Hebrew Literature. Various
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between their horns. Men are forbidden to salute their companions by night, lest they may turn out to be devils. It is also commanded to shake out, before drinking, some water from the vessel, to get rid of what is sipped by the evil spirits. It is, however, permitted to consult Satan on week-days. He is considered identical with the Angel of Death. But he is described as having no power over those engaged in reading the law. Many of his devices are related in the Talmud, whereby he made learned men leave off reading, and then he snatched away their souls. A story is told of the attempt of Rabbi Joshua, the son of Levi, and Satan to deceive each other about the Rabbi's place in paradise. Finally, however, Satan managed to take away his life, whereupon the voice of Elijah is heard shouting in heaven, “Make room for the son of Levi,”—“Make room for the son of Levi.” The Angel of Death is represented as standing at the head of the dying man. He has a drawn sword in his hand, on which is a drop of gall. When the dying man sees it, he shudders and opens his mouth. The Angel of Death then lets it fall into his mouth. The sick man dies, corrupts, and becomes pale. Three days the soul flies about the body, thinking to return to it, but after it sees the appearance of the face changed, it leaves it and goes away.
Rabbi Isaac moreover asserts, that a worm in a dead body [pg 027] is as painful as a needle in a living one. The Talmud still further states that there are three voices continually heard—the voice of the sun as he rolls in his orbit—the voice of the multitudes of Rome—and the voice of the soul as it leaves the body. The Rabbis, however, prayed for mercy on the soul, and this voice has ceased. Instances are also given of men overhearing the conversations of the dead, and receiving profit from them. A man is said to have heard one girl tell another in the grave, that those who sowed their crops at a particular time would find their harvests fail. So he took care to sow at another time, and he had an abundant yield. It is also said that every Friday evening a second soul enters into the bodies of men, and that it remains to the end of the Sabbath, when it departs. The evidence of this second soul is shown by an increased appetite for eating and drinking.
Good angels are stated to be daily created out of the stream of glory which flows from the throne of God, and they sing a new song, and vanish; as it is said, “They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. iii. 23). The Rabbis also say that angels are created out of every word which proceeds from the mouth of God; as it is said, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Ps. xxxiii. 6). The following story is also told: In the hour when Nimrod, the impious, cast Abraham into the midst of the fiery furnace, Gabriel said before the blessed God, “Lord of the world, I will go down and cool the flame, and deliver the righteous One from the furnace of fire.” The blessed God said to him, “I am the ONE in this world, and he is the one in his world. It becomes the ONE to deliver the one.” But as the blessed God deprives no one of his reward, He said, “Thou shalt be deemed worthy to deliver three of his posterity.” Rabbi Simon, the Shilonite, taught, “In the hour that Nebuchadnezzar, the impious, cast Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the midst of the fiery furnace, Jorkemo, the prince of hail, stood up before the blessed God, and said, ‘I will go down and cool the flame, and deliver the righteous ones from the furnace of fire.’ To him said Gabriel, ‘The power of the blessed One is not so, since thou art the prince of hail, and everyone knows that waters quench fire; but I, the prince of fire, will go down and cool inwardly, [pg 028] and heat outwardly, and I will make a wonder within a wonder.’ ” To him said the blessed God, “Go down.” In the same hour Gabriel began and said, “And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever” (Ps. cxvii. 2).
Israelites are forbidden to pray in the Syriac language, as the angels do not understand it, and consequently cannot carry their petitions to God. Gabriel, however, is acquainted with it, as he taught Joseph the seventy languages. The chief of all the angels is said to be the Metatron, who once received fiery blows from another angel called Ampiel. With regard to heaven, the Rabbis teach that Egypt is four hundred miles long and broad, the Morians' land is sixty times larger than Egypt, and the world is sixty times larger than the Morians' land; heaven is sixty times larger than the world, and hell is sixty times larger than heaven. It follows that the “whole world is but a pot-lid to hell.” Yet some say that hell is immeasurable, and some say heaven is immeasurable. It was a pearl amongst the sayings of a Rabbi. “Heaven is not like this world, for in it there is neither eating, nor drinking, nor marriage, nor increasing, nor trafficking, nor hate, nor envy, nor heart-burnings; but the just shall sit with their crowns on their heads, and enjoy the splendors of the Shechinah.”
Hell is said to have three doors—one in the wilderness, one in the sea, and one in Jerusalem. In the wilderness, as it is written, “They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit” (Num. xvi. 33). In the sea, as it is written, “Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice” (Jonah ii. 3). In Jerusalem, as it is written, “Saith the Lord whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem” (Is. xxxi. 9). The school of Rabbi Ishmael teaches that the “fire in Zion” is hell and “His furnace in Jerusalem” is the gate of hell. It is also taught that the fire of hell has no power over the sinners in Israel, and that the fire of hell has no power over the disciples of the wise. It is again, however, stated that the Israelites who sin with their bodies, and the Gentiles who sin with their bodies, go to hell, and are punished there twelve months. After their body is wasted, and their soul is burned, the wind scatters them beneath the soles of the righteous, as it is said, “And ye shall tread down the wicked: for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet” (Mal. iv. 3). Heretics—deniers [pg 029] of the resurrection—Epicureans, and other sinners, shall be perpetually tormented “where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched.”
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On Blessings
Recitation of the Shemah—Blessings—Rabbi Gamaliel—Exemptions from the Recitation—Prayers—Differences Between the Schools of Shammai and Hillel—Reverence for the Temple.
Chapter I
1. “From what time do we recite the Shemah8 in the evening?” “From the hour the priests9 enter (the temple) to eat their heave offerings, until the end of the first watch.”10 The words of R. Eleazar; but the Sages say “until midnight.” Rabban Gamaliel says, “until the pillar of the morn ascend.” It happened that his sons came from a banquet. They said to him, “we have not yet said the Shemah.” He said to them, “if the pillar of the morn be not yet ascended, you are bound to say it; and not only this, but all that the Sages say, ‘till midnight,’ they command till the pillar of the morn ascend.” The burning of the fat and members they command “till the pillar of the morn ascend.” And all offerings, which must be eaten the same day, they command “till the pillar of the morn ascend.” If so, why do the Sages say “until midnight”? “To withhold man from transgression.”
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2. “From what time do we recite the Shemah in the morning?” When one can discern betwixt “blue and white.” R. Eleazar says “betwixt blue and leek green.” And it may be finished “until the sun shine forth.” R. Joshua says “until the third hour.”11 For such is the way of royal princes to rise at the third hour. He who recites Shemah afterward loses nothing. He is like a man reading the Law.
3. The school of Shammai say that in the evening all men are to recline when they recite the Shemah; and in the morning they are to stand up; for it is said, “when thou liest down and when thou risest up.”12 But the school of Hillel say, that every man is to recite it in his own way; for it is said, “when thou walkest by the way.”13 If so, why is it said, “when thou liest down and when thou risest up”? “When mankind usually lie down, and when mankind usually rise up.” R. Tarphon said, “I came on the road, and reclined to recite the Shemah according to the words of the school of Shammai, and I was in danger of robbers.” The Sages said to