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SPECIAL INTRODUCTION

Hebrew literature contains some of the most profound and most influential productions of the human spirit. It constitutes a potent factor in modern civilization, and possesses merits which place it far above most other literatures of the world. The common salutation of the Hebrew is "Peace," while that of the Greeks is "Grace," and that of the Romans, "Safety." The Greek sought after grace, or intellectual and bodily perfection, and the power of artistic accomplishment. The Roman's ideal was strength and security of life and property. The Hebrew sought after peace, peace in the heart, as founded on a sense of Jehovah's good providence, and a moral conformity in conduct to His revealed will. While the Greek in art, literature, and even in morals, made beauty his standard, the Roman stood for power, domination and law, and the Hebrew for religion. The Hebrew, indeed, introduced into Europe the first clear conception of religion, as implied in monotheism, and a rigidly defined moral law, founded upon the will of Jehovah. The basis of morals among the Latins was political, among the Greeks aesthetic, and among the Hebrews it was the revealed will of Jehovah.

While the most important remains of Hebrew literature are comprised in the Scriptures known to us as the Bible, there exists also a voluminous mass of Hebrew writings which are not included in the sacred canon. These writings are of supreme importance and value, and the selections which we have made from them in the present volume give a good idea of their interest, beauty, and subtlety of thought.

From the very beginning of their history the Hebrews were a deeply poetic race. They were fully alive to the beauties of external nature, and no national poetry contains more vivid descriptions of the sea, sky, and the panorama of forest, stream and mountain, peopled by the varied activities of animated nature. The songs of Zion glow with poetic enthusiasm, but their principal characteristic is their intense earnestness. They are no idle lays of love and wine or warlike triumph. They depict the joy of existence as dependent upon the smile and favor of Jehovah, and all the happiness, plenty, victory and success of life are attributed, without hesitation, to nothing else but "the loving-kindness of the Lord." Yet this religious fervor becomes the basis of sublimity, pathos, and picturesqueness, such as can seldom be approached even by the finest productions of the Attic muse.

We are therefore led to the conclusion that the Kabbalah is by far the most exalted, the most profound and the most interesting of all that mass of traditional literature which comprises, among other writings, such remains as the Targums and the Talmud.

A study of Hebrew literature would indeed be incomplete unless it included the Talmud.

The Mishna itself in turn became the subject of a series of comments and elucidations, which formed what was called the Gemara. The text of the original Hebrew scripture was abandoned, and a new crop of casuistical quibbles, opinions and decisions rose like mushrooms upon the text of the Mishna, and from the combination of text and Gemaraic commentary was formed that odd, rambling, and sometimes perplexing work, "wonderful monument of human industry, human wisdom and human folly," which we know as the Talmud. The book is compounded of all materials, an encyclopaedia of history, antiquities and chronology, a story book, a code of laws and conduct, a manual of ethics, a treatise on astronomy, and a medical handbook; sometimes indelicate, sometimes irreverent, but always completely and persistently in earnest. Its trifling frivolity, its curious prying into topics which were better left alone, the occasional beauty of its spiritual and imaginative fancies, make it one of the most remarkable books that human wit and human industry have ever compiled.

The selections which we print in this volume are from the Mishna, and form part of the Sedarim, or orders; in them are given minute directions as to the ceremonial practice of the Jewish religion.

The treatise on "Blessings" speaks of daily prayers and thanksgiving. It is most minute in prescribing the position of the body, and how the voice is to be used in prayer. It specifies the prayers to be said on seeing signs and wonders, on building a house, on entering or leaving a city; and how to speak the name of God in social salutations. That on the "Sabbatical Year" is a discourse on agriculture from a religious point of view. The Sabbatical year among the Hebrews was every seventh year, in which the land was to be left fallow and uncultivated, and all debts were to be remitted or outlawed. Provision is made in this section for doing certain necessary work, such as picking and using fruits which may have grown without cultivation during the Sabbatical year, with some notes on manuring the fields, pruning trees and pulling down walls. Very interesting is the section which deals with "The Sabbath Day." The most minute and exhaustive account is given of what may and what may not be done on the seventh day.

The treatise on "The Day of Atonement" deals with the preparation and deportment of the high-priest on that day. That on "The Passover" treats of the Lamb to be sacrificed, of the search for leaven, so that none be found in the house, and of all the details of the festival. "Measurements" is an interesting and valuable account of the dimensions of the Temple at Jerusalem. "The Tabernacle" deals with the ritual worship of the Jews under the new conditions of their exile from Palestine.

