El Talmud babilónico en la selección

And the book of Proverbs, too, they wished to hide because its words contradict one another. And why did they not hide it? They said: We reflected as to the book of Ecclesiastes, and we found a reconciliation. So here, too, we may find a reconciliation. Let us search. It is written: (Proverbs xxvi, 5) Answer a fool according to his folly; and it is written: (Proverbs xxvi, 4) Answer not a fool according to his folly. There is no contradiction here. The first speaks of matters of Law and the other speaks of matters worldly.

Once a man came before Rabbi and said to him: "Your wife belongs to me and your children they are mine." "Would you like to drink a glass of wine?" The man drank and burst. This proved that the man lied.

Rabbi's prayers were effective so that his sons were not declared bastards. When the Rabbi prayed he used to say: May it be Thy will, O Lord, our God, that you protect me this day from the insolent and from insolence.

WORDS of learning, what does it mean? For instance: One day Rabbi Gamaliel lectured: Woman is

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destined, in the future, to conceive every day, for it was said: (Jeremiah xxxi, 8) The woman conceived and beareth simultaneously. One of his pupils laughed at him and said: (Ecclesiastes i, 9) There is no new thing under the sun. Come and I will show you something like it in this world. He went out and showed him a hen.

The Rabbis taught: A man should always be as patient as Hillel, and not be hot tempered as Shamai. There is a story that two men made a wager to the effect that whoever will succeed in making Hillel angry would receive four hundred Zuz. Whereupon one said: I will make him angry. It was just Sabbath Eve, and Hillel was washing his hair. The man went to Hillel's house and at the door shouted: Is Hillel in? Is Hillel in? Hillel dressed himself and confronted the man and said: My son, what wishest thou? The man answered: I wish to ask you a question. You may ask it, my son. Why are the heads of Babylonians round? You have asked a great question, my son, answered Hillel. Because the midwives of the Babylonians are not very experienced. The man waited an hour and came back and shouted: Is Hillel in? Is Hillel in? Hillel dressed again and went out to him: What wishest thou, my son? I wish to ask a question, he said. Ask, my son, ask. Why are the eyes of the Tadmorenes inflamed? Thou hast asked a great question. Because they live in sandy places. The man waited another hour, went back and again shouted: Is Hillel in? Is Hillel in? Hillel dressed again and went out to him. What wishest thou, my son? I have t question to ask. Ask, my son, ask. Why are the feet of the Africans broad? Thou hast asked a great question, my son, answered Hillel. Because they live in

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watery marshes. Then the man said, I have many questions to ask of you, but fear that you will become angry. Whereupon Hillel adjusted his robes and sat down near him and said: Ask all the questions thou hast to ask. Then the man said: Art thou the Hillel that is Prince of Israel? If it is thee, then there should be no more men like thee in Israel. Why? asked Hillel. Because I lost four hundred Zuz through thee. Said Hillel, Be careful of thy temper. Hillel is worth that because of him thou shouldst lose four hundred Zuz and many times four hundred. But thou canst not make Hillel lose his patience.

THE Rabbis taught: There is the story of a Heathen who came before Shamai and said: How many Torahs have you? Shamai answered: Two, the written law and the oral law. The Heathen said: I believe you as regards the written law but not as regards the oral law. Convert me, but on condition that you teach me the written law only. Shamai scolded him and sent him away with an insult. He went to Hillel, and Hillel received him with courtesy. The first day he taught him: Aleph, Beth, Gimmel, Daleth. The next day Hillel reversed the order. The Heathen said: Yesterday you did not teach me this way. Hillel replied: You see that you have to rely on me, so you must rely on me as regards the oral law, too.

There is another story of a heathen who approached Shamai and asked that he convert him and teach him the law for as long as he could stand on one foot; he repulsed him with a ruler that was in his hand.

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The heathen went to Hillel. Hillel said to him: What is not right for thee, do not unto thy neighbor. This is the whole Torah. All the rest is only a commentary on this; go and learn it. Thus Hillel converted him.

