10. Five possessions the Holy One, blessed be He, made especially His own in His world, and these are they, the _Torah_, heaven and earth, Abraham, Israel, and the house of the sanctuary. Whence know we this of the _Torah?_ Because it is written, "The Lord possessed me as the beginning of his way, before his works, from of old" (45). Whence of heaven and earth? Because it is written, "Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto me? and what manner of place for my rest?" (46); and it says, "How manifold are thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy possessions" (47). Whence of Abraham? Because it is written, "And he blessed him, and said, 'Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth" (48). Whence of Israel? Because it is written, "Till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over which thou hast acquired" (49); and it says, "As for the saints that are in the earth, they are the noble ones in whom is all my delight" (50). Whence of the house of the sanctuary? Because it is written, "The place, O Lord, which thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have prepared" (51); and it says, "And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain which his right hand had acquired" (52). 11. Whatsoever the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world He created but for His glory, as it is said, "Everything that is called by my name, it is for my glory I have created it, I have formed it, yea, I have made it" (53); and it says, "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever" (54). (45) Prov. VIII, 22. (46) Isa. LXVI, 1. (47) Ps. CIV, 24. (48) Gen. XIV, 16. (49) Ex. XV, 16. (50) Ps. XVI, 3. (51) Ex. XV, 17. (52) Ps. LXXVIII, 54. (53) Isa. XLIII, 7. (54) Ex. XV, 18. Rabbi Chanania, the son of Akashia, said, "The Holy One, blessed be He, was pleased to make Israel worthy; wherefore He gave them a copious _Torah_ and many commandments, as it is said, 'It pleased the Lord, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the _Torah_ and make it honorable'". _____________________ TRANSCRIPTION NOTES For any accent marks noted in the following, assume that the same accent appears with all subsequent occurrances of the word. INTRODUCTION _Die Spruche der Vater_ umlaut over the u and the a _Maximes des Peres_ grave over the last e role circumflex over the o footnote 9 _Jewish Encyclopedia_: in the source, the word Jewish was not italicized BIBLIOGRAPHY [s] the document contained a special character known as "section sign", resembling two lower-case s's one above the other. Spruchen umlaut over tue u in Vater umlaut over the a Beitragen umlaut over the a Spruche umlaut over the a Tubingen umlaut over the u