Tales from TtlE
I
talmup
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Cornell University Library
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book
is in
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Tales from
The Talmud
Tales from
The Talmud
BY E.
R.
MONTAGUE
SECOND EDITION
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MCMVIII Fs
All Rights reserved
rl^i^Taauc \otxs,tcexj^ tvnaj^Lxel
l^'-^' ,
DEDICA TED TO
mi '
WIFE.
Through women alone come
blessings to
a house."
—The
Talmud.
PKEFACE.
The
great majority of these stories come
and may be
from the Talmud,
straight
found in English translations of that work, particularly in in
the
Mr
Oriental
A
Museum.
Rodkinson's translation
Room
of
the
British
very few have been added
from the Targums, the Pirke Rabbi Eliezer,
and a few other works which were more or less contemporaneous with the Talmud,
and evidently drew their
same
source.
Some
tales
from the
of the interpretations
which have been put upon the legendary part of the in
Part
I.,
Talmud
are briefly referred to
but no pretence
book either of giving a
is
made
in this
critical analysis of
PBEFACK.
VIU
the Talmud or of dealing with any ous or historical question.
mainly confined to a
religi-
The volume
collection
is
of tales
which, sometimes quaint, sometimes marvellous, often of great intrinsic beauty,
and
always illustrative of the inner
and
feelings of the
lives
Jewish people two thousand
years ago, constitute in some respects one of the most interesting parts of the Tal-
mud, and may perhaps be thought to be not unworthy of being their
own
sakes.
made known
for
CONTENTS. PART I.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY:
......
HISTOBT, SCOPE,
TALMUD II.
AND 3PBCIMENS OF THE
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS: OEEATION TO EXODUS
III.
.
.
.
73
.
125
DEMONOLOGY: TALES
OF
DEMONS,
ANGELS,
AND ADVENTURE
MAGIC, V.
.
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS: EXODUS TO BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY
IV.
1
.
MIEACLES, .
.
159
OTHER TALES: ESTHER, GREEK INFLUENCES, POST-BIBLICAL
LEGENDS, STORIES OP SOME FAMOUS RABBIS
INDEX
.
.
.
.
.
.211 291
PART
I.
INTRODUCTORY. HISTORY, SCOPE,
AND SPECIMENS OF
THE TALMUD.
When,
with the progress of civiHsation,
the nations of Europe no longer regarded the collection and public
burning of
Talmud
discoverable copies of the act of piety, the book
narrow
circles of
or antiquarian
who
it
an
outside the
itself,
the ghettos, not unnatur-
ally fell into disregard.
of any light
as
all
For the historian
studied
it for
the sake
might cast on the events
of the earliest centuries of the era, the
Talmud might interest
;
still
but the
even among such well expressed by
some kind of
retain feeling
for
students
Milman
the
as
in his
book,
these, '
is
History
— TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
2
of the Jews,' who, after plunging into its pages in search of historical facts, can only describe
pathetic
human human
sym-
in spite of his generally
it,
as
attitude,
industry,
a
human
"monument intelligence,
and
men
It remained for such
folly."
of
and Griinbaum in modem days to raise the Talmud to a new place of honour, little dreamed of by its authors, and as little by its fiercest enemies or most passionate devotees in the Middle Ages, as Deutsch
—
a place in the world of literature.
Deutsch the
by when, as
are perhaps gone
The days
Talmud was taken to be some ancient Babbi but as
tells us,
name
of
;
some people may
Talmud ? "
still
may
it
ask, "
What
is
the
be worth while, before
attempting to describe any of the wonderful
things to be found in this wonderful
book, to give a very brief account of
and by The sessed
of "
whom
it
Israelites,
from
customs
common
how
came to be written. like
the
which
other nations, pos-
earliest
times
gradually
a
became
set
a
law," or body of unwritten legal
INTRODUCTORY.
3
principles for deciding disputes.
said that this unwritten law
Moses on Mount Sinai
Tradition
was given
in addition to
to
the
Ten Commandments, was taught by Moses to Joshua, and so passed down by word of mouth through the Elders and the Prophets to the or
" Scribes,"
men who
of the Great Assembly flourished
about
the
Second Temple
and later. Numerous decisions were given upon these
time
laws
of
;
the
and as tae religious, civil, and law all had the same divine
criminal origin,
all
these decisions
or judgments,
the reasons for the judgments, and the
names of the judges, were treasured up with zealous
care.
By
the time of the
Second Temple this "law" had grown to such enormous dimensions as to tax even the
memory
of the ancients, and at least
two attempts are known to have been made to reduce it to some kind of code. It was Rabbi Yehudah who, in 190 A.D., succeeded in reducing all the "law" into writing, dividing
heads.
The
it
very roughly under six
late persecution
by Hadrian,
TALES PROM THE TALMUD.
4
who, after the
final
desperate revolt under
Bar Cochba, had forbidden the teaching of the Law, made such a course as Yehudah's absolutely necessary if any national ideal was to be preserved; for the people could
know that the momentary gleam Eoman favour which they seem to have
not but of
enjoyed during the last years of the second
century might at any
moment be
dispelled.
This collection constitutes the " Mishna," being one half of the Talmud, the other half being the " Gemara," the interpreta-
and comments upon, the Mishna. The Gemara was completed and incorporated in the Talmud at Jerusalem about
tion
of,
400
A.D.,
while
in
the
rival
school
at
Babylon a larger Gemara was completed
and incorporated about 500
A.D.
The Talmud, then, consists of the law and commentaries, usually together described as the "
modern first
dry
Law "
;
and the ordinary book for the
reader, opening the
time, might fairly expect to find
some
list of obligatory ceremonials, or a legal code more or less resembling the Code of
INTRODUCTORY. Justinian, interesting its
antiquity.
5
only on account of
Nothing
Euro-
like a
less
pean code of laws can well be imagined.
The first requisite for an appreciation of the Talmud is that the student should cast off all the habits of thought in which
he has grown up, and listen as a
child,
surprised at nothing, smiling at nothing,
away
explaining
nothing.
He must
pect to find no order of time
any,
order
of subject
;
ex-
little,
;
if
history,
religion,
geography, demonology, law, ethics, medicine, wit, poetry, rules of polite behaviour,
—
all
the learning of the
world
ancient
As
blended in bewildering confusion. so
many
ancient
he
writings,
in
find
will
things which a modern regards as of the
utmost importance set down beside things
which seem to him utterly
trivial
;
the
noblest precepts of morality, or rules which
show an almost morbid delicacy of feeling, side by side with the minutest directions for the carrying out of some cere-
mony
or
daily
practice.
How
dress, rend the clothes in sign of
to
eat,
mourn-
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
6
undress, bathe
ing,
most
trifling
death,
—
all
;
how
actions of
provided
are
to regulate the
from birth to
life
for.
Here the
student will come upon legends as weird, as fantastic, or as gorgeously coloured as
any
tale
the
in
'
Arabian Nights
'
;
here
he will find himself following out intricate
and often it
whether
conflicting opinions as to
would constitute "
work "
for a
man
to
use a wooden leg or wear a false tooth on
the Sabbath, or lost in mazes of logic in the course of some elaborate argument as to
whether or no some act
tion
(in a
combina-
of circumstances which might never
occur once to one
man
in all history)
would
be an infringement of one of the laws in
Deuteronomy. at
the
Deut.
laws xxiii.
Should he chance to open against
19),
usury
(founded
on
he will read page after
page of direction as to what constitutes usury, and learn even that the lender should avoid greeting one who has borrowed (unless such has been his daily habit), lest
his greeting should humiliate
the borrower by reminding him of the ob-
—
;;
INTRODUCTORY.
and
ligation,
7
so constitute interest
on the
Should he again chance to open
loan.^
at the " Ethics of the Fathers," he will be
alternately pleased at the
and
sayings,
astonished
quaint homely the
at
He
shown by these ancient Rabbis. read
:
"
Do
;
and do not
seek to console him in the hour
dead
is
laid out before
interrogate
and '
him
in
it
will
him
;
when
him
be at once asked,
in the
ia this
his
and do not
the hour of his
strive not to see
How,
will
not seek to appease thy friend
the hour of his passion
in
insight
vow
hour of
hatred of usury
to be reconciled with the notorious usury in the
Middle
who may be presumed
to have
Ages on the part
of Jews,
been acquainted with, and owned allegiance to, the Talmudic laws? And the answer is supplied in the Talmud itself. Some of the Rabbis had forbidden lending at interest to any one, explaining that Deut. xxiii. 20 " Unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon usury (but not unto a brother) "^ should be translated, "Unto a foreigner thou mayest give interest" i.e., if a loan be required from a foreigner and cannot be obtained without interest but afterwards they also allowed an Israelite, "for the need
—
—
;
of his livelihood," to lend at interest to a non-Israelite
when money-lending was the only means of livelihood allowed to the Jew, he felt he could thus earn his hence
livelihood
law.
among
non-Israelites without breaking his
own
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
8
Again
his disgrace."
upon thy neighbour
:
" Pass not
till
thou hast put thy-
self in his place."
"
thy death"
every day).
(i.e.,
judgment
Repent one day before
"Do
allow thyself to be easily angered
not
thy
;
fellow's honour must be as dear to thee as
bhine own."
Elsewhere he will learn that
the adornment of wisdom
modesty, and the
is
adornment of noble performance that
it
is
is
secrecy
;
better to pass through a fiery
furnace, better even to bear a false accusation in silence, than to put a in public
will
;
man
that the righteous of
have a share
but that the slanderer are
in the
scoflFer,
among
enter Paradise.
liar,
those
He
will
to
all
shame
nations
world to come, hypocrite,
who
will
and
never
be taught the
dignity of labour, the sanctity of family life,
he
the need for charity in judging others
will
be warned,
to accept a present
if
;
he be a judge, never
from any one, and not
to be biassed, not only in favour of the rich against the poor, but (through any
distorted sense of justice) in favour of the
poor against the
rich.
INTRODUCTORY.
Most
9
astonishing, perhaps, of all are the
explanations deduced from various passages
which have been set
in the Scriptures,
Thus
gether with an amazing ingenuity.
Adam was
composed of the dust of
world, for Ps. cxxxix.
16
man's unformed substance
we
are told
fore, it is
of
the
and elsewhere
sees all the world, there-
Adam must
be composed
the world.
Adam,
and at
reached up to heaven,
all
faces,
God
argued,
all
God saw
says ;
to-
first
again,
had two
but was afterwards pressed down (Deut. 32
"
:
God
created
man upon
iv.
the earth,
and from the one end of heaven unto the and Ps. exxxix. 5, " Thou hast laid thine hand upon me "). Moses " cried unto the Lord" (Exod. viii. 12) means other
"
;
that he was obliged to pray in his loudest voice, because the frogs
made such
a
noise.
Occasionally a stray gleam of poetry or
a
striking
metaphor (" poverty
Israel as a red -leather trapping
becomes becomes a
white horse") will surprise the reader in the
midst of the
driest
discussions,
but
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
10
Old Testament poetry is buried in dust and ashes of verbal controversy. Every passage in the Psalms has some latent meaning only to be dismore often the
finest
"
The valley of the shadow of death " refers to the shadow of a tree cast by moonlight demons lurk in such shadows, and might kill any one who covered by labour.
:
incautiously
slept
"Thou
there.
hast
broken the teeth of the ungodly" refers to the teeth of Og, king of Bashan,^
grew of
they were tangled among the
till
rocks. Is.
which
In xlix.
middle
the 14,
of
"But
15,
the
verses
Zion
said,
Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child?" the Eabbis interpose a kind of
sum intended
to bring
the mind the numbers of the stars their zeal to say even
point out that '
to
and
in
;
more than
these
all
home
stars
Isaiah,
too
were
Full details are given in a rabbinical
the 'Pirke Eabbi Eliezer.'
who was an important in the first
denies
work known as One famous Eabbi Eliezer,
contributor to the Talmud, lived
and second centuries
him the authorship
of the
but modern criticism book in question.
a.d.,
1
INTRODUCTORY.
made
for Israel's benefit, as
1
an additional
proof that Zion will not be forgotten. Similar in spirit to
is
the reproof of a Rabbi
an atheist who mocked at God, " who " I can
counteth the number of the stars."
count the stars," said the atheist
;
where-
upon the Rabbi fills a sieve with sand and " Keep the asks him to count the grains. " But sieve still and I will count," he says. the stars in heaven do not keep still for you to count them," answers the Rabbi. He then goes on to say, " You do not even know the number of your teeth without counting them how wonderful, therefore, to know the number of the stars without ;
Isaiah
counting."
constantly quoted in
is
proof of some rabbinical doctrine. Ixvi. 1 ("
The heaven
earth
my
is
is
my
footstool")
Chap.
throne, and the
proves that the
heaven was made before the earth, because a throne stool.
is
naturally
Chap.
1.
made
before a foot-
3 (" I clothe the
with blackness")
is
heavens
a proof that the sky
has been darker ever since the destruction of the Temple.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
12 It
surprising
hardly
is
search
for
hidden
should have
that
in
their
meanings the Rabbis
discovered
an almost inex-
haustible mine of allegory in the Song of Solomon. To take' an example from chap, 11,
vii.
"Come,
into the field
;
my
let
beloved, let us go forth
us lodge in the villages.
Let us get up early to the vineyards see
;
let us
whether the vine hath budded, and
its
blossom be open, and the pomegranates be in flower
The
;
there will I give thee
my
love."
" vineyard " represents the synagogues
:
and " pomegranates " stand for Mishna and Gemara. " There I will give " grapes "
thee
my
love" means, "There I will show
thee (In the synagogue
schools) children
who revere Thee by studying the Law." Or again, " honey and milk are under thy tongue"
wisdom are
(iv.
in
11)
means,
thy mouth";
"words of
viii.
13 refers
to scholars studying in the garden
feeding
proper
"among reading
;
while
the lilies" should by a be "among the learned
Yet there were evidently people in the days when the Talmud was being commen."
INTRODUCTORY.
who found
piled ii.
10, "
Rise up,
come away. the rain
my
is
;
and
past,
is
the flowers
the time of the sing-
come, and the voice of the
heard in our land; the fig-tree
ripeneth her green
figs,
They give
blossom.
in
;
fair one,
the winter
over and gone
is
ing of birds is
my
love,
lo,
appear on the earth
turtle
such verses as chap,
in
For,
13
and the vines are forth their frag-
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away," only a pastoral or love song containing an unsurpassed description of the joy of spring and the wonder and beauty of the unfolding buds for we are warned against turning the verses into a song, and the Law (which term it must be remembered includes the whole of sacred and profane rance.
;
knowledge)
is
represented as saying to
God
that people are turning her into a fiddle
on which frivolous people play, and such persons
who
will
even included
are
among
those
have no share in the world to
come.
Medical prescriptions are given us without
number
;
occasionally
even cosmetics
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
14
are recommended, the Kabbi quaintly
tell-
ing us that he had the recipe from his mother. Most of the prescriptions bear a
strong resemblance to the medicines recomOn the mended in the Middle Ages. whole, they are perhaps a pulsive.
They
little
less re-
consist largely in charms,
and in doing things at stated intervals. For the bite of a dog an elaborate cure is provided which requires a year for its completion, and includes the writing of a charm on the skin of a male hyaena.
Fish
is
recommended as good for indigestion, but bad for weak eyes. Here is a cure for ague Wait at a cross-road till you see an :
ant carrying a load
;
put the ant and
load into a brass tube, seal "
ant,
my
and
say,
load be upon thee, and thy
load be upon me."
syncope
up,
it
its
Ohe
of the remedies
Shave the patient's head, place him in water up to his neck, cut up a black hen lengthwise and apply the pieces to the scalp. One more For a certain obscure disease of for
is
less
pleasant
:
:
the brain pour three hundred bowls of a
5
INTRODUCTORY. particular
1
the
over
concoction
patient's
head, and having thus softened the skull,
remove the bones with a surgeon's knife, whereupon the insect which is the cause
The
of the disease will be discovered.
in-
must be removed with a pair of tongs, but first the operator must be careful to sect
put myrtle leaves under wise on being seized
membrane of the
in the
bury
will
it
as other-
its feet,
its nails
brain.
Concerning the rules of polite behaviour,
we
are taught that
fingers
we should not suck our
at table, or bite food
back in the dish
company, or
nor should
;
it
in
spit before our neighbours
in the bath-room."
A
at once
or four times
is
gluttonous
is afiiected.
to drink it all
:
;
to sip
We
it
three
Frequently these
rules of etiquette are illustrated stories.
"even
cup of wine should
be taken in two draughts
down
and put
we yawn
by
little
should never give anything
to the son or servant of our host without his permission.
a
man
Once, in a year of famine,
invited three guests home, and
just able to ofier
them one egg
each.
was
As
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
16
each took his egg he saw the host's son standing before him looking longingly at the
food,
to give
so
up
that
each
felt
constrained
A
egg to the small boy.
his
few moments later the host, returning to the room, found his son with one in his
mouth and one
in each hand.
In his
in-
dignation he struck him an unlucky blow
which resulted mother,
in instant death.
who was
The boy's
seated on the roof, see-
what had happened, perished, and the father, ing
fell
down and
horrified at this
double calamity, committed suicide.
Thus
three deaths resulted from the acts of the guests.
Another longer story the
illustrates
politeness
and
is
told us
which
between
false
truly good breeding.
We
difference
should always do as the master of the
house asks
us, unless it
be something
for-
bidden by the Law.
Once some guests came to a Rabbi's house, and were offered the usual hospitality.
At
first
they swore
by the Law they would eat nothing, but afterwards,
being
pressed,
they made a
"
INTRODUCTORY.
At the end
good meal.
l7 of
their
visit,
when they rose to go, their host fell upon them and gave them each forty lashes. When they reported the way they had been
treated,
cited.
"
Who
great resentment was will
of our indignation
?
go and " said
this
tell
the Rabbis.
ex-
man At
number declared that
length one of their
he would go and investigate.
Calling at
the Rabbi's house, he stated that he was in
At once he was
need of hospitality.
welcomed, and his host not only gave him food and shelter, but sat up with him late at night studying the
morning he asked you
replied
please,"
shall be beaten," still
Who
his will
he asked.
and
Law.
a bath.
his
host.
he thought
;
In the " "
Do
Now
as I
but his host
him with an agreeable face, return gave him breakfast. accompany me on the way ? " I, myself," was the answer,
received
and on "
for
till
his host started
from the house with
The visitor was now beginning to grow more and more uncomfortable. What him.
shall I tell the
Rabbis on
B
my
return, he
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
18 thought.
At
last,
boldly bringing matters
to a head, he turned to his host and said " Rabbi, tell me why it is you have received :
me
in this
way, yet treated
my predecessors my master," he
you did?" "You are " you are a great sage, and of the course your manners are refined
as
replied
;
:
others
vow,
who came
first
would not
to
me
disregarded their
swearing by the eat,
and then
Law
that they
eating.
I
have
always heard that one who swears falsely
by the Law should be punished with stripes, and that is why I acted as I
"And
I wish,"
replied the guest,
forty did."
"that
you had given each forty for himself and forty more for the people who sent me here to investigate."
On
another occasion a Rabbi, seeing his
host put a piece of bread under a dish to tilt
it
up, ate the bread.
"
Had you no
other bread," his host asked, "that you
V
must eat that piece "I thought you could burn yourself with lukewarm water," was the reply {i.e., take a slight hint), " but
now
I see that
you cannot even burn
INTRODUCTOEY.
19
yourself with boiling water."
thought
hardly
It
might be
with
consistent
modern
manners of one's
politeness to notice the
but the Rabbis were universal
host,
and we are constantly
structors,
be grateful
for
anything we
and never resent
may
in-
told to
be taught,
correction.
We should not wipe
the dish with bread
and lay the bread on the table, for to do so might "disturb the mind of our neigh-
We
bour."
our
elders,
offered
us.
should not eat at table before or
ask for food
before
it
is
After emptying our cup (in
the case of cold drinks
we are allowed we should not
four draughts instead of two) set
down empty upon the
it
hold
it
in
our
hand
table,
removed.
till
but In
giving an invitation to dinner we should not say, " Come and dine with me as I
we wished to make a return (in Jerusalem this injunction was unnecessary, as we are told it did with you," as though
was there the established custom for people to invite each other in turn) and evidence ;
of
still
finer feeling
is
the rule that
we
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
20
should
not
a
hospitality or
either
offer
we know cannot be accepted. Speaking generally, we should not rejoice among mourners, grieve among those who present which
are rejoicing, or assume different manners
from the friends or people among whom we happen to be. We are taught exactly
how
to proceed in taking a bath.
other points, in undressing off
the
shoe
left
we should take
but in dressing
first,
should put on the right shoe are warned
taking
others
medicine,
:
of
first.
We
following habits
the
against
among many
Among
that of constantly
having
teeth
ex-
tracted needlessly, of taking long strides,
of teasing a snake, and of Persian.
phrenology is
making fun of a
Hints are likewise given us upon ;
and we learn that a thin beard
a sign of shrewdness, a thick beard de-
notes stupidity, while he
who has
a parted
beard will be ruled by no man.
Such innumerable discussions and the legends some of which will be related in
—
the following pages of the Talmud.
— form
but a fringe
The main portion
consists
INTRODUCTORY.
21
of " law " in the narrower and more techni-
Here we are at times on more
cal sense.
familiar ground,
many
of the laws bearing
a resemblance to rules of English law.
We
have rules of evidence (admissible and inadmissible evidence), examples almost equivalent to leading cases quoted, the measure of
damages
in certain cases set out
about the payment of money (or into
lent)
court
;
the
we hear
;
its
equiva-
responsibility
for
damage done by domestic animals known and we find a to have become vicious drawn distinction between the liability of ;
gratuitous bailees and of bailees for reward.
But
these laws are in reality nothing
all
but interpretations of the Scriptures. instance,
after
For
discussing the liability of
the master for damage done by a goring ox,
we
pass by a natural transition to his
liability
for
damage caused by
his negli-
gence in allowing his premises to
fall
into
a dangerous condition through want of repair.
Suppose he leaves a dangerous ladder
leaning against his house which causes in-
jury to some one
who
uses
it,
his liability
:
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
22
depends not on abstract legal principles, but
is
founded upon divine legislation,
being inferred from Deut.
making
law as to
As
usual, the law, in all kinds of almost
combinations of circumstances,
impossible is
and the
8
xxii,
safe the roof of a house.
The following
discussed.
examples without number
baked upon A's
away the cake
fire
;
set
for the
A
is
in his
to B's barn.
one out of
cake
a dog runs
and droppings of hot fire
:
is
being
in,
snatches
mouth and
escapes,
coal from the cake
Who
is
answerable
damage, the owner of the dog or
the owner of the
fire
?
For page after page
we
follow out the ingenious arguments some contend that the dog's mouth which held the cake from which the cinders
dropped the dog
is ;
the property of the owner of
hence by a
fiction
the
fire
must
be said to have originated in the property of the owner of the dog,
answerable.
and he alone is Others say no the owner ;
of the (house with the)
cause he allowed the his
property.
fire
fire
Others
is
liable, be-
to spread from
agree
with
the
INTRODUCTORY.
23
second conclusion, but base
ground
upon the
it
that the owner of the
was
fire
of negligence in allowing the dog
guilty
This at once allows of an ob-
to enter.
jection in his favour, for the
burrowed under the
dog may have which case
in
floor,
he cannot be held guilty of negligence in allowing the dog to enter.
pare the
fire
when an arrow
as
Others com-
with an arrow, and say that alights
somewhere and
the one who when the embers
causes damage, liable
so
;
fired
it
of the
is
fire
somewhere and cause damage, the owner of the fire whence the embers started is liable. Others suggest that the owner alight
of the
dog and the owner of the
each pay half the damage
fire
is
no means
liable,
but the con-
though the point
is
by
clear.
Interesting
found
should
appears to be that the owner of
clusion
the
;
fire
human
touches are sometimes
in these discussions.
May
a dealer
when they come into his shop to induce them to buy from him again ? Some authorities were inclined to give children nuts
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
24
say no, on the ground that it was taking an unfair advantage over his fellow trades-
man, and depriving him of his livelihood (after the analogy of the law that one man might not deprive a neighbour of his means
by opening a
of livelihood
same
store of the
character as his neighbour's store in the
same
alley)
but others held that
;
it
was
only advertisement and fair competition, for if
one dealer offered children nuts, might
not his rival offer plums
?
damages are awarded for differThe man who strikes ent kinds of assault. another with his knee is liable to pay him Different
three selas
^
he must pay his
fist,
;
for
striking with
five selas
thirteen
;
and
blows in another's ear sela
;
his
foot
for striking
with
lastly, is
the
man who
liable to
on account of the disgrace
pay one inflicted.
This appears to be only a rough -working scale, for
we
are told that
damages should
include compensation for injury, pain, ex-
pense of healing, loss of time, and disgrace, 1 Sela, a small coin, probably about the value of but of greater purchasing power.
3s. 6d.,
INTRODUCTORY.
25
and the last item varies according to the time and circumstances and position of the Time is allowed for payinsulted person.
ment only
in the case of
or disgrace,
and we are
damages
for insult
also told that the
only real compensation for an insult
to
is
ask forgiveness.
Sometimes the
law of the Romans
with the Jewish law.
conflicts
cases,
civil
of course, the former
respected
the
at
though where
Roman law
is
expense
there
is
is
is
not to be
of the
no
latter,
conflict
A
to be obeyed.
instance of a conflict
In such
that the
the
notable
Law
re-
quired the testimony of two witnesses to enable a as
plaintifi" to
according to
ficient.
recover a debt, where-
Roman law
one was suf-
Therefore one witness called upon
by the Roman court to give evidence was not allowed by the Rabbis to speak what he knew,
for if his
unsupported evidence
secured a verdict he would be indirectly
committing a breach of the Law.
Many
classes of persons are not allowed
to appear as witnesses at
all.
These
in-
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
26
elude near relatives (the degree of nearness
necessary to disqualify
carefully
is
out), intimate friends (including
worked
the grooms-
man), pronounced enemies (a witness who has not been on speaking terms with one of the parties for three days is regarded as an " enemy," and disqualified), habitual
gamblers (because they " are not concerned with the welfare of the world
"),
notori-
ously wicked people, and some other classes.
Women may
give evidence in
in criminal cases. is
to be
announced
The ;
may
but not
result of a decision
but
a minority of judges
civil
if
there should be
who
disagree, these
not give a separate dissenting judg-
ment.
All these rules are supported on
texts, the last ("
Thou
("
He
depending on Levit.
xix. 16
up and down as a talebearer among thy people") and Prov. xi. 13 shalt not go
that goeth about as a talebearer re-
vealeth secrets").
The
disqualification of interested persons
as witnesses
is
one of
many
excellent rules
by which the Eabbis sought to promote purity of justice.
It has
been mentioned
:
INTRODUCTORY.
27
that a judge should receive no present from
any man all things were to be avoided which might unconsciously warp his judg:
ment, such as a personal introduction to one of the parties.
He was
not allowed
to hear the case of one side in the absence
of the other (founded on Deut.
i.
16, 17)
both litigants were to plead at equal length,
and be treated in all respects alike both might be asked to be seated, but not one ;
The judge was
only.
giving
his
One
anger.
who
case
is
and avoid haste or recorded of a judge
when a hot wind was because he knew it would make
refused to
blowing,
him
decision,
to be deliberate in
irritable
sit
and impair
his judicial calm-
Mediation might be advised before
ness.
a case had been heard, or even afterwards, if
the judge had not yet come to a decision
but
if
;
the judge had once decided in his
mind how the law ought to be applied, he was no longer allowed to advise mediation. So if one of the parties happened to be a powerful influential person, and the other a poor man, the judge might in the
first
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
28
instance refuse to act as judge between the parties
;
but having once heard the evidence
and come
was no longer The rule decision.
to a conclusion, he
allowed to withhold his
has already been mentioned that a judge
was forbidden through any perverse sense of justice to try to wrest the law in favour
of the poor against the rich.
It
was
also
recommended that a judge should not be too old, lest his judgment might be enfeebled or too young, lest he might be hasty and that he should be a married ;
;
man
with children, that his heart might
be
filled
ing
is
with
sympathy.
The
follow-
a quaint example of the care taken
to prevent inclination.
any
conflict
We
are
between duty and told
that
in
the
periodic
settlements of the Jewish Calendar a high priest was not allowed to take any part in the discussion with regard to introducing a leap year, the reason given
Day of Atonement (which about mid-autumn) he is required to dip five times under cold water, and by being that on the
falls
introducing
a
leap
year
(which
in
the
INTRODUCTORY.
Hebrew Calendar
is
29
a whole month and
not merely a day longer than other years)
he would be making that
Day
of Atone-
ment a month later, when running water is so much colder, and consequently his interest
year.
would be against adding the leap
It
may
be well imagined that few
things were overlooked
by a
foresight which
could provide against such temptations as this.
We
may
notice,
among the many
excellent qualifications for a judge, a
know-
ledge of witchcraft was required, which,
though
it
may seem
qualification
rather a grotesque
to-day, was obviously
indis-
pensable in ancient times.
Turning to criminal law, we find
still
more elaborate precautions taken to
pre-
vent the possibility of an unjust sentence.
In
civil cases
the smallest court consisted
of three judges, but in criminal cases, of
twenty- three.
A
bare majority sufficed
to acquit the prisoner, but a majority of
two to one was required
to
convict.
A
judge who had decided to convict was allowed to change his mind and acquit,
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
30
decided to acquit
who had
but a judge
might not change
his
mind
and
;
finally,
to prevent bias, the defence of the prisoner
As
to be heard before his accusation.
was
usual, these rules
were
all
Here
of Scriptural texts.
extracted out
is
a typical in-
The twenty-three judges sat in a semicircle, and if one wished to leave he must see that his place was taken. Whence stance.
do we deduce this
Of
?
all
places in the
Song of Solomon " Thy a field of wheat fenced about The field of wheat, from which
world, from the
body with all
is
like
lilies."
:
derive benefit, represents the twenty-
three judges,
whom field
who
confer benefits on
all desire to see
of wheat
is
and hear
it,
so
so precious that
depart, no
however easy
member
it
and
and as a
;
not even break through a fence of injure
all,
we may lilies
to
may seem
to
of the twenty-three
is
allowed to leave without his place being
In
taken.
these
words
a
witness
warned before giving evidence your testimony tion,
or
:
was
" Perhaps
is based only on a supposion hearsay, or that of another
:
31
INTRODUCTORY. witness, or
man
you had
it
from a trustworthy
you are not aware that investigate the matter by
or perhaps
;
we
finally
will
...
examination.
In
repay the money damage and he
may
one
civil cases
is
atoned
;
but in criminal cases the blood of the person executed, and of his descendants to the end of
generations, clings to the one
all
So do we read
caused his execution.
who
the case of Cain, '
The
Scripture the plural form
It does not read
means
'
his blood
scendants.^
.
.
.
to teach that he
a
human
'
but
'
Hebrew
used] of thy
is
me from
blood
in
slew his brother
voice of the bloods [in the
brother are crying to
who
the ground.'
bloods,'
which
and the blood of his deMan was created singly
who
destroys one soul of
being the Scripture considers him
as if he should destroy a whole world, and
him who saves one soul Scripture considers him as save a whole world. '
The Talcum Onkelos,
..."
in
Israel
the
if
he should
A
special in-
referring to Cain's murder, speaks
of the voice of the blood of generations
from Cain complaining before God.
which were
to
come
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
32 stance is
is
given of the care which a witness
required to take.
If he sees
A
and
B
and entering a moment just dead and A standing
run into a
ruin,
later finds
B
over him with a blood-stained sword, he It has kill B. may not say he saw
A
already been mentioned that two witnesses were required. In the case of blasphemy
which the punishment was death by stoning) the proceedings were conducted (for
The witness declared "so " and so was said of Jose," the word " Jose standing for the Sacred Name, which also had four letters. No blasphemy had been committed unless the name of God had actually been mentioned. When all had pseudonymously.
left
the court except the witnesses, the
was asked to state exactly what the accused had really said, and "the judges then arise and rend their garments, and they are not to be mended," The other witnesses merely say, " I heard eldest witness
the same." Finally, let us suppose that the evidence
proved overwhelming and the prisoner was
INTRODUCTORY.
condemned
33
The procession
to death.
left
the court, but at the gate of the court there
man with
remained a
a flag just
sight of a horseman.
If at the
moment any one appeared
at the
in
and stated that he had something in
horseman,
sign
to
the
galloped forward
to
stop
as a
court to say
the flag was
defence of the prisoner,
raised
last
the
who
procession
and bring the criminal back. Even the criminal himself might plead some new defence,
and
if
he had something serious
to say, be brought back four or five times.
Before him there marched a herald proclaiming
his
crime,
his
punishment, the
names of his witnesses, and calling for any one to come forward who might have any-
A
thing to say in defence. question declares,
raised
is
" I
:
characteristic
Suppose the prisoner
have something
to
say in
defence" and suddenly becomes dumb.
The point remains
he to be executed? undecided.
ance with
Before execution,
Prov.
Is
xxxi.
drink unto him that c
is
6
("
in
accord-
Give strong
ready to perish,
!
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
34
and wine unto the bitter in soul"), he is given wine with a grain of frankincense This wine was prepared to stupefy him.
by the ladies of Jerusalem as a pious act. The judges themselves were not allowed to At the taste wine on the day of execution. last
moment the
prisoner
or at least say (as
"My
Achan
The various in
beheading,
we
modes
detail
said to Joshua),
&c.
are told,
of
my
sins."
execution
— stoning,
are
strangling,
The most detestable is
of
to be beheaded with
a butcher's hatchet. 15
asked to confess,
death shall atone for
described
all,
is
("From the wicked
From Job their light
xxxviii. is
with-
arm is broken") we gather that a man who is accustomed to holden, and the high
raise his
hand threateningly may have
cut off; and the
name
is
it
recorded of a
judge who used to act upon this inference.
From
"Love thy neighbour as we deduce that people are to be
the rule,
thyself,"
decently clad at execution, for none would like such a disgrace as to be publicly stripped
first
— INTRODUCTORY.
35
After the loss of independence in
Roman
times the courts which condemned to death
no longer
sat,
but the belief lingered that
appropriate punishments were sent
that a
man who
would
fall
e.g.,
deserved death by stoning
from a house.
Besides the
civil
and criminal law, whole
volumes are taken up with purely astical law,
ecclesi-
developments of Scriptural
in-
junctions, such as the law against usury,
the
law
ferred
to,
the Sabbath and the law of
of
already all
re-
the other
festivals.
But even the purely legal portions of the Talmud are constantly broken by the remarkable digressions which give the work such a unique character, and make the bewildered student ask whether he
is
being
laughed at by some mocking voice which
is
parodying the noble narrative, or whether
beneath these seeming absurdities there
some great
lies
esoteric doctrine.
