12 myths
Before Israel ever said yes, God walked to Esau, then to Ammon and Moab, holding out the Torah. Each nation asked one question, then turned away.
Under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky. The men who stood there did not die of it. They sat down and had a meal.
A woman went into labor while she was treading mortar for Pharaoh. The child came out into the brick mold, and an angel came down for the mold.
On Sinai an angel gave Moses the heavenly count of days, then showed him the age when one stolen month would drown every festival in chaos.
The Mekhilta forbids reminding a convert of idols and swine, because Israel were strangers too, and harming him trespasses against God.
Hadrian told his nephew to invest in whatever lay lowest, for it rises. Aquila took the advice as prophecy and chose the people of Israel.
Sold in a famine year, a Hebrew girl learns the master must give her food, clothing, and time as he would a free daughter, not a tool in his house.
God offered Moses an angel to lead the way. Moses refused anyone but God. Years later Joshua met the same captain and the angel wept.
Mar Ukva gave charity in secret every day for years, and when the poor man finally chased him to see his face, Mar Ukva ran into a furnace.
Rome sent legion after legion to arrest the emperor's convert nephew, and each cohort sat down, listened, and crossed over instead.
On his deathbed Rabbi Ammi cried while disciples praised his learning. He feared Heaven's bill for every case he would not hear.
Each night a man's soul is handed to God like a pledged cloak and faithfully returned at dawn, yet it still answers for every sin the body commits by mistake.
