1. Septuagint, Susanna, 55 (10th cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
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2. Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy, 1.27, 6.21, 8.11, 18.15-18.18, 26.8, 28.45 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 1.27. וַתֵּרָגְנוּ בְאָהֳלֵיכֶם וַתֹּאמְרוּ בְּשִׂנְאַת יְהוָה אֹתָנוּ הוֹצִיאָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם לָתֵת אֹתָנוּ בְּיַד הָאֱמֹרִי לְהַשְׁמִידֵנוּ׃ 6.21. וְאָמַרְתָּ לְבִנְךָ עֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרָיִם וַיּוֹצִיאֵנוּ יְהוָה מִמִּצְרַיִם בְּיָד חֲזָקָה׃ 8.11. הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְבִלְתִּי שְׁמֹר מִצְוֺתָיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו וְחֻקֹּתָיו אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם׃ 18.15. נָבִיא מִקִּרְבְּךָ מֵאַחֶיךָ כָּמֹנִי יָקִים לְךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֵלָיו תִּשְׁמָעוּן׃ 18.16. כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר־שָׁאַלְתָּ מֵעִם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּחֹרֵב בְּיוֹם הַקָּהָל לֵאמֹר לֹא אֹסֵף לִשְׁמֹעַ אֶת־קוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהָי וְאֶת־הָאֵשׁ הַגְּדֹלָה הַזֹּאת לֹא־אֶרְאֶה עוֹד וְלֹא אָמוּת׃ 18.17. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֵלָי הֵיטִיבוּ אֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּרוּ׃ 18.18. נָבִיא אָקִים לָהֶם מִקֶּרֶב אֲחֵיהֶם כָּמוֹךָ וְנָתַתִּי דְבָרַי בְּפִיו וְדִבֶּר אֲלֵיהֶם אֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר אֲצַוֶּנּוּ׃ 26.8. וַיּוֹצִאֵנוּ יְהוָה מִמִּצְרַיִם בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה וּבְמֹרָא גָּדֹל וּבְאֹתוֹת וּבְמֹפְתִים׃ 28.45. וּבָאוּ עָלֶיךָ כָּל־הַקְּלָלוֹת הָאֵלֶּה וּרְדָפוּךָ וְהִשִּׂיגוּךָ עַד הִשָּׁמְדָךְ כִּי־לֹא שָׁמַעְתָּ בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לִשְׁמֹר מִצְוֺתָיו וְחֻקֹּתָיו אֲשֶׁר צִוָּךְ׃ | 1.27. and ye murmured in your tents, and said: ‘Because the LORD hated us, He hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us." 6.21. then thou shalt say unto thy son: ‘We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand." 8.11. Beware lest thou forget the LORD thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His ordices, and His statutes, which I command thee this day;" 18.15. A prophet will the LORD thy God raise up unto thee, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;" 18.16. according to all that thou didst desire of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying: ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.’" 18.17. And the LORD said unto me: ‘They have well said that which they have spoken." 18.18. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." 26.8. And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders." 28.45. And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded thee." |
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3. Hebrew Bible, Exodus, 2.14, 2.15, 3, 3.1-4.17, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.9, 3.11-4.17, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7, 7.3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 13.10, 13.14, 13.16, 14, 14.21, 14.31, 15, 15.2, 16, 16.35, 17, 18, 19, 20, 20.19, 20.22-23.33, 21, 22, 23, 24, 24.17, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 32.2, 32.3, 32.4, 32.5, 32.6, 32.7, 32.8, 32.9, 32.10, 32.11, 32.12, 32.13, 32.14, 32.15, 32.16, 32.17, 32.18, 32.19, 32.20, 32.21, 32.22, 32.23, 32.24, 32.25, 32.26, 32.27, 32.28, 32.29, 32.30, 32.31, 32.32, 32.33, 32.34, 33.10 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
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4. Hebrew Bible, Joel, 3.3 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 3.3. וְנָתַתִּי מוֹפְתִים בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ דָּם וָאֵשׁ וְתִימֲרוֹת עָשָׁן׃ | 3.3. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, Blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke." |
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5. Hebrew Bible, Jonah, 1.2 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 1.2. קוּם לֵךְ אֶל־נִינְוֵה הָעִיר הַגְּדוֹלָה וּקְרָא עָלֶיהָ כִּי־עָלְתָה רָעָתָם לְפָנָי׃ | 1.2. ’Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me.’" |
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6. Hebrew Bible, Leviticus, 19.19, 20.22 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 19.19. אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי תִּשְׁמֹרוּ בְּהֶמְתְּךָ לֹא־תַרְבִּיעַ כִּלְאַיִם שָׂדְךָ לֹא־תִזְרַע כִּלְאָיִם וּבֶגֶד כִּלְאַיִם שַׁעַטְנֵז לֹא יַעֲלֶה עָלֶיךָ׃ 20.22. וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת־כָּל־חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת־כָּל־מִשְׁפָּטַי וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וְלֹא־תָקִיא אֶתְכֶם הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה לָשֶׁבֶת בָּהּ׃ | 19.19. Ye shall keep My statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind; thou shalt not sow thy field with two kinds of seed; neither shall there come upon thee a garment of two kinds of stuff mingled together." 20.22. Ye shall therefore keep all My statutes, and all Mine ordices, and do them, that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, vomit you not out." |
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7. Hebrew Bible, Numbers, 14.4, 20.16, 21.5 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 14.4. וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל־אָחִיו נִתְּנָה רֹאשׁ וְנָשׁוּבָה מִצְרָיְמָה׃ 14.4. וַיַּשְׁכִּמוּ בַבֹּקֶר וַיַּעֲלוּ אֶל־רֹאשׁ־הָהָר לֵאמֹר הִנֶּנּוּ וְעָלִינוּ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר־אָמַר יְהוָה כִּי חָטָאנוּ׃ 20.16. וַנִּצְעַק אֶל־יְהוָה וַיִּשְׁמַע קֹלֵנוּ וַיִּשְׁלַח מַלְאָךְ וַיֹּצִאֵנוּ מִמִּצְרָיִם וְהִנֵּה אֲנַחְנוּ בְקָדֵשׁ עִיר קְצֵה גְבוּלֶךָ׃ 21.5. וַיְדַבֵּר הָעָם בֵּאלֹהִים וּבְמֹשֶׁה לָמָה הֶעֱלִיתֻנוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם לָמוּת בַּמִּדְבָּר כִּי אֵין לֶחֶם וְאֵין מַיִם וְנַפְשֵׁנוּ קָצָה בַּלֶּחֶם הַקְּלֹקֵל׃ | 14.4. And they said one to another: ‘Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.’" 20.16. and when we cried unto the LORD, He heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt; and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border." 21.5. And the people spoke against God, and against Moses: ‘Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.’" |
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8. Hebrew Bible, Psalms, 89.30-89.31, 98.1-98.3, 98.6, 98.8-98.9, 106.23, 106.30 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 89.31. אִם־יַעַזְבוּ בָנָיו תּוֹרָתִי וּבְמִשְׁפָּטַי לֹא יֵלֵכוּן׃ 98.1. מִזְמוֹר שִׁירוּ לַיהוָה שִׁיר חָדָשׁ כִּי־נִפְלָאוֹת עָשָׂה הוֹשִׁיעָה־לּוֹ יְמִינוֹ וּזְרוֹעַ קָדְשׁוֹ׃ 98.2. הוֹדִיעַ יְהוָה יְשׁוּעָתוֹ לְעֵינֵי הַגּוֹיִם גִּלָּה צִדְקָתוֹ׃ 98.6. בַּחֲצֹצְרוֹת וְקוֹל שׁוֹפָר הָרִיעוּ לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ יְהוָה׃ 106.23. וַיֹּאמֶר לְהַשְׁמִידָם לוּלֵי מֹשֶׁה בְחִירוֹ עָמַד בַּפֶּרֶץ לְפָנָיו לְהָשִׁיב חֲמָתוֹ מֵהַשְׁחִית׃ | 89.30. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, And his throne as the days of heaven." 89.31. If his children forsake My law, And walk not in Mine ordices; :" 98.1. A Psalm. O sing unto the LORD a new song; For He hath done marvellous things; His right hand, and His holy arm, hath wrought salvation for Him." 98.2. The LORD hath made known His salvation; His righteousness hath He revealed in the sight of the nations." 98.6. With trumpets and sound of the horn Shout ye before the King, the LORD." 106.23. Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, To turn back His wrath, lest He should destroy them." 106.30. Then stood up Phinehas, and wrought judgment, And so the plague was stayed." |
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9. Hebrew Bible, 1 Kings, 3.14, 11.33 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 3.14. וְאִם תֵּלֵךְ בִּדְרָכַי לִשְׁמֹר חֻקַּי וּמִצְוֺתַי כַּאֲשֶׁר הָלַךְ דָּוִיד אָבִיךָ וְהַאַרַכְתִּי אֶת־יָמֶיךָ׃ 11.33. יַעַן אֲשֶׁר עֲזָבוּנִי וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְעַשְׁתֹּרֶת אֱלֹהֵי צִדֹנִין לִכְמוֹשׁ אֱלֹהֵי מוֹאָב וּלְמִלְכֹּם אֱלֹהֵי בְנֵי־עַמּוֹן וְלֹא־הָלְכוּ בִדְרָכַי לַעֲשׂוֹת הַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינַי וְחֻקֹּתַי וּמִשְׁפָּטַי כְּדָוִד אָבִיו׃ | 3.14. And if thou wilt walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.’" 11.33. because that they have forsaken Me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, to do that which is right in Mine eyes, and to keep My statutes and Mine ordices, as did David his father." |
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10. Hebrew Bible, 1 Samuel, 1.26 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 1.26. וַתֹּאמֶר בִּי אֲדֹנִי חֵי נַפְשְׁךָ אֲדֹנִי אֲנִי הָאִשָּׁה הַנִּצֶּבֶת עִמְּכָה בָּזֶה לְהִתְפַּלֵּל אֶל־יְהוָה׃ | 1.26. And she said, O my lord, as thy soul lives, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying to the Lord." |
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11. Hebrew Bible, Isaiah, 6.9-6.10 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 6.9. וַיֹּאמֶר לֵךְ וְאָמַרְתָּ לָעָם הַזֶּה שִׁמְעוּ שָׁמוֹעַ וְאַל־תָּבִינוּ וּרְאוּ רָאוֹ וְאַל־תֵּדָעוּ׃ | 6.9. And He said: ‘Go, and tell this people: Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not." 6.10. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, and understanding with their heart, return, and be healed.’" |
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12. Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel, 3.22 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 3.22. וַתְּהִי עָלַי שָׁם יַד־יְהוָה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי קוּם צֵא אֶל־הַבִּקְעָה וְשָׁם אֲדַבֵּר אוֹתָךְ׃ | 3.22. And the hand of the LORD came there upon me; and He said unto me: ‘Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there speak with thee.’" |
