Three clever Jewish slaves, sold into captivity after the destruction of the Temple, outwitted their Roman masters using nothing but their wits. Each was given an impossible task, and each turned the challenge back on the one who posed it. The Talmud records their exchanges in Sanhedrin 104b and Lamentations Rabbah 1:4 as proof that even in exile, the sharpness of Jewish wisdom could not be conquered.
Clever Jewish Slaves
Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team
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51. Clever Jewish Slaves. Sanhedrin, f. 104b. Lament. R. I, § 4.
cf. Lament. R. I § 12. cf. Lament. Zutta. cf. Zabara, Book of De- light ch. 53—56, p. 21 note.
Aboab, Men. Ham. ch. 305.
Yalk. Sip. IV, p. 87. Maase Buch No. 153. Helvicus, Historien II, ch. XL, p. 124.
Perles, Rabbinische Sprachen, p. 65 f. Singer in Z. V. Vlksd. II, p. 299.
Arsenie II, p. 38 ff.
Burton, Supplemental Nights, IV, p. 7f.
Carmoly, Jardin En- chante No. 11, p. 118—123.
Clous ton, Eastern Rom. p. 194 and 5nff.
Christ. Armeno, Pere- grinaggio.
Gaster Anuar p. Is. p. 26 f.
Habicht,iooiNights,XI, ' Night 458.
Knowles, Tales of Kash- mir, p. 484—496.
Legrand, Chansons grecques, p. 258 to 264.
cf. Legrand, Mon. neo-Hellenique I,
No. 19.
L£vi, R£v. Et. Juives, l_ No. 22.
Liebrecht to Dunlop,
II 2, p. 44-47-
Mas’oudi, III, ch. 46, L- p. 228 — 35.
Olrik in Z. V. Vlksd. II, p. 119L
Prato in Z. V. Vlksd. IV, 1894, p. 348 f.
Ralston, Tib. Tales,
No. 8.
Voltaire, Zadig, ch. III.
Saxo Grammaticus III,
P- 113L
13*
V
Shakespeare, Hamlet.
Simrock, Quellen d. Shakespeare, I, p. 81 to 85; III, p.170.
cf. Vesselovsky, Schach- aschi, p. 21 and note 2.
Codd. G. 97 ( Jerahmeel) f. 752; 184, No. hi.