demonstration.

Once, as the Rabbis tell us, the Roman Government issued a decree forbidding Israel to study the law. Whereupon Pappus, the son of Yehudah, one day found Rabbi Akiva teaching it openly to multitudes, whom he had gathered round him to hear it. " Akiva," said he, "art thou not afraid of the Government?" "List," was the reply, "and I will tell thee how it is by a parable. It is with me as with the fishes whom a fox, walking once by a river's side, saw darting distractedly to and fro in the stream; and, addressing, inquired, ( From what, pray, are ye fleeing? ( From the nets,* they replied, ( which the children of men have set to ensnare us.* (Why, then,* rejoined the fox, 'not try the dry land with me, where you and I can live together, as our fathers managed to do before us? ( Surely, } exclaimed they, 'thou art not he of whom we have heard so much as the most cunning of animals, for herein thou art not wise, but foolish.

For if we have cause to fear where it is natural for us to live, how much more reason have we to do so where we needs must die!

Just so," continued Akiva, "is it with us who study the law, in which (Deut. xxx. 20) it is written, ( He is thy life and the length of thy days; for if we suffer while we study the law, how much more shall we if we neglect it? Not many days after, it is related, this Rabbi Akiva was apprehended and thrown into prison. As it happened, they led him out for execution just at the time when " Hear, O Israel! fell to be repeated, and as they tore his flesh with currycombs, and as he was with long-drawn breath sounding forth the word one, his soul departed from him. Then came forth a voice from heaven which said, "Blessed art thou, Rabbi Akiva, for thy soul and the word one left thy body together.

Hereto hangs a tale stranger than fiction, yet founded on fact. Rabbi Akiva was once a poor shepherd in the employ of Calba Shevua, one of the richest men in all Jerusalem. While engaged in that lowly occupation his master's only daughter fell in love with him, and the two carried on a clandestine courtship for some time together. Her father, hearing of it, threatened to disinherit her, to turn her out of doors and disown her altogether, if she did not break off her engagement.

How could she connect herself with one who was the baseborn son of a proselyte, a reputed descendant of Sisera and Jael, an ignorant fellow that could neither read nor write, and a man old enough to be her father? Rachel — for that was her name — determined to be true to her lover, and to brave the consequences by marrying ' him and exchanging the mansion of her father for the hovel of her husband.

After a short spell of married life she prevailed upon her husband to leave her for a while in order to join a certain college in a distant land, where she felt sure that his talents would be recognized and his genius fostered into development worthy of it. As he sauntered along by himself he began to harbor misgivings in his mind as to the wisdom of the step, and more than once thought of returning.

But when musing one day at a resting-place a waterfall arrested his attention, and he remarked how the water, by its continual dropping, was wearing away the solid rock. All at once, with the tact for which he was afterward so noted, he applied the lesson it yielded to himself. " So may the law,** he reasoned, "work its way into my hard and stony heart; and he felt encouraged and pursued his journey.

Under the tuition of Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Hyrcanus, and Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Chanauiah, his native ability soon began to appear, his name became known to fame, and he rose step by step until he ranked as a professor in the very college which he had entered as a poor student. After some twelve years of hard study and diligent

service in the law he returned to Jerusalem, accompanied by a large number of disciples. On nearing the dwelling of his devoted wife he caught the sound of voices in eager conversation. He paused awhile and listened at the door, and overheard a gossiping neighbor blaming Rachel for her mesalliance, and twitting her with marrying a man who could run away and leave her as a widow for a dozen of years or more on the crazy pretext of going to college.

He listened in eager curiosity, wondering what the reply would be. To his surprise, he heard his self-sacrificing wife exclaim, " Would that my husband were here and could listen to me; I should permit, nay, urge him to stay other twelve years, if it would benefit him.*' Strange to say Akiva taking the hint from his wife, turned away and left Jerusalem without ever seeing her. He went abroad again for a time, and then returned for good; this time, so the story says, with twice twelve thousand disciples.