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13. Hebrew Bible, Nehemiah, 9.4, 9.9-9.21 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 9.4. וַיָּקָם עַל־מַעֲלֵה הַלְוִיִּם יֵשׁוּעַ וּבָנִי קַדְמִיאֵל שְׁבַנְיָה בֻּנִּי שֵׁרֵבְיָה בָּנִי כְנָנִי וַיִּזְעֲקוּ בְּקוֹל גָּדוֹל אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם׃ 9.9. וַתֵּרֶא אֶת־עֳנִי אֲבֹתֵינוּ בְּמִצְרָיִם וְאֶת־זַעֲקָתָם שָׁמַעְתָּ עַל־יַם־סוּף׃ 9.11. וְהַיָּם בָּקַעְתָּ לִפְנֵיהֶם וַיַּעַבְרוּ בְתוֹךְ־הַיָּם בַּיַּבָּשָׁה וְאֶת־רֹדְפֵיהֶם הִשְׁלַכְתָּ בִמְצוֹלֹת כְּמוֹ־אֶבֶן בְּמַיִם עַזִּים׃ 9.12. וּבְעַמּוּד עָנָן הִנְחִיתָם יוֹמָם וּבְעַמּוּד אֵשׁ לַיְלָה לְהָאִיר לָהֶם אֶת־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר יֵלְכוּ־בָהּ׃ 9.13. וְעַל הַר־סִינַי יָרַדְתָּ וְדַבֵּר עִמָּהֶם מִשָּׁמָיִם וַתִּתֵּן לָהֶם מִשְׁפָּטִים יְשָׁרִים וְתוֹרוֹת אֱמֶת חֻקִּים וּמִצְוֺת טוֹבִים׃ 9.14. וְאֶת־שַׁבַּת קָדְשְׁךָ הוֹדַעַתָ לָהֶם וּמִצְווֹת וְחֻקִּים וְתוֹרָה צִוִּיתָ לָהֶם בְּיַד מֹשֶׁה עַבְדֶּךָ׃ 9.15. וְלֶחֶם מִשָּׁמַיִם נָתַתָּה לָהֶם לִרְעָבָם וּמַיִם מִסֶּלַע הוֹצֵאתָ לָהֶם לִצְמָאָם וַתֹּאמֶר לָהֶם לָבוֹא לָרֶשֶׁת אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־נָשָׂאתָ אֶת־יָדְךָ לָתֵת לָהֶם׃ 9.16. וְהֵם וַאֲבֹתֵינוּ הֵזִידוּ וַיַּקְשׁוּ אֶת־עָרְפָּם וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ אֶל־מִצְוֺתֶיךָ׃ 9.17. וַיְמָאֲנוּ לִשְׁמֹעַ וְלֹא־זָכְרוּ נִפְלְאֹתֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָ עִמָּהֶם וַיַּקְשׁוּ אֶת־עָרְפָּם וַיִּתְּנוּ־רֹאשׁ לָשׁוּב לְעַבְדֻתָם בְּמִרְיָם וְאַתָּה אֱלוֹהַּ סְלִיחוֹת חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם אֶרֶךְ־אַפַּיִם וְרַב־וחסד [חֶסֶד] וְלֹא עֲזַבְתָּם׃ 9.18. אַף כִּי־עָשׂוּ לָהֶם עֵגֶל מַסֵּכָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ זֶה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר הֶעֶלְךָ מִמִּצְרָיִם וַיַּעֲשׂוּ נֶאָצוֹת גְּדֹלוֹת׃ 9.19. וְאַתָּה בְּרַחֲמֶיךָ הָרַבִּים לֹא עֲזַבְתָּם בַּמִּדְבָּר אֶת־עַמּוּד הֶעָנָן לֹא־סָר מֵעֲלֵיהֶם בְּיוֹמָם לְהַנְחֹתָם בְּהַדֶּרֶךְ וְאֶת־עַמּוּד הָאֵשׁ בְּלַיְלָה לְהָאִיר לָהֶם וְאֶת־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר יֵלְכוּ־בָהּ׃ 9.21. וְאַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה כִּלְכַּלְתָּם בַּמִּדְבָּר לֹא חָסֵרוּ שַׂלְמֹתֵיהֶם לֹא בָלוּ וְרַגְלֵיהֶם לֹא בָצֵקוּ׃ | 9.4. Then stood up upon the platform of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chei, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God." 9.9. And Thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea;" 9.10. and didst show signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land; for Thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them; and didst get Thee a name, as it is this day." 9.11. And Thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their pursuers Thou didst cast into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters." 9.12. Moreover in a pillar of cloud Thou didst lead them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way wherein they should go." 9.13. Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spokest with them from heaven, and gavest them right ordices and laws of truth, good statutes and commandments;" 9.14. and madest known unto them Thy holy sabbath, and didst command them commandments, and statutes, and a law, by the hand of Moses Thy servant;" 9.15. and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and didst command them that they should go in to possess the land which Thou hadst lifted up Thy hand to give them." 9.16. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to Thy commandments," 9.17. and refused to hearken, neither were mindful of Thy wonders that Thou didst among them; but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage; but Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, and forsookest them not." 9.18. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said: ‘This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;" 9.19. yet Thou in Thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud departed not from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go." 9.20. Thou gavest also Thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not Thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst." 9.21. Yea, forty years didst Thou sustain them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not." |
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14. Anon., 1 Enoch, 89.30 (3rd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
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15. Anon., Jubilees, 1.19-1.21 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.19. And they will forget all My law and all My commandments and all My judgments, and will go astray as to new moons, and sabbaths, and festivals, and jubilees, and ordices. 1.20. And after this they will turn to Me from amongst the Gentiles with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength 1.21. and I shall gather them from amongst all the Gentiles, and they will seek Me, so that I shall be found of them |
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16. Septuagint, Judith, 9.8 (2nd cent. BCE - 0th cent. CE)
| 9.8. Break their strength by thy might, and bring down their power in thy anger; for they intend to defile thy sanctuary, and to pollute the tabernacle where thy glorious name rests, and to cast down the horn of thy altar with the sword. |
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17. Philo of Alexandria, On The Life of Moses, 1.43-1.45 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.43. for some of their overseers were very savage and furious men, being, as to their cruelty, not at all different from poisonous serpents or carnivorous beasts--wild beasts in human form--being clothed with the form of a human body so as to give an appearance of gentleness in order to deceive and catch their victim, but in reality being harder than iron or adamant. 1.44. One of these men, then, the most violent of them, when, in addition to yielding nothing of his purpose, he was even exasperated at the exhortations of Moses and rendered more savage by them, beating those who did not labour with energy and unremittingly at the work which was imposed upon them, and insulting them and subjecting them to every kind of ill-treatment, so as even to be the death of many, Moses slew, thinking the deed a pious action; and, indeed, it was a pious action to destroy one who only lived for the destruction of others. 1.45. When the king heard of this action he was very indigt, thinking it an intolerable thing, not for one man to be dead, or for another to have killed him, whether justly or unjustly, but for his grandson not to agree with him, and not to look upon his friends or his enemies as his own, but to hate persons whom the king loved, and to love persons whom the king looked upon as outcasts, and to pity those whom he regarded with unchangeable and implacable aversion. |
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18. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 2.254-2.256, 3.6-3.7, 3.11-3.13, 3.16, 3.83-3.88, 3.308, 3.310, 4.194, 10.255 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.254. 1. Now the Egyptians, after they had been preserved by Moses, entertained a hatred to him, and were very eager in compassing their designs against him, as suspecting that he would take occasion, from his good success, to raise a sedition, and bring innovations into Egypt; and told the king he ought to be slain. 2.255. The king had also some intentions of himself to the same purpose, and this as well out of envy at his glorious expedition at the head of his army, as out of fear of being brought low by him and being instigated by the sacred scribes, he was ready to undertake to kill Moses: 2.256. but when he had learned beforehand what plots there were against him, he went away privately; and because the public roads were watched, he took his flight through the deserts, and where his enemies could not suspect he would travel; and, though he was destitute of food, he went on, and despised that difficulty courageously; 3.6. for they ran all of them to him, and begged of him; the women begged for their infants, and the men for the women, that he would not overlook them, but procure some way or other for their deliverance. He therefore betook himself to prayer to God, that he would change the water from its present badness, and make it fit for drinking. 3.6. So Moses offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God, and built an altar, which he named The Lord the Conqueror. He also foretold that the Amalekites should utterly be destroyed; and that hereafter none of them should remain, because they fought against the Hebrews, and this when they were in the wilderness, and in their distress also. Moreover, he refreshed the army with feasting. 3.7. And when God had granted him that favor, he took the top of a stick that lay down at his feet, and divided it in the middle, and made the section lengthways. He then let it down into the well, and persuaded the Hebrews that God had hearkened to his prayers, and had promised to render the water such as they desired it to be, in case they would be subservient to him in what he should enjoin them to do, and this not after a remiss or negligent manner. 3.7. Make use of the method I suggest to you, as to human affairs; and take a review of the army, and appoint chosen rulers over tens of thousands, and then over thousands; then divide them into five hundreds, and again into hundreds, and into fifties; 3.11. The trees were too weak to bear fruit, for want of being sufficiently cherished and enlivened by the water. So they laid the blame on their conductor, and made heavy complaints against him; and said that this their miserable state, and the experience they had of adversity, were owing to him; for that they had then journeyed an entire thirty days, and had spent all the provisions they had brought with them; and meeting with no relief, they were in a very desponding condition. 3.11. Cords were also put through the rings, and were tied at their farther ends to brass nails of a cubit long, which, at every pillar, were driven into the floor, and would keep the tabernacle from being shaken by the violence of winds; but a curtain of fine soft linen went round all the pillars, and hung down in a flowing and loose manner from their chapiters, and enclosed the whole space, and seemed not at all unlike to a wall about it. 3.12. And by fixing their attention upon nothing but their present misfortunes, they were hindered from remembering what deliverances they had received from God, and those by the virtue and wisdom of Moses also; so they were very angry at their conductor, and were zealous in their attempt to stone him, as the direct occasion of their present miseries. 3.12. Now every one of the pillars had rings of gold affixed to their fronts outward, as if they had taken root in the pillars, and stood one row over against another round about, through which were inserted bars gilt over with gold, each of them five cubits long, and these bound together the pillars, the head of one bar running into another, after the nature of one tenon inserted into another; 3.13. 4. But as for Moses himself, while the multitude were irritated and bitterly set against him, he cheerfully relied upon God, and upon his consciousness of the care he had taken of these his own people; and he came into the midst of them, even while they clamored against him, and had stones in their hands in order to despatch him. Now he was of an agreeable presence, and very able to persuade the people by his speeches; 3.13. But the ten other curtains were four cubits in breadth, and twenty-eight in length; and had golden clasps, in order to join the one curtain to the other, which was done so exactly that they seemed to be one entire curtain. These were spread over the temple, and covered all the top and parts of the walls, on the sides and behind, so far as within one cubit of the ground. 3.16. He told them, it appeared they were not really good men, either in patience, or in remembering what had been successfully done for them, sometimes by condemning God and his commands, when by those commands they left the land of Egypt; and sometimes by behaving themselves ill towards him who was the servant of God, and this when he had never deceived them, either in what he said, or had ordered them to do by God’s command. 3.16. To the bottom of which garment are hung fringes, in color like pomegranates, with golden bells by a curious and beautiful contrivance; so that between two bells hangs a pomegranate, and between two pomegranates a bell. 3.83. 