Maurice Henry Harris
Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala
Shabbath, fol. 33, col 2.
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that at every utterance which proceeded from the mouth of the Holy One—blessed be He!—on Mount Sinai, Israel receded twelve miles, being conducted gently back by the ministering angels; for it is said (Ps. lxviii. 12), "The angels of hosts kept moving."
Shabbath, fol. 88, col. 2.
A Sadducee once said to Rabbi Abhu, "Ye say that the souls of the righteous are treasured up under the throne of glory; how then had the Witch of Endor power to bring up the prophet Samuel by necromancy?" The Rabbi replied, "Because that occurred within twelve months after his death; for we are taught that during twelve months after death the body is preserved and the soul soars up and down, but that after twelve months the body is destroyed and the soul goes up never to return."
Ibid., fol. 152, col. 2.
Clever answers to puzzling questions like the above, are of frequent occurrence in the Talmud; and we select here a few out of the many specimens of Rabbinical ready wit and repartee.
Turnus Rufus once said to Rabbi Akiva, "If your God is a friend to the poor, why doesn't he feed them?" To which he promptly replied, "That we by maintaining them may escape the condemnation of Gehenna." "On the contrary," said the Emperor, "the very fact of your maintaining the poor will condemn you to Gehenna. I will tell thee by a parable whereto this is like. It is as if a king of our own flesh and blood should imprison a servant who has offended him, and command that neither food nor drink should be given him, and as if one of his subjects in spite of him should go and supply him with both. When the king hears of it will he not be angry with that man? And ye are called servants, as it is said (Lev. xxv. 55), 'For unto me the children of Israel are servants.'" To this Rabbi Akiva replied, "And I too will tell thee a parable whereunto the thing is like. It is like a king of our own flesh and blood who, being angry with his son, imprisons him, and orders that neither food nor drink be given him, but one goes and gives him both to eat and drink. When the king hears of it will he not handsomely reward that man? And we are sons, as it is written (Deut. xiv. 1), 'Ye are the sons of the Lord your God.'" "True," the Emperor replied, "ye are both sons and servants; sons when ye do the will of God; servants when ye do not; and now ye are not doing the will of God."
Bava Bathra, fol. 10, col. 1.
Certain philosophers once asked the elders at Rome, "If your God has no pleasure in idolatry, why does He not destroy the objects of it?" "And so He would," was the reply, "if only such objects were worshiped as the world does not stand in need of; but you idolaters will worship the sun and moon, the stars and the constellations. Should He destroy the world because of the fools there are in it? No! The world goes on as it has done all the same, but they who abuse it will have to answer for their conduct. On your philosophy, when one steals a measure of wheat and sows it in his field it should by rights produce no crop; nevertheless the world goes on as if no wrong had been done, and they who abuse it will one day smart for it."
Avoda Zarah, fol. 54, col. 2.
Antoninus Caesar asked Rabbi (the Holy), "Why does the sun rise in the east and set in the west?" "Thou wouldst have asked," answered the Rabbi, "the same question if the order had been reversed." "What I mean," remarked Antoninus, "is this, is there any special reason why he sets in the west?" "Yes," replied Rabbi, "to salute his Creator (who is in the east), for it is said (Neh. ix. 6), 'And the host of heaven worship Thee.'"
Sanhedrin, fol. 91, col. 2.
Caesar once said to Rabbi Tanchum, "Come, now, let us be one people." "Very well," said Rabbi Tanchum, "only we, being circumcised, cannot possibly become like you; if, however, ye become circumcised we shall be alike in that regard anyhow, and so be as one people." The Emperor said, "Thou hast reasonably answered, but the Roman law is, that he who nonpluses his ruler and puts him to silence shall be cast to the lions." The word was no sooner uttered than the Rabbi was thrown into the den, but the lions stood aloof and did not even touch him. A Sadducee, who looked on, remarked, "The lions do not devour him because they are not hungry," but, when at the royal command, the Sadducee himself was thrown in, he had scarcely reached the lions before they fell upon him and began to tear his flesh and devour him.
Sanhedrin, fol. 39, col. 1.
A certain Sadducee asked Rabbi Abhu, "Since your God is a priest, as it is written (Exod. xxv. 2), 'That they bring Me an offering,' in what did He bathe Himself after He was polluted by the burial (Num. xix. 11, 18) of the dead body of Moses? It could not be in the water, for it is written (Isa. xl. 12), 'Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand?' which therefore are insufficient for Him to bathe in." The Rabbi replied, "He bathed in fire, as it is written (Isa. lxvi. 15), 'For behold the Lord will come with fire.'"