Well-nigh all Jerusalem turned out to do him honor, every one striving to be foremost to welcome him. Calba Shevua, who for many a long year had repented of his hasty resolution, which cost him at once his daughter and his happiness, went to Akiva to ask his opinion about annnulling this vow. Akiva replied by making himself known as his quondam servant and rejected son-in-law. As we may suppose, the two were at once reconciled, and Calba Shevua looked upon himself as favored of Heaven above all the fathers in Israel.

Agrippa, being anxious to ascertain the number of the male population of Israel, instructed the priest to take accurate note of the Paschal lambs. On taking account of the kidneys, it was found that there were sixty myriad couples (which indicated) double the number of those that came up out of Egypt, not reckoning those that were ceremonially unclean and those that were out traveling. There was not a Paschal lamb in which less than ten had a share, so that the number represented over six hundred myriads of men.

Rabbi Shimon said, " An enchanter is one who passeth the exudation of seven different sorts of male creatures over the eye. ■ The sages say he is one who practices and palms off optical illusions. Rabbi Akiva says, " He is one who calculates times and hours, and says To-day is good to start on a journey, To-morrow will be a lucky day for selling, The year before the Sabbatical year is generally good for growing wheat, The pulling up of pease will preserve them from being spoiled.* According to the Rabbis, " An enchanter is he who augurs ill when his bread drops from his mouth, or if he drops the stick that supports him from his hand, or if his son calls after him, or a crow caws in his hearing, or a deer crosses his path, or he sees a serpent at his right hand or a fox on his left, or if he says to the tax-gatherer, ( Do not begin with me the first in the morning '; or, ( It is the first of the month; or, ( It is the exit of the Sabbath,* i. e., the commencement of a new week."

Turnus Rufus asked this question also of Rabbi Akiva, " Why is the Sabbath distinguished from other days? Rabbi Akiva replied, Why art thou distinguished from other men? The answer was, " Because it hath pleased my Master thus to honor me.* And so retorted Akiva, " It hath pleased God to honor His Sabbath.* "But what I mean,* replied the other, " was how dost thou know that it is the Sabbath-day? The reply was, The river Sambatyon proves it; the necromancer proves it; the grave of thy father proves it, for the smoke thereof rises not on the Sabbath.*

(Gen. xxvii. 2), "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." The first-named " voice alludes to the voice of lamentation caused by Hadrian, who had at Alexandria in Egypt massacred twice the number of Jews that had come forth under Moses. The " voice of Jacob w refers to a similar lamentation occasioned by Vespasian, who put to death in the city of Byther four hundred myriads, or, as some say, four thousand myriads. " The hands are the hands of Esau," that is, the empire which destroyed our house, burned our Temple, and banished us from our country.

Or the " voice of Jacob " means that there is no effectual prayer that is not offered by the progeny of Jacob; and "the hands are the hands of Esau, that there is no victorious battle which is not fought by the descendants of Esau. Ibid.

Three classes of ministering angels raise a song of praise every day. One class says, Holy! the second responds, Holy! and the third continues, Holy is the Lord of hosts! But in the presence of the Holy One — blessed be He! — Israel is more beloved than the ministering angels; for Israel reiterates the song every hour, while the ministering angels repeat it only once a day, some say once a week, others once a month, others once a year, others once in seven years, others once in a jubilee, and others only once in eternity.

Again, Israel mentions The Name after two words, as it is said (Deut. vi. 4), " Hear Israel, Yehovah," but the ministering angels do not mention The Name till after three, as it is written (Isa. vi. 3), " Holy! holy! holy! Yehovah Zebaoth." Moreover, the ministering angels do

Rav Hunna then adds a prescription for a tertian fever, and Rabbi Yochanan gives the following as effective against a burning fever: — Take an iron knife, and having fastened a papyrus fibre to the nearest bramble, cut off a piece and say, " And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire," etc., as in Exod. iii. 2. On the morrow cut off another piece and say, "The Lord saw that he (the fever) turned aside; 8 then upon the third day say, " Draw not hither, " and stooping down, pray, " Bush, bush! the Holy One — blessed be He! — caused His Shechinah to lodge upon thee, not because thou art the loftiest, for thou art the lowest of all trees; and as when thou didst see the fire of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, thou didst flee therefrom, so see the fire (fever) of this sufferer and flee from it.* Shabbath, fol. 66, col. 2, etc.