The Punishment Of Korah

And they were lying on their backs. And the knee of one of them was raised up, and an Arab merchant entered beneath his knee while riding a camel, with his spear upright, and he did not touch it. I cut off one corner of the sky-blue fringe of one of them, and we could not move on. He said to me: "Perhaps you took something from them?" Return it, for it is learned by tradition that whoever takes something from them cannot move on. I went and returned it, and then we could move on. When I came before the Rabbis, they said to me: "Every 'Abba' is an ass, and every 'bar bar Chana' is a fool! For the sake of what halakhah did you do this? To know whether the law is like the House of Shammai or like the House of Hillel? You should have counted the threads and counted the joinings." He said to me: "Come, I will show you Mount Sinai." I went, and I saw that a scorpion encircled it, and it stood like white asses. I heard a heavenly voice saying: "Woe is Me that I swore; and now that I have sworn, who will release Me from My oath?" When I came before the Rabbis, they said to me: "Every 'Abba' is an ass, every 'bar bar Chana' is a fool! You should have said: 'You are released from your oath!'" But he reasoned: Perhaps it was the oath of the Flood. And the Rabbis: if so, why "Woe is Me"? He said to me: "Come, I will show you those who were swallowed up of Korah." I saw two cracks, and they were emitting smoke. He took a tuft of wool and soaked it in water and stuck it on the head of his spear and inserted it there, and when he took it out it was scorched and singed. He said to me: "Listen to what you hear." And I heard that they were saying: "Moses and his Torah are true, and they are liars." He said to me: "Every thirty days Gehenna returns them to here like meat in a pot, and they say thus: 'Moses and his Torah are true, and they are liars.'" He said to me: "Come, I will show you where the earth and the firmament kiss one another." I took my basket and placed it in a window of the firmament. While I was praying, I sought it and did not find it. I said to him: "Are there thieves here?" He said to me: "This was the wheel of the firmament that was turning; wait here until tomorrow and you will find it." Rabbi Yochanan relates: One time we were traveling in a ship, and we saw a certain fish that put its head out of the sea, and its eyes were like two moons, and water spurted from its two gills like the two channels of Sura. Rav Safra relates: One time we were traveling in a ship, and we saw a certain fish that put its head out of the sea, and it had horns, and engraved upon it was: "I am a lowly creature of the sea, and I am three hundred parasangs long, and I am going into the mouth of the Leviathan." Rav Ashi said: That is the sea-goat, which forages and has horns. Rabbi Yochanan relates: One time we were traveling in a ship, and we saw a certain chest in which were set precious stones and pearls, and surrounding it were kinds of fish that are called karsha. There descended