Ibid.
Turnus Rufus asked this question also of Rabbi Akiva, "Why is the Sabbath distinguished from other days?" Rabbi Akiva replied, "Why art thou distinguished from other men?" The answer was, "Because it hath pleased my Master thus to honor me." And so retorted Akiva, "It hath pleased God to honor His Sabbath." "But what I mean," replied the other, "was how dost thou know that it is the Sabbath-day?" The reply was, "The river Sambatyon proves it; the necromancer proves it; the grave of thy father proves it, for the smoke thereof rises not on the Sabbath."
Ibid., fol. 65, col. 2.
See Bereshith Rabba, fol. 4, with reference to what is here said about Turnus Rufus and his father's grave. The proof from the necromancer lies in the allegation that his art was unsuccessful if practiced on the Sabbath-day. The Sambatyon, Rashi says, is a pebbly river which rushes along all the days of the week except the Sabbath, on which it is perfectly still and quiet. In the Machsor for Pentecost (D. Levi's ed. p. 81), it is styled "the incomprehensible river," and a footnote thereto informs us that "This refers to the river said to rest on the Sabbath from throwing up stones, etc., which it does not cease to do all the rest of the week." (See Sanhedrin, fol. 65, col. 2; Yalkut on Isaiah, fol. 3, 1; Pesikta Tanchuma. See also Shalsheleth Hakabbala and Yuchsin.)
Those Israelites and Gentiles who have transgressed with their bodies (the former by neglecting to wear phylacteries, and the latter by indulging in sensuous pleasures), shall go down into Gehenna, and there be punished for twelve months, after which period their bodies will be destroyed and their soul consumed, and a wind shall scatter their ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous; as it is said (Mal. iv. 3), "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet." But the Minim, the informers, and the Epicureans, they who deny the law and the resurrection of the dead, they who separate themselves from the manners of the congregation, they who have been a terror in the land of the living, and they who have sinned and have led the multitude astray, as did Jeroboam the son of Nebat and his companions,—these shall go down into Gehenna, and there be judged for generations upon generations, as it is said (Isa. lxvi, 24), "And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me," etc. Gehenna itself shall be consumed but they shall not be burned up in the destruction; as it is said (Ps. xlix, 14; Heb. xv.), "And their figures shall consume hell from being a dwelling."
Rosh Hashanah, fol. 17, col. 1.
Once when Israel went up by pilgrimages to one of the three annual feasts at Jerusalem (see Exod. xxxiv. 23, 24), it so happened that there was no water to drink. Nicodemon ben Gorion therefore hired of a friendly neighbor twelve huge reservoirs of water promising to have them replenished against a given time, or failing this to forfeit twelve talents of silver. The appointed day came and still the drought continued, and therewith the scarcity of water; upon which the creditor appeared and demanded payment of the forfeit. The answer of Nicodemon to the demand was, "There's time yet; the day is not over." The other chuckled to himself, inwardly remarking, "There's no chance now; there's been no rain all the season," and off he went to enjoy his bath. But Nicodemon sorrowful at heart, wended his way to the Temple. After putting on his prayer scarf, as he prayed, he pleaded, "Lord of the Universe! Thou knowest that I have not entered into this obligation for my own sake, but for Thy glory and for the benefit of Thy people." While he yet prayed the clouds gathered overhead, the rain fell in torrents, and the reservoirs were filled to overflowing. On going out of the house of prayer he was met by the exacting creditor, who still urged that the money was due to him, as he said, the rain came after sunset. But in answer to prayer the clouds immediately dispersed, and the sun shone out as brightly as ever.
Taanith, fol. 19. col. 2.
Nicodemon ben Gorion of the above story is by some considered to be the Nicodemus of St. John's Gospel, iii. 1-10; vii. 50; xix 30.
Would that my husband were here and could listen to me; I should permit him to stay away another twelve years.
Kethuboth, fol. 63. col. 1.