All of these treatises show the vitality of Jewish religion in Europe, under the most adverse circumstances, and illustrate the place which the Talmud must have occupied in Jewish history, as supplying a religious literature and a code of ritual and worship which kept Judaism united, even when it had become banished and dissociated from Palestine, Jerusalem, and the Temple.

SELECTIONS FROM THE TALMUD

Translated by Joseph Barclay, LL.D.

Translator's Introduction

All these traditions Rabbi Judah the Holy undertook to reduce into one digest. And this laborious work he completed about A.D. 190, or more than a century after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Rabbi Judah was born on the day that Rabbi Akibah died. Solomon is said to have foretold the event: "One sun ariseth, and one sun goeth down." Akibah was the setting and Judah the rising sun. The Mishna of Rabbi Judah, afterward revised by Abba Areka in Sura, is the text of the Babylon Talmud. The commentaries written on this text by various Rabbis in the neighborhood of Babylon, until the close of the fifth century, are called the Gemara , and are published in twelve folio volumes, called the Babylon Talmud--the Talmud most esteemed by the Jews. The Jerusalem Talmud contains commentaries written partly by Rabbis in Jamnia and partly in Tiberias, where they were completed by Rabbi Jochanan in the beginning of the fourth century. As now published it has only four out of the six orders or books of the Mishna, with the treatise Niddah from the sixth. In the time of Maimonides it contained five orders. On twenty-six treatises it has no Gemara, though in the treatise on shekels the Gemara of Jerusalem is used for the Babylon Talmud. The six books of the Mishna are subdivided into sixty-three treatises, in the following manner:

Book I

This book, called Order of Seeds, contains the following treatises:

Book II

The Order Of The Festivals:

On Women:

Book IV

On Damages:

Book V

On Holy Things:

Book VI

On Purifications:

The period during which both the Jerusalem and Babylon Talmuds were compiled was a season of comparative peace for the Jews. From the death of Rabbi Judah the Holy until Constantine ascended the throne the schools in Tiberias were unmolested. Judah was succeeded in the Patriarchate by Gamaliel; and he in turn gave way to Judah the second. Being inferior in learning to some of his own Rabbis, the splendor of his Patriarchate was eclipsed by the superior talents of Simon Ben Laches and Rabbi Jochanan. From that time the Patriarchate gradually sank in estimation, till the struggles for unlimited power, and the rapacity of the Rabbis, brought the office into contempt, and caused the Emperor Honorius in one of his laws to brand them as "Devastators." Still, with a loyal affection to the race of Israel, the Jews, wherever scattered in the West, looked to Tiberias as their Zion, and willingly taxed themselves for the support of its Rabbinical schools. The Jews in the East regarded the Prince of the Captivity or Patriarch of Babylon as their centre and chief. He rose to power between the abandonment of the Mesopotamian provinces by Hadrian and the rise of the Persian kingdom. He presided over his subjects with viceregal power and a splendid court. Rabbis were his satraps, and the wise and learned his officers and councillors. Wealth flowed in upon his people, who were engaged in every kind of commerce. One of his merchants in Babylon was said to have had 1,000 vessels on sea and 1,000 cities on shore. There was for a time a spirit of rivalry between the spiritual courts of Tiberias and Babylon.

On one occasion there was an open schism about the calculation of the Paschal feast. The struggle for supremacy took place when Simon, son of Gamaliel, who claimed descent from Aaron, was Patriarch of Tiberias, and Ahia, who claimed descent from King David, was Prince of the Captivity. His two most learned men were Hananiah, the rector of Nahar-pakod, and Judah, son of Bethuriah. To humble these men was the aim of Simon. Accordingly he sent two legates with three letters to Babylon. The first letter was given to Hananiah. It was addressed, "To your holiness." Flattered by the title, he politely asked the reason of their visit. "To learn your system of instruction." Still more gratified, he paid them every attention. Availing themselves of their advantage, the legates used every effort to undermine his teaching and lessen his authority. Hananiah, enraged by their conduct, summoned an assembly, and denounced their treachery. The people cried out, "That which thou hast built, thou canst not so soon pull down; the hedge which thou hast planted, thou canst not pluck up without injury to thyself." Hananiah demanded their objections to his teaching. They answered, "Thou hast dared to fix intercalations and new moons, by which nonconformity has arisen between Babylon and Palestine." "So did Rabbi Akiba," said Hananiah, "when in Babylon." "Akiba," they replied, "left not his like in Palestine." "Neither," cried Hananiah, "have I left my equal in Palestine." The legates then produced their second letter, in which it was written, "That which thou hast left a kid is grown up a strong horned goat." Hananiah was struck dumb. Rabbi Isaac, one of the legates, ran, and mounted the reading desk. "These," said he, calling them out aloud, "are the holy days of God, and these the holy days of Hananiah."

