Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala
Religion
Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala
Hebrew literature -- Translations into English
"And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death" (2 Chron.
xxxii. 33). This is Hezekiah, king of Judah, at whose funeral thirty-six
thousand people attended bare-shouldered, ... and upon his bier was laid
a roll of the law, and it was said, "This man has fulfilled what is
written in this book."
_Bava Kama_, fol. 17, col. 1.
Sennacherib the wicked invaded Jewry with forty-five thousand princes in
golden coronets, and they had with them their wives and odalisques; also
eighty thousand mighty men clad in mail and sixty thousand swordsmen ran
before him, and the rest were cavalry. With a similar army they came
against Abraham, and a like force is to come up with Gog and Magog. A
tradition teaches that the extent of his camp was four hundred parsaes
or leagues, the extent of the horses' necks were forty parsaes. The
total muster of his army was two hundred and sixty myriads of thousands,
less one. Abaii asked, "Less one myriad, or one thousand, or one
hundred? or more literally less one?"
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 95, col. 2.
In the immediate context of the above extract we have the following
legend concerning Sennacherib:--As Rabbi Abhu has said, "Were it not for
this Scripture text it would be impossible to repeat what is written
(Isa. vii. 20), 'In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that
is hired, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head and
the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.'" The story
is this:--The Holy One--blessed be He!--once disguised Himself as an
elderly man and came to Sennacherib, and said, "When thou comest to the
kings of the East and of the West, to force their sons into thine army,
what wilt thou say unto them?" He replied, "On that very account I am in
fear. What shall I do?" God answered him, "Go and disguise thyself."
"How can I disguise myself?" said he. God replied, "Go and fetch me a
pair of scissors and I will cut thy hair." Sennacherib asked, "Whence
shall I fetch them?" "Go to yonder house and bring them." He went
accordingly and observed a pair, but there he met the ministering angels
disguised as men, grinding date-stones. He asked them for the scissors,
but they said "Grind thou first a measure of date-stones, and then thou
shalt have the scissors." He did as he was told, and so obtained the
scissors. It was dark before he returned, and God said unto him, "Go and
fetch some fire." This also he did, but while blowing the embers his
beard was singed. Upon which God came and shaved his head and his beard,
and said, "This is it which is written (Isa. vii. 20), 'It shall also
consume the beard.'" Rav Pappa says this is the proverb current among
the people, "Singe the face of a Syrian, and, if it pleases him, also
set his beard in fire, and thou wilt not be able to laugh enough."
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 95, col. 2, and fol. 96, col. 1.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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