In these digressions the Rabbis sometimes show an almost Aristotelian love of analysing,
classifying,
and pigeon-holing.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
36
There are four kinds of pupils learn and
:
quick to
quick to forget, slow to learn
and slow to
forget,
slow to forget, and
quick
to
learn
and
slow
to
learn
and
Elsewhere four kinds of
quick to forget.
pupils are compared with a funnel, which lets
water run straight through
;
a sponge,
which mops up good and bad liquid, and a sieve, which sifts the retains all alike ;
good from the bad and a strainer, which strains the lees and passes the good wine. ;
So there are four kinds of views held by men concerning property. One says, " That which belongs to me shall continue to be mine, and thou shalt keep thine own " he ;
is
a neutral character.
maintain that he
is
(Some, however,
a wicked man, because
he means "none shall benefit from me, and
—
want no favours from any one," which is a churlish attitude.) The second says, " Mine is thine and thine is mine he is " an ignorant man. The third says, "Mine is thine and thine is thine " he is magnanimous. While the fourth, who says, "Thine is mine and mine is mine," is a I
;
;
"
37
INTEODUCTOEY.
Again, there are four kinds
wicked man.
of sons, and so forth.
Other things are measured by sevens.
For example, there In
hypocrites.
we may
the
notice
(1)
seven
are
curious
he
who shows
with his eyes shut
upon women), and a wall " What
;
and is
my
(2)
;
himself walking
(in order
not to look
strikes his
head against
the hypocrite
(3)
his
show
meekness and attract attention
the hypocrite
who
strikes
stones, in order to
feet against the
of
enumeration
hypocrite
the
walks on tiptoe so that
his
kinds
duty and
I
who
will
says,
do
it
(meaning thereby that he has done every
good thing, and left
for
stantly
him come
do slanderers
to
is
asking what there
do).
Hypocrites
is
con-
in for denunciation, as also ;
and with characteristic
in-
warn against indiscrimwhich, by raising a prejudice
sight the Rabbis inate praise,
person
against
the
indirect
means of
praised,
may
be an
slander.
Other things, again, are measured by tens. For instance, there were ten plagues on the
;
TALES PROM THE TALMUD.
38
Egyptians, ten temptations of Abraham, ten Or, again,
crimes in the Wilderness.
we
read that ten measures of learning came
down on
nine went to
of which
earth,
and one to the rest of the world ten measures of riches, of which nine went to Rome and one to the rest of the world Israel
ten of witchcraft, of which nine went to
Egypt, and so on
may
vants,
in
particular
and nine of talk to women.
things, again, go
the
and
;
we
notice nine measures of sleep to ser-
many
by
sixties (either
Other one of
traces of Babylonian influence,^
or because the
number sixty
is
used, like
the Latin sexcenti, to express vaguely a large number).
Ethiopia
is
sixty times as
large as Egypt, the earth sixty times as large
as
Ethiopia,
large
as
the
Eden
world,
sixty
times
as
and Gehenna sixty
times as large as Eden.
Or, again,
manna
sixty times sweeter than honey, death
is
sixty times stronger than sleep,
and proph-
ecy sixty times stronger than dreams. 1
Sixty was the unit of the Babylonian mathematical
system.
INTRODUCTORY.
39
Sometimes a passage begins with
in-
junctions and ends in reflections, occasionally
even in platitudes.
age
a child
At
five
years of
should study the Scriptures,
at ten the Mishna, at thirteen should
fulfil
the commandments, at fifteen should study
Gemara
well
as
as
Mishna, at eighteen
should marry, at twenty earn a livelihood (his father
was expected
him
to support
for
two years
he
reaches his full strength, at forty his
marriage), at thirty
understanding, at
full
give
to
after
counsel,
at
old
age,
at
eighty
possess
at
sixty
seventy has
he
special
has
he
fifty
entitled
he arrives a
(a
at
hoary head,
proved
strength
is
himself
to
reference
to
the Psalm), at ninety he bends beneath the weight of his years, and at a hundred is
as
good as dead and forgotten by the
world.
Yet called
obscure
the
classifications
scientific, :
as
many
children
occasion love to "
can hardly be
points
on
being
every
make up a
left
possible
list,"
so in
the childhood of the civilised world these
—
—
—
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
40
grave Eabbis, with quaint naivete, loved to
make up lists. Some misfortunes
and are seen e.g., some are seen a robber or a wild beast but do not see e.g., an arrow or spear; some see, but are not seen e.g., an evil while some neither see nor are seen spirit see
;
;
—
sleep,
are
stomach
a
e.g.,
Thus,
trouble.
again,
work, walking, hot water, bleeding,
among the things which
are good in
moderation and bad in excess.
Such ob-
servations as these could be multiplied indefinitely.
Gemara
—
Many
{i.e.,
of
them
are found in the
the later part of the Talmud
the completion, or explanation and com-
and appear as
ment),
most
magnificent
most fantastic seized
upon.
corollaries
moral
precepts.
resemblances
Sarah
died
are at
Esther ruled over 127 provinces
number number
to
the
The
eagerly
127,
and
or
some
;
found to correspond with the of bones in the human body.
is
Proverbs,
maxims,
sentences which " Rabbi So-and-so used to say," are stored up with loving care. little
41
INTRODUCTOEY.
Nothing
too
is
The
sideration.
careful
trivial for
lion is the
beasts, the eagle the
con-
king of wild
king of birds, and the
Nor
ox the king of domestic animals.
is
exact information ever wanting upon any matter,
human
we wish to the individuals who
or divine.
the names of
learn
If
never enter Heaven, they are given
will
—
They include three kings Jeroboam, Ahab, and Manasseh and four commoners us.
;
— Balaam, Some
Doeg, Ahitophel, and Gehazi.
of the particular crimes of Manasseh
may be thought a little hard that Balaam, who blessed Israel instead of cursing, and Gehazi, who be told later
will
;
but
had such punishment be
included.
If
it
in this world,
we wish
often the hair should be cut,
to
should
know how
we
learn that
a king's should be cut every day, a high priest's
once
a-week,
while
a
commoner
should have his hair cut once every thirty
The reasons
days.
name
is
are
given,
and the
preserved of a famous barber
could cut hair as well as the barbers
who who
used to cut the hair of the high priests
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
42
We may in like more ancient days. manner find discussions on the relative advantages of different trades, and the in
relative merits of glass vessels
ware
Natural philosophy
vessels.
neglected.
and earthennot
is
The whole sky revolves round
the world, carrying with
it
the sun, so that
a basket placed where sky and earth meet will
be
round by the revolving
carried
heavens, and placed in the same spot at
the end of twenty-four hours (as actually occurred on one occasion, related elsewhere).
Again, the theory of some Gentile sage that the sun moves back at night under the earth
is
favourably commented upon
as evidence
in
support of
it,
;
and
the fact
is
warmer by In reading such theories one must
noticed that the springs are night.
constantly regret that the travels of Herodotus did not take him a
home, and result
in so
little
farther from
unique a record as
he could have given of his chats with the Rabbis of the day and his impressions of the people.
Some
of
the
fables
contain
obvious
;
INTRODUCTOEY.
maxims.
A
man
43
complains to a Rabbi
of his wife's ugliness
;
the Eabbi prays for
her to become beautiful, and she formed.
But a
little
later
trans-
is
the husband
comes again and complains of her vanity,
whereupon the Rabbi prays
for
her
to
be as she was before, and his prayer granted.
So a man
is
complains to the Rabbi
that his wife's rich relations worry him the Rabbi prays for
and they
lose
later the
man
their
them
to
money.
become poor,
But a
little
returns and complains that
making him support them, whereupon the Rabbi prays that they may be rich again, and his prayer is his wife's relations are
granted.
The extraordinary tenderness we are always taught to show towards other people's feelings has already is
been mentioned.
It
a theme to which the Rabbis are con-
stantly returning.
The man who causes
neighbour to blush in public will have "Better no share in the world to come. his
not have given at
all
than as you
putting the recipient to shame,"
is
did,
the re-
;
TALES FBOM THE TALMUD.
44
proof of a Rabbi to one
while charity given in
charity in public;
makes
secret
the
all
is
"greater
the relations of
extreme delicacy one
giver
than
It is not only in giving charity
Moses."
but in
who had given
is
life
that this
to be observed.
ever to be humiliated
;
No
and to such
a length is this principle carried, that the benefactor
is
almost expected to appear
ashamed to meet the one on whom he has We have seen that conferred the favour. a creditor must even avoid the presence of his debtor.
Once a wicked contractor and
a great and good
man were
the same day.
In the tumult the
being buried on coffins
became changed, and the wicked contractor
was buried with honour while the good man's grave was neglected. A disciple of the good man saw what had happened and protested, but he was disregarded. His master's spirit, however, appeared to him in a dream, and said to him, " Once I saw a scholar disgraced and did not protest once
the
feast
for
wicked
contractor prepared a the governor, and the governor
INTRODUCTORY. not comiag, gave the change of conferred
But if
if
it
45
to the poor."
Hence
Charity properly
coffins.
one of the highest of virtues.
is
the poor
man
he also gives
receives,
:
the one gains material comfort, the other
gains the opportunity of doing a good deed
One
and being helped to Heaven. story
told of charity,
is
— not
curious
helping to
Heaven, but delivering from death in a very
sense.
literal
go down
in a ship,
A
Rabbi saw a man
and shortly afterwards
appeared before the court to testify that his wife
was a widow, and
free to
marry
Suddenly the dead man himself ap-
again.
peared in the court (such miracles in ancient
days aroused interest, and even surprise, but never incredulity).
"
What
!
"
exclaimed
the Rabbi, " did you not go
down with the ship?" "Yes," said the man. "And who As I was saved youl" "The waves. sinking I seemed to hear them say to each other,
'
This
all his life,'
man
has done deeds of charity
and they
cast
a story of one
me ashore." man who, directly
There is he heard of any one in need of charity,
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
46
would give away everything he possessed, till
at length collectors for charitable pur-
duty to avoid him. One day this man set out to buy something for his daughter on the occasion of her wedding. On the way he met some men who poses felt
were
their
it
collecting
wedding
contributions
portion
for
form
to
The
orphans.
a
col-
and knowing he would try to ruin himself through generosity, ran away but he overtook them, and, learning the purpose for which they were
lectors seeing him,
;
collecting,
insisted
on their accepting
he possessed except one small this
coin
all
With
coin.
he purchased a few grains of
wheat as a wedding -present for his own daughter, and returning home, put them into the store -house. In the morning these few grains had filled the whole store-house,
out
through
"Come and her
and were forcing the see,"
betrothed,
miracle,
cracks cried
who,
declared
that
the
of his
way
doors.
daughter to
looking
the
their
upon
poor
the
should
share the gift equally with themselves.
47
INTRODUCTORY.
A
may
third story
not be without
modern poor man came
lesson even for
its
benefactors of the poor.
Rabbi asking
before a
may
be given, which
A
for reHef.
"
Have
you read the Scriptures ? " asked the Rabbi. " No."
"
thing else I feed
Have you ?
"
you ?
man, "give
studied Mishna, or any" Then why should
" No." "
"
me
Even
so," said
the poor
food even as you might
cast food to your
The
dog or your raven."
Rabbi fed him, but afterwards began to regret his charity and wonder whether he
had done a good pupils
suggested
man was study
action,
one of his
that perhaps this poor
a scholar
because
till
who had denied
he would
not
gain
his
any
worldly advantage through acts of piety. Inquiry proved that this theory was cor-
"Henceforth," said the Rabbi,
rect.
"my
barns shall be open to every one, without
any
distinction."
A
stiU finer
example of
the true spirit of charity has been selected
Mr
Rodkinson in the Preface to his "Mar Ugba translation of the Talmud. used to support a poor man by sending
by
"
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
48
him on the eve of each Day of AtoneWhen the Rabbi's son ment 400 zuz.
money on one
took the the
man's wife
poor
occasion, say,
he heard
'Which wine
put on the table? which perfume The shall I sprinkle around the room?' shall I
son,
on hearing these remarks, returned
with the money to his father, and told
him of what he had heard.
Ugba
' :
Was
the
man
poor
that he requires
daintily
Go back
to
him and
Said raised
Mar so
such luxuries
give
?
him double
the sum.' It
this same Mar Ugba who used money under a poor man's door.
was
to put
One day the poor man concealed himself in order to learn who was his benefactor, and on discovering it was Mar Ugba, went after him to thank him. Mar Ugba, however, ran away to avoid causing him shame faster
;
went his pursuer, faster and Mar Ugba, till at length he
faster fled
only just saved himself from tumbling into
a seething oven.
Nor do the Rabbis
fail
to preach charity
INTRODUCTORY.
49 " Pass
in the broader sense of the word.
not
judgment upon
thy
neighbour
till
thou hast put thyself in his place" has
On two
been quoted.
or three occasions
a Rabbi, having put himself into a dubious
asks
situation,
master's actions.
his
The pupil gives an
ex-
to
inter-
upon the Rabbi's conduct rather and scandalous
than the obvious pretation.
Rabbi,
pupil
which puts an innocent
planation pretation
explain
his
"You
"and
charitably,
so
are
right,"
inter-
says
the
you have judged me may God judge you with
as
Yet there are constant warnings against doing things which, though
charity."
innocent in themselves, preted.
After
human
conduct,
may
we
feel
be misinter-
such
reading a
little
ideals
of
shock of
surprise at reading of the altogether supra-
human
morality practised by Job.
he says (Job xxxi. with mine eyes
;
1),
When
"I made a covenant
how then should
I look
upon a maid ? " he means. If I look at a maiden to-day and admire her, to-morrow she may marry some one else, and then I D
;
TALES FilOM THE TALMUD.
50
have committed the sin of admiring
shall
a married woman. charity
man
among the highest virtues, no make his studies an excuse for
is
to
is
upon
living ing, or
Though the giving of
No work
charity.
is
degrad-
disqualification for the highest
any "
Combine knowledge of a trade with the study of the Law " " Eather flay a carcase in the market than apply for charity " " The man who has not taught his son a trade has taught him to be a honours.
;
;
robber," are
among the
teachings of the
Talmud. It
is
impossible to relate here the teach-
ings regarding geography, astronomy, natural
history,
branch of
ethnology, and every other
human
ledge contained in
superhuman knowthis wonderful book
or
but this brief introduction cannot be conwithout
some reference to the position of women. The modern European cluded
who is
holds that a high ideal of
womanhood
one of the surest tests of
civilisation,
and that a nation which knows no respect for its
women can know
neither self-respect
INTRODUCTORY.
51
nor any true nobility, forgetful of the main source of his ity,
own code
of ethics and moral-
often lavishes a wealth of ignorance
and prejudice upon the supposed degraded position
The reader
Talmud merely easily
find
statements context,
in
the purpose
for
previously
firming
women in Rabbinic who opens the
assigned to
literature.
formed
such
which,
a
of
con-
theories
may
mass of
separated
material
from
their
appear to support any view he
has formed (in reading contradictory state-
ments is
it
must be remembered that there
not one author of the Talmud, but a
vast number, and each tries to reconcile
the opinions of those
him)
:
may
he
who have gone
before
quote from Rabbi Eliezer,
a disappointed, embittered
man
(see
Jew-
who had perhaps never known a noble woman, that instructing ish Encyclopaedia),
a
woman
in the
blasphemy
man
;
Law
is
equal to teaching
or from Rabbi
Jose
that
a
from too much talk
should with women, and that this applies to his own wife, or he will forsake the study of refrain
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
52
ultimately inherit Gehenna.
Law and
the
Should
his zeal
may
he
make him more
he
goes
to
who
to
It
is
who
his
omit
the follow-
Jezebel and wives
husbands
their
to
refers
who
worship
to suppose that
difficult
of
advice
wife's
which show that this
Ahab and
suade
follows
Gehenna, and
ing words,
proof
which women were held,
the contempt in that
supposed
a
as
quote,
dishonest,
peridols.
any reader
Talmud with a view
studies the
to
forming his conclusions from the statements in
it,
rather than with a view to making
the statements
being
fit
by
impressed
honour
That
it
given
merely
theories,
the
than
rather
of
characteristic
seldom deals
place
are
of
women.
held up to
womanhood is a work which
long with abstract con-
for
ceptions, but rapidly falls
ular
high
can help
innumerable
to
women who
is
admiration
his
back upon
partic-
upon types. We are told many times of the honour a man should pay to his wife, that he instances,
or
at
least
—
should
love
her
as
himself,
but honour
;
INTRODUCTORY. her
more
women
than
that in applications for lief
cheerfully relinquish their
women
through
come to a house charity, where re-
men should claims to women
cannot be granted to
that
that
himself;
alone blessings
53
all,
;
are more sensitive than men,
and men should beware of unkindness to them, " for
many
God
other passages to the same
effect,
quaint proverb, which
including the find
counts their tears," and
quoted with
approval
we
and gravely
by the Rabbis as some deep moral maxim, " If thy wife be little, bend down and whisper in her ear," or as some translate it, " bend considered
in
all
its
bearings
if
down
Like other
to listen to her advice."
maxims,
they
founded upon
are
in
divine
nearly
every
authority curiously
extracted from Scriptural texts.
may we deduce that when a man divorces
case
Whence
the altar sheds tears his first wife
From
?
Judah hath married the daughter of a strange god ... ye cover the altar of the Lord with tears ") again from Ezek. xxiv. 16, 18 ("I take away Mai.
ii.
13
("
;
;
:
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
54
from thee the desire of thine eyes at a ... so I spake unto the people stroke ;
in
and at even
morning,
the
we
died")
learn
that
fore her husband,
were it is
it
destroyed in his
if
is
as if the
days
;
Temple
from Job is
xvi. 6
dark for him
and the next verse proves steps are shortened and his advice
whose wife useless
wife
a wife dies be-
inferred that the world
that his
my
dies,
while Isa.
;
liv.
6 proves that all
can be exchanged but the wife of one's
Monogamy was The father who marries youth.
the universal rule.^
his daughter to an and the father who keeps his daughter at home all her youth to do the
old man,
housework, are alike guilty of a crime
none
so
is
poor as the latter, says one
Rabbi.
At the same that there
is
must be admitted no trace in the Talmud of time,
it
that attitude towards
women taught by
medieval European chivalry. sanity 1
of the Rabbis
See for proof Abraham's
Ages,' chap.
vii.
'
The intense
knows nothing of Jewish Life in the Middle
— INTEODUCTORY.
55
glorious follies or extravagant romanticism.
There
is
no " revolt against the tyranny of
who thanks God " who has not made him a woman" recognises that since the days of Eve the lot of woman has been less enviable than that of facts "
the Rabbi
;
Such an idea as that of a Rabbi setting out to find and rescue a captive princess, risking his life for a woman's man.
whim, proclaiming her the most beautiful on earth and challenging it
to fight him,
is
all
who denied
not only grotesque but
Let him hear of some definite
untrue.
and he
captive,
will
sell
his
possessions,
set out on foot to buy her release, bring
much honour and any knight- errant, and return
her back, showing her as respect as to
study.
The
perfect
woman
a help
is
and not a hindrance to the study of the Law. A woman who would lead men to
Law is to be shunned. woman of this kind that
neglect the
with a
should avoid too
be his
own
much
wife, " lest
of the Law."
gossip,
even
It
a
is
man if
she
he forsake the study
Even avoid paying too many
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
56 visits
to
the husband of such a woman,
adds a Rabbi, " fences "
in the usual
anxiety to set
round the Law.
The husband of a beautiful woman has The husband of a bad his days doubled. wife may take comfort too, for a bad wife, a bad digestion, and a life of constant worry from creditors are among the misfortunes which save from Gehenna (the sufferer enduring Gehenna in this world). The shrew also was clearly not unknown. There is one amusing story told of the indignation of a wife who, after carefully
nursing
her
husband through a chronic
illness,
suddenly discovered that his com-
plaint
was
self-inflicted
with a view to
piety (almost the only example of asceticism being held
up to admiration).
Re-
proaching him with having wasted other people's
money
as well
as
his
own, she
declared she would no lojiger live with him.
Going to a neighbouring house, she still kept a watch upon him, and one day her daughter came and told her that he had come into possession of a large sum of
INTRODUCTORY.
money, whereupon she
57
appears
to
have
returned to him.
The social freedom enjoyed by women must have been great, and contrasts favourably with
women
in
was at
its
freedom allowed to
the
Athens when Attic height.
We
civilisation
hear of them pay-
ing calls and receiving visitors, and, more-
word when the Law is being discussed, and Yet sometimes explaining obscure points. women, like men, are not allowed to be Baking, washing, and cooking are idle. among the duties of a wife but if she bring her husband slaves she is exempt Three slaves exempt from certain duties. all duties, and four allow her to her from lounge in an armchair but in any case she must at least do work in wool, for absolute over,
constantly
putting
their
in
;
;
idleness leads to insanity, says one Rabbi,
to infidelity says another.
The story
of the most famous of
Talmudic Rabbis well
all
the
illustrates this atti-
tude towards women, as well as the Rabbis' almost
Chinese
love
of
learning.
The
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
58
daughter of a wealthy landowner fell in love with her father's shepherd boy, and consented to be betrothed to him on conthat he would
dition
but
exploit,
—study
riage took place
;
— not
achieve some
the Law,
The mar-
but her father drove her
husband away, and refused to help his So daughter unless she would leave him. poor did they become that on one occasion she sold her hair to enable him to continue his study,
and
their only furniture
One day a poor man
straw bed.
was a
called to
and the shepherd and future Rabbi gave him half the straw bed, remarking to his wife, with the cheerfulness which never forsook him,
beg some straw
"You
for his sick wife,
see there are
some poorer than we."
(Fortunately the poor Elijah
—who
test him.
days he
the prophet
walks the earth
— come to
Such things happened
At
!)
left
still
man was
in those
length, at his wife's request,
her for twelve years to continue his
studies,
and returned at the end of that
time a famous followers.
man with
twelve thousand
Before he crossed the threshold
INTRODUCTORY.
59
of his house he heard an altercation,
another wife,
woman
twelve years to
upon
pouring scorn
and her husband who had
left
"And
study.
gladly endure his staying
and his
her for could
I
away another
twelve years to study," he heard his wife answer, whereupon he at once
left
her for
another twelve years, returning at the end of that time yet more famous, and with
twenty -four poorly clad
thousand
followers.
woman came
As
a
forward to em-
brace him, some of his followers would have
pushed her away, but he stopped them,
"What am
I,
The thanks are due
to
saying,
A
reconciliation
and what are we? this noble woman."
with
father-in-law
his
brings the story to its expected close there
may
little
glow of pleasure that
when
his wife
trials,
was
who
will learn
but
with a
in after years,
inclined to find relaxa-
some harmless vanities
tion in
to
be some
;
after all her
her husband was both great enough
understand and
to in-
Her name appears unexpectthe Talmud in one of the discussions
dulge them. edly in
human enough
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
60
upon putting people to shame
all
:
vulgar
ostentation was particularly abhorred, and this particular Eabbi's wife did not escape
criticism for
wearing somewhat too elabor-
ate gold ornaments, which " put people to
But her husband bade them let her alone, saying, " She has undergone shame."
much privation The Talmud
for the
nor pessimism.
The duty and
a gift
fications for
is
of obeying the
and to be
privilege,
accepted with joy. in fact told,
study."
teaches neither asceticism
Law
is
my
sake of
Cheerfulness,
we
are
one of the forty-eight quali-
Law
the study of the
rest include reverence, meekness,
;
the
and mod-
eration in business, in intercourse with the
world, in pleasure, in sleep, in conversation,
and
in laughter.
The divine presence, we comment on Ec-
are elsewhere told in a cleslastes,
comes neither through sadness,
nor laziness, nor levity, but by rejoicing in a
good deed.
desire;
Eat and drink
be cheerful under
agreeable in society
;
as
difficulties;
practise
you be
some useful
trade; pray in a spirit of joy,
— thus
we
1
INTRODUCTORY.
and again by precept
taught again
are
and
Optimism
example.
prevailing
some
moment a Rabbi
bitter
ask a poor
your gibes in "
?
always
is
now and
If
note.
to say, like Solomon, "
or
6
"
Hamlet "
vanities,"
"Where
skull,
in
tempted
is
Vanity of
human
again
the
be
(the famous churchyard scene is
strikingly recalled in one of
the adventures recorded as having befallen
Alexander of Macedon) he ing of the vanity of this
with the next.
If
is
life
only thinkas
compared
now and then he speaks
of the world as a caravanserai, he
is
think-
ing not of the passing of " Sultan after Sul-
tan with his pomp," but of the joyful end of the journey which
all will
reach
;
and so
contrary to the general tendency of Rabbinic writing profit
hath
the sun
one
?
who
is
man
" is
Ecclesiastes, that
of
all
his
"What
labour under
interpreted not as the cry of
has seen the lacrimcB rerum, but
as meaning,
"There
is profit for
it all
be-
yond the sun." some have misinterpreted the Talmud through prejudice, others have done the If
;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
62
work an equally of
service
unique individuality,
its
veil
ill
over everything which sight grotesque or
first
by robbing it and drawing a
may appear
metrical versions of the
purgated
editions
example
will
of
suffice.
who
is
a
thief, for
Scriptures
He
An
atheist,
in
an
"Your your own
said,
according to
Adam
dur-
The Rabbi's daughter asked
man
a thief," she
Would asked, " who
away your
silver pitcher
and replaced
leave to answer for her father. call
took
One
Shakespeare.
took a rib from
ing his sleep."
you
write
Psalms and ex-
argument with a Rabbi, once
God
They
startling.
belong to the class of persons
at
a
a golden
one
?
"
"
"I wish such a
would come every night,"
is
thief
the answer
whereupon the Rabbi's daughter replies, "So it was when God took Adam's rib and gave him Eve instead." Now up to this
point
we have what would be
scribed as a " pretty " story,
story
is
usually
Talmud there
made
de-
and here the
to end; but in the
follows a touch of quaint real-
ism which would never be found in a modern
63
INTRODUCTORY.
But why did God take away the only when Adam was asleep?" the "
story. rib
For answer the
atheist goes on to ask.
daughter takes a piece of raw meat and places it upon hot ashes to be
Kabbi's
cooked, and
when
finally prepared,
it
to the atheist to eat.
it,
and declares that
"Even "
says
so,"
He
shrinks from
looks
repulsive.
Kabbi's
daughter,
it
the
offers
would Eve have appeared repulsive to he seen the process by which
Adam had
she was made."
The legends of which
volume
this
is
mainly composed form, as has been stated, but a tiny portion of the Talmud, through
which they are scattered likely
places.
Talmud
for
the
To
one
first
in the
most un-
who opens the
time they
recall,
in
their irrelevance to the context, the popular
tenor song in the pre- Wagner opera.
may
be some obscure point of
which
is
illustrated
civil
It
law
by something once done
by Moses or David, and then
all at
once
some wonderful story told in the simplest way, as though it were the most follows
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
64
"
natural thing in the world.
we understand,"
Well can
says Deutsch in his essay " the distress of
mind in a medieval divine, or even in a modern savant, who, bent upon following the most subtle windings of some scientific debate on the Talmud,
the
in
Talmudical
botanical,
— geometrical, otherwise — as
pages, or
financial,
it
round the Sabbath journey, the raising of seeds, the computation of tithes revolves
and taxes,
—
feels
as
suddenly give way. thin,
were the ground
The loud
grow
voices
the doors and walls of the school-
room vanish before place uprises et
it
Orhis,
Rome
his eyes,
and
in their
Urbs
the Great, the
and her million-voiced
life.
Or
the blooming vineyards around that other
City of Hills, Jerusalem the Golden herself,
are seen, and white-clad virgins
dreamily among them
.
.
.
cb
move
propos of
some utterly inappropriate legal point." Yet it has been suggested that a certain system underlies their arrangement.
woven throughout the whole
Inter-
fabric of the
work, and ever reappearing like some rare
;
INTRODUCTOEY. pattern,
it
65
thought
has been
the
that
Rabbis intended them to arrest the tention of the
student
the point of flagging of the interminable
at-
when it was on among the driest
discussions,
—just
as
Demosthenes would on an occasion condescend to
tell
a fable about a
man and
donkey to arrest the attention of his listeners when they were growing weary of his appeals to resist the growing power his
"
of the Macedonians.
such and such a rule
?
How
do we deduce
From
the conduct
of some one on such and such an occasion."
We
can fancy -the droning of the Rabbi's
voice on a
drowsy afternoon
suddenly aroused to
some
tale
full
of wonderful
—when we are
consciousness
adventure
by
with
Elijah returned to earth, or with the king
of the demons, a veiled reference to which
we have passed a hundred times in the Psalms, or Book of Job, without understanding. In one section we are discussing the law relating to the sale of land question after question
is raised,
bypath that comes into view
E
is
and each followed
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
66
out to is
its conclusion, till
forget which
we
the side-issue and which the main theme.
Tedious
it
can hardly be called, with
from daily
life
;
but
it
is
undoubtedly be-
coming monotonous and of little at once
we
cave where
profit.
What "He is
is
All
read how some one came to the Abraham was buried, and found
his servant Eliezer sitting outside "
its
and examples drawn
quaint illustrations
Abraham doing
?
"
on guard. he asked.
sleeping within; his head rests in
Sarah's lap, and she
is
watching his
face."
The stranger asked to enter, whereupon Eliezer went in and waked Abraham, who sent out a message that he might enter, whereupon he went in and saw Abraham and Sarah face to face. Wandering forth again, the stranger found the burial-place
of
Adam.
When
he would
within, a heavenly voice said,
have
gone
"His form
you may
see, but not his face." Looking he saw the form of Adam, whose heels resembled each the circumference of
inside,
the
sun.
Returning home, he declared
that every living
woman compared with
INTRODUCTORY.
67
Sarah was as an ape compared with
a
man, and Sarah compared with Eve was as
an ape compared with a man, and
Eve compared with Adam was
lastly
as an ape
compared with a man.
The theory that these
stories are invented
to hold the attention of students and never
intended to be taken seriously,
one
the
of
is
merely
innumerable theories which
modern readers of the Talmud love to invent in order to explain in some plausible
way the seeming incongruities in Whether such explanations are
the work. well or
founded every reader must judge self
at
for
ill
him-
Sometimes they appear illuminative,
more
other times
thing explained
;
fantastic
than the
but at least persons who
explain cannot, like those
who
suppress,
Another set every curious law or
be charged with dishonesty. of exponents find in
legend a veiled proclamation against Zoroastrianism.
The
created good and is
blessing evil, light
of
God, who
and darkness,
a denial of Ahriman and the Principle
of Evil
;
the law forbidding the kindling
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
68
of a light on the Sabbath
is
not a develop-
ment of the law prohibiting labour on the Sabbath, but Israelites
is
intended to distinguish the
from their neighbours, who kept
the sacred
fire
burning continually
;
the story of
Abraham
the sun
a proof of the folly of
is
and
at first worshipping fire-
worship.
Others, more plausibly, find evidence of scientific
knowledge, more particularly of
sanitary laws, in
all
kinds of
stories.
take an example of a supposed sanitary law,
we
learn that the
To
hidden
Angel of
Death, after he has slain his victim, washes his
in
sword in water, and as we do not know which particular pitcher he
dipped the sword,
all
may have
the water in the late
room should be thrown away. Some, who seek to honour the Rabbis by showing how up-to-date they were, will
sick man's
delight to find in this story an advanced
knowledge of the laws of health. There is something superficially attractive about the theory (though
ened when we find
it
is
somewhat weak-
fifty
similar
stories
:
mTRODUCTORY.
69
which could not possibly be explained as sanitary laws)
but
;
is
it
not at least as
probable that the ancient Rabbis believed
that the angel literally washed his sword
(and afterwards danced before the funeral procession on
its
served for so
many
own of
return) as that they pre-
among
centuries
their
people and pupils a special knowledge
medical
and employed
science,
such
and unnecessary devices as to
elaborate
invent fables for teaching
it ?
In one of
the books of the Talmud a conversation is
recorded between two Rabbis on board
One awakes and
a ship.
a great light he has seen across
terrified at
This
the sea. " Don't
only
be
seen
perhaps,
is
how he
alarmed the
is
finds the other
;
comforts him you have probably
Leviathan's
eye."
a better key to so
Here,
many
Tal-
To the grown children of ancient times the world was still full of wonder and mystery. They were not surmudic
stories.
prised to
hear of beasts which talked, of
travellers
who had
earth
meet, of a
stood where sky and fish
which could wipe
— TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
70
out a town with a blow of
its
tail
;
still
hear that the Angel of Death wiped
less to
his blood-stained sword.
Perhaps this
blending of the
sublime
with things which the modern cannot but regard as ridiculous in the
Talmud than
is
not more apparent
in
the Egyptian Book
of the Dead, or the precepts of Zoroaster,
some other ancient writings even of European races. The modern reader who or
is
with enthusiasm for the sublime
filled
elements not unnaturally tries to explain
away the seemingly
ridiculous,
even
if
he
be reduced to saying that his favourite
author must school
of
now be parodying some
No
philosophy.
doubt
rival
many
apparently meaningless things in the Tal-
mud would
be
made
knowledge of allusions been
lost, or
by a little more whose meaning has
clear
even by a
of the conditions of
life
time they were written
:
little
imagination
prevailing at the
others
may
fairly
be taken to be veiled political allusions, as
when a Rabbi
meaning
his
talks of the fate of
pupils
to
Edom,
understand Rome,
INTRODITCTORY. or
11
Nebuchadnezzar when he means some
Roman Emperor.
Still
plained as myth,
or
more may be exas allegory, which
comes as naturally to the Eastern mind as an aid in explaining the
most serious
But
matters as metaphor to the European. after
making
allowance for such in-
all
terpretations, there remains a large residue
which reads so oddly to modern ears that nearly every modern
commentator, after
exhausting his own theories, talks of the " sea
of
" the
nonsense,"
twaddle,"
or
Talmud of
wilderness
of
accuses the writers of the deliberate
Perhaps the truth
is
ridiculous
trifling.
rather that, in addi-
tion to their readiness to believe wonderful stories,
sense
all
of
looking
the ancients
proportion,
at
things,
a of
had a
different
different
explaining
which a modern would take
way
of
things
for granted,
of taking for granted things which a modern
would
reject as absurd, of being convinced
and seeking to convince others by the most fantastic analogies and from this tendency ;
there arises in their works a certain quaint-
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
72
and
ness,
the reader's mind an expecta-
in
most modern thought followed by the most trivial truism
tion of finding the
or ideal
or the wildest deduction. it
very sense of being in touch
this
is
Perhaps, too,
with people who move somehow on a
dif-
ferent though not necessarily lower plane
of thought which gives a peculiar charm
many
Whatever interpretation should be put upon these tales, they are a part of the Law, the embodiment of all wisdom, whose study to
is
so
ancient writings.
equivalent to
"Turn thing
it
can
all
the virtues.
and turn found
be
it
again, for every-
therein.
grow old and gray with depart from for a
moral
it life
;
for there
is
it,
Study it, and never
no better guide
than the Law."
PART
II.
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. CREATION TO EXODUS.
To go
to the beginning,
we hear
that this
many
world was made out of the ashes of
previous worlds, but this world was the best of
them
all.
The
light
we
possess
was
given, according to Genesis, on the fourth
Talmud there
day, but according to the
was another
men
light
before this, by which
could see from one end of the earth
to the other
;
but seeing that mankind was
not good enough to possess such a light,
God
took
it
away, and keeps
it in
Heaven
for the righteous in the world to come.
supposed reference to this light in
Job
xxxviii.
their light
is
15,
"And
withholden."
is
A
found
from the wicked
Some add
that
;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
74
was shown to Moses on Sinai, and even that it was created for his sake. The angels, we learn, were from the first two companies were suchostile to man this light
:
cessively destroyed for advising against his creation.