The people began to murmur. Rabbi Nathan, the second legate, arose, and read the verse of Isaiah, "Out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Then in a mocking voice, "Out of Babylon shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Nahor-pakod." The congregation was in an uproar. "Alter not the word of God" was the universal shout. The legates then produced the third letter, threatening excommunication to all who would not obey their decrees. They further said, "The learned have sent us, and commanded us to say, if he will submit, well; if not, utter at once the Cherem. Also set the choice before our brethren in foreign parts. If they will stand by us, well; if not, let them ascend their high places. Let Ahia build them an altar, and Hananiah sing at the sacrifice, and let them at once set themselves apart, and say, 'We have no portion in the God of Israel.' " From every side the cry arose, "Heaven preserve us from heresy; we have still a portion in the Israel of God." The authority of Tiberias was then recognized as supreme. But when Babylon was afterward politically severed from the Roman power in the West, and fell to the Persians, the Prince of the Captivity represented the Jews of the East as their independent head.

The study of the Talmud has the most fascinating influence over the Jewish mind, and if the latter is to be comprehended, the teaching which moulds it must be clearly understood. "Everyone," say the Jews, "is bound to divide the time of his study into three parts--one-third is to be devoted to the written law, one-third to the Mishna, and one-third to Gemara." To understand it in accordance with the thirteen rules of interpretation, it takes a study of seven hours a day for seven years. They also say that it is lawful to rend a man ignorant of the Talmud "like a fish." Israelites are forbidden to marry the daughter of such a one, as "she is no better than a beast."

To obviate arguments furnished by its own statements against itself, its adherents make a distinction between its decisions, its directions, and its legendary or romance part,--a distinction fatal to its claim of equality with Holy Scripture. For this legendary part some of the ancient Rabbis had but little respect. Rabbi Joshua, son of Levi, says, "He who writes it down will have no part in the world to come; he who explains it will be scorched." Maimonides also says, "If one of the many foolish rabbis reads these histories and proverbs, he will find an explanation unnecessary, for to a fool everything is right, and he finds no difficulty anywhere. And if a really wise man reads them, there will be but two ways in which he will consider them. If he takes them in their literal sense and thinks them bad, he will say, This is foolishness, and in so doing he says nothing at all against the foundation of the faith." The School of Shammai, who lived before Christ, and the School of Hillel, who lived till eight years after His birth, are brought forward as contradictory in their decisions. Like Christian leaders in later times, they strove to exceed each other in learning and pride. Hillel, called also the second Ezra, was born in Babylon. His thirst for learning drove him to Jerusalem. He was so poor he could not fee the porter of the college. So he used to listen at the window. One bitter winter's night he became insensible from cold, and the snow falling fast covered him up. The darkened window called the attention of those inside to his form without. He was then brought in, and soon restored to life. It is said that afterward "he had eighty scholars: thirty of them were fit that the divine glory should rest upon them, as it did upon Moses--thirty others were worthy that the sun should stand still for them, as it did for Joshua--and twenty were of a form between."

The Kabbalists believed nothing but what they "received." Their teachers received from the prophets--the prophets received from angels--David from the Angel Michael, Moses from Metatron, Isaac from Raphael, Shem from Yophiel--and the angels themselves from God. The Metatron is the connecting link between the Divine Spirit and the world of matter. It resembles the Demiurgos of the Gnostics. It is the mystical expression for the Being that forms a union between God and nature, or, as the Zohar puts it, between the "King and the Queen." There were also the Essenes, who allegorized the Law; the Hellenists, who mixed it up with Greek philosophy; the Therapeutists, who thought supreme happiness to be meditation; the political Herodians; the Zealots; and other petty sects who formed the great mass of the people, and held either with or against the two great schools. The decisions of both schools are remarkable for their concise brevity. A phrase suggests many thoughts--a single word awakes a whole train of reasoning. A German writer has said of the Mishna, that "it is a firmament of telescopic stars, containing many a cluster of light, which no unaided eye has ever resolved." Some of its sayings are of touching beauty. Such are the words of Rabbi Tarphon, "The day is short--the labor vast;--but the laborers are slothful, though the reward is great, and the Master of the house presseth for despatch." Some of its sayings are extravagant--some are loathsome--and some are blasphemous. But mixed up as they are together, they form an extraordinary monument of "human industry, human wisdom, and human folly."

