Pirke Avot (Sayings of the Fathers)

R. Dosithai®, son of R. Jannai, said in the name of R. Meir, When a scholar of the wise sits and studies, and has forgotten a word of his Mishnah, they account it unto him as if he were “guilty of death,” for it is said, Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the words which thine eyes have seen (Deut. iv. 9). Perhaps his Mishnah 17 Cf. Joh. xvii. 9, 10: ὧν δέδωκάς μοι, ὅτι col εἰσι. ἀλλὰ περὶ καὶ τὰ ἐμὰ πάντα σά ἐστι, κ.τ.λ. ‘‘in David”’ in Heb. iv. 7. 19 The word 73” means to change, or to repeat, and hence generally to study or learn. The Aramaic form of the word is NIM, on which see the lexicons. The word ΓΦ is pointed with a horizontal stroke under the ). This sign, which is now appropriated to Pathach, served in an older system of punctuation, out of which that now in use was developed, for Qameg also, The latter then came to be distinguished by a dot placed under the ‘“Pathach” (—); and finally the dot was brought into contact with the ‘‘Pathach,” and the modern ‘‘Qamec”’ (τ) arose. The citation from the Cambridge University MS. Oo 1. 19, fol. 12 b, in the Rabbinic footnote, may serve as a μνημόσυνον of this fact. 20 (Ἢ, Israel writes that this wise man is mentioned in the Mishnah only here and in ‘Erubin” [v.

4] (bar S.). Forgetfulness is regarded as sinful | in so far as it arises from carelessness and neglect of δευτέρωσις. A man is not to be blamed for a forgetfulness arising from sickness or any cause beyond his control. In Berakoth 8b, an old man who has forgotten his “Thalmud”’ JDJIN NIN is compared to the shattered tables of the Law, and it is said, mmd> awy nimbd PND Min, the tables and the fragments of the tables were laid up in the Ark. So the broken-down scholar is to be treated with respect. Of prayer it is said in Berakoth ν. 5 that to make a mistake in it is 12) Ὁ y yo, an evil sign to a man. The expression O37 (Deut. iv. 9) does not mean merely written ‘‘words,”’ ΠῚ. 10—14. 49 has but grown hard” to him ? lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life” ? What need then to say, “And Lo! he is not guilty, till he has sat down and suffered them to depart from his mind.

R. Chananiah ben Dosa said, Whosesoever fear of sin precedes his wisdom”, his wisdom stands; and whosesoever wisdom precedes his fear of sin, his wisdom stands not.

He used to say, Whosesoever works are in excess of *1 Some commentators understand §pN as of wine which has turned sour or lost its flavour; but it is unnecessary to bring in this meaning here. The case under consideration is that of a man who has not absolutely forgotten, but does not remember readily ; his Mishnah is not fluent in his mouth. Compare Berakoth 34 Ὁ: ‘‘They said of R. Chanina ben Dosa that he used to pray over the sick, and say, This one lives, and that one dies. They said to him, Whence knowest thou? He said to them, If my prayer is fluent in my mouth, 53 ‘nd|an mw ON, I know that it is accepted, and if not, I know that it is rejected.” Bar S., quoting Sifre, writes that a man should be as careful to preserve his Thorah as his money, for it is hardly gotten, as gold, and perishes easily, like glass, D151 (Job xxviii. 17). He who learns Thorah and does not ‘‘repeat” is as one who sows and does not reap. He who learns and forgets is like a mother that bears and buries. Sanh. 99 a. * Different meanings are assigned to the precedence of the fear of sin to ‘‘wisdom.”” The saying is taken to denote either that a man’s fear of sin should be instinctive, rather than a result of calculation; or that the fear of sin should be a motive urging him to the acquisition of knowledge as a safeguard against transgressions into which his ignorance might betray him.

The former interpretation is to be preferred: a man should build upon the foundation of religious feeling, rather than of philosophy. It may be conjectured that the second clauses of §§ 13—15 are later additions. They are not found in Aboth R. N. xx11., and their omission is partly favoured by the reading of the Machazor Vitry in §14. Compare also note x on § 15. Aboth R. N., after the first clause of § 13, refers to Ps. exi. 10: ‘‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning (?) of wisdom.” Then follows the first clause of § 14, with a scripture proof from Ex. xxiv. 7: We will po, and we will HEAR, ‘‘They said before Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai, A wise man and a sinfearer, what is he? He said to them, Lo! he isa workman, with his tools in his hand. A wise man but not a sinfearer, what is he? He said to them, He is a workman who has not his tools in his hand. A sinfearer but not wise, what is he? He said to them, He is no workman, but has his tools in his hand.” A* quotes this baraitha, with some remarks upon his reading of it. Another comparison is given, from Joma: A man with wisdom but without the fear of Heaven is like a man with the key of an inner court, but unable to enter because he has not the key of the outer court. δ0 PIRQE ABOTH. his wisdom”, his wisdom stands; and whosesoever wisdom is in excess of his works, his wisdom stands not. He used to say, With whomsoever the spirit of men is pleased*, the Spirit of God is pleased ; and with whomsoever the spirit of men is not pleased, the Spirit of God is not pleased.

R. Dosa ben Horkinas said, Morning sleep, and midday wine”, and the babbling of youths”, and frequenting 23 ὦ Thalmud” and practice—cf. the controversy on Faith and Works—are frequently set against one another in discussions. Aboth 1. 18 decides for the latter. On the other side see the remarks of Sifre upon Deut, xi. 13: “Tf ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments,” where it is said: And ye shall learn them, and ye shall observe to do them (Deut. v. 1). The scripture shews that doing depends on learning, and not learning on doing, son per ΟΠ, nbn mwyony ΠΟ dn. *4 For the expression compare Baba Bathra vu. 5, where it is said that when a man has left his property to strangers and passed over his sons, what he has done is done, but his act is not approved, ‘‘sapientium spiritus non requiescit in eo.” The sayings in the text may be compared with 1 Joh. iv. 20: 6 yap μὴ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ὃν ἑώρακε, τὸν Θεὸν ὃν οὐχ ἑώρακε πῶς δύναται ἀγαπᾷν; This Mishnah is taken by bar S. as exemplifying the doctrine that there is a correspondence in all respects between the upper world and the lower: ‘‘ Whatever exists above, exists also below.’’ Thus there is an archetypal and celestial Adam analogous to the lower Adam, and made literally in the image of God. There is also a familia above corresponding to the human familia below, with respect to which it is said:

‘May it be thy pleasure, O Lord our God, to make peace in the family above, and in the family below” (Berakoth 16 b, 17 a). The condition or action of either of these communities must have its analogue in the other. ‘‘He who occupies himself in Thorah for its own sake makes peace in the family above and in the family below, for it is said > mney ode Ὁ iby πῶ" (Is. xxvii. 5). Rab said, It is as if he built a palace above and below...Moreover he protects the whole world, &ce., and brings the redemption nigh” (Sanhedrin 99 b). time of reading the morning Shema‘: nor drink wine early, and so indispose himself alike for Thorah and business. In connexion with the drunkenness of Noah, we read in Midrash Tanchuma that there are four stages from sobriety to intoxication. A man before drinking is innocent as a lamb, and like a sheep which is dumb before its shearers: after drinking enough he is strong as a lion, and says that there is no one like him in the world: in the next stage he becomes a hog: when thoroughly drunken he is like an ape, and dances and jests and talks nonsense and knows not what he is doing. If all this happened to righteous Noah, how must it be with ordinary men? Noah cursed his own descendants, saying, Cursed be Canaan, ἄρ. The children of Ham, because he saw the nakedness of his father, and told his brethren, had their eyes reddened, and their lips deformed, according to the III. 15—18. 51 the meeting houses” of the vulgar, put a man out of the world.

R. Li‘ezer ha-Moda‘i said, He that profanes things sacred, and contemns the festivals, and annuls the covenant of Abraham our father, and acts barefacedly against the Thorah™, even though he be a doer of good works, has no portion in the world to come.

R. Ishma‘el said, Be pliant of disposition (or to a chief) divine decree, 77% 7333 ΠῚ, measure for measure. men tends to frivolity, and withholds a man from serious study. Rehoboam took the counsel of young men (1 Kings xii. 8), and caused the disruption of the kingdom. There is a proverb, DIP? ΠῚ ΠΤ OMY) 122 23, young men’s construction is destruction, and old men’s destruction is construction. ‘MN. by reference to his ‘ancient Mishnaioth.” The synagogue served for meetings not merely ‘‘precum et sacrorum causa,” but for general educational purposes. It served inter alia as a schoolhouse for the young (p. 15), in contrast with beth ha-midrash, the college for those of riper years. Here, however, the primary reference is to Thorah. Everything which leads the mind astray from it is to be avoided as destroying a man’s soul, and putting him out of the world (αἰών). On the other hand, ‘‘he that increases Thorah increases life” (11. 8). ’Epevvare τὰς γραφάς, ὅτι ὑμεῖς δοκεῖτε ἐν αὐταῖς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχειν (Joh. v. 39). nah, called Qodashim, treats of holy things, and the second, Mo‘ed, of festivals. He who despises sacred things, and repudiates the covenant of circumcision, and acts in defiance of the Thorah, cannot be saved by moral excellence. The sense is impaired by reading: ‘“Thorah and good works.” The text gives a more effective contrast. ‘‘He who acts impudently against the Thorah,” &c., cannot be saved by good works.

The expression op bin is explained in T. J. Peah I. 1 as meaning, ‘“‘one who says that the Thorah was not given from Heaven.” Buxtorf s.v. N53 writes : **Revelat faciem contra legem, id est, proterve, impudenter agit vel insurgit contra eam.” The unveiled face may also denote confidence in a good sense (2 Cor. iii, 18). 39 In Sifre on Numb. xv. 31, where this Mishnah is quoted, the clause As) ΠΣ ΠῚ is omitted, but it occurs and is explained in the context. He who hath “despised the word of the Lord” is there said to be ἃ Caduqi; and he who hath “broken (157) His commandment,” an Epicurus. Another explanation is then given, in which the former expression is rendered, in the words of our text, D5 moan MNJ, and the second by N72 ADDF 3w2. Then follows this Mishnah, with the ending, NYO IND Ww ΒΎΌΝ pdiyn yo inimtd sin > Aan, however many precepts he may perform, he merits expulsion from the world, 52 PIRQE ABOTH. and yielding to impressment*® (Matt. v. 41), and receive every man with cheerfulness. 30 The text of @ has the peculiar reading, Be light of head ἐς. The usual reading, which is given in the footnote x, is generally taken to mean: Be pliant towards a great man, and easy in thy bearing with the young—Esto levis sive velox erga caput, et facilis erga Juventutem sive juvenem (Buxtorf, Lex.

