Hebraic Literature (eBook)

Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala

Maurice Harris (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018
638 Seiten
Seltzer Books (Verlag)
978-1-4554-0445-2 (ISBN)

Infos

Chapters cover: Talmud, Midrashim, Kabbala, Rabinical Ana, Proverbial Saying and Traditions, and Fasts and Festivals. The Introduction begins: 'AMONG the absurd notions as to what the Talmud was, given credence in the Middle Ages, one was that it was a man! The medieval priest or peasant was perhaps wiser than he knew. Almost, might we say, the Talmud was Man, for it is a record of the doings, the beliefs, the usages, the hopes, the sufferings, the patience, the humor, the mentality, and the morality of the Jewish people for half a millennium.'

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Chapters cover: Talmud, Midrashim, Kabbala, Rabinical Ana, Proverbial Saying and Traditions, and Fasts and Festivals. The Introduction begins: "e;AMONG the absurd notions as to what the Talmud was, given credence in the Middle Ages, one was that it was a man! The medieval priest or peasant was perhaps wiser than he knew. Almost, might we say, the Talmud was Man, for it is a record of the doings, the beliefs, the usages, the hopes, the sufferings, the patience, the humor, the mentality, and the morality of the Jewish people for half a millennium."e;

Textauszug

THE TALMUD

 

THE TALMUD, THE MIDRASHIM, AND KABBALA

 

