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One thing obtained with difficulty is far better than a hundred things procured with ease.
Avoth d'Rab. Nathan, ch. 3.
In the name of Rav, Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abba says, "Whoso buys a scroll of the law in the market seizes possession of another's meritorious act; but if he himself copies out a scroll of the law, Scripture considers him as if he had himself received it direct from Mount Sinai." "Nay," adds Rav Yehudah, in the name of Rav, "even if he has amended one letter in it, Scripture considers him as if he had written it out entirely."
Menachoth, fol. 30, col. 1.
He who forgets one thing that he has learned breaks a negative commandment; for it is written (Deut. iv. 9), "Take heed to thyself . . . lest thou forget the things."
Menachoth, fol. 99, col. 2.
A proselyte who has taken it upon himself to observe the law, but is suspected of neglecting one point, is to be suspected of being guilty of neglecting the whole law, and therefore regarded as an apostate Israelite, and to be punished accordingly.
Bechoroth, fol. 30, col. 2.
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It is written (Gen. xxviii. 11), "And he took from the stones of the place;" and again it is written (ver. 18), "And he took the stone." Rabbi Isaac says this teaches that all these stones gathered themselves together into one place, as if each were eager that the saint should lay his head upon it. It happened, as the Rabbis tell us, that all the stones were swallowed up by one another, and thus merged into one stone.
Chullin, fol. 91, col. 2.
Though the Midrash and two of the Targums, that of Jonathan and the Yerushalmi, tell the same fanciful story about these stones, Aben Ezra and R. Shemuel ben Meir among others adopt the opposite and common-sense interpretation which assigns to the word in Gen. xxviii. 11, no such occult meaning.
The psalms commencing "Blessed is the man" and "Why do the heathen rage" constitute but one psalm.
Berachoth, fol. 9, col. 2.

 

 

 The former Chasidim used to sit still one hour, and then pray for one hour, and then again sit still for one hour.
Ibid., fol. 32, col. 2.
All the benedictions in the Temple used to conclude with the words "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel unto eternity;" but when the Sadducees, corrupting the faith, maintained that there was only one world, it was enacted that they should conclude with the words "from eternity unto eternity."
Berachoth, fol. 54, col. 1.
The Sadducees (Zadokim), so called after Zadok their master, as is known, stood rigidly by the original Mosaic code, and set themselves determinedly against all traditional developments. To the Talmudists, therefore, they were especially obnoxious, and their bald, cold creed is looked upon by them with something like horror. It is thus the Talmud warns against them--"Believe not in thyself till the day of thy death, for, behold, Yochanan, after officiating in the High Priesthood for eighty years, became in the end a Sadducee." (Berachoth, fol. 29, col. 1.) In Derech Eretz Zuta, chap. 1., a caution is given which might well provoke attention--" Learn or inquire nothing of the Sadducees, lest thou be drawn into hell."
Rabbi Yehudah tells us that Rav says a man should never absent himself from the lecture hall, not even for one hour; for the above Mishnah had been taught at college for many years, but the reason of it had never been
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made plain till the hour when Rabbi Chanina ben Akavia came and explained it.
Shabbath, fol. 83, col. 2.
The Mishnah alluded to is short and simple, viz, Where is it taught that a ship is clean to the touch? From Prov. xxx. 19, "The way of a ship in the midst of the sea" (i. e., as the sea is clean to the touch, therefore a ship must also be clean to the touch).
It is indiscreet for one to sleep in a house as the sole occupant, for Lilith will seize hold of him.
Ibid., fol. 151, col. 2.