Hereto hangs a tale stranger than fiction, yet founded on fact. Rabbi Akiva was once a poor shepherd in the employ of Calba Shevua, one of the richest men in all Jerusalem. While engaged in that lowly occupation his master's only daughter fell in love with him, and the two carried on a clandestine courtship for some time together. Her father, hearing of it, threatened to disinherit her, to turn her out of doors and disown her altogether, if she did not break off her engagement. How could she connect herself with one who was the base-born son of a proselyte, a reputed descendant of Sisera and Jael, an ignorant fellow that could neither read nor write, and a man old enough to be her father? Rachel—for that was her name—determined to be true to her lover, and to brave the consequences by marrying him and exchanging the mansion of her father for the hovel of her husband. After a short spell of married life she prevailed upon her husband to leave her for a while in order to join a certain college in a distant land, where she felt sure that his talents would be recognized and his genius fostered into development worthy of it. As he sauntered along by himself he began to harbor misgivings in his mind as to the wisdom of the step, and more than once thought of returning. But when musing one day at a resting-place a waterfall arrested his attention, and he remarked how the water, by its continual dropping, was wearing away the solid rock. All at once, with the tact for which he was afterward so noted, he applied the lesson it yielded to himself. "So may the law," he reasoned, "work its way into my hard and stony heart;" and he felt encouraged and pursued his journey. Under the tuition of Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Hyrcanus, and Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Chananiah, his native ability soon began to appear, his name became known to fame, and he rose step by step until he ranked as a professor in the very college which he had entered as a poor student. After some twelve years of hard study and diligent service in the law he returned to Jerusalem, accompanied by a large number of disciples. On nearing the dwelling of his devoted wife he caught the sound of voices in eager conversation. He paused awhile and listened at the door, and overheard a gossiping neighbor blaming Rachel for her mésalliance, and twitting her with marrying a man who could run away and leave her as a widow for a dozen of years or more on the crazy pretext of going to college. He listened in eager curiosity, wondering what the reply would be. To his surprise, he heard his self-sacrificing wife exclaim, "Would that my husband were here and could listen to me; I should permit, nay, urge him to stay other twelve years, if it would benefit him." Strange to say Akiva taking the hint from his wife, turned away and left Jerusalem without ever seeing her. He went abroad again for a time, and then returned for good; this time, so the story says, with twice twelve thousand disciples. Well-nigh all Jerusalem turned out to do him honor, every one striving to be foremost to welcome him. Calba Shevua, who for many a long year had repented of his hasty resolution, which cost him at once his daughter and his happiness, went to Akiva to ask his opinion about annulling this vow. Akiva replied by making himself known as his quondam servant and rejected son-in-law. As we may suppose, the two were at once reconciled, and Calba Shevua looked upon himself as favored of Heaven above all the fathers in Israel.
The Rabbis say that at first they used to communicate the Divine name of twelve letters to every one. But when the Antinomians began to abound, the knowledge of this name was imparted only to the more discreet of the priestly order, and they repeated it hastily while the other priests pronounced the benediction of the people. (What the name was, says Rashi, is not known.) Rabbi Tarphon, the story goes on to say, once listened to the high priest, and overheard him hurriedly pronouncing this name of twelve letters while the other priests were blessing the people.
Kiddushin, fol. 71, col. 1.
Twelve hours there are in the day:—The first three, the Holy One—blessed be He!—employs in studying the law; the next three He sits and judges the whole world; the third three He spends in feeding all the world; during the last three hours He sports with the leviathan; as it is said (Ps. civ. 26), "This leviathan Thou hast created to play with it."
Avodah Zarah, fol. 3, col. 2.
Rabbi Yochanan bar Chanena said:—The day consists of twelve hours. During the first hour Adam's dust was collected from all parts of the world; during the second it was made into a lump; during the third his limbs were formed; during the fourth his body was animated; during the fifth he stood upon his legs; during the sixth he gave names to the animals; during the seventh he associated with Eve; during the eighth Cain and a twin sister were born (Abel and his twin sister were born after the Fall, says the Tosephoth); during the ninth Adam was ordered not to eat of the forbidden tree; during the tenth he fell, during the eleventh he was judged; and during the twelfth he was ejected from paradise; as it is said (Ps. xlix. 13, A.V. 12), "Man (Adam) abode not one night in his dignity."
Sanhedrin, fol. 38, col. 2.
Rabbi Akiva used to say:—Of five judgments, some have lasted twelve months, others will do so;—those of the deluge, of Job, of the Egyptians, of Gog and Magog, and of the wicked in Gehenna.
Edioth, chap. 2, mish. 10.
Plagues come upon those that are proud, as was the case with Uzziah (2 Chron. xxvi. 16), "But when he was strong (proud), his heart was lifted up to destruction." When the leprosy rose up in his forehead, the Temple was cleft asunder twelve miles either way.