Even
after his creation they re-
mained passively (and occasionally actively) hostile,
only aiding him under compulsion
was only in spite of their most vehement opposition, and after many marvellous adventures, that Moses was granted and
it
the possession of the
Leaving the
come "
Why
to
Law
on Mount Sinai.
stories of the creation,
Adam and
his
life
one asks.
One answer
people from saying there
is,
is
Eden.
in
was only one man created
we
some To prevent more than one ?
"
"
Another answer is, that if there God." had been two men created people would have all claimed to be descended from the better of the two, and have looked down upon their neighbours. " If quarrels and
bloodshed arise now,
how much more
if
men had been descended from different original parents?" He was made of the
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. dust of account,
all
75
the earth, and, according to one
was
black, white,
and
red.
Other
accounts say he had two faces, and some that he had a
tail (in
which account some
people will perhaps try to find an anticipation of Darwin).
At
first,
when he saw the sun
setting,
he lamented, and thought the world was returning to chaos, and death was at hand
but when
;
day returned, he perceived that
day and night were in the order of Nature. In the same way, when he first saw the days being shortened he was terrified, till returning spring convinced him that this too was in the order of Nature, and all his fears vanished. The land brought forth without cultivation trees and flowers and living creatures were all about him he gave them all names, and for a time lived in happy contemplation of the beautiful world. But at last these things began to weary him like Alastor, he longed for human sympathy, for a companion with whom he could share his thoughts, and then at length a human wife was given ;
:
;
TALES FEOM THE TALMTJD.
76
legends there
more
we
is
begin
to
demon was Adam's first Gen.
wife, differs
Of "male and female"
as suggested
by
from Gen.
18.
ii.
in the former, the
Eve was
But others say that
created
Adam
only
with Lilith after leaving Paradise.
lived
She
of the
Some say she
female was Lilith, whereas later.
whom
here that
stories
Lilith.
which
27,
i.
later, for it is
come across
beautiful
in rabbinic
another figure, of
be told
will
Eve
associated with
But
him.
is
the mother of innumerable demons,
and some of the legends concerning her are told in Part IV. terrible, kill
the
she
is
for
Wicked,
beautiful,
ever lying in wait to
descendants
of
her
hated
rival
Eve.
The Talmud
Lilith,
though we hear that during the
130
years
Eden,
following
Adam
lived
says
itself
the
little
expulsion
with
a
of
from
demon and Of the
became the father of demons. beauty of Eve
we hear much
:
the marriage
ceremony took place beneath a "chupah," or covering,
made of precious stones (see "Thou wast in Eden the
Ezek. xxviii. 13,
EABLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
77
garden of God
;
every precious stone was
thy covering
;
and the Talmud
that as
Adam,
")
God Himself
no one should think
so
tells
us
provided a wife for
derogatory
it
to give a wife to one beneath him.
Of
the
fall
Adam and Eve many
in-
According
accounts are given.
teresting to
of
the Talmud, the serpent was jealous
when he saw Adam
reclining in Paradise,
by the angels with meat and wine, and planned to kill Adam, and then marry Eve and be king of the world. Unfortunately, Adam had exaggerated to Eve, and told
fed
her that they were not only forbidden to eat of the tree of knowledge but even to
touch
it,
lest
repeated
this
they should to
the
When Eve
die.
serpent,
tempting her to eat the
fruit,
who was
the serpent
immediately went up to the tree (or pushed
Eve against the fruit fell,
tree)
and shook
it till
thus proving that as the tree
could be touched without any
result,
ill
so its fruit might be eaten without
coming. in
the
The story
the work
is
harm
further supplemented
of Rabbi
Eliezer
:
in
this
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
78
account the wicked angel Sammael deter-
mined
to
make
use
the
of
further his ends, because
serpent
to
was the most
it
In form
intelligent of all the beasts.
it
resembled a camel, and Sammael mounted He on its back and rode into Eden. tempted Eve first, because he knew that a woman could be more easily influenced
than a man.
"
God has
only forbidden
you to eat out of jealousy," he said
;
" for
on the day you eat you too will be able to
make and destroy
worlds, to kill and
Having approached the tree (which bade him depart), he turned Havto Eve and told her to do likewise. ing approached it, Eve saw the Angel of
to bring to
life."
Death standing near, and said to herself, " Perhaps now I am going to die, and God will give
Adam shall
Adam
another wife
of the fruit, die
together,
live together."
and then but
Adam
if
ate,
:
if
I will give
we
die,
we
we
live,
and
" his eyes
shall
The punishments were for Sammael, to be cast from Heaven for Adam and Eve, each nine penalties throughout were opened."
:
;
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
79
and death at the end and for the serpent, to lose his legs and become the
life,
;
meanest of beasts, and shed his skin at intervals with great pain.
a cry
is
It
when the
uttered
is
said that
serpent sheds
its skin which passes from one end of the
earth to the other, but
human
ears
a branch
it
a similar cry
:
inaudible to
is is
uttered
when
cut from a fruit-bearing tree,
is
and when a man divorces
his wife.
Accord-
ing to a passage in the Talmud, such a
cry used to be
made when the
soul left
the body, but owing to the prayers of the Rabbis, such a cry
by the departing
Eve
is
is
now no
longer uttered
soul.
compared with a wife whose
husband, on leaving home, has placed her in charge of everything, saying,
touch this one barrel." barrel,
and
is
bitten
"Do
not
She opens the one
by a
scorpion.
for the cursing of the serpent,
we
But
are told,
and the enmity thus established between it and mankind, it would have been the most useful of domestic animals
camel in one.
—a
servant and
TALKS FROM THE TALMUD.
80
With
these accounts
it is
interesting to
Book of
compare the story given
in the
Adam and
though written
Eve,
which,
probably after the completion of the Tal-
mud, and, moreover, not a rabbinical work at all, is quite Oriental in its imagery and its
and contains many
naivete,
allusions
Here
to things mentioned in the Talmud.
we read
that
the serpent
was Satan hidden
it
who persuaded Eve
inside
to disobey.
The serpent had alone of all the animals make friends with Adam, and
refused to
Satan
found
assist him.
a
it
ready instrument to
After the Fall,
Adam was
not
allowed to dwell south of the garden, lest
the north wind, bringing him the scent of the delicious trees of Eden, should afford
him consolation
;
nor was he allowed to
dwell on the north, for on the north side was " a sea of water, clear and pure to
the taste like unto nothing else
through
the
clearness
;
so that
thereof one
look into the depths of the earth.
when a man washes himself
in
may And
it,
he
becomes clean of the cleanness thereof and
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. white of black
;
"
^
its
even
whiteness,
if
81
he were
and dwelling on the north
Adam and Eve might
side,
have bathed in the
water and been cleansed from their
On
the east they could not dwell, for
sins.
Eden
itself is
placed on the eastern border of the
world,
"
beyond which, toward the
rising
sun, one finds nothing but water that en-
compasses the whole world and reaches to the
borders of Heaven."
(This
^
belief,
shared by the ancient Greeks, of the ocean
surrounding the world, in the
Talmud.)
is
also to be found
Therefore
Adam
and Eve
were placed on the west of Eden.
One
day, passing by the western gate of Eden,
by which Satan had entered while they had been yet within, Adam and Eve saw the serpent sorrowfully licking dust and wriggling on the ground, being
now
de-
graded from the most exalted to the mean-
When
saw them it rose on its tail, its eyes full of fury, and flung Adam having no weapon itself at Eve. caught it by the tail, whereupon handy,
est of beasts.
'
it
Malan'g translation.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
82
round
turned
it
and
reproached
Adam
bitterly as being the cause of its sorrows,
and
in
the struggle overthrew
Adam
as
and would have crushed them, but that an angel dragged it away and well as Eve,
rescued them.
new
Then, for a punishment, a
curse was pronounced upon
it
;
already
had been deprived of its legs, and now its speech was also taken from it. All the stories establish some connection it
between
One
the
poetic
serpent and wicked
legend
represents
the once radiant angel of light
despised
angel.
Satan
who had
man and been punished by
of his brightness.
as
loss
Determined on revenge,
he entered Eden and tried to assume again his
own
glorious form, but could only gather
round him enough brightness to make the
shimmering skin of a serpent, in which guise he approached Eve.
The Slavonic
Book of Enoch of the second
or third cen-
tury A.D. also contains a similar story of
Satan having planned a rival kingdom in Heaven, being flung forth, and afterwards, in revenge,
tempting Eve.
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
Adam was
After leaving Eden,
83
provided
with clothes made from the serpent's skin,
was
set to
till
the earth by day, and given
him by night. In penance he fasted 130 years, and then begat Seth. a
fire
to protect
Not only
is
amplified, but
much new ac-
the story of Cain
we
get a totally
count of his death.
After the murder of
Abel, Cain worked out his curse for
years as a fugitive and a wanderer.
had
set a
mark on
his forehead that beasts
should not hurt him, and any
him
killed
many God
should
be
cursed
man who sevenfold.
The later generations seem to have known him by sight, and to have heard his crime and his curse, regarding him with mingled pity and horror, much as people of the Middle Ages regarded the Wandering Jew. Now it happened that when Lamech was old, his sight grew dim, and whenever he went out with his bow and arrows he would take his little boy with him to look for game, and tell him where to shoot. One day the boy cried, "Look, father there goes a beast " Lamech !
!
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
84
shot his arrow, and the boy ran to see
what he had
But soon he returned, you have killed Cain."
killed.
crying, " Oh, father,
Lamech brought cry,
hands together with a and not seeing that the boy had run his
between them, killed
The
his
own son
curious account in Gen.
vi.
too.
2 of the
"sons of God" marrying the "daughters of
men "
many
receives
explanations from
Rabbis, some of whose opinions
different
are collected in the
work of Rabbi
Eliezer.
Some say they were the angels cast from Heaven with Sammael, who married the wicked
daughters
forms (Ps.
civ.
4)
of
Cain,
their
fiery
being changed to bodies
resembling those of men.
From
the union
came the giants (Num. xiii. 33), and these were the people of whom we read in the Talmud who mocked at Noah, declaring their flood,
height would or
the
soles
save them from the of
keep the water from not think that the
be
heated
to
their
rising.
boiling
-
point
Ark
would
(They did
waters would
rising
except just round the
feet
!)
everywhere,
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. The Book of Enoch gives account of a body of angels upon earth and taking wives, ing them sorcery. They begat
who taught
cubits high,
85
a detailed
descending
and teachgiants 300
useful arts such as
the making of implements and dyes, but also
taught sorcery, ate
the
land
with
bloodshed
They would have
human
race,
turned
their
and
flesh,
and
destroyed
filled
violence.
whole
the
they had not at length
if
arms
This last account
is
each
against
other.
at variance with the
story as given in the
Book of Adam and
Eve, which merely represents the sons of
God
as being
had
hitherto lived apart, but
with
married
who
the children of Seth,
the
wicked
now
inter-
daughters
of
Cain.
Passing to the Flood, we get a
count of
Noah and
learn that there before,
his times
had been a
;
full ac-
and
also
partial flood
which people refused to accept as
a warning, although one-third of the whole
human
Then seven days the course of the sun was race
had been destroyed.
for re-
"
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
86
versed, but
people paid no heed.
still
vain
Noah warned
flood
was coming.
they asked
In
the people that the " flood of what ?
A
If a flood of
scofl&ngly.
fire,
they possessed an animal which could extinguish flames
a flood of water, they
if
;
would pave the earth with iron to prevent it from rising. Why was the Flood delayed days
seven
Various
?
Some say
gested.
mourning
days'
just died
was
it
for
reasons
sug-
are
to allow seven
Methusaleh,
who had
others suggest that for seven
;
days the wicked were allowed a sight of the future world, just to learn what they
were
losing, for there
entertained by
was a strong opinion
many Rabbis
eration of the Flood
that the gen-
had no share
in the
future world, and they founded their belief
on Gen.
vii.
23, "
And
they were destroyed
from the earth," which was thought to
sig-
nify absolute destruction both in this world
and
Why,
in the next.
again, were so
Had
they
they had committed
the
superfluous animals destroyed
sinned
?
Yes,
most deadly
many
sins
;
?
but in any case, since
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. they had been created only of man,
there
87
for the benefit
was no reason why they
As one who has
should survive man.
pre-
pared a feast for his son's wedding, when son
his
dainties which
him of
his
bitterness
in
dies,
now
grief,
destroys
the
only serve to remind
so
God
destroyed the
great majority of the animals, no longer needed.
But it
as for the animals saved in the Ark,
may
well be
believed that Noah's re-
sources were taxed to the utmost in learn-
ing
how
ported
to deal with them.
as
Shem
is
speaking of the trouble
re-
and
anxiety his father was put to in feeding
Some wanted to be fed by day, and some by night. The chameleon at first would eat nothing Noah tried it them.
;
with various foods without success,
till
one
when ofiering it a piece of pomegranate, a worm fell out, which the chameleon Thereafter Noah immediately swallowed. the worms from rotten apples. fed it on day,
Feeding the posed,
lion
again, as
was no easy matter.
may
be sup-
Fortunately,
— TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
88
however, the lion lay
ill
with fever, and
was unable to take any nourishment, Only the Aurshina "the fever fed it."
When
(phoenix) slept quietly in a corner.
Noah asked whether replied, " I
food, it
did not require any
it
saw you were busy, and
Noah thereupon
would not trouble you." blessed
it,
that
it
should never
The
die.
immortal phoenix was well known to the ancient Rabbis.
Other writers give quite a
different reason for its eternal
life.
Eve had tasted the forbidden given
Adam
its
and
tree
she gave some to
fruit,
the creatures, and
all
When
all
tasted except the
Eve
phoenix, which refused, and rebuked
whereupon it was ordained that should be exempt from death.
for her sin, it
The Ark was three
the topmost storey dwelt family
;
Noah and
his
the window was lined with dia-
monds and
pearls,
whose light was
One Eabbi
the light of midday.
ark,
men were confined the women to the
self
was not
the
In
high.
storeys
really a
like
tells
us
to one side of the other.
Noah him-
good man,
—at
least,
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
89
not good by comparison with some of the
men who came tively
good in
after him,
—but
his generation.
only rela-
The waters
of the Flood did not reach to Palestine,
but the inhabitants of Palestine did not escape
:
they were suffocated by steam,
for
the water of the Flood was boiling water. It is here that
Og
first
appears, one of
the minor characters in the Bible, of
much is told Noah wished to
in
unicorn he found
it
so
the Talmud.
whom When
save a specimen of the impossible to get one
into the Ark, for a unicorn only one
old
is
as high as
Mount
Tabor.
day
Finally
he attached one to the outside of the Ark
by throwing a rope round its horn, whereupon Og jumped on its back, and was so Thus Og was an saved from drowning. The Targum Jonathan tells antediluvian. us he jumped on the Ark itself, and Noah He was preserved not for his fed him. righteousness, but that people might see that even wicked giants who rebelled had perished, Og being the only survivor and Yet another account says he living proof.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
90
jumped on the
steps of the Ark, promising
Noah to be the servant of his descendants, and Noah was persuaded to bore a hole in the Ark and feed him. He is referred to "There came one that had escaped and told Abraham." This one was Og. He seems to have had more than one conversation with Abraham. On one occasion Abraham reproved him in terror he dropped a tooth, out of which Abraham made an ivory bedstead. Abraham himself can have been no mean rival in Gen.
xiv,
13:
:
of Og, since
we
are told elsewhere that
he had the strength and took the food of seventy-four men.
Another curious account represents Abraham's servant Eliezer as being no other
than Og, who had become a servant of King Nimrod, and had been given by that king to Abraham as a present.
As a
re-
ward
for faithfully discharging his duties
when
sent with Isaac to find a wife, Abra-
ham gave him ultimately
Bashan as
given his
and God had the kingdom of
his liberty,
him
reward
in this world, since,
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
91
being a wicked man, he was not destined for
any reward
in the
world to come.
hear of Og's fate in Deut.
posed Moses on
his
and was defeated
how he
We op-
into
Canaan
biblical
account
march
but the
;
iii.,
gives little idea of the greatness of the
Moses selected him for personal Taking a sword of a length
victory.
combat.
equal to his
own
who was own height
stature, Moses,
himself ten eUs high, leapt his
upward to the wounded Og's and Moses met with no
into the air, and, striking full
length
ankle.
Og
of his fell,
further resistance.
however, never
reach,
These Talmudic heroes,
gain
their
victories,
like
the Homeric heroes, through physical courage, supplemented
shield
and
spear.
by the aid of a divine The divine aid comes
in the shape of a spiritual symbol, or the
victory
is
given by the help of the weak-
things, lest man grow Thus when Og takes a rock, the size of the whole camp of the Israelites, intending to throw it and crush est
of
created
presumptuous.
them out of
existence, the grasshoppers eat
TALES PROM THE TALMUD.
92
away
it
it
till
over his shoulders in
falls
Further, his teeth grow
broken fragments.
they become tangled in the rocks, as
till
before told (see p. 10 and Ps.
iii.
7),
thus
materially helping Moses to gain the vic-
Years
tory.
later,
a gravedigger,
a gazelle, gave chase to
seeing
a long dis-
it for
tance, running all the time along a hollow
bone embedded in the earth
he subse-
:
quently learnt that this bone was part of Og's thigh.
The
ciled these stories
interpreter
who
recon-
with the statement that
Og's bed was only nine cubits long (Deut. iii.
must have possessed even more than
11)
the usual ingenuity.
This tendency to amplify everything to the glory of the Talmud.
God
is
very strong throughout
Samson's strength, Esther's
beauty, the disasters which overtook the
Egyptians in the
in the
Red
Sea, are all magnified
same way.
The great
sea monsters of Gen.
i.
21 were,
of course, the male and female Leviathan.
One
of
them was afterwards
killed because the world could not have supported two
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. such monsters and their
Leviathan drinks for the sea to
he
is
When
young.
takes seventy years
it
recover
its
fulness;
when
hungry he breathes a gas which
makes the sea
There are other sea
boil.
monsters, too, of which
One
93
is
we
shall read later.
400 parsas (1600 miles) long,
mouth
destined for Leviathan's
;
and
from the
pupil of the eye of another 300 casks of
can be extracted.
oil
Then there is the who eats every
land monster Behemoth,
day the grass on a hundred hills but in days to come he, as well as Leviathan, ;
will all
sit
make a meal for the righteous in the world, who will under a tent made of his skin. The be
killed,
and
will
female Leviathan has already been slain
same purpose. " Why, then, has not the partner of Behemoth been
and salted
for the
salted?" asks one Rabbi. the answer: "Because salted
but salted meat
To return the Flood.
is
Straight comes fish is
savoury,
indigestible."
to the generations that followed
At
first
there was one universal
language, which would have continued but
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
94
for the confusion of
men
after
tongues brought upon
the building of the Tower of
The purpose for which the Tower Some of Babel was built is not quite clear. say the people who built it merely wanted Babel.
to live there in order to have a place of
refuge in case of another flood
;
others sug-
gest that, like the Titans, they wanted to
make war on Heaven
;
and others, that
they wished to set up idols on the tower.
However, the languages were confounded,
and
was
their purpose
man who
answered
till
at
length
in
an unintelligible tongue,
drew swords on each
all
and fought
men was
Each
spoke to his neighbour found him-
self
other,
frustrated.
till
half the
race
of
destroyed and the rest scattered.
Henceforth
there
were seventy different
languages.
These generations
fell
into
sins
almost
as great as those of the generations which,
some doubt what laws were binding upon them certainly they were forbidden to commit idolatry and murder. Some say seven laws preceded the Flood.
as to
There
is
;
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. were binding upon while
95
the sons of Noah,
all
an extra three (making the Ten
Commandments) were upon
afterwards
the
were these extra three gests that
specially
imposed
Israelites.
Which
?
One Rabbi
sug-
two of them were keeping the
He
Sabbath and honouring parents.
also
says the law as to establishing judges in
every city was solely for the Israelites
;
others find more than seven laws which
were binding on the sons of Noah, and
among them
include one curious law which
seems to suggest that a practice said to exist to-day in parts of Abyssinia
unknown
to the ancients
was not
—namely,
a law
against cutting flesh from a living animal. (This practice
is
spoken of elsewhere with
peculiar abhorrence.)
In reading about wicked people in the
may
almost always be sure
crudest
and grossest form of
Talmud, we that
the
idolatry
and
was one of
Noah's
exceptions.
early It
their
leading
descendants
remained
for
sins,
were
Abraham
restore the worship of one God.
no to
"
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
96
At Abraham's a
birth the magicians
swallow
star
other
four
stars,
saw and
warned King Nimrod that Abraham ought Abraham's father substituted to be slain. another child, and
At
a cave.
Abraham was hidden
sixteen years old he
in
saw the
and at first worshipped it, but when it set he knew that a greater Power must have created the sun. Going home, he saw
sun,
his father's house full of idols
in
he broke them
taking a
;
and put the club the hands of the tallest. He had previ-
club,
all,
ously asked his mother to prepare a dainty
meal as a his father
the idols, and when came home and asked who had
sacrifice for
broken his gods, Abraham pointed to the tallest,
and
destroyed
said, "
them
There all,
is
;
he
was
so
the culprit
because
he
angry at the greedy way in which they " How can a devoured their sacrifices." senseless his father
man-made
idol
do such things
asked angrily, leading to the
evitable retort from the youthful "
How,
?
in-
Abraham,
you worship them, father?" Brought before Nimrod, he used the same then, can
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. "
and other arguments. "
Nimrod.
said
stand
?
"
97
Then worship me,"
Can you bid the sun Thrown into a fiery
he asked.
furnace, the heat of which
consumed twenty
men, he remained unhurt, the angel making the flames like the odour of roses.
The
ultimate fate of Nimrod, the great hunter,
was
to be treacherously shot
hunter, Esau,
famous coat
by
his rival
who then took from him the given by God to Adam, pre-
served through the generations to Noah,
and handed down by Noah
Abraham
Finally,
after the Flood.
migrated
with
family to the land of Canaan, left
his
and Lot
him and dwelt in Sodom.
The wickedness of the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah gave ample scope to the deductive and imaginative faculties of the Rabbis.
It
curious to note that
is
the
crimes of the inhabitants are based upon
a kind
of
anarchy
is
perverse logic. so
alien
to
The
idea of
the Jewish com-
mentators, that even violence and murder are only the outcome of perverse principles.
So
in
Sodom
if
a
man wounded G
another,
:
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
98
and the wounded man brought him who had caused the injury before a judge, the judge, for
of
instead
ordering
compensation
the wound, would order the injured
person to pay a fee for having been bled.
Abraham's
servant
Eliezer
once
turned the tables upon the judge. ing wounded,
he brought the
neatly
Be-
man who
had injured him before the court, and was promptly ordered by the judge to pay a fee for having been bled, whereupon he drew a sharp stone from his pocket, and, flinging said, "
my men
Now
fee
of
it
at the judge's face,
hand over The to the man who bled me." I
Sodom
have bled you likewise
;
anticipated Pro-
by keeping a bed on which strangers were requested to sleep. If too tall to fit the bed, their legs were lopped off; if too short, they were drawn out. crustes
Eliezer evaded this trap
by declaring he had made a vow never to sleep in a bed since his mother died. It was only necessary to produce a reason for anything in ancient days in order to carry any point
— "
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. logic
was a blind
force against
ever attempted to struggle
99
which none
and since
;
it
was right that all men should observe their vows, and Eliezer was a man who had made a vow, the citizens of Sodom could
find
stranger
in
no
reason
and
bed
a
when he did not Another law
putting
this
murdering
him
for
fit.
in
the city of
Sodom
surely the maddest law ever framed
that any one
who
—was
a guest
invited
to
a
wedding -feast should forfeit his clothes. One day Eliezer walked in to a weddingfeast uninvited, and sat at the end of a " Who invited you here ? long table. asked one of the company, to whom Eliezer at once replied, "
You
being obliged
forfeit
to
questioner fled from
other guests, fearing
Fearful of
did."
his
clothes,
the
room, and the
the that
they in turn
would be accused, likewise
fled,
leaving
Eliezer to flnish the banquet.
On
one occasion a stranger arrived with
a camel and rich merchandise, and asked for lodgings
"
Come
to
my
house as a
;
100
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
guest,"
said
" and no
one of the wicked
payment
shall be
The stranger accepted the
citizens,
charged you." proffered
hos-
pitality, but in the morning his valuable
On asking his had disappeared. host what had become of them, he was told he had evidently had a dream, which
goods
his host
proceeded to
"It
expound.
is
no dream," said the indignant merchant " I brought such
and such goods with me, and you have stolen them come before :
The judge heard the merthe judge." " You have chant's story, and then said evidently had a dream, the meaning of :
which your host has interpreted
Pay him
for you.
his fee for interpreting,
and be
gone."
When
a citizen laid in a store of bricks,
every one of his fellow-citizens would take
one away.
One
brick being of no appreci-
able value, no single citizen
any
offence against him, yet in the result
he was ruined.
If a stranger used a bridge
to cross a river he toll
had committed
was required
of four coins, but
if
to
pay a
to save expense he
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. preferred to
101
wade through the water, he
found himself confronted with a law which required him to pay eight coins.
But perhaps the most characteristic crime of the men of Sodom is found in the way they treated poor strangers. The stranger having entered the
city,
all
the citizens
gave him money, but refused to
When
food or allow him to leave.
sell
him
he died
of starvation, the citizens each identified
money they had given him, and took away. One girl in the city caught in
the it
the act of feeding a poor
man was smeared
over with honey and tied to a tree to be
stung to death. cruelty
which
It
finally
was
this last act of
brought about the
destruction of the cities of the Plain.
Many examples
are given of Abraham's
piety, displayed particularly in the virtues
of hospitality and modesty.
So great was
his hatred of idolatry that it affected his
very camels, which refused to enter a house till
the idols had been removed.
A
refer-
ence to this may be found in Gen. xxiv. 31, " I have prepared the house and room for
TALES FEOM THE TALMUD.
102
the camels."
The preparation
removal of the
the sagacious
idols before
could be induced to
beasts
refers to the
His
enter.
went so far that he not only kept food and drink always ready for hospitality
door
keeping
strangers,
but sat
watch
them, thereby showing himself
for
better than Job,
at
his
who merely had
four doors
to his house to save the poor the trouble of
walking round, but himself sat within the house.
One day Abraham had to look
for
guests,
sent out Eliezer
but Eliezer returned
without any one, whereupon Abraham had
was while he
himself gone out to look.
It
was looking out at
on this occasion
that the " three his tent.
angels
Their
men"
They
— Michael, first
his door
(Gen.
were
xviii. 2) visited
the
really
Gabriel,
and
words were to inquire
three
Raphael. for
Sarah
and Ishmael. They knew quite well that Sarah was within the tent, but they formally inquired for
honour
may
her in order to do her
in her husband's eyes
learn that
when we
call
;
hence
we
upon a friend
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
we should always
inquire
103
his
for
wife's
Being angels, they did not really
health.
take food in the tent, but only appeared to
do so
On
for the sake of politeness.
leav-
ing Abraham, Gabriel passed on to destroy
Sodom, and Michael (Gen.
xix. 1) to save
Lot.
Abraham
Malicious gossip did not leave
and Sarah alone
after the birth of Isaac.
People sneeringly declared the old couple
had bought a child at the market, and were pretending it was their own. All doubts were, however, set at rest when, at a great feast in presence
of the as-
sembled guests, Isaac's face was miraculously
changed into an exact miniature
reproduction of Abraham's.
time of
ward
Abraham
Up
the
there had been no out-
signs of age, so that the
man had grown
till
moment a
to his full stature
impossible to say whether
twenty or a hundred.
As
it
was
he might be Isaac
grew up,
his exact resemblance to his father caused
them
to be often mistaken for each other.
Therefore
God granted Abraham a
beard.
"
TALES FROM THE TA.LMUD.
104
and thenceforth tinguish them.
that
just
Abraham,
became possible to
it
It
may
dis-
be here noticed
as
no
one grew
so
no
one
before
old
sickness
suffered
death came suddenly) before Jacob,
{i.e.,
and no one recovered from
before
illness
the days of Elisha.
Sarah was one of the four most beautiful
women
in the world, the other three being
Rahab, Abigail, and Esther that
beauty
till
Egypt,
for
the occasion
yet
xii.
11),
woman
from which
that he had not
known
it
"
seems
it
noticed her
of his
he then said,
that thou art a fair (Gen.
is
;
Abraham had never even
visit
Now
know
I
to look
upon
we may before.
to
infer
Sarah
always regarded with the highest ven-
eration.
With
her are associated the wives
and Jacob, so that the prayer, you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel,
of Isaac
"May
and Leah," has for centuries been the accustomed blessing pronounced by fathers upon their daughters.
Some in
of the Rabbis have contended that
addition
to
the relatives of
Abraham
"
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
105
whose names are given in the Bible, there must have been a daughter of Abraham, "
for
God
(Gen.
xxiv.
professed
him
blessed
in
all
things
One Rabbi has even but others her name
1).
to give
;
contend that his blessing was to have no daughter, and in explanation of this curious blessing, a saying of a
part of the
He
Rabbi
Talmud may
in
talking of the troubles of the father
is
of a girl-child.
She may meet with various
misfortunes in her youth
womanhood
reach
marry
;
or,
;
but suppose she
in safety, she
may
marry, but have no children
;
old
all
other
evils,
become a witch.
said to be a false
is
never
escaping spinsterhood, she
escaping
may
another
be here inserted.
in
may
or finally,
age she
Hence a daughter treasure.^ Whether
had a daughter, Abraham at all events had another family of seventeen children by Keturah. For them he built or no he
'
Exactly the same sentiment, omitting only the danger becoming a witch, is expressed in the work of Ben
of her
Sirach, written about 200 B.C., of which the original manuscript has lately been discovered in fragmentary condition.
106
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
an iron
city,
so high as
whose walls were
to shut out the rays of the sun
Abraham gave them a bowl stones, light.
;
for light,
of precious
which supplied light equal to dayStories of precious stones whose
brilliancy
is
as
great
as
sun
the
occur
more than once in the Talmud it will be remembered that such a stone took the :
window in Noah's Ark. Ahasuhad a precious stone at his
place of a
again,
erus,
feast
which illumined the banquet-hall
midday.
like
Another wonderful jewel, which
Abraham wore around
his neck,
had the
property of curing the disease of any one
who looked upon
Abraham's servant
it.
Eliezer
was one of the privileged persons
whom
the
earth
leaped
to
gather from Gen. xxiv. 42 (" this
day ") that he accomplished
with Isaac in one day.
must have leapt Constant
to
efforts
We
meet.
And
I
came
his journey
Therefore the earth
meet him. are
made
to
honour
Isaac and Jacob at the expense of Ishmael
and Esau.
had
Thus we learn that Ishmael away because he one day
to be sent
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
107
aimed an arrow at Isaac, and tried to
him
;
we
are also told that he developed
a tendency to idol- worship. to read that
many
but to
Abraham visit.
is
pleasant
did not forget him,
Ishmael was out hunt-
but a cross-looking
woman came
door, and, saying Ishmael
sent
It
years later went into the desert
pay him a
ing,
kill
was not
Abraham away without
hospitality.
to the
at home,
him Abraham,
offering
" Tell Ishmael," said
"that an old man from the land of his father says the peg in his tent door
bad one, and should be taken years later
Abraham
out."
is
a
Some
called a second time,
but he seems always to have timed his visits unfortunately, for
out
This
hunting.
pleasant-looking
door and in,
said,
old man,
some
however,
time,
woman came
" Ishmael
is
and bathe your
goat's milk."
Abraham,
Ishmael was again
" that the
a
to the tent
out
;
feet,
but come
and take
" Tell Ishmael,"
said
same old man from the
land of his father has been to visit him, that the peg in his tent door
is
a good one,
and he should take great care of
it."
;
TALES FEOM THE TALMUD.
108
But Eabbis
Esau who
is
it
above
all
is
Old
other
to the
odious
Testament
we should be tempted sympathise with him when he first
characters.
to
Lest
appears in the Bible for being treacherously deprived of his blessing,
that
it
old
his
was he who blind
father
of
first
by
we all
are told
deceived
killing forbidden
animals, and bringing Isaac their flesh to eat.
his
Isaac's
dimness of vision was due to
having looked too frequently at such
a wicked man, and Leah's "tender eyes"
were brought about by having wept and prayed continually that
might not be her destiny to marry the wicked Esau.
We
it
have already heard how he treacher-
Nimrod through jealousy manner he sent men to waylay Jacob on his way to Laban and kill him, ously murdered in
but
like
the
cautious
Jacob
discovered
ambush, and bribed the men to
let
the
him
go; while from a second ambush laid by Esau he was delivered by the angel sent to wrestle with him, in order to delay his
journey (Gen.
xxxii.
24).
When
Jacob
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. came
to
Esau
die,
tried
to
109
prevent him
from being buried in the family cave of Machpelah, though in reality Esau had sold his
own
share in the cave, taking
money
and flocks in exchange. The document which proved this transaction had been left in Egypt, and Naphtali the swiftfooted (Gen. xlix. 21) was sent in haste to procure it. During his absence, howdeaf-and-dumb grandson of Jacob
ever, a
inquired the cause of the unseemly wrangle
when the cause had
over Jacob's body, and
been explained to him in
was moved
that he raised
dealt
Esau a
which
killed
Such was the fell
club and
blow on the head,
terrific
him and ended the force of the
out at Jacob's
(hence Ps.
on
his
dispute.
blow that Esau's feet,
whereupon
opened his own eyes and smiled
Jacob rejoice
show, he
to such an outburst of righteous
indignation
eyes
dumb
Iviii.
when he
10,
The righteous
shall
seeth the vengeance").
Both
Isaac
and
the
same
day,
mother's
"
prophecy
Jacob thus that
were fulfilling
she
buried their
would
be
'
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
110
bereaved
of
them
" both
in
one
day
(Gen. xxvii. 45).
Perhaps the most curious, however, of all
the stories about Esau
is
the true ex-
when he met his brother returning from Laban (Gen. xxxii. planation of his conduct
and xxxiii.) It was no generous impulse, or sudden stirring of old memories, that made Esau run to meet his brother and fall on his neck When he and weep. kissed Jacob, what he really meant to do was to bite him} It was not enough to kill him with an arrow, but he would
But Jacob's neck was as hard as ivory, and Esau was foiled. (Whence do we learn this ? Again from the Song of Solomon, drink his blood. miraculously
vii.
4
:
"
made
Thy neck
is
like
the tower of
David, builded for an armoury.") indeed he wept ^
and
gnashed
his
Then teeth
The Hebrew words for "to bite" and "to kiss" are It must be remembered that the old
closely similar.
Hebrew was written without vowels, so that very often a word could have two or three meanings (just as if we found in English the word "rmnd," which might be " remind " or " remand
").
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. with rage (as told in Ps.
wicked shall see gnash with
shall
Ill
10
cxii.
:
"
and be grieved
it,
his
teeth
he
such
If
").