Chald. s.r. WNW, col. 2372); but some of the older commentators assign very different meanings to the expressions used, and especially to the rare word rendered juventutem. ΓΦ] The meaning yourn is supported by the analogy of Eccl. xi. 10, ὅπ ΓΙ ΠῚ niiden 55, ana is derived either from dawn, or blackness (of hair), both of which meanings are found under the root NY. It has also been deduced from “NW, petere. Cf. WMA, electus. Pseudo-Rashi assigns to it the opposite meaning sENECTUS, quoting in favour of this view the same verse Hecl. xi. 10. A third meaning, which is well supported, is ForcED SERVICE or dyyapla (‘Aruk; ‘‘Rashbam”; &¢.). For a corresponding use of the verb cf. Ongelos on Num. xvi. 15: ΓΔ pmo ont son xd, Nullius asinum unquam petii. There is a saying, quoted in the Machazor Vitry and elsewhere, “ Attach thyself to an ἀγγαρεύς, and they will do thee homage,” Jo wnney winw> ῬΑ ἼΠ. The meaning MELANCHOLY has also been assigned to the word. Midrash Rabbah on Lam. ii. 11 is ambiguous, We read there of three kinds of tears, ‘*but the tear of merriment (PINW) is the best of all.” It is added that there are three kinds of evil tears, ‘but that of NVNWN is hardest of all.” Then follow tales of a man and of a woman each of whom had NNnwN 13, and he died ἄορ, The commentaries on the Midrash are at variance;

some give the meaning juventus, but the Min NIN quotes the interpretation of the ‘Aruk with approval. ν᾽ M3] This expression is used in relation (i) to actions, (ii) to persons. The latter construction is chiefly found in such sayings as, 812) now 1S m3, It were better for him that he had not been born. For examples of the former construction see τι. 14; v. 17; and compare Bereshith Rabbah xvit., where it is said that man is open to persuasion, minannd M3, and woman is not open to persuasion, because man was formed of earth, which a little water easily dissolves, but woman was made of bone, which will not melt. In the passage under discussion, the construction will be unexceptionable if nvnwn—preceded by b (see Crit. Note)—be interpreted dyyapia, but not so if it be taken concretely of a person, juvenis. wx 5p] [Most] MSS. with the exception of @ read wxrd, but the passage is quoted as in the text in a MS. of the ‘Aruk, Cambridge University Additional 471.2, where s.v. 5p, we find immediately after YN" mbp the words Ἵ2 ΟῚ 72 .wse dp in mapy pa; but another MS. of the ‘Aruk, Additional 376, reads WNT wep bp oe ... NOT and a third MS., Additional 473. 2, has the brief reading wx 5p ὉΠ ... ND. In this case a confusion has arisen from the immediately following reference to the ‘‘beginning of Demai.” The reading of A gives the most natural construction, since 4 bp is used of an action (vy. 30), but not usually of a person: on the other hand, ΠῚ: 10. 53

R. ‘Aqibah* said, Merriment, and lightness of disposition®, accustom a man to lewdness. it is open to the objection that it recommends levity, which is condemned in 8 19 and elsewhere. This however is partly in favour of the reading, which from its paradoxical nature would be in danger of corruption by the copyists. It may have been intended to contrast the ‘lightness ” which is condemned in general terms in § 19 with a “lightness” which is lawful or expedient under certain circumstances. In like manner bashfulness is condemned from a certain point of view in u. 6, but is singled out for the highest praise in v. 31; and pinv has both a good sense and a bad sense. Compare, also, the praise of ‘‘impudence” and shameless pertinacity : ‘“‘Impudens et importunus vincit hominem malum, quanto magis Deum, qui bonitas mundi ipsa est” (Jalq. τι. 550, on Jonah iii. 8); which illustrates Luke xviii. 4—8, and Matt. xi. 12. Cf. Buxtorf, Ler. s. v. SN, a word which is used for ΤῸ) in the Targum on Prov. vii. 13. If, as is probable, mibp WN denotes primarily an ἐλαφρία (2 Cor. i. 17) which results from want of deliberation (note 32), the reading of the text may be explained as meaning that a man should be hasty, and yielding to dyyapia. When such a service is put upon him, he should not pause to deliberate, but should take it upon him at once, and yield himself unreservedly to the exaction, in accordance with the saying:

καὶ ὅστις σε ἀγγαρεύσει μίλιον ἕν, ὕπαγε μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ δύο (Matt. ν. 41). The Machazor Vitry (quoted in Crit. Note) paraphrases the saying as follows: ‘“ Lighten thy head and be pliant as a reed which sways hither and thither, and prompt as a man that is quick to oblige the head of the city and its judges”; thus combining two interpretations. Other interpretations are as follows: ‘‘Be deferential in the presence of a great man, but sedate and not too affable towards the young” (Rambam). ‘‘When thou art young be Sp towards the Creator, and likewise in the time of thine age be % ΠῚ) (Rashi, as quoted by bar §8.). ‘Be Sp to the chief, or first in rank, and N)) to his ayyapevs”’ (R. Jonah). On the whole there is a fair amount of authority for the meaning ayyapia. This being adopted, the expressions ΠῚ) WN Sp may either be taken both together as describing a man’s attitude towards ayyapia, or we may read, wb Sp i, Esto velox erga caput, and take M13 nanwnd, ‘yielding to ayyapia,” as a separate clause. Levy (Chald, Worterbuch s. v. MW) renders: ‘‘ sei dienstfertig gegen einen Vornehmen und schmiegsam gegen die Regierung (den Regierer).” 31_R, ‘Aqiba(h) ben Joseph, though descended from non-Jewish parents, and until middle age averse from study, became one of the greatest lights of Judaism both before and after the death of Gamaliel 11., with whom, as with R.

Jehoshua‘ (see p. 37), he is brought into connexion in Sukkah 11.9 and elsewhere. In his early years he kept the flocks of the wealthy Kalba Shebua‘ of Jerusalem, whose daughter he at length married. He espoused the cause of bar Kokba, or Koziba (Sanhedrin 97 b), and acknowledged his claim to the Messiahship: was led captive(?) at the destruction of Bethar (135 a.p. See Jost, Gescl. B. 81 note) by Severus: and was 54 PIRQE ABOTH.

He used to say, Tradition® is a fence to Thorah ; tithes put to death, after a long imprisonment, by tortures which he bore with heroic constancy. When the ‘ Greek ” [read wicked] kingdom had decreed that Israel should not occupy themselves in Thorah, Pappus ben Jehudah came and found ‘Aqiba holding large public assemblies for Thorahstudy. He said to him, ‘Aqiba, art thou not afraid of the kingdom? ‘Aqiba answers by a parable of a fox which was walking by the river side. He sees the fishes clustering from place to place, and asks them from what they are fleeing. They say, From the nets which men are bringing upon us. He asks, Is it your pleasure to come up on to the land, that I and you may dwell together, as my fathers dwelt with your fathers? They said to him, Most foolish of beasts, if we are afraid in the place of our life, how much more in the place of our death ! So Israel may be distressed even in their native element of the Thorah, which is “thy life and the length of thy days,” but to leave it is certain death... When ‘Aqiba was being led out to execution, it was the time of reading the Shema‘, and they were combing his flesh with combs of iron, and he was receiving upon him the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven (i.e. reciting the Shema‘).

To his disciples who remonstrate: ‘‘Thus far, thou hast endured enough”; ‘‘all my days (said he) I have been troubled about this verse: Thou shalt love the Lord ...with all thy soul, even if He should take away thy spirit. When, said I, will it be in my power to fulfil this? Now that I have the opportunity shall I not fulfil it?” As he was protracting the word “JTN, one, till he expired, the heavenly voice, Baru Qou, went forth and said: ‘‘Happy art thou R. ‘Aqiba that thy spirit went forth at “78” (Berakoth 61b). The ministering angels said before the Holy One, ‘‘such is Thorah and such (a death) is its reward” (cf. Menachoth 29 b), according to Ps. xvii. 14, 77) ὉΠ and said, Happy art thou R. ‘Aqiba, that thou art invited to the life of the world to come. [Midr, Proy. ix.] ‘Aqiba learned tradition from Eli‘ezer ben Hyrqanos, and acquired the minutiz of scholarship from Nachum of Gimzo, with whom he studied for 22 years, investigating the uses of particles, as DA, NN, PI, J&, wherever they occurred in Scripture (Chagigah 12 a; Pesachim 22b; Bereshith Rabbah 1.). Once when the chazan summoned him to read Thorah to the congregation, he excused himself on the ground that he had not read over the portion twice (or four times), privately, in accordance with the example of the Holy One (Midrash Tanchuma on Ex. xx.

1; Bereshith Rabbah xxiv.), who first thinks His words over and meditates upon them, and then communicates them to men, for it is said (Job xxviii. 27, 28), “2 AN TIN, and afterwards, pnd ἽΝ. In like manner it is written in Ex, xx. 1: And God spake all these words saying, &c. i.e. He spake to Himself, and then sarp to men. Itis said in T. J. Sotah rx. 10, 17 that there arose no eshkol (see p. 14) before R. ‘Aqiba, and that the springs of wisdom ceased with him. He was one of the four who “ entered Paradise” (Iv. 1). As a compiler and systematiser of traditions he was the forerunner of Jehudah ha-Nasi (who was born shortly after his death), but his work has not been preserved in writing in its original III. 90. δῦ are a fence to wealth*: wisdom is silence. form. Amongst the thousands of his hearers were ‘‘ Meir (eigentlich Measa) Judah Ὁ. Ilai, Jose Ὁ. Hilpetha, Simon b. Jochai, Eliezer b. Jakob.” Together with his contemporary and rival R. Jehoshua‘, he was enrolled by posterity amongst the Parres Monn. head, denotes unbecoming levity. It is indeed explained in the ‘Aruk as meaning lifting up of the head, the opposite of humility; but it is more likely that its proper meaning is quickness and thoughtlessness, and that its opposite, ‘“‘ gravity of head,” means slowness and deliberation, or mens composita, as it is well rendered in Berakoth v.

1, ed. Surenhusius: ‘Non assurgunt ad precandum nisi mente composita, WNT TIAID FAN. Sancti prisci precabantur horam prius morati, ut animum in Deum intenderent.” It is said in Berakoth rx. 5: mon ye a2 wr ΠΝ dp» xb, a man should not ‘lighten his head” before the eastern gate. Since bon also means hold in light esteem, or dishonour, and since WN mibp is especially to be avoided in prayer, we may perhaps compare the expression καταισχύνει THY κεφαλήν, Which is used in relation to prayer in the doubtful passage, 1 Cor. xi. 4,5. A man must not rise to pray, nor must he part from his friend, ‘“‘from the midst of pinw, and wx ΠΡ, and vain words” (Berakoth 31 a), But Pin’ is not universally condemned. Cf, Ps. cxxvi. 2: ‘*Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with joy.” A non-natural interpretation is given to the above verse in Berakoth 31a: ‘It is forbidden to a man to fill his ; vows a fence to sanctity®; a fence to mouth with Pin’, for it is said, Then shall our mouth be &e., pin Nd ts 12.5. When? In the time when the nations shall say, The Lord hath done great things &c.” Some commentators remark upon ἃ 19, that such pin only as is combined with ‘lightness of head’ is condemned; but others take the expressions separately. of tradition in general, and is correlative to Qabbalah (1.1).

The expression, ‘from their fathers” in Job xv. 18, is expanded by the Targumist into: ‘from the tradition, ND, of their fathers.” This form of expression is also found in the Mishnah. Cf. Sheqalim vr. 1, where it is said that there was a ΠῚ in the possession of the houses of R. Gamliel and Chananiah, sagan of the priests, with regard to the place in which the Ark was hidden. The allusion in the text is to the oral Tradition by which the written Thorah is supplemented or interpreted. Masorah in the modern sense is especially a system of rules for the reading of the text of the Hebrew Scriptures. The view that these rules are referred to here has the support of At, (7, and R. Jonah; but although the beginnings of the textual ‘‘ Masorah” were of ancient date, there is nothing in the Mishnah to limit the generality of the word ND. 34 The clause omitted by @ is illustrated by the proverbial saying, Wy swynny Sawa (Shabbath 119 a). 3° The meaning of MWD is “separation” from defilement, and hence sanctity of life. It is used in the Mishnah in parallelism with 7770, purity, at the end of Sotah, where it is said that,—‘‘From when Rabban 56 PIRQE ABOTH.