3. When they were under these apprehensions, Moses appeared as joyful and greatly exalted. When they saw him, they were freed from their fear, and admitted of more comfortable hopes as to what was to come. The air also was become clear and pure of its former disorders, upon the appearance of Moses; 3.84. whereupon he called together the people to a congregation, in order to their hearing what God would say to them: and when they were gathered together, he stood on an eminence whence they might all hear him, and said, “God has received me graciously, O Hebrews, as he has formerly done; and has suggested a happy method of living for you, and an order of political government, and is now present in the camp: 3.85. I therefore charge you, for his sake and the sake of his works, and what we have done by his means, that you do not put a low value on what I am going to say, because the commands have been given by me that now deliver them to you, nor because it is the tongue of a man that delivers them to you; but if you have a due regard to the great importance of the things themselves, you will understand the greatness of Him whose institutions they are, and who has not disdained to communicate them to me for our common advantage; 3.86. for it is not to be supposed that the author of these institutions is barely Moses, the son of Amram and Jochebed, but He who obliged the Nile to run bloody for your sakes, and tamed the haughtiness of the Egyptians by various sorts of judgments; he who provided a way through the sea for us; he who contrived a method of sending us food from heaven, when we were distressed for want of it; he who made the water to issue out of a rock, when we had very little of it before; 3.87. he by whose means Adam was made to partake of the fruits both of the land and of the sea; he by whose means Noah escaped the deluge; he by whose means our forefather Abraham, of a wandering pilgrim, was made the heir of the land of Canaan; he by whose means Isaac was born of parents that were very old; he by whose means Jacob was adorned with twelve virtuous sons; he by whose means Joseph became a potent lord over the Egyptians; he it is who conveys these instructions to you by me as his interpreter. 3.88. And let them be to you venerable, and contended for more earnestly by you than your own children and your own wives; for if you will follow them, you will lead a happy life you will enjoy the land fruitful, the sea calm, and the fruit of the womb born complete, as nature requires; you will be also terrible to your enemies for I have been admitted into the presence of God and been made a hearer of his incorruptible voice so great is his concern for your nation, and its duration.” 3.308. 4. But of the spies, there were Joshua the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, and Caleb of the tribe of Judah, that were afraid of the consequence, and came into the midst of them, and stilled the multitude, and desired them to be of good courage; and neither to condemn God, as having told them lies, nor to hearken to those who had affrighted them, by telling them what was not true concerning the Canaanites, but to those that encouraged them to hope for good success; and that they should gain possession of the happiness promised them 4.194. 3. When he had spoken thus, he gave them the laws and the constitution of government written in a book. Upon which the people fell into tears, and appeared already touched with the sense that they should have a great want of their conductor, because they remembered what a number of dangers he had passed through, and what care he had taken of their preservation: they desponded about what would come upon them after he was dead, and thought they should never have another governor like him; and feared that God would then take less care of them when Moses was gone, who used to intercede for them. 10.255. Accordingly, all the rest took care not to transgress those injunctions, and rested in quiet; but Daniel had no regard to them, but, as he was wont, he stood and prayed to God in the sight of them all; |
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19. Mishnah, Avot, 1.1 (1st cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 1.1. Moses received the torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be patient in [the administration of] justice, raise many disciples and make a fence round the Torah." |
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20. New Testament, 1 Peter, 1.5 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.5. who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. |
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21. New Testament, 1 Corinthians, 2.5, 4.20, 15.43 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.5. that your faith wouldn't stand in the wisdom of men, but in thepower of God. 4.20. For the Kingdom ofGod is not in word, but in power. 15.43. It issown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it israised in power. |
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22. New Testament, 2 Corinthians, 6.7 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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23. New Testament, Acts, 1.22, 2.23-2.24, 4.21, 7.20-7.44, 8.26, 9.6, 9.34, 15.33, 17.2-17.3, 18.23, 26.16, 28.26-28.27 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 1.22. beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection. 2.23. him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed; 2.24. whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. 4.21. They, when they had further threatened them, let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God for that which was done. 7.20. At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father's house. 7.21. When he was thrown out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son. 7.22. Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. 7.23. But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 7.24. Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. 7.25. He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn't understand. 7.26. The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, 'Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one to another?' 7.27. But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 7.28. Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' 7.29. Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 7.30. When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai , in a flame of fire in a bush. 7.31. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him 7.32. 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Moses trembled, and dared not look. 7.33. The Lord said to him, 'Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 7.34. I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt , and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.' 7.35. This Moses, whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' -- God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 7.36. This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. 7.37. This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel , 'The Lord God will raise up a prophet to you from among your brothers, like me.' 7.38. This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us 7.39. to whom our fathers wouldn't be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt 7.40. saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt , we don't know what has become of him.' 7.41. They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 7.42. But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel ? 7.43. You took up the tent of Moloch, The star of your god Rephan, The figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.' 7.44. Our fathers had the tent of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses appointed, that he should make it according to the pattern that he had seen; 8.26. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert. 9.6. But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do. 9.34. Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!" Immediately he arose. 15.33. After they had spent some time there, they were sent back with greetings from the brothers to the apostles. 17.2. Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures 17.3. explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ. 18.23. Having spent some time there, he departed, and went through the region of Galatia, and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples. 26.16. But arise, and stand on your feet, for to this end have I appeared to you, to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you; 28.26. saying, 'Go to this people, and say, In hearing, you will hear, And will in no way understand. In seeing, you will see, And will in no way perceive. 28.27. For this people's heart has grown callous. Their ears are dull of hearing. Their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their heart, And would turn again, And I would heal them.' |
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24. New Testament, Romans, 1.4, 2.26, 15.13, 15.19 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.4. who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord 2.26. If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordices of the law, won't his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision? 15.13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit. 15.19. in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God's Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ; |
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25. New Testament, John, 6.30, 11.25-11.27 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 6.30. They said therefore to him, "What then do you do for a sign, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you do? 11.25. Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet will he live. 11.26. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? 11.27. She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God's Son, he who comes into the world. |
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26. New Testament, Luke, 1.68, 7.16, 8.10, 11.16, 11.29, 18.34, 22.4, 22.46, 24.19, 24.45 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.68. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, For he has visited and worked redemption for his people; 7.16. Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and, "God has visited his people! 8.10. He said, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables; that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' 11.16. Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven. 11.29. When the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, "This is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah, the prophet. 18.34. They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn't understand the things that were said. 22.4. He went away, and talked with the chief priests and captains about how he might deliver him to them. 22.46. and said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. 24.19. He said to them, "What things?"They said to him, "The things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; 24.45. Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. |
