Rabbi Yehudah says the early Pietists used to suffer some twenty days before death from diarrhoea, the effect of which was to purge and purify them for the world to come; for it is said, "As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold, so is a man to his praise" (Prov. xxvii. 21). _Semachoth_, chap. 3, mish. 10. It may not be out of place to append two or three parallel passages here by way of illustration:--"Bodily suffering purges away sin" (_Berachoth_, fol. 5, col. 1). "He who suffers will not see hell" (_Eiruvin_, fol. 41, col. 2). "To die of diarrhoea is an augury for good, for most of the righteous die of that ailment" (_Kethuboth_, fol. 103, col. 2, and elsewhere). The bathing season at (the hot baths of) Dimsis lasted twenty-one days. _Shabbath_, fol. 147, col. 2. A fowl hatches in twenty-one days, and the almond tree ripens its fruit in twenty-one days. _Bechoroth_, fol. 8, col. 1. Rabbi Levi says the realization of a good dream may be hopefully expected for twenty-two years; for it is written (Gen. xxxvii. 2), "These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph being seventeen years old when he had the dreams." And it is written also (Gen. xli. 46), "And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh," etc. From seventeen to thirty are thirteen, to which add the seven years of plenty and the two years of famine, which make the sum total of twenty-two. _Berachoth_, fol. 55, col. 2. In the pages which precede and follow the above quotation there is much that is interesting on the subject of dreams and their interpretation, and one is strongly tempted to append selections, but we refrain in order to make room for a prayer which occurs in the morning service for the various festivals, and is given in the preceding context:--"Sovereign of the Universe! I am thine, and my dreams are thine. I have dreamed a dream, but know not what it portendeth. May it be acceptable in Thy presence, O Lord my God, and the God of my fathers, that all my dreams concerning myself and concerning all Israel may be for my good. Whether I have dreamt concerning myself, or whether I have dreamt concerning others, or whether others have dreamt concerning me, if they be good, strengthen and fortify them, that they may be accomplished in me, as were the dreams of the righteous Joseph; and if they require cure, heal them as Thou didst Hezekiah, king of Judah, from his sickness; as Miriam the prophetess from her leprosy, and Naaman from his leprosy; as the bitter waters of Marah by the hands of our legislator Moses, and those of Jericho by the hands of Elisha. And as Thou wast pleased to turn the curse of Balaam, the son of Beor, to a blessing, be pleased to convert all my dreams concerning me and all Israel to a good end. Oh, guard me; let me be acceptable to Thee, and grant me life. Amen." (The translation of this prayer