He used to say, Beloved is man that he was created an imagine” ; greater love (was it that it) was made known to him that he was created “in imagine Dei,” as it is said, For in the image of God*®* made He man (Gen. ix. 6). Gamliel ha-Zaqen died, the glory of the Thorah ceased, and purity and ΓΒ died.” For a satirical classification of the various kinds of Pharisees, see T, J. Berakoth rx. 7, and Buxtorf, Ler. s. r. YW. Under the same root is found the expression DY woipion for the name 117’. [Compare Wisdom xiy. 21 τὸ ἀκοινώνητον ὄνομα, the incommunicable name.] image (Gen. i. 27; ix. 6), or likeness (Gen. v. 1), he was created; and he should be beloved by his fellow-men as a consequence of this love towards God Himself. This principle is brought out by the verse partly cited in the text: ‘‘Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man,” on which R. ‘Aqiba remarks (Bereshith Rab. xxxiv.); ‘‘ Whosoever sheddeth blood, they reckon it to him as if he diminished THE LIKENESS.” See also Excursus on Shema‘ (tr 217) τὴ these two commandments (Love God, Love thy neighbour) hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt. xxii. 40). The second of these is included in the first, according to Bereshith Rabbah, xxiv. (end), where, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” is brought into connexion with the saying of Gen.

v. 1: ‘In the likeness of God made He him.” Hence the contrast in James iii. 9: ἐν αὐτῇ εὐλογοῦμεν τὸν Κύριον καὶ πατέρα, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ καταρώμεθα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς καθ᾽ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ γεγονότας. Compare 1 Joh. iv. 21: καὶ ταύτην τὴν ἐντολὴν ἔχομεν ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν Θεὸν ἀγαπᾷ καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ. The Midrash is full of speculations on the creation of the world and of man, some of which serve to illustrate the language of the New Testament Scriptures, as may be seen from the following examples. Ὃ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τῆς γῆς, χοϊκός" ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ (1 Cor. xv. 47). A conception which pervades the Midrash literature is that there is an “upper” and a “lower” Adam: a celestial man, made strictly in the image of God, and a terrestrial man corresponding in detail to his archetype, of which he is the material adumbration. This twofold conception makes it difficult at times to estimate the precise value of the brief enigmatical sayings of the Rabbis on the Creation and the Fall. The matter is further complicated by their tendency to ignore the distinction between the potential and the actual: between the embryo and its development: between the “idea” and its temporal manifestation. There are two aspects of the statement that man was made in the celem, or image, of God, according as we regard the resemblance to God as predicated of the actual man or of his archetype;

and as a consequence of this there are also two ways of regarding the Fall, viz. (1) as a loss of the Divine image in which man was actually created, and (2) as a falling away of the terrestrial Adam from his archetype. In the ‘“ Book of the generations of Adam” the Divine likeness is described as not wholly lost but perpetuated (cf. James iii, 9): ‘‘God created man in the LIKEenEss of God.,.Adam begat a son in his own ἘΠῚ 21; 22. 57

Beloved are Israel that they are called children of LIKENESS, after his image” (Gen. vy. 1, 3); on which Ramban remarks: “ It is known that all that are born of living beings are in the likeness and image of their parents; but because Adam was exalted in his likeness and his image, for it is said of him that, In the likeness of God made He him, it says expressly here that his offspring likewise were in that exalted likeness, but it does not say this of Cain and Abel, not wishing to dilate upon them, &c.” This agrees with the Targum of Jonathan which introduces the remark that “before this Eve bare Cain who was not like him (Adam), &c.” The Midrash dwells with much emphasis on the word tholedoth, ‘‘ generations” or offspring, and regards the human race as comprised in Adam as embryo or golem. To this is applied Ps. cxxxix. 16: ‘« Thine eyes did see my golem, and in thy book they all were written, 0%’ ona ams Ndi ny.” “He created him golem, an unshapen mass: and he was extended from one end of the world to the other.” (Bereshith Rabbah xxiv.) ‘‘Everything that was created in the six days of Bereshith needs ‘making’ (i.e. preparation or concoction). The mustard for example needs sweetening: lupines (θέρμοι) need sweetening: wheat needs to be ground: even man needs }\PN, amendment” (B. Rabbah x1.). According to this view the “image” and “likeness” is that to which man approximates, and which is found in greater perfection in the DIN ΠΥ ἢ than in Adam himself.

The saying that the first man was coextensive with the world is found in various places of the Talmud and the Midrash, The old philosophic conception that the world is a μέγας ἄνθρωmos, and man a microcosm, is adopted by Philo and the Rabbis. The constituents of man were gathered from all parts of the earth (Pirge R. El. x1.). The faculties of the earth correspond to his (Qoheleth Rabbah, on Eccl. i. 4): ‘‘Whatsoever the Holy One, blessed is He, created in man, He created its analogue in the earth. Man has a head: the earth has a head (Prov. vill. 26). Man has eyes and ears, &ce., &c.: the earth has eyes and ears, &c., &o, (Ex. x. 15; Is. i. 2}. ‘Why was man created alone? To teach thee that whosoever destroys one soul of Israel, it is reckoned to him as if he destroyed a whole world; and whosoever preserves one soul of Israel, it is reckoned to him as if he preserved a whole world” (Jalq. 1.15). [Sanh. trv. 5.] Man, who at first stretched from end to end of the world, was diminished by the hand of God, for it is said, “Thou didst form me Dp) ΠΝ, and didst lay thine hand upon me” (Ps. cxxxix. 5). See Chagigah 12 ἃ, where it is also said, that the first man extended from the earth to the jirmament, for it is said that he was created PANT by, upon or above the earth.

‘Twice didst thou form me (writes the commentator), at first high, then low.” The primal man fell short of the Creator’s MAWNID, or idea, of which the realization will be in the future, when the Son of Man bridges the chasm between heaven and earth (Joh. 1. 52). In like manner the φῶς ἀληθινόν which was created in the beginning was withdrawn from the generations that were unworthy of it (Job xxxviii. 15), and remains hidden away for the righteous in the time to come, when “the light of the moon shall be 58 PIRQE ABOTH. God*; greater love (was it that it) was made known to them that they are called children of God, as it is said, Ye are the children of the Lorp your God (Deut. xiv. 1).

ἀγαπητοί, νῦν τέκνα Θεοῦ ἐσμεν, καὶ οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσόμεθα: οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι ἐὰν φανερωθῇ ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα, ὅτι ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν καθώς ἐστι. The sonship of Israel implies their possession of the Divine likeness in a higher degree than Adam, or man in general. There is a progression from § 21 to § 23. The primal man, the embryo of the race, is created an adumbration of Elohim: Israel is singled out for the distinction of sonship to ΠῚΠ᾽: and not only do they resemble the Creator passively, but their work is likened to His, for they have in their hands the creative instrument, the Thorah, by which the world was made, and by which the Divine image is perpetuated. R. ‘Obadiah of Sforno dilates upon man’s faculty of acquiring a perfection with which he was not specifically created. He remarks that the expression, ‘according to (as it were) our likeness” (Gen. 1. 26) is approximative, and signifies, NWID Xd Nw ws Monn; and that “In imagine &c.” implies the twofold possibility (1) of rising to perfection by means of wisdom through which the love and fear of God are acquired, and (2) of lapsing into chaos and perishing, according to the words of the Psalmist, 5 pay xd) apa DIN (Ps. xlix. 21), if he will not understand, he will be like the beasts that perish; for if man had been wholly spiritual he might have been called actually Elohim, a word which is applied not only to God but to intellectual and incorporeal beings, as angels, and also to judges, in respect of the νοῦς, or Sow pbn, which properly belongs to them;

but since he is in part material he is described not as Elohim, but, in lower terms, as ‘“‘in the image of Elohim.” In favour of this view is Gen, iii. 5, III. 28 - 25, 59 (was it that it) was made known to them that there was given to them the instrument with which the world was created, as it is said, For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not MY LAW (Prov. iv. 2).

Everything is foreseen*; and freewill is given. And the world is judged by grace; and everything is according to work.

He used to say, Everything is given on pledge (appaSev); and the net (Eccl. ix. 12) is cast over all the living. The office is open; and the broker gives credit®; where, notwithstanding the original creation ‘In imagine,” temptation is presented in the form, ‘‘Ye shall be as Elohim, &c.” great controversies, and affirms that the opposites, PrEpDESTINATION and FREEWwILL, Mercy and Jusricr, are reconcileable. The word \D¥ might indeed mean only that the affairs of the world are known to God, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι κτίσις ἀφανὴς ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ (Heb. iv. 13), but it seems best to take it here as including foreknowledge, in accordance with the remarks of ΒΗ. Jonah, who quotes Ps. exxxix. 1, 2: “Ὁ Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.’ We have thus a sharply defined contrast between the foreknowledge of God, and the freedom of will which is nevertheless given to man. The reading of the text, which gives a parallel contrast between the χρηστότης of God (Rom. xi, 22) and His just judgment of men according to their works, is to be preferred to the negative reading: ‘‘not according to work.” The insertion of 13, which is strongly supported, gives the meaning, that everything is according to the preponderance and the ledger of work; that is to say, a man’s good deeds are set off against his evil deeds, and he is condemned or acquitted according as the latter or the former are found to be the more weighty or numerous.

89 The words °3}3M and snd are found in Ma‘aser Sheni iv. 2. The latter denotes a numularius; the former has the more general meaning tabernarius, and is also used for numularius, which perhaps best suits the reading of the text—but see notex. The world is likened to the office of a merchant, or of a money-broker: the tabernarius, or numularius, the Lord of the world, gives credit, but records the obligations incurred; in due time the collectors, who are daily going their rounds, exact payment from each debtor: in the case of a defaulter they have the arm of the law to rest upon, and its sentence will be according to truth. On the meaning of 5P1d see Levy’s Chaldiiisches Worterbuch, s.r. |p. The word is used in Qiddushin 40a: “They give no credit in the case of profanation of the Name”; they grant the offender no respite, but punish him at once. It is used also in the passage cited in note 35 from the Jerushalmi, in explanation of 5.) WIND (one of the seven kinds of Pharisees), who 00 PIRQE ABOTH. (πίναξ) 15 open; and the hand writes; and whosoever will borrow comes and borrows; and the bailiffs go round continually every day, and exact from a man whether he wills or not; and they have whereon to lean; and the judgment is a judgment of truth. And everything is prepared for the BANQUET“.

R. La‘zar ben ‘Azariah*' said, No Thorah, no culture ; says, MD Way NIN Ὁ HN, “warte (eig. leihe mir Zeit), ich muss zuvor ein gottgefalliges Werk verrichten.” come is figuratively spoken of in Rabbinic writings as THE BANQUET. In the New Testament compare: Μακάριοι oi εἰς τὸ δεῖπνον τοῦ γάμου Tod dpviov κεκλημένοι (Rev. xix. 9). The Talmud cites Ex. xxiv. 11: ‘‘And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink’’—in the sense that the vision of God, or of the Shekinah, was meat and drink to them: ‘It was a commonplace in the mouth of Rab, that in the world to come there is neither eating, nor drinking, nor procreation, nor barter, nor envy, nor hatred, nor strife; but the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads, and enjoy the splendour of the SHzKINAH, for it is said, And they saw God, and did nar and prinx”’ (Berakoth 17a). The word akal, to eat, is frequently used in a secondary sense, as in the saying of R. Hillel: ‘There is no Messiah for Israel, since they have already eaten him in the days of Hezekiah” (Sanhedrin 98b, 99a). The ministering angels, who are flaming fire, are fed on the splendour of the Shekinah, }93)1] OF ΠΣ Φ 91D (Bemidbar Rabbah xx1.), for it is said (Prov. xvi. 15), ‘In the light of the king’s countenance is life.” Lower down in the same chapter the Holy One is represented as saying to Israel:

“In this world ye offer before me the shewbread and oblations. In the world to come I will spread for you a great table, and the nations of the world shall behold and be confounded, for it is said, Thou wilt prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies (Ps. xxiii, 5)...Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty” (Is. lxv. 13). The female Leviathan is preserved for the banquet of the righteous in the world to come (Baba Bathra 74b). ‘At the fourth hour the Holy One, blessed is He, sits and plays with leviathan, for it is said (Ps. civ. 26), That leviathan whom thou hast made to play with him, V2 pnw” (‘Abodah Zarah 3b). Compare Targ. on Ps. civ. 26, where it is said to have been created, snid my ΠῚ ΠΡΌΣ xpsyd pa. Cf. also, πεποιημένον ἐγκαταπαίζεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ (Job xl. 14; xli. 24), in the LXX. description of behemoth. [Lagarde omits 7°2.] 41 The rich and influential Ele‘azar, or (?) Eli‘ezer, ben ‘Azariah, was chosen, notwithstanding his youth, to succeed the second Gamaliel on his deposition from the presidency; whereupon R. ‘Aqiba remarked: ‘It is not that he excels me as a son of Thorah, but as a son of great men” (T. J. Berakoth rv. 1). Ben ‘Azariah, who is said to have been but 17 years of age, describes himself as prematurely aged: ‘‘Lo, I am as a son of 70 years, but am not a son of III. 260 - 28. 61 no culture, no Thorah. No wisdom, no fear (of God); no fear (of God), no wisdom. No knowledge, no discernment®; no discernment, no knowledge. No meal, no Thorah ; no Thorah, no meal*,

He used to say, Whosesoever wisdom is in excess of his works, to what is he like ?“* To a tree whose branches are abundant, and its roots scanty; and the wind comes, and uproots it, and overturns it. And whosesoever works are in excess of his wisdom, to what is he like? To a tree whose branches are scanty, and its roots abundant; though all the winds come upon it, they stir it not from its place.