Then there is the story of a heathen who passed near the Academy and heard one of the teachers recite: (Exodus xxviii, 4) And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod. Then he asked for whom are these garments. He was told that these are for the High Priest. Then he said: I'll go and become a Jew, so that I shall be made High Priest. He went to Shamai and said: Convert me to Judaism, so that I may be appointed High Priest. But he repulsed him with the ruler. He then went to Hillel. Hillel converted him, and said to him: Does a man become a King unless he knows the rules and conduct of government? Go and study the rules and laws of government. He went and read. When he came to: (Numbers i, 51) And the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death, he asked, to whom does this refer? Even to King David, he was answered. So the proselyte reasoned it out for himself. If this refers to the Jews who are called the children of the Lord, and because of his love towards them he called them: (Exodus iv, 22) Israel is my son, even my first born, and still it is written: And the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. How much more an unworthy proselyte, who comes from nowhere with his walking stick and his bag. He came before Shamai and said: Am I fitted to become a High Priest? Isn't it written in the law: And the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death? He came before Hillel and said: Patient Hillel, may blessings come

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upon thee, that you brought me under the wings of the Shekinah.

Some time later, the three men met in one place and they said: Shamai's hot temper was ready to drive us out of this world, but Hillel's patience brought us under the wings of the Shekinah.

(Gemara)

FOR three transgressions women die at childbirth: For laxity during the period of menstruation, for laxity in the Dough Offering, and for laxity in lighting of the Sabbath candles.

(Mishna)

WHY just at childbirth? Raba answered: If the ox fell, then sharpen the knife. Abaya said: The bond-maid may increase her disobedience, she will be punished with the same rod. Rab Hisda said: Let the drunkard alone, he will fall of himself. Mar Ukba said: When the shepherd is lame, and the sheep run fast, there will be words at the gate, and in the barn there is the reckoning. At the gate of the shop there are brothers and friends aplenty, but at the toll gate there are neither brothers nor friends.

And when are men taken to task? Resh Lakish said: When they pass over a bridge. Only when they pass a bridge, no other time? Say, instances similar to a bridge. Rab would never cross a bridge when a pagan was on it. He said: Perhaps the judgment of the Lord will come upon him at this moment, and I shall be taken along. Samuel, on the other hand, would never cross a bridge unless a pagan was on it. He said: Satan has no power over two nations at one and the same time. Rabbi Yanai would examine the bridge first, and then

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he would cross it. Yanai expounded his opinion. He said: A man should never put himself in a dangerous position and say that a miracle will be performed for him, lest it be not performed. And if a miracle is performed, it will be deducted from his merited rewards.

The Rabbis taught: If one becomes ill and is near death, he is told to make his confession, for all who are sentenced to death are told to make their confession. If he goes out in the street, he should imagine that he is given into the custody of an officer. If he has a headache, he should imagine that he is put in irons. If he is confined to bed, he should feel as if he is put on a scaffold to be judged. For whoever is judged at the scaffold, if he has a great advocate he is saved, but if he has none, he is not saved. And these are a man's advocates: Repentence and good deeds. And if nine hundred and ninety-nine vote for his punishment, while one favors him, he is saved. For it was said: (Job xxxiii, 23) If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness; Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit.

(Gemara)
FROM CHAPTER II

WITH what may a woman go out on the Sabbath, and with what may she not go out? A woman shall not go out with braids of wool or braids of linen, or with straps on her head. And she must not take a bath with them, unless she has loosened them. And she must not go out with frontlets or hair ornaments unless they are sewed on. Nor shall she go into the street in a hairnet, nor with a gold tiara on her head, nor with necklaces,

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nor with earrings or a finger ring without a seal, nor with a needle that has no eye; but if she did go out with them, she need not bring the sin offering.

A man shall not go out with a nail-shod sandal, nor with one sandal if his foot is not injured, nor with phylacteries, nor with an amulet that has not been made by an expert, nor in armor, nor in a helmet, nor with greaves; but if he did go out with them, he need not bring a sin offering.

A woman shall not go out with a needle that has an eye, nor with a ring that bears a seal, nor with a brooch, nor a compact, nor with a bottle of perfume; and if she did go out with them, she must bring the sin offering. This is the opinion of Rabbi Meir, but the Sages say that in the case of a compact or a bottle of perfume she need not bring the sin offering.

