Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
"I will tell ye, my children, the vision I had while I was yet a
shepherd of flocks. I saw my brethren pasturing the herds with me, and
our father approached, and said: 'Up, my sons, each one take what he
can in my presence!' We answered, and said to him, 'What shall we take?
We see nothing but the sun, the moon, and the stars.' Then our father
said: 'These shall ye take!' Levi, hearing this, snatched up an
ox-goad, sprang up to the sun, sat upon him, and rode. Judah did
likewise. He jumped up to the moon, and rode upon her. And the other
nine tribes did the same, each rode upon his star or his planet in the
heavens. Joseph remained behind alone on the earth, and our father
Jacob said to him, 'My son, why hast thou not done like thy brethren?'
Joseph answered, 'What right have men born of woman to be in the
heavens, seeing that in the end they must stay on earth?' While Joseph
was speaking thus, a tall steer appeared before him. He had great
pinions like the wings of the stork, and his horns were as long as
those of the reem. Jacob urged his son, 'Up, Joseph, mount the steer!'
Joseph did as his father bade him, and Jacob went his way. For the
space of two hours Joseph displayed himself upon the steer, sometimes
galloping, sometimes flying, until he reached Judah. Then Joseph
unfolded the standard in his hand, and began to rain blows down upon
Judah with it, and when his brother demanded the reason for this
treatment, he said, 'Because thou hast twelve rods in thine hand, and I
have but one. Give thine to me, and peace shall prevail between us!'
But Judah refused to do his bidding, and Joseph beat him until he
dropped ten rods, and only two remained in his clutch. Joseph now
invited his brethren to abandon Judah and follow after him. They all
did thus, except Benjamin, who stayed true to Judah. Levi was grieved
over the desertion of Judah, and he descended from the sun. Toward the
end of the day a storm broke out, and it scattered the brethren, so
that no two were together. When I gave an account of my vision to my
father Jacob, he said, 'It is but a dream, it can neither help nor
harm.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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