The Talmud contains a system of casuistry in reference to the doctrines of intention and legal uncleanness. It proportions responsibility to the amount of intention, and thereby hands over tender consciences to the control of the Rabbis. It proportions legal uncleanness to every degree of approach to the source, or, as it is called, "the father" of uncleanness; and this again renders necessary continual appeals to the decision of the Rabbis.

Predestination and free will are both taught. "Everything is in the hands of heaven, except the fear of heaven." "All things are ordained of God, but men's actions are their own." When men wish to sin they are enjoined to go to a place where they are unknown, and to clothe themselves in black so as not to dishonor God openly. Hereditary sin was denied by the early Kabbalists, but the later ones allow it. They believe that all souls were created in Adam, and therefore partake of his fall. Every kind of philosophy known at the time of its compilation is more or less introduced into the Talmud, and all more or less tinged with Magian superstition. From this superstition grew the mysticism of the Jewish schools. All the arts and sciences, under some form or other, are alluded to, and references to historical events abound in its pages. When it is dangerous to speak of them openly they are veiled under some figure known only to the initiated. Some observations seem to anticipate future discoveries. The Antipodes are hinted at. And the Jerusalem Gemara says that Alexander the Great was represented as carrying a ball in his hand because he believed the figure of the earth to be a sphere. Astronomy is fully discussed. The planets are "moving stars." Mercury is "the star"; Venus, "splendor"; Mars, "redness"; Jupiter, "rightness"; Saturn, "the Sabbath star." The signs of the Zodiac have the same names as are now used. The Galaxy is "the river of light." Comets are "burning arrows." And it is said that when a comet passes through Orion it will destroy the world. A certain Ishmaelite merchant is related to have invited Rabba to come and see where the heavens and the earth touched. Rabba took his bread basket and placed it on the window while he prayed. He afterward looked for it, but it was gone. He asked the Ishmaelite, "Are there thieves here?" "No," he replied, "but your basket has gone up in the revolving of the firmament. It will return if you wait till morning when the revolving of the firmament returns where it was before."

Astrology is treated as a science which governs the life of man. The stars make men wise. The stars make them rich. "A man born on the first day of the week will excel in only one quality. He that is born on the second day will be an angry man, because on that day the waters were divided. He that is born on the third day of the week will be rich and licentious, because on it the herbs were created. He that is born on the fourth day will be wise and of good memory, because on that day the lights were hung up. He that is born on the fifth day will be charitable, because on that day the fishes and fowls were created. He that is born on the Sabbath, on the Sabbath he also shall die, because on his account they profaned the great Sabbath day." Rabba bar Shila says, "He shall be eminently holy." Rabbi Chanina says, "The influence of the stars makes wise, the influence of the stars makes rich, and Israel is under the influence of the stars." Rabbi Jochanan says, "Israel is not under the influence of the stars. Whence is it proved? 'Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them' . The heathen, but not Israel." "An eclipse of the sun is an evil sign to the nations of the world; an eclipse of the moon is an evil sign to Israel, for Israel reckons by the moon, the nations of the world by the sun." It is also said that Saturn and Mars are the baleful stars, and whosoever begins a work, or walks in the way, when either of these two is in the ascendant, will come to sorrow. Astrology naturally leads to amulets and charms. Amulets are divided into two classes, approved and disapproved. An approved amulet is "one that has cured three persons, or has been made by a man who has cured three persons with other amulets."

