(39) See n. 1, above. Elisha ben Abuyah, otherwise known as Acher, lived at the end of the first and the beginning of the second century. He is charged by the Rabbis with having aided the Romans in their attempts to suppress the Jewish religion, with having endeavored to estrange the young from Judaism and from the study of its literature, with having intentionally and openly broken the ceremonial laws, and with having desecrated the Sabbath. R. Meir, his pupil, maintained a close intimacy with him, in spite of his apostacy, having high regard for Elisha's intellectual worth. When reproached for this, R. Meir said, "I eat the kernel, and throw away the husks." Elisha is often referred to as the "Faust of the _Talmud_." On his identification with the Apostle Paul, see I. M. Wise, _The Origin of Christianity_, p. 311, and Danziger, _ibid._, pp. 304-306. Some have even identified him with Jesus. In _Abot de-Rabbi Natan_, a parable that is very similar to that of Jesus, in Luke VI 47-49, is attributed to Elisha. "A man who does good deeds and diligently studies the Law, to whom is he likened? He is like a man building a house with a stone foundation and with tiles (on the roof); and when a flood arises, and breaks against the walls, that house cannot be moved from its place. But the man who lives an evil life, in spite of having deeply studied the Law, to whom is he like? He is like a man building a house with tiles for a foundation and with heavy stones (on the roof); and when a little rain comes, straightway the house falls in" (G. Friedlander's translation, in _The Jewish Sources of the SErmon on the Mount_, pp. 259-260). On the career of Acher, see Bacher, _ibid._, pp. 432-436; Graetz, _History_, II, _passim_; Myers, _ibid._, pp. 200-202; and Strack, _Einleitung in den Talmud_, p. 91. (40) What one learns in youth, one retains, while the opposite is true of learning in old age. The Rabbis, elsewhere, liken learning in youth to engraving upon a stone, and learning in old age to writing on the sand. 26. R. Jose, the son of Judah (41), of Chefar Babli said, "He who learns from the young, to what is he like? To one who eats unripe grapes, and drinks wine from his vat (42). And he who learns from the old, to what is he like? To one who eats ripe grapes, and drinks old wine." (41) A contemporary of Judah ha-Nasi. (42) _I.e._, wine that is not forty days old, and not yet clarified. 27. Rabbi Meir said (43), "Look not at the flask, but at what it contains: there may be a new flask full of old wine, and an old flask that has not even new wine in it" (44). (43) Some texts read "Rabbi," _i.e._, Judah ha-Nasi (see chapter II, n. 1).