R. La‘zar Chasmah said, “Qinnim” and “ Pith,ché 70 years” (T. B. Berakoth 28a). THar pay they removed the doorkeeper and gave free admission to all, whereas Gamaliel had excluded every disciple who was not the same inwardly as outwardly. It is added that when anything is recorded as having happened ὯΔ 13, the occasion of ben ‘Azariah’s accession is referred to; and the day is described as one in which all the pending controversies were decided, It should rather be described as the day on which the principle of decision in accordance with the opinion of the majority (Iv. 12), to which even Gamaliel gave in his adhesion, came at length to be distinctly recognised. On the restoration of Gamaliel they did not depose ben ‘Azariah (T. J. loc. cit.) [Berak. 7 d], but made him db beth din. According to the Babli, three sabbaths (or weeks) in the month were assigned to Gamaliel as president, and the fourth to ben ‘Azariah. Hence it is said: ‘‘Whose Sabbath is it? The Sabbath of R, El. ben ‘Azariah.’’ 42 Prov. ix. 10: ‘“‘The rear of the Lord is the beginning of wispom: and the KNOWLEDGE of the holy is uNDERstanpinG.” [The Torah itself teaches YS ΤΥ (Joma 4b).] 43 The want of “corn,” or, generally, of the means of sustenance, prevents a man from obtaining instruction, and studying Thorah. The converse, taken literally, would imply that Thorah fits a man for the discharge of secular duties, and brings worldly prosperity in its train:

‘‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. vi. 88). But ‘‘ Wisdom,” which is sometimes identified with Thorah, provides sustenance also in a spiritual sense: ‘Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled...For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased” (Prov. ix. 5,11). [Eeclus. xv. 1—3 ἄρτον συνέσεως kal ὕδωρ σοφίας. of the New Testament, are commonly introduced by some such formula ag Mashal snd, to what is the matter like? [Cant. Rab. i. 1 § 8 teaches that parables are wanted to draw out the sense of Torah.] 62 PIRQE ABOTH. Niddah” are essentials of Zhorah*; canons of astronomy and Gematria“ are aftercourses of wisdom“. contains a tract called D3), or nests ; and the sixth contains a tract called 73. Qinnim relates to the young birds which men and women were required to offer in certain cases (Luke ii. 24; Shebi‘ith vir. 8. Nippau relates to the uncleannesses of women. 46 $9710], a Hebraised form of yewμετρία, denotes an arithmetical method of exegesis, in which the numerical values of the Hebrew letters—which, like the Greek, are used to denote numbers—are taken into account. Thus one word may be substituted for another to which it is numerically equivalent, as in Bereshith Rabbah txvitt., where Jacob’s ladder is identified with mount Sinai, since obp (60 + 30 + 40) is equal to 9)°D (60+104+50+10).

For other examples of this species of gematria see Buxtorf’s Lex. Chald.s.v. The Egyptian Bondage was to last 210 years, because it is said in Gen. xlii. 2: ‘‘go down thither,” the letters of 175, go down, amounting to 200+4+6. The first Temple was to stand 410 years, for it was said (Lev. xvi. 3): ‘‘ Thus (MNt2) shall Aaron come into the holy place”; or, by gematria, ‘‘(2+7+1+400) years shall he come into it.” This example and the preceding are quoted by the so-called Rashbam in illustration of the received interpretation of gematria. The antiquity of the method of GEMATRIA may be gathered from Rey. xiii. 17, 18. [Mr Burkitt (Camb. Philolog. Soc. March 5, 1896) suggests that Tyconius (fl. 380 a.p.) in his lost commentary on the Apocalypse had in mind the figure Ἕ as being the mark and representing the number (v.1. 616) of the beast. It ‘‘is a combination of X’=600, I’=10, and c— (the older form of the Hpisemon s’)=6.” It would suit Antichrist as being like the Monogram for Xpictoc reversed, “anti enim contra dicitur” (Beatus). This ‘‘may have been that explanation of 616 which 5. Irenaeus (Haer. v 30) does not think fit to explain to his readers. In that case it would afford the earliest trace of the use of the Monogram as a symbol of Christ.”] ‘corpora legis,” essentials of Thorah, as opposed to the refinements of ‘‘Gematria,’ andastronomical calculations. On ΠΕΡΙ, revolution, orbit, see Levy’s Chald.

Worterbuch. According to the usual interpretation, NIN TD 15 denotes ‘“‘Delicie, Cupedie, Edulium vel obsonium ex rebus minutis et delicatis, quod vel ante cibum sumitur excitandi appetitus causa, vel post cibum, voluptatis causa”; and accordingly Gematria and the like are described either (1) as intellectual delicacies which stimulate the appetite for wisdom, or (2) with greater probability, as small and unimportant matters in comparison with the piéces de résistance mentioned above. According to another view (given in note m), Gematria &c. belong merely to the outer circle of wisdom—they are the περιφέρεια, not the centre, of the Thorah. Or they are the dress or adornment (fr. πορφύρα) of wisdom, according to an improbable interpretation which ‘‘ Rashbam”’ mentions with approval, referring to ‘‘Rab Nathan who compiled the ‘Aruk.”

Ben Zoma!' said, Who is wise ? He that learns from every man; for it is said, From* all my teachers I gat understanding (Ps. cxix. 99).

Who is mighty ? 1 Shime‘on ben Zoma, a younger contemporary of ‘Aqiba, belonged to the school of the mystics, and, from being profoundly versed in theosophic speculation, was said to have entered Paradise (Chagigah 14b; Cant. Rab. i. 4). [Ezek. xxviii. 13.] Three others entered with him: ‘Aqiba, ben ‘Azai, and Elisha‘ ben Abuyah (1. 19; rv. 27). ‘Things which were not revealed to Moses were revealed to R. ‘Aqiba and his companions” (Bemidbar Rabbah x1x.). Ben Zoma, according to Chagigah, ‘‘looked, and became demented,” from indulging too freely in the ‘shoney” (Prov. xxv. 16) of metaphysics. “He who sees ben Zoma in a dream may expect wisdom” (Berakoth 57b). With him the darshanim ceased, according to Sotah 49 Ὁ. The verse cited in proof of ben Zoma’s first saying is rendered in its original context: ‘‘I have morE understanding THAN all my teachers.” RB, Israel has some remarks on the love of wisdom for its own sake. It is written, “Tf thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge He that subdues his nature?; for it of God” (Prov. ii. 4, 5). As a man seeks silver wherever it is to be found, and values it all the same whether he obtains it by the help of high, low, rich, or poor, so let him seek wisdom for its own sake, and from any teacher who is able to teach him.

Why is Thorah like water? because as a great man is not ashamed to say to an inferior, Give me a drink of water, so a great man is not ashamed to say to an inferior, Teach me one pericope, one word, one verse, or even one letter (Chazitha, on Cant. i. 2), And why is it like ξύλον (Prov. iii. 18)? because, as small wood kindles the great, so little scholars sharpen great ones (Tha‘anith 7a). Then follows the oft quoted saying (cf. Makkoth 10a): I have learned much from my masters; and from my associates more than from my masters; and from my disciples more than from them all. Bar S. observes, that the man who struggles against the evil nature within him has a harder warfare than he who fights against an external foe, since his enemy never leaves him. 2« The wicked watcheth therighteous, and seeketh to slay him” (Ps. xxxvii. 64 PIRQE ABOTH. is said, He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city (Prov. Xvi. 32).

Who is rich? He that is contented with his lot; for it is said, When thou eatest the labour of thy hands, happy art thou, and it shall be well with thee (Ps. cxxvii. 2). “Happy art thou” in this world; “and it shall be well with thee” in the world to come’. 32). The “wicked” is man’s evil nature (Sukkah 52b), which he must subdue, yet not wholly destroy and eradicate, for this would be to ruin the body by the destruction of the psychic force. The evil yecer rules over the animal soul, which a man is commanded to preserve: ‘‘Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently” (Deut. iv. 9); and in order to do this, he must to a certain extent follow the promptings of the yecer. Even the evil yecer is good, for it is said: ‘‘And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good’”’ (Gen. i. 31). The good Ν᾽ was vERY Goop, and so was the evil ἭΝ, but for which a man would never build a house, nor marry, nor beget, nor trade (Bereshith Rabbah tx.). The evil nature, and a child, and a woman are things which the left hand should repel, and the right bring near. [Sanhedrin 107b.] The evil nature is called ‘‘yecer” absolutely from its existing originally, and for a long time alone, for ‘‘the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth”?

(Gen. viii. 21), whereas yecer ha-tob, which is presided over by νοῦς, is added later, and then only coexists with the evil, which is thirteen years older (Midrash Qoheleth rx. 14; Aboth, Addenda). The strong and great man is he in whom the evil nature is strong; ‘‘and therefore our wise men, of blessed memory, have said, In the place, where penitents stand, the faultlessly righteous stand not,” for it is said (Is. lvii. 19), Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near: to the far off first, and afterwards to the near (Berakoth 34 Ὁ). exegesis, that, as far as possible, every expression of Holy Scripture is regarded as having a separate significance. In such texts as the above the darshan allows no mere cumulation of phrases for the sake of symmetry or emphasis, but he sees distinct allusions in TWN and 7S 310 to the present and future worlds. Such twofold allusions are continually being pointed out in the Talmud and Midrash. In the text we may perhaps suppose a play upon the words, ashreka, thy happiness, and ‘oshreka, thy wealth. With this saying compare 1 Tim. vi. 6: ἔστι δὲ πορισμὸς μέγας ἡ εὐσέβεια μετὰ αὐταρκείας. The three sayings may be taken as a commentary on Jer. ix. 23: ‘Let not the wisr man glory in his wisdom, neither let the micury man glory in his might, let not the RICH man glory in his riches.” It is said in Berakoth rx. 5, that all the benedictions in the Temple used to end simply with a srcuno; but from the time when the Epicureans (@ reads ha-minim) cavilled and said, There is but one world, it was ordered to conclude with a sEcuLo ΙΝ SECULUM, IV. 3—5. 65

Who is honoured ? He that honours mankind; for it is said, For them that honour me* I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed (1 Sam. ii. 30). ~