;
The
changes are not very chivalrous, they at refute
least
brought
against
nothing the
the
to
merit
sometimes
accusation
the
Rabbis
dislike
of
seeing
censure
or
treachery of the shrewd
in
calculating
Jacob, as contrasted with the generosity of the hot-tempered impulsive Esau.
may be
It
Amalek was a kinsman of Esau, and Haman, who so nearly exterminated the Israelites, was moreover, a direct descendant of Esau historians and readers wUl learn with interest that it was a grandson of Esau who led iEneas and the Trojan army to the conquest of Latium, thus identifying Esau with Rome. The Talmud constantly refers to the Romans as children of Edom and here mentioned, too, that
;
Esau, and
it
has been suggested that some
of the denunciations of Esau are really in-
tended
for
Roman
emperors.
veiled
references
to
reigning
The Rabbis may have
found a parallel between the contests of
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
112
Esau and Jacob and those of Rome and Israel, or they may have found significance in the resemblance between the Hebrew consonants of " Rome " and "
Edom." It will be
was on
his
remembered that when Jacob way to Laban he lay down to
sleep on the "stones" of the place (Gen.
The ordinary reader may not have noticed that, when he awoke, xxviii.
11).
he took " the stone under pillar,
his
head
had put
that he
"
and
set
up
it
while no further mention
of the other stones.
for
a
made
is
Here, however, was
a point to be elucidated, and the explanation
is
a simple one
:
during the night
the stones quarrelled as to which should
have the honour of supporting
and to all
settle their difierences
his head,
they were
united into one stone.
Passing to the next great event in the history of the Israelites, we come to the sojourn
in
Egypt.
During
days,
early
before persecution began,
we have
few glimpses of them,
"We
only a
hear
that
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. Jacob prayed approaching
for
will,
illness
death)
(as a
warning of
order to
in
113
make a had
as before mentioned, people
for,
never
known
illness,
merely
sneezed
and
suddenly
dead.
We
hitherto
hear
that
" necks "
Benjamin's plural form
had
but
dropped
Joseph wept on
(Gen.
xlv.
14
— the
used in the Hebrew), be-
is
cause he foresaw the destruction of the
two temples which would take place the
land of
that,
the
in
We
Benjamin.
hope
vain
also
of
in
learn
fascinating
Joseph, Potiphar's wife changed her dress
When
twice a-day.^
she threatened him,
he invariably replied with an apt quotation.
"
" I will imprison thee,"
The Lord looseneth the '
she said.
prisoners."
"I
People who would smile at the quaintnesa of these may compare it with
ancient embellishments of the story
the no less
quaint embellishments of
mentator, Pfere Berruyer,
who
a modern com-
recast the
'Histoire
du
Peuple de Dieu' in the form of a fashionable novel. "Joseph combined with a regularity of features and a brilliant complexion an air of the noblest dignity, all which contributed to render him one of the most amiable
men
in Egypt.
him
to
answer
.
.
her.
.
.
She declares her passion and pressed Joseph at first only replied by his
.
cold embarrassments."
.
—Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature. H
TALES FBOM THE TALMUD.
114 will
"He
put out thine eyes."
the blind to see." "
The Lord bowed down."
raiseth
causeth
"I will bend thee." up those who are
Thus her threats proved
as ineffectual as her changes of dress.
But later
it
days,
round
is
and the
the
persecutions
final
delivery
of
from
Egypt, that legends cluster thickly.
Many
attempts were made to save male
children from the cruel law of the Pharaoh,
who ordered them
drowned but most of such attempts failed. Egyptian women to be
;
were sent with babies of their own into
Jewish houses, and told to pinch their own
make them cry
whereupon the concealed Jewish children would also cry, children to
and be dragged forth himself, after
his
;
to the river.
Moses
escape from the river,
met his death two or three years One day, while Pharaoh was playing with him in the palace, the chUd nearly
later.
Moses took off Pharaoh's crown and put it on his own head. The courtiers and magicians at once saw the obvious warning, that Moses would grow up to destroy
;
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS. Pharaoh saw
the kingdom.
115
in it only a
childish trick, but nevertheless determined
to put the question to a characteristic test.
A
dish of hot coal and a dish of gold were
accordingly set before the child
the former, he should be the latter,
let
he should be
go
if
:
he chose
free
;
but
if
Moses,
killed.
attracted by the glitter, was about to pick
up a handful of gold, but the angel Gabriel quickly pushed aside his hand to the other tray, and the child, picking up a live coal, put it to his mouth and burnt his tongue and that is why Moses was ever afterwards "slow of speech" (Exod. iv. 10). Moses slew the Egyptian (Exod. ii. 12) by mentioning a holy name, after asking the advice of the angels.
When
he
fled
from Egypt in consequence, he joined the
army
of the king of Ethiopia,
engaged
in a
war with a
who had proved
who was
rebellious general
unfaithful to his trust
and
usurped the kingdom during the king's ab-
The war continued for many years, and Moses so won the regard of the army by his valour and wisdom sence on a foreign war.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
116 that,
on the king's death, he was appointed
king in his place, and in a great battle succeeded in regaining the capital and exdestroying
the rebellious general,
pelling
(The genand taking
the greater part of his army. eral himself, however, escaped,
refuge in Egypt, became one of Pharaoh's
who subsequently opposed For many years Moses remained
magicians,
Moses.)
king
:
he subdued
the Assyrians abroad
and promoted justice at home
;
only through
of
king's
widow,
the
intrigues
who
tried
to
and
it
was
the
late
rouse
pre-
judice against Moses as a foreigner, that
he at length abandoned his sovereignty
and
passed
on
to
where
Midian,
he
married the daughter of Jethro.
The ten plagues, the triumph of Moses, and the Exodus from Egypt, have been a theme on which the Israelites have ever since
loved
to dwell with
surpassing that felt for deliveries.
recall
the
unleavened
all
an enthusiasm other national
Symbolic ceremonies annually great
event,
— the
bread brings to
eating
memory
of the
"
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
117
haste with which they left Egypt, taking
dough
their
(Exod.
34)
xii.
days
bitter
poorest
" before bitter
;
bondage
of
was
it
leavened
herbs signify the ;
and even the
head of a household forgets
for
one evening his modern task -masters as
he
leans
against
a
pillow
through
his
meal to signify the ease and freedom he
now
enjoys through that glorious delivery,
and
recalls the "fifty" plagues
(page 122)
which overwhelmed the Egyptians at
To prevent the Egypt,
Israelites
had
Pharaoh
bones into the
Red
had
promised
to
with
them when they
Moses put forth coffin rose to
up.
It
take
his
from leaving
thrown
Sea,
sea.
Joseph's
knowing they Joseph's
left
;
rod, the
but
bones
when
bones and
the surface and were taken
should
be
mentioned that this
rod of Moses, with which he afterwards
was no In the beginning God had
smote the rock (Exod. ordinary rod.
given
Adam
xvii.
5),
a wonderful staff; this staff
had been taken from him when he Eden, but another was given him
left
on
TALES FEOM THE TALMUD.
118
which was engraved a certain word, and he
who understands
stands
all
the rains.
was
It
this
word
even the
things,
this
staff
under-
thoughts of
which had
come into the hands of Moses, having been handed down by Adam to Enoch, Enoch to Noah, and so on to Jacob and Joseph, then left in Pharaoh's palace, and finally found by Jethro and planted in his garden, where Moses saw and plucked it. The Exodus was not effected without one preliminary disaster. The tribe of Ephraim had tried to escape before the appointed time, and had been massacred by the Canaanites and Philistines. Only ten
men escaped
lay where they
looked
upon
their feet, "
;
the bones of the others
fell
them,
till
Ezekiel came and
when they
rose
to
an exceeding great army," as
by the prophet (Ezek. xxxvii.) The weird vision of Ezekiel and the valley of dead bones seems to have fascinated many of the Rabbis whose names appear in the told
Talmud.
Whose bones were
what became of them, they
they, ask.
and
That
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
119
they were the bones of the Ephraimites
whose
explains
bones
what became of them? dead
bones
Ezekiel
again,
but
;
Did they become they
did
live
?
and appears to regard
silent,
is
or
were
they
the whole vision as a parable (xxxvii. 11),
but the more common opinion lived,
To
married,
is
that they
and died natural deaths.
the argument with a piece of
clinch
convincing
evidence, a Rabbi on one oc-
casion suddenly produces the phylacteries
worn by his grandfather, who had inherited them from one of these very Ephraimites.
From
theorising
dead bones,
it
the
fate
of
the
needed but a small step
to find a traveller
them.
on
Such a
who had
traveller
actually seen
in
due course
appeared, with a story of gigantic forms lying weird desert.
and
He was
still
in
an
enchanted
a Rabbi who had been
spot where they lay by an The Arab knew, by smelling a clod of earth, whither the road was leadOne ing him, and he was never deceived. led
to
Arab.
the
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
120
day he found the road leading to where lay the dead Ephraimites following it, he brought him to a spot where they lay ex;
tended " their
One had
and were lying
it
with
:
in all postures.
the Arab rode
with his spear on high, but could
not reach Rabbi,
knee raised
his
asleep,
Their bodies were
upward."
faces
quite fresh,
under
drunken men,
like
it.
Yet no
who proceeded
fear
inspired
the
to cut off part of
one of their garments, in order to decide a point at issue between the schools of Hillel
and Shammai as to how the gar-
ment (worn knotted.
for ritual purposes)
should be
Returning to his beast, he found
it could not move from the spot. You must have taken something from " for no one who them," the Arab said takes anything is able to move until it
that "
;
has been restored."
Accordingly the Eabbi was obliged to restore the garment to its owner and return without it. When he returned from his travels his story created no surprise. People who went long journeys
must expect
to
meet with such adventures
;
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
121
was known that the Ephraimites lay somewhere in the desert, and that flesh had already been miraculously placed upon their bones, so what more natural than that a traveller should come across them and find the flesh still preserved ? The only comment with which he appears to it
have
been
had been a
greeted was
;
always
and had now lived up
fool,
to his character
that he
for
what need was there
to try to remove the "tsitsith,"
when he
might just as well have counted the threads
and knots, and so of the rival schools
set at rest the conflicts ?
This vision of the Ephraimites was not the only adventure which befell this same
Rabbi
:
he saw other strange things on
But that
his
travels.
and
will be told later.
To return
is
another story,
The pursuit of
to Pharaoh.
the Israelites was represented to him as a
political
necessity,
said to him, " If
it
for
shall
the
governors
be reported that
our slaves have gone free,
how much more
will all our vassal states be
ready to rebel?"
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
122
Great was the consternation of the Israel-
when they saw the sea and the enemy behind. Some ites
before
them
tribes
would
have returned, others would have fought. It
needed
the
all
and influence of
tact
Moses to keep them together and guide
them tion
to
lightly.
When
safety.
came upon
at
Confusion
destruc-
last
their enemies, it
reigned
came not
among the
Egyptians even before the waters closed over them.
On
land " the finger of
God "
was against them, but at sea "the hand" of the Lord was against them (Exod. xv. 6). Now the hand has (Exod.
viii.
five fingers,
19)
hence
there
were ten
must
have
One the
curious
deduced that as
is
plagues
been point
destruction
it
noticed
of the
are told that the " host
there
land,
plagues
fifty is
on
at
concerning
We
Egyptians. "
sea.
of Pharaoh was
drowned, but never that Pharaoh himself
was
drowned
;
on the contrary,
he
appears again in the last place where
might have expected to find him at Nineveh.
re-
we
—namely,
EARLY BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
We
may
here pass for a
story of Jonah.
may
It
123
moment
to the
be wondered
why
the people of Nineveh were so ready to listen to the itinerant preacher
on them to repent.
who
called
The explanation
is
that their king was no other than our old friend
Pharaoh of Egypt, who pursued the
Israelites.
When
he saw his chariots and
army destroyed he was afraid to go home, but went away to Nineveh, and was ultimately made king of the city. When Jonah appeared the people were at
first
inclined
knew better. "I know this man's people," he said, "and remember how Moses treated me when I to laugh* at him, but their king
Let us repent Nineveh was saved.
despised him.
And
so
in
time."
The destruction of the Egyptians was complete.
When
the angels would have
rejoiced at their overthrow,
God
is
repre-
sented as reproving them for rejoicing so
many
Still
when
creatures were being destroyed.
there remained sceptics,
who
declared
that the Egyptians were following by another route,
and,
to
convince them, the
124
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
bodies of the Egyptians were cast
up on
land.
With
Egypt and the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the nation entered upon a new period of its the Exodus from
existence.
PART
III.
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS. EXODUS TO BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.
Marvellous were the
things which befell Moses on the mountain. More than once he was on the point of destruction, and
only saved by direct divine interposition.
The
old enemies of man, the angels, dis-
puted with him
for the possession of the
Ten Commandments, and would have consumed him with fire but he took hold of God's throne and answered them fearlessly. Of what use the Commandments to them, he asked, undismayed by the twelve hun;
dred darts of angel's
mouth
fire
which shot from one
at each word.
Had
they
parents, that they need be told to honour
them
?
Did they work
six
days a -week.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
126
that they need be
seventh
?
so forth.
told
to
rest
on
the
Had they served Pharaoh ? and At length, overcome by Moses'
arguments, they gave in and befriended him, each teaching him something, even
the Angel of Death,
While he remained
on the mountain, Moses was taught, in addition to the Ten
Commandments,
all
the unwritten law, on which were after-
wards based the innumerable bye-laws, or, in more Talmudic metaphor, round which were afterwards established the innumerable fences, the discussion of which forms so large a part of the
Talmud.
Commandments were
given,
When God's
the
voice
was heard all over the world. Jethro heard and the nations trembled in their it, temples.
Moses
is,
of course, the greatest of
the figures in Jewish legend
Aaron may
;
but
all
that
not be overshadowed by the
mere accident of being contemporaneous, the Talmud gives us a long account of his virtues, in respect of
some of which he
even greater than Moses.
He
is
shines above
;
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS. all
When
as a peacemaker.
else
12*7
he met
man he would salute him, and man would say to himself, now I commit this new sin, how shall
a wicked
then the wicked " If I
dare again to look Aaron in the
face,
and
Sometimes
receive his friendly greeting."
Aaron's zeal even led him into small deceptions.
When two men
would go to the one and bour '
is
How
am
quarrelled, he
say, "
Your neigh-
tearing his clothes in grief, saying,
dare I meet him again, knowing I
in the
wrong
; '
"
he would then go to
the other party to the quarrel and say the
same
thing,
opponents
and
consequently
would meet each
softened feelings,
the
other
and become
two with
reconciled.
Moses, in giving judgment, would sternly
rebuke the one who was
in
the wrong
but when Aaron was judge, though he was quite as just as Moses, he was never harsh
towards the unsuccessful
litigant.
Aaron making
was also specially influential in up quarrels between husbands and wives, in consequence of
named
after him.
which many children were
And
thus
we read
that
—
—
—
TALBS FROM THE TALMUD.
128
"All Israel wept ing the
for
Aaron"
women but for Moses ;
of Israel
wept"
XX. 29.
Deut. xxxiv.
;
How in the
i.e.,
i.e.,
includ-
" the children
men (Num.
only the 8).
the conduct of the pious Aaron
is
matter of the Golden Calf to be
explained
?
It
is
not to be supposed that
he really instigated the people to create the the
He
idol.
women would
ornaments the
asked for earrings, thinking
men
to give
own
— and
refuse to part with their
he was right
but when
;
could not prevail upon their wives
up
their earrings, they took their
earrings out of their ears
days the
men wore
—
for in those
earrings,
after
the
manner of the Egyptians and Arabians and cast these into the furnace, and thus Aaron's scheme was frustrated. When the calf was made Sammael entered into it, and lowed to deceive the people, so that many, who would not otherwise have worshipped, were deceived by this apparent It is recorded how, when Moses came down from Sinai and saw the Golden miracle.
Calf,
he broke the tables of the
Law
into
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
Some say he
fragments.
129
did so in order
to prevent the people from committing so
great a sin after having received the Law,
but others say he broke them at God's
Another tradition
command.
recorded
is
that the holy letters engraved on the stone
supported the tablets, and supported Moses too,
but when they came near and saw
the people worshipping the
away from the then
fell,
idol,
they flew
and the tablets being deprived of support, and tablets,
were broken.
With
his indignation
all
Moses
harshness,
never
it
delicate
own
A
xxv.
way
sins
shame
law
in public,
so far that his exhortation
to the people to "
did" (Deut.
the
forgot
against putting people to
and carried
and occasional
remember what Amalek 17)
is
really
only
a
them of their without causing them to blush. of reminding
curious simile
is
mous exhortation.
given for this pseudonyIt
is
likened to the case
of a king
who has a garden and puts a dog
in charge
:
a friend of the king comes to
steal something,
and
is
I
bitten,
whereupon
TALES EROM THE TALMUD.
130
the king will not put him to shame by asking
why
how
he came, but says, " See
the dog has torn your clothes friend "
know that you were a man, who knows he came not as a friend, is made
:
he did not
whereby the as a thief and ;
to
understand
without being openly shamed.
Among we must
other services rendered by Moses,
note that
it
was he who
regular hours for meals.
first
fixed
Before his time
people picked up their food as they wanted it,
like fowls,
but now fixed hours were set
aside for eating.
Of
the wanderings in the wilderness
have only an occasional glimpse. that
manna was
we
We learn
sixty times better to eat
than honey, and tasted to every one the food he best liked
;
like
and again, that
why Moses was weeping when Midianitish woman was brought into the
the reason a
camp (Num. xxv.
6) was because he, too, had married the daughter of Jethro, a stranger and having forgotten that rule ;
or inference of the in
his case,
Law
which justified him
was unable
to
answer when
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
131
people declared he had set the example. It
was
in
the wilderness, too, that
conflict
terrific
the
between Moses and the
gigantic Og, king of Bashan, took place, as already recorded.
When
Moses came to die, no angel could slay so holy a man. The wicked Zammael offered
to kill
but retired
him,
abashed
when he came and looked upon him, so that at last God Himself took him. From the death of Moses to the rise of David legends are few and scarce. With Joshua and the
first
conquests in the prom-
ised land a kind of high tide after
which comes a long ebb.
is
reached,
The conquer-
ing tribes of Israel seem to have resembled little islands in
a sea of native populations.
Sometimes one or more would be for a time submerged, till some deliverer would arise
and a new outburst of national life follow. Gradually the nation was growing stronger, but how
far
how how
through subjection or expulsion, or
far
far
through slaughter of the natives,
through absorption, can be only
matters of conjecture.
Such a
period,
made
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
132
up of constant small fighting to maintain a position, without any great permanent national victories or calamities, would not people's
be likely to
stir
give rise to
many
recording in the
imagination, or
One
legends.
is
worth
days of Joshua's
early
which once more shows the zeal of the E-abbis to prove that every wicked invasion,
man had for
added
incidentally
to his offences,
and to
idol -worship
an opportunity
find
denouncing the sin and
folly of such
worship.
When
the thirty-six
men were and
slain be-
was told Joshua that some one had stolen and dissembled, Joshua asked God the name of fore
Ai
the
man
xix.
16,
(Josh.
;
11),
Do you
it
but God reminded him of Levit.
and bade him draw
the lot finally "
vii.
fell
accuse
If I were to
Eleazar, the wisest
the lot would
fall
When
on Achan, Achan
me on
draw
lots.
lots
men
said,
account of a lot
?
between you and in
your generation,
against
one of you."
Joshua begged him not to discredit the drawing of lots, as the promised land was
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
133
by lots. Finally Achan confessed. He had been tempted by an idol possessing magic powers, a tongue of gold, and a costly mantle. His sin had caused to be divided
the death of the thirty-six
men (though
some maintain that only one man had been slain, who through his learning was equal to
thirty-six
Sanhedrin).
men, or one half of a
Achan
full
always taken as the
is
type of a repentant sinner.
Was
it
not
imprudent of Joshua to bow before the angel
who had appeared
one asks
?
to
him at
Jericho,
—might not the figure have been
demon 1 No for tradition tells us that even demons do not pronounce the name of God in vain. We may now take a long step forward to David. While he was a shepherd boy a
!
the language of revealed to
all
him
created things had been
(as it
was afterwards
re-
vealed to his son Solomon), even the lan-
guage of the elements this
:
it
was
after hearing
music of the spheres that David wrote
his psalms.
Yet some of the psalms have
the most remarkable explanations.
When
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
134
David prays
to
mouth,
for
lion's
be " delivered from
Thou hast heard me from
the horns of the unicorn," he
an adventure which
to
the
him
befell
referring
is
as a boy,
when, seeing a unicorn asleep, he took for
a high
hill,
and climbed
it
Suddenly
up.
the animal arose, and David touched the sky.
He
prayed for
release,
and a
lion
appeared, whereupon the unicorn lowered its
head to earth, and David jumped
Another story
is
told of
David
in
One
the family of Goliath figure.
off.
which day,
seeing a ram, David shot an arrow at
it.
(The ram, however, was really Zammael
in
one of his missed
its
many
The arrow mark, and David was led in disguises.)
pursuit across the border of the Philistines,
where Ishbi
(2
Sam.
xxi.
16),
the brother
of Goliath, dwelt, who, recognising David,
bound and gagged him, and placed him under an olive press, so that David was only saved from an ignominious death through the earth being made
him (hence
Ps.
not slipped").
xviii.
36, "
My
soft
feet
under
have
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
Meantime Abishai, the
135
friend of David,
seeing spots of blood in the water in which
he was washing, was seized with a presentiment that some evil was about to befall
his king
has
it
and
friend.
(Another version
that the warning was conveyed by
the fluttering of a troubled dove overhead.)
Hastening to the palace, he found David gone, none
knew
tioned in the
A
whither.
law,
men-
Talmud, forbids a subject
same beast that bears the king, and Abishai stood hesitating between his desire to seize the king's mule and dash off to David's assistance and his respect for the Law. So great was the emergency that the Rabbis advised him that he might use the king's mule to save the king, and in a moment he was in pursuit, heading for the most likely point of danger, the to ride the
land of the Philistines.
saw
Goliath's
mother
On
the
spinning
passed, she threw her spindle to
:
way he as
kill
he
him
;
had missed her aim, she pretended that she had dropped the spindle and called to him to return it to her, where-
then, seeing she
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
136
upon he threw After this
not
it
back and killed
very glorious
victory
her.
he
hurried on tiU he found Ishbi, and David " Now there will be two his prisoner. against
me,"
Ishbi
thought
so,
;
taking
out David from the olive -press, he flung
him
into the air,
and placed a spear
ground to transfix him as he
fell.
in the
But
Abishai quickly mentioned a holy name,
and David remained fixed in the sky between heaven and earth. (Here a Rabbi characteristically breaks the thread of the
narrative to ask
why David
himself could
not mention the name, and receives the not
very convincing answer that a prisoner has
no power to set himself free.)
Then ensued
a dialogue between David and his rescuer,
and we learn a new tale within a tale of how God had for certain sins of David given him a choice of having no children or being delivered to his enemies, and how he had chosen the latter punishment, and was thus expiating his crime. But Abishai breaks in upon the narrative hotly, and bids David reverse his choice better, he :
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
137
king of Israel should have no
says, that the
children, nay, better that he should
have
the meanest of children ("rather let your
grandson
wax"), than
sell
David
misfortune.
such a
suffer
convinced, but begs
is
Abishai to pray with him that the choice
may be
Then Abishai mentions
reversed.
another holy name, and picks up
down
picks
— David
and
position,
they
from his humiliating
strange
pursuit,
borders
of
once starts in
at
is
run as far as the
There the two and remembering
Palestine.
take
courage,
that two cubs can sometimes lion,
they stand
however,
readers of the
expect
to
bay.
at
an
is
inglorious
Talmud
hear
Ishbi,
passive spectator of
dialogue,
and the race
friends
together.
fly
who had remained a this
—or rather
the
will
clash
kill
one big
The
victory,
one,
though
now no of
longer
arms and
story of heroic or romantic deeds such as
we read towards book
Samuel.
of
Abishai
tells
whereupon
the end of the second
As
him that
his
Ishbi
advances,
mother
Ishbi's knees tremble,
is
dead
and
;
his
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
138
Then David and Abishai fall upon him and slay him but so narrow was David's escape that the strength deserts him.
;
again
never
determine
Israelites
to
let
him be exposed to like risks, and will not allow him to go out with them any more to battle, that he " quench not the lamp of Israel." Such is the story woven out of 2 Sam. xxi. 15-18.
There wars in
1
Edom, host
.
child,
of
Kings
xi.
and
Joab
.
ordered
to
and blot
is
the
kill
out
Now
the
" zaychare,"
had pronounced male.
"
15,
had cut
.
We
figures.
it
read
David
was
captain
of
off
in
the
every male
It seems that the Israelites
Edom."
brance
Joab
which
Edom." been
another curious story of David's
is
in
in
had
man, woman, and " the
remembrance
Hebrew
for
remem-
but Joab's master
" zachar,"
which means
Accordingly Joab thought he had
obeyed the command. plained the
mistake to
When
David ex-
him,
he was so
enraged that he tried to find out his old
master and
kill
him.
Hence, we are
told,
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
we may to
learn that
sometimes better
is
it
139
have a good pronunciation than to be
a good expounder.
Those who slept
palace
the king's
in
might have heard each midnight strange music coming from the king's bedchamber. It
was
same which, accord-
his harp (the
ing to quite another set of legends, was later carried
many
away by Jeremiah, and
after
an ultimate resting-
vicissitudes found
place in Tara's Halls) playing of its
own
Law. Through constant study David had acquired great power in the spiritual world. accord, to rouse the king to study the
There
is
a mysterious
significance
in
his
mentioning the name of his son Absalom
lament (2 Sam. xviii. Absalom's soul had gone down to
eight times 33).
in
his
the seventh Gehenna
name eighth
raised
time
him his
We
each mention of his
and
the
pronounced
his
degree,
father
name he was placed learn from
;
one
in heaven.
Ps.
xxxix.
4,
" Lord,
make me know mine end," &c., that David asked God to tell him the day of his
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
140
He was told it should be on a He asked whether it might be Sabbath.
death.
and was told "No," for Solomon's reign was appointed to begiti on that day, and might not be overa
day
later,
Then he asked might it not be on the preceding day, and was told " No," for his one extra day of study was worth all the thousand sacrifices Solomon would
lapped.
offer
up.
Having
was ordained
that his death
learnt
for a
Sabbath, David spent
the whole of each Sabbath in studying,
without a moment's cessation,
for
he knew
that the Angel of Death could not touch
a
man engaged
When
his
finding tree,
in the study of the
day came to
die,
him studying, made a
and David, studying
all
Law.
the Angel, noise in a
the while,
obtained a ladder and mounted the tree to find out the cause of the noise.
denly the
steps
Sud-
gave way, and David,
stopping to put them right, for one mo-
ment
forgot
forgetfulness it,
to
was
and took him.
study. fatal
:
The instant of the Angel saw
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
was only
It
David's
after
141
death that
crime against Uriah was finally
his
When
given.
the Temple was built, and
Solomon wished
to
set
the
Ark
in
its
the gates held fast and prevented
place,
Solomon stood a long time
entry.
its
for-
prayer
the
till
gates
and
opened,
in
then
he knew that his father was completely forgiven.
Of Solomon, story
is
that
far
of
the
his
most
interesting
prolonged
struggle
with the chief of demons, as told in Part IV.
It
ried
the
was a
sinister
day when he mar-
daughter of Pharaoh,
for
the
angel Gabriel on that day planted a reed in
the sea, round which there formed a
bank, on which was afterwards built the city of
Rome.
Pharaoh's daughter brought
with her to Jerusalem one thousand
dif-
ferent musical instruments, each of which
was idol.
used in the worship of a different
We
are not to
suppose that the
great king Solomon himself ever really worshipped idols. " His heart was turned after
them" by
his wives, but he did not
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
142
His fault was that he did
worship them.
not protest enough against the worship of
prevent his wives from worship-
idols, or
He
ping.
even intended to set up a high
place (1
Kings
out
intention.
his
xi.
7),
but did not carry
In
the
Temple
planted golden trees, which produced
he all
according to the seasons,
kinds of fruit
and dropped them when shaken by the wind.
They
withered when idolaters
all
thrust themselves into the Temple.
Among
other wonders, Solomon possessed a house
was in this house that he received the Queen of Sheba. The effect was such that she thought Solomon was of glass.
sitting
It
in
the
of water,
through
in order to
approach
midst
which she must wade him.
Some Solomon's 1
of
idea
Kings
table iv.
22,
the
may 23
:
magnificence
be
of
gathered from
" Thirty
measures
and threescore measures of of fine meal ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, beside harts, and gazelles, and roebucks. flour,
;
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS. and fatted fowl us that
tells
;
143
but the Talmud further
"
each of Solomon's thousand
prepared this meal every day, in
wives
the hope that the king would dine with
Like
her.
understood the language of
but
his
bitter
more
knowledge
"
as the king passed.
love "
He
him
as
we
We
are
to another
of his wives
love," said the nightingale.
teach
doesn't
wise stork.
sons,"
his
said
the
Sadly the king returned to
his palace, and, falling asleep,
in
"
lily
None
some
him
hours in his old age.
one
creation,
all
brought
beautiful," said
Solomon
David,
father
his
which he saw
had a vision
his people scattered
the Temple destroyed.
and
It was then that
he exclaimed, "Vanity of vanities!"
With the
the break-up of the kingdom, on
death
of
Solomon, there
follows
a
period of depression, during which legends
again become rare. disasters
Occasionally appalling
such as the destruction of the
Temple, or brilliant victories such as the destruction of
may
Sennacherib's
be called a victory),
army
call forth
(if
it
fresh
TALES FKOM THE TALMUD.
144
legends, just as similar events in
European
history call forth romantic ballads.
There
is,
however, during
the
period
covered by the Book of Kings, one figure
—
which stands out quite uniquely, that of Elijah. We are told in 2 Kings ii. that It he was taken up to heaven alive. might be supposed that if such a type of fiery
zeal,
proud aloofness, and
spiritual it
would
to call
down
grandeur ever revisited the earth, be at great national
crises,
But
vengeance on the wicked. is
now changed.
He
his spirit
appears as an old
man, ready to help any one who
is
in
to children who have lost their way sometimes merely as a welcome guest, who comes unexpectedly, but answers no
trouble
;
;
questions whence or whither.
The Talmud
contains innumerable stories of people
who
have met him, talked with him, and walked along the road with him.
The sporting of
dogs heralds his approach to a
who of
city.
People
him always make the most opportunity, and ask him the
recognise
their
most important question they can think
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
145
whether about their own salvation or about some disputed point of " Law." The answers are often ambiguous. " Who of,
in
crowd
this
world
to
come
will ?
have a share one asks
"
points out a jailor,
who
;
the
in
and Elijah
has preserved a
captive Jewish maiden from violence, and
has informed the Rabbis of plots hatched against the Israelites, that they
may pray
Another time he points
for deliverance.
who have always tried to cheer the down-hearted and make peace between quarrellers. One is mentioned who had been in the habit of reout two brother workmen,
ceiving " frequent
"
visits
from Elijah,
till
one day he built a gate to his courtyard, thereby making
it difficult for
the poor to
gain admission, after which Elijah ceased to visit him.
Sometimes Elijah would pay a passing visit at
cussion.
a house of learning during a dis-
At one house he used
almost as a matter of course.
on his arriving
to
come
One
day,
the presiding Rabbi
late,
asked the cause of his delay, and he
K
re-
146
TALES FBOM THE TALMUD.
plied he
had to wake Abraham, Isaac, and succession, wash their hands, wait
Jacob in for
them
to finish their prayers "
to sleep.
once
?
more
the
"
Why
do they not than
astonishment
had
told
all
rise at
one
if
of
no the
him he had been
delayed by a street accident.
they
all
Babbi asked, expressing
ordinary pupils
if
and return
" Because
prayed together their united
prayers would bring the
the appointed time,"
is
Messiah
the answer.
before
Asked
whether there were men then living equally powerful in prayer, Elijah said "Yes," and
names of a Rabbi and was proclaimed, and these
incautiously gave the his sons.
pious
A
fast
men were summoned
to
pray
;
but
before they could accomplish their purpose
convulsions of nature interrupted them.
Once a Rabbi was deputed
to carry a
casket of precious stones as a present to
one of the Csesars. at an
inn,
On
the
way he stayed
where the stones were stolen
and dust substituted. When he arrived at Rome and opened his basket, it was not unnaturally supposed that he intended to
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS. offer
147
an insult to the Emperor, and he was
seized critical
and about to be executed.
moment
Elijah
At
the
appeared in the
and suggested the dust might be the dust of Abraham, and bring victory in war (an allusion to Isa. xli. 2, dress of a courtier,
Roman emperor was
with which verse the
The explana-
of course well acquainted).
tion proved satisfactory, for, being carried
Roman
to battle, it helped the
and the Rabbi was
quell an insurrection,
sent
soldiers to
home with many
signs of favour.
This belief that Elijah
may
appear at
any moment has exercised a powerful influence over Jews through all ages. In dark days of persecution, who knew but that he might be standing in the midst of
every jeering
Who knew
but
or
that
murderous the
old
crowd ?
man who
had just begged alms might not be the prophet come to test them, as he had tested Akiva when he begged half his straw mattress
(p.
58),
and
repay their charity tenfold still
survives in
many
?
perhaps
to
The custom
households of putting
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
148
aside a glass of wine on Passover Eve,
and
opening the door in case Elijah should be passing by
how Rabbi
;
and while the father sings
and Rabbi Joshua, and Rabbi Elazar, and Rabbi Akiba, and Rabbi Tarphon on one occasion sat up conversing Eliezer,
all
night about the Exodus from Egypt,
till
their disciples
and time
daylight,
prayer,
came
the
was say the morning
to
children
them
to tell
it
from time to
look
time towards the door with wondering eyes,
hoping that this year " Elyohu in
" will
come meal, and sing with them
and share their
the old well-known songs,
Beside Elijah,
who
plays so prominent a
part in Talmudic legends, and
is
associated
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Elisha plays but a small part. is
A
curious
passed on his visit to the
Shunem, recorded
in
2 Kings
learn from the story that
comment
woman iv.
9.
of
We
women have
a
keener perception of the character of their guests than men, for she
knew he was a
holy man.
How
cause no
crossed the table.
fly
did she discover
it
?
Be-
(The associa-
LATEB BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
quite Talmudic
tion of flies with evil
is
one Rabbi studied the
Law
to "
From
flies.)
was
149
as
:
an antidote
the statement that Elisha
sick of a sickness
we may
learn that he
previous
illness
whereof he died,"
must have had a
whereof he did not
die.
It has already been mentioned that before his
time
his
sickness
punishment
it
:
for
his
was
called
after
sent
him
as
a
cruelty in calling for
the bears to eat up the
had
read the cause
It is pleasing to
sickness.
of
no one ever recovered from a
children
little
him, mocking
his
who bald
head.
In the account of the destruction of Sennacherib
we
find
many
qualities of these
of the characteristic
Talmudic
tales,
—the
ex-
actitude of detail, the extravagant amplification of strength
of the small and
and numbers, the victory
weak by
divine aid with-
out any clash of titanic forces, the apparent utter irrelevance of one fact to another, and
the amazing extraction of hidden meanings
from various parts of the Bible. Sennacherib's
army
was
composed
of
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
150
45,000 princes, each of
concubines
golden
in
men
valiant
in
whom
brought
carriages,
of
coats
mail,
his
80,000 60,000
runners and sword-bearers, and the rest
The exact
cavalry.
given us as so " less one "
size of the
many
camp
is
thousand measures
and the question is argued, " and remains undecided, whether " less one means " less one thousand," " less one ;
hundred," or
literally,
"less one."