A man shall not go out with a sword, nor with a bow, nor a shield, nor a lance, nor a spear; and if he did go out with them, he is guilty and must bring a sin offering. Rabbi Eleazer says: They are only his ornaments, but the Sages say these are a disgrace to him. For it was said: (Isaiah ii, 4) And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. A garter is clean, and one may go out with it on the Sabbath; ankle bracelets are unclean and one must not go out with them on the Sabbath.

A woman may go out with braids made of hair, whether they are her own or the hair of another, or made of animal hair, or with frontlets or head ornaments if they are sewed on; she may go out with a hair net or with

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false locks if she does not venture beyond the court yard. She may go out with the wool in her ears or the wool in her sandals, or with the wool that she prepared for her menstruation, or with a peppercorn or salt tablet, or anything that is taken in her mouth, but she must put it in her mouth before the Sabbath, and if it should rail out of her mouth, she must not put it back. Rabbi permits a false tooth or a gold tooth, but the Sages forbid it.

She may go out with a coin on her bunion. Young girls may go out with threads or even chips in their ears. Arabian women may go out veiled and Medean with their cloaks over their shoulder, and so may anyone. The Sages had in their mind the customs of the time.

A woman may knot her cloak over a stone or a nut or a coin so long as she does not knot it on the Sabbath.

Boys may go out with bindings, princes with bells, and so may anyone; the Sages referred, here, to the customs of the time.

One may go out with a locust's egg, or a fox's tooth, or a nail from the gallows as a charm. This is the opinion of Rabbi Meir, but the Sages forbid it even on weekdays because these are the ways of the pagan Amorites.

(Mishna)
FROM CHAPTER VI

THE main labors are forty less one: Sowing, ploughing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, sorting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing of wool, or bleaching, or shredding and dyeing, spinning, weaving, making two lintzen, weaving two threads, splitting two threads, knotting and unknotting, sewing two

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stitches, and ripping in order to sew, hunting a deer, slaughtering and skinning or salting, or curing its skin, scraping or cutting, writing two letters, erasing in order to write two letters, building or demolishing, extinguishing and lighting, hammering and carrying out things from one domain into another. These are the main labors, forty less one.

(Mishna)

A TANNA taught: Sowing, pruning, planting, bending, and grafting, all are one kind of labor.

Ploughing, digging, trenching, they are all one class of work. Rabbi Shesheth said: If one has a mound and takes it down, if he removes it to his house, he is guilty of building; if in the field he is guilty of ploughing. If one fills in a ditch in the house, he is building; if in 'the field, he is ploughing.

We learned: Reaping, wire-making, sheaf-binding, are all one class of work.

Raba said: He who takes out salt of a salt pit is guilty of sheaf-binding. Abaya says: Sheaf-binding applies only to produce of the earth.

Threshing: We learned: Threshing, beating, scattering, they are all one class of work.

(Gemara)
FROM CHAPTER VII

RABBI Yehuda said, in the name of Rab: Of all the things that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, He did not create a thing for naught. He created the snail as a cure for a wound, the fly against the wasp, the mosquito against the snake, the snake against the eruption, the spider against the scorpion. How do you

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proceed with it? You take a black one and a white one and cook them together and you rub with it.

The Rabbis taught: There are five fears that the weak exert on the strong. The maphgia (an African gnat) over the lion, the gnat over the elephant, the fear of the scorpion for the spider, the eagle for the swallow, and the fear of the Leviathan for the Kilbith. Said Rab Yehuda in the name of Rab: What verse refers to this? (Amos v, 9) That strengthen the despoiled over the strong.

Rabbi Zera met Rab Yehuda at the door of his father-in-law and noticed that he was in a very cheerful mood, and if he would ask him all the secrets of the world he would be answered. So he asked him: Why do the goats go in front and the sheep in the rear? He told him: It is according to creation, first it was darkness and then there was light. Why is it that one species are covered and the other are not? Those which cover us are themselves covered, but those that cover not us are uncovered. Why is the tail of a camel short? Because it eats thorns. Why is the tail of an ox long? Because it grazes in the meadows and must beat off the gnats. Why is the proboscis of a locust soft? Because it lives among the willows, and if it were hard it would break off, and the locust would be blind.

