whereas it was П (it had a defect which rendered it forbidden food, and, therefore, of no value to a Jew). Rava said: Shemuel had ordered him to give the ferryman in payment undiluted wine, and he gave him wine mixed with water. (In both cases the grateful appreciation of the ferryman was undeservedly appropriated.)

But what (it is asked by the compiler about a century later still, though it all reads, as usual, like a discussion carried on between people facing each other) does it matter whether that injunction was express or implied? (Answer) This, that if implied, Shemuel's displeasure may have arisen after all from the discovery, that the forbidden fowl had been kept too long in the possession of the servant. may have been occasioned by the servant's disobedience, who had been ordered to give him unmixed wine. Chulin, fol. 94, col. 1.

Or, it

T. N. a. Tosephoth suggests, that Shemuel's displeasure may have been caused by the apprehension, lest the idolater should sell it to a Jew, and not because he considered it wrong to receive the undeserved gratitude of an idolater. However, adds Tosephoth, a Jew would not buy it, for fear lest the idolater had been imposed upon by the Jewish owner of the fowl.

b. Here is, perhaps, as good a specimen of Talmudical dialectics as can be presented to Gentile readers. Torn from the context, the first sentence, attributed to Shemuel, would have sounded very liberal, but would have been out of harmony with the letter and spirit of the Talmud.

c. Moreover, the later Rabbis and Tosephos, who labour so hard to ascertain the real meaning of Shemuel, might have obtained their object without the least difficulty, had they called to mind Shemuel's conduct on another occasion, which the reader will find recorded on page 204, third line.

VERSE 16.

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good. How did he know that it was good? Rabbi Elazer replied: It follows, that, in addition to his dream, each saw the interpretation of the other's dream. Rabbi Yochanan said: If a text occurs to a man immediately on waking from sleep, behold, this is an inferior kind of prophetic inspiration. He also said, that three dreams are realised: one occurring in the morning; one dreamed concerning another; and one interpreted at the same time that it is dreamed. Some say also, if it is repeated twice; as it is said (Ge. xli. 32): "And that the dream was doubled," etc. Berachoth, fol. 55, col. 2.

2. No testimony respecting the death of a man is admissible, unless the witnesses saw his face with the nose, even though there were other signs of recognition in the body and the clothes.

It is not

admissible if they saw him before he actually expired, even if the body was mangled, crucified, or being consumed by a wild beast. It is also not admissible if they did not see him within three days of his death. Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava said: Not every man, nor every place, nor every hour is alike. Yevamoth, fol. 120, col. 1.

4. 66

Rabbi

Hence

"Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." (Ex. xxii. 21.) Nathan says: Do not taunt others with thy own defects. originated the proverb: Speak not of hanging if any of thy relations have been hung. Bava-metzia, fol. 59, col. 2.

5. All those that are stoned are afterwards hanged, so says Rabbi Eliezer. But the wise men say: Only a (Jewish) blasphemer or an idolater is hanged. A man is hanged with his face towards the people; a woman with her face towards the tree; so says Rabbi Eliezer. But the wise men say: A woman is not hanged at all. (See page 433, Note 14.) But, asked Rabbi Eliezer, did not Shimon ben Shatach (he flourished about a century before Christ, and is alleged to have been the brother-in-law of Alexander Jannæus; perhaps queen Alexandra's brother) hang women at Askelon? They replied: He hanged eighty women; whereas not even two capital sentences can be pronounced by one tribunal on the same day. (It was, in fact, says Rashi, an extraordinary occasion. He did it to put down the practice of witchcraft, which prevailed to an alarming extent among Jewish women, and he executed them at once to prevent a combined effort on the part of their relations to rescue the culprits.) Sanhedrin, fol. 45, col. 1.

T. N. The question suggests itself, Had the Rabbis, or the Sanhedrin, ever the power of inflicting capital punishment? Rabbi Eliezer was a contemporary of our Lord (see page 191, Note 32), when only a generation or two had passed since the deposition of the last of the Hasmoneans, who was the patron, or the tool, of the Pharisees. And yet that Rabbi differs from the wise men as to the details of the law respecting it. There is scarcely any halachah, which is not a subject of contention between the Rabbis. Hence there can be little doubt, that by far the greatest part of the oral Law originated after the destruction of the Temple, when the disciples of Rabbon Yochanan ben Zachai, who figure almost exclusively as the earliest Rabbis of the Mishnah, repaired to Jamnia, where the first Rabbinical high school was established.