Charms are abundantly provided against accidents. "For bleeding of the nose let a man be brought to a priest named Levi, and let the name Levi be written backward. If there be not a priest, get a layman, who is to write backward 'Ana pipi Shila bar Sumki,' or 'Taam dli bemi ceseph, taam dli bemi pagam'; or let him take a root of grass, and the cord of an old bed, and paper, and saffron, and the red part of the inside of a palm tree, and let him burn them together, and let him take some wool, and twist two threads, and dip them in vinegar, and roll them in ashes, and put them into his nose; or let him look out for a stream of water which flows from east to west, and let him go and stand with one leg on each side of it, and let him take with his right hand some mud from under his left foot, and with his left hand from under his right foot, and let him twist two threads of wool, and dip them in the mud, and put them into his nose." If a man be bitten by a mad dog he must die, unless some remedy be found for him. "Abai says he must take the skin of a male adder, and write upon it, 'I, M, the son of the woman N, upon the skin of a male adder, write against thee, Kanti Kanti Klirus, but some say, Kandi Kandi Klurus, Lord of Hosts. Amen. Selah.' Let him also cast off his clothes, and bury them in a graveyard for twelve months of a year; then let him take them up, and burn them in a furnace, and let him strew the ashes at the parting of the roads. And during these twelve months let him only drink out of a brass tube, lest he see the phantom form of the demon, and he be endangered. This was done by Abba, the son of Martha--he is Abba, the son of Manjumi. His mother made him a tube of gold."

Magic naturally follows from such teaching. Abba Benjamin says, "If leave had been given to see the hurtful demons, no creature could stand before them." Abbai says, "They are more than we are, and stand against us, like the trench round a garden bed." Rav Huni says, "Everyone has a thousand on his left hand, and ten thousand on his right hand." Rabba says, "The want of room at the sermon is from them, the wearing out of the Rabbis' clothes is from their rubbing against them, bruised legs are from them." "Whosoever wishes to know their existence, let him take ashes passed through a sieve, and strew them in his bed, and in the morning he will see the marks of a cock's claws. Whosoever wishes to see them, let him take the inner covering of a black cat, the kitten of a first-born black cat, which is also the kitten of a first-born, and let him burn it in the fire, and powder it, and fill his eyes with it, and he will see them. And let him pour the powder into an iron tube, and seal it with an iron signet, lest they steal any of it, and let him seal the mouth of it, lest any harm ensue. Rav Bibi bar Abbai did thus, and he was harmed, but the Rabbis prayed for mercy, and he was healed." Arts of sorcery are attributed to the Rabbis. They are represented as having the power to create both men and melons. One of them is said to have changed a woman into an ass, and ridden the ass to market, when another sorcerer changed the ass again into a woman.

This sorcery is traced to Abraham, who is said to have given his sons gifts. These gifts are stated to have been the arts of sorcery. Legends abound everywhere throughout the Talmud. Rabbi Judah said, Rav said, "Everything that God created in the world, He created male and female. And thus he did with leviathan, the piercing serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent. He created them male and female; but if they had been joined together they would have desolated the whole world. What then did the Holy One do? He enervated the male leviathan, and slew the female, and salted her for the righteous in the time to come, for it is said, 'And He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea' . Likewise, with regard to behemoth upon a thousand mountains, He created them male and female; but if they had been joined together they would have desolated the whole world. What then did the Holy One do? He enervated the male behemoth, and made the female barren, and preserved her for the righteous in the time to come. That period is to be a season of great feasting. The liquor to be drunk will be apple-wine of more than seventy years old. The cup of David alone will hold one hundred and twenty-one logs. It is related that a Rabbi once saw in a desert a flock of geese so fat that their feathers fell off, and the rivers flowed in fat. He said to them, 'Shall we have part of you in the world to come?' One of them lifted up a wing and another a leg, to signify the parts we shall have. We should otherwise have had all parts of these geese, but that their sufferings are owing to us. It is our iniquities that have delayed the coming of the Messiah, and these geese suffer greatly by reason of their excessive fat, which daily increases, and will increase till the Messiah comes."

Rabba bar Chama says that he once saw "a bird so tall, that its head reached to the sky and its legs to the bottom of the ocean." The water in which it stood was so deep that a carpenter's axe which had fallen in seven years before had not then reached the bottom. He also saw "a frog as large as a village containing sixty houses." This frog was swallowed up by a serpent, and this serpent in turn by a crow; this crow flew, and perched upon a cedar, and this cedar was as broad as sixteen wagons abreast. There is also an account of a fish which was killed by a worm. This fish, when driven ashore, destroyed sixty cities, and sixty cities ate of it, and sixty cities salted it, and with its bones the ruined cities were rebuilt. Stories are also told of fishes with eyes like the moon, and of horned fishes three hundred miles in length. These stories are intended to confirm the text, "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep" . To illustrate the statement of Amos , a story is told of a lion which one of the Caesars wished to see. At 400 miles distance he roared, and the walls of Rome fell. At 300 miles he again roared, and all the people fell on their backs, and their teeth fell out, and Caesar fell off his throne. Caesar then prayed for his removal to a safer distance.