(Gemara)
FROM CHAPTER VIII

Passover

[figure]

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Passover

(Tractate Pessahim)

ON THE eve of the fourteenth (of Nisan) a search for leavened matter is conducted by the light of a candle. Any place where leavened matter is not brought in does not require searching. Why was it said that in the cellar, two rows must be searched? Because it is a place where leavened matter might be brought in. The House of Shamai says: Two rows of the whole cellar must be searched. But the House of Hillel says only the two outer rows, the top rows.

(Mishna)

RABBI Nahman ben Isaac said: We learned; every one is relied upon for the search for leavened matter, even women, slaves, and children. Why is that? For it is taken for granted that the house has been searched. It is the view of the learned that all are brothers as regards the searching for leavened matter. And we learned that if a brother dies and leaves a storehouse full of produce even if it be but one day old, it is presumed that the produce has been tithed.

(Gemara)
FROM CHAPTER I

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AS LONG as one is permitted to eat leaven, one may feed it to the cattle, to beasts and to birds, and one may sell it to a stranger, and may enjoy any benefit of it. But if the time of eating leaven has passed, he is barred from enjoying it. He may not heat an oven or a stove with it. Rab Yehuda says: "There is only one way of disposing of leaven—burning it." But the sages say: It can be shredded and scattered to the winds or thrown into the sea.

(Mishna)

AND he may sell it to a stranger. This is obvious. It contradicts the view of the Tanna who said: The House of Shamai taught: A man must not sell his leaven matter to a stranger unless he knows that it will be eaten before the Passover. But the House of Hillel says: As long as one may eat it, he may sell it.

(Gemara)

The leaven of a Gentile that has remained after Passover is permitted to a Jew. But one must not use the leaven of a Jew that has remained over Passover. Because it was said: (Exodus xiii, 7) Neither shall be leaven seen with thee.

These are the things with which a man discharges his duties with regard to leavened bread on Passover: Wheat, barley, spelt, rye and oats.

And these are the herbs with which a man discharges his duties on Passover: lettuce, chicory, mimosa, endive, and bitter herbs whether they are fresh or dried, but not if they are pickled or stewed or cooked. He fulfills his obligations who consumes the stalks only.

Bran for the chickens must not be soaked, but may be scalded.

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One may not chew wheat and put it on his wound, because it will ferment. The Passover sacrifice may not be boiled in liquids or in fruit juices, but it may be basted with them, or dipped in them. Water that was used by a baker must be poured out, because it will ferment.

(Mishna)

ONLY with these, but not with rice and millet. Why these? Rabbi Simon ben Lakish answered: And thus taught the schools of Rabbi Ishmael and of Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob. It was written: (Deuteronomy xvi, 3) Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith. With foods that come to be leavened, one discharges his duty by eating unleavened bread made thereof, but those that do not become leavened, but decay, are excluded.

Thus the Mishnah does not agree with Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri, who teaches that rice is a species of corn, and if one eats it in the leavened state, one is found guilty. For it was taught: Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri forbids rice and millet because it is near leaven. A question was asked: Does near leaven mean that it becomes leavened quickly, or is it meant that it is near leaven, but never becomes leaven?

Rabbi Akiba is of the opinion that dough kneaded with milk, wine, oil or honey may not be used. Indeed, we were taught: Dough must not be kneaded on the Passover with wine, oil or honey; if it was kneaded, in accordance with Rabbi Gamaliel, it must be burned at once. But the sages say it may be eaten. Rabbi Akiba related: When I spent a week with Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua, I kneaded for them dough with wine, oil and

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honey, and they said nothing. Though one must not knead, one may smooth the surface with them. This is in accordance with the first Tanna. The sages say: With that milk which one may knead, one may smooth; and they all agree that one must not knead with warm water. There is no controversy here; one speaks of the first day of the Festival while the other speaks of the second day. Thus said Rabbi Joshua to his sons: On the first, knead not for me with milk, but from then on you may knead for me with milk. But it was taught: One must not knead dough with milk, and if one kneaded with milk, the whole loaf is forbidden. This is a precaution because one may get the habit of transgression. Rather, he said thus: Knead not for me with honey on the first day, and knead not for me with honey from then on. If you wish you may say that he spoke thus of milk.