Avoth d'Rab. Nathan, chap. 9.
This hyperbole is evidently a mere fiction joined on to a truth for the purpose of frightening the proud into humility. The end sanctifieth the means, as we well know from other instances recorded in the Talmud.
Those who mourn for deceased relatives are prohibited from entering a tavern for thirty days, but those who mourn for either father or mother must not do so for twelve months.
Semachoth, chap. 9.
A creature that has no bones in his body does not live more than twelve months.
Chullin, fol. 58, col. 1.
The Alexandrians asked Rabbi Joshua twelve questions; three related to matters of wisdom, three to matters of legend, three were frivolous, and three were of a worldly nature—viz, how to grow wise, how to become rich, and how to ensure a family of boys.
Niddah, fol. 69, col. 2.
There was once a man named Joseph, who was renowned for honoring the Sabbath-day. He had a rich neighbor, a Gentile, whose property a certain fortune-teller had said would eventually revert to Joseph the Sabbatarian. To frustrate this prediction the Gentile disposed of his property, and with the proceeds of the sale he purchased a rare and costly jewel which he fixed to his turban. On crossing a bridge a gust of wind blew his turban into the river and a fish swallowed it. This fish being caught, was brought on a Friday to market, and, as luck would have it, it was bought by Joseph in honor of the coming Sabbath. When the fish was cut up the jewel was found, and this Joseph sold for thirteen purses of gold denarii. When his neighbor met him, he acknowledged that he who despised the Sabbath the Lord of the Sabbath would be sure to punish.
Shabbath, fol. 119, col. 1.
This story cannot fail to remind those who are conversant with Herodotus or Schiller of the legend of King Polycrates, which dates back five or six centuries before the present era. Polycrates, the king of Samos, was one of the most fortunate of men, and everything he took in hand was fabled to prosper. This unbroken series of successes caused disquietude to his friends, who saw in the circumstance foreboding of some dire disaster; till Amasis, king of Egypt, one of the number advised him to spurn the favor of fortune by throwing away what he valued dearest. The most valuable thing he possessed was an emerald signet-ring, and this accordingly he resolved to sacrifice. So, manning a galley, he rowed out to the sea, and threw the ring away into the waste of the waters. Some five or six days after this, a fisherman came to the palace and made the king a present of a very fine fish that he had caught. This the servants proceeded to open, when, to their surprise, they came upon a ring, which on examination proved to be the very ring which had been cast away by the king their master. (See Herodotus, book iii.)
Among the many legends that have clustered round the memory of Solomon, there is one which reads very much like an adaptation of this classic story. The version the Talmud gives of this story is quoted in another part of this Miscellany (chap. vi. No. 8, note), but in Emek Hammelech, fol. 14, col. 4, we have the legend in another form, with much amplitude and variety of detail, of which we can give here only an outline. When the building of the Temple was finished, the king of the demons begged Solomon to set him free from his service, and promised in return to teach him a secret he would be sure to value. Having cajoled Solomon out of possession of his signet-ring, he first flung the ring into the sea, where it was swallowed by a fish, and then taking up Solomon himself, he cast him into a foreign land some four hundred miles away, where for three weary long years he wandered up and down like a vagrant, begging his bread from door to door. In the course of his rambles he came to Mash Kemim, and was so fortunate as to be appointed head cook at the palace of the king of Ammon (Ana Hanun, see 1 Kings xii. 24; LXX.). While employed in this office, Naama, the king's daughter (see 1 Kings xiv. 21, 31, and 2 Chron. xii. 13), fell in love with him, and, determining to marry him, eloped with him for refuge to a distant land. One day as Naama was preparing a fish for dinner, she found in it a ring, and this turned cut to be the very ring which the king of the demons had flung into the sea, and the loss of which had bewitched the king out of his power and dominion. In the recovery of the ring the king both recovered himself and the throne of his father David.
The occurrence of a fish and a ring on the arms of the city of Glasgow memorializes a legend in which we find the same singular combination of circumstances. A certain queen of the district one day gave her paramour a golden ring which the king her husband had committed to her charge as a keepsake. By some means or other the king got to know of the whereabouts of the ring, and cleverly contriving to secure possession of it, threw it into the sea. He then went straight to the queen and demanded to know where it was and what she had done with it. The queen in her distress repaired to St. Kentigern, and both made full confession of her guilt and her anxiety about the recovery of the ring, that she might regain the lost favor of her husband. The saint set off at once to the Clyde, and there caught a salmon and the identical ring in the mouth of it. This he handed over to the queen, who returned it to her lord with such expressions of penitence that the restoration of it became the bond and pledge between them of a higher and holier wedlock.