Ben ‘Azzai®° said, Hasten to a slight precept, and flee from transgression; for precept induces precept, and transis God; but the verse is here applied to establish the principle of reciprocity more generally. One interpretation is, that he who honours men is reckoned as honouring God himself, in whose image they were created (111. 21), in accordance with a wellknown Rabbinic principle, which may also be illustrated from the New Testament. Observe that the evil is not attributed to God: it is not said, “T will despise them,’ but, they shall be despised. ‘If one comes for defilement, they suffer him; if he comes for purification, they help him”’ (Joma 38b): the naphtha seller lets his customer measure for himself: the perfumer says, Let me help you with the balsam, that we may both enjoy its fragrance. ‘‘The memory of the just is blessed” (Prov. x. 7) by his neighbour: “but the name of the wicked shall rot” of itself. ‘Greatis NY II 35, which supersedes a negative precept of the Thorah” (Berakoth 19 b). 5 Shime‘on ben ‘Az(z)ai, prospective son-in-law of R. ‘Aqiba, appears to have separated from his wife for more complete devotion to study, although recognising the religious duty, as the M37), in accordance with the command, ‘Be fruitful and multiply,” to abstain from which is as murder: “Whosoever (says ben ‘Azai, in Bereshith Rabbah xxxiv.) abstains from procreation, the Scripture reckons it unto him as if he shed blood, and diminished the likeness,” for it is forbidden to shed the blood of a man because he was created in the image of God (Gen.

ix. 6), and in the very next verse it is said, And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply. Ben ‘Azai was one of the four who entered Paradise (note 1). ‘‘He looked, and perished”: i.e. he died prematurely, worn out by his preternatural activity. With him the shaqdanim came to an end (Sotah 49b). ‘He who saw ben ‘Azai in a dream might hope for chasiduth” (Berakoth 57 ὃ). ‘Ben ‘Azai was sitting and commenting, and the fire was flaming about him. They went and said to R. ‘Aqiba, Rabbi, ben ‘Azai sits and comments, and the fire flames about him. He went to him, and said to him, I have heard that thou wast commenting, and the fire was flaming about thee. He said to him, Yea, yea! He said to him, Perchance in the recesses of the cHarior thou wast employed. He said to him, Nay, I was but sitting and concatenating in Thorah, and from Thorah onward to the Prophets, and from the Prophets to the Scriptures; and the words were as pleasing as at their proclamation from Sinai, and sweet as when they were originally given” (Chazitha, on Cant. i. 10) out of the midst of the fire. ὁ Habits are formed by the repetition of single acts. When a man discharges or disregards a duty he thereby predisposes himself for a like course of action on a future occasion. 66 PIRQE ABOTH. gression induces transgression’; for the reward of precept is precept, and the reward of transgression is transgression’.

He used to say, Despise not any man, and carp not at any thing; for thou wilt find that there is not a man that has not his hour, and not a thing that has not its place.

R. Levitas of Jabneh said, Be exceeding lowly of spirit, for the hope of man is the worm. R. Jochanan ben Baroqah said, Whoso profanes the name of Heaven in secret, they punish him openly. The erring is as the presumptuous, in profanation of the NAME®. The passing act of transgression leads up to a settled course of evil. He who first ‘‘wauKs in the counsel of the ungodly” (Ps, i. 1), next ‘“‘sTaNDs in the way of sinners,” and at length “srtg in the seat of the scornful.” The passage cited from Sifre in Excursus 1. 2 (ix.), cf. Sukkah 52a, and Sanhedrin 99 b—interprets Is. v. 18: “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with coRDS OF VANITY, and sin as it were with a cartrope,” as meaning that the band of sin is at first slender, like a spider’s thread, but afterwards becomes thick and strong as a cartrope. It is added: R. said, He who performs one precept for its own sake, let him not rejoice over that precept (alone), for in due course it will draw after it many others; and he who commits one transgression, let him not deplore that (only), for it will be the cause of many others, For ‘precept leads on to precept, and transgression to transgression.” doing, and evildoing the fruit of evildoing. This is interpreted by R. Jonah as meaning, not that “virtue is its own reward,” and the consciousness of wickedness its sole punishment, but that a man is responsible for his actions, inasmuch as one action is consequent upon another, and he has thus the power of educating and predisposing himself for good or evil.

The performance of duty is rewarded by an increased facility of subsequent performance. Name of God, no allowance is made for inadvertence, but the man is punished forthwith. Sins of ignorance and those committed deliberately are reckoned as one and the same. ‘On account of what was Gechazi punished? Because he called his master by his name, for it is said, And Gechazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life” (2 Kings viii. 5; Sanhedrin 100 a). A feeling of reverence leads the Jews to avoid, as far as possible, all mention of the Names of God. This feeling is manifested, not only in the case of WINN ow (p. 56), for which Adonai or Elohim is substituted in the reading of Scripture, but, in their post-canonical literature, even with regard to less sacred, and not incommunicable Divine names. In the Talmud and Midrash, and (with the exception of Prayer Books) in the Rabbinic writings generally, it is the custom to abstain from using the Biblical names of God, except in citations from the Bible; and even when Elohim is necessarily brought in, it is often IV. 6—8. 67

R. Ishma‘el his son said, He that learns in order to intentionally misspelt, Elodim, or Elogim. For MM again, especially in Qabbalistic works, we find the spellings, 1) and “Ἵν. In the treatise Pirge Aboth, as the reader may easily verify for himself, all direct mention of **God” is avoided, except in Biblical quotations, and in an interpolated liturgical formula (v. 31). Ὁ ΩΦ] Heaven is one of the usual substitutes for the Name of God. Cf, 1. 3, 12; 11. 2, 16; Iv. 7, 16 (note), 17; v. 24, 25. It is a well-known characteristic of St Matthew’s Gospel that, amongst other Hebraisms, it makes frequent use of the phrase 7 βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, instead of ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ. Compare also Matt. Xxili. 22: καὶ ὁ ὀμόσας ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὀμνύει ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐν τῷ St Paul again writes, πάντα els δόξαν Θεοῦ ποιεῖτε (1 Cor. x. 31), the equivalent of which in the Mishnah language is, “ Let all thy deeds be to the name of Heaven” (Aboth 1. 16), Dp] Pace, or Space, is another Name of God which was in common 186. Of.-11, 18, 17; πὶ. 5; 6, 1δ, 22: v. 7. There is external evidence for its antiquity in Philo’s use of ὁ τόπος, on which see note 42, p. 89. This use of ὁ τόπος throws light upon the periphrasis of the LXX. in Ex. xxiv. 10: καὶ εἶδον τὸν τόπον ov εἱστήκει ὁ Θεός.

OWN) Tue Name (ιν. 7; v. 14) was used as a substitute for MIN, or “God.” Traces of this usage are found in ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἀτιμασθῆναι (Acts v. 41), and ὑπὲρ γὰρ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἐξῆλθον, μηδὲν λαμβάνοντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνικῶν (3 John 7). Since τὸ ὄνομα was used as a synonym for ‘God,” the actions of God himself appeared to be attributed to the Name of God. Hence the Qabbalistic mode of expresκαθημένῳ ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ. sion, according to which a power and efficacy was attributed to the most holy Name, which was regarded as an instrument in the hand of the initiated. M’3pn) Tue Hory Ons, blessed is He, is used as a Name of God, either as a supplement to other expressions (111. 1; rv. 32), or alone (v. 6). The use of a benediction, as NIT 173, or J73N', at the mention of God is thought to be required by Prov. x. 7: “ΠῊ 6 memory of the just is blessed,” the mention of the Holy One should be accompanied with benediction. (The hemistich is also quoted by its initials when reference is made to a “just” man who is no longer living. The use of these initials, 3’S!—or briefly 2’, beata memoria ejus—indicates that the person whose name they follow is dead.) But ΤΠ is found alone, without 72, in the Machazor Vitry. Compare Job vi. 10: ‘“‘for I have not concealed WTP WON, the words of the Holy One.” In like manner ὁ ἅγιος is used in the book of Ecclesiasticus, καὶ ὀνομασίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου μὴ συνεθισθῇς (xxiii.

9). On the other hand, ὁ εὐλογητός stands alone as a Name of God in Mark xiv. 61. The pronunciation of 17° was thought to be prohibited by Lev. xxiv. 16; ‘‘And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth tux Name, shall be put to death.” The Jews here render 22) not blaspheme, but pronounce distinctly. So the LXX., ’Ovoμάζων δὲ τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου θανάτῳ θανατούσθω.ς The non-pronunciation of 7, which was already an established practice when the LXX. version was 68 PIRQE ABOTH. teach’, they grant him the faculty to learn and to teach: he that learns in order to practise, they grant him the faculty to learn, and to teach, and to practise.

R. Cadoq said, Make them” not a crown, to glory in them; nor an ax, to live by them. And thus was Hillel wont to say, And he who serves himself with the tiara perishes (1. 14). Lo, whosoever makes profit from words of Thorah removes his life from the world.

R. Jose said, Whosoever honours the Thorah" is himself held in honour with men; and whosoever dishonours the Thorah is himself dishonoured with men. ll. R. Ishma‘el said, He that refrains himself from judgment, frees himself from enmity, and rapine, and false swearing”; and he that is arrogant in decision” is foolish, wicked, and puffed up in spirit. made, may be regarded as the germ of the Qabbalistic theosophy, in which God was removed to an infinite distance from the material world, and the interval was populated with a succession of intermediate creations, or emanations from the Deity. ® It is said in Sanhedrin 99a, that he who learns Thorah and does not teach it, he it is that ‘hath despised the word of the Lord” (Numb. xv. 31). The initial letters of the words 91055 noo Sy form the word ny. Conversely, by one of the Rabbinic artifices of exegesis, Job v. 7 (as noticed by P. Ewald) is made to mean, not that ‘‘man is born to trouble,” but that he is born to learn in order to teach. Another example of the method of NIN WN or initials, is afforded by the word ᾿ξ, Amen, which is Qabbalistically explained as an abbreviation of bn bs JONI, God is a Faithful King. 10 Another reading is: ‘‘Make rr (the Thorah) not a crown, &.” The reading of the text is explained in two ways, either (1) make not words of Thorah a crown, or (2) make not thy disciples a crown, &c, ‘The latter explanation may be supported by St Paul’s use of στέφανος in Phil.

iv. 1, and 1 Thess. ii. 19. ‘‘On account of what wasAbraham our father punished, and his sons subjugated to Egypt for 210 years? Because he impressed scholars into his service’? (Gen. xiv. 14; Nedarim 32 a) in his expedition for the rescue of Lot. explanations of, Whosoever honours the Thorah; ‘‘He who does not leave the book of the Thorah on the floor, or on a bench; and some say, He who inclines his ear to the book of the Thorah, and does not talk while the Chazan is reading it; and some say, He who does not leave it open, and go out,” tending parties incurs the enmity of those who are disappointed by his decisions, He also runs the risk of IV. 9—15. 69

He used to say, Judge not alone, for none may judge alone save One; and say not, Accept ye my opinion, for they are free-to-choose™, and not thou.

R. Jochanan said, Whosoever fulfils the Thorah in poverty”, will at length fulfil it in wealth; and whosoever neglects the Thorah in wealth, will at length neglect it in poverty (Luke vi. 21, 25).

R. Meir said, Have little business, and be busied in Thorah; and be lowly in spirit unto every man; and if thou idlest from the Thorah, thou wilt have idlers many against thee’®; and if thou labourest in the Thorah, He” hath much reward to give unto thee.

R. Li‘ezer ben Jacob said, He who performs one precept has gotten to himself one advocate’; and he who doing injustice by erroneous judgments, and of giving occasion to falsehood and perjury on the part of the litigants. Compare 1. 10, where the judge is admonished to be on his guard whilst examining the witnesses in a suit: ‘‘be guarded in thy words, perchance from them they may learn to lie.” 13 “He who puffs up his heart, thinking within himself that he knows how to decide in a cause without fail, behold, he is foolish. He is called foolish because he is wise in his own eyes, than which there is no greater folly, for (Prov. xxvi. 12; xxix. 20) there is more hope of a fool than of him” (R. Jonah). To exemplify the use of the word AN117, cf. Horaioth 3b: ‘*Whatsoever decision has gone forth publicly in the congregation, an individual who practises it is released, because decision was only given to distinguish between the erring and the presumptuous.” choose whether they will adopt thy opinion: it is not for thee to force it upon them, > 15 ἐς Whosoever ‘blackens his visage for the sake of words of Thorah in this world, the Holy One, blessed is He, will make his splendour to shine in the world to come, for it is said (Cant. v. 15), His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars......