(Gemara)
FROM CHAPTER II

THESE are the things that must be removed on Passover: Babylonian curds, Medean beer, Edomite vinegar, Egyptian beer, dyer's brew, cook's starch, and the paste of scribes. Rabbi Eliezer says: Women's ornaments also. And this is the rule: Everything that was made of any grain must be removed for Passover. These are forbidden as a precaution but they do not incur death penalty.

(Mishna)

THREE things were said about Babylonian curds: It stupefies the mind, blinds the eye and weakens the body. It stupefies the mind through the acid; it blinds the eye through the salt, and it weakens the body through the mould.

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The Rabbis taught: Three things accelerate the bowels, bend the stature, and take away five-hundredths of, the eyesight. These are: Coarse bread, raw alcohol and raw cabbage. The Rabbis taught: Three things decrease the movement of the bowels and straighten the stature, and light up the eyes, and these are: Light bread, fatty meat, and old wine. Light bread from fine flour; fatty meat from a goat that was mated; old wine, very old. Everything that may be good for one organ may be harmful for another, and what is harmful for one organ may be good for another. But ginger, long peppers, light bread and fat meat are good for the whole body. "Medean beer" because barley is mixed into it. "Edomite vinegar" because grain is mixed with it. Rabbi Nahman ben Isaac said: At first, when wine for libation was brought from Judea, it never turned to vinegar, unless grain was mixed into it, and that was known as plain vinegar. But now the wine of the Edomites does not turn into vinegar unless grain is mixed into it, and it is called "Edomite vinegar." This. is to fulfill the scripture: (Ezekiel xxvi, 2) I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste. If one is full, the one is waste. If the other is waste, this one is full. Rabbi Nahman ben Isaac used to say: (Gen. xxv, 23) And the one people shall be stronger than the other people.

(Gemara)

IF THE fourteenth falls on the Sabbath, the leaven is removed before the Sabbath. Those are the words of Rabbi Meir. But the sages say: They are removed in their usual time. Rabbi Eliezer bar Zadok said: Heave-offering is removed before Sabbath, but ordinary food in its usual time.

(Mishna)

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IT WAS taught: Rabbi Eliezer bar Zadok said: Father once spent a Sabbath, on which the fourteenth fell, in Yabneh. When Zonin, one of Rabbi Gamaliel's officers, came in and announced: The time has come to remove the leaven, I went along with father and we removed the leaven.

(Gemara)

IF ONE is on his way to slaughter his Paschal-Offering, or to circumcise his son, or to partake of the betrothal feast at his father-in-law's house, and he remembered that he left the unleavened in his home, if he has time to go back and remove it, and then return to fulfill the precept, he should go back and remove the leaven; but if he has not time enough to fulfill both, he should annul the leaven in his heart. If he is on the way to rescue someone from an enemy troop, from a flood, from robbers, from a fire, or from a collapsing structure, he should annul it in his heart. But if he went out just for the enjoyment of the Sabbath he must return at once.

(Mishna)

I WILL point out a contradiction. If he is on the way to partake of the betrothal feast in his father-in-law's house, or for the enjoyment of the Sabbath, he must go back at once. Rabbi Yohanan said: There is no contradiction here: One speaks of the view of Rabbi Yehuda, the other of the view of Rabbi Yosi. For we were taught: The betrothal meal is a voluntary function. These are the words of Rabbi Yehuda; but Rabbi Yosi says: It is a precept. However, Rab Hisda says: The argument here refers only to the second feast, because as to the first feast, all agree that it is a religious precept. You

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may, even, say that both views are those of Rabbi Yehuda, for there is no contradiction here; one refers to the first feast while the other refers to the second. It was taught: Rabbi Yehuda said: I heard only of the betrothal feast, but not as regards the feast of the gifts. Rabbi Yosi said: I heard as regards the betrothal feast and the feast of the gifts.