Sennacherib himself hastened his march to Jerusalem so as to arrive in time for
the day mentioned to him by the astrologers as propitious for making the assault.
We gather from Isa. viii.
7 and 8
("The Lord bringeth the king of Assyria, and all his glory he shall overflow and pass through he shall reach even to the neck ") .
:
.
.
.
.
.
;
that the
first
part of his
army swam the
Jordan, the second part walked on foot neck-
deep (the water having been so much diminished
by the crossing of the
and the
first division),
last part crossed in the dust,
was obliged
to fetch drinking-water
a distance.
By means
and fi:'om
of forced marches
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
151
Sennacherib arrived on the evening of the appointed
day,
mound,
a
raising
and,
climbed to the top and overlooked Jeru-
But the sight of the
salem.
city, instead
of arousing cupidity, only called forth in-
mighty king who
dignation, that he, the
had
captured
such
cities
in
the
north,
should have hurried himself to such an extent in order to capture Jerusalem.
answer to the to
make the
soldiers,
who were
assault at once, he said that
he was too tired
;
serious affairs could wait
But for few no to-morrow came warriors, and swordsmen, for
In
eager
to-morrow.
except very
all
:
princes,
to the
mailed
number
of 185,000, lay dead, smitten in the night.
Some
further maintain that this 185,000
constituted merely the princes of the (2 Chron. xxxii. 21), so gigantic
nacherib's
unrecorded persed
;
opinion.
host,
army
was Sen-
and that countless other
warriors
were
slain
or
dis-
but this was not the prevailing All
except
supposed to have been infer that nine, or
even
ten
are
slain, less,
generally
while others escaped.
a
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
152
we know and Sennacherib was among them
However many that
actually escaped,
;
here comes the extraordinary sequel to the battle,
founded upon
all
Isa.
vii.
20
—
sequel full of those wild dream-like incon-
sequences and grotesque blendings of com-
mon
things and miraculous which give so
great a fascination to the reading of the
Talmudic
When
legends.
Sennacherib's
army had been destroyed, an angel and
What
"
said,
ap-
man
peared to him in the form of an old
you say to the
will
kings whose sons you brought with you,
and who are dead
?
"I was thinking of that myself," Sennacherib replied, " and what do the thought makes me tremble "
;
you advise?" the angel. guise
?
"
scissors
"Disguise yourself," replied "
How
shall
asked the king.
and I
nacherib
is
will cut
directed
I
effect
" Bring
your beard."
to
a certain
a
dis-
me
a
Senhouse,
where he
finds four angels grinding date
kernels.
On
told he
must
scissors are
asking for a first
scissors,
grind one kernel.
he
is
The
then given him, but meanwhile
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS. has grown dark, and he
it
a light
is
153
told to get
a wind blows the light against his
:
and the flame singes his beard and whereupon he has both hair and
face,
hair,
beard clipped
Leaving the house,
close.
he finds a plank in the road, and the conviction immediately comes to
him that
this
must be a plank of Noah's Ark. We are not told how he came by this conviction, nor does he appear at fact,
all
surprised at the
cries, "
but he immediately
Behold the
Great God who saved Noah if I return home and prosper, I will sacrifice my two ;
But the sons overheard
sons to him."
vow, and that told in 2
The
is
Kings
respite of
duration.
Weak
why
xix.
this
they slew him, as
37.
Judah was not of long kings and wicked kings
followed each other, but the worst of
all,
according to the Talmud, was Manasseh.
He
is
Num. hand.
taken as the person referred to in XXV. 30 that doth aught with a high
Not content with
neglecting the
study of the Law, he actually ridiculed "
Had Moses
it.
nothing better to say than
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
154 that
Lotan's
*
sister
xxxvi. 22], or that
days
'
in
the
and found he would ask
harvest
mandrakes
in
scoffingly.
His punishment
the
[Gen.
'
wheat
the
of
was Timna Reuben went
field
'
?
"
is
to have no
share in the future world, and the appar-
ent trivialities which he ridiculed are of course shown to be profoundly significant.
King Jehoiakim, though not deprived of his share in the future world, suffered
a curious posthumous indignity.
A man
wandering near Jerusalem one day found a skull
;
he buried
the surface
;
but
it,
he buried
with the same
it
it
came again
to
a second time,
His curiosity then
result.
became aroused, and examining it more closely, he found written on it, "This and
Remembering some words from Jeremiah, he came to the conclusion that it must be the skull of Jehoiakim, and therefore deserving of more respectful
something
else."
treatment.
Accordingly he took
wrapped
in silk,
it
and put
it
it
home,
in a bag.
Unfortunately, however, he omitted to his wife
whose
skull
it
tell
was that he had
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
155
brought home, and she, seeing the rever-
was treated, came to it must be the skull of his first wife, and in a fit of jealousy heated an oven and burnt the skull to
ence with which
it
the conclusion that
ashes.
We may
notice that Jeremiah, in
speaking of the reign of Jehoiakim, begins the 26th chapter of his prophecies with
words
the
" In
the
beginning."
These
words, occurring nowhere else in connection with the kings, but only in the be-
ginning of Genesis, show us that through the sins of Jehoiakim
God was
inclined to
reduce the world to chaos, but relented because the people were better than their king.
The destruction of Sennacherib was not when Nebuchadnezzar ad-
to be repeated
vanced against Jerusalem. vasion
came
about
This
through
a
new
in-
private
quarrel between two citizens in Jerusalem.
A
citizen
having invited his enemy to a
feast, publicly expelled
and disgraced him,
whereupon the man who had been expelled, in
order to revenge himself, went
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
156 to
Nebuchadnezzar and told him that a
" Send a sacriwas brewing. fice," he continued, " and you will see that Nebuchadnezzar sent it will be refused." rebellion
an animal to be
sacrificed in the
way to Jerusalem (and so made unfit for
but on the lated
The
the informer.
were now put not
priests
Temple,
was mutisacrifice) by of the Temple it
in a difficulty, for
they could
make a bad precedent and
sacrifice a
defective animal, even for the sake of peace (for
which many things
could they lief
would
kill
may
be done)
;
nor
their betrayer, or the be-
arise that mutilation
was a
capi-
They were therefore obliged to refuse the sacrifice, and Nebuchadnezzar's suspicions were confirmed. It thus came tal
offence.
about
that
the
destruction
of
the
first
Temple was due to disobedience to the law against putting people to shame in public. When Nebuchadnezzar sent his army against Jerusalem, he gave Nebuzaradan, his captain of the guard,
300 mules laden
with saws made for cutting iron, in order to cut
down the gate
of Jerusalem.
All
LATER BIBLICAL LEGENDS.
157
but one were broken against the iron gate Ps.
(see
Ixxiv.
was about to
5,
desist
when a heavenly
and Nebuzaradan
6),
and
voice
raise
the siege
was heard urging
him to a fresh effort, and with the last saw he cut down the gate and entered the
Killing all
city.
made
his
way
whom
he met, he
the Temple, which
to
burnt to the ground.
(We
he
are told that
the Temple would have flown away, but
Proud was prevented.) Nebuzaradan began to
of
his
utter
victory,
boasting
words, but the heavenly voice was again heard, saying, "
You
slew a slain nation,
and a burnt Temple have you burned." Presently he noticed blood boiling up from the earth, and inquired what such a prod-
At
igy meant. to
put him
off
first
the Israelites tried
with excuses, but finally
—
him the truth that it was the blood of a prophet who had foretold the destruction of the city, and had been murdered. Nebuzaradan tried to propitiate the dead told
prophet by slaying the Rabbis, but the blood
still
boiled
:
then he slew the
little
158
TALES PROM THE TALMUD.
school children, then a priest,
94,000
men, but
still
the
Then he approached and slain the noblest people,
and
blood said,
boiled.
"I
Nebu-
"
many men, and become
have
do you want me
and the blood ceased. zaradan then repented of having
to kill all
?
finally
slain so
a proselyte.
PART
IV.
DEMONOLOGT. TALES OF DEMONS, ANGELS, MIRACLES, MAGIC,
Enough
is
AND ADVENTURE.
found
demons alone
to
in fill
the
Talmud about
volumes, and those
who studied the habits of men must have spent
of these enemies quite a large por-
how
tion of their lives in learning tect
From
themselves
against
their
to proattacks.
infancy demons surround us
a trench round a garden." out of the Rabbi's clothes
rubbing of demons their kicks.
We
ing to a friend
;
" like
The wearing is
due to the
bruised legs come from
are
warned against
we meet
talk-
at night, lest he
should turn out to be a demon, or drinking water in which a
demon may have
TALES FBOM THE TALMUD.
160
There
been standing.
least degree ghostly
they inspire the
is
is
nothing in the
about them
may do
mischief they
are on the watch for them,
might be on the watch
To
a crowd. tility
to
days.
the fear
:
a purely physical fear of
and we
us,
much
It will be
as his wife.
we
for pickpockets in
find the origin of their hos-
man we must go back
period of his
as
to early
remembered that at some
life Adam lived with No more picturesque
Lilith
figure
than Lilith can be found in legend
yet
;
here for once the rich storehouse of the
Talmud
fails us, for
the Talmud itself con-
tains only a few references to her, the
most
striking stories about her having been put into writing in post-Talmudic times.
Talmud once with long her
refers
hair.
—the woman
It
to is
her as a
with long hair
story tells us that one day first
woman
this conception of
—that
most haunted the minds of men.
was
The
has
One
when Adam human
feeling the longing for a
companion, he caught sight of the beautiful Lilith
and begged
for her to
be given
DBMONOLOGY.
him as a wife but earth -made husband,
Lilith,
;
Adam
him.
still
161 scorning
away and
flew
an left
pressed his request,
till
at length three angels were sent to bring
By
her back. her,
the
Red Sea they found
and threatened that
if
she would not
return a hundred of her children should die each day.
In reply, she teUs them of
her power over the human children who will some day cover the earth male children :
she can destroy their birth,
power
lasts
the eighth day after
till
and over female children her Then the angels
twenty days.
extract a promise from her to spare chil-
who
dren
shall
their necks,
wear certain charms round
and they
let
her remain
;
but
one hundred of her children die each day. Lilith's
live
are
children
creatures, higher
than
beautiful,
man
soulless
they
in that
through vast ages and can
fly
round
the world and up to heaven, yet infinitely
lower
in
that
when they
die
they are
destroyed for ever.
Therefore Lilith hates
Eve's chUdren, and
is
ever trying to
kill
them, even though she cannot destroy their
L
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
162
When
souls.
a child laughs in
Lilith is laughing will
take
it
and playing with
unless the
awakened and
its
sleep, it,
and
child be sharply-
Lilith bidden " Go, cursed
thy abode is not here." To this day in Eastern Europe, and among the poor emigrants who arrive in London, the
Lilith, for
surrounded by charms to protect Should the mother be it from Lilith. absent and forget to hang the charms, she infant
may
is
return to find the child dead.
There
no outward mark search will sometimes show one of violence, but
will be
a close
long golden hair which Lilith has pulled
from her head and tied tightly round the child's throat.
From the Talmud we
learn that for 130
years after his expulsion from
Eden Adam
begat devils of various kinds, while other
Eve also bore devils during the same time. Some stories even represent Eve as living with Zammael after he had tempted her to eat of the forbidden accounts
tree.
tell
Such
us that
stories
are
supposed to have
been brought back from Babylon after the
DEMONOLOGY. captivity,
and
to be founded
astrian legend of Yima,
163
on the Zoro-
who was
obliged,
while in the power of the serpent, to marry
a devil, while his wife likewise married a
from
devil,
bears,
which
unions
apes,
and black men.
Besides the demons scent
sprang
to
these
parents, there
who owe
misalliances
of
their de-
the
first
were others who were to
have gone into human bodies, whien, at the very
moment they were about
to be
They
embodied, the Sabbath intervened.
lurk in dark or evil places, particularly in old ruins, ever ready to do mischief if they find a traveller alone.
Darkness
is
their
natural ally, and the solitary traveller most to
likely
be
injured.
we should we should though we had a
Therefore,
if
in
and
danger,
sleep with a light,
if alone,
talk in a loud voice as friend near us, or rap
the lid of our drinking -vessel to deceive
them is
into the belief that our companion
stirring, for these
guileless of creatures.
many
demons are the most
We
are also taught
incantations and other
means
to out-
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
164
wit them, as well as ways of detecting their
we strew cinders on morning we may trace the If
presence.
our bed, in the
marks of claws which have pressed them what are these marks but the pressure of Three hundred different demons' feet ? :
species of
male
evil
demon
exist.
— namely,
things they resemble angels
that they
know
In three in
the future (by eavesdrop-
ping at heaven's curtains), that they possess wings,
to
and that they can
end of the earth.
resemble man, species,
and
fly
from end
In three things they
—they
propagate their
eat,
die.
Of all the stories about demons which we read in the Talmud, the most interesting is associated with the name of King Solomon.
had
No
one
so great a
—not
even David
power over the
world as Solomon,
who
— ever
spiritual
has acquired
in
the Talmudic legends such reputation for
a knowledge of magic as Vergil acquired in the legends of the Middle Ages, and
with
as
struggles
little
apparent
reason.
The
between Solomon, armed with
DEMONOLOGY.
165
the ring and chain on which
the Holy
is
engraved
Name, and Ashmedai,
prince of
demons, are none of the titanic struggles
between
powers
the
of
and
good
evil
which the European reader might expect. Chained
to
and
place
his
Solomon, Ashmedai
as
is
by
tortured
little
the
like
sublime unconquerable Prometheus of Greek
who
tragedy as Zammael, dise
to deceive Eve,
defiant Satan of
'
is
crept into Paralike
the proudly
Paradise Lost,' who, "
above the
rest,
In shape and gesture proudly eminent, Stood like a tower."
In the Talmudic legends there
is
none of
the temper of revolt against authority, nor is
there any trace of that conflict between
two noble and is
irreconcilable ideals
usually regarded as the basis of
tragedy. or devil
all
true
The European conception of hero
who
will yield to
in the face of
gods and
no power, look
men and
quarter, conquering Fate herself
human
which
courage,
is
utterly
ask no
by sheer unknown. The
166
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
and constant struggle from infancy against demons has bred a kind of homely familiarity, and want of dramatic
close intimacy
dignity, in the conflicts with them.
The
contests are contests of wits, in which the
conquered accepts his beating and waits his turn, while the conqueror
may remain
on terms of almost bantering good-humour with his opponent.
So, again, Talmu'dic
humour is never the Teutonic " tint of good - humour and robust mirth in the middle of fearful things," but a whimsical,
sometimes fantastic, humour that laughs
now at its enemy's discomfiture, now at own suffering. To return to the story of Solomon and
its
Ashmedai.
We learn that in
order to build
the Temple without using any defiling iron tool,
Solomon determined to obtain the
Shamir, a corn,
worm about
which could
split
the size of a barley-
open rocks and
through the hardest material.
file
Collecting
300 inferior demons, he tortured them to learn where Shamir could be found.
his
They
told him, however, that
only Ash-
;
DBMONOLOGY. medai, prince of demons, so
167
knew the
secret
Solomon sent Benoiah, armed with the
magic ring and chain, to entrap Ashmedai
Every day
and bring him a
prisoner.
Ashmedai went up
to heaven to listen to
the divine discourse on the
Law,
in order
to turn the lesson to his
own advantage.
One
Ashmedai found water had
day, on coming down,
that his private well of clear
been
drained
and
off,
found a new well
filled
place
in
with wine.
of
it
At
he
first
he was suspicious, but when his thirst over-
came fell
his fears
asleep.
he drank deeply, and soon
Then Benoiah emerged from and led
hiding, put the chain round him,
him away in triumph. On his enforced journey Ashmedai uprooted trees and knocked down houses, till a widow called Bending aside to him, " Spare my house." to grant her prayer, he broke one of his
bones (Solomon was thinking of this
dent when he the bone"
said, "
—Prov.
A
soft
inci-
tongue breaketh
xxv. 15).
Presently he
saw a blind man, and guided him, because, as he explained later, it was a meritorious
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
168
man
saw a drunkard, and guided him, because he was a wicked man, and would be punished in the next world, and so needed all the help he saw a he could find in this world deed
a good
help
to
he
;
;
wedding
-
and
party,
bridegroom would soon wait
brother last
years
thirteen ;
he saw a
because
wept, die,
for
man
the
and the bride husband's
her
ordering boots to
seven years, and laughed, because the
man might
not live seven days
;
he saw
a juggler, and laughed again, because he did not know, though a juggler, that he
was standing over a treasure. Brought to Jerusalem, Solomon kept him without food for three days, while Benoiah went from one to the other carrying messages (sometimes false ones), and reporting to Solomon
what Ashmedai
and
did.
Finally
taken before Solomon, he said, "
You have
conquered to
you
all
conquer
said
the world
me ?
will only
Solomon asked
;
why do you want
When you
are
dead,
have four cubits of earth." for
Shamir, and was re-
ferred to the Prince of the Sea.
The Prince
169
DEMONOLOGY. of the Sea had entrusted
it
to a moor-hen,
who used it for spKtting mountains, and making new valleys for her brood. Every night
the
hen returned Shamir to the
Prince of the Sea, according to her oath,
which she would not break. ever,
again devised a plan.
Benoiah, how-
He
covered
the hen's brood with a huge transparent crystal,
which allowed the mother to
but not to approach, her young.
see,
The hen
brought out Shamir, which was at once
taken
by
Benoiah,
whereupon the
hen
The building of the Temple could now proceed. Every day Solomon would visit Ashmedai and talk to him, for he was not above learning from " How are you any greater every one. or more clever than I ? " he asked one day when the Temple was finished. " Take off my chain and ring and I will show you," answered the demon. Solomon removed the chain, whereupon Ashmedai promptly swallowed him, spat him out 400 miles distant (some say brushed him 400 miles strangled
with
his
herself.
wing),
took his form, and
sat
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
170
on
throne (hence Eccl.
his
2, 10,
" This
had only self
was
my
portion,"
his staff left
and xii. meaning he 3
i.
when he found him-
400 miles away from Jerusalem).
a time
and
all
went
courtiers
well,
began to notice that some-
thing was strange haviour.
For
but soon the Rabbis
Taking
the king's be-
about
queen
the
confidence, they asked if she
into
their
had noticed
anything unusual, and going into further
had noticed the king's feet, for they knew that though a demon could assume any form, he could particulars, asked if she
—
never
change
his
either hoofs or claws.
now always wore queens told
which remained
feet,
The queen
said he
and the inferior the same tale, which further stockings,
increased the suspicion of the people about
the
palace.
About
this
time
rumours
began to arrive of a wandering beggar
who went about declaring to every one that he was King Solomon, and who was supposed to be mad.
"If he always
tells
the same tale," said the Rabbis, " perhaps
he
is
not mad."
They sent
for
him
secretly,
DEMONOLOGY.
ill
and gave him the magic chain and ring. The beggar then appeared before the supposed king. There was no seizing of bows and clash of spear upon shield, but Solomon showed the magic symbols, and Ashmedai, recognising a higher power, gave a cry and vanished, and Solomon resumed his throne.
But
for
ever
he lived in fear of
after
Ashmedai, and that
is
why he kept
mighty men " to guard of Songs iii. 7). score
is
his
" three-
bed (Song
The exact
position occupied
obscure.
In spite of the minute partic-
ulars
we
habits,
by Ashmedai
are given about the character,
and
tastes of demons,
we get nothing
like a scientific classification.
Though
de-
scribed as the chief or prince of demons,
Ashmedai does not appear
to be identical
with Zammael or Satan.
Milton makes
him one of the rebellious angels, while some modern writers have tried to identify him with Ahriman.
It
is
generally agreed that
the belief in powers of evil was brought
back from Babylon, and was of Zoroastrian origin.
The Kabbis of the Talmud never
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
172
altogether
accept
such
essential part of the
to regard the
true
doctrines
an
Some seem
"Law."
demon
as
stories
as literally
others as not of binding authority,
;
but useful to embellish or help to impress
more important doctrines. This toleration with which they regard the belief in demons may be illustrated by the quaint decision that for a man to blow out a candle on the Sabba,th in order to save expense (being "
work " on the day of
blow out a candle because he a robber or an evil spirit again,
oddly ruins
we
are given the
(l)
picion of
not a
but to
afraid of So,
sin.
three following
avoiding
old sus-
reasons
for
because
because the ruins
may
is
we may provoke a having made an assignation
assorted :
is
rest),
a sin
is
may fall
contain an evil
;
spirit.
(3)
;
(2)
because they
The
beautiful,
golden-haired, cloven-hoofed Lilith herself loves
to
lurk
in
old
ruins
and
entice
the incautious traveller to his destruction.
She all
is
attended by 478 legions of demons,
ready to do a mischief.
(The Hebrew
173
DEMONOLOGY. letters
which form the name of Lilith
also
stand for the number 478.)
Though the common type of demon is as a rule more mischievous than dangerous, there are bands of destroying angels far
more to be dreaded. Myriads of them used to roam abroad, slaying right and left.
One day the
leader of
them met a
certain
"I
famous Rabbi, and
said, would injure was warned to preserve you on account of your knowledge of the Law." "If I be so favourably regarded," said the Rabbi, " I banish you altogether."
you, but that I
He begged
from banishment,
for a release
and was allowed to roam forth two nights a-week, but later, again meeting the same
Rabbi, still
he was banished
altogether
;
but
he and his band injure travellers in
lonely places.
One night
in the year
is
to-day regarded by some people as particularly dangerous on that night all still
:
evil spirits are abroad, is
doomed
liable
to
for
see
and the man who
death within the year his
is
shadow moving before
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
174
And
him without a head. night in the year
spirits
evil
have
(Passover
on one night
power, so
just as on one full
Eve)
only good spirits are abroad, and children
may go Of to
to
all
be
bed without
dreaded
The Talmud
Angel of Death.
the
is
tells
innumerable stories con-
Sometimes he
cerning him.
with Zammael or Satan are
told
fear.
the wicked angels, the one most
;
is
identified
another time
we
that Satan, Evil Thoughts, and
the Angel of Death are different names for
one and the same thing
;
but this un-
usual attempt at resolving his personality into
a mere
was
certainly
the angel.
the
not the
He
leaps,
women who
funerals
;
of attributes
personification
popular notion of
sword
in hand, before
return in procession from
therefore
we
should avoid meet-
ing them, lest the sword strike us.
we meet such aside
a procession,
we
and escape behind some
or at least, if this
aside our face
Should
should leap
river or wall,
cannot be done, turn
and utter the charm,
"And
the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke
175
DKMONOLOGY. Sometimes he hides
thee."
his
empty synagogues, but never
sword
in
in
a syna-
gogue containing children or ten men (the full
complement necessary
for a
complete
therefore in times of plague
service)
;
should
beware
alone.
So, in times of plague,
of
entering
we
synagogue
a
we
should
avoid the middle of the road, for then the
angel
rages through the
right and left
;
centre,
slaying
on the other hand, during
times of peace and good health
we should
avoid the byways, for then the angel lurking in hiding. howl,
Death the
When
we may know abroad.
is
engaged
in
the village dogs
that the Angel of is
well
known
that
any one while studying the Law. Many
cannot
angel
It
is
touch
stories are told of the angel being obliged
to
make
noises to divert his victim's at-
tention from the slay him. (p.
140) to
Law, because he could
The device which he employed entrap David was repeated with
variations against
Once he came
many
other learned men.
to a victim's
guise of a mendicant
(the
door in the
study of the
176
TALES FROM THE TALMUD,
Law must
always be interrupted in the When the master apcause of charity). peared the angel said to him,
"You had
—
mercy on a poor man, why will you not have mercy on me? I am the Angel of Death." The appeal was not in vain the master ceased to study the Law, and died. Moses, it will be remembered, overcame ;
the Angel of Death by his mere presence,
and was taken from earth by God Himself Aaron and Miriam are reported to have likewise conquered him.
One
there was
Death by a
who
trick.
foiled the
The story
is
Angel of told
by
"The Spanish Jew's Tale." Briefly, it is that when the time came for Rabbi Ben Levi to die, as a reward for his piety God bade the Angel of Longfellow in
Death do all that he might ask. Told by the angel of the boon, Ben Levi's request was that he might, before he died, be allowed to look upon his future abode The angel bade him follow. in Paradise. "Give me thy sword for safety," he said. The angel complied, and together they
"
DEMONOLOGY.
1*1*1
The angel whereupon he
reached the walls of Paradise.
him upon the
lifted
wall,
at once leaped into Paradise, and
swore
by the Holy Name that he would not return. The angel still held him by the but himself had no power to enter coat, after him. Then came the angels before God, telling what this man had done, and how he had entered Paradise by force. As it was found that he had never in his life broken his oath, he was allowed to keep this last oath also, and return no more. When he would have kept the angel's sword too, he was bidden give it back
;
but
first
he
from
extracted
angel a promise that in future, slew,
man
no
before time he infant
are
in
now
should see his sword,
had
the
when he for
slain openly, " even the
the mother's lap."
Thus men
spared from seeing the sword, but
the belief yet lingers that the " Malach (angel) himself
may sometimes
and among the wrestling with him has ac-
watchers in the superstitious,
be seen by
room
;
quired a very literal meaning, so that a
M
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
178
man, not learned enough to wrestle
sick for
may
himself,
nevertheless be
helped
by the prayers and study of a learned man employed to sit to overcome the angel
at the bedside.^
Closely akin to the Angel of Death, if
not
with
identical
descends
him,
and tempts,
He
Satan.
is
and accuses,
rises
and comes down and takes the soul. There are many stories of him too in the Talmud. He appeared to Abraham when the
was on the way
latter
After
Isaac.
finally told
be
liar
is
and
not to
once
he
not
Isaac
;
to
which
"
The punishment of a be believed, even when he
replied,
speaks the truth."
David
sacrifice
him,
Abraham that the lamb would
sacrificed,
Abraham
to
tempting
vainly
in
the
He
also
form
appeared to
of a
ram,
at
which David shot an arrow, when he was led 1
into
the land of the Philistines and
Readers of Children of the Ghetto '
Moses Ansell was summoned
remember howday and and when the angel had '
will
at all hours of the
night to wrestle with the angel, retired worsted, was dismissed with a mouthful of and a shilling.
rum
179
DEMONOLOGY. captured
by Goliath's
again
the
in
form
and once
brother,
of a
at which
bird,
David shot an arrow which penetrated a beehive within which Bath Sheba was
When
washing. to
Moses the
from Satan,
the
"Law" was
was
carefully concealed
fact
given
he should sneer when the
lest
people worshipped the Golden
Calf,
this
act of idolatry being foreseen in heaven for
though man has
he
will choose is
have power over Israel,"
he
is
on the
Day
told.
known the
all
nations
except
represented by Rabbi Eliezer
as saying to God.
committed
:
yet the course "I beforehand.
freewill,
"
And
over Israel too,
of Atonement,
if
they have
but not otherwise," he
sin,
Day
Therefore on the
of
is
Atonement
the sins of Israel are cast upon the scapegoat, vain.^
that
the Holy
There
is
a legend,
the day following the
Satan
goes
to
Word may Day
heaven
too,
of
and
not be that on
Atonement says,
"All
• This is how the ancient Eabbi explains the curious ceremony which has excited much discussion, being some-
times explained as a
relic of primitive devil-worship.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
180
these people
who were pretending
to re-
pent yesterday are going about their business as usual to-day"; wherefore on this
day too
should spend
people
time in prayer. Among the conquests in the should be counted Spirit of Idolatry,
the
Israelites
after
much
in
fasting
an spirit
extra
world
the victory over
the
which was caught by the days
of
and prayer.
Nehemiah They tore
the hair from his mane, and his shrieks could be heard four hundred parsas' dis-
Then said the captors, " What can we do? If he cries so loud, God will pity him." They threw him into a leaden tance.
pot to muffle his voice (see Zech.
and so slew him, and
v.
8),
since that time there
has been no idolatry. Nevertheless the Talmud
is full
of warn-
ings against being entrapped into idolatry.
No
opportunity
is
ever omitted of drawing
some moral against the sin and folly of Nearly every wicked man such worship. has incidentally added idol-worship to his crimes.
As
usual, fences are set
up round
DEMONOLOGY. the Law, and no Israelite
is
181
allowed to do
anything which might by any conceivable stretch of imagination
be interpreted by
others as an act of idol-worship.
Even a
dip in a public bath containing an orna-
mental statue at the end might be interpreted as an act of bowing to the figure,
and
is
therefore forbidden,
except under
circumstances which would preclude such
an inference, and which are minutely analysed by one Rabbi.
For the same reason
we may not bow down to drink water when an idol stands at the head of the spring, nor may we even pick up money scattered on the ground in front of an idol,
we can do so without appearing to bow down. Frequent allusions to idolunless
atrous neighbours, and whole cities of idolaters, trying to induce
Israelites to copy would seem to suggest that were not so far - fetched as
their worship,
these
rules
might at
first
sight be imagined.
On one occasion an Israelite and pagan woman were travelling together, when they passed a small wayside temple.
The
;
TALES FKOM THE TALMUD.
182
woman went
When
in to worship the idol.
she came out her companion declared his intention of going in to worship.
you not an replied that
Israelite
?
"
"Are
she asked.
was nothing to
and went
her,
The mode of worship of the
in.
He idol
had passed, though whose intensely interesting historically and psytemple
they
chologically to a student of the evolution
of religious worship, unfortunately cannot
here be particularised.^
It
is
enough
to
say that the Israelite intended by his act
and show
to insult
his scorn for the idol
but the old priest in attendance declared
knew
what the god liked, and had worshipped better than any one before him and the Rabbis afterwards dehe
just
;
cided
had
that,
in fact
in
spite
of his
intention,
committed an act of
he
idolatry.
One heathen woman is held up to our admiration who wished to worship this idol, by way of returning thanks on her recovery from an illness, but when the ' The story can be found in the Talmud, about the middle of Sanhedrin.
DEMONOLOGY.
183
nature of the ceremony was explained to
would rather endure her
her, declared she
degrading
such a
perform
than
again
over
illness
rite.
is
a similar story of an Israelite
who threw
a stone at an idol to express
There
his contempt,
but was afterwards horrified he had unconsciously per-
to learn that
formed the very act by which this
idol
was worshipped.
A
question
curious
raised
is
con-
in
nection with idols which shows that faith-
healing was as efiective in ancient as in
"that
though
How
"
modern days.
is
we know
power, yet there are so enticated
cases
of lame
asks
it,"
have
idols
many and
parable citizen
:
with
was
whom
once
?
"
The
an
upright
people deposited their
goods without a witness. citizen,
people
sick
a not very convincing
is
There
no
well -auth-
being cured after a visit to them Rabbi's answer
one,
One
suspicious
however, always brought a witness
when he wished Once he
to
deposit
any
failed to bring a witness.
article.
"
Now
TALES rROM THE TALMUD.
184
US punish
let
him
for
suspicions
his
by
keeping the deposit," the wife of the up-
man
right
suggested
" Shall
replied,
we
;
but the husband
because he has behaved improperly
when
it
is
appointed
allow that
that very
day,
man
?
man
appointed that a
"
So shall
and be cured on
suffer a disease so long,
an
name
good
our
lose
shall
God
refuse
to
to be cured because at
moment he happens
to be visit-
ing a heathen temple?
The
any created
fear that
figure
might
be worshipped, necessarily put a check upon
developments of art;
all is
yet this check
perhaps not without compensation, for
the
desire
to
express
ideal
or
abstract
mind through some imperfect material medium found another channel, and in place of a few broken conceptions
of
the
fragments of perfectly chiselled marble we
have such imperishable works as the Books of Job and Isaiah, and the writings attrib-
uted to David and Solomon.
example influence
:
if
of
To take one some Jewish Phidias, under one
of
the
great
national
;
DEMONOLOGY.
had wrought a war-horse and
deliveries,
rider
on a
frieze of the
cult to believe
work of
185
Temple,
we should have
it is diffi-
possessed a
art nobler in conception, or modelled
with a grander simplicity, than the description of the war-horse in
It
Job xxxix.
must not be supposed that powers hovering round are
invisible
Some
all
the
hostile.
are indijBTerent, while others are actu-
ally helpful.
Some appear
to preside over
the elements, such as the Prince of the
Then there
Sea, or the Prince of Hail. is
the
mysterious
angel
Metatron,
there are the Great Angels,
times
to
people
and
who appear
mentioned
the
in
at
Old
Testament, as when Michael, Gabriel, and "
Raphael appear to Abraham. right hand, Michael
before
me,
Ariel
;
;
on
my
left,
On my Gabriel
Raphael
behind me,
and above me the Divine Presence," is a charm potent to ward off evil. We hear most of Gabriel. He, alone among angels, is
acquainted with the whole of the seventy
languages of the ancient world
when we
;
therefore
pray, our prayers should be in
;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
186
Hebrew, for if we pray in the vernacular Aramaic tongue, which Gabriel alone understands, unless he will
happen
to hear, our prayer
He
remain unanswered.
has three
names, which signify, respectively, that he argues
before
Heaven
Israel's
for
that he restrains Israel's sin his defence avail not,
attempt
who
Israel's
cooled
sake
and that
no other angel It
defence.
the
;
flames
if
will
was Gabriel Hananiah,
for
Mishael, and Azariah, cast into the furnace
by Nebuchadnezzar. The Prince of Hail had offered to cool the flames in the last case,
but Gabriel urged that
a greater miracle
if he,
it
would be
a Prince of Fire,
were allowed to put out the flames.
We
are also told that he cooled the flames for
Abraham when he was
cast into the furnace
by Nimrod, but elsewhere in the Talmud we read that God Himself cooled them.
No
angels ever take
sometimes they give eating.
food
is
smell of
human the
Being made of
food,
though
appearance of
air or fire,
their
equally subtile, consisting of the fire
and fumes of water.
The
187
DEMONOLOGY.
humble and modest
angels
are
other's
company, and when asked to sing
praises,
"
say,
greater than for
You begin
first
;
in
each
you are
Many were destroyed man others
I."
opposing the creation of
;
are created only to sing praises, and are
Round
at once destroyed.
Rabbi,
when he
grouped such
a
studied
number
the head of one
Law, was
the
of fiery angels
that every fowl of the air which flew over-
head was burnt.
Sometimes angels are put to a homely use, for apart
from the wonderful ways
which various cabbalists them, there
is
ally
failed
to
281) have used
a tradition that
tress of the household
before cooking
(p.
salt it
if
may have
the
meat
the misaccident-
sufficiently
required
(as
in
according
to strict ritual), if she leave a piece of salt
by the side, the angel will finish it for her. Every Israelite on the eve of the Sabbath (which begins from sunset on Friday night) is
accompanied home by a good and a bad
angel on either laid,
side.
the candles
If he find the table
duly
lighted,
and
his
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
188
wife and children dressed in their best to
welcome the Sabbath, the good angel "
May
all
your Sabbaths be like
angel has to say "
the bad
says,
and
this,"
Amen."
Other-
wise the bad angel says the words, and the
good angel idea
of
is
forced to say "
welcoming the Sabbath
Law
is
This
very
is
The duty
strong in the Talmud. ing the
Amen."
of obey-
a gift and privilege, and
is
accepted with
a rejoicing which
has
nothing akin to the joy of the ascetic self-mortification.