Whosoever starves himself for the sake of words of Thorah in this world, the Holy One, blessed is He, will satiate him in the world to come, for it is said (Ps. xxxvi. 8), They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures” (Sanhedrin 100 a). 16 He who is watchful [Jer. i. 12] in the study of Thorah has given to him ὙἼ22)5 ΝΡ, and he who idly desists from Thorah study has given to him Natasa wova—as lions, bears, thieves, and robbers, See Aboth R. Ν. xxix, [p. 87]. not the evil, is attributed directly to God. See note 4. the word παράκλητος, or ADVOCATE (1 Joh. 11. 1), one who is called to a 70 PIRQE ABOTH. commits one transgression has gotten to himself one accuser. Repentance and good works” are as a shield against punishment. person’s aid, which is rendered, perhaps wrongly, comForTER in Joh. xiv. LG; 90: xv. 20; xvi. 4. With. this Mishnah compare Shemoth Rabbah xxxiI.: “1 a man performs one precept, the Holy One, blessed is He, gives him one angel to guard him, for it is said (Ps. xxxiv. 7): The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him. If he performs two precepts He gives him two angels to guard him, for it is said (Ps. xci. 11): For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

If he performs many precepts He gives him the half of His host, for it is said (Ps. xci. 7): A thousand shall alight at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: that is the half of his host, for it is said (Ps. Ixviii. 17): The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels.” 19 “Tt was a commonplace in the mouth of Raba that, The perfection of wisdom is repentance” (Berakoth 17a). ‘When a man has been wholly wicked all his days, and has repented at last, the Holy One, blessed is He, receives him.” This follows from Ezek. xxxiii. 19: But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. Said R. Jochanan, Nay, more. All the transgressions which he has committed are imputed to him as merits, as is proved by Ps. xlv. 9: Myrrh and aloes and cassia are all thy ΤΣ : all the transgressions which thou hast committed against me are as myrrh and aloes and cassia (T. J. Peah 1. 1). A similar play on 19732, in Gen. xxvii. 27, which may be pointed so as to mean transgressions or transgressors, is implied in Bereshith Rabbah txv. Penitents are set above ‘“‘just persons which need no repentance” in a saying quoted in note 2. Repentance was created before the world (Nedarim 39 Ὁ. Cf. p. 12): without it the world could not stand:

the repentance of one man brings forgiveness to the whole world. On the efficacy of repentance, and of sacrificial Atonement, see the end of Mishnah Joma, and the Gemara upon it. For certain sins, repentance gives a respite, and the day of atonement atones; but he who sins against his neighbour must first be reconciled to him. The unpardonable sin, in the case of which repentance gives not respite, nor does the day of atonement atone, nor have sufferings a purgatorial efficacy, but these together only give respite, till DEATH purges (Is. xxii. 14), is PROFANATION OF THE NAME (Joma 86a). The wise man, 310 ὍΝ), delivers the citadel of the body from YN by means of repentance and good works (Nedarim 32b). Said R. Ele‘azar b. R. Jose, All the righteousness and piety that Israel perform in this world make great peace and great PARACLETES between Israel and their Father which is in Heaven,..Great is righteousness, which brings the redemption nigh... Ten hard things were created in the world. Rock is hard, but iron cuts it: jive fuses iron: water quenches fire: clouds bear water: wind scatters clouds: the body bears the wind: fear shatters the body: wine dispels fear: sleep dissipates wine; and death is harder than all of them, but rIGHTEOUSNESS delivers from death (Prov. x. 2; Baba Bathra 10a). LV 2160; 17. 71

R. Jochanan Sandalarius said, Whatsoever assemblage is in the name of duty” will in the end be established; and that which is not in the name of duty will not in the end be established.

R. La‘zar said, Let the honour of thy disciple be dear unto thee as the honour of thine associate”; and the honour of 20 Or “οὗ Heaven,” according to the usual reading. Aboth R. N. xu. reads M18, and illustrates the saying from the Great Synagogue, on the one hand, and the Generation of the Dispersion (Gen. xi. 8) on the other. reading: ‘Dear unto thee as thine own,” which may have arisen from assimilation to other passages, as 11. 17: R. Jonah remarks that a man is not enjoined to honour his disciple precisely as he honours his associate, but rather to be equally scrupulous in according to each the honour due to him, ‘each one according to his honour.’ Fear includes honour, but honour does not include fear. The two words are brought together in Mal. i.6: ‘*A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine HoNoUR? and if I be a master, where is my FEAR?” With the concluding words of this Mishnah compare St Paul’s τῷ Κυρίῳ (Eph. vi. 7). The claims of a man’s Father and his Teacher to precedence in certain cases are laid down in Baba Meci‘a m1. 11: ‘‘Si res sua perdita sit et patris sui, tum sua precedit; si sua et magistri ipsius res perdita sit, tum sua precedit. Si patris et magistri ipsius ..res magistri preecedit, nam pater eum quidem produxit in hune mundum, sed magister ejus, qui ipsum sapientiam docuit, traduxit ipsum in mundum futurum, Sin autem pater ipsius fuerit sapiens, res patris precedit.

Si pater et magister ipsius ferant onus, onus magistri prius deponet, et deinde onus patris. Si pater et magister fuerint in captivitate (et non habuerit quo utrumque redimat) prius redimet magistrum ipsius, et deinde patrem. Si pater ipsius fuerit sapiens, redimet prius patrem, et deinde magistrum suum.” “Α scholar must not rise up before his master except twice in the day, morning and evening, in order that the honour of his master may not exceed that of Heaven” (Qiddushin 33 b), where allusion is made to the practice of saying the Shema‘ morning and evening. [See 73/1) §}D3 on Maim. Hilkoth Talmud Torah vt. 8.] The scholar who controverts his Rab is as if he controverted the Shekinah (Sanhedrin 110 a): he who engages in strife with his Rab is as if he engaged in strife with the Shekinah: he who speaks, or thinks, evil against his Rab is as if he did it against the Shekinah. Gop himself is the great Chief Rabbi, and diligently studies and _ teaches Thorah. ‘ Then began the Synagogue of Israel to utter praise to the Lord of the world, and thus she spake, That God it is my delight to serve, who is clad by day in a robe white as snow, the Divine glory of whose face flames like fire from greatness of wisdom and thought, who originates new lessons every day, and will announce them to his people in the great day” (Targ. Cant. v. 10). ‘Said Moses the pro12 PIRQE ABOTH. thine associate as the fear of thy master; and the fear of thy master as the fear of Heaven.

R. Jehudah said, Be careful in Thalmud, for error in Thalmud amounts to sin™.

R. Shime‘on said, There are three crowns: the crown of Thorah, and the crown of Priesthood, and the crown οὗ Royalty (Ex. xxv. 10,11; xxx.1,3; xxv. 28, 24); but the crown of a good name™ mounts above them (Eccl. vii. 1).

R. Nehorai said, Betake thyself to a place of Thorah, and say not that it shall come after thee; for thine associates phet, When I went up to the height, I saw there the Lord of all the worlds, mn, quartering the day into four parts. Three hours He was employed in Tuoran: three in judgment: three in provisioning the world: and three in uniting man and wife (Targ. Jerus. Deut. xxxii.). The fourfold division is given, with a variation, in ‘Abodah Zarah 3b: during the fourth quarter of the day, according to one statement, ‘He sits and teaches school children [Rashi 1N0Y] Thorah” (Is. xxviii. 9; Jalqut 302), a work which is of such importance that it must not be stopped even for the building of the sanctuary (Shabbath 119 b). 2 Forgetfulness, or mistake in study, is here said to be equivalent to a deliberate sin, in order to impress upon the student the duty of constant repetition with a view to ensure accuracy. Compare the expression used above in § 7, where it is said that no distinction is made between unintentional and deliberate profanation of tHE Name. So in Chagigah 5 a, it is said, with reference to the last verse of Ecclesiastes, ‘‘He weighs out to him errors as deliberate sins.” He who forgets his Thalmud commits a deadly sin (11. 12). ‘Action depends on Thalmud, and not Thalmud on action” (Sifre, APY). °3 A ‘good name” in general is here called a crown.

In like manner the Name of God is compared to a crown, as in Pirge R. Eli‘ezer ΧΙ,ΥΊΙ., where it is said that at the giving of the Law six hundred thousand angels descended, and crowned each one of the sons of Israel with the crown of Shem ha-mephorash. As long as they wore these crowns they were holier than the angels of God, and the angel of death had no power over them. It is said [ib. 1v.] that the Holy One sits in heaven with the crown of the ineffable Name upon His head. [Cf. Shab. 88 a, Targ. Jon. Ex. xxxii. 25.] where there are facilities for instruction, and should not trust to himself for the acquisition of the knowledge of Thorah. He must go to the Thorah, and not expect the Thorah to come to him. If he associates himself with scholars he will be well grounded in it by their aid, for the knowledge of it is acquired by association. See pp. 16, 33. According to another view of the latter part of this Mishnah, a man must not trust to his companions for instruction: ‘“‘Say not that thine associates will establish itin thinehands: depend not upon thine associates, who have themselves gone to learn, to IV. 18—23. 73 will confirm it unto thee; and lean not unto thine own understanding (Prov. 111. 5).

R. Jannai said, Neither the security of the wicked, nor the afflictions of the righteous, are in our hand”.

R. Matthiah ben Charash said, Be beforehand in saluting” every man; and be a tail to lions, and not a head to foxes”,

R. Jacob said, This world is like a vestibule® before come and teach thee; for thou thyself must go with them and pursue after Thorah, if thou wouldest know it. But lean not unto thine own understanding: although thou learnest, and betakest thyself to a place of Thorah, and growest wise, lean not unto thine own understanding. Depend not upon thine opinion, but do all that thou doest by the advice of the wise.” So R. Jonah, agreeing with At. *5 We are unable to answer the questions: Why do the wicked flourish? Why do the righteous suffer? *6 Literally, Anticipate the Peace of every man; ‘‘ Peace” being the usual form of greeting. ‘‘ Whosoever knows that his friend is accustomed to salute him, let him anticipate his salutation, for it is said, Seek peace, and pursue it (Ps. xxxiv. 15). And if he salutes him, and he does not return it, he is called a spoiler, for it is said (Is. iii. 14), For ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses” (Berakoth 6b). ‘‘They said of R. Jochanan ben Zakkai that no man ever anticipated him in salutation, not even a Gentile in the street”’ (Berakoth 17 a). 2 «Be a tail to lions, and not a head to foxes.” ‘Thy glory is to make thyself a tail, and to abase thyself, and follow after a scholar of the wise, rather than to be a head unto foxes, to worthless men, who are accounted only as foxes, And I have found a Scripture proof for it, for it is said (Prov.

xiii. 20), He that walketh with wise men shall be wise” (A+). Compare Eccl. vii. 5: “Τὸ is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.” generally identified with πρόθυρον, which however it does not resemble quite so closely as might have been expected. Bar S. (see Crit. Note) adopts the view that it should be written with final Daleth, for Resh. [This reading is to be preferred. ] Sinners who have been companions in this world will be separated in the world to come; he who repents before death will be numbered with the righteous, and he who does not repent, with the wicked. The latter will say, Were we not together in the world? did we not steal and do all manner of evil works together? why then are we separated? is there then respect of persons with God? They will answer, that it is repentance which has made the separation between him and hiscompanion. ‘“ Suffer me then,” he will say, ‘‘to go and repent”; but it will be answered that the time for repentance has gone by, for ‘‘this world is like a sabbath, and the world from which thou camest is like the sabbath eve: if a man provides not on the sabbath eve, what shall he eat on the sabbath? The world from which thou camest is like 74 ες ΡΙΒΟΩΕ ABOTH. the world to come; prepare thyself at the vestibule, that thou mayest be admitted into the hall™.