There were thirteen horn-shaped collecting-boxes, and thirteen tables, and thirteen devotional bowings in the Temple service. Those who belonged to the houses of Rabbi Gamliel and of Rabbi Chananiah, the president of the priests, bowed fourteen times. This extra act of bowing was directed to the quarter of the wood store, in consequence of a tradition they inherited from their ancestors that the Ark of the Covenant was hidden in that locality. The origin of the tradition was this:—A priest, being once engaged near the wood store, and observing that part of the plaster differed from the rest, went to tell his companions, but died before he had time to relate his discovery. Thus it became known for certain that the Ark was hidden there.
Shekalim chap. 3, hal, 1.
It is more than probable that the Chananiah, mentioned above, is the person alluded to in the Acts, chap, xxiii. 2, as "the high priest Ananias." For the tradition about the Ark. see also 2 Macc. ii. 4, 5.
There were thirteen horn-shaped collecting-boxes in the Temple, and upon them were inscribed new shekels, old shekels, turtle-dove offerings, young-pigeon offerings, fire-wood, contributions for Galbanus, gold for the mercy-seat; and six boxes were inscribed for voluntary contributions. New shekels were for the current year, old shekels were for the past one.
Yoma, fol. 55, col, 2.
Once on account of long-continued drought Rabbi Eliezer proclaimed thirteen public fasts, but no rain came. At the termination of the last fast, just as the congregation was leaving the synagogue, he cried aloud, "Have you then prepared graves for yourselves?" Upon this all the people burst into bitter cries, and rain came down directly.
Taanith, fol. 25, col. 2.
A boy at thirteen years of age is bound to observe the usual fasts in full, i.e., throughout the whole day. A girl is bound to do so when only twelve. Rashi gives this as the reason:—A boy is supposed to be weaker than a girl on account of the enervating effect of much study.
Kethuboth, fol. 5, col. 1.
A poor man once came to Rava and begged for a meal. "On what dost thou usually dine?" asked Rava. "On stuffed fowl and old wine," was the reply. "What!" said Rava, "art thou not concerned about being so burdensome to the community?" He replied, "I eat nothing belonging to them, only what the Lord provides; as we are taught (Ps. cxlv. 15), 'The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat in his season.' It is not said in their season, for so we learn that God provides for each individual in his season of need." While they were thus talking, in came Rava's sister, who had not been to see him for thirteen years, and she brought him as a present a stuffed fowl and some old wine also. Rava marveled at the coincidence, and turning to his poor visitor said, "I beg thy pardon, friend; rise, I pray thee, and eat."
Ibid., fol. 67, col. 2.
So great is circumcision that thirteen covenants were made concerning it. Tosafoth says that covenant is written thirteen times in the chapter of circumcision.
Nedarim, fol. 31, col. 2.
Rabbi (the Holy) says sufferings are to be borne with resignation. He himself bore them submissively for thirteen years; for six he suffered from lithiasis, and for seven years from stomatitis (or, as some say, six years from the former and seven from the latter). His groans were heard three miles off.
Bava Metzia, fol. 85, col. 1.
The Rabbis have taught thirteen things respecting breakfast (morning-morsel):—It counteracts the effects of heat, cold or draught; it protects from malignant demons; it makes wise the simple by keeping the mind in a healthy condition; it enables a man to come off clear from a judicial inquiry; it qualifies him both to learn and to teach the law; it makes him eagerly listened to, to have a retentive memory, etc.
Ibid. fol. 107, col. 2.
The land of Israel is in the future to be divided among thirteen tribes, and not, as at first, among twelve.
Bava Bathra, fol. 122, col. 1.
Rabbi Abhu once complimented Rav Saphra before the Minim by singling him out in their hearing as a man distinguished by his learning, and this led them to exempt him from tribute for thirteen years. It so happened that these Minim once posed Saphra about that which is written in Amos iii. 2, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." "Ye say you are God's friends, but when one has a friend does he pour out his wrath upon him?" To this Rav Saphra make no reply. They then put a rope round his neck and tormented him. When he was in this sorry plight, Rabbi Abhu came up and inquired why they tormented him thus. To this they made answer, "Didst thou not tell us that he was a very learned man, and he does not even know how to explain a text of Scripture?" "Yes, I did so say," replied Rabbi Abhu; "he is an adept in the Talmud only, but not in the Scriptures." "Thou knowest the Scriptures;" they replied, "and why ought he not to know them as well?" "I have daily intercourse with you," said the Rabbi, "and therefore I am obliged to study the Scriptures, but he, having no intercourse with you, has no need to trouble himself, and does not at all care about them."
