Lilith (the night-visiting
one) is the name of a night spectre, said to have been Adam's first
wife, but who, for her refractory conduct, was transformed into a demon
endowed with power to injure and even destroy infants unprotected by
the necessary amulet or charm.
"Thou hast acknowledged the Lord this day to be thy God; and the
Lord hath acknowledged thee this day to be His peculiar people"
(Deut. xxvi. 17, 18). The Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto Israel,
"Ye have made Me a name in the world, as it is written (Deut. vi.
4), 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord;' and so I will make
you a name in the world, as it is said (1 Chron. xvii. 21), 'And what
one nation in the earth is like Thy people Israel?'"
Chaggigah, fol. 3, col. 1.
Why are the words of the Law compared to fire? (Jer. xxiii. 29.) Because,
as fire does not burn when there is but one piece of wood, so do the
words of the Law not maintain the fire of life when meditated on by
one alone (see, in confirmation, Matt. xviii. 20).
Taanith, fol. 7, col. 1.
"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of
Nebo" (Deut. xxxiv. 1). Tradition says there were twelve stairs,
but that Moses surmounted them all in one step.
Soteh, fol. 13, col. 2.
Pieces of money given in charity should not be counted over by twos,
but one by one.
Bava Bathra, fol. 8, col. 2.
"Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?"
(Job xxxix. 1.) The wild goat is cruel to her offspring. As soon as
they are brought forth, she climbs with them to the steep cliffs, that
they may fall headlong
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and die. But, said God to Job, to prevent this I provide an eagle to
catch the kid upon its wings, and then carry and lay it before its cruel
mother. Now, if that eagle should be too soon or too late by one second
only, instant death to the kid could not be averted; but with Me one
second is never changed for another. Shall Job be now changed by me,
therefore, into an enemy. (Comp. Job ix. 17, and xxxiv. 35.)
"According
to the days of one king" (Isa. xxiii. 15). What king is this that
is singled out as one? Thou must say this is the King Messiah, and no
other.
Sanhedrin, fol. 99, col. 1.
Rabbi Levi contends that Manasseh has no portion in the world to come,
while Rabbi Yehudah maintains that he has; and each supports his conclusion
in contradiction of the other, from one and the same Scripture text.
Ibid., fol. 102, col. 2.
The words, "Remember the Sabbath day," in Exod. xx. 8, and
"Keep the Sabbath day," in Deut. v. 12, were uttered in one
breath, as no man's mouth could utter them, and no man's ear could hear.
Shevuoth, fol. 20, col. 2.
The officer who inflicts flagellation on a criminal must smite with
one hand only, but yet with all his force.
Maccoth, fol. 22, col. 2.
I would rather be called a fool all my days than sin one hour before
God.
Edioth, chap. 5, mish. 6.
He who observes but one precept secures for himself an advocate, and
he who commits one single sin procures for himself an accuser.
Avoth, chap, 4, mish. 15.
He who learns from another one chapter, one halachah, one verse, or
one word or even a single letter, is bound to respect him.
Ibid., chap. 6, mish. 3.
The above is one
evidence, among many, of the high esteem in which learning and the office
of a teacher are held among the Jews. Education is one of the virtues--of
which the following, extracted from the Talmud, is a list--the interest
of which the Jew considers he enjoys in this world, while the capital
remains intact against the exigencies of the world to come. These are:--The
honoring of father and mother, acts of benevolence, hospitality to strangers,
visiting the
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Bava Bathra,
fol. 16, cols. 1, 2.
A generation can have one leader only, and not two.
Sanhedrin, fol. 8, col. 1.
"Like the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces" (Jer. xxiii.
29). As a hammer divideth fire into many sparks, so one verse of Scripture
has many meanings and many explanations.
Ibid., fol. 34, col. 1.
In the Machser for Pentecost (p. 69) God is said to have "explained
the law to His people, face to face, and on every point ninety-eight explanations
are given."
Adam was created one without Eve. Why? That the Sadducees might not assert
the plurality of powers in heaven.
Ibid., fol. 37, col. 1.
As the Sadducees did not believe in a plurality of powers in heaven, but
only the Christians, in the regard of the Jews, did so (by their profession
of the doctrine of the Trinity), it is obvious that here, as well as often
elsewhere, the latter and not the former are intended.
"And the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt" (Exod. viii.
1; A. V. viii. 6). "There was but one frog," said Rabbi Elazar,
"and she so multiplied as to fill the whole land of Egypt.)" "Yes,
indeed,)" said Rabbi Akiva, "there was, as you say, but one frog,
but she herself was so large as to fill all the land of Egypt." Whereupon
Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said unto him, "Akiva, what business hast
thou with Haggadah? Be off with thy legends, and get thee to the laws thou
art familiar with about plagues and tents. Though thou sayest right in this
matter, for there was only one frog, but she croaked so loud that the frogs
came from everywhere else to her croaking."
Sanhedrin, fol. 67, col. 2.
Rabba, the grandson of Channa, said that he himself once saw a frog larger
than any seen now, though not so large as the frog in
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Egypt. It was as large as Acra, a village of some sixty houses. (Bava Bathra,
fol. 73, col. 2.)
Apropos to the part the frog was conceived to play or symbolize in the Jewish
conception of the mode and ministry of Divine judgment, we quote the following:--"We
are told that Samuel once saw a frog carrying a scorpion on its back across
a river, upon the opposite bank of which a man stood waiting ready to be
stung. The sting proving fatal, so that the man died; upon which Samuel
exclaimed, 'Lord, they wait for Thy judgments this day: for all are Thy
servants.' (Ps. cxix. 91.)" (Nedarim, fol. 41, col. 1.)
sick, devotion in prayer, promotion of peace between man and man, and
study in general, but the study of the law outweighs them all. (Shabbath,
fol. 127, col. 1.) The study of the law, it is said, is of greater merit
to rescue one from accidental death, than building the Temple, and greater
than honoring father or mother. (Meggillah, fol. 16, col. 2.)
"Repent one day before thy death." In relation to which Rabbi
Eliezer was asked by his disciples, 'How is a man to repent one day before
his death, since he does not know on what day he shall die?" "So
much the more reason is there," he replied, "that he should
repent to-day, test he die to-morrow; and repent to-morrow, lest he die
the day after: and thus will all his days be penitential ones."
Avoth d'Rab. Nathan, chap. 15.
He who obliterates one letter from the written name of God, breaks a negative
command, for it is said, "And destroy the names of them out of that
place. Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God" (Deut. xii. 3,
4).
Sophrim, chap. 5, hal. 6.
Rabbi Chanina could put on and off his shoes while standing on one leg
only, though he was eighty years of age.
Chullin, fol. 24, col. 2.
A priest who is blind in one eye should not be judge of the plague; for
it is said (Lev. xiii. 12), "Wheresoever the priest (with both eyes)
looketh."
Negaim, chap. 2, mish. 3.
The twig of a bunch without any grapes is clean; but if there remained
one grape on it, it is unclean.
Okzin, chap. 1, mish. 5.
Next: II.
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