6. How do they hang a culprit? They fix a pole in the earth, from which a piece of wood projects at an angle at the top, on which he is suspended after death by the hands. Rabbi Yosi says: The body is suspended from a beam fixed at an angle in the wall as butchers do. But the body is soon taken down. To let it remain there over night is a violation of a negative precept; for it is said (De. xxi. 23): "His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; for the hanged one is the curse of God" (this is the literal rendering, since the masculine " cannot refer to the feminine np); that is to say: Why is that man hanged? because he cursed God; and hence (the very thought suggested by his suspension) is a profanation of the name of God. Sanhedrin, fol. 46, col. 1.

7. The Post-Mishnic Rabbis have taught: It might have been

supposed, that a culprit should first be suspended on the tree, and then slain as the (Roman) government does. But it is said (De. xxi. 22): "And he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree;" that is, kill him first, and then hang him. And how is this done? Sentence is passed after sunset, he is then killed, and afterwards suspended by one man, and immediately taken down by another, just to satisfy the law concerning hanging. Sanhedrin, fol. 46, col. 2.

8. People may not reside in the town where a husband, a wife, or parent have been crucified. If the town is as large as Antioch, they should take up their abode in a part far removed from the scene of the crucifixion. How long? Till the flesh is wholly shrivelled up, and the features are undistinguishable. Semachoth, chap. 2, Mishnah 13.

VERSE 23.

But forgat him.

SYNOPTICAL NOTES.

OBLIVION.

1. Rabbi Elazer had one disciple who was in the habit of repeating his lessons in a whisper (not sufficiently loud). At the end of three years he forgot all he had learned. Eiruvin, fol. 54, col. 1.

3. Rabbi Elazer said: Whoever forgets anything of what he has learned, is the cause of his children going into captivity; for it is said (Ho. iv. 6): "Thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Yoma, fol. 38, col. 2.

6. Rav Nachmaine asked Rav Yitzchak: Hast thou heard when the son of the fallen comes? Who is the son of the fallen? demanded Rav Yitzchak. Messiah, was the reply. Messiah! exclaimed the other, why dost thou call Him the son of the fallen? Because, said he, it is written (Am. ix. 11): "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen.' Well, replied Rav Yitzchak, thus said Rabbi Yochanan: In the generation when the son of David will come, the disciples of the wise will be diminished, the eyes of those that shall be left will be consumed with grief and anguish, and many calamities and oppressive edicts will be repeatedly decreed, so that before one visitation ceases a second will come on speedily. Sanhedrin, fol. 97, col. 1.

7. Rabbi Yehoshua says: Whoever studies the Law and forgets it, is like a woman that bears children and buries them. Sanhedrin, fol. 99, col. 1.

11. 66

And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark." (De. x. 2.) Rav Yoseph taught: It follows, that the second tables and the fragments of the first were deposited in the ark. It may, therefore, be inferred from this circumstance, that a disciple of the wise is not to be treated with contumely, who, from no fault of his own, has forgotten what he had learned. Minachoth, fol. 99, col. 1.

CHAPTER XLI.

VERSE 12.

And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew servant,

etc.

Rabbi Yochanan said: The Holy One, blessed be He! caused the master to be angry with his servants, in order to accomplish the pleasure of the righteous, as in the case of Joseph; and He caused the servants to conspire against their master, for the same purpose, as in the cause of Mordecai. Meguillah, fol. 13, col. 2.

VERSE 14.

And he shaved himself.

Whoever dreams of shaving, let him, as soon as he wakes up, say: "And he shaved himself and changed his raiment;" before he is anticipated by the verse (Ju. xvi. 17): "If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me." from me." Berachoth, fol. 56, col. 2.

VERSE 39.

There is none so intelligent and wise as thou art.

SYNOPTICAL NOTES.

WISDOM, WISE MEN, DISCIPLES OF THE WISE; AND THE OPPOSITE FOLLY AND AMHAARETZ.

1.