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27. New Testament, Mark, 8.11-8.12, 8.17, 8.21, 9.1, 11.25, 16.17-16.18 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 8.11. The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, and testing him. 8.12. He sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Most assuredly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation. 8.17. Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, "Why do you reason that it's because you have no bread? Don't you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened? 8.21. He asked them, "Don't you understand, yet? 9.1. He said to them, "Most assuredly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death, until they see the Kingdom of God come with power. 11.25. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions. 16.17. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; 16.18. they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. |
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28. New Testament, Matthew, 6.5, 12.38-12.39, 16.1-16.4 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 6.5. When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most assuredly, I tell you, they have received their reward. 12.38. Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. 12.39. But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. 16.1. The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 16.2. But he answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' 16.3. In the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can't discern the signs of the times! 16.4. An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah."He left them, and departed. |
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29. Ps.-Philo, Biblical Antiquities, 10.4-10.5 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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30. Anon., Acts of Thomas, 144 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 144. And having fulfilled these sayings, he arose and prayed thus: our Father, which art in heaven: hallowed be thy name: Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done, as in heaven so upon earth: [GIVE the of Syr. day, bread constant us] and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. My Lord and God, hope and confidence and teacher, thou hast taught me to pray thus, behold, I pray this prayer and fulfil thy commandment: be thou with me unto the end; thou art he that from childhood hast sown life in me and kept me from corruption; thou art he that hast brought me unto the poverty of this world, and exhorted me unto the true riches; thou art he that hast made me known unto myself and showed me that I am thine; and I have kept myself pure from woman, that that which thou requirest be not found in defilement. [At the words 'My Lord and God' begins the double text, represented on the one hand by the MS. U and on the other by the Paris MS. P, and three (partly four) others. These insert the prayer after ch. 167. Their text, I believe, may be the original Greek. I follow it here, repeating the first paragraph.] (144) My Lord and God, my hope and my confidence and my teacher, that hast implanted courage in me, thou didst teach me to pray thus; behold, I pray thy prayer and bring thy will to fulfilment: be thou with me unto the end. Thou art he that from my youth up didst give me patience in temptation and [SOW in] me life and preserve me from corruption; thou art he that didst bring me into the poverty of this world and fill me with the true riches; thou art he that didst show me that I was thine: wherefore I was never joined unto a wife, that the temple worthy of thee might not be found in pollution. |
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31. Anon., Genesis Rabba, 1.1 (2nd cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
| 1.1. רַבִּי הוֹשַׁעְיָה רַבָּה פָּתַח (משלי ח, ל): וָאֶהְיֶה אֶצְלוֹ אָמוֹן וָאֶהְיֶה שַׁעֲשׁוּעִים יוֹם יוֹם וגו', אָמוֹן פַּדְּגוֹג, אָמוֹן מְכֻסֶּה, אָמוֹן מֻצְנָע, וְאִית דַּאֲמַר אָמוֹן רַבָּתָא. אָמוֹן פַּדְּגוֹג, הֵיךְ מָה דְאַתְּ אָמַר (במדבר יא, יב): כַּאֲשֶׁר יִשָֹּׂא הָאֹמֵן אֶת הַיֹּנֵק. אָמוֹן מְכֻסֶּה, הֵיאַךְ מָה דְאַתְּ אָמַר (איכה ד, ה): הָאֱמֻנִים עֲלֵי תוֹלָע וגו'. אָמוֹן מֻצְנָע, הֵיאַךְ מָה דְאַתְּ אָמַר (אסתר ב, ז): וַיְהִי אֹמֵן אֶת הֲדַסָּה. אָמוֹן רַבָּתָא, כְּמָא דְתֵימָא (נחום ג, ח): הֲתֵיטְבִי מִנֹּא אָמוֹן, וּמְתַרְגְּמִינַן הַאַתְּ טָבָא מֵאֲלֶכְּסַנְדְּרִיָא רַבָּתָא דְּיָתְבָא בֵּין נַהֲרוֹתָא. דָּבָר אַחֵר אָמוֹן, אֻמָּן. הַתּוֹרָה אוֹמֶרֶת אֲנִי הָיִיתִי כְּלִי אֻמְנוּתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, בְּנֹהַג שֶׁבָּעוֹלָם מֶלֶךְ בָּשָׂר וָדָם בּוֹנֶה פָּלָטִין, אֵינוֹ בּוֹנֶה אוֹתָהּ מִדַּעַת עַצְמוֹ אֶלָּא מִדַּעַת אֻמָּן, וְהָאֻמָּן אֵינוֹ בּוֹנֶה אוֹתָהּ מִדַּעַת עַצְמוֹ אֶלָּא דִּפְתְּרָאוֹת וּפִנְקְסָאוֹת יֵשׁ לוֹ, לָדַעַת הֵיאךְ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה חֲדָרִים, הֵיאךְ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה פִּשְׁפְּשִׁין. כָּךְ הָיָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַבִּיט בַּתּוֹרָה וּבוֹרֵא אֶת הָעוֹלָם, וְהַתּוֹרָה אָמְרָה בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים. וְאֵין רֵאשִׁית אֶלָּא תּוֹרָה, הֵיאַךְ מָה דְּאַתְּ אָמַר (משלי ח, כב): ה' קָנָנִי רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ. 1.1. רַבִּי יוֹנָה בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי לֵוִי אָמַר, לָמָּה נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם בְּב', אֶלָּא מַה ב' זֶה סָתוּם מִכָּל צְדָדָיו וּפָתוּחַ מִלְּפָנָיו, כָּךְ אֵין לְךָ רְשׁוּת לוֹמַר, מַה לְּמַטָּה, מַה לְּמַעְלָה, מַה לְּפָנִים, מַה לְּאָחוֹר, אֶלָּא מִיּוֹם שֶׁנִּבְרָא הָעוֹלָם וּלְהַבָּא. בַּר קַפָּרָא אָמַר (דברים ד, לב): כִּי שְׁאַל נָא לְיָמִים רִאשֹׁנִים אֲשֶׁר הָיוּ לְפָנֶיךָ, לְמִן הַיּוֹם שֶׁנִּבְרְאוּ אַתָּה דּוֹרֵשׁ, וְאִי אַתָּה דּוֹרֵשׁ לִפְנִים מִכָּאן. (דברים ד, לב): וּלְמִקְצֵה הַשָּׁמַיִם וְעַד קְצֵה הַשָּׁמָיִם, אַתָּה דּוֹרֵשׁ וְחוֹקֵר, וְאִי אַתָּה חוֹקֵר לִפְנִים מִכָּאן. דָּרַשׁ רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בֶּן פָּזִי בְּמַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית בַּהֲדֵיהּ דְּבַר קַפָּרָא, לָמָּה נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם בְּב', לְהוֹדִיעֲךָ שֶׁהֵן שְׁנֵי עוֹלָמִים, הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְהָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. דָּבָר אַחֵר, וְלָמָּה בְּב' שֶׁהוּא לְשׁוֹן בְּרָכָה, וְלָמָּה לֹא בְּאָלֶ"ף שֶׁהוּא לְשׁוֹן אֲרִירָה. דָּבָר אַחֵר, לָמָּה לֹא בְּאָלֶ"ף שֶׁלֹא לִתֵּן פִּתְחוֹן פֶּה לָאֶפִּיקוֹרְסִין לוֹמַר הֵיאַךְ הָעוֹלָם יָכוֹל לַעֲמֹד שֶׁהוּא נִבְרָא בִּלְשׁוֹן אֲרִירָה, אֶלָּא אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא הֲרֵי אֲנִי בּוֹרֵא אוֹתוֹ בִּלְשׁוֹן בְּרָכָה, וְהַלְּוַאי יַעֲמֹד. דָּבָר אַחֵר, לָמָּה בְּב' אֶלָּא מַה ב' זֶה יֵשׁ לוֹ שְׁנֵי עוֹקְצִין, אֶחָד מִלְּמַעְלָה וְאֶחָד מִלְּמַטָּה מֵאֲחוֹרָיו, אוֹמְרִים לַב' מִי בְּרָאֲךָ, וְהוּא מַרְאֶה בְּעוּקְצוֹ מִלְּמַעְלָה, וְאוֹמֵר זֶה שֶׁלְּמַעְלָה בְּרָאָנִי. וּמַה שְּׁמוֹ, וְהוּא מַרְאֶה לָהֶן בְּעוּקְצוֹ שֶׁל אַחֲרָיו, וְאוֹמֵר ה' שְׁמוֹ. אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בַּר חֲנִינָא בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי אֲחָא, עֶשְׂרִים וְשִׁשָּׁה דוֹרוֹת הָיְתָה הָאָלֶ"ף קוֹרֵא תִּגָּר לִפְנֵי כִסְאוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, אָמְרָה לְפָנָיו רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, אֲנִי רִאשׁוֹן שֶׁל אוֹתִיּוֹת וְלֹא בָּרָאתָ עוֹלָמְךָ בִּי, אָמַר לָהּ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא הָעוֹלָם וּמְלוֹאוֹ לֹא נִבְרָא אֶלָּא בִּזְכוּת הַתּוֹרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי ג, יט): ה' בְּחָכְמָה יָסַד אָרֶץ וגו', לְמָחָר אֲנִי בָּא לִתֵּן תּוֹרָה בְּסִינַי וְאֵינִי פּוֹתֵחַ תְּחִלָה אֶלָּא בָּךְ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כ, ב): אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ. רַבִּי הוֹשַׁעְיָא אוֹמֵר לָמָּה נִקְרָא שְׁמוֹ אָלֶ"ף, שֶׁהוּא מַסְכִּים מֵאָלֶ"ף, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים קה, ח): דָּבָר צִוָּה לְאֶלֶף דּוֹר. | 1.1. The great Rabbi Hoshaya opened [with the verse (Mishlei 8:30),] \"I [the Torah] was an amon to Him and I was a plaything to Him every day.\" Amon means \"pedagogue\" (i.e. ny). Amon means \"covered.\" Amon means \"hidden.\" And there is one who says amon means \"great.\" Amon means \"ny,\" as in (Bamidbar 11:12) “As a ny (omein) carries the suckling child.\" Amon means \"covered,\" as in (Eichah 4:5) \"Those who were covered (emunim) in scarlet have embraced refuse heaps.\" Amon means \"hidden,\" as in (Esther 2:7) \"He hid away (omein) Hadassah.\" Amon means \"great,\" as in (Nahum 3:8) \"Are you better than No-amon [which dwells in the rivers]?\" which the Targum renders as, \"Are you better than Alexandria the Great (amon), which dwells between the rivers?\" Alternatively, amon means \"artisan.\" The Torah is saying, \"I was the artisan's tool of Hashem.\" In the way of the world, a king of flesh and blood who builds a castle does not do so from his own knowledge, but rather from the knowledge of an architect, and the architect does not build it from his own knowledge, but rather he has scrolls and books in order to know how to make rooms and doorways. So too Hashem gazed into the Torah and created the world. Similarly the Torah says, \"Through the reishis Hashem created [the heavens and the earth],\" and reishis means Torah, as in \"Hashem made me [the Torah] the beginning (reishis) of His way\" (Mishlei 8:22)." |
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32. Babylonian Talmud, Berachot, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
| 63b. ואמרו לאחינו שבגולה אם שומעין מוטב ואם לאו יעלו להר אחיה יבנה מזבח חנניה ינגן בכנור ויכפרו כולם ויאמרו אין להם חלק באלהי ישראל,מיד געו כל העם בבכיה ואמרו חס ושלום יש לנו חלק באלהי ישראל,וכל כך למה משום שנאמר (ישעיהו ב, ג) כי מציון תצא תורה ודבר ה' מירושלים,בשלמא הוא מטהר והם מטמאין לחומרא אלא הוא מטמא והם מטהרין היכי הוי והא תניא חכם שטמא אין חברו רשאי לטהר אסר אין חברו רשאי להתיר קסברי כי היכי דלא נגררו בתריה:,תנו רבנן כשנכנסו רבותינו לכרם ביבנה היו שם רבי יהודה ורבי יוסי ור' נחמיה ור' אליעזר בנו של רבי יוסי הגלילי פתחו כולם בכבוד אכסניא ודרשו,פתח רבי יהודה ראש המדברים בכל מקום בכבוד תורה ודרש (שמות לג, ז) ומשה יקח את האהל ונטה לו מחוץ למחנה והלא דברים קל וחומר ומה ארון ה' שלא היה מרוחק אלא שנים עשר מיל אמרה תורה (שמות לג, ז) והיה כל מבקש ה' יצא אל אהל מועד תלמידי חכמים שהולכים מעיר לעיר וממדינה למדינה ללמוד תורה על אחת כמה וכמה,(שמות לג, יא) ודבר ה' אל משה פנים אל פנים אמר ר' יצחק אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה משה אני ואתה נסביר פנים בהלכה איכא דאמרי כך אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה כשם שאני הסברתי לך פנים כך אתה הסבר פנים לישראל והחזר האהל למקומו,(שמות לג, יא) ושב אל המחנה וגו' אמר רבי אבהו אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה עכשו יאמרו הרב בכעס ותלמיד בכעס ישראל מה תהא עליהם אם אתה מחזיר האהל למקומו מוטב ואם לאו יהושע בן נון תלמידך משרת תחתיך,והיינו דכתיב ושב אל המחנה אמר רבא אף על פי כן לא יצא הדבר לבטלה שנאמר (שמות לג, יא) ומשרתו יהושע בן נון נער לא ימיש מתוך האהל:,ועוד פתח ר' יהודה בכבוד תורה ודרש (דברים כז, ט) הסכת ושמע ישראל היום הזה נהיית לעם וכי אותו היום נתנה תורה לישראל והלא אותו יום סוף ארבעים שנה היה אלא ללמדך שחביבה תורה על לומדיה בכל יום ויום כיום שנתנה מהר סיני,אמר ר' תנחום בריה דר' חייא איש כפר עכו תדע שהרי אדם קורא קריאת שמע שחרית וערבית וערב אחד אינו קורא דומה כמי