WHERE do we learn that the Shechinah rests even upon one who studies the law? In  Exodus xx. 24, where it is written, "In all places where I record my name I will  come unto thee, and I will bless thee." Berachoth, fol. 6, col. 1. One pang of remorse at a man's heart is of more avail than many stripes applied  to him. (See Prov. xvii. 10.)  Ibid., fol. 7, col. 1. "Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord!" (Deut. vi. 4.) Whosoever  prolongs the utterance of the word one, shall have his days and years prolonged  to him. So also Zohar, syn. tit. ii. Ibid., fol. 13, col. 2. Once, as the Rabbis tell us, the Roman Government issued a decree forbidding  Israel to study the law. Whereupon Pappus, the son of Yehudah, one day found  Rabbi Akiva teaching it openly to multitudes, whom he had gathered round him to  hear it. "Akiva," said he, "art thou not afraid of the Government?" "List," was  the reply, "and I will tell thee how it is by a parable. It is with me as with  the fishes whom a fox, walking once by a river's side, saw darting distractedly  to and fro in the stream; and, addressing, inquired, 'From what, pray, are ye  fleeing?' 'From the nets,' they replied, 'which the children of men have set to  ensnare us.' 'Why, then,' rejoined the fox, 'not try the dry land with me, where  you and I can live together, as our fathers managed to do before us?' 'Surely,'  exclaimed they, 'thou art not he of whom we have heard so much as the most  cunning of animals, for herein thou art not wise, but foolish. For if we have  cause to fear where it is natural for us to live, how much more reason have we  to do so where we needs must die!' {p. 4} Just so," continued Akiva, "is it with  us who study the law, in which (Deut. xxx. 20) it is written, 'He is thy life  and the length of thy days;' for if we suffer while we study the law, how much  more shall we if we neglect it?" Not many days after, it is related, this Rabbi  Akiva was apprehended and thrown into prison. As it happened, they led him out  for execution just at the time when "Hear, O Israel!" fell to be repeated, and  as they tore his flesh with currycombs, and as he was with long-drawn breath  sounding forth the word one, his soul departed from him. Then came forth a voice  from heaven which said, "Blessed art thou, Rabbi Akiva, for thy soul and the  word one left thy body together." Berachoth, fol. 61, col. 2. The badger, as it existed in the days of Moses, was an animal of unique type,  and the learned are not agreed whether it was a wild one or a domestic. It had  only one horn on its forehead; and was assigned for the time to Moses, who made  a covering of its skin for the tabernacle; after which it became extinct, having  served the purpose of its existence. Rabbi Yehudah says, "The ox, also, which  the first man, Adam, sacrificed, had but one horn on its forehead." Shabbath, fol. 28, col. 2. Once a Gentile came to Shamai, and said, "Proselytize me, but on condition that  thou teach me the whole law, even the whole of it, while I stand upon one leg."  Shamai drove him off with the builder's rod which he held in his hand. When he  came to Hillel with the same challenge, Hillel converted him by answering him on  the spot, "That which is hateful to thyself, do not do to thy neighbor. This is  the whole law, and the rest is its commentary." (Tobit, iv. 15; Matt. vii. 12.) Ibid., fol. 31, col. 1. When Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his son, Rabbi Elazar, came out of their cave  on a Friday afternoon, they saw an old man hurrying along with two bunches of  myrtle in his hand. "What," said they, accosting him, "dost thou want with  these?" "To smell them in honor of the Sabbath," was the reply. "Would not one  bunch," they remarked, "be enough for that purpose?" "Nay," the old man replied;  "one is in honor of 'Remember' (Exod. xxii. 28); {p. 5} and one in honor of 'Keep' (Deut. v. 8)." Thereupon Rabbi Shimon remarked to his  son, "Behold how the commandments are regarded by Israel!" Ibid., fol. 33, col. 2. Not one single thing has God created in vain. He created the snail as a remedy  for a blister; the fly for the sting of a wasp; the gnat for the bite of a  serpent; the serpent itself for healing the itch (or the scab); and the lizard  (or the spider) for the sting of a scorpion. Ibid., fol. 77. col. 2. When a man is dangerously ill, the law grants dispensation, for it says, "You  may break one Sabbath on his behalf, that he may be preserved to keep many  Sabbaths." Shabbath, fol. 151, col. 2. Once when Rabbi Ishmael paid a visit to Rabbi Shimon, he was offered a cup of  wine, which he at once, without being asked twice, accepted, and drained at one  draught. "Sir," said his host, "dost thou not know the proverb, that he who  drinks off a cup of wine at a draught is a greedy one?" "Ah!" was the answer,  "that fits not this case; for thy cup is small, thy wine is sweet, and my  stomach is capacious." P'sachim, fol. 86, col. 2. At the time when Nimrod the wicked had cast our Father Abraham into the fiery  furnace, Gabriel stood forth in the presence of the Holy One--blessed be  He!--and said, "Lord of the universe, let me, I pray thee, go down and cool the  furnace, and deliver that righteous one from it." Then the Holy One--blessed be  He!--said unto him, "I am One in my world and he is one in his world; it is more  becoming that He who is one should deliver him who is one." But as God does not  withhold His reward from any creature, He said to Gabriel, "For this thy good  intention, be thine the honor of rescuing three of his descendants." At the time  when Nebuchadnezzar the wicked cast Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the  fiery furnace, Yourkami, the prince of hail, arose before God and said, "Lord of  the universe, let me, I pray thee, go down and cool the fiery furnace, and  rescue these righteous men from its fury." Whereupon Gabriel interposed, and  said, "God's power is not to be demonstrated thus, for thou art the prince of hail,  and everybody knows that water quenches fire; but I, the prince of fire, will go  down and cool the flame within and intensify it without (so as to consume the  executioners), and thus will I perform a miracle within a miracle." Then the  Holy One--blessed be He!--said to him, "Go down." Upon which Gabriel exclaimed,  "Verily the truth of the Lord endureth forever!" (Ps. cxvii. 2.) P'sachim, fol. 118, col. 1. One peppercorn to-day is better than a basketful of pumpkins to-morrow. Chaggigah, fol. 10, col. 1. One day of a year is counted for a whole year. Rosh Hashanah, fol. 2, col. 2. If a king be crowned on the twenty-ninth of Adar (the last month of the sacred  year), on the morrow--the first of Nissan--it is reckoned that he commences his  second year, that being the new year's day for royal and ecclesiastical affairs. For the sake of one righteous man the whole world is preserved in existence, as  it is written (Prov. x. 25), "The righteous man is an everlasting foundation." Yoma, fol. 38, col. 2. Rabbi Meyer saith, "Great is repentance, because for the sake of one that truly  repenteth the whole world is pardoned; as it is written (Hosea xiv. 4), 'I will  heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away  from him. It is not said, "from them," but "from him." Ibid., fol. 86, col. 2. He who observes one precept, in addition to those which, as originally laid upon  him, he has discharged, shall receive favor from above, and is equal to him who  has fulfilled the whole law. Kiddushin, fol. 39, col. 2. If any man vow a vow by only one of all the utensils of the altar, he has vowed  by the corban, even although be did not mention the word in his oath. Rabbi  Yehuda says, "He who swears by the word Jerusalem is as though he had said  nothing." Nedarim, fol. 10, col. 2. Balaam was lame in one foot and blind in one eye. Soteh, fol. 10, col. 1, and Sanhedrin, fol. 105, col. 1. One wins eternal life after a struggle of years, another finds it in one hour  (see Luke xxiii. 43). Avodah Zarah, fol. 17, Col. This saying is applied by Rabbi the Holy to Rabbi Eliezar, the son of Durdia, a  profligate who recommended himself to the favor of heaven by one prolonged act  of determined penitence, placing his head between his knees and groaning and  weeping till his soul departed from him, and his sin and misery along with it;  for at the moment of death a voice from heaven came forth and said, "Rabbi  Eliezar, the son of Durdia, is appointed to life everlasting." When Rabbi the  Holy heard this, he wept, and said, "One wins eternal life after a struggle of  years; another finds it in one hour." (Compare Luke xv. 11-32.) Whosoever destroyeth one soul of Israel, Scripture counts it to him as though he  had destroyed the whole world; and whoso preserveth one soul of Israel,  Scripture counts it as though he had preserved the whole world. Sanhedrin, fol. 37, col. 1. The greatness of God is infinite; for while with one die man impresses many  coins and all are exactly alike,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.3.2018
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Judentum
• ISBN-10: 1-4554-0445-4 / 1455404454
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4554-0445-2 / 9781455404452