He used to say, Better is one hour of repentance and good works in this world than all the life of the world to come”; better is one hour of refreshment of spirit in the world to come than all the life of this world.

R. Shime‘on ben Ele‘azar said, Conciliate not thy friend in the hour of his passion; and console him not in the hour when his dead is laid out before him; and “ interrogate” him not in the hour of his vow; and strive not to see him in the hour of his disgrace.

Shemuel ha-Qatan said*, Rejoice not when thine dry land, and this world like sea: if a man provides not for himself on the land, what shall he eat on the sea? This world is like a wilderness, and the world from which thou camest is like inhabited land: if a man provides not for himself from the inhabited land, what shall he eat in the wilderness?” See Midrash Qoheleth, i. 15; Midrash Ruth, cap. m1. ‘palace’; but it is really a transliteration of τρικλίνιον. this life are accounted an equivalent for the life to come; they are the price paid for it, and a means by which it is secured to a man. On the other hand the joys of the world to come are such that ‘one hour” of them outweighs all the enjoyment of the present world, in the same way that, as the Psalmist says of the sanctuary: ‘A day in thy courts is better than a thousand.” consists, according to the best-attested reading, of an extract from the book of Proverbs, without note or comment, which ‘“‘he was accustomed to repeat.” It is found also at the end of Pereq v. in some copies. SuEmvet is placed in the same category with Hillel in T. J. Sotah rx. 13: ‘‘The elders entered into Beth Gadia in Jericho, and Bath Qol went forth and said to them, There is among you a man worthy of the Holy Spirit, only that the generation is unfit;

and they cast their eyes upon Hillel ha-Zaqen. And when he died they used to say of him, Alas! meek pious one, disciple of ‘Ezra! And again, the elders entered into an upper chamber in Jabneh, and Bath Qol went forth and said to them, There is among you one worthy of the Holy Spirit, only that the generation is unfit; and they cast their eyes on Shemuel ha-Qatan. And why was his name called Qatan? Because he made himself little. But some say, because he was scarcely less than Shemuel ha-Ramathi. And when he died, they used to say of him, Alas, meek pious one, disciple of Hillel haZaqen!”? He is said to have drawn up the ‘Heretic Benediction’ (Berakoth 28b) still found in the Jewish ritual. Gamaliel ha-Zaqen himself is sometimes alluded to as perhaps the author of the ‘‘Benediction”; but what appears from the passage of Berakoth above alluded to is that Gamaliel 11., desiring to have a birkath IV. 24—29. 75 enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth (Prov. xxiv. 17).

Elisha‘ ben Abiyyah” said, He who learns as a lad, to what is he like? to ink written on fresh paper; and he who learns when old, to what is he like? to ink written on used paper”.

R. Jose ben Jehudah of Kaphar ha-Babli said, He who learns from the young, to what is he like? to one that eats unripe grapes, and drinks wine from his vat; and he who learns from the old, to what is he like? to one that eats ripened grapes, and drinks old wine.

R. said, Regard not the flask, but what is therein ; there is a new flask that is full of old (wine), and an old one in which there is not even new™. ha-minim added to the Eighteen Benedictions, asked if there was anyone able to draw up such a formula; and, in answer to his appeal, Shemuel supplied the required form of words, as a modification (it is thought) of an older “ Sadducee-Benediction,” to the satisfaction of Gamaliel. 32 The usual form is Elisha‘ ben Abuyah, but Abiyyah is a Biblical name. [1 Kings xiv. 1 Abijah.] The tendency of this Elisha’s speculations was destructive: when he entered Paradise (note 1), he began to ‘destroy the plants therein.” He ultimately apostatised, and became a derider of Judaism; and accordingly, in the Talmudic account of the entry of the four into Paradise, his name is suppressed, and he is only indirectly alluded to as “N&, a certain “ἐ other.” Dr Ad. Neubauer, in a report on ‘*Talmudical and Rabbinical Literature” (Philological Society, 1876), notices a Hebrew rendering of Goethe’s Faust, in which ‘The dramatis persone are taken from Jewish history ; for instance, the learned and dissatisfied Faust is represented by the Talmudical Elishah, son of Abuyah, who, searching too deeply for the solution of theosophical problems, was finally driven to apostasy...The translator, the late Dr Letteris, has in our judgment in many respects surpassed the original.” The title of the rendering, which was published in Vienna in the year 1865, is Ben Abuyah, Goethe's Faust, eine Tragoedie in einer hebriiischen Umdichtung.

pares one who learns Thorah in his youth to a young man who marries a maiden well suited to him (Aboth R. N. xxim.). Learning in youth is also likened to graving upon stone; and learning in old age, to tracing characters upon the sand. tive of that of Jose ben Jehudah, which immediately precedes, R. Jose describes the learning of the young as crude and immature, like new wine: Rabbi shews by another comparison that this is not always the case. On the contrary, as a new flask may contain old wine, so the mind of the 76 PIRQE ABOTH.

R. Li‘ezer ha-Qappar said, Jealousy, and lust, and ambition, put a man out of the world”. Ὁ}: He used to say, The born are to die; and the dead to revive ; and the living to be judged; for to know, and to notify, and that it may be known®, that He is the framer, and He the young may even be more mature than that of his elders; the mind of the aged is not necessarily stored with reflection, but may be like an empty vessel. R. Jonah connects the two Mishnioth in question by means of Job xxxii. 6—9: ‘*And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, Iam young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion. I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.” With Rabbi’s parable of the ἸῺ [Othello um. 3 canakin] compare Matt. ix. 17: οὐδὲ βάλλουσιν oivov νέον εἰς ἀσκοὺς παλαιούς, K.T.A. [A.V. bottles, R.V. wine-skins. Read once leather bottles, comparing Hen. V1I(3). τ. 5 “His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle,” and then bottles.] The comparison of Thorah to water, WINE, oil, honey and milk, is dwelt upon in Sifre (APY), on Deut. xi. 22, and in Midrash Chazitha, on the words, ‘‘ For thy love is better than wine” (Cant.

i. 2). Thorah is like water, which is grateful to the thirsty, is ubiquitous, gives life to the world, comes down from heaven, purifies, works its way by constant dripping, seeks its level, is kept in earthen vessels...and drowns those who cannot swim. But water grows bad if kept long in a vessel. Is this likewise the case with Thorah? Nay, it is like wrnz, which improves as it grows old in the bottle, {tt b5 }PIpaA ywend inv. Or is it like water, which does not rejoice the heart of man? Nay, like winz, which does rejoice the heart of man. Is it then like wine, which is sometimes bad for the head and for the body? Nay rather, like oil, which is good for both, &c. ‘Thy love is better than ΨΊΝΕ,᾽" interpreted by Gematria (I. 28), signifies that Israel is more beloved than the «+.+v (=70) nations of the world. [In vino veritas, for 1) is by Gematria 31D, secret (‘Erub. 65 a).] 35 The same is said in 11. 15 of the evil eye [Ecclus, xiv. 10 ὀφθαλμὸς ποynpos |, the evil yecer [xv. 14 διαβουλίου], and misanthropy. Compare also the three heads under which worldliness is summed up in 1 Joh. ii. 16: ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός, Kal ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, καὶ ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου. MNIP] This word, like ζῆλος, is also used in a good sense, as in Baba Bathra 21a: ‘The emulation of Soferim increases wisdom.” are taught and then teach others ‘‘will in the world to come be known of themselves without a teacher,” according to the prophetic description of the coming age:

‘‘And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them, unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord” (Jer. xxxi. 34). Τότε δὲ émγνώσομαι, καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην (1 Cor. xiii, 12). [Ecclus. xv. 19 ἐπιγνώσεται.] IV. 80 - 82. Hi creator, and He the discerner*’, and He the judge, and He the witness, and He the “adversary,” and He is about to judge with whom there is no iniquity, nor forgetfulness, nor respect of persons, nor taking of a bribe, for all is His, and know that all is according to plan.

Let not thine imagination assure thee that the grave is an asylum; for perforce thou wast framed (Jer. xviii. 6), and perforce thou wast born, and perforce thou livest, and perforce thou diest, and perforce thou art about to give account and reckoning before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed is He. 37 “He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works” (Ps. xxxiii. 15). The world is to be judged by One who, as Judge, and Witness, and ᾿Αντίδικος, possesses power and knowledge, and will exact strict justice (Matt. v. 25). Cf. Rom. viii. 33, 34. [Midr. Ps. xvii. (p. 127 ed. Buber) What is the bribe that He takes from the wicked in this world? AAwN mptyy nban.] p. 68, ἃ 2 WY NS Wain] Ecclus. xxi. 11 6 φυλάσσων νόμον κατακρατεῖ τοῦ ἐννοήματος αὐτοῦ, Midr. Ps. cxix. 11. p. 64, 8 3] To be truly rich one must be αὐτάρκης. Compare 2 Cor. vi. 10, Philippians iv. 11 (ed. Lightfoot), Clem. Paed. 11. 3 πλοῦτος δὲ ἄριστος ἡ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν πενία. p. 66, πὸ 7 MSD MD DW] Cf. καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος (Joh. i. 16, ed. Westcott), Rom. i. 17, and Mr C. G. Montefiore’s Florilegium Philonis in the Jewish Quarterly Review (v1. 540). p. 67, n. 8 DNDW] On shamayim as a designation of God see Lightfoot Hor. Hebr. on Matt. ili, 2. ‘‘Everything is in the hands of shamayim except the fear of shamayim” (Megillah 25 a), Dan.

iv. 23 (26) po ow 9 nny, that the heavens do rule. ib. DPD] Ezek. iii. 12 3929 473 \DIpIND i, ‘Blessed be the glory of the Lorp from His place.” Cf. in The History of John the son of Zebedee in Wright’s Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (11. 39, 1871), ‘And straightway these two angels came and hovered over the water, and were crying Holy, holy, holy, Father and Son and Spirit of holiness after him” [Syr. from His place]. Joma 38 a Dip) NAD ΣΝ WIPNI, now the glory of Maqom is in its place. ib, DWH] Cf. T. J. Makkoth 11. 32 ὃς ἃ Sifra DUTP, he is not guilty Dvn DY BINDWY ἫΝ until he writes the name of the Name (Lev. xix. 28). In Lev. xxiv. 11 A.V. ‘‘the name” is expanded into “the name of the Lord,” οἵ. St James v. 14 (ed. Mayor p. 161, 1892). The author of the Bundle of Myrrh notes that the law of Moses is the law of God, 7D being an anagram of and equal by Gematria to DWN.

Ten generations were there from Adam to Noach’, to shew how great was His longsuffering (1 Pet. 111. 20); for all One, blessed is He, there was created an angel, for it is said (Ps. xxxiii. 6): By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Chagigah 14a). The subjects of NWN I, and of ΠΩΣ, the chariot (ef. Ezek. i.), were made a nucleus of theosophic speculations, which were only to be communicated with the greatest caution, for it is said: ‘‘ Honey and milk are under thy tongue (Cant. iv. 11), things which are sweeter than honey should be under thy tongue” (Chagigah 13a), or should not be revealed. ‘‘Non exponunt...opera creationis cum duobus, neque currum cum uno, nisi fuerit sapiens qui sensum intelligit. Quicunque considerat quatuor causas, ei melius fuisset quod nunquam intrasset mundum; nempe id quod supra est, quod infra est, et quod ante est, et quod post est. Et quicunque non attendit ad honorem Creatoris sui, ei melius fuisset quod non intrasset mundum”’ (Chagigah 11. 1). In connexion with the subject of esoteric doctrine and mysticism it may be remarked that the name ’Eooaios (cf. 11. 10; v. 16), or Essene, not improbably denotes secret, or mystic; for (1) the word ‘NWN, secret, or silent, would naturally be transliterated Ἔσσαϊος, in the same way that jwn, as Jost remarks (Gesch. a. 207, Note), is by Josephus transliterated Ἔσσήν, and (2) ‘‘We may illustrate this derivation by Josephus’ description of the Essenes, B.