שלא קרא קריאת שמע מעולם,הסכת עשו כתות כתות ועסקו בתורה לפי שאין התורה נקנית אלא בחבורה כדר' יוסי ברבי חנינא דאמר ר' יוסי ברבי חנינא מאי דכתיב (ירמיהו נ, לו) חרב (על) הבדים ונואלו חרב על שונאיהם של תלמידי חכמים שיושבים בד בבד ועוסקים בתורה ולא עוד אלא שמטפשים כתיב הכא ונואלו וכתיב התם (במדבר יב, יא) אשר נואלנו ולא עוד אלא שחוטאים שנאמר ואשר חטאנו,איבעית אימא מהכא (ישעיהו יט, יג) נואלו שרי צוען,דבר אחר הסכת ושמע ישראל כתתו עצמכם על דברי תורה כדאמר ריש לקיש דאמר ריש לקיש מנין שאין דברי תורה מתקיימין אלא במי שממית עצמו עליה שנאמר (במדבר יט, יד) זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל,דבר אחר הסכת ושמע ישראל הס ואחר כך כתת כדרבא דאמר רבא לעולם ילמוד אדם תורה ואחר כך יהגה,אמרי דבי ר' ינאי מאי דכתיב (משלי ל, לג) כי מיץ חלב יוציא חמאה ומיץ אף יוציא דם ומיץ אפים יוציא ריב,במי אתה מוצא חמאה של תורה במי שמקיא חלב שינק משדי אמו עליה,ומיץ אף יוציא דם כל תלמיד שכועס עליו רבו פעם ראשונה ושותק זוכה להבחין בין דם טמא לדם טהור,ומיץ אפים יוציא ריב כל תלמיד שכועס עליו רבו פעם ראשונה ושניה ושותק זוכה להבחין בין דיני ממונות לדיני נפשות דתנן ר' ישמעאל אומר הרוצה שיתחכם יעסוק בדיני ממונות שאין לך מקצוע בתורה יותר מהן שהן כמעין נובע,אמר ר' שמואל בר נחמני מאי דכתיב (משלי ל, לב) אם נבלת בהתנשא ואם זמות יד לפה כל המנבל עצמו על דברי תורה סופו להתנשא ואם זמם יד לפה:,פתח ר' נחמיה בכבוד אכסניא ודרש מאי דכתיב (שמואל א טו, ו) ויאמר שאול אל הקיני לכו סורו רדו מתוך עמלקי פן אוסיפך עמו ואתה עשיתה חסד עם כל בני ישראל והלא דברים קל וחומר ומה יתרו שלא קרב את משה אלא לכבוד עצמו כך המארח תלמיד חכם בתוך ביתו ומאכילו ומשקהו ומהנהו מנכסיו על אחת כמה וכמה:,פתח ר' יוסי בכבוד אכסניא ודרש (דברים כג, ח) לא תתעב אדומי כי אחיך הוא לא תתעב מצרי כי גר היית בארצו והלא דברים קל וחומר ומה מצריים שלא קרבו את ישראל אלא לצורך עצמן שנאמר (בראשית מז, ו) ואם ידעת ויש בם אנשי חיל ושמתם שרי מקנה על אשר לי כך המארח תלמיד חכם בתוך ביתו ומאכילו ומשקהו ומהנהו מנכסיו על אחת כמה וכמה:,פתח ר' אליעזר בנו של ר' יוסי הגלילי בכבוד אכסניא ודרש (שמואל ב ו, יא) ויברך ה' את עובד אדום (הגתי) בעבור ארון האלהים והלא דברים ק"ו ומה ארון שלא אכל ושתה אלא כבד ורבץ לפניו כך המארח תלמיד חכם בתוך ביתו ומאכילו ומשקהו ומהנהו מנכסיו עאכ"ו,מאי היא ברכה שברכו אמר רב יהודה בר זבידא זו חמות וח' כלותיה שילדו ששה ששה בכרס אחד | 63b. bAndin order to underscore this, btell our brethren in exile: If they obeythe Sages of Eretz Yisrael to excommunicate Ḥanina, bfine; and ifthey do bnotobey us, it is as if they are seceding from the Jewish people. bThey should climb a mountain; Aḥiya,one of the leaders of the Babylonian Jewish community, bwill build an altar, Ḥaya,son of Rabbi Yehoshua’s brother, who was a Levite, bwill play the lute, and all willproclaim bheresy and say that they have no portion in the God of Israel. /b,This message had a profound impact on the people, and bimmediately the entire nation burst into tears, saying: God forbid. We do have a portion in the God of Israel.They reconsidered their plans to establish Babylonia as the center of the Jewish people.,The Gemara asks: bWhydid the Sages of Eretz Yisrael go bto that extentto stop Ḥanina? The Gemara answers: bBecause it is stated: “For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”(Isaiah 2:3).,The Gemara considers the details of this event: bGranted,Ḥanina would rule an item bpure andthe Sages from Eretz Yisrael would rule it bimpure;they ruled bstringently. Butin a case where bheruled an item bimpure and theyruled it bpure, what arethe circumstances? How could they rule pure that which he ruled impure? bWas it not taughtin a ibaraita /i: bIf a Sageruled an item bimpure, his colleague is not permittedto rule it bpure;if he bprohibitedit, bhis colleague may not permitit? The Gemara explains: bThey heldthat they must do so in this case, bso that people would not be drawn after him;due to the exigencies of the time they overturned his rulings., bThe Sages taught: When our Rabbis,the Sages of the Mishna, bentered the vineyard,the academy, bin Yavne, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Neḥemya, and Rabbi Eliezer, son of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili, were therepresiding over the Sages. bThey all beganto speak bin honor oftheir bhosts,the local population hosting them and their students as guests, band they taught. /b, bRabbi Yehuda, head of the speakers in every place, openedhis speech bin honor of Torah, and taught:It is stated: b“Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp,far off from the camp; and he called it the Tent of Meeting. And it came to pass, that every seeker of God went out unto the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp” (Exodus 33:7). He said: bIsn’t this an ia fortioriinference? Just as the Torah saysof bthe ark of God, which was only twelve imilfrom the camp: “Every seeker of God went out unto the Tent of Meeting”; all the more soshould bTorah scholars,who wander great distances and bgo from city to city and country to country to study Torah,be called seekers of God.,The Gemara continues: It is stated: b“And the Lord spoke unto Moses, face to face”(Exodus 33:11). bRabbi Yitzḥak said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Moses, you and I will show cheerful faces inthe study of ihalakha /ito those who come to study. bSome saythat bthe Holy One, Blessed be He, told Moses: Just as I showed you a cheerful face, so too you will show Israel a cheerful face and restore the tent to its placein the camp.,It is said: b“And he would return into the camp;but his minister, Joshua bin-Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent” (Exodus 33:11). bRabbi Abbahu said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, told Moses: Now,they will say: bThe Master,God, bis angry andthe bstudent,Moses, is also bangry, and what will happen to Israel?Rather, you must restore the tent to its place among the people. bIf you restore the tent to its place, fine; and if not, Joshua bin-Nun, your student,will bserveas Israel’s leader bin your place. /b, bAnd that is what is written: “And he would return into the camp;but his minister, Joshua bin-Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent.” bRava said: Nevertheless,though Moses obeyed and restored the tent, bthe statementwritten with regard to the role of Joshua bwas not uttered for naught.Joshua bin-Nun remained as deputy to Moses, and ultimately served in his place, as it is stated: b“But his minister, Joshua bin-Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent.” /b, bAnd Rabbi Yehuda again beganto speak bin honor of Torah and taught:When Moses took leave of Israel on his last day in this world, he said: b“Keep silence [ ihasket /i] and hear, Israel; this day you have become a peopleunto the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 27:9). This is surprising: bWas the Torah given to Israel on that day? Wasn’t that day at the end of forty yearssince the Torah was given? bRather,it comes bto teach that each and every day the Torah is as dear to those who study it, asit was bon the day it was given from Mount Sinai. /b, bRabbi Tanḥum, son of Rabbi Ḥiyya, of the village of Akko, said: Knowthat the Torah is indeed beloved, bas one who recites iShema /i, morning and evening,for his entire life, and bdoes not recite it one evening, it is as if he never recited iShema /i.He cannot compensate for what he missed.,The Gemara interprets the word ihasket /iin this verse homiletically, as an acronym of the words ias /i, make, and ikat /i, group. bForm [ iasu /i] many groups [ ikitot /i] and study Torah, for the Torah is only acquiredthrough study bin a group.This is bin accordance withthe opinion of bRabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina; as Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: What isthe meaning of bthat which is written: “A sword is upon the boasters [ ihabaddim /i], and they shall become fools [ inoalu /i]”(Jeremiah 50:36)? This verse can be interpreted homiletically: bA sword upon the enemies of Torah scholars,a euphemism for the Torah scholars themselves, bwho sit alone [ ibad bevad /i] and study Torah. And furthermore,those who study alone bgrow foolish, as it is written here, inoalu /i, and elsewhere it is writtenthat after Miriam was afflicted with leprosy, Aaron told Moses: b“For that we have done foolishly [ inoalnu /i]”(Numbers 12:11). bAnd furthermore, they sindue to that ignorance, basat the end of that same verse bit is stated:“For that we have done foolishly, band for that we have sinned.” /b, bIf you wish, sayinstead that it is derived bfrom here: “The princes of Tzoan are become fools [ inoalu /i]”(Isaiah 19:13).,The Gemara offers ban alternativeexplanation of this verse: b“Keep silence [ ihasket /i] and hear, Israel”; break [ ikattetu /i] yourselves over words of the Torah.This is bin accordance withthe opinion of bReish Lakish, as Reish Lakish said: From whereis it derived bthat matters of Torah are only retained by one who kills himself over it? As it is stated: “This is the Torah: When one dies in a tent”(Numbers 19:14); true Torah study demands the total devotion of one who is willing to dedicate his life in the tent of Torah.,The Gemara offers yet another balternative explanationof this verse: b“Keep silence [ ihasket /i] and hear, Israel”;first bbe silent [ ihas /i]and listen and bthenstudy intensively in order to banalyze [ ikattet /i]and clarify the details. This is bin accordance withthe opinion of bRava, as Rava said: One must always study Torahand gain expertise in it, bandonly bthen analyzeand delve into it., bIn the school of Rabbi Yannai they said: What isthe meaning of bthat which is written: “For the churning of milk brings forth curd, and the wringing of the nose [ iaf /i] brings forth blood, so the forcing of wrath [ iappayim /i] brings forth strife”(Proverbs 30:33)?,With regard to the beginning of the verse: For the churning of milk brings forth curd; bin whom do you find the cream of Torah? With one who spits out the milk that he nursed from his mother’s breasts over it;one who struggles with all his might to study Torah.,With regard to: bAnd the wringing of the nose brings forth blood, any student whose rabbi is angry [ iaf /i] with him the first time and he is silentand does not react, bwill meritto be able bto distinguish between blood that is ritually impure and blood that is ritually pure. /b,As for: bAnd the forcing of wrath [ iappayim /i] brings forth strife; any student whose rabbi is angry with him for the first and second times, iappayimbeing the plural of iaf /i, band he is silent, merits to distinguish between monetary cases,strife, band capital cases,as that is the highest level of learning. bAs we learnedin a mishna: bRabbi Yishmael says: One who seeks to become wise should engage in monetary laws, as there is no greater discipline in Torah, as they are like a flowing wellin which innovations constantly spring forth.,Similarly, bRabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: What isthe meaning of bthat which is written: “If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have planned devices [ izamota /i], lay your hand over your mouth”(Proverbs 30:32)? bAnyone who abases himself over matters of Torah,asking questions despite the shame he feels for his ignorance, bwill ultimately be exalted. And if he muzzles [ izamam /i] himselfdue to embarrassment, he will end up with his bhand overhis bmouth,unable to answer.,The Gemara returns to the homilies offered by the