Rava was in the habit of saying: The end of wisdom is repentance and good works. Berachoth, fol. 55, col. 1.

2.

Rabbi Yochanan (third century) said: The Holy One, blessed be He! gives wisdom only to those that have wisdom; for it is said (Da. ii. 21): "He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." (Mar. iv. 25.) Berachoth, fol. 55, col. 1. 6. The emulation of the scribes increases wisdom. Bava-bathra, fol. 21, col. 1.

8. Rabbi Akiva said: Laughter and levity habituate a man to lewdness. The Massorahs are a hedge round the Law; tithes are a hedge round riches; vows are a hedge round Pharisaism; the hedge round wisdom is silence. Avoth, chap. 3.

9. Rabbi Chanena ben Dosa said: Where fear of sin precedes the acquisition of wisdom, that wisdom abides; for it is said (Ps. cxi. 10): "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Avoth of Rabbi Nathan, chap. 22.

10. No land is so distinguished for wisdom as the land of Israel, and no place is so celebrated for beauty as Jerusalem. Avoth of Rabbi Nathan, chap. 28.

T. N. a. As an exemplification of Jewish wisdom, it is related in Midrash Echah' that a man of Jerusalem feeling his end approaching, when he happened to be far away from home, had entrusted his money to his host, and charged him to keep it till claimed by the rightful heir. Thou wilt easily know my son, said the dying man, from all possible pretenders, by his extraordinary wisdom. Shortly afterwards the man's death and testament were published at Jerusalem, but the situation of the house where he died was purposely withheld, as a precaution against false claimants. b. When the son of the deceased arrived, he, for a time, failed in his efforts to discover the house of the executor; but noticing a vendor of fuel, he bought a load, and ordered him to carry it to his father's host, mentioning his name, and, in this way, be got over his first difficulty.

c. Pleased with his ingenuity, the executor invited him to be his guest for a few days. Round the dinner table were seated the master of the house, his wife, his two sons, and his two daughters; and the guest was asked to carve and distribute five roast fowls among the party. Obedient to the call of honour, he offered one fowl to the host and his wife, a second to the two sons, a third to the two daughters, and the remaining two he reserved for himself. His conduct excited feelings of surprise, which, however, were carefully suppressed by all present. At supper he was again requested to carve, but there was only one capon placed before him. Nothing daunted, he quietly severed the head, and sent it up to the host; he next extracted the stuffing, and presented it to his wife; the sons had a leg each; the daughters received the wings; and the rest he appropriated as his own portion.

d. Asked at last, whether he had any special reason for his method of carving, he said, that he was guided by scientific principles. At dinner, continued he, I aimed to secure the number three in each part of the division; which I was enabled to do by offering a fowl to you, my host and your wife, a second to your two sons, and third to your two daughters, and keeping the remaining two for myself. At supper I could do no better than apportion the head to the head of the family; nor had any one a better right to the inner part of the capon than my hostess; the sons, who will eventually be the support of the family, had the best title to the legs; and who, concluded the guest, could more justly claim the wings than your daughters, who are destined to fly away from under the parental roof?

The legacy was at once handed over to him.

11.

Rabbi Yitzchak ben Pinchas says: Whoever has acquired the knowledge of Haggadah, and not of Halachahs, has not tasted of wisdom. If vice versa, he has not tasted of the fear of sin. He also used to say: He that has acquired the knowledge of Haggadah, and not of Halachahs, is a defenceless hero; if vice versa, he is a weak man armed. Avoth of Rabbi Nathan, chap. 29.

12. It is related, that Rabbon Yochanan ben Zachai used to say: If all the skies were parchments, and all the trees quills, and all the seas ink, they would be insufficient to describe the wisdom, which I have acquired from my Rabbi (Hillel); and yet I have no more diminished the wisdom of the wise men than the fly diminishes the waters of the Great Sea when it dips into it. (See page 152. Comp. John xxi. 25.) Sophrim, chap. 16.

13. Whoever transgresses the words of the wise men, incurs the penalty of death. Berachoth, fol. 4, col. 2.

17. Rabbon Shimon ben Gamliel said: Whenever the wise men have cast a glance of reproof upon a man, the result to him has been either death, or poverty. Chaguigah, fol. 5, col. 2.