The
" yoke of the
never becomes a burden tUl be cast
it
Law
begins to
The evening meal above
off.
in "
luded to which ushers in the Sabbath
alis
in particular a joyous family gathering, at
which
even
material
such
pleasures,
as
special table delicacies, appear spiritualised
At
symbols of the joyful ceremony.
its
conclusion the head of the household reads, in
honour of his wife, "
who can rubies,"
As
find?
For her
A
virtuous
price
is
woman
far
above
from Proverbs xxxi.
may
be
readily
supposed
among
people so closely in touch with the spirit-
DEMONOLOGY.
189
ual world, miracles are constantly effected for the
in
moments
the Talmud
men and women
of good
benefit
of trouble.
how
It
is
recorded in
a Rabbi, travelling along
a road, came suddenly face to face with four
two
hungry legs
At the
lions.
of meat
satisfied the lions,
kept for
himself,
fell
critical
moment
from heaven
one
:
and the other the Rabbi the College of Rabbis
having decided that
it
could not be the
leg of a forbidden animal, as no unclean
thing
fell
More
from heaven.
often miracles occur to save people
from being put to shame in
public.
One
Rabbi was so poor that he seldom had even bread to eat wife
;
nevertheless every
made a brave show
week
of lighting a
his fire
and pretending to cook the dinner for the coming Sabbath. One day a spiteful neighbour came
in,
and, finding no one in the
room, opened the oven to see whether there
was anything being cooked. To her amazement she found the oven full, and called out, " will
Bring a bread -shovel, or the bread
be burnt."
" I have
gone
for it," re-
:
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
190
plied the
Rabbi's wife
and so
;
she had, although she had
left
in
truth
the oven
was accustomed to miracles happening. Miracles were indeed of conOne day stant occurrence at this house. her daughter accidentally mixed oil and vinegar and put them in the Sabbath empty,
for she
The Sabbath having begun, she could not put out the lamp and refill it, but nevertheless the lamp burnt till the
lamp.
Sabbath's conclusion.
woman
tain
Another day a
called at the house
cer-
and com-
beams which she had bought for her own house were too short the Rabbi's wife prayed, and they were plained
that
the
Yet again a neighbour called complain of her goats, which had done
lengthened. to
some
may wife
damage.
have done
so,
wolves eat them," said the Rabbi's ;
"if not,
their horns,"
home with
How
" If they
may they
— and
impale bears on
the goats duly returned
bears impaled on their horns.
could such a poor
woman
afford to
keep goats? we ask, and the explanation is
at once forthcoming.
A
neighbour
acci-
DEMONOLOGY.
191
dentally left some fowls on her premises,
and the Rabbi's wife was too honest to eat the eggs which they had laid there. The eggs accordingly were hatched, and the
ultimately
Rabbi's
wife
left
with an impression that
what to
egotistic, or
illustrate
it
We is
are
some-
even boorish, constantly
record miracles which
to us, unless
the
sold
chickens and bought the goats.
indeed
we
have happened repeat
them
to
some argument. We are told, that Isaiah saw all the same
for instance,
wonders as Ezekiel, but said
little
about
them, because he was like a townsman often
saw the king, and was not
who
surprised,
but Ezekiel was like a countryman
who
saw the king for the first time. Other times the object of the miracle was to decide some vexed point of the Law, and then of course it was worth reOnce a Rabbi called for miracles cording. Various to prove that his view was correct. miracles more and more striking occurred without convincing his opponents, and apparently without causing them the least
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
192 surprise,
merely
they
for
miracles proved nothing.
of the college
if
fall
my
that
replied
" Let the walls
view be right,"
he said at length, and the walls began to "
fall over.
scholars
if
and
the
Why
should ye walls interfere
discuss?" walls
his
said
ceased
to
opponent,
In
totter.
honour of the Rabbi who invoked them they remained leaning, but in honour of
opponent they would not
his
this
position,
we
fall,
and
in
read, they remain unto
this day.
From to
miracles there
is
but a short step
magic and witchcraft.
The man who
may
be granted the
asks for a miracle,
divine aid in response to his prayer
the
man who
practises magic, wields
;
but
power
over unseen forces, and sets them in motion to do his bidding, willingly or unwillingly. Strict laws existed against the practice of
any form of magic, but it seems nevertheless to have been very common. Anything that strikes us as unusual or suspicious
may we
be part of some magic charm. see
two women
sitting
on
If
opposite
DEMONOLOGY.
we should
sides of the road, for
193 avoid them,
they are evidently practising witchcraft.
One Rabbi had
said that eatables left in
the road might be removed by the next traveller,
but a later contributor to the
was true before of witchcraft had become so
Talmud says that the practice
this
common, but now eatables left in the road would probably have been left there for a purpose, and we should beware of them. Egypt was always famous for its witchcraft in Talmudic as well as Biblical ages,
and
home
of the Black Art.
is
bered that
good and
constantly referred to as the
when
It will be
remem-
ten measures of various
evil things
came upon
earth, of
the ten measures of witchcraft nine went to Egypt,
and one
to the rest of the world.
Sometimes questions would debate as to whether
arise for serious
some display had
been an exhibition of magic, or merely a
which dazzled the eyes. One Rabbi comes before the College with a story of how he has seen a man, riding conjurer's
trick
upon a camel, cut
off
N
the camel's
head
;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
194
and then ring a has stopped.
whereupon the camel this magic? The sorely
bell,
Is
puzzled College at length decides that is
merely a conjurer's
On
narrow
the
it
trick.
border
-
between
line
magicians and miracle -workers come the rain-makers.
That they were on the right
side of the line
is
clear
from the answer
when an appeal was addressed to him to make rain, that he could not make rain, but could pray for of one Rabbi,
rain.
Still,
the gift of successfully pray-
ing for rain was peculiar to certain individuals,
In
and sometimes even ran
times
sought
drought,
of
out
"
are
still
sought
country districts of England. curious,
were
much the same way
in
"water -finders
in families.
rain -makers
and at the same time
stories are recorded of the
out
as in
Some most characteristic,
way
in
the prayers for rain were conducted.
which
We
among the Israelites settled in Babylon, when rain was needed, the good men used to say, "Let us combine and pray, and perhaps we shall find favour " read that
195
DEMONOLOGY.
but in Palestine, when rain was needed,
some pious man would ask for a sack to buy grain, then go away and pray secretly (as
in
Ps.
cxxx.
1,
"
Out
of the depths
have I cried"), and when the rain came
would return and
say, " It
is
now unneces-
sary to go to market, as after this rain
we
shall
be able to get grain anywhere."
Here we find evidence of the superior modesty of the Israelite of Palestine, and also of the growing rivalry between the schools of Palestine and Babylon. There
is
one story of a rain-maker
who
drew a circle round him in the sand, and vowed he would not leave it till the rain fell.
A
few drops of rain
descended.
from
my
" This
is
immediately
only to release
vow," he declared.
It
me
was not
the kind of rain which the country needed,
and he prayed again, till at length the parched earth was relieved by a steady
downpour of gentle did not find favour
rain.
Such methods
among the
colleges of
Rabbis, but what was to be done with such a man when Heaven granted all his
;;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
196 prayers
wont
He was
?
" Father, bathe
say,
to
water
;
give
me
a petulant child
like
bathe
father,
me
almonds,
nuts,
granates," and
still
in
me
hot
in
cold water
pome-
apricots,
be forgiven and
in-
dulged each time.
A
grandson of the last-mentioned Rabbi
had inherited
On
power of making
his
rain.
one occasion some young Rabbis, going
him and ask for his intercession, found him in a field engaged in weeding. To their friendly greeting he gave no answer, but merely arose and accompanied to seek
On
them. things
:
way they
the
first,
that
he
many
noticed
carried
his
coat
upon one shoulder, and, instead of using for his wooden implement, it as a pad placed the implement upon the other next,
that
came
to
his
feet
he carried
water, in
his
shoes
tiU
he
and then put them on
order
to
cross
;
then,
that
whenever he came to a thorny path he raised his garments and allowed his bare flesh
to be
reached
the
torn
;
city
next, his
that
wife
when they appeared
to
;
DEMONOLOGY. meet him dressed ing the last
;
house,
197
in her best
that
the
on sitting down to
on reach-
;
guests
entered
table, that
were offered nothing to eat
;
and
they
lastly,
that the elder son was offered one loaf
and
younger
the
two.
Presently
they
heard him whisper to his wife the cause
and add, " Let us go to the and pray, and if the rain should be
of the attic
visit,
granted,
it
will not
Husband and
appear to be due to
went to the attic, which appears to have been visible from the guests' room, and prayed quietly, each in a different corner, and us."
wife
then
at length the rain-cloud appeared in the direction of the wife's corner.
Then they
returned to the guests, and the husband at length asked the reason of their visit. " have come to ask you to pray for
We
rain,"
they
said.
"
But now there
is
no
need," he replied, " for the rain has come."
him that this answer was usesaw through his device then, on their begging him to explain the various things they had noticed dur-
They
told
less,
for
they
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
198
ing the day, he gave them the following
answers
:
because
"I did not return your greeting had
I
labourer,
hired
myself out
and might not waste
as
my
a
em-
by returning greetings. The garment which I placed on my shoulder I had borrowed to wear, not to use out as a pad. Along the road I could see where I was stepping, but not in the water. I drew up my garments along the thorny path because the wounds in flesh will ployer's time
heal,
My
but not wife
the
met me
tears
her best, that I might to look
tion
entered
the
house
to eat because I
when you saw and
thanks nothing.
I
a
garment.
feel
first
I
knew
because I
I ofifered
in
no tempta-
upon any other woman.
nothing about you.
all,
in
at the city dressed
you nothing
knew you would
refuse
there was not enough for
did not wish to receive your
when you would have I
gave but
one
loaf
received to
the
boy because he had been home all had probably helped himself to and day, food, but the younger had been all day elder
DEMONOLOGY. at school,
199
The
and was probably hungry.
rain-cloud appeared in the direction of wife's corner, rather
my
wife, being
my
than of mine, because
always at home,
is
able to
give food to the poor, whereas I only give
them coins to purchase their own food." The art of making imps, or speakingheads,
well
so
and Jewish
know
medieval
in
both
legends,
is
often
One Rabbi
mentioned in the Talmud.
made a man and sent him who questioned him but answer.
Christian
to
a friend,
received
" Better return to earth,
you were taken," said the friend
;
no
whence "I see
you were made by one of my colleagues." There are two forms of inquiring of the dead one is, keeping and consulting a dead man's head the other is, calling up the dead. The dead who are thus called come up feet foremost, but on Sabbaths Here we have they cannot be called up. :
;
one of the proofs (see
Sabbath
is
not a day
as the seventh
Sabbath of God.
p.
255) that the
arbitrarily
by man, but
is
chosen
the real
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
200
Sometimes the dead are restored to
life,
and continue
to live out their natural lives
in the body.
One year two Rabbis were
celebrating together the annual feast which recalls the deliverance
much
took too
wine, and in a state of in-
toxication killed the other.
Coming
he immediately prayed
senses,
One
from Haman.
for
to his
him
be restored, and the friend returned to
Next year the Rabbi who had
to
life.
effected the
miracle again asked his friend to celebrate
the feast with him, but the friend refused,
pleading that there might not always be a miracle.
With
so narrow a line between the living
and dead,
it
was easy
for the spirits of the
The of a dead man, summoned back and
departed to return with messages. soul
questioned about death, declared that in
dying there was no more pain than
moving a hair from milk if
be
ordered allowed
back to to
;
life,
in re-
yet every soul,
would pray to
remain disembodied, only
through the fear of death.
The
souls
of the
returned
dead were
BEMONOLOGY.
201
They were no
quite as real as the living.
"pale heads" or gibbering phantoms, such as the
early Greeks believed
in,
moving
together "like a cluster of squealing bats in a cavern."
Abraham,
^
Isaac,
represented
constantly
are
as
and Jacob being
formed of things which take place
The
world. as
told
in
up of Samuel by Saul the Old Testament, and the calling
"Why
question
might at
in-
in the
hast thou disquieted
me?"
sight be thought to suggest
first
that the writer would represent him as resting
removed from earthly
far
cares,
but the Talmud gives another interpretation.
When
the witch says, " I see divine
forms [the plural
coming up " Moses,
(1
used in the Hebrew]
is
Sam.
xxviii. 13),
whom Samuel
she refers to
asked to accompany
him because he was " disquieted." Why was he disquieted ? Because he feared it was the Day of Judgment and if such a ;
righteous
man
more should •
feared judgment,
less righteous
Some Rabbis, however,
men
how much
fear it
?
are said to have believed in
the existence of a kind of "shade" as well as a soul.
'
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
202
But
it
is
not only matters of great im-
portance which the nation is
who
are
his
daily gossip
;
The Law should not presence of a dead
be discussed in the lest
nor leaders of
told,
are informed
carried on.
still
man,
;
soul
hovering near should
be vexed at being unable to join in the
Once a man who had given away some money in charity was so persecuted on that account by his wife that he ran away and spent the night in There he heard two the burial-ground. discussion.
dead
wander listen
year."
"
Let
us
about the world," said one, "
and
girls
talking
together.
behind veil to God's decrees for the " I cannot, for I
am
buried under
a covering of reeds," said her companion " but
you
Presently the
go."
how
turned, and told
corn
sown
in
the
that year beaten
it
first
re-
was decreed that
first
rain
down by
by what he had heard, the
hail.
should
be
Profiting
listener
sowed
that year in the second rain and saved
Next year he went to the same grave and heard the same preliminary " And what did you hear ? conversation. his crops.
DEMONOLOGY. asked the
203
when her companion "That what is planted in the second rain shall be destroyed by fire." Again the listener profited by what he first spirit
returned.
had heard aroused,
but his wife's curiosity being
;
extracted the
she
story of his
and shortly afterwards, in a quarrel with the mother of one of the dead girls, revealed the secret, offering to show her where her daughter lay buried under reeds. Next listenings in the burial-ground,
time the listener went to the graves the second girl replied,
bade her go forth
when her companion as usual, " Let me be
These things which have passed
at peace.
between us have been heard by the
living."
The story contains one of the many trations of a indirectly
not
good deed of charity leading a
to
benefactor.
illus-
benefit
falling
upon the
The wife here described
uncommon type
in the
Talmud.
is
a
The
husband frequently does nothing but study the
Law
he
should
the wife
(though to be truly meritorious
is
also
a
practise
a
trade),
and
hard-working woman who
manages aU the business
afiairs
;
kind of
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
204
heart but sharp of tongue, she resents see-
ing the results of her household economies
squandered hesitation
and has no her husband what
pious
in
deeds,
telling
in
she thinks of him.
adventures happened at home
If such
an ordinary burial-ground, what might
in
not happen to travellers
end of the world, world,
order
in
and people the
to
but to go countries
find
of which
like
to the
wonderful ancient
which people had
in
enough
far
—the
who went
had never
been imagined in the wildest fancies of
dreamland
?
If to-day
the
adventures
Nights,'
may
we can read with told
the
in
knowing them to be
pleasure '
Arabian
tales,
we
fancy the glow of wonder and ex-
citement with which
men and women
two thousand years ago
of
listened to such
adventures as are recorded in the Talmud, believing 1
Even
gorical ity of
them
those
to be true.^
who contend
The wonder
that such stories have an alle-
meaning may nevertheless admit that the majoruninitiated listeners accepted them literally. It
DEMONOLOaY.
205
of the ancient world, perhaps last felt by " stout Cortes,
He
when with
eagle eyes
stared at the Pacific,"
had not yet been destroyed by men who learned to sail round it. The weird story of the Rabbi who found the enchanted desert where the dead Ephraimites were lying has been already told (p.
119)
;
but this was not the only adven-
ture which befell that same Rabbi.
Another
time his Arab guide showed him Mount Sinai
surrounded by standing serpents which
sembled white
asses.
re-
Yet another time the
same Arab took him to the spot where the children of Korah were swallowed up. From two
crevices in the earth
the Rabbi put some
smoke was
damp wool on
issuing
:
the end
must be remembered, too, that travellers' tales which are incredible to modern people were not necessarily incredible to the ancients.
Many
centuries later people
undoubtedly believed the stories about Prester John's kingdom (see Baring Gould's 'Myths of the Middle Ages ) and facts of natural history, hardly less wonderful than the stories of Talmudic monsters, are incidentally mentioned as being well known in such books as 'The Complete Angler,' which no one would ever suggest to '
;
contain esoteric doctrines.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
206
of a spear, pushed
drew
it
said the
it
" Stoop
out singed.
Arab
;
into the crevice,
and
and
listen,"
whereupon the Rabbi bent
down and heard the words, " Moses and the Law are true, and we are liars." "Every thirtieth day of the month," said the Arab, " they are turned over in Gehenna
and they utter these
like a piece of meat,
words."
The more common with beasts,
fishes,
stories are concerned
and vegetables of mon-
One Rabbi
strous size.
how he saw
tells
an alligator as large as a town of sixty
A
houses.
snake
swallowed
and a
it,
raven swallowed the snake and then sat " Think how strong that upon a tree. tree
must have been," he adds
fellow
not
-
traveller
been there
lieved
diamond
could
traveller,
not
on board
floating in the
A
a snake.
opened
he
if
his
he had
have be-
it.
Another
session
remarks that
and
;
of its
sea
ship,
saw a
encircled
by
diver attempted to take pos-
the
diamond, but
mouth
and
the
snake
threatened
to
)
DEMONOLOGY. swallow the
which
207
Then came a raven
ship.
bit off the snake's
head
;
but another
snake appeared and placed the diamond
upon the dead snake's body, whereupon But the dead snake returned to life. another raven appeared, and again bit off the snake's head, and threw the diamond
The sailors placed the diamond upon some salted birds, whereupon the birds at once came to life and flew away with the diamond. (Magic upon the
ship.
properties
were frequently
attributed
to
diamonds.
A
somewhat
traveller
similar story
who saw
basket
a
is
that of a floating
the sea set with diamonds and pearls. diver
tried
reach
to
made a threatening broke his
He
leg.
in
A
but the basket
it,
gesture,
and nearly
then sank the basket
with a bag of sand, whereupon a voice from heaven
said,
"
What
business have
you with this basket, which belongs to the wife of a Rabbi, it
the
purple
world to come
for " ?
who
the
will deposit in
righteous
in
the
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
208
The
sea-serpent, too,
these early travellers.
out at
sea
says
was discovered by One who saw it
raised
it
head,
its
its
eyes were like moons, and rivers poured
from
its
ated
by another
His story
nostrils.
guished horns on
traveller,
corrobor-
who
distin-
head and engraved
its
upon them the words
is
:
" I
am
of the small
of the sea, and measure four hundred parsas [1600 miles], and am going into Leviathan's mouth." creatures
Yet another traveller cut up a leg of meat to prepare his dinner, put it on the grass, and went away to gather wood for roasting it. On his return, the leg had resumed the same shape as before it was cut. It was afterwards explained to him that the grass on which he had laid it was of a peculiar kind, which had the quality
of
combining
things
previously
separated.
Among is
for
many
faces.
common to all nations woman who sleeps and wakes among strange Talmud we find a Jewish
the stories
that of the
years
In the
man
or
209
DEMONOLOGY.
Rip Van Winkle who sleeps for seventyyears, and on waking to find that no one knows him, prays for death. A more wonderful story is that of the Rabbi who put down the basket which he was carrying while he went a short distance to say his prayers, and on his return found the basket gone.
He
fancied
that thieves might have removed
at
first
it,
until his guide explained to
him that
was not thieves, but the revolving wheel of heaven which had caught up his basket and was carrying it round the sky. " Return to-morrow at the same hour," added the guide, " and you will find it." And truly enough at that same hour next day the basket reappeared, and the Rabbi took He had it out of the window of the sky.
it
in fact
been standing on the extreme edge
of the earth, which was scraped by the
sky as
it
the stars '
There
is
continually revolved,
with
carrying
it.^
a somewhat similar idea of the relative posi-
tions of heaven
and earth
Cosmas, the Egyptian
in the
monk of
O
'
Christian Topography
the sixth century
'
of
who wrote
210
TALES FEOM THE TALMUD.
Another time
this
geese whose feathers fatness, while a
beneath them.
Rabbi saw a fell
out owing to their
whole river of
He
flock of
fat flowed
also surpassed all other
travellers with regard to the wonderful fish
which he saw,
was driven tween the elling in
for
on one occasion
days and nights be-
for three fins
his boat
of a fish which was trav-
an opposite direction
;
and to help
us further to realise the length of that
fish,
he adds that we are not to suppose he was not travelling quickly
all
that time, for his
boat had the speed of an arrow.
Here we must leave the miraculous element in the Talmud, and conclude with a few legends of later stories
historical events
and
about well-known Rabbis.
a book intended to refute certain heretical notions of the day.
He
describes heaven as a vault, whose extremities
are glued to the ends of the earth, which oblong.
(There
work by
J.
W.
is
now an English
M'Crindle.)
is
flat
and
translation of this
PAET
V.
OTHER TALES. ESTHER, GREEK INFLUENCES, POST - BIBLICAL
LEGENDS, STORIES OF SOME FAMOUS RABBIS.
With
the
opened
fall
for the
of the First Temple there Israelites
an entirely new
epoch in their history.
The Jew of Roman times must have dated modern history from the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in much the same sense as the European of to-day dates modern history from the fall of ConThe Babylonian conquest was stantinople. not merely the most important of series of events, but was a turning-point in history.
away
The for
old order of politics ever.
Deprived
any national outlet
for
had passed a time of
for their activity,
they
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
212
had turned to the long -neglected study of the
Law
salem
new
new
then on their return to Jeru-
;
nations were rising into power,
ideals
were being formed, and new
questions began to be discussed
;
but above
they had found themselves in contact
all,
with new sired
to
civilisations,
peculiar
already began to dread
which
influences
would
own
preserve their
dividuality
the
and those who de-
in the
To prevent
surrounded
in-
that
them
end absorb them. this absorption,
many
rules
were introduced by Ezra and Nehemlah,
all
tending to create a complete barrier be-
tween the Judseans and their neighbours. Rabbinical interpretation of the Law, too,
had the its
effect
(whether or no such was
intention) of
making
almost impossible with
social intercourse
persons
who
did
not observe the same dietary laws, kept idols, and spent money and carried burdens on the Sabbath and with little social intercourse there was little temptation either ;
to intermarriage or apostacy.
Henceforth among the
many
sects
which
OTHER TALES. arise,
213
both in ancient Palestine and modern
Europe,
among
Hellenists,
Essenes
and
and Pharisees, or
Nationalists, Sadducees
modern days) Assimilationists and Zionists, there can be traced, in spite of some cross divisions, two distinct ideals, usually in conflict, which may be summed up re(in
" spectively as " let us preserve the religion
and "let us preserve the
race."
The ad-
herents of the one ideal, desiring to borrow that
appears
best in the culture
of
the surrounding nations, would cast off
all
all
peculiarities of
manner and custom,
reserv-
ing only their right to private opinions on religious
matters
;
adherents of the
the
other, rejoicing in being a." peculiar " people,
unique in history and
achievement, and
claiming the same right as to a special
temperament
all
other races
reflected in special
laws, customs, and literature, would pre-
serve a racial as distinct from a religious individuality.
are
strict
While some of the former
Rabbinists,
others
have
from
time to time rejected Rabbinic authority, either, like the Karaites, returning to the
;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
214
Bible, which, like all other reformers, they
claim to have been perverted by preters, or else in later for
its inter-
days substituting
a ceremonialism which appeals neither reason nor sentiment those out-
to their
ward symbols of devotion met with in Europe. The latter, primarily Nationalists, though themselves often opposed to Rabbinism
on quite
usually
regarded such an attitude as a
species
of religious snobbery, or at least
different
grounds, have
the refuge of people who, through long
aping of alien customs, have lost the capacity to understand the mysticism of the
East,
which, disdaining refuge
in
colour
and form and outward solemnity,
finds its
highest
spiritual
religious
expression
in
Even some
rather than sensuous ecstasy. of those
who do not
interpretation of the
accept the Rabbinic
Law may
still
claim
that the picturesque ceremonies which to
one enlightened generation
cramping superstitions, to a eration, looking tive,
by
still
later gen-
back with a truer perspec-
may become
ridicule
have become
a proud heritage, endeared
and consecrated by persecution
OTHER TALES. have
nor
striking
they failed coincidence
out
the
whenever
the
point
to
that,
Jew has appeared on the ilating
215
point of assim-
with his neighbours, an Antiochus
or a Ferdinand and Isabella or a Dreyfus
him back on himself and produce the inevitable reaction. Each case has arisen to cast
party
doubtless produced
h'as
asts as well as its hypocrites.
with
its
enthusi-
its
The Talmud,
inimitable analysis, has described
the hypocrite of the "orthodox" religious school (see
37)
;
the hypocrites of the
schools yet remain to be described.
rival
On
p.
rare
the two
occasions
combined, not so
much
end, as that each
may
parties
attain its
through the aid of the other. combination monaeans,
took
when the
its religious
have
common own end
to attain a
place
Such a
under the Has-
religious party, finding
worship in danger, joined with
the national party to cast oif the foreign
Such a combination again probably took place in the great Bar Cochba rebellion, yoke.
such
little
evidence as exists pointing to the
national party having conversely
made use
of the religious enthusiasm inspired by Bar
;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
216
Cochba to establish a new native dynasty and such a combination now took place on the return from Babylon, when Nehemiah restored at the same time the fences of the
Temple and the fences of the Law. It
is
certain that the generation which
returned from Babylon regarded the teaching of the prophets in a very different spirit
from that of their grandparents.
A
close
contact with the Babylonians had cured
the admiration for the neighbours "which
and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses," described by Ezekiel. The indifference and apathy of were
clothed
with
blue,
governors
the days of Jeremiah had given place to a
and the great event of the Babylonian captivity namely, the narrow
fanatical zeal,
—
escape of the captives from massacre at
the hands of
Haman
portions which
—rapidly assumed pro-
made
it
second only to the
delivery from Egypt.
Esther story,
and
is,
of course, the heroine of the
Haman
the
villain.
There
subtlety in the character -drawing
:
is
no
in the
OTHER TALES.
217
true Talmudic style the former has every possible
virtue,
and
the
latter
commits
every possible wickedness.
Ahasuerus was king of the whole world. There have only been two other such kings, namely,
Ahab and Nebuchadnezzar.
made a
claim to be king of the world, but
he was only boasting vi.
for
1),
(as
Darius
shown by Daniel
he only ruled 120 provinces,
whereas he should have ruled 127 provinces (Esther
i.
1
;
corresponding with the years
of Sarah's age
!)
to be king of the whole
(Elsewhere
world.
we hear
of ten kings
holding universal dominion, beginning with
Nimrod.)
The beginning of the whole story was a feast given by Ahasuerus on the Sabbath. Instead of beginning the feast with praise
and study of the Law, the king and his friends were amusing themselves with idle The conversation turned upon the talk. beauty of the
Some
women
of different nations.
woman, others "I Then the king spoke.
praised the Persian
the Medes.
have a wife who
is
neither
Mede nor
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
218
Persian, but a Chaldsean, and fairer than either." herself.
So Vashti was summoned to show Now Vashti was proud she was ;
a grand-daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, and
knew
that the king must be drunken to
have sent her such a message.
Instead
of obeying, she sent back a scornful answer " father could pledge a thousand
My
:
you are already drunk." It was not really an outraged pride, however, far less a sense of modesty, which kept back Queen Vashti it was an affliction which
guests
;
:
The nature not quite certain some
had suddenly come upon of the affliction
is
her.
;
say deformity, others leprosy, others a
tail,
grew out The reason for the affliction was that she had made her Jewish handmaidens work on the Sabbath. What while yet others say a
of her
own proper
little face
face.
punishment should she receive? the king asked the Rabbis
;
but they were afraid
of finding themselves in the same dilemma as
the
courtiers
whom we
read
Herodotus who saved Croesus' his conqueror's son, in a
of
life,
moment
in
when
of pas-
OTHER TALES. ordered him to be
sion,
gave judgment
condemn her
against
219 If they
slain.
condoning her disobedience
;
must
they
her,
to death, or they
would be
but
if
she
day the king might regret
perished, next
her absence and put to death her execuTherefore they pleaded that, be-
tioners.
ing in captivity, they were unable to give
judgment concerning a
capital offence,
and
the king sought other advice.
Now
Esther and Mordecai come upon
Esther was one of the four
the scene.
most
women who
beautiful
lived, the others
ever
being Sarah, Rahab, and
She was
Abigail.
have
like
the myrtle -tree,
neither tall nor short, and her complexion
was
A
like gold.
homely touch represents
Mordecai as loitering about the steps of the palace to give her news of her
own
people, but another account says he pro-
vided her with meat killed and prepared according
much
to
the
Jewish law.
It
is
a
disputed question whether Mordecai
belonged to the tribe of Judah or Benjamin.
At
all
events, he
was a member
TALES FROM THE TA.LMUD.
220
of the great Sanhedrim, one qualification for
which was a knowledge
of
all
the
of the ancient world,
seventy languages
and it was this knowledge which enabled him to discover the plot against the king's life, and give warning to Ahasuerus.
The king was not
easily persuaded to
Some
give the order for the massacre.
of the charges brought against the people
by
Haman
have a curiously modern sound.
" Their laws are different from those of all
other people," he said
;
" they do not inter-
marry with us, or keep the king's laws. They always have a Sabbath or some festival.
a
If
fly
falls
they throw away the wine, but
if
fly
their wine
into
and drink the
the king touches their wine
they throw the wine away."
(An
allusion
to one of the fences against idolatry.
a non-Jew touched a glass of wine,
assumed he was about to make to his gods,
it
If
was
a libation
and the wine had therefore
been used for an idolatrous purpose.) further said, "
Do
He
not be afraid that their
God wiU avenge the murder of His people.
OTHER TALES.
keep His command-
they no longer
for
221
Haman, as stated already, was a descendant of Agag the Amalekite it was ments.
;
therefore only in the fitness of things that
Mordecai should be a descendant of Saul.
Haman was
also an astrologer, and had by astrology the day which was to
fixed
be propitious for the expected massacre of
Of
the Israelites.
his forty sons, ten
were
secretaries to the king.
The reason why Esther asked the king
to
a feast in her apartment was, that though
knew he was fickle, she thought that his own apartment, among his courtiers,
she in
he would be
less likely to rescind his de-
cree for the massacre.
before
When
she appeared
him she was supported by three
who lent her grace. At last when Haman, being
angels,
the king, discovered that
who was knew no
it
sent for by was Mordecai
to be honoured, his mortification
bounds.
" Give
him only
and vineyards as a reward," he shall
have that
it
enough to give him a
is
too," said the king. village,
fields
"
said.
"
He
Then
and the
TALES FROM THE TALMTTD.
222 tolls
He
"
of a river."
Then Haman
too."
shall
fused
to
father "
him,
see
and
;
go
to
Mordecai
re-
refused
Mordecai, but sent his son.
have that to
"
Send your as though Haman's
saying,
finally,
end were not bad enough, we get one
last
His daughter, looking from her
touch.
balcony at the figure on the noble horse,
thought she was looking at her father, but
when she found being
thus
it
was Mordecai who was
honoured, she
threw herself
from the balcony and perished.
The anniversary of the delivery is still celebrated by the giving of presents and merry - making.
Still
countries cakes
known
are distributed freely
served in 16)
iv.
;
memory
;
to
-
as "
a
day in many " Haman's ears is
ob-
of Esther's fast (Esther
and the mention of Haman's name,
even in the religious services, for
too,
fast,
is
the signal
an outburst of abhorrence and triumph.^
Of the many years which
elapsed between
1 It cannot be said that Esther herself has really become one of the national heroines in the sense in which Sarah or Rebecca or Miriam are heroines. This attitude towards
— OTHER TALES.
223
Nehemiah and the Maccabees, tradition
The
give
alike
history and
but scanty
details.
half-closed pages of history are always
the most fascinating, and
we
are left to
wonder at many possibilities. What trader first saw Rome ? Did some colonist, perhaps some near ancestor of the Maccabees (though surviving records give no
hint),
passing to Tyre and Spain join Hannibal's
army
many
of
battle
tongues and witness the
of Cannse
inspired
by the
What
?
feelings
were
of the great " Phil-
fall
istine" city of Carthage?
The one
individual
who
sufficiently im-
pressed the popular imagination to attract to himself a group of legends
a Judsean, but one
means
to
who sought by every
identify himself with
dreaded above namely,
was not even
all
by the Rabbis
others
Alexander
of
the race
Macedon.
It
is
worthy of a passing comment that the her
may be illustrated by the case of an extremely orthodox known to the writer, who persistently refused to
old lady fast
on Esther's
quite respectable.
fast
from a conviction that Esther was not
True, the Eabbis praised her, but, being
men, they would be
easily taken in
by
her.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
224 three
greatest
whom Europe
conquerors
—Alexander,
and Napoleon have all been regarded by the Jews with peculiar veneration. The story has produced
—
is
well
known how, on
Csesar,
his
way
to Jeru-
was met by a deputation of priests and Levites, who induced him to withdraw his army. According to the Talmud, the Samaritans, who always ap-
salem, Alexander
pear as the evil genius of the nation, had
persuaded Alexander to have the Temple destroyed.
On
the news reaching Jeru-
salem, the
High
Priest put on his priestly
garments, and, accompanied by the Levites
and
all
the leading citizens,
left
the city
was evening-time and all the deputation carried torches. They marched all night, and, as the sun rose, came suddenly face to face with the Greek army. On seeing the High Priest, Alexander descended from his chariot and bowed to the earth, and on being asked by his retinue
to meet Alexander.
It
when the news had
arrived,
why he old
paid such reverence to this simple
man, replied that he had seen
his
OTHER TALES.
225
image before him whenever he had gained a victory.
him
?
are
"
Who
are
all
these people with "
he asked his attendants.
"
rebel
Jews,"
said
the
Samaritans.
Turning to them, Alexander asked they had come. "
Every day
in
They
why
The High Priest replied, the Temple we pray for
you and for your empire, and shall that Temple be destroyed on account of the slander
of idolaters
who were
?
"
Alexander asked
these idolatrous slanderers, and
the Samaritans at his side were pointed "
out. liver
Do
with them as you will
them up
to you," he said
;
;
I de-
whereupon
the wicked Samaritans were tied to their horses'
tails
and dragged as
temple on Mount Gerizim.
had been to,
built soon after,
far
as their
This temple
and as a
the Second Temple at Jerusalem,
rival
when
the returned exiles had refused to acknowledge
By
the
Samaritans as true
Israelites.
whispering slanderous stories to Alex-
ander the Samaritans had hoped to bring about the destruction of the hated Temple at
Jerusalem,
but with a poetic justice
p
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
226
which
saw
Haman, they now
recalls the fate of
their
own temple destroyed and
the
had stood ploughed
up.^
ground on which
Nor was
it
this
overthrow of the
final
Samaritans the only victory gained by the Before the Macedonian
aid of Alexander,
king there appeared certain African tribes claiming the land of Canaan, and basing
upon the Scriptures themselves (Num. xxxiv. 2). The champion of the their claim
Judseans
who appears
one of the humblest
ways looked upon
to answer
me
will
only have beaten a
will
it will
and
be Canaan
unto
be
argument," he pleads, " they
in
granting
;
There
is
if
I
refers to Gen. ix. 25 ("
Cursed
a servant of servants shall he
his
that
brethren
your
possessed the land," '
while
fool,
Law itself which He gains permission
be the
have conquered."
to reply,
is
" If they
as a fool.
beat
beat them,
them
citizens, hitherto al-
").