J. ii. 8. 5, τοῖς ἔξωθεν ws μυστήριόν τι φρικτὸν 7 τῶν ἔνδον σιωπὴ καταφαίνεται, and perhaps this will also explain the Greek equivalent θεωρητικοί, which Suidas gives for "Esoatx. The use of the Hebrew word D'XWN in Mishna Shekalim v. 6, though we need not assume that the Essenes are there meant, will serve to show how it might be adopted as the name of the sect.” See Professor Lightfoot’s recent edition of St Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians , where a full account of the conflicting theories about the Essenes is given. * Ten generations are reckoned (Gen. v. 3—29), including both Adam and Noah. It is said of dor ha-mabbul the generation of the deluge, that they have no portion in the world to come (Sanhedrin x1. 8). The thought that God, after bearing so long with the wickedness of those evil generations, did at length bring the flood upon the earth, should assure Israel that He will in due time put an end to their captivity, and requite their oppressors according to their works (R. Jonah). ‘*What is the meaning of the seven days (of respite): For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth, Gen. vii. 4, 10? They were the days of mourning for Methuselah, to teach thee that the death of the righteous hinders punishments from coming” (Sanhedrin, 108 b). 80 PIRQE ABOTH. the generations were provoking Him, till He brought the deluge upon them.

Ten generations were there from Noach to Abraham’, to shew how great was His longsuffering; for all the generations were provoking Him, till Abraham our father came, and received the reward of them all.

With ten temptations* was Abraham our father tempted, (Gen. xi. 10—26), excluding Noach. “ΟἿ Rabbis have said, that when Noah died Abraham our father was 58 years old; yet if thou number the descendants, thou wilt find ten generations between them, for although Noah prolonged his days ten generations, the generations are reckoned to shew how great was His longsuffering, for all the generations were provoking Him, till Abraham our father came. And they have not said here, Till He took vengeance on them, for Abraham our father made up for all their shortcomings, and wrought good which counterpoised all their evil, and delivered them from punishments” (R. Jonah). But the like is not said of Noah, who was only relatively righteous: he was ‘perfect in his own generations’? (Gen. vi. 9), but not in the generations of others (Sanhedrin 108 a). reckoned in more than one way. At, referring to ‘‘Pirqge R. Eli‘ezer ben Hyrqanus,”’ gives the following computation. 1. Nimrod sought to slay him, and he hid himself in the earth thirteen years. 2. Nimrod cast him into the fiery furnace, because he would not worship his idols, and the fire had no power over him to burn him (Targ. Jonathan, Gen. xi. 28; Bereshith Rabbah xxxviit.). This, says R. Jonah, is not expressly stated in the Thorah, but it is elicited from the expression, ‘‘Ur (=fire) of the Chaldees.” 3. ‘‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred” (Gen. xii.1). 4. ‘*And there was a famine in the land” (xii. 10). 5. His wife ‘“‘was taken into Pharaoh’s house”’ (xii. 15).

He waged war with Chedorlaomer (xiv. 14). 7. The bondage of his posterity was predicted (xv. 13). 8. At the age of ninety he was circumcised.

He is commanded to cast out the bondwoman and her son (xxi. 10).

He is commanded to sacrifice Isaac (xxii. 2). For other ways of making up the number of the trials ΑἹ refers to Midrash Thillim, and to the ‘‘Mishnah of R. Nathan” (Aboth R.N. xxxi1.), which reckons them as follows: Two in Gen. xii. 1, ‘Get thee out, &e.;’’ Two with respect to his two sons; J'wo with respect to his two wives; One in his war with ‘the kings”; One in DYNAN Δ (Gen. xv.) ; One in Ur of the Chaldees; One in his circumcision. ‘‘And why was he tried with ten trials, neither more nor less? It was with reference to the ten NWN by which the world was created. Abraham, having been tried with ten trials, and being found perfect, was fitted to uphold the world which was created by ten ΠΝ," and he was rewarded by corresponding decads of miracles which were wrought for his sons in Egypt, and by the Sea, V. 3—8. 81 and he withstood them all; to shew how great was the love of Abraham our father. ~ and ten by the sea’. 5. Ten miracles were wrought for our fathers in Egypt; 6. Ten plagues® brought the Holy One, blessed is He, upon the Egyptians in Egypt ; and ten by the Sea. 7. With ten temptations did our fathers tempt God in the wilderness, for it is said, And they have tempted me now these ten times’, and have not hearkened to my voice (Numb.

xiv. 22), 8. Ten miracles were wrought in the Sanctuary’*. rael in Egypt were the ten plagues which fell upon their oppressors. The ten by the Sea are made out in various artificial ways from the account of the passage of the Israelites through the Sea, and the drowning of the Egyptians, Thus it is said in Mekiltha (‘1 ποθ ‘Dp), that 1. The sea was cleft; 2. It was divided into twelve parts; 3. It was made dry land, &c. Amongst the miracles are reckoned, that ‘‘He gave them fresh water out of the midst of salt,” and that “The sea became like glass vessels, for it is said, The depths were congealed in the heart of the sea” (Ex. xv. 8). Compare Midrash Thanchuma in loc.; Jalqut 234; Aboth R. N. xxx; Pirge R. Eliezer ΧΙ ἢ and see the notes in Surenhusius, Vol. rv. p. 466. this saying see Crit, Note. The plagues brought upon the Egyptians may be identified with the miracles wrought on behalf of the Israelites. 7 This verse is cited in ‘Hrakin 111, 5, where the heinousness of slander is dwelt upon, and it is said that ‘‘sentence was passed upon our fathers in the wilderness only on account of the evil tongue.”’ If the spies, it is added, No were condemned for slandering trees and stones, how much more is he to be condemned who slanders his neighbour! The ten temptations wherewith the Israelites tempted God are reckoned as follows:

‘‘with respect to the sea, two (before and after the passage); the waters, two; the manna, two; the quails, two; the calf, one; the wilderness of Paran, one.” Further details are given by the way (fol. 15). In Aboth R.N. xxxiv. God is represented as tempting the Israelites with ten temptations, ‘‘In all of which they were found not perfect.” 8 «These miracles were wrought likewise in the second temple, although the state of Israel was not in every respect perfect, and their heart was not firm with Him. But it shews that, for all this, the Divine grace had not desisted from working miracles with them contrary to nature in His Holy city whilst His sanctuary was still in the midst of it’? (R. Obadiah ben Jacob of Sforno). Of miracles not specified in this place, the miracle of the scarlet thread, naar dy nw, which changed colour on the day of Atonement, may be mentioned; ‘‘Originally they used to bind a scarlet thread upon the door of 82 PIRQE ABOTH. woman miscarried from the scent of the holy meat®; and the holy meat never stank; and an uncleanness befel not the highpriest” on the day of the Atonement; and a fly” was not seen in the slaughterhouse ; and a defect was not found in the sheaf’; nor in the two loaves”; nor in the shewbread”; and the porch, without. If it grew white they rejoiced: if it grew not white they were troubled.

They arranged to bind it on the door of the porch within: and still they watched, and looked. If it grew white they rejoiced: if not they were troubled. They arranged to bind half of it to the rock, and half of it between the horns of the scapegoat...Forty years before the temple was destroyed the scarlet thread did not grow white, but remained red” (Rosh ha-Shanah 31b). Compare Joma 67a, &c. The whitening of the thread is connected with Is. i. 18 in Joma vi. 8: ‘Lingua coccinea alligata erat ad portas templi, et cum hircus ad desertum accessisset, albescebat quia dicitur; Si fuerint peccata vestra sicut coccinum, sicut nix albescent.” 9 “No woman ever miscarried through a vain longing to partake of the flesh offered in sacrifice, or reserved for the priests alone.” 10 Ishmael Ὁ. Qimqith, having become disqualified, was replaced by his own brother, so that their mother saw two of her sons high-priests on the same day. The wise asked how she had merited such an honour. She replied, that the walls of her house had never seen the hair of her head (Aboth R. N. xxxv.). Her modesty was still further rewarded according to Joma 47a, by her having not two only but seven sons, all of whom ministered in the high-priesthood. purity. ‘Behold, now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God” (2 Kings iv. 8). How did she discover this?

From the fact that no riy crossed the table of Elisha‘. A Thorah-flame, an NI WN (Deut. xxxiii. 2), goes forth from the righteous, and purifies the air around. Cf. pp. 21, 65. “Said Rab, The evil yecer is like a fly, for it is said (Eccl. x. 1), Flies of death cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour” (Berakoth 61a). The Targum on the same verse compares the evil nature to a debuba, which lies at the doors of the heart (p. 37) and causes death, and corrupts a good name, which is like ointment. 12 By ‘omer is meant either a measure, the tenth part of an ephah (Ex. xvi. 36), or a sheaf. The ‘omer was offered at the time of the Passover, and consisted of first fruits of the barley harvest. At Pentecost, fifty days later, ‘‘the two loaves,” the first fruits of the wheat harvest, were offered: ‘‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days: and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven ; they are the first fruits unto the Lord” (Lev.

xxiii. 15—17). For further details see the Mishnah, Menach. x. [al. v1.] The ‘omer was to be V. 8; 9. 83 rains quenched not the pile; and the wind prevailed not against the pillar of smoke“; they stood serried, and bowed down at ease”; and serpent and scorpion harmed not in Jerusalem ; and a man said not to his fellow, The place is too strait for me (Is. xlix. 20) to lodge in Jerusalem. 9. Ten things were created between the suns”®, taken from the vicinity of Jerusalem, unless the crops there were not sufliciently ripened at the time appointed for the offering. ‘A tale is told of its being taken from the gardens of Cerefim, and the two loaves from the valley of 33D ἢ," which probably denotes the neighbourhood of Συχάρ (Joh. iv. 5). [Surh. v. 98.] 13° The shewbread consisted of “twelve cakes”’ of fine flour, which were ‘‘set in order before the Lord” every sabbath, and remained till they were replaced by others on the following sabbath (Lev. xxiv. 5—9). “A great miracle used to be wrought on the shewbread: its taking away was as its setting in order, for it is said (1 Sam. xxi. 7), To put hot bread in the day when it was taken away” (Joma 21 8), that is to say, that the bread was still hot on the day of its being taken away, \NPoM OW on. of the feast all watched the smoke of the altar-pile (Joma 21 Ὁ;

Baba Bathra 147 a). If it inclined toward the NorTH, the poor rejoiced, and the householders were troubled, because it was to be a rainy year, so that the crops would rot if kept: if it inclined to the sourn, the poor were troubled, and the householders rejoiced, because it was to be a dry year, &c.: toward the East, all rejoiced: toward the WEST, all were troubled. The straightness of the column of smoke was sometimes regarded as a sign of the acceptance of prayer and The sacrifice: the broken column betrayed hypocrisy (Berith Menuchah 11 b). festivals for which the people at large came up to Jerusalem, although the worshippers were so closely packed in the ‘azarah that they had scarcely room to stand upright, nevertheless by a miracle they had ample space to bow down, so that no man incommoded his neighbour; and no one was ever unable at such time to find lodging and maintenance in the city, however great the concourse of people. The ‘‘ten miracles,” though wrought in relation to the Temple festivals, did not all take place in the Temple itself, but Owia OD) WIPHI ΠΙΠΒ, “he begins with the Temple, and ends with JERUSALEM.” See Joma 21a, where it is discussed how the ten (cf. Crit. Note) are to be reckoned, and additional marvels are mentioned, such as the miraculous disappearance of the fragments of earthenware, &c. the evenings, or at the time of transition from the ‘‘six days of creation”’ to the sabbath.