Sages in the vineyard of Yavne. bRabbi Neḥemya beganto speak bin honor of the hosts and taught: What isthe meaning of bthat which is written: “And Saul said unto the Kenites: Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites lest I destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the Children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt”(I Samuel 15:6)? bIsn’t this an ia fortioriinference: Just as Jethro,the forbearer of the Kenite tribe, who bonly befriended Moses for his own honor,is treated bin this wayand rewarded that his merit would protect his descendants; ball the more soshould bone who hosts a Torah scholar in his home, providing him with food and drink and availing him of his possessions,be rewarded with that protection., bRabbi Yosei beganto speak bin honor of the hosts, and taught:It is said: b“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land”(Deuteronomy 23:8). bIsn’t this an ia fortioriinference: Just as the Egyptians, who only befriended Israel,even when they hosted them, bfor their own benefit,as Pharaoh said to Joseph, bas it is stated: “And if you know any able men among them, then make them rulers over my cattle”(Genesis 47:6), are treated bthis way, all the more soshould bone who hosts a Torah scholar in his home, providing him with food and drink and availing him of his possessionswithout concern for personal gain, be treated this way., bRabbi Eliezer, son of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili, beganto speak bin honor of the hosts, and taught:It is stated: b“The Lord has blessed the house of Oved-edom…because of the ark of God”(II Samuel 6:12). bIsn’t this an ia fortioriinference: Just as in reward for honoring the ark, which neither ate nor drank, but before whichOved-edom simply bswept and sprinkledwater to settle the dust, he was treated bthis wayand merited a blessing, ball the more soshould bone who hosts a Torah scholar in his home, providing him with food and drink and availing him of his possessionswithout concern for his personal gain, be rewarded with such a blessing.,The Gemara asks: bWhat isthat bblessing with whichOved-edom bwas blessed? Rav Yehuda bar Zevida said: This is Ḥamot and her eight daughters-in-law, each of whom bore six in a single womb, /b |
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33. Babylonian Talmud, Megillah, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
| 31b. ראש חדש אב שחל להיות בשבת מפטירין (ישעיהו א, יד) חדשיכם ומועדיכם שנאה נפשי היו עלי לטורח מאי היו עלי לטורח אמר הקב"ה לא דיין להם לישראל שחוטאין לפני אלא שמטריחין אותי לידע איזו גזירה קשה אביא עליהם,בתשעה באב גופיה מאי מפטרינן אמר רב (ישעיהו א, כא) איכה היתה לזונה מקרא מאי תניא אחרים אומרים (ויקרא כו, יד) ואם לא תשמעו לי ר' נתן בר יוסף אומר (במדבר יד, יא) עד אנה ינאצוני העם הזה ויש אומרים (במדבר יד, כז) עד מתי לעדה הרעה הזאת אמר אביי האידנא נהוג עלמא למיקרי (דברים ד, כה) כי תוליד בנים ומפטירין (ירמיהו ח, יג) אסוף אסיפם:,[במעמדות] במעשה בראשית וכו': מנהני מילי א"ר אמי אלמלא מעמדות לא נתקיימו שמים וארץ שנאמר (ירמיהו לג, כה) אם לא בריתי יומם ולילה חוקות שמים וארץ לא שמתי,וכתיב (בראשית טו, ב) ויאמר ה' אלהים במה אדע כי אירשנה אמר אברהם לפני הקב"ה רבש"ע שמא ח"ו ישראל חוטאים לפניך ואתה עושה להם כדור המבול וכדור הפלגה אמר לו לאו,אמר לפניו רבש"ע במה אדע אמר לו קחה לי עגלה משולשת וגו' אמר לפניו רבש"ע תינח בזמן שבית המקדש קיים בזמן שאין בית המקדש קיים מה תהא עליהם אמר לו כבר תקנתי להם סדר קרבנות כל זמן שקוראין בהן מעלה אני עליהן כאילו מקריבין לפני קרבן ומוחל אני על כל עונותיהם:,בתעניות ברכות וקללות ואין מפסיקין בקללות: מה"מ אמר ר' חייא בר גמדא אמר רבי אסי דאמר קרא (משלי ג, יא) מוסר ה' בני אל תמאס,ריש לקיש אמר לפי שאין אומרים ברכה על הפורענות אלא היכי עביד תנא כשהוא מתחיל מתחיל בפסוק שלפניהם וכשהוא מסיים מסיים בפסוק שלאחריהן,אמר אביי לא שנו אלא בקללות שבתורת כהנים אבל קללות שבמשנה תורה פוסק מאי טעמא הללו בלשון רבים אמורות ומשה מפי הגבורה אמרן והללו בלשון יחיד אמורות ומשה מפי עצמו אמרן,לוי בר בוטי הוה קרי וקא מגמגם קמיה דרב הונא בארורי אמר לו אכנפשך לא שנו אלא קללות שבתורת כהנים אבל שבמשנה תורה פוסק,תניא ר' שמעון בן אלעזר אומר עזרא תיקן להן לישראל שיהו קורין קללות שבתורת כהנים קודם עצרת ושבמשנה תורה קודם ר"ה מאי טעמא אמר אביי ואיתימא ריש לקיש כדי שתכלה השנה וקללותיה,בשלמא שבמשנה תורה איכא כדי שתכלה שנה וקללותיה אלא שבתורת כהנים אטו עצרת ראש השנה היא אין עצרת נמי ראש השנה היא דתנן ובעצרת על פירות האילן,תניא רבי שמעון בן אלעזר אומר אם יאמרו לך זקנים סתור וילדים בנה סתור ואל תבנה מפני שסתירת זקנים בנין ובנין נערים סתירה וסימן לדבר (מלכים א יב, כא) רחבעם בן שלמה,ת"ר מקום שמפסיקין בשבת שחרית שם קורין במנחה במנחה שם קורין בשני בשני שם קורין בחמישי בחמישי שם קורין לשבת הבאה דברי ר' מאיר ר' יהודה אומר מקום שמפסיקין בשבת שחרית שם קורין במנחה ובשני ובחמישי ולשבת הבאה,אמר רבי זירא הלכה מקום שמפסיקין בשבת שחרית שם קורין במנחה ובשני ובחמישי ולשבת הבאה ולימא הלכה כרבי יהודה | 31b. When the bNew Moon of Av occurs on Shabbat, they read as the ihaftara /ithe portion that includes the verse b“Your New Moons and your Festivals, My soul hated; they were a burden to Me”(Isaiah 1:14). The Gemara asks: bWhat isthe meaning of: b“They were a burden to Me”?The Gemara explains: bThe Holy One, Blessed be He, said: It is not enough for the Jewish people that they sin before Me, butin addition, bthey burden Me to reconsider what harsh decree I shall bring upon them,for they are petitioning Me to annul those decrees.,The Gemara asks: bOnthe bNinth of Av itself, what do we read as the ihaftara /i? Rav said:The portion containing the verse b“Howdid the faithful city bbecome a harlot?”(Isaiah 1:21). The Gemara asks: bWhat Torah portiondo they read? bIt is taughtin a ibaraitathat bothers say:They read the portion containing the verse b“But if you will not hearken to me”(Leviticus 26:14). bRabbi Natan bar Yosef said:They read the portion containing the verse: b“How long will this people provoke me?”(Numbers 14:11). bAnd some say:They read the portion containing the verse: b“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation?”(Numbers 14:27). The Gemara comments that bAbaye said: Nowadays, everyone is accustomed to readthe portion of b“When you shall beget children”(Deuteronomy 4:25–40), band they read as the ihaftara /ithe portion of b“I will utterly consume them”(Jeremiah 8:13–9:23).,§ The mishna states: bIn thenon-priestly bwatchesthey read bthe act of Creation.The Gemara asks: bFrom where are these mattersderived, i.e., why do they read the account of Creation? bRabbi Ami said:To allude to the fact that bwere it not forthe non-priestly bwatches, heaven and earth would not endure, as it is stated: “Were it not for My covet day and night, I would not have set the statutes of heaven and earth”(Jeremiah 33:25). God’s covet is referring to the offerings sacrificed in the Temple, which sustain the world., bAndwith regard to Abraham bit is written: “And he said, O Lord God, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?”(Genesis 15:8). bAbraham said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, perhaps, Heaven forbid, the Jewish people will sin before You, and You will do to them asYou did to the bgeneration of the Flood and asYou did to the bgeneration of the Dispersion,i.e., You will completely destroy them? God bsaid to him: No,I will not do that.,Abraham then bsaid before Him: Master of the Universe: “By what shall I know this?”God bsaid to him: “Take Me a heifer of three years old”(Genesis 15:9). With this, God intimated to Abraham that even if his descendants will sin, they will be able to achieve atonement through sacrificing offerings. Abraham bsaid before Him: Master of the Universe,this bworks out well when the Temple is standingand offerings can be brought to achieve atonement, but bwhen the Temple will nolonger bbe standing, what will become of them?God bsaid to him: I have already established for them the order of offerings,i.e., the verses of the Torah pertaining to the ihalakhotof the offerings. bWhenever they read thoseportions, bI will deem it as if they sacrificed an offering before Me, and I will pardon them for all of their iniquities. /b,§ The mishna states: bOn fast daysthe congregation reads the portion of bblessings and curses(Leviticus, chapter 16), band one may not interruptthe reading of the bcursesby having two different people read them. Rather, one person reads all of them. The Gemara asks: bFrom where are these mattersderived? Why does one not interrupt the reading of the curses? bRabbi Ḥiyya bar Gamda saidthat bRabbi Asi said: For the verse states: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,nor be weary of His correction” (Proverbs 3:11). If one makes a break in the middle of the curses, it appears as if he loathes rebuke., bReish Lakish saida different answer: It is bbecause one does not say a blessing over a calamity.If a second person were to begin to read in the middle of the portion of the curses, the blessing upon his reading would be considered a blessing over a calamity. bRather,what bdoes one do?It is btaughtin a ibaraita /i: bWhen one beginsthe reading, bone begins with the verse beforethe curses, band when one concludesthe reading, bone concludes with the verse after them.In this way, neither the blessing before the reading nor after it relates directly to verses of calamity., bAbaye said: They taughtthis bonly with regard to the curses that arerecorded bin Leviticus, but with regard to the curses that arerecorded bin Deuteronomy, one may interruptthem by having two different people read them. bWhat is the reasonfor this distinction? bThesecurses in Leviticus bare stated in the plural, and Moses pronounced them from the mouth of the Almighty.As such, they are more severe. However, bthesecurses in Deuteronomy bare stated in the singular, and Moses said them on his own,like the rest of the book of Deuteronomy. They are therefore less harsh and may be interrupted.,It was related that bLevi bar Buti wasonce breading theportion of the bcurses before Rav Huna, and he was stammeringin his reading, as it was difficult for him to utter such harsh pronouncements. Rav Huna bsaid to him: If you wish,you may stop where you are and a different reader will continue, for bthey taughtone may not have two people read the curses bonly with regard to the curses that arerecorded bin Leviticus. But with regard to the curses that arerecorded bin Deuteronomy, one may interruptthem by having two different people read them., bIt is taughtin a ibaraita /i: bRabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: Ezra enacted for the Jewish people that they should readthe portion of bthe curses that arerecorded bin Leviticus before iShavuotandthe portion of the curses bthat arerecorded bin Deuteronomy before Rosh HaShana.The Gemara asks: bWhat is the reasonfor this? bAbaye said, and some saythat it was bReish Lakishwho said: bIn order that the year may concludetogether with bits curses,and the new year may begin without the ominous reading of the curses.,The Gemara asks: bGranted,with regard to the curses bthat arerecorded bin Deuteronomy, there isrelevance to the reason: bIn order that the year may concludetogether with bits curses,for Rosh HaShana is clearly the beginning of a new year. bHowever,with regard to the curses bthat arerecorded bin Leviticus,what relevance does that reason have? bIs that to say iShavuotis a new year?The Gemara answers: bYes,indeed, iShavuotis also a new year, as we learnedin a mishna ( iRosh