God's Mourning

And they were lying on their backs. And the knee of one of them was raised up, and an Arab merchant passed beneath his knee while riding a camel, riding upright with his spear, and he did not touch it. I cut off one corner of the sky-blue thread of fringes from one of them, and we were unable to move on. He said to me: Perhaps you took something from them? Return it, for it is a tradition that whoever takes something from them is unable to move on. I went and returned it, and then we were able to move on. When I came before the Rabbis, they said to me: Every "Abba" is a donkey, and every "bar bar Hana" is a fool! For what legal purpose did you do this? To know whether the law is according to Beit Shammai or according to Beit Hillel? You should have counted the threads and counted the joints! He said to me: Come, I will show you Mount Sinai. I went and saw that a scorpion encircled it, and it stood like white donkeys. I heard a Divine 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 a donkey, and every "bar bar Hana" is a fool! You should have said "You are released from your oath"! But he thought: Perhaps it was the oath concerning the Flood. And the Rabbis say: If so, why "Woe is Me"? He said to me: Come, I will show you those swallowed up of Korah. I saw two fissures, and they were emitting smoke. I took a tuft of wool and soaked it in water, and stuck it on the head of a spear and inserted it there, and when I drew it out, it was scorched through. He said to me: Listen to what you hear. And I heard them saying: "Moses and his Torah are truth, and they are liars." He said to me: Every thirty days Gehinnom turns them back to here like flesh in a pot, and they say thus: "Moses and his Torah are truth, and they are liars." He said to me: Come, I will show you where the earth and the heavens 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: It was the sphere of the firmament that revolves; wait here until tomorrow, and you will find it. Rabbi Yochanan related: Once we were traveling in a ship, and we saw a certain fish that lifted its head out of the sea, and its eyes were like two moons, and water poured forth from its two gills like the two channels of Sura. Rav Safra related: Once we were traveling in a ship, and we saw a certain fish that lifted its head out of the sea, and it had horns, and engraved upon it was: "I am one of the lesser creatures of the sea, and I am three hundred parasangs in length, and I am going to the mouth of Leviathan." Rav Ashi said: That was a sea-goat, which forages and has horns. Rabbi Yochanan related: Once we were traveling in a ship, and we saw a certain chest in which were set precious stones and pearls, and around it were a kind of fish called karsha. A diver went down