Avodah Zarah, fol. 4, col. 1.
In order to understand aright the grounds on which Rabbi Abhu would fain excuse Rav Saphra for not caring at all about the Scriptures, certain passages from both Talmuds should be read, which, in the usual metaphorical style of the Rabbis, set forth the respective merits of Scripture and Tradition. The three times three in Sophrim (chap. 15), in which the Scripture is compared to water, the Mishna to wine, and the Gemara to mulled wine, and that in which the Scripture is likened to salt, the Mishna to pepper, and the Gemara to spice, and so on, are too well known to need more than passing mention; but far less familiar and much more explicit is the exposition of Zech. viii. 10, as given in T.B. Chaggigah, fol. 10, col. 1, where, commenting on the Scripture text, "Neither, was there any peace to him that went out or came in," Rav expressly says, "He who leaves a matter of Halachah for a matter of Scripture shall never more have peace;" to which Shemuel adds, "Aye, and he also who leaves the Talmud for the Mishna;" Rabbi Yochanan chiming in with "even from Talmud to Talmud;" as if to say, "And he who turns from the Babli to the Yerushalmi, even he shall have no peace." If we refer to the Mishna (chap. 1, hal. 7) of Berachoth in the last-named Talmud, we read there that Rabbi Tarphon, bent, while on a journey, on reading the Shema according to the school of Shammai, ran the risk of falling into the hands of certain banditti whom he had not noticed near him. "It would have served you right," remarked one, "because you did not follow the rule of Hillel." In the Gemara to this passage Rabbi Yochanan says, "The words of the scribes are more highly valued than the words of the law, for, as Rabbi Yuda remarks, 'If Rabbi Tarphon had not read the Shema at all he would only have broken a positive command,' but since he transgressed the rule of Hillel he was guilty of death, for it is written, 'He who breaks down a hedge (the Rabbinic hedge to the law, of course), a serpent shall bite him'" (Eccles. x. 8). Then Rabbi Chanina, the son of Rabbi Ana, in the name of Rabbi Tanchum, the son of Rabbi Cheyah, says, "The words of the elders are more important than the words of the prophets." A prophet and an elder, whom do they resemble? They are like two ambassadors sent by a king to a province. About the one he sends word saying, "If he does not present credentials with my signature and seal, trust him not;" whereas the other is accredited without any such token; for in regard to the prophet it is written (Deut. xiii. 2), "He giveth thee a sign or token;" while in reference to the elders it is written (Deut. xvii. 11), "According to the decision which they may say unto thee shalt thou do; thou shalt not depart from the sentence which they may tell thee, to the right or to the left." Rashi's comment on this text is worth notice: "Even when they tell thee that right is left and left is right." In a word, a wise man (i.e., a Rabbi) is better than a prophet. (Bava Bathra fol. 12, col. 1.)
Oved, the Galilean, has expounded that there are thirteen vavs (i.e., the letter vav occurs thirteen times) in connection with wine. Vav in Syriac means woe.
Sanhedrin fol. 70, col. 1.
The Rabbis have a curious Haggada respecting the origin of the culture of the vine. Once while Noah was hard at work breaking up the fallow ground for a vineyard, Satan drew near and inquired what he was doing. On ascertaining that the patriarch was about to cultivate the grape, which he valued both for its fruit and its juice, he at once volunteered to assist him at his task, and began to manure the soil with the blood of a lamb, a lion, a pig, and a monkey. "Now," said he, when his work was done, "of those who taste the juice of the grape, some will become meek and gentle as the lamb, some bold and fearless as the lion, some foul and beastly as the pig, and others frolicsome and lively as the monkey." This quaint story may be found more fully detailed in the Midrash Tanchuma (see Noah) and the Yalkut on Genesis. The Mohammedan legend is somewhat similar. It relates how Satan on the like occasion used the blood of a peacock, of an ape, of a lion, and of a pig, and it deduces from the abuse of the vine the curse that fell on the children of Ham, and ascribes the color of the purple grape to the dark hue which thenceforth tinctured all the fruit of their land as well as their own complexions.
At thirteen years of age, a boy becomes bound to observe the (613) precepts of the law.