It was taught: Rabbi Simon said: A scholar must not enjoy himself at a feast which is not of a religious character. What is a feast of this kind? Said Rabbi Yohanan, for instance: The betrothal of a daughter of an Israelite to the daughter of a Priest, or the daughter of a scholar to that of an ignoramus. For Rabbi Yohanan said: The marriage of the daughter of a priest and the daughter of an Israelite will not bring good results. How so? Rab Hisda answered: She will either become a widow, or a divorcee, or she will have no children. We learned in a Baraitha: Either he will bury her or she will bury him, or she will bring poverty upon him. But this is not so. For Rabbi Yohanan said: If one wants to become rich, he should join the seed of Aaron, for the Torah and the priesthood will enrich them. There is no controversy here. One refers to a scholar and the other to an ignoramus.

Rabbi Joshua was married to a priest's daughter. When he fell sick once, he said: Aaron is not pleased that I joined his seed and that he should have a son-in-law like me. Rabbi Idis ben Abin was married to a daughter of a priest, and he had two ordained sons: Rabbi Shesheth ben Rabbi Idis and Rabbi Joshua ben Idis. Rab Papa said: Had I not married a priest's daughter, I would not have become rich. Rabbi Kahana said: Had I not

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married the daughter of a priest, I would not be exiled, but he was answered: You were exiled to a place of learning. He answered: But I was not exiled the way other people were exiled.

Rabbi Isaac said: Whoever partakes of general feasts, will eventually be exiled, for it was said: (Amos vi, 4) And eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall. And it was said: (Amos vi, 7) Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive.

The Rabbis taught: A scholar that makes it a habit of eating in every place, will at the end destroy his home, bring widowhood upon his wife, and make his children orphans. He will forget his learning, will be given up to many quarrels. His words will be unheard. He will desecrate the Name of Heaven, the name of his teacher, and the name of his father, and will attach a bad name to himself, to his children and to his children's children, to the end of all generations. In what way? Abaya said: He will be called the son of the glutton. Rabbi said: He will be called a son of a "Tavern Dancer." Rab Papa said: He will be called the son of a "Plate Licker." Rabbi Shemaiah said: The son of a man who sleeps in his clothes.

The Rabbis taught: A man should sell all he possesses and marry the daughter of a scholar, for if he dies or goes into exile, he may be sure that his children will become scholars. But he should not marry the daughter of an ignoramus, for if he dies or goes into exile, his children will be ignorant.

The Rabbis taught: A man should sell all he possesses and marry the daughter of a scholar, or marry

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off his daughter to a scholar. This compares to the grafting of grapes with grapes—a good and acceptable thing. But he should not marry a daughter of an ignoramus. This compares to the grafting of grapes with thorny berries, which is a detestable and an unacceptable thing.

The Rabbis taught: A man should sell all he possesses, and he should marry a daughter of a scholar. If he can not find the daughter of a scholar, he should marry a daughter of a distinguished man of his generation; if he can not find the daughter of a distinguished man, he should marry the daughter of the head of a synagogue; if he can not find a daughter of the head of a synagogue, he should marry the daughter of a head of a charitable organization; if he can not find a daughter of a head of a charitable organization, he should marry the daughter of an elementary school teacher, but he should never marry the daughter of an ignoramus. For they are detestable, their wives are vermin, and of their daughters it was said: (Deuteronomy xxvii, 21) Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast.

Rabbi Akiba said: When I was an ignoramus, I used to say: Who would give a scholar into my hands, I would bite him like an ass. His disciples said to him: Rabbi, say like a dog. He answered: The first bites and breaks the bone, while the other bites, but does not break the bone.

Rabbi Meir used to say: If one marries off his daughter to an ignoramus, it is as if he bound her and laid her before a lion. A lion falls on his prey and devours it, and has no shame. So an ignoramus beats her and mates with her and has no shame.

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Rabbi Eliezer said: If they did not need us for trading with us, they would kill us. Rabbi Hiya taught: If one studies the Torah before an ignoramus, it is as if he mated with his wife in front of him. For it was said: (Deuteronomy xxxiii, 4) Moses commanded us a law the inheritance (Morashah) of the congregation of Jacob. Read not Morashah but Me’Orashah (betrothed) . The hatred of the ignorant towards the learned is greater than the hatred of the Gentiles toward the Jews, and their wives are even worse.

We learned: He that studied and foresook his studies, hates the scholar with more hate than anyone else.