HaShana16a): bAnd on iShavuot /i,divine judgment is made bconcerning the fruit of the trees,which indicates that iShavuotalso has the status of a new year., bIt is taughtin a ibaraita /i: bRabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: If old men say to you: Demolish, and childrensay to you: bBuild,then bdemolish and do not build, because the demolishing of old men isultimately as constructive as bbuilding,despite the fact that it appears destructive, band the building of children isas destructive as bdemolishing. An indication of this matteris bRehoboam, son of Solomon.He ignored the advice of the Elders and did not lower himself before his people, which ultimately led to the people rebelling against him., bThe Sages taughtin a ibaraita /i: With regard to bthe placein the Torah bwherethe congregation bconcludesthe reading bon Shabbat morning,it is from btherethat btheycontinue to bread in the afternoonservice on Shabbat. Where they conclude bin the afternoonservice on Shabbat, from bthere theycontinue to bread on Mondaymorning. Where they conclude bon Monday,from bthere theycontinue to bread on Thursdaymorning. Where they conclude bon Thursday,from bthere theycontinue to bread on the coming Shabbat.This is bthe statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says:With regard to bthe placein the Torah bwhere they concludethe reading bon Shabbat morning,it is from btherethat btheycontinue to bread in the afternoonservice on Shabbat. bAndfrom that same place btheycontinue to bread on Mondaymorning, band on Thursdaymorning, band on the coming Shabbat. /b,The Gemara notes that bRabbi Zeira said: The ihalakha /iis that with regard to bthe place where they concludethe reading bon Shabbat morning,it is from btherethat btheycontinue to bread in the afternoonservice on Shabbat. bAndfrom that same place btheycontinue to bread on Mondaymorning, band on Thursdaymorning, band on the coming Shabbat.The Gemara asks: If so, blet himsimply bsay: The ihalakhais in accordance withthe opinion of bRabbi Yehuda.Why did he have to explicitly state the whole ihalakha /i? |
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34. Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
| 17a. אקפח את בני שזו הלכה מקופחת ששמע השומע וטעה האיכר עובר ומרדעו על כתפו ואיהל צדו אחת על הקבר טימאו אותו משום כלים המאהילים על המת,א"ר עקיבא אני אתקן שיהו דברי חכמים קיימים שיהו כל המטלטלים מביאין את הטומאה על האדם שנושא אותן בעובי המרדע ועל עצמן בכל שהן ועל שאר אדם וכלים בפותח טפח,וא"ר ינאי ומרדע שאמרו אין בעביו טפח ויש בהיקפו טפח וגזרו על היקפו משום עביו,ולר' טרפון דאמר אקפח את בני שהלכה זו מקופחת בצרו להו א"ר נחמן בר יצחק אף בנות כותים נדות מעריסתן בו ביום גזרו ובאידך ס"ל כר' מאיר:,ואידך הבוצר לגת שמאי אומר הוכשר הלל אומר לא הוכשר א"ל הלל לשמאי מפני מה בוצרין בטהרה ואין מוסקין בטהרה,א"ל אם תקניטני. גוזרני טומאה אף על המסיקה נעצו חרב בבית המדרש אמרו הנכנס יכנס והיוצא אל יצא ואותו היום היה הלל כפוף ויושב לפני שמאי כאחד מן התלמידים והיה קשה לישראל כיום שנעשה בו העגל וגזור שמאי והלל ולא קבלו מינייהו ואתו תלמידייהו גזור וקבלו מינייהו,מ"ט אמר (ר') זעירי אמר ר' חנינא גזירה שמא יבצרנו בקופות טמאות,הניחא למ"ד כלי טמא חושב משקין שפיר אלא למ"ד אין כלי טמא חושב משקין מאי איכא למימר אלא אמר זעירי אמר ר' חנינא גזירה שמא יבצרנו בקופות מזופפות,רבא אמר גזירה משום הנושכות (דאמר) רב נחמן אמר רבה בר אבוה פעמים שאדם הולך לכרמו לידע אם הגיעו ענבים לבצירה או לא ונוטל אשכול ענבים לסוחטו ומזלף על גבי ענבים ובשעת בצירה עדיין משקה טופח עליהם:,ואידך אמר | 17a. bI will bury my sonsif bthis isnot ba truncated ihalakha /i, i.e., that the one who heardit, bhearda halakhic ruling concerning a different situation band erred.He thought this ihalakhawas established with regard to the following: Movable objects with the thickness of an ox goad transmit impurity to another vessel when the movable object is over both the source of impurity and the vessel at the same time. However, the original ihalakhais as follows: If bthe farmer was passing and his ox goad was on his shoulder and one side ofthe ox goad bcovered the grave,the Sages bdeemedthe ox goad itself bimpure due tothe impurity bof vessels that cover a corpse.Any object located over a grave becomes impure. However, just because the ox goad itself became impure, this does not necessarily mean that it transmits impurity to other objects., bRabbi Akiva said: I will correctand explain the ihalakhaso bthat the statements of the Sages will be upheldas they were originally said, and this ihalakhawill be explained as follows: bAll movable objects transmit impurity to the person carrying themif the objects are at least as thick as an ox goad. As will be explained below, there is room to decree that a round object with the circumference of an ox goad should have the legal status of a tent over a corpse. Something that serves as a covering over a corpse not only becomes impure itself, but also transmits impurity, as it is written: “Anything that is in the tent will become impure for seven days” (Numbers 19:14). Therefore, even the person carrying the ox goad becomes impure due to the ox goad. bAnd,however, movable objects that covered the corpse bring impurity bupon themselvesby means of this makeshift tent bat any size,and there is no minimum measure. bAnd,however, those objects that cover the corpse do not transmit impurity bto other peoplewho are not carrying them. bAndthe same is true with regard to bvessels,unless the width of these vessels is at least bone handbreadth. /b, bAnd Rabbi Yannai said: And the ox goad that they mentionedis specifically one in which bits width is not a handbreadth and,however, bits circumference is a handbreadth, and they,the Sages, bissued a decree on its circumference due to its width.If its width was a handbreadth it would transmit impurity as a tent by Torah law. Therefore, they issued a rabbinic decree with regard to an object whose circumference is a handbreadth. This is another of the eighteen decrees.,The Gemara asks: bAndaccording bto Rabbi Tarfon, who said: I will bury my sonif bthis isnot ba truncated ihalakha /i,the tally of the decrees bis lacking,and there are not eighteen. bRav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said:The decree that the bdaughters ofthe bSamaritans areconsidered to already have the status of bmenstruating women from their cradle, they issued on that day. And in the othermatter of drawn water, bhe holds in accordance withthe opinion of bRabbi Meir,and thereby the tally of the decrees is complete., bAnd anotherof those decrees is the matter of bone who harvestsgrapes in order to take them bto the press. Shammai says: It has become susceptible, and Hillel says: It has not become susceptible. Hillel said to Shammai:If so, bfor whatpurpose bdo they harvestgrapes bin purity,i.e., utilizing pure vessels, as in your opinion, since the grapes are susceptible to impurity by means of the juice that seeps from them, care must be taken to avoid impurity while gathering; band,however, bthey do not harvestolives bin purity?According to your opinion that liquid that seeps out renders the fruit susceptible to impurity, why is there not a similar concern with regard to the liquid that seeps out of olives?,Shammai bsaid to him: If you provoke meand insist that there is no difference between gathering olives and grapes, then, in order not to contradict this, bI will decree impurity on the gatheringof olives bas well.They related that since the dispute was so intense, bthey stuck a sword in the study hall, and they said: One whoseeks to benterthe study hall, blet him enter, and one whoseeks to bleave may not leave,so that all of the Sages will be assembled to determine the ihalakha /i. bThat day Hillel was bowed and was sitting before Shammai like one of the students.The Gemara said: bAndthat day bwas as difficult for Israel as the day theGolden bCalf was made,as Hillel, who was the iNasi /i, was forced to sit in submission before Shammai, and the opinion of Beit Shammai prevailed in the vote conducted that day. bAnd Shammai and Hillel issued the decree, andthe people bdid not accept it from them. And their students cameand bissued the decree, andthe people baccepted it from them. /b,As to the essence of the matter, the Gemara asks: bWhat is the reasonthey decreed that liquids that seeped from the grapes unintentionally render the grapes susceptible to impurity? bRabbi Ze’iri saidthat bRabbi Ḥanina said:The Sages issued ba decreedue to concern blest he gatherthe grapes bin impure baskets.The impurity of the vessel would accord the liquid in it the status of a liquid that renders food items susceptible to impurity.,The Gemara asks: This bworks out well,according bto the one who saidthat ban impure vessel accords liquidsin it the halakhic status as if they were placed there willfully, and they render foods susceptible to impurity even if he did not want the liquids in the vessel. However, according bto the one who saidthat ban impure vessel does not accord liquidsthat status, bwhat can be saidin explanation of the decree? bRather, Rabbi Ze’iri saidthat bRabbi Ḥanina saidthe following: The reason is not as we suggested; rather, this is ba decreeinstituted by the Sages blest he gather them in pitched baskets,which are sealed. Since liquids that seep out of the grapes do not spill out of the baskets, it is opportune for him to have the liquids seep out of the grapes as he thereby accelerates the production of wine in the press. Because the seeping of the liquid is opportune, it renders the grapes susceptible to impurity., bRava said:The reason for the bdecreeis bdue to thecase of liquid that squirted out when one separated clusters of grapes that were bstuck together /b. Since he did so by his own hand, consciously and willfully, the liquid that seeps out renders the grapes susceptible to impurity. Just as bRav Naḥman saidthat bRabba bar Avuh said: Sometimes a person goes to his vineyardin order bto ascertain whether or not the grapes have reachedthe time for bgathering, and he takes a cluster of grapes to squeeze it, and he spraysthe juice bontothe bgrapes.Based on the quality of the juice, he determines whether or not the grapes are sufficiently ripe. If so, this grape juice was squeezed by his own hand willfully and it renders the grapes susceptible to impurity, as even bat the time of gatheringit is conceivable that the bliquid is still moist uponthe grapes.,Since all eighteen decrees decreed that day have not yet been enumerated, the Gemara asks: bAndwhat is bthe other? Said /b |
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35. Babylonian Talmud, Sotah, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