"
Now,
ancestors
even
originally
he says, "to
whom
slight historical confusion here, as the event
occurred some two centuries later, in the reign of HyrNone of the ancients ever troubled much about
canus.
chronology.
OTHER TALES.
227
should a slave's estate belong but to his
master
?
upon
Called
"
to
reply,
the
Africans ask for three days to think of
an answer. for three
Alexander accordingly halts
days to see whether any
satis-
factory answer will be given, but at the
end of three days, finding no satisfactory answer, the Africans
fly,
leaving their fields
and vineyards to the Judssans.
Next there appear before Alexander envoys from Egypt asking for the return of the gold and silver which they had lent the Israelites
to
(Exod.
xii.)
when they
left
Egypt
The same champion appears
on behalf of the Judseans, and replies from Exod.
xii.
40 ("
We
served you for four
hundred and thirty years, therefore give
and then we will consider Again the envoys ask for your claim"). three days to consider an answer; again Alexander waits three days, and again us wages
first,
finding no satisfactory answer, the envoys fly,
leaving the Judaeans their fields and
vineyards.
Lastly there appear some descendants of
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
228
Ishmael claiming an equal share of Abraham's inheritance with the
Israelites.
The
same champion referred them to Gen. xxv. 5, 6 (" Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts"), with same result. In contrast with these slight
stories, all
tending to magnify the Israelites at the
expense
of their
neighbours,
is
another
weird and striking legend associated with Alexander. Africa, he
is
Wishing to explore Central told he cannot go beyond a
certain point, for " mountains of darkness
bar the way.
"
Pressing to be told the best
means of travelling
in those regions,
he
is
advised to take Libyan asses, which can see in the dark,
long cord he
is
and a long
cord.
to tie securely on this side
of the dark mountains and unwind
he goes, so that
may,
like Theseus,
safety
he
is
The
if
it
as
the worst comes he
find
his
way back
to
by following the cord. He does as and at length arrives beyond
advised,
the dark mountains in a country inhabited
OTHER TALES. only by women.
country Hke
Wishing
all others,
229
to
he
is
subdue their confronted by
the women, with the dilemma that, torious,
and
if
if vic-
he will only have conquered women, defeated, he will suffer an indelible
Accordingly he makes peace with
disgrace.
the inhabitants, and asks them to supply
him with
food.
a golden table,
The women set before him and place upon it golden
loaves of bread.
he can
He
asks for bread which
and the women
eat,
only want ordinary bread,
take this long journey
was Alexander with but he
departed, scription
:
"
I,
"
?
this
left
reply, " If
why
you
did you
So impressed answer that he
behind him an
in-
Alexander of Macedon, was
came to Africa and learned wisdom from women." On his way back, he sat down one day to take his meal by the side of a small river, and in the running water he washed and cleaned the fish he was going to eat but when he tasted the fish which had been dipped in the a fool
till
I
;
stream, the flavour of
that he said,
it
was so wonderful
" This small river can flow
;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
230
from nowhere but from Paradise."
Fol-
lowing the stream upwards, he reached the gates of Eden, where he was refused admission.
and
"I am Alexander of Macedon
may not enter," he pleaded, "at give me some memento of my visit
if I
least
Thereupon he was handed a skull, and on weighing it in a scale he found that it outweighed everything which he
here."
could place on the other side.
the wise little
men with him
told
But one of him to put a
earth in the other scale, which, to
Alexander's surprise, outweighed the
"The
skull.
reason," said the wise man, "is to
be found in the eye of the skull, for the eye of it
is
man
is
never satisfied until at last
covered with a
little earth."
This vein of pessimism, however, occurs
but rarely in the Talmud. for the best,"
"This too
is
was the favourite saying of
one of the most venerated of
all
the Eabbis
who figure in the Talmud, not in any spirit of meek resignation, but in the spirit of incurable optimism. With optimism came cheerfulness,
which was regarded as one
OTHER TALES.
231
of the leading virtues, and an absence of
After the destruction of the
asceticism.
Second Temple some people refused to take
meat or wine, since meat and wine could no longer be used in the holy sacrifices. A leading Rabbi addressed them and said, "
You
should
also, for there
in the
used to be a meal offering
Temple."
a libation
"
We
will live
fruit,"
;
abstain from everything." their
on
"
But fruit was offered the Rabbi, " and there was even of water therefore you must
they answered. too," said
from bread
then,
abstain,
own
principles,
Seeing whither
logically
would carry them, they were
applied,
silent,
and
the Rabbi again addressed them, saying, " Listen to me,
wrong not
to
my
children.
mourn
at
all
It
would be
for
the evil
we
decree which has been executed, but
must not mourn too much, or decree a prohibition which the congregation could not endure."
The
visit of
interesting
contact
as
Alexander to Jerusalem the
first
outward
is
sign of
between Greek and Jewish
civ-
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
232
Soon afterwards began that struggle between the two nations which
ilizations.
was destined to outlast so many ages, and influence the ideals and aims, the intellectual, moral, and artistic development If the Rabbis
of every country in Europe.
had only mildly protested against Zoroastrianism, a true instinct warned them to make no compromise with Hellenism. They felt intuitively the truth elaborated
many
by such men as Heine, Renan, Matthew Arnold, and a host of followers, that Hebraism and so
centuries later
Hellenism were mutually destructive, that
they stood at opposite
and
neither
could
of culture,
poles
hope
absorb
to
the
other without being itself destroyed. " Rabbi, Rabbi, having studied the whole of the Law,
may
of the Greeks told to
?
meditate upon the
and by night,"
you can nor
now study
the wisdom " You are " asks a pupil. I
is
find a time
night,
during
Law by day
the answer.
which that
is
"When
neither day
time
you
study the wisdom of the Greeks."
may The
;
OTHER TALES.
man who with the ticular
233
teaches his son Greek
man who
classed
is
This par-
rears swine.
aversion for Hellenism
clearly
is
by something more than general national exclusiveness she was to the mind of the Rabbis the rival who would entice, intoxicate, and destroy aU who inspired
:
followed her. It
would be outside
the
scope
of
a
volume of tales from the Talmud to refer to the Hellenists and Nationalists, or to Philo and those who thought it possible to combine the two civilizations, or to the fearful massacres of Greeks and Jews which constantly occurred in cities of mixed Greek and Jewish population but there is one well-known mysterious story in the Talmud ;
itself
which
it
has been suggested
may
pos-
sibly express in allegory the Rabbis' dread
of Greek influences.
The story
Rabbis who entered Paradise
is
of four
alive.
One
saw and died one saw and went mad one saw and destroyed the young plants only one saw and came out unharmed. The one who saw and destroyed the young ;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
234
ben Abuyah, was wise
plants, Elisha
Hebrew "
in all
and had then turned to the wisdom of the Greeks." His mouth was
Greek
of
full
lore,
and
songs,
instead
of
a
book of the Law, he carried about with
him volumes of profane
literature.
After
destroying the young plants in Paradise, old instincts revive
he realizes that he
;
is
not a Greek at heart, and longs to return to the life
now
which he has cast
But
off.
that he would return, like Tannhauser,
he finds himself a moral outcast, and seeing
no hope of heaven, returns to drown
all
higher longings in the intoxication of Greek song.
(What
a unique chance thrown away,
a later commentator has parenthetically
marked.
Here was a man
God without hope
his
up
One Sabbath he
him.
horse, discussing
rides
along
the
able to serve
of reward
favourite pupil keeps
way.
re-
!)
Still
his
his friendship with is
walking beside
the Law, as Elisha Presently
Elisha
him return, as he has already accom" Do panied him a Sabbath day's journey. bids
you return too
"
(from your apostacy), urges
OTHER TALES.
He
his pupil.
235
induces Elisha to enter the
synagogue schools and
listen to
dren at their lessons.
In the
children are reading Isa.
xlviii. 22,
no peace,
is
the
first
"There
unto
Lord,
the
saith
the chil-
the
wicked," in which Elisha finds an allusion
So they enter thirteen different schools, and in each one a verse is being discussed which bears some personal
to
himself.
application
Presently
Elisha,
to
enter one where the psalm "
To the wicked God
my Law
with so
that
?
"
wicked," &c.,
dost thou
but the child stammers,
Hebrew words
the
being read,
is
What
says.
they
sound
like
Another day Elisha asks
" to
for
"to
the
Elisha," &c.
his old pupil the
meaning of the verse (Job xxviii. 17), " Gold and glass cannot equal it " (wisdom). " It
means,"
words of the gold
;
the
Law
are difficult to
pupil,
"
easy to break as glass."
Akiba used but
" that the
says
" even
broken,
may
studied
the
to explain
as
gold
it,"
and
buy as
Not
so
answers Elisha, glass,
though
be mended, so one who has
Law, though
he
err,
may
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
236
"
always be mended."
Mend
thyself then,"
more urges him and then him how once on the great
his pupil once
Elisha
Day
tells
;
of Atonement, passing a synagogue
while the people were praying within, he
heard a voice proclaim that this day
men were
all
forgiven, save only Elisha ben
Abuyah, who, having known God, had yet betrayed Him. When Elisha died, it was declared in
heaven
he should
that
enter Paradise on account of his
sin,
not
nor
yet Gehenna on account of his study of " Better
the Law.
have gone to Gehenna
and borne his punishment first, and then gone to heaven," said his pupil when this
known
decree was
"I wish
;
I could die,
When
that he might go to judgment."
the pupil died, smoke was seen ascending
from Elisha's said one
"A
grave.
of his fellows, " to consign our
teacher to the flames
him ?
If I take
Paradise,
might die
pretty deed,"
who !
"
Can none
!
him by the hand
shall
And
save
to enter
Would I was that when
stay us? so
it
he too came to die the smoke ceased to
OTHER TALES. ascend from
grave,
Ellsha's
having gained
human
for Elisha that
own unaided repentance Years
obtained.
237 love
which
his
could never have
afterwards
a
daughter
of Elisha applied to a Rabbi for charity.
"Whose daughter
thou?" he asked. " The daughter of Elisha ben Abuyah." "
What
are there
!
wicked one 19, "
He
son." his
"
?
"
shall
art
still
descendants of the
he asked, quoting Job
xviii.
have neither son nor
son's
Remember
deeds," she
his
learning and not
answered
;
whereupon a
came down from heaven and burned the Rabbi's stool as a punishment for his fire
cruel words.
Such
the famous story of Elisha and of
is
the four Rabbis
who
entered Paradise, of
which so many interpretations have been Some say they got there by in-
given.
cantation
;
some explain that they only
seemed to themselves to be in Paradise through their great knowledge of the Law. Others seek interpretation in the meanings of four words for which the four Hebrew consonants of Paradise
may
be made to
— TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
238 stand as
initials,
There
Rabbis.
four
or in the
are
names of the also
diflPerent
versions of the story, but all agree in the
—
main outlines the cutting of the plants by one, his repentance, punishment, and ultimate forgiveness. Perhaps if the story be not taken planation
literally,
simplest ex-
the one already mentioned
is
namely, that
it
an
is
Hellenism,
against
the
allegory
directed
and that the
young
plants represent the rooted principles of
Judaism torn up by over-indulgence in Greek ideals. The same metaphor is used where we learn that whose knowledge is greater than
a
man
his
good
elsewhere,
deeds
is
like a tree
whose roots are small
but whose branches are large, so that a very
Yet
little it
is
wind
is
needed to overturn
difficult to
suppose that
it.
if this
be the allegory which the Rabbis really
meant
to teach, people
would not have
dis-
The Rabbi who saw Paradise and returned safe was the famous Akiba. The Song of Solomon i. 4 refers to him in Paradise (" Draw me we will run covered
it
earlier.
;
OTHER TALES. after thee"),
we
while from another passage
learn that, though in danger, he
saved
by divine
interposition
haps that, unlike Elisha,
by
239
his
was per-
(i.e.,
he was saved
knowledge of the Law from being
dazzled
by the splendour of Greek
life
and thought). Another curious story is told which has some resemblance to a Greek myth, but has also characteristic differences.
ful hair
that
all
There was
who had such
once a shepherd boy
beauti-
day long he did nothing
but gaze at his reflection in the stream.
One day a
timid sheep came to drink close
beside him, and roughening the surface of
the water, marred the beautiful reflection at which the shepherd had been gazing.
In rage the boy
lifted his stafi^
the sheep, which.
Ignorant of at him
and struck its
and
crime,
looked
reproachfully
away.
Conscious of the cruelty to which
crept
beauty had led him, and feeling the vanity of beauty of form compared with his
beauty of
spirit, this
Jewish Narcissus went
to the Rabbi and asked to have his head
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
240
shaved, and afterwards to become a Nazarite
(Num.
vi.
accepting
18)
and though the practice of
;
was discouraged
Nazarites
as
tending to asceticism, yet in this case the sacrifice
was accepted.
If this story
may
cate imagination
Greek
myth,
lack
much
of the deli-
and poetic glamour of the at least
it
contains
other
elements which could never have entered the mind of an ancient Greek.
To the
Rabbis the good was always the beautiful, not the beautiful the good. lost
They never
the sense of the sacredness of
the sense of the beauty of
life.
After the Maccabsean dynasty to Herod.
The
life in
we come
rule of Herod's family in
Palestine bears some points of resemblance to the rule of Alexander
donians in Greece.
and the Mace-
Herod the Idumsean,
try as he might to identify himself with the
was always regarded as The Idumaeans, conquered by Hyrcanus, the ablest and most brilliant
national interests,
half a foreigner.
of the Maccabsean dynasty,
who
for
a time
seemed to have restored Judsea to the
posi-
OTHER TALES.
241
tion occupied in the days of Solomon,
had
accepted Judaism, and been incorporated
with the inhabitants of Palestine
;
but their
claims to be identified with the Judseans
were no
more
than were the
admitted
Though Herod make himself king, and
claims of the Samaritans.
had contrived put
down
to
all
with
opposition
ruthless
severity, the sullen hatred
with which he
continued to be regarded
is
many
reflected
in
a tale of the Talmud.
We are told that
one day Herod, while a
servant of the Maccabseans, heard a voice
any servant who Thereupon he succeed.
declare that on that day rebelled
should
slew
his superiors
all
with the exception
of one young girl of the Maccabsean family,
whom
he intended to marry
;
but she, going
on to the roof of the house, proclaimed aloud, " If any one claim descent from the Maccabaeans he
is
except only me,
who now
a slave, for
all
are slain
die also," saying
which she leaped from the roof of the house and met her death. Herod is said to have preserved
her
body Q
for
seven years
in
— TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
242
honey, in order to
make
people
believe
she was stQl alive.
Having made himself king, Herod's next desire was to take vengeance on his opponents. Many years before, he had been summoned to Jerusalem to answer for a breach of the Law committed by him as a local governor in ordering certain persons to be put to death without a proper
Instead of appearing as a accusation,
he
had
purple, accompanied
man under an
arrived
dressed
Roman
governor
of Syria warning the judges not to
At
first
in
by a bodyguard, and
bearing a letter from the
a penalty.
trial.
inflict
they were overawed,
but their president reminded them of their
and infused enough courage
duties,
them
to procure
an impartial
into
Seeing
trial.
the turn events were taking, Herod pro-
cured an adjournment, and secretly at ferred,
came
night.
Jerusalem
His revenge was de-
but never forgotten, and when he
into
power he put to death
judges except one.
mud
left
This
is
how
all
the
the Tal-
recounts the story of the slaughter
:
OTHER TALES.
Having become (Deut.
xvii.
king,
243
Herod remembered
"Thou mayest not put
15),
a foreigner over thee, which brother."
Who
command
as
so Ukely to enforce the
Rabbis?
the
Thereupon he slew them
whom
he
thought.
except one,
all
he needed to advise him, and him
One day Herod came
he blinded. blind
this
not thy
is
stranger,
Rabbi
before
pretending
to
be
his advice.
As
usual,
and asked
a
the dramatic possibilities in the picture of the fierce warrior king secretly visiting the blind frail old Rabbi to beg his help are lost sight of in the strange
arguments upon
which delighted aU the ancients. " Curse me the wicked King Herod for his sins," he asked but the Rabbi answered from Eccles. x. 20, " Curse not the king." " That only refers to a good texts, the verbal warfare
;
king," said Herod,
"
But
I
" Dismiss
fear
quoted Eccles. air
to a wicked one."
him," answered the Rabbi.
your
urged Herod.
"not
fear,
for
we
are
alone,"
In reply the blind Rabbi x.
20,
"For a
can carry the sound."
bird in the
Then Herod
—
— TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
244
said, "
and
if I
am
" I
dissembled no more.
had known how
Herod," he careful
and
circumspect the Rabbis were, I would not
have
slain
Now
them.
should act to
make
advise
me how
I
He was
reparation."
had blinded the eye of the had killed Rabbis, who were
told that he
world
i.e.,
the eyes or leaders of the people,
— and
therefore the best act of reparation would
be to busy himself with repairing the eye of
the world
replied
might
that give
i.e.,
he
the
offence
such
advised to proceed in this a servant to
meanwhile
Rome
start
an
way
action
He was
Rome.
at
Herod
Temple.
feared
:
to send
to ask permission,
building at once.
and
The
servant was to take one year in reaching
Rome, and take one year on his return journey, by which time he would find the Temple finished. Rome,
to stay one year in
When
the servant returned, the answer he
brought back was that
if
the old Temple
had not been pulled down, Herod should if it had been pulled leave it as it was ;
down, he should leave
it
pulled
down
;
if
OTHER TALES.
245
had been pulled down and rebuilt, then the message went on that the slave who acted first and then asked permission was a bad slave that it was true Herod was a ruler, but the Romans knew he was not
it
;
a descendant of kings,
showed merely
that "
himself king."
for
their
Herod the
records
made
slave
However, no interference
was offered, and the newly built Temple was allowed to stand. The material of which it was buQt was white and darkgreen or grey marble, laid in nately projecting
tiers
and receding, so that
the distance the efiect was
in
alter-
like
the
billows of a stormy sea in the sunshine.
Herod had intended
to overlay the marble
with gold, but the new Rabbis persuaded
him that
it
was
the Talmudic writers refuse to
any
Though allow Herod
finer as it stood.
credit for his work, yet they put
no
stint to their enthusiasm over its magnifi-
and one declares that " He who has not seen Herod's Temple has seen nothing cence,
fine in his life."
A curious account of
the origin of
Roman
"
TALES FBOM THE TALMUD.
246 influence
E^mans with
the country
in
The
given.
is
are represented as vainly fighting
Greeks
the
Syrian kingdom
(probably
meant)
is
the
till
Grseco-
at length
Then said the Romans to the Greeks, "Let us settle our difference by negotiation." The negotiation took the following form The Romans propounded the question, " Which they formed an alliance with Judsea.
:
superior, a pearl or a precious stone
is
The answer was,
"
A precious
precious stone or a
"
Book
stone."
of the
"
?
A
Law?'
A
Book of the Law." " Then submit," said the Romans, " for the Book of the Law is now on our side," and the Greeks, beaten in
these
strange " negotiations," yielded.
For twenty-six years the Romans kept the terms of their alliance with the Judaeans,
whereby the
it
had been provided that when
Romans appointed
generals to fight the
Greeks the Judseans should appoint their
own
civil
appointed
governors, and civil
when the Romans
governors
should appoint the generals. six years the
Romans broke
the
Judaeans
After twentytheir compact
247
OTHER TALES. and began till
to oppress their former
allies,
at length the Judseans broke into re-
have been
Vespasian would
them.
against
bellion
satisfied if the people
given him a
bow and arrow
in sign of sub-
"
mission, but they refused.
the two
who came
would have
As we
killed
before you, so shall
it
be with you," they declared (referring to
Roman
the capture of the
general Metilius,
followed by the great victory over Cestius,
which had
the whole country with
filled
the hope of throwing ion).
ofi"
the
Roman domin-
There was, however, among other
factions within
the walls, a peace party,
who conveyed news
the
of
discussions
within the city to Vespasian by tying reports round arrows which they shot from
the walls.
The leader of
a Rabbi, who,
this party
when he found
was
himself un-
able to persuade the majority to adopt his
views, feigned death, and
was taken by
confederates out of Jerusalem in a
and brought
to Vespasian.
his
coffin,
Winning
his
good graces by a prophecy that he should
become king
(Isa.
x.
34),
as well
as
by
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
248
referring to his previous attitude, he asked
and obtained permission to go to Jamnia in peace, and there instruct pupils. Here he witnessed the destruction of the city
and (1
Temple,
Sam.
iv.
sitting,
as
"Upon
13),
Eli
his
had
sat
seat by the
wayside watching."
The
fall
saged by
of the Second Temple was pre-
all
the wondrous signs in the sky
and on earth which precede such calamities
One weird
in the legends of all nations.
portent
may
related,
is
well
the rumour of which
have taken the courage from
the boldest defenders of the city wall. is
day a heavy gate swung
said that one
open by
itself,
It
and, as the priests entered
the Temple, a sound as of the beating of
wings was heard, and a murmur as of a great host of voices saying,
"Let us go
hence."
A picturesque the Temple. saving
it,
touch illumines the
When
fall
of
there was no hope of
the young priests went on the
roof (Isa. xxii,
1 ),
carrying the keys of the
Temple, and threw them in the
air,
saying,
OTHER TALES.
"We
were no
249
faithful treasurers,
and
re-
Some add
store the keys entrusted to us."
that something hke a hand appeared and
grasped them, whereupon the priests leaped
A somewhat
into the flames. is
told of the
The
sin
fall
similar story
of the First Temple.
which had caused the destruction
of the First Temple was that of putting a
man
shame
to
in
public
;
the sin which
caused the Second Temple to be destroyed
was the
sin of causeless enmity, a curious
fault constantly denounced.
Many passages
in the Bible refer to the destruction of the
Holy
City,
refers
to
—among others, Zech.
and Jacob and and Miriam ;
which
the wailing of Abraham, Isaac, his twelve sons
oaks of Bashan
Holies
xi.,
;
(xi. 2)
;
the mighty
mean Moses, Aaron,
the forest means the Holy of
wasted
is
the glory refers to the
work of David and Solomon the pride of Jordan means Elijah and Elisha. ;
After the
destruction
Titus was going "
of the
city,
home a great storm
The God of the
as
arose.
Israelites is only powerful
at sea," he cried; "at sea he destroyed
250
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
Pharaoh."
"
Come on
man," said a voice,
"
land, thou wicked
and
smallest living creature."
fight with
When
the
he landed
a tiny insect flew up his nostril into his brain,
and by
its
ceaseless torture.
movements caused him
One
day, as he passed
a smith's forge, the creature stopped
its
movements on hearing the blows of the hammer. Titus thought he had found a cure, and summoned a smith to hammer before him night and day. When the smith he employed was a Roman he paid him handsomely, but when the smith happened to be a Judsean he paid him nothing, for, he said, it was enough reward At to the smith to watch his sufierings. the end of thirty days, however, the creature became accustomed to the sound of
the hammer, and the torture began again. After his death his brain was opened, and the creature was found to have grown to the size of a pigeon.
The
stories
in
the Talmud which are
concerned with later years
— with
Herod,
the Romans, and more particularly with
251
OTHER TALES,
the years following the destruction of the
Second Temple and preceding the publication of the
Talmud
— gradually
lose their
legendary character, and either merge into history or else tend to become anecdotes.
Yet they
characteristics
retain
personal
many
of the
of the earlier legends,
in-
cluding the love of repeating arguments.
Turnus Rufus, the cruel Roman governor
who
administered Palestine 133 to 135
A. d.,
seems to have been as well acquainted with
Hebrew Scriptures as were all other characters who figure in the Talmud, for one the
day he quoted to a Rabbi Levit. xxv. 55, " For unto me the children of Israel are servants," to prove that the Judseans were
servants,
A king
and he gave the following parable
:
once being angry with his servant,
put him in prison and forbade any one to supply
him with food
;
but a stranger,
taking pity on him, broke the king's com-
mand and
fed him.
Was
the king pleased
or angry at such disobedience drift of the question, the
another parable,
first
?
Seeing the
Rabbi replied with
quoting Deut. xiv.
1,
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
252 "
Ye
the children of the Lord your
are
God," to prove that the Judaeans were :
his son,
food
;
A
was once angry with and ordered him to be kept without
children
king
but a stranger, taking pity on him,
gave him food and saved him from starvation.
Was
the king pleased or angry at
this breach of his
answered
:
"
and children,
You
command
?
Turnus Rufus
people are both servants
— children when you obey God,
when you disobey. It now you are in the position
servants
is
clear that
of servants,
because through your disobedience you are scattered,
and your Temple has been
de-
stroyed, therefore Leviticus xxv. 55 applies,
and he who favours you acts impiously." The Rabbi, however, refutes the argument by quoting Isa. Iviii. 10, "And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and the afflicted soul, then shall thy
satisfy
light rise in darkness,
and thine obscurity
be as the noonday."
Another day Turnus Rufus asked, "If God loves the poor, why does he not feed
them ?
"
"To
save the rich from Gehenna,"
OTHER TALES. is
If the
the answer.
253
poor
man owed
thanks for his food to the rich man, the
man owed
rich
man him
greater thanks to the poor
him
for helping
to heaven
by allowing
to do the good deed of charity.
It
and
emperors sented
as
themselves
;
how
notice
are
rulers
being
Hebrew
in the
to
curious
is
almost
foreign
usually
repre-
well
versed
as
Scriptures as the Judseans
and though they have had no
proper training in respect of the deductions
and inferences to be drawn from
various verses, are always ready to meet
the Habbis on their
own ground, and
in
one or two instances even get the better of the
argument.
Imperious
queens or
haughty Roman emperors eagerly discuss minute questions arising out of the "Law." Governors of Judsea, such as Turnus Rufus, pause in the midst of their most terrible persecutions
to
argue
upon some subtle
point with a Rabbi, quite prepared to let
him
go
according
him
free
or
have
as
he
may answer
flayed or
alive
fail
to
answer some conundrum, and show how
— TALES FROM THE TALMTJD.
254 the
Law
Alexander
should be applied.
never found himself too busy to wait and interpretations of Genesis.
listen to rival
Even Cleopatra
— proud, —
perial Cleopatra herself
entering
me my
into
immortal
on
longings
makes her say with Iras
in
is
my
crown
"
I have
;
the magnificent scene
yet, according to the
;
Give
Shakespeare
me,"
in
im-
represented as
arguments.^
these
robe, put
passionate,
Talmud,
immortal longings she found a
for all her difficulty in
admitting that the Scriptures
contained any evidence of the Resurrection. Isa.
"
xxvi.
19 was pointed out to her,
Thy dead
shall
shall
my
;
Awake and
arise.
dwell in the dust
dew
live
of herbs,
;
for
dead bodies ye that
sing,
thy dew
and the earth
is
as the
shall
cast
But she was not yet the dead." " satisfied. Yes," she urged, " but that forth
verse
may
by Ezekiel." 1
refer
to
Finally
Though one may hope that
the
dead
convinced
restored
by the
the Cleopatra is intended,
not quite certain that some other, such as the Syrian queen Cleopatra, is not intended. In many cases it is quite it IB
impossible to identify people
named
in the
Talmud.
255
OTHER TALES. Rabbi's arguments, she wanted to
know
whether people would appear clothed or
The Eabbi might have given the
naked.
answer of Mahomet when questioned on
— that
on the day of judg-
the same point
ment people would have something
else
to think about than to bother about their clothes
from
but he preferred
;
an analogy
in
an
nature.
argument
As wheat
goes into the earth naked and comes up in
many
garments, so does
man go naked
into the earth but arises in his garments.
Why
"
is
the Sabbath distinguished from
other days
all
?
"
another occasion.
guished from it
all
Turnus Rufus asked on "
Why
other
are you distin-
men ? "
" Because
has pleased the Emperor to distinguish "
me."
So
it
has pleased
guish the Sabbath."
how
it
day
in the
God
Being pressed as to
could be proved that one particular
week
really
was the Sabbath,
the Rabbi gave three proofs. the
to distin-
Sabbath the
river
First,
on
Sambatyon does
not flow.
Secondly, on the Sabbath the
magicians
cannot
bring
up
the
dead.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
256
Thirdly, on the Sabbath the to last
smoke
ceases
from your father's grave.
rise
This
proof refers to the belief that even
the wicked have rest after death on the
Sabbath.
It appears a
somewhat
startling
proof to offer a tyrannical governor, but
no doubt,
man
a
to
so
intimately
quainted with the Scriptures as the
ac-
Roman
governor, the reference to his father's grave
would contain a hint and warning of the fate which might be in store for him also.
The proof drawn from the
river
Sam-
batyon contains an allusion to one of the
many
legends
centuries
lighted
of
the
which,
through
persecution,
imagination
the
long
have alike deof the
children
and comforted the sorrows of the parents,
—legends
which, like some rare sense of
touch acquired by the blind, fade away
and are forgotten when the need which gave
The
rise to
them has
lost ten tribes
(whom
so impudently claimed forth to the
batyon.
far
Where
side is
itself
to
passed away.
the Samaritans
be
!)
wandered
of the river Sam-
the Sambatyon
?
No
"
OTHER TALES.
As
one knows.
A
river or people,
is
Eden ?
well-known
direction, a
may sometimes be men-
tioned in these
was not marked
Where
well ask,
vague hint of
257
legends
in those
but the world
;
days a
little
round
ball
by squares of longitude and into one of which every place
off
latitude,
could be pigeon-holed.
"We
land to-day; where shall
are in love's
We
we go?"
wander on and
on, the sense of
magic and
unreality ever
deepening,
at length,
in
these
have
lost
wonderful all
,
till
we seem
stories,
to
touch with time and space.
Six days a -week the Sambatyon rushes
along rocks
its ;
it
mighty
it is
at rest.
course, carrying with
but on every Sabbath
Beyond the river dwell the lost tribes. They were the captives who were bidden to (Ps.
" sing
one
cxxxvii.)
of
the
When
songs
of
Zion
they wept by the
rivers of Babylon, saying, "
How
shall
we
sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"
a cloud took them up and carried them to the lands where they dwell to-day in peace,
watering their sheep and gather-
R
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
258
No
ing their crops.
but
there,
parents,
as
the
noxious herb grows
the
in
land
days
brings
of our
forth
all
first
good
things without labour. It
was not
till
some four centuries
after
Talmud that this legend, most of which was written in post-Talmudic times, was amplified into full detail by the inevitable traveller who had visited these distant lands. Eldad, known as the Danite because he was supthe completion of the
posed to belong to the tribe of Dan, had seen
the
mysterious
and brought
river,
home an account of the lands occupied by the different tribes. " Only sand and stones flow down the course of the Sambatyon, and their roar can be heard at half a day's journey. fire
On
the Sabbath a
up on either side of the river The ten tribes talk Hebrew, and
springs
course.
the Talmud, which they study, in the
pure Hebrew tongue.
is
written
They know
none of the doctrines which arose after the return from Babylon, nor do they celebrate any of the events which oc-
OTHER TALES.
259
curred during the captivity or during the
Some
Second Temple.
are warlike
most spend
rule over their neighbours, but
their time in peace
to
see
fourth
their
and study.
children
and
of the
All live third
and
They have no need
generation.
to lock their doors at night, for there
no
thing
evil
is
" a little
among them, and cattle many
boy travels with their
days'
journey without any fear of murderers or devils
or wild
beasts,
river
those river
they
who
shear live
and say,
Jeshuron [that
or
On
thing whatsoever."
any other
evil
the banks of the
sheep
their
:
then cry
on the other side of the
"Ye is,
brethren, ye tribes of
of Israel], let us see your
camels, your dogs, and your asses " then add, " How large is this camel how long is ;
!
his
neck
!
and how short
is
his tail
!
and
they salute one another."
The legend of the Sambatyon is referred many Rabbinical works, and a later story tells of a Moor who had a glassful of sand from the Sambatyon which moved all the week till the beginning of the Sabbath, to in
;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
260
became still, and thus the Jews of the city where he lived knew when the Sabbath had begun. Here was a story in which the ghetto-
when
it
dweller, turning from a world of facts to
a world of fancy, could take refuge from If Elijah had not
persecution.
appeared
him during the day, he could return home at night to dream of his own "Happy Islands" beyond the Sambatyon, where at that moment, somewhere beyond the Caspian Sea, somewhere in to comfort
the his
remote
own
race
mystic
and
East,
religion
the people
of
were dwelling
secure from fear of outrage and murder till,
to his
waking
senses, the roar of the
mighty rocks down the to the roar of the
mob
river course turned
at the ghetto gates.
Sometimes we are given a glimpse of country
life.
"
He who
has not seen the
joy of water-drawing has seen no joy in his
life,"
says a Rabbi, and
we have a
and music which accompanied that joyful ceremony
description of the illuminations
in the hot Eastern land.
OTHER TALES. Most
pleasing,
touches
again,
we hear
On
one oc-
of a Rabbi breaking off
intricate discussion to ask his little
daughter,
on
his
who was
sitting
all
the while
knee, which of the learned men
opposite her she would rather marry "
she grew up.
when
Both of them," she
re-
and we learn the curious coincidence when she grew up she married one
plied
;
that
of them, and after his death,
The study of the Law, we equivalent to
the
some
by
an incident intended
some argument.
to illustrate
casion
some
to
human
the
are
revealed
occasionally
chance allusion
261
sacred
all
the other. are told,
is
the virtues together, yet
Law was
study of the
ap-
parently conducted with a perfect homeliness
and lack of
The same
formality.
lack of formality, or lack of
decorum, as a Western reader trained in a different stantly
school
might
call
it,
observed in the manner "
is
con-
of con-
Our Father " was taken in a very literal sense by people who were accustomed to offer prayers and blessings ducting prayer.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
262
on
every
almost
The Rabbis argue,
throughout the day.
and ship,
almost
— not
expostulate,
because
occasion
conceivable
wor-
their
in
they lack
reverence,
but because they understand reverence
in
a different manner from the Western wor-
and do not regard formality of approach and conventional decorum as shipper,
necessary aids to religious fervour.^
One man was a
cynic
who
did not be-
lieve that
Truth was to be found
the world,
till
him that
if
he met a Rabbi
in
who
the whole world were
all
told filled
with gold and offered him he would not tell
a
lie,
keeping people,
whereupon the
with
the
cynic, quite in
character
of
ancient
was immediately convinced, and his opinion. The Rabbi went relate to him a story of how he
changed on to
As a modern •writer has said of tlieir descendants, "Decorum was not a feature of synagogue worship in those days, nor was the Almighty yet conceived as the
holder of formal receptions once
a- week.
Worshippers
did not pray with bated breath as if afraid that the Deity would overhear them they passed snuflf-boxes and remarks about the weather." Zangwill's 'Children of the :
—
Ghetto.'
OTHER TALES.
263
had on one occasion been guilty of a slight lapse from strict truthfulness, and of the consequence.
He had
once, in the course
of his travels, come to a city where every
one was equally truthful with himself, and
no one died an untimely death.