The Talmud informs us that "a young unicorn, one day old, is as large as Mount Tabor." Consequently Noah had great difficulty in saving an old one alive. He could not get it into the ark, so he bound it by its horn to the side of the ark. At the same time Og, King of Bashan , was saved by riding on its back. We are further informed that he was one of the giants who came from the intermarriage of angels with the daughters of men. His footsteps were forty miles long, and one of his teeth served to make a couch for Abraham. When the Israelites came against him under the command of Moses, he inquired the size of their camp, and hearing that it was three miles in extent he tore up a mountain of that size, to hurl it upon them. Grasshoppers were, however, sent to bore holes in it, so that it fell over his head on to his neck. His teeth also grew and were entangled in the rocks, as the Psalmist says, "Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly" . He is also said to be identical with Eliezer the servant of Abraham, and to have been, like Enoch, translated to Paradise. This account, however, differs widely from the statements of the Jerusalem Targum on the Book of Numbers .

The Talmud affirms that Adam was made from dust of all parts of the earth; and that he was created with two faces, as it is written, "Thou hast beset me behind and before" . The Rabbis further state that he was formed in two parts, one male and one female. His height before his fall reached to the firmament, but after his fall God put his hand upon him, and compressed him small. In the tenth hour after he was made, he sinned; and in the twelfth he was driven out of Paradise. Abraham is said to have put Sarah into a box when he brought her into Egypt, that none should see her beauty. At the custom-house toll was demanded. Abraham said he was ready to pay. The custom-house officers said, "Thou bringest clothes." He said, "I will pay for clothes." They said, "Thou bringest gold." He said, "I will pay for gold." They said, "Thou bringest silk." He said, "I will pay for silk." They said, "Thou bringest pearls." He said, "I will pay for pearls." They said, "Thou must open the box," whereupon her splendor shone over the whole land of Egypt.

Abraham, it is also said, had a precious stone hung around his throat, on which when the sick looked they were healed. Some of the laws of Sodom are also recorded: "Whosoever cut off the ears of another's ass received the ass till his ears grew again." "Whosoever wounded another, the man wounded was obliged to pay him for letting his blood." When the judges of Sodom attempted to fine Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, because another man had wounded him, he took up a stone and flung it at the judge. He then bid the judge to pay the fine, which was now due to him for letting his blood, to the man who had first wounded him. There was a public bed in Sodom, and every stranger was obliged to lie in it. If his legs were too long for it, they were cut off; and if too short, they were racked out to the proper length. When a traveller came, each citizen, to show his hospitality, was obliged to give him a coin with his name written upon it. The traveller was then deprived of bread; and when he had died of starvation, the citizens came, and each one took back his own money. The Sodomites thus kept up their character for liberality.

In the hour that Moses ascended up on high the ministering angels said before God, "O Lord of the world, what business has he that is born of woman amongst us?" He answered, "He is come to receive the Law." They replied, "This desirable treasure, which has been treasured up from the six days of creation, six hundred and seventy-four generations before the world was created, dost Thou now wish to give it to flesh and blood? what is man that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that Thou visitest him? O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth, Who hast set Thy glory above the heavens." The Holy One said to Moses, "Return them an answer." He said, "O Lord of the world, I fear, lest they burn me with the breath of their mouth." God said, "Lay hold on the throne of my glory, and return them an answer; for it is said, 'He that holdeth the face of His throne, He spreadeth His cloud over him' " . Rabbi Nahum says, "This means that the Almighty spread some of the glory of the Shechinah and His cloud over him." He then said, "Lord of the world, what is written in the Law that Thou art about to give me?" "I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of Egypt." He then said, "Did ye ever go down into Egypt and serve Pharaoh? why then should ye have the Law?" Again, "What is written therein?" "Thou shalt have none other God." He then asked them, "Do ye then dwell among the uncircumcised, that ye should commit idolatry?" Again, "What is written?" "Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it." "Do ye then do any work so as to need rest?" Again, "What is written?" "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain." "Have ye then any work that would lead to this sin?" Again, "What is written?" "Honor thy father and mother." "Have ye then got any father or mother?" Again, "What is written?" "Thou shalt do no murder." "Thou shalt not commit adultery." "Thou shalt not steal." "Have ye then envy or the principle of evil amongst you?" Immediately they praised the Holy One, "Blessed be He."

