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."
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