In such
congenial surroundings he had taken up his
abode permanently.
He
married one
of the inhabitants, had two children, and all
prospered with him.
But one day a
neighbour called to ask for his wife while she was engaged
in
washing
her
head.
The Rabbi answered the door, and, being seized by a sudden attack of false modesty, hesitated to say she was washing her head, but replied that she had gone out. Thereupon both of his children suddenly died, and the neighbours coming to inquire into such an unheard - of occurrence in a city where no one died before reaching old age, he confessed what he had done, and was ordered immediately to leave. Another tells stories of his own discomfiture
on different occasions
of a woman, a boy, and a
—at
the hands
little
girl,
re-
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
264
marking that these three alone had ever The woman was a disconcerted him. widow with whom he was staying, and
who gave him a his greediness.
gentle reproof for
little
Noticing that two morn-
ings in succession he ate every morsel of
the beans on his breakfast-plate, the third
day she put in them too much salt, so that he was obliged to leave some of them on
When
his plate.
had
sufficient
eaten
already,
she questioned him, he
politeness
rather
to
than
he
had
criticise
the
say
cooking of his hostess, but she answered
perhaps he had
that
the
field
left
no corners of
on the previous days (an allusion
to the corners of the field which gleaners
were
required to
leave for widows
and
and was making up that day by leaving an excess. The boy who discomfited him was a
orphans),
boy
whom
the
way
" This
is
but that
He
he met on the road and asked
to a village.
The boy answered,
the longer but the shorter road, is
the shorter but longer road."
took the second, but was obliged to
265
OTHER TALES.
retrace his steps on account of the gardens
and vineyards which obstructed him, making the shorter road the longer one. Meeting the boy again at the cross-roads, instead of venting his temper upon him for giving
such an obscure answer,
he embraced him, and with
thee,
are told that " It
said,
that
Israel,
we
is
thy
even
well
small
children are wise."
The retort of the little girl seems a more effective one. As he was crossing a path, the child ran up and told him he was trespassing on her parents' meadow. " No,"
there as
said is
thou
the Rabbi, " do you not see
a footpath
?
"
" It
is
who have made
answered the
such robbers
the
footpath,"
child.
Another Rabbi was one day returning from a
visit to his master,
along the road by a river,
riding slowly
very
feeling
well content with himself, and very proud
of the knowledge he had displayed. the road came a humble face,
who
greeted him,
you, Rabbi."
Instead
man
Along
with an ugly
"Peace be with of returning
the
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
266
greeting, the
are
!
ugly^"
man
;
me."
Rabbi
said, "
How
ugly you
Are all your fellow - townsmen as "I know not," replied the ugly
" but complain to God,
who formed
The Rabbi, overcome with shame,
begged forgiveness, but the ugly man
re-
fused to forgive him tiU he should have
made
his
complaint
to
God.
the
Still
Rabbi followed him from village to village, begging forgiveness, and as soon as the crowds assembled to praise and welcome the famous Rabbi, the ugly
At
his story.
man
told
them
length the sympathy of the
crowd began to return to the Rabbi, and they urged upon the ugly man that he ought nevertheless to
forgive,
so
at last
he said to the Rabbi, " For their I
will forgive you,
if
you
sakes
will offend
no
more."
Far better known are some of the
stories
of Hillel.
In the Talmud they usually
appear
appendages
as
to
little
moral
One should he as patient as Hillel. Once two men made a bet as to whether one of them could make HUlel maxims.
"
OTHER TALES.
267
Coming to his door one Friday night when he was washing and preparing for the Sabbath, one of them called in an angry.
tone for
insolent
Putting on a
Hillel.
mantle, Hillel at once came to the door.
"What
you
do
question."
"To put a
desire?"
" Ask,
my
the Babylonians round-headed is
my
an important question,
and an answer
Hillel,
is
?
Tarmudists oval eyes question,
my
son,"
reason "
is
"An
important
Why
given.
An
?
"
An
given.
comes to the door. "
are
" This
son," replied
later the interrogator calls again,
Hillel
Why
"
son."
hour
and again
"
Why
"
An
have the
important
and again a
suitable
hour later he returns
have the Tarmudists large feet
once more an answer
many more
my
question,
questions
is
given.
to
and have
son,"
ask,"
"
:
?
I
said
his
"but I am afraid of wearying Hillel wrapped himself in his you." "Ask all thou desirest," was all mantle. he said. "Art thou Hillel, entitled 'prince' " Yes." " Then may there in Israel ? "
persecutor,
not be
many
like thee."
"
Why
?
"
asked
268
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
Hillel.
"Because thou hast made me
lose
lose
" Better thou shouldst
four hundred zuz."
twice that amount,"
the answer,
is
" than that Hillel should lose his temper."
One should never
angry at meals.
get
One day a poor man
called
at
Hillel's
and said to am to marry to-day, and have nothing in the house." Thereupon Hillel's wife gave him the meal she had house
during his absence,
Hillel's wife, " I
just prepared for her husband, and began to
make ready
Meantime
other dishes in their place.
had returned, and was
Hillel
waiting patiently for his dinner.
At
last
he ventured to ask
why
and on hearing the
reason, told his wife
that he
knew
all
it
was
so
late,
that she did was for
the sake of Heaven. Hillel
is
always contrasted with Shammai,
an equally pious man, but more rigid and of an impatient and violent temper.
had established a in
many
rival school
Shammai
which differed
points from that of Hillel in
interpretation of the
Law.
its
(One of the
questions which was debated between
them
OTHER TALES. for
many
269
years was whether or no
have been better
for
man
would
it
never to have
One day a pretended pupil called upon Shammai and asked whether Shammai could teach him the Law while he stood on one foot. Shammai drove him
been created.)
out of the room, and he went to Hillel
What
"
with the same question.
hate-
is
ful unto thee," said Hillel, " do not unto
thy
This
fellow.
the rest
is
Law
the whole
;
all
commentary."
is
The absorbing passion for studying the is once more curiously illustrated in
Law
the lament of a Rabbi for his brother-inlaw,
a great scholar
who had
just died.
To people brought up
in
vironment who find
difficult to realize
the there
intensity is
humorous
of
this
something
— as
it
well
I
love
as
— almost
pathetic "
Who
replace the dead
study,
for
grotesque
expression of his grief.
who would to one who
a different en-
?
"
tries to console him.
in
the
are
you
he says "
When
put a proposition to him he would give
twenty-four objections, and I had to give
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
2*70
you merely tell me there is a dictum (Boraitha) which supports me, as if I did not know that my argument had a good basis." Finally, weeping till twenty-four answers
;
he became demented, the Rabbis prayed
and
for his death,
so at last his soul
had
and
the
peace.
Another
man
Rabbis came to
lost
his
son,
"
offer consolation.
accepted consolation," said one.
my me
Adam
" Is not
you must remind he replied. " Job accepted
grief sufficient that
of
Adam's
?
"
" Is not
consolation," tried a second.
my
you must remind me of was the answer. " Aaron accepted
grief sufficient but
Job's
?
"
consolation," ventured a third,
referred to David, only to
same
At
response.
who
scholar
tried
last
and a fourth
meet with the
came a great
a parable.
"
A
king
once entrusted a subject with a precious article
:
at
last
the
charge back into his
king withdrew his
own
possession,
and
the subject was glad when the responsibility
Be glad your son spent his study and went away sinless, and
was removed. time in
OTHER TALES.
271
This last appeal was
accept consolation." successful.
The Rabbi has already been mentioned
who
tried his wife's patience to breaking-
point
by
inflicting
his health broke
to nurse him.
penance on himself
down and she was
It
was
till
obliged
long, however, before
she discovered that his illness was
self-in-
and meantime she used to dissuade him from going out to the college, and feed him up at home that he might have
flicted,
strength to study.
At
last,
when she
dis-
covered that he tortured and bled himself
every evening (and that meantime he had
used up
all
the
father), she lost
At a and
critical
money
inherited from his
aU patience and
moment he
left
him.
received a
gift,
his wife repenting of her treatment of
him, and sending her daughter to inquire
how he was him
getting on without her, found
richer than ever.
Finally he left off
became well, and went to Here he provoked ill-will, the and fearing that owing to his unpopularity his colleagues would not give him his
afflictions,
college.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
272
an honourable funeral, he bade his wife place his body,
when he should
die, in
the
She carried out his wishes, and kept his body there for something between eighteen and twenty-two years. (We know this is so, because we have the story from attic.
one
who
himself heard
of another Rabbi, it
it
from the mother
who in her turn heard woman in question.)
from the
direct
Every day she went up to look at him, and found his body fresh. One day she came down dejected, because she had seen a
worm
crawl from his ear, but he com-
by appearing in a dream, and telling her that this was his punishment for having once allowed a young scholar forted her
When
to be insulted in his presence.
putes
arose
in
the
college,
the
dis-
parties
would come to her house to state their case, and a voice from the attic would declare
which was
right.
At
last the scandal
of his not having been buried grew to such
a point that the Rabbis of the college de-
termined to give him a funeral. a
new
difficulty arose, because it
But now appeared
OTHER TALES.
273
that since he had been in the attic no one
had
in the neighbourhood
any harm
suffered
from wild beasts, and consequently people opposed the removal of the body.
when the
Finally,
inhabitants were off their guard
the body of the Rabbi was removed and
taken to the tomb of his father barred the
way
of the
coffin,
a snake
;
but upon an
appeal from the Rabbis, withdrew, and the
One of the widow
body was lowered
into the earth.
the leading Rabbis
now asked for
of such a learned man in marriage but she replied, " Should the hook on which a hero ;
hung his weapon be used by the shepherd ? "I know I am to hang his knapsack " not his equal in knowledge," replied the suitor
humbly, " but I
am
at
least
his
;
to which the widow know you were his inferior in knowledge, but I did know you were his inferior in pious deeds." The un-
equal in pious deeds retorts, " I did not
fortunate his
man had
inferiority
follows a long
how
in
"
only convinced her of
both
respects.
story explaining
(Here
why and
the dead Rabbi had shown himself
"
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
274
greater in knowledge.)
Seeing that chas-
tisements were in favour, the dead man's rival
proceeded to chastise himself, but his
afflictions,
we
are told, were of less value,
because inflicted for a bad motive
;
stiU,
they were so far efficacious that though they did not prevent premature death in the neighbourhood as the afflictions of the
former had done, yet they prevented any
want of It
is
rain.
pleasant to find occasionally stories
whose moral teaches kindness to beasts. Once a calf came up to a Rabbi for protection from the butcher.
" Go," said the
Rabbi, " for to this end wert thou created;
whereupon, because he had shown no mercy towards creatures, he was seized with constant pain for thirteen years,
seeing some killed,
till
one day,
small creatures about to be
he saved them, remembering Psalm
clxv. 9, "
The Lord
is
good to
all
:
and
his
tender mercies are over all his works," and was then immediately released from his pain, and because he had had mercy upon creatures was himself dealt with mercifully.
OTHER TALES. This last
275
not the only story which
is
gives a pleasant sense of mutual affection
and sympathy existing between master and beast.
by
One
is
of an ass which, being stolen
robbers, refused to eat or drink
last, fearing it
its
home
Its master's son " recognised
and the master
his voice" outside,
"
it re-
master, and the ass went
" rejoicing."
Hasten and open the
of hunger."
at
would die and pollute their
yard, they opened the gate and let
turn to
till
cried,
gate, or he will die
In the patriarchal ages,
it
could not yet quite be said that " man's dominion
Had broken
Nature's social union."
One Rabbi was
without arms or
blind,
"How
is it
" his pupils
once
asked him, and he told them a story.
"I
legs,
and covered with
you are
sores.
in such a plight
was once on
my way
?
to
my
father-in-law
with three asses laden with food and drink.
On
the
way
a poor
asked for food.
'
man
Wait
loaded,' I said, but the
stopped till
I
me and
have un-
man dropped
dead.
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
276 '
May my
eyes that were without pity lose
their sight,' I
and with
feet
lost,
and
Woe
to me, then, were I in
be
sores.'
my slow hands my body covered
'and
said,
other plight than this."
Yet another Rabbi was reduced to such poverty that he and his wife had but one garment between them. One day he was invited out, but was obliged to refuse because his wife had gone to market wearing their only garment.
Such
stories could
They
indefinitely.
light they cast tic life
be multiplied almost
are interesting for the
upon the
social
and domes-
of the people, as well as upon their
and ideals. Laughable enough them many of appear on the surface, yet they always contain some favourite Talbeliefs
mudic maxim
— that
human
dignity de-
pends nothing upon externals, or that no useful trade
or labour ever
was
or
ever
could be anything but honourable.
Some of the llabbis shared with others among the ancients a belief in a mysterious inner significance of numbers and letters,
OTHER TALES. by a
close
277
study of which not only might
great truths be learnt, but great powers
Some
acquired.
a
of these discoveries are
The Hebrew word
little ingenious.
for
" truth "
is composed of the first, middle, and last letters of the Alphabet (as if we had an English word " amz " ) the letters which compose the word are as far apart ;
as
can be, signifying that truth
rarely found, whereas the for "lie" all
come
Hebrew
is
but
letters
closely together in the
alphabet, signifying that lies are numerous.
Applying
this principle,
we can
extract a
whole code of ethics from the alphabet
The point of some of these deduc-
itself
tions
is
reader
Hebrew
a
little
who
is
difiicult
to explain
unacquainted
alphabet,
though
it
with
may
to
a
the
some-
made clear by an English analogy. The names of the third and fourth letters of the Hebrew alphabet have sounds similar to the Hebrew words for "be bountiful" and "to the poor." Thus the inference is easily drawn that a little maxim is hidden in the third and fourth times be
— TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
278
But we can go
letters of the alphabet.
Looking at the formation of the
further.
Hebrew characters, we away from the other might its
fancifully be
find that one turns (as
English
in
C
to be " turning
said
B when the two are written From this we infer side, B C).
back" to
side
by
that the one
who
away when he poor
i.e.,
is
bountiful should look
gives his
charity to the
that he should give
secretly
it
and not ostentatiously, or so as to shame the recipient. The Rabbi who reports this
new teaching
of inferences from letters
exclaims enthusiastically that such knowledge did not belong to
men even
days of Joshua the son of Nun. over, every
Hebrew
in the
More-
letter also stands for
a number, so that words combined in one
way may be and therefore
the equivalent also in
(in
number,
meaning) for words
combined in another way, and thus a door opened
for endless inferences.
Esoteric
teaching of this kind did not,
however,
is
find
universal
favour,
and
especially
fell
into disrepute after the failure of the great
OTHER TALES.
279
rebellion of
Bar Cochba against Hadrian,
130 A.D.
Success had been predicted
in
for the rebellion
through various pieces of
reasoning, and a short triumph was enjoyed, during which all the chief
obscure
of Palestine were taken from the
cities
Romans, and the Judsean conqueror, entering Jerusalem, struck coins which were
mark the beginning of a new national dynasty. But Roman military science con-
to
quered
the end, and after some years
in
of fighting,
Bar Cochba, of whose strength
and courage many fabulous stories are told, was killed in his last stronghold, and the Roman historian Dio Cassius estimates that
more than half a
followers
died
in
of
million
battle
alone.
his
has
It
often been lamented that this last struggle for
independence
had
chronicle its details.
no
Noble
Josephus ideals,
to
petty
wranglings, acts of heroism and treachery, are alike unknown.
mere
fanatic,
he was
Was Bar Cochba
an impostor
first called,
(
" son of a star
and then " son of a
a "
lie,"
a play on his name), or one of the sub-
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
280
lime figures
be
to
counted
among the
whom the
Hamilcars and Hannibals
Semitic
up from time to time, to shine the brighter for their background of sordid The Talmud once intrigue and jealousy ?
races cast
refers to his "
two years " dominion among After his death a
the Jewish dynasties. period
of unexampled
during which
all ritual
study of the
Law
persecution
arose,
observance and
were forbidden.
all
Many
are the stories of dying Rabbis appointing successors eager to carry on the chain of
Few and martyrdom. joined the winning side. "Victrix causa study,
teaching,
deis placuit, sed victa Catoni "
been the motto of
many a
might have
patriot
who
re-
mained loyal to the lost cause, though he had never heard the words of the noble Latin line. It was then that, remembering
how much
faith
had been placed
in
the study of hidden meanings in words
and
letters
which had seemed to promise
success, people turned
labour,
from such
profitless
and forbade any one to predict
the date of a deliverer.
Yet the study
OTHER TALES. lingered
and
on,
281
gradually
revived
hold upon people's imagination.
its
The study
of the secret meanings of letters formed
a branch of the Cabbala, an essentially esoteric doctrine of
unknown
antiquity, re-
duced to writing in the time of the Second
Temple
and
through
the
men
Middle
who,
by
a
power
acquired
could
make the
and
even
to
after
over
the
century,
of
study,
had
elements,
and
of
life
right
Wonderful
Ages.
century
arose,
stories
developed
vigorously
angels do their bidding -
day
such
;
beliefs
yet
Law was
con-
endure.
How
the study of the
tinued after Bar Cochba, and the Jewish schools again took root, has been told in detail
Jews.'
by Graetz
in
his
History of the
'
Allusions to political events occur
occasionally in the Talmud, but they are
fragmentary and not consecutive.
One
of
the victims of Bar Cochba's rebellion was
the famous
Rabbi Akiva
;
but so many
embellishments have been woven around his
name
that
it is
impossible to say
what
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
282
part he really played in the rebellion.
We
hear of him that in prison, with scarcely
quench
enough water to
his
thirst,
was
nevertheless used the little that
he pro-
vided for him in washing his hands before
meals (as required by the of
all
Law on
the part
except soldiers in war-time).
We
hear again that, after he had been put to
death with torture, declaring to the last his belief in the unity of
God, a voice was
him happy
heard proclaiming
in
having
ascended to heaven.
There are many references in the Tal-
mud
to this mysterious voice, which, after
prophets had ceased to appear, was sometimes heard at meetings of Rabbis deciding debated points.
The tendency of the
Rabbis was not to attach an exaggerated importance to
it.
The Emperor whose goodwill gave the Judseans a period of rest from persecution,
and enabled Jehudah to accomplish the first
part of the gigantic task of reducing
the
Law
who
has
into writing,
been
was "Antoninus,"
identified
with
various
OTHER TALES.
Roman ments
Many
emperors.
and
friendly
Antoninus and
283 argu-
the
are
discussions
between
Rabbis which
the
been handed down in the Talmud. range over
every
philosophy "
one day.
domestic
to
does the sun
rise
if
the Rabbi replied. it rise
round in a creator.
affairs.
the east
in
and
rose
in
No
I
it
"
set at
circle to
all,
;
get
officers,
"
"Why he asks a
the west,"
mean,
Why
instead of going it
to salute
its
Sometimes the Emperor asks
his
is,
How
was he
obnoxious
Roman
advice on political matters. to
?
natural
the spot whence
The answer
started?"
from
You might have asked me
similar question
does
subject,
have
They
rid
of certain
he once asked, and the answer re-
an allegorical answer given by the Roman Tarquin to his son many centuries
calls
before.
The Rabbi asked the Emperor
to
walk with him in the garden, and, as they walked, he from time to time pulled out the large radishes from the beds, planting smaller ones instead, whereby Antoninus
understood that he should remove the old
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
284
by degrees, and not or they might rebel. officers
all
at once,
Antoninus, in spite of the Rabbi's protests,
sent
From the
him gold concealed
sacks.
palace to the Rabbi's house ran
When
an underground passage. peror paid his
him two
in
visits,
slaves,
one of
whom
slay at the Rabbi's door,
return at his
own
the
Em-
he would take with
door.
he used to
and one on
He
his
always seems
had the greatest dread of his friendship for the Rabbi becoming known. to
have
On
one occasion, contrary to his express
orders,
he found a third person present
when he paid
The Rabbi, however, explained that the Emperor need not be alarmed, for their visitor was not a human being. To test the truth of this statement, the Emperor bade the visitor go and call the slave who slept at the his visit.
Now the visitor really was a human and on going to the gate and finding the slave dead, was placed in a difficulty, and meditated flight. Instead of gate.
being,
running away, however, he prayed, where-
OTHER TALES.
285
upon the dead slave was restored to life and went in to the Emperor, who merely remarked that he had always known even the smallest of such beings could restore the dead to
life
;
but in future he requested
the Rabbi to have no
human
visitors,
or
otherwise, present at their interviews.
Once the Emperor thought he had put his
opponent into a
soul
God," he
comes before
should it is
difficulty.
it
"
When
the
"
why
said,
not say that the sins with which
charged were the sins of the body, and
that now, it is free
when
the body has been cast
from blame
?
off,
"
The Rabbi answers
A
king once had an
with a parable.
"
orchard of
charge of which he put
figs, in
—
one blind and the other two servants One morning several of the finest lame. figs were missing, and when the king
charged the servants with the
theft,
the
blind one replied, " I could not see to steal
them," and the lame one replied, " I could
But the king The blind one saw what had happened. and both carried the lame one," he said not walk to steal them."
"
;
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
286
Body and
were punished accordingly.
soul
stand in the position of blind and lame
man, and both are equally
Sometimes the Emperor
is
guilty.
more fortunate,
and comes off victorious in the argument, whereupon the Rabbi quaintly remarks that Antoninus had thus taught him such and such a
fact.
But the Emperor's success
interpreting the raises
him
Hebrew offering
Rabbi to mount to in
Scriptures never
to any undue vanity,
represented as
reply to the
his
back
bed,
his
in
for
he
for
is
the
and saying,
Rabbi's protests against
an abasement of his dignity, that he hopes he may be the Rabbi's footstool
such
in the
He
world to come.
is
consoled with
a promise of a share in the future world, in spite of the prophecies against is
identified
phecies
with Rome), for these pro-
only refer to those
deeds of Edom, for
Edom of
Edom (Edom
it
reads
who do
the
"kings" of
(Ezek. xxxii. 29), not all the kings
Edom.
With such
stories the
Rabbis consoled
themselves for the loss of their independ-
OTHER TALES.
287
drawing into themselves, building a
ence,
spiritual instead of a material Temple, liv-
ing their inner self-respect
memory
life,
through
and maintaining all
their
by the
persecutions
of their past, and the belief that
they would yet emerge and triumph over all their
enemies
;
for while race-conscious-
ness survives, there never wholly dies the
when the
passionate longing for the day
new
psalmist shall once more sing, "
the Lord
Zion
we were
centuries for
their
not only
When
turned again the captivity of
them that dream." For the Talmud was the only outlet like
energies,
and into
all their learning,
they put
it
such as
it
was,
but their hopes and aspirations, often of In reading
necessity disguised in allegory.
contradictory statements,
it
must be
membered that not one man
writes
Talmud, but a thousand, and each harmonize the opinions of those written before.
Though there
is
re-
the
tries to
who have no order
of time, the writings reflect the history of
many by
all
centuries,
national
and the events
feelings
— hopes,
produced struggles,
TALES PROM THE TALMUD.
288
triumphs, and persecutions
with
all
;
and blended
these run the minute discussions,
the love of the Law, the delightful inconsequences, and the almost uncanny
humour
which weaves fantastic parables out of
its
own martyrdom. The Talmud has
far
so
every
baffled
attempt to rearrange her, or reduce her
modern handy book of reference. Abandon the attempt, follow where she leads, and she will unfold herself in her to
a
own way.
It
mentators
apologising
Talmud,
is
and
not pleasant to find comparts
for
expressing
the
they had never been written.
of
wish
that
Surely that
ancient E-abbi must have looked far
the vista of the years
down
when he spoke
parable, quoting Solomon, " Despise not
mother when she
is
old "
day too there were
;
critics
blind
delights of these faded records,
them more
in
thy
or perhaps in his to
poetry, the humour, the pathos, the
have rewritten
the
in
the
many
who would
harmony with
the requirements of (then) modern thought
and
feeling.
Heine has given us a picture
OTHER TALES.
289
of the old grandmother seated in the chim-
ney
corner, kept to tell the children fairy-
She may receive no effusive demonand a superficial observer might think her forgotten, but the tales.
strations of regard
grandchildren
have an
who
listen to her fairy tales
which
affection for her
deep because she
is
is
antiquated,
no
less
perhaps
and altogether out of date. So when that venerable grandmother the Talmud rests in some library corner, we shall not despise her for being old-fashioned and garrulous we shall not be ashamed of her sometimes of things which if she talks garrulous,
;
more
offend
refined ears
at times tedious,
uncharitable,
we
ago she suffered
;
now and
if
she
may
be
again narrow or
remember that long much, and if we smile,
shall
shall smile very kindly.
Better keep her
than smooth out her wrinkles, dye her grey hair, and bid her caper about as she
in
our
is
ball -dress,
neighbour's
modern admirers would have her idle
with
as do.
some
On
winter evenings she will delight us
many
a tale of bygone kings and T
TALES FROM THE TALMUD.
290
devils
sages,
the seventh day, still,
we
With
and angels.
her on
when the Sambatyon
is
shall cross the river where the
lost ten tribes
water their sheep
;
we
shall
overhear conversations between the dead
company with
in their graves, or visit, in
Alexander of Macedon, strange countries
beyond the " dark mountains." laugh at the discomfiture of
many
We
shall
a learned
ancient pedant, or rejoice at poetic justice
overtaking evil-doers. she well her,
that
is,
as
and loving her her virtues,
Accepting her as for
her faults as
we must here
leave
remembering the advice of Maimonides,
when the
kernel cannot be extracted,
the shell at least should be preserved.
—
——
—
INDEX. Aaron, virtues
of, 127, 128.
Abishai^ Kills Goliath's mother, 136. Rescues David, 136-138.
Abraham Destruction of idols, 96. First to experience old age, 104. Hospitality of, 102. Prodigies at birth of, 96. Second wife of, 105.
Thrown
in
fire,
176.
Dogs howl at, 175. Leaps before funerals, 174. Hides sword in empty synagogue, 175.
Sword
of,
when
powerless, 140,
175.
Angels
Accompany
97.
Absorption, efforts to prevent, 212.
Adam
Israelite eve, 187, 188. of, 186, 187.
on Sabbath
Food
Appearance
Gabriel alone knows
of, 74, 75.
Dwelling-place of, after Eden, 81. Early life in Eden, 75. Fall
Angel of Death— Conouered by Moses and others
of, 77.
Long
fast of, 83.
Adventure, stories jBneas, connection
of,
204-210.
of,
with Esau,
111.
Ages of man, 39. Ahab, fate of, 41. Ahasuerus, king of the world, 217. Ahitophel, fate
of, 41.
Ahriman, 67. Alexander of Macedon Given a skull, 230. deputations, various 224-228. Visits country of women, 229. Visits mountains of darkness, 228. Visits Paradise, 230. Alphabet, inner significance of, 277, 278. Analogies, fanciful, 40.
Receives
all
tongues,
185, 186. uses of, 187. Hostile to man, 74.
Homely
Oppose Moses, 74. Preside over elements, 185. Visit
Abraham,
102, 103.
Animals, kindness to, 274, 275. Antoninus, discussions of, with Jehudah, 282-286.
ArkFeeding animals
in, 87, 88.
Interior and lighting of, 88. Art crippled by fear of idolatry, 184. Asceticism, absence of, 60, 61. Ashmedai, story of, and Solomon, 166-171.
Babel, tower of, 94. Babylonian captivity,
a point in history, 211.
Balaam, fate of, 41. Bar Coohba, 215, 279, 280.
turning-
———
——
INDEX.
292 Bathing, etiquette
Behemoth,
of, 20.
93.
Benoiah, servant of Solomon, 167, 168.
Blasphemy,
trial for, 32.
Book of Adam and Eve,
stories from,
80, 85.
Book
of Enoch, stories from, 82, 85.
Eve— Dwelling-place of, after Eden, 81. Fall of, 77. Marriage of, 76.
Cahbala, 281. Cain, story
Elisha, cause of his sickness, 148, 149. Elisha ben Abuyah, 234-237. Esau, stories of, 108-111. Esther, beauty of, 219. Ethics of the Fathers, 7, 8. Etiquette, 13-20.
of, 83, 84.
Charity
Importance
of, 275, 276. of giving, 44-48. Need for, in passing judgment, 49. Cleopatra, 254, 255.
Mode
Code, unwritten law reduced to, 3. Creation of world, 73. Cries heard all round the world, 79.
Darkness, demons attracted by, 163,
Temptation Execution
Modes
of, 78.
of, 34.
Preliminaries, 32, 33. Ezekiel, explanation of vision of, 118-121. Faith-healing, 183. Fire-worship, opposition to, 67, 68. Flood, story of, 85-89.
172.
David Adventure with brother of Goli-
Demonsof detecting, 164.
Resemblances to men and angels, 164.
Deutsch on the Talmud,
2, 64.
of, 41.
Dogs howl at Angel of Death, 175. Dogs sport at Elijah's approach, 144.
Drinking, etiquette
of, 41.
4.
Drowned
in ilood, 89. Stories of, 84, 85.
Golden
Calf, Aaron's part in ing, 128.
of, 19.
Eating, etiquette of, 15, 19. Eden, description and surroundings of, 75, 80.
civilisation,
conflicts
Abraham's servant, 90. Behaviour of, in Sodom, 98, 99. Elijah, stories of, revisiting earth, 58, 144-148.
with,
232, 233.
Habits to be avoided, 20. Hadrian, persecutions of,
3, 4.
Hair-cutting, 41. Haman, 220-222. Harp of David, 139.
Herod Hatred for, 240, 241. Murders Maccabseans, 241. Murders Rabbis, 243. Rebuilds Temple, 244, 245. Hillel, stories of, 266-269.
Hospitality, 17-19, 102.
Hypocrites, classification
of, 37.
Bldad the Danite, 258. Eliezer
mak-
David's adventures with family of, 134-138.
Goliath,
Greek
Lurking-places of, 163. Mischief done by, 159, 173.
Doeg, fate
Gemara, Giants
ath, 134-138.
Adventure with lion, 134. Death of, 140. Harp of, 139. Knowledge of all speech, 133. Spiritual powers of, 139. Death. See Angel of Death.
Modes
Gehazi, fate
Idolatry Eftectof, on Art, 184.
Fences against, 180, 181. Unintentional, 182, 183. Idols, healing by, 183.
————
—— ——
293
INDEX. Imps, manufacture of, 199. Isaac, TesemUance to Abraham, 103. Ishmael, story of, 107. Jacob, stories of, 108, 110, 112, 113. Jamnia, school founded at, 248. Jehoiakim, fate of skull of, 154, 155.
Jehudah
Jeroboam, fate
of,
131.
of, 117, 118.
Sets hours for meals, 130. Slays Og, 91.
"Mountains of darkness" visited by Alexander of Macedon, 228. Nationalists, 214.
Nazarites, 240.
Nebuchadnezzar, cause of invasion of, 155, 156.
Nebuzaradan captures
of, 138, 139.
Nimrod, fate of, 97. Noah. See Flood. Og, stories
of,
89-91.
Optimism of Talmud,
28.
Korah, fate of children
Jerusalem,
157.
of, 41.
Joseph and Potiphar's wife, 113. Joshua and Achan, 132, 133. Judge, qualifications and conduct of, 27,
Rod
Natural philosophy, 42.
Discussions of, with Antoninus, 282-286. Puts Law into writing, 282. Secret visits to Antoninus, 284.
Joab, story
Death
of, 205, 206.
230, 231.
Paradise
Entered by four Rabbis, 233. Persons excluded from, 8, 41, 43.
Law Civil, 21-29.
Conflict with Roman law, 25. Criminal, 29-34. Damages, 24, 25. Evidence and witnesses, 25, 26, 30-32. Judge, qualifications of, 28, 29.
Pharaoh Becomes king of Nineveh, 123. Escape of, 122. Phoenix, stories of, 88. Phrenology, study of, 20. Precious stones, light given by, 106. Pupils, different kinds of, 36.
Procedure, 27, 29, 30.
Rabbi Akiba Death of, 281,
Leviathan, 92, 93. Light, original, 73. Lilith, 76, 160-162.
282.
Enters Paradise alive, 238, 239. foils Angel of Death,
Rabbi ben Levi 176.
Magic, 192, 193.
Rabbi Eliezer, stories in work Rabbi Yehudah, 3.
Manasseh Fate
of, 41.
Rain-makers, stories
Sins of, 153, 154.
Medical prescriptions, 13-15. Milman on the Talmud, 1, 2. Miracles, examples and objects
of,
188-192.
Mishna, 4. Mordecai, tribe
Ruins
and
descent
of,
of,
in Ethiopia, 115,
116.
Adventures
of,
on Sinai, 125, 126.
Consideration of, for people, 129. Dangers in Pharaoh's Palace, 114, 115.
Demons
haunt, 163.
Three reasons for avoiding, 172.
219, 221.
Moses Adventures
of, 84.
194-199. Resuscitation of dead, 200. Rip Van Winkle, ancient version of, 209. Roman influence, origin of, 246. of,
Sabbath, proofs
of, 255.
Sabbath eve, 187, 188. Samaritans Appear before Alexander, 224. Destruction of temple of, 225, 226. Sambatyon, legend of, 256-260.
——— —
—
294
INDEX. Solomon-
Sammael Crime and punishment of, Enters Golden Calf, 128.
78.
Husband of Eve, 162. Samuel, explanation of, calling up of,
Led
to idol-worship by Pharaoh's daughter, 141. Magnificence of table, 142, Old age of, 143.
Wonders
201.
Sanitary laws, suggested as explaining fables, 68, 69. Sarah, beauty of, 104. Satan See Sammael. Stories of, 82.
Tempts Abraham and David,
178,
179.
Scapegoat, explanation
of, 179.
Scribes, 3.
of, 142.
Song of Songs, interpretations
of,
12, 13.
Speaking heads,
manufacture
of,
199. Spirit of idolatry, capture of, 180. Spirits of dead Conversations between, 202, 203. Return of, 200. Stories, various explanations of, 67-70.
Scripture, interpretations of, 9-13,
Tables of Law broken by Moses, 128,
21.
Sea surrounding the earth, 81. Sea-serpent, ancient version of, 208. Second Temple, fall of, 248, 249.
Sennacherib
Contempt for Jerusalem, Death of, 153. Disguise and flight, 152.
151.
Invasion of, 149. Size of army, 150.
Serpent
Appearance of, 78. Meets Adam after fall, Punishment of, 79.
81, 82.
129.
Targum Jonathan, stories from, 89. Temple of Herod, 244, 245. Ten tribes, journeys and home of, 256-259. Titus, punishment of, 250. Tree of knowledge, 77. Truthfulness, value of, 262, 263. Turnus Rufus, discussions with, 251253, 255.
Unwritten law given to Moses, Usury, laws against, 6, 7.
3.
Seth, children of, 85.
Shame, putting persons Shammai, 268, 269.
to, 43, 44.
Shamir, 166-169. Sickness, first suffered by Jacob, 104. Skull of Jehoiakim, 154, 155. Skull, symbolic, given to Alexander of Maoedon, 231. Sky, conception of, 209. Sodom, wickedness of inhabitants of, 97-101.
PBIirtlED
of dead bones visited by traveller, 119-121. Vashti, pride and affliction of, 218. Vespasian, invasion of, 247.
Valley
Women,
country of, visited by Alexander of Macedon, 229. Talmud, 60-60, 203, 204.
Women in
Zoroastrian legends adapted, 163.
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