Six things were said of the ignorant: One does not commit testimony to them, and one does not take their testimony; one does not reveal a secret to them; one does not appoint them as guardians for orphans; one does not appoint them as guardians of charity chests, and one does not join their company on a trip.

(Gemara)
FROM CHAPTER III

WHERE the custom is to work on Passover eve until midday one may work until midday, but in a place where the custom is not to work, one must not work.

If a man went from a place where the custom is not to work to a place where the custom is to work, or from a place where the custom is to work to a place where the custom is not to work, he is bound by the stricter custom of the place whence he came, or to the stricter custom of the place to which he has come. But on no account must he act differently from the local custom, because it may lead to strife.

(Mishna)

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WHY only on Passover eve? This should refer even to Sabbath eve, or the eve of other festivals. For we learned: Whoever does work on Sabbath eve or on the eves of Festivals, from afternoon prayers onward, shall never see a sign of blessing. There it is said: Only "after" the afternoon prayer he is forbidden to do work, but not "near" the afternoon prayer. But here it is said: From midday on. Then, there he merely sees no sign of blessing, but he is not banned, but here he is placed under the ban.

The Rabbis taught: Some are industrious and profit by it, but others are industrious and incur a loss. One is lowly and profits by it, another is lowly and incurs a loss. One is industrious and profits when he works the whole week but not on Sabbath eve. But another is industrious and incurs a loss, when he works the whole week and on Sabbath eve. A lowly man who profits is he who does not work the whole week and does not work on Sabbath eve. A lowly man who incurs a loss is one who does not work the whole week but works on Sabbath eve.

The Rabbis taught: Whosoever looks for his wife's earning and working at the mill, shall never see a sign of blessing. "The earnings of his wife" means through peddling. "At the mill" Means through hiring her out. But a woman who makes things and sells them is praised in the Scripture, for it was written: (Proverbs xxxi, 24) She maketh fine linen and selleth it.

The Rabbis taught: Street peddlers and breeders of small cattle, and those who cut down good trees, and those who grab the best portion, will never see a sign

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of blessing. Why? For people will always gaze at them.

In four instances there is no sign of blessing to be found: The earnings of scribes, the earnings of interpreters, and the earnings of orphans, and moneys that come from overseas. Why the interpreter? The reason is that it is like earnings for Sabbath work. So are also the wages of orphans, for these cannot be legally renounced. So are the moneys that come from overseas, because a miracle cannot be performed every day. But why of the scribes? Rabbi Joshua ben Levi answered: The sages of the great assembly spent twenty-four days in fasting and prayer, so that the scribes should not grow rich. For if they become rich they will stop writing.

Those who write books, phylacteries and Mezuzoth, their traders, and their traders’ traders, and all who deal in sacred articles, and this includes traders in blue wool for praying shawls, never see a sign of blessing, but if they engage in them for the sake of the Lord, they will see a sign of blessing.

(Gemara)

IN A place where the practice was to eat roast meat on Passover night, one should eat roast meat; where the custom is not to eat, one must not eat it.

In a place where the custom is to light the candles on the eve of the Day of Atonement, one may light them; wherever the custom is not to light them, one does not light them. But one lights the candles in the synagogue, in the house of study, in dark alleys and near a sick person.

Where it is the custom to work on the ninth of Ab,

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one may work. In a place where the custom is not to work, one must not work. And in all places scholars must not work. Rabbi Gamaliel says: A man should always make a scholar of himself. The sages said: In Judea, they worked on Passover eve till noon; but in Galilee, they did not work at all. As to work on the night of the fourteenth, the House of Shamai forbid it, but the House of Hillel permit it until dawn.

The men of Jericho inaugurated six things; for three they were not reproved; for three they were reproved; and these are the things for which they were not reproved: They grafted date palms all day long; they pattered the "Hear O Israel," and they reaped and stacked the produce before the Omer Offering. And for the following they were reproved: They were permitted the fruit of sanctified trees, they ate fallen fruit from under the trees on the Sabbath, and they gave tithes from green vegetables. For these the sages reproved them.

