Rabbi Joshua ben Levi in Rome and the Marble Pillars and the Pauper

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Emor 8:2

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi went up to Rome. He saw there two pillars of marble covered with coverings, so that in the scorching heat they would not crack, and in the cold they would not freeze. He saw there a certain pauper with a reed mat beneath him and a reed mat over him. Concerning the pillars he read (Psalms 36:7), "Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains" — wherever You give, You bestow abundantly. And concerning the pauper he read (ibid.), "and Your judgments are like the great deep" — wherever You strike, You deal exactingly.

Themes

Biblical References