Wonderful stories are told of the manna. The manna is said to have fallen from heaven, accompanied by showers of pearls and precious stones. It tasted to everyone according to his desire. If one wished for fat fowl, so it tasted. If another other wished for honey, so it tasted, as it is written, "Thou hast lacked nothing" . The Targum of Jonathan goes on to inform us, "At the fourth hour, when the sun had waxed hot upon it, it melted and became streams of water, which flowed away into the great sea, and wild animals that were clean, and cattle, came to drink of it, and the children of Israel hunted and ate them" . It is further related that the Queen of Sheba wished to test the knowledge of Solomon who had written on botany "from the cedar to the hyssop." She once stood at a distance from him with two exquisite wreaths of flowers--one artificial, one natural. They were so much alike that the King looked perplexed, and the courtiers looked melancholy. Observing a swarm of bees on the window, he commanded it to be opened. All the bees lighted on the natural and not one on the artificial wreath. Solomon is also said to have sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, to bind Aschmedai, the king of the devils. After deceiving the devil with wine he made him reveal the secret of the Schamir, or little worm, which can cleave the hardest stone. And by the aid of this worm Solomon built the Temple. The devil afterward asked Solomon for his signet ring, and when he had given it to him the devil stretched one wing up to the firmament and the other to the earth, and jerked Solomon four hundred miles away. Then assuming the aspect of Solomon, he seated himself on his throne. After Solomon had again obtained it, he wrote, "What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?" .

A story is told of Nebuzaradan, that he saw the blood of Zecharias bubbling in the court of the priests. When he asked what it meant, he was informed that it was the blood of bullocks and lambs. When he had ordered bullocks and lambs to be slain, the blood of Zecharias still bubbled and reeked above theirs. The priests then confessed that it was the blood of a priest and prophet and judge, whom they had slain. He then commanded eighty thousand priests to be put to death. The blood, however, still continued to bubble. God then said, "Is this man, who is but flesh and blood, filled with pity toward my children, and shall not I be much more?" So he gave a sign to the blood, and it was swallowed up in the place. Of the eighty thousand priests slain none was left but Joshua the son of Jozedek, of whom it is written, "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" . Of Titus it is said that he was unclean in the Temple, and with a blow of his sword rent the veil, which flowed with blood. To punish him a gnat was sent into his brain, which grew as large as a dove. When his skull was opened, the gnat was found to have a mouth of copper, and claws of iron.

The Talmud teaches that evil spirits, devils, and goblins are the offspring of Adam. They are said to fly about in all directions. They know from eavesdropping what is to come in the future. Like men, they eat, drink, and multiply. They are represented as playing men awkward tricks. One is stated to have broken a vessel of wine, and to have spilled it on the ground. The Rabbis, however, afterward compelled him to pay for it. People are forbidden to ride oxen fresh from the stall, as Satan dances between their horns. Men are forbidden to salute their companions by night, lest they may turn out to be devils. It is also commanded to shake out, before drinking, some water from the vessel, to get rid of what is sipped by the evil spirits. It is, however, permitted to consult Satan on week-days. He is considered identical with the Angel of Death. But he is described as having no power over those engaged in reading the law. Many of his devices are related in the Talmud, whereby he made learned men leave off reading, and then he snatched away their souls. A story is told of the attempt of Rabbi Joshua, the son of Levi, and Satan to deceive each other about the Rabbi's place in paradise. Finally, however, Satan managed to take away his life, whereupon the voice of Elijah is heard shouting in heaven, "Make room for the son of Levi,"--"Make room for the son of Levi." The Angel of Death is represented as standing at the head of the dying man. He has a drawn sword in his hand, on which is a drop of gall. When the dying man sees it, he shudders and opens his mouth. The Angel of Death then lets it fall into his mouth. The sick man dies, corrupts, and becomes pale. Three days the soul flies about the body, thinking to return to it, but after it sees the appearance of the face changed, it leaves it and goes away.

Rabbi Isaac moreover asserts, that a worm in a dead body is as painful as a needle in a living one. The Talmud still further states that there are three voices continually heard--the voice of the sun as he rolls in his orbit--the voice of the multitudes of Rome--and the voice of the soul as it leaves the body. The Rabbis, however, prayed for mercy on the soul, and this voice has ceased. Instances are also given of men overhearing the conversations of the dead, and receiving profit from them. A man is said to have heard one girl tell another in the grave, that those who sowed their crops at a particular time would find their harvests fail. So he took care to sow at another time, and he had an abundant yield. It is also said that every Friday evening a second soul enters into the bodies of men, and that it remains to the end of the Sabbath, when it departs. The evidence of this second soul is shown by an increased appetite for eating and drinking.

