well provoke attention--"Learn or inquire nothing of the
Sadducees, lest thou be drawn into hell."
Rabbi Yehudah tells us that Rav says a man should never absent himself
from the lecture hall, not even for one hour; for the above Mishnah had
been taught at college for many years, but the reason of it had never
been made plain till the hour when Rabbi Chanina ben Akavia came and
explained it.
_Shabbath_, fol. 83, col. 2.
The Mishnah alluded to is short and simple, viz, Where is it
taught that a ship is clean to the touch? From Prov. xxx. 19,
"The way of a ship in the midst of the sea." (i.e., as the sea
is clean to the touch, therefore a ship must also be clean to
the touch).
It is indiscreet for one to sleep in a house as the sole occupant, for
Lilith will seize hold of him.
Ibid., fol. 151, col. 2.
Lilith (the night-visiting one) is the name of a night spectre,
said to have been Adam's first wife, but who, for her refractory
conduct, was transformed into a demon endowed with power to
injure and even destroy infants unprotected by the necessary
amulet or charm.
"Thou hast acknowledged the Lord this day to be thy God; and the Lord
hath acknowledged thee this day to be His peculiar people" (Deut. xxvi.
17, 18). The Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto Israel, "Ye have made
Me a name in the world, as it is written (Deut. vi. 4), 'Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God is one Lord;' and so I will make you a name in the
world, as it is said (1 Chron. xvii. 21), 'And what one nation in the
earth is like Thy people Israel?'"
_Chaggigah_, fol. 3, col. 1.
Why are the words of the Law compared to fire? (Jer. xxiii. 29.)
Because, as fire does not burn when there is but one piece of wood, so
do the words of the Law not maintain the fire of life when meditated on
by one alone (see, in confirmation, Matt, xviii. 20).
_Taanith_, fol. 7, col. i.
"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo"
(Deut. xxxiv, i). Tradition says there were twelve stairs, but that
Moses surmounted them all in one step.
_Soteh_, fol. 13, col. 2.
Pieces of money given in charity should not be counted over by twos, but
one by one.
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 8, col. 2.
"Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?"
(Job xxxix. 1.) The wild goat is cruel to her offspring. As soon as they
are brought forth, she climbs with them to the steep cliffs, that they
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