| 7b. וקטליאות נזמים וטבעות מעבירין ממנה כדי לנוולה ואחר כך מביא חבל מצרי וקושרו למעלה מדדיה,וכל הרוצה לראות בא לראות חוץ מעבדיה ושפחותיה מפני שלבה גס בהן וכל הנשים מותרות לראותה שנאמר (יחזקאל כג, מח) ונוסרו כל הנשים ולא תעשינה כזמתכנה, big strongגמ׳ /strong /big מנהני מילי א"ר חייא בר גמדא א"ר יוסי בר' חנינא אתיא תורה תורה כתיב הכא (במדבר ה, ל) ועשה לה הכהן את כל התורה וכתיב התם (דברים יז, יא) על פי התורה אשר יורוך מה להלן בשבעים ואחד אף כאן בשבעים ואחד,ומאיימין עליה וכו' ורמינהו כדרך שמאיימין עליה שלא תשתה כך מאיימין עליה שתשתה אומרים לה בתי אם ברור לך הדבר שטהורה את עמדי על בורייך ושתי לפי שאין מים המרים דומין אלא לסם יבש שמונח על בשר חי אם יש שם מכה מחלחל ויורד אין שם מכה אינו מועיל כלום,לא קשיא כאן קודם שנמחקה מגילה כאן לאחר שנמחקה מגילה,ואומר לפניה וכו' ת"ר אומר לפניה דברים של הגדה ומעשים שאירעו בכתובים הראשונים כגון (איוב טו, יח) אשר חכמים יגידו ולא כחדו מאבותם,יהודה הודה ולא בוש מה היה סופו נחל חיי העולם הבא ראובן הודה ולא בוש מה היה סופו נחל חיי העולם הבא ומה שכרן מה שכרן כדקא אמרינן אלא מה שכרן בעולם הזה (איוב טו, יט) להם לבדם נתנה הארץ ולא עבר זר בתוכם,בשלמא ביהודה אשכחן דאודי דכתיב (בראשית לח, כו) ויכר יהודה ויאמר צדקה ממני אלא ראובן מנלן דאודי,דא"ר שמואל בר נחמני אמר ר' יוחנן מאי דכתיב (דברים לג, ו) יחי ראובן ואל ימות (דברים לג, ז) וזאת ליהודה,כל אותן שנים שהיו ישראל במדבר היו עצמותיו. של יהודה מגולגלין בארון עד שעמד משה ובקש עליו רחמים אמר לפניו רבש"ע מי גרם לראובן שהודה יהודה וזאת ליהודה,מיד (דברים לג, ז) שמע ה' קול יהודה על איבריה לשפא ולא הוה קא מעיילין ליה למתיבתא דרקיעא (דברים לג, ז) ואל עמו תביאנו ולא הוה קא ידע משקל ומטרח בשמעתא בהדי רבנן (דברים לג, ז) ידיו רב לו לא הוה קא סלקא ליה שמעתא אליבא דהילכתא (דברים לג, ז) ועזר מצריו תהיה,בשלמא יהודה דאודי כי היכי דלא תישרף תמר אלא ראובן למה ליה דאודי והאמר רב ששת חציף עלי (בר ישראל) דמפריט חטאיה כי היכי דלא ליחשדו אחוהי,אם אמרה טמאה אני וכו' שמעת מינה כותבין שובר,אמר אביי תני מקרעת א"ל רבא והא שוברת קתני אלא אמר רבא במקום שאין כותבין כתובה עסקינן,ואם אמרה טהורה אני מעלין אותה לשערי מזרח מעלין אותה | 7b. bor chokers [ ikatliyot /i],or bnose rings, orfinger brings, they removed them from her in order to render her unattractive. And afterwardthe priest bwould bring an Egyptian ropefashioned from palm fibers, band he would tie it above her breasts. /b, bAnd anyone who desires to watch her may come to watch, except for her slaves and maidservants,who are not permitted to watch bbecause her heart is emboldened by them,as seeing one’s slaves reinforces one’s feeling of pride, and their presence may cause her to maintain her innocence. bAnd all of the women are permitted to watch her, as it is stated:“Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, bthat all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness”(Ezekiel 23:48)., strongGEMARA: /strong The Gemara asks concerning the ihalakhathat the isotais brought before the Sanhedrin: bFrom where are these mattersderived? bRabbi Ḥiyya bar Gamda saysthat bRabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, says:This bis derivedby means of a verbal analogy between the words b“ itora /i”and b“ itora /i.”It bis written here,with regard to a isota /i: b“And the priest shall execute upon her all this law [ itora /i]”(Numbers 5:30), bandit bis written there,with regard to a rebellious Elder, who must go to the place chosen by God and follow the ruling of the Sanhedrin: b“According to the law [ itora /i] that they shall teach you”(Deuteronomy 17:11). bJust as therethe verse is referring to what occurs binthe presence of the Sanhedrin of bseventy-onejudges, bso too here,with regard to a isota /i, the verse is referring to what occurs binthe presence of the Sanhedrin of bseventy-onejudges.,§ The mishna teaches: bAnd they threaten herin order that she admit her sin, to obviate the need to erase God’s name. bAndthe Gemara braises a contradictionfrom that which was taught in a ibaraitain the iTosefta(1:6): bIn the same manner that they threaten her so that she will not drink, so too, they threaten her so that she will drink,as bthey say to her: My daughter, if the matter is clear to you that you are pure, arise forthe sake of byour clearposition band drink.If you are innocent you have nothing to fear, bbecause the bitter water is similar only to a dry poison placed on the flesh. If there is a woundthere, the poison will bpenetrate and enterthe blood stream, but if bthere is no wound there, it does not have any effect.This teaches that the woman is warned not to drink if she is guilty, but if she is not guilty she is encouraged to drink. There is no mention of the latter in the mishna.,The Gemara answers: This is bnot difficult. Herethe mishna is referring to bbefore the scroll was erased,and at that point the woman is warned only not to drink if she is guilty, so that the name of God will not be erased. bTherethe ibaraitais referring to bafter the scroll was erased.Then she is warned that if she is innocent she should drink because if she now refuses to drink, it will turn out that the scroll was erased for no purpose.,§ The mishna teaches: bAndthe judge bsays in her presencematters that are not worthy of being heard by her and all her father’s family in order to encourage her to admit her sin. The Gemara cites a ibaraitathat details what was said. bThe Sages taughtin a ibaraita /i: The judge bsays in her presence words of homileticalinterpretation bandmentions bincidents that happenedto previous generations that are recorded bin the earlyprophetic bwritings. For example,they expound the following verse: b“That wise men told and did not hide from their fathers”(Job 15:18); this teaches that even during the time of the forefathers, there were people who admitted their sins despite the shame they incurred.,For example, bJudah admittedthat he sinned with Tamar band was not embarrassedto do so, and bwhat was his end? He inherited the life of the World-to-Come. Reuben admittedthat he lay with his father’s concubine Bilhah band was not embarrassed,and bwhat was his end? Hetoo binherited the life of the World-to-Come.The Gemara asks: bAnd what is their reward?The Gemara interjects: bWhat is their reward?Their reward was clearly bas we say,that they inherited the life of the World-to-Come. The Gemara clarifies: bRather,the second question was: bWhat is their reward in this world?The Gemara answers by citing the next verse in the book of Job: b“To them alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them”(Job 15:19). Judah was given the kingship, and Reuben inherited a portion of land in the Transjordan before the other tribes.,The Gemara questions the source for Reuben’s admission. bGranted, with regard to Judah we have founda source bthat he admittedhis sin with Tamar, bas it is written: “And Judah acknowledged them and said: She is more righteous than I”(Genesis 38:26). Judah admitted that he was the one who had impregnated Tamar. bBut from where do wederive bthat Reuben admittedhis sin?,The Gemara answers: It is bas Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani saysthat bRabbi Yoḥa says: What isthe meaning of that bwhich is writtenconcerning Reuben and Judah in Moses’ blessing of the tribes at the end of his life: b“Let Reuben live and not die in that his men become few”(Deuteronomy 33:6), and immediately afterward, in the following verse, it is stated: b“And this for Judah,and he said: Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him in unto his people; his hands shall contend for him, and You shall be a help against his adversaries” (Deuteronomy 33:7). What is the connection between the blessing of Reuben and that of Judah, juxtaposed with the conjunction “and”?,Rabbi Yoḥa says: bAll those years that the Jewish people were in the desert, the bones of Judah,which the Jewish people took with them from Egypt along with the bones of his brothers, bwere rollingaround bin the coffin, until Moses arose and asked for compassion onJudah’s behalf. Moses bsaid beforeGod: bMaster of the Universe, who served as the impetus for Reuben that he admithis sin, through which he merited a blessing and was not excluded from the count of the twelve sons of Jacob (see Genesis 35:22)? It was bJudah,as Reuben saw him confess his sin, and thereby did the same. Moses continues in the next verse: b“And this for Judah,”as if to say: Is this Judah’s reward for serving as an example of confessing to one’s sins, that his bones roll around?, bImmediatelyafter Moses prayed, the verse states: b“Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah”(Deuteronomy 33:7). bHis bonesthen benteredtheir bsockets [ ishafa /i],and his skeleton was reassembled. bButthe angels still bdid not elevatehim binto the heavenly study hall.Moses then prayed: b“And bring him in unto his people”(Deuteronomy 33:7), i.e., those in the heavenly study hall. This prayer was accepted, bbut hestill bdid not knowhow bto deliberatein Torah matters bwith theheavenly bsages.Moses then prayed: b“His hands shall contend for him”(Deuteronomy 33:7), meaning that he should have the ability to contend with them in study. But still bhe was unable to drawconclusions from bhis discussion in accordance with the ihalakha /i.Moses then prayed: b“And You shall be a help against his adversaries”(Deuteronomy 33:7).,The Gemara discusses the propriety of admitting one’s sins in public. bGranted,with regard to bJudah,it was proper bthat he admittedhis sin in public, as he did so bin order that Tamar not be burnedinnocently. bBut why did Reuben admithis sin in public? bBut didn’t Rav Sheshet say: Iconsider one bwho specifies his sinsin public to be bbrazen,as one who does so indicates that he is not embarrassed by his actions? The Gemara answers: The reason he admitted his sin in public was bin order that his brothers should not be suspectedof having committed the deed.,§ The mishna teaches: bIfafter the judge’s warning bshe says: I am defiled,she writes a receipt for her marriage contract. The Gemara comments: bYoucan blearn from thismishna bthat one writes a receiptto serve as proof that a debt has been paid rather than tearing the promissory note. This matter is the subject of a dispute between the itanna’imin tractate iBava Batra(170b)., bAbaye said: Teachin the mishna differently. Rather than understanding that she writes a receipt, explain it to mean: bShe tearsher marriage contract. bRava said to him: Butthe mishna bteachesexplicitly that bshe writes a receipt. Rather,to explain the mishna, bRava said: We are dealing with a place inwhich bthey do not write a marriage contract,as they rely on the rabbinical ordice that all wives are entitled to the sum of a standard marriage contract upon divorce or being widowed, even if no marriage contract has been written. Because there is no marriage contract to tear, a receipt is written so that the man can prove that he no longer has a monetary obligation. However, generally, it is possible that the document would be torn, and no proof can be adduced from this mishna.,§ The mishna teaches: bBut ifafter the warning bshemaintains her innocence and bsays: I am pure, theywould bbring her up to the Eastern Gate.The Gemara asks: Would bthey bring her up? /b |
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36. Anon., Apostolic Constitutions, 7.45 (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
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37. Anon., 4 Ezra, 9.32, 13.42
| 9.32. But though our fathers received the law, they did not keep it, and did not observe the statutes; yet the fruit of the law did not perish -- for it could not, because it was thine. 13.42. that there at least they might keep their statutes which they had not kept in their own land. |
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38. Anon., 4 Baruch, 3.10
| 3.10. And the Lord said to him: Take them and consign them to the earth, saying: Hear, Earth, the voice of your creator who formed you in the abundance of waters, who sealed you with seven seals for seven epochs, and after this you will receive your ornaments (?) -- |
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39. Anon., Joseph And Aseneth, 14.8
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