Israelites are forbidden to pray in the Syriac language, as the angels do not understand it, and consequently cannot carry their petitions to God. Gabriel, however, is acquainted with it, as he taught Joseph the seventy languages. The chief of all the angels is said to be the Metatron, who once received fiery blows from another angel called Ampiel. With regard to heaven, the Rabbis teach that Egypt is four hundred miles long and broad, the Morians' land is sixty times larger than Egypt, and the world is sixty times larger than the Morians' land; heaven is sixty times larger than the world, and hell is sixty times larger than heaven. It follows that the "whole world is but a pot-lid to hell." Yet some say that hell is immeasurable, and some say heaven is immeasurable. It was a pearl amongst the sayings of a Rabbi. "Heaven is not like this world, for in it there is neither eating, nor drinking, nor marriage, nor increasing, nor trafficking, nor hate, nor envy, nor heart-burnings; but the just shall sit with their crowns on their heads, and enjoy the splendors of the Shechinah."

Hell is said to have three doors,--one in the wilderness, one in the sea, and one in Jerusalem. In the wilderness, as it is written, "They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit" . In the sea, as it is written, "Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice" . In Jerusalem, as it is written, "Saith the Lord whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem" . The school of Rabbi Ishmael teaches that the "fire in Zion" is hell and "His furnace in Jerusalem" is the gate of hell. It is also taught that the fire of hell has no power over the sinners in Israel, and that the fire of hell has no power over the disciples of the wise. It is again, however, stated that the Israelites who sin with their bodies, and the Gentiles who sin with their bodies, go to hell, and are punished there twelve months. After their body is wasted, and their soul is burned, the wind scatters them beneath the soles of the righteous, as it is said, "And ye shall tread down the wicked: for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet" . Heretics--deniers of the resurrection--Epicureans, and other sinners, shall be perpetually tormented "where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched."

The doctrine of the resurrection is clearly taught in the Talmud. As for the last judgment, the following story is told: "Said Antoninus to Rabbi, The body and soul can free themselves from judgment. How? The body can say, The soul sinned from the time it separated from me, while I lay as a stone in the grave. And the soul can say, The body sinned from the time it separated from me, while I flew in the air as a bird." He replied, "I will give you an example to which it is like. It is like a king of flesh and blood, who has a beautiful garden, and in which are pleasant fruits, and he placed two watchmen therein, of whom one was lame and the other was blind. Said the lame to the blind, 'I see pleasant fruits in the garden; come, and let me sit upon thee, and let us go and eat.' " The lame sat upon the blind, and they went and ate. After some days the lord of the garden came, and said, "Where are my pleasant fruits?" The lame said, "I have no legs to go to them." The blind said, "I have no eyes to see them." What did he do? He set the lame upon the blind, and judged them as one. So the blessed God will return the soul into the body, and judge them as one, as it is said, "He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth, that he may judge his people" . He shall call to the heavens from above, that is the soul; and to the earth that he may judge his people, that is, the body. After the resurrection men will live without work or weariness of body, their houses shall be of precious stones, and their beds of silk, and the rivers shall run with wine and perfumed oil.

The Talmud often contradicts Holy Scripture. It says that they are in error who believe the Bible account of the sons of Reuben, of the sons of Eli, and of the sons of Samuel. It allows usury, and the passing of children through the fire to Moloch. It permits deceit, and supports it with the text, "With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show thyself unsavory" . The Rabbis teach hatred of Christians and Gentiles. Instead of saying, "In the presence of the king," they are taught to say, "In the presence of the dog." A Jew who bears witness against another Jew before a Gentile is publicly cursed. A Jew is also released from any oath he may swear to a Gentile. It is only permitted a Jewish physician to heal Gentiles for the sake of the fee, or for the practice of medicine, but it is not allowed to save their lives in seasons of danger. Their marriage is no marriage; and their butchers' meat is only carrion. It is wrong to invite them into a Jewish house; and it is not needful to restore what they have lost. When the ox of a Jew gores the ox of a Gentile, the Jew is free; but if the ox of a Gentile gores the ox of a Jew, the Gentile must pay the full cost. A story is told of a Rabbi who sold a number of palm-trees to a Gentile, and afterward ordered his servant to cut off some pieces from them. "For," he said, "the Gentile knows their number, but he does not know whether they be thick or thin."

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