(Mishna)

KING Hezekiah did six things. With three, the sages agreed; and with three, they disagreed. He dragged the bones of his father on a bier made of ropes, and the sages approved of it. He demolished the copper serpent, and they approved of it. He hid away the book of cures and they approved of it. And of three things they did not approve. He took down the doors of the Temple and sent them to the King of Assyria, and they did not approve of it. He dammed the waters of the Upper Gihon, and they did not approve of it. He lengthened the month of Nisan, and they did not approve of it.

(Baraitah)
FROM CHAPTER IV

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THE Passover offering is slaughtered in three divisions. For it was said: (Exodus xii, 6) And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it. "Assembly", "Congregation", and "Israel". The first division entered; the Temple court was filled. Whereupon the gates of the court were closed. Then they sounded the horn, first sustained, then stacatto, and then sustained. The priests stood in rows, and in their hands they held silver basins and basins of gold. A row that was of silver was entirely of silver, and a row that was of gold was entirely of gold. They did not mix them. The basins had round bottoms, so that they could not be set down, so that the blood would not congeal. An Israelite slaughtered his offering, the priest took the blood and passed it to the next one, and this one to the next. He received the full one and returned the empty. The priest that was nearest the altar tossed it in one throw at the base of the altar.

When the first division came out, the second division entered, when the second came out, the third entered. As the procedure was with the first group, so it was with the second, and so with the third. They recited "Hallelujah". If they finished it they repeated it and if they finished it a second time, they recited it a third time, although they never completed it a third time. The third division never reached as far as: (Psalms cxvi, 1) I love the Lord because he hath heard. For the people were not many. As the procedure took place on week days, so it was also on the Sabbath. Except that the priest swilled the Temple court; this against the wishes of the Sages. Rabbi Yehuda said: They would fill a cup of the

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mixed blood and make one toss at the altar. But the Sages did not approve of it.

When the carcass was opened, the Israelite removed the portion to be sacrificed. He put it on a tray and handed it to the priest to be burned at the altar. The first division went out and sat on the Temple mount. The second sat on the rampart, and the third remained where they were. When it got dark, they went out and roasted their Paschal Offering.

(Mishna)

SAID Rabbi Isaac: The Paschal offering is not slaughtered unless there are three groups of thirty men. What is the reason? "Assembly", "Congregation" and "Israel" are mentioned. We are not sure whether it means all together or one after the other. Therefore, we need three groups of thirty each, so that we will have at the same time three groups, and three following each other. In that case, fifty are also sufficient. First thirty enter and perform the ritual, then ten enter, and ten follow them.

No one was ever crushed in the Temple court on Passover, except once in the time of Hillel. An old man was crushed, and this was known as the Passover of the Crushed.

King Agrippa once wanted to count the host§ of Israel. So he said to the High Priest: Count the Paschal Offerings. Whereupon the priest took a kidney from each lamb. And there were six hundred thousand pairs of kidneys, double the number of those that went out of Egypt. And that excluded those who were away on a journey and those who were unclean. And at least ten

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people were registered for each sacrificed lamb. This was called the Passover of the Throngs.

(Gemara)
FROM CHAPTER V

HOW is the Paschal lamb roasted? One brings a skewer of pomegranate wood, and inserts it through the mouth to the buttocks and puts the knees and the entrails inside of it. These are the words of Rabbi Yosi, the Galilean. Rabbi Akiba said: This is not roasting, it's boiling; the knees and the entrails are hung outside of it.

The Paschal offering must not be roasted on a metal spit, nor on a grill. Rabbi Zadok said: It happened once that Rabbi Gamaliel said to his slave Tabi: Go out and roast the Paschal lamb on a grill, but if it touched the earthen ware of the oven, he had to cut off that part.

(Mishna)
FROM CHAPTER VII

THE word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, Kings of Judea. (Hosea i, 1.)

Four prophets prophesied in one period and Hosea was the eldest of all of them. For it was said: (Hosea i, 2) The Lord spake first to Hosea. Indeed, did he speak to Hosea first? Were there not many other prophets from Moses to Hosea? Said Rabbi Yohanan: First of the four prophets that were prophesying in that period. These were: Hosea, Isaiah, Amos and Micah. Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Hosea: Thy children have sinned. He should have replied: These are Thy children, the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Favor them with Thy mercy. Not only did he not say this, but he said to the Lord: Lord of the universe, the

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