Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala
Religion
Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala
Hebrew literature -- Translations into English
If one is sick and at the point of death, he is expected to confess, for
all confess who are about to suffer the last penalty of the law. When a
man goes to the market place, let him consider himself as handed over to
the custody of the officers of judgment. If he has a headache, let him
deem himself fastened with a chain by the neck. If confined to his bed,
let him regard himself as mounting the steps to be judged; for when this
happens to him, he is saved from death only if he have competent
advocates, and these advocates are repentance and good works. And if
nine hundred and ninety-nine plead against him, and only one for him, he
is saved; as it is said (Job xxxiii. 23), "If there be an interceding
angel, one among a thousand to declare for man his uprightness, then He
is gracious unto him and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit."
_Shabbath_, fol. 32, col. 1.
Rav Hunna says, "A quarrel is like a breach in the bank of a river; when
it is once made it grows wider and wider." A certain man used to go
about and say, "Blessed is he who submits to a reproach and is silent,
for a hundred evils depart from him." Shemuel said to Rav Yehuda, "It is
written in Scripture (Prov. xvii. 14), 'The beginning of strife is as
when one letteth out water.'" Strife is the beginning of a hundred
lawsuits.
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 7, col. 1.
When Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, she introduced to him a
thousand different kinds of musical instruments, and taught him the
chants to the various idols.
_Shabbath_, fol. 56, col. 2.
When Buneis, the son of Buneis, called on Rabbi (the Holy), the latter
exclaimed, "Make way for one worth a hundred manahs!" Presently another
visitor came, and Rabbi said, "Make way for one worth two hundred
manahs." Upon which Rabbi Ishmael, the son of Rabbi Yossi, remonstrated,
saying, "Rabbi, the father of the first-comer, owns a thousand ships at
sea and a thousand towns ashore!" "Well," replied Rabbi, "when thou
seest his father, tell him to send his son better clad next time." Rabbi
paid great respect to those that were rich, and so did Rabbi Akiva.
_Eiruvin_, fol. 86, col. 1.
Rabbi Elazer ben Charsom inherited from his father a thousand towns and
a thousand ships, and yet he went about with a leather sack of flour at
his back, roaming from town to town and from province to province in
order to study the law. This great Rabbi never once set eye on his
immense patrimony, for he was engaged in the study of the law all day
and all night long. And so strange was he to his own servants, that
they, on one occasion, not knowing who he was, pressed him against his
will to do a day's work as a menial; and though he pleaded with them as
a suppliant to be left alone to pursue his studies in the law, they
refused, and swore, saying, "By the life of Rabbi Elazer ben Charsom,
our master, we will not let thee go till thy task is completed." He then
let himself be enforced rather than make himself known to them.
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