R. Eleazar b. Shimeon, who was appointed an official
of the government, was accustomed to catch thieves in a
very clever way when he found them drinking very heavily
in the drinking booths. The men who looked tired had either
passed the night in study or they had been in mischief, and
so he caught all the latter. He was rebuked by R. Joshua
b. Quorha., who cried out at him, “Vinegar son of wine,
why do thou deliver up thy people?” And he replied,
“I am only weeding the vineyard.” R. Joshua said, “Let
the Master of the vineyard look after the thorns that grow
in it Himself.” Once Eleazar caught a man who spoke to
him with levity. He arrested him but afterwards reproached himself for delivering up what migh thave been an
innocent man. At the execution, however, the man confessed that he had committed a heinous crime.—Eleazar
was exceedingly stout and a very giant. He was once rebuked by the Prophet Elijah who said to him, “Thy father
fled to Asia and thou shalt flee to Laodicaea.” [After the
narration of this there follows in the text a long description
of his enormous strength and of the patience with which he
used to suffer pains which came and went.] After his death
he was hidden by his wife in the loft. He had promised her
- 77 -
that his body should remain uncorrupted and litigants used
to appear before his house to invoke his decisions and a voice
used to come out of the loft deciding the cases. The sages,
being so advised in a dream, went to fetch the body away
in order to inter it, but the people of the place would not
allow them to take it, because as long as the body was there
no wild beasts came near. They obtained possession of the
body, however, by a ruse, and brought it to the place where
his father was buried. A snake was found around it, so they
said “Snake, let the son come to the father !” And the snake
uncoiled itself and let the people lay son and father beside
each other. After his death R. Jehudah wanted to marry
Eleazar 's widow, but she refused, saying that her husband
had been superior to him both in scholarship and actions,
ever bearing suffering and pain without a murmur. Eleazar,
for love of God, invited pain, but R. Jehuda suffered
them as punishment, because once a calf, led to slaughter,
sought refuge in his bosom, and he had refused to shelter
it, saying, “For this wert thou created,” and because he
had not, on one occasion, prevented his servant from
turning a litter of kittens out of the house. The son of
R. Eleazar, named Joseph was taken by his mother's
brother R. Shimeon b. Jose b. Laqonia who educated him
and made him a great scholar.
95. R. Eleazar b. Shimeon, who was appointed an official
of the government, was accustomed to catch thieves in a
very clever way when he found them drinking very heavily
in the drinking booths. The men who looked tired had either
passed the night in study or they had been in mischief, and
so he caught all the latter. He was rebuked by R. Joshua
b. Quorha., who cried out at him, “Vinegar son of wine,
why do thou deliver up thy people?” And he replied,
“I am only weeding the vineyard.” R. Joshua said, “Let
the Master of the vineyard look after the thorns that grow
in it Himself.” Once Eleazar caught a man who spoke to
him with levity. He arrested him but afterwards reproached himself for delivering up what migh thave been an
innocent man. At the execution, however, the man confessed that he had committed a heinous crime. — Eleazar
was exceedingly stout and a very giant. He was once rebuked by the Prophet Elijah who said to him, “Thy father
fled to Asia and thou shalt flee to Laodicaea.” [After the
narration of this there follows in the text a long description
of his enormous strength and of the patience with which he
used to suffer pains which came and went.] After his death
he was hidden by his wife in the loft. He had promised her
- 77 -
that his body should remain uncorrupted and litigants used
to appear before his house to invoke his decisions and a voice
used to come out of the loft deciding the cases. The sages,
being so advised in a dream, went to fetch the body away
in order to inter it, but the people of the place would not
allow them to take it, because as long as the body was there
no wild beasts came near. They obtained possession of the
body, however, by a ruse, and brought it to the place where
his father was buried. A snake was found around it, so they
said “Snake, let the son come to the father !” And the snake
uncoiled itself and let the people lay son and father beside
each other. After his death R. Jehudah wanted to marry
Eleazar 's widow, but she refused, saying that her husband
had been superior to him both in scholarship and actions,
ever bearing suffering and pain without a murmur. Eleazar,
for love of God, invited pain, but R. Jehuda suffered
them as punishment, because once a calf, led to slaughter,
sought refuge in his bosom, and he had refused to shelter
it, saying, “For this wert thou created,” and because he
had not, on one occasion, prevented his servant from
turning a litter of kittens out of the house. The son of
R. Eleazar, named Joseph was taken by his mother's
brother R. Shimeon b. Jose b. Laqonia who educated him
and made him a great scholar.
