The Ass Complains of Cold Even in Tammuz

Midrash Aggadah Talmud (proverbs)

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 17, 2025

The Talmud keeps a ledger of shorter sayings — proverbs worn smooth by repetition, each one a whole argument compressed into a sentence.

"Do not do to others what you would not have others do to you." Hillel's version of the whole Torah, said on one foot.

"The ass complains of the cold even in Tammuz." Mid-summer. Some people will always find a chill.

"First learn, then teach." The reverse ruins both.

"Few are they who see their own faults." A mirror is not enough.

"A single light answers as well for a hundred men as for one." Wisdom shared loses nothing.

"Victuals prepared by many cooks will be neither hot nor cold." A kitchen of committees.

"Truth lasts forever, but falsehood must vanish."

"This is the punishment of the liar — when he tells the truth nobody believes him."

"Use your best vase today, for tomorrow it may be broken."

"When Ha-Satan — the Accuser — cannot come himself, he sends wine as a messenger."

"Woe to the children banished from their father's table."

"A handful of food will not satisfy the lion; a pit cannot be filled with its own dust."

"Pray to God for mercy until the last shovelful of earth is cast upon your grave. Do not cease praying even when the knife is laid upon your neck."

The Rabbis believed that the last line — prayer even at the knife — was the hardest one and the one most worth remembering.

Themes

Wisdom Ethics Speech Prayer

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