iii. 14), the serpent replied, "Lord of the universe! if this be Thy

will, then I shall be as a fish of the sea without feet." But when God said to him, "And dust shalt thou eat," he replied, "If fish eat dust, then I also will eat it." Then God seized hold of the serpent and tore his tongue in two, and said, "O thou wicked one! thou hast commenced (to sin) with thy evil tongue; thus I will proclaim it to all that come into the world that it was thy tongue that caused thee all this."

_Letters of Rabbi Akiva._

"And Noah only remained" (Gen. vii. 23), except Og, king of Bashan, who sat on a beam of the ladders (which projected from the ark), and swore to Noah and his sons that he would be their slave forever. Noah made a hole in the ark through which he handed to Og his daily food. Thus he also remained, as it is said (Deut. iii. 11), "For only Og, king of Bashan, remained."

_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 23.

"Unto Adam and his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins" (Gen. iii. 21), viz, to cover their nakedness; but with what? With fringes and phylacteries, "Coats of skins," viz, the leathern straps of the phylacteries; "and they sewed fig-leaves" (Gen. iii. 7), viz, fringes; "and made themselves aprons," this means the proclaiming of the Shema, "Hear, O Israel," etc.

_Yalkut Chadash._

The aprons, which some (as Rashi, for instance) take to denote furs, the Targum of Jonathan says were made "from the skin of the serpent." The wardrobe of Adam afterward came into the possession of Esau and Jacob (see Targ. Yon. in Toledoth, and p. 199, No. 161, _ante_).

All the presents which our father Jacob gave to Esau will one day be returned by the nations of the world to the Messiah, and the proof of this is (Ps. lxxii. 10), "The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall return presents." It is not written here, "They shall bring," but they shall restore or return.

_Midrash Rabbah Vayishlach_, chap. 78.

A philosopher once posed Rabbi Eliezer with the question, "Does not the prophet say (Mal. i. 4), 'They shall build, but I will throw down'? and do not buildings still exist?" To which the Rabbi answered, "The prophet does not speak of buildings, but of the schemes of designers. Ye all think to contrive and build up devices, to destroy and make an end of us, but He bringeth your counsels to nought. He throweth them down, so that your devices against us have no effect." "By thy life," said the philosopher, "it is even so; we meet annually for the purpose of compassing your ruin, but a certain old man comes and upsets all your projects" (namely, Elijah).

_Yalkut Malachi._

When Israel came out of Egypt, Samael rose to accuse them, and thus he spoke: "Lord of the Universe! these have till now worshiped idols, and art Thou going to divide the sea for such as they?" What did the Holy One--blessed be He!--then do? Job, one of Pharaoh's high counselors, of whom it is written (Job i. 1), "That man was perfect and upright," He took and delivered to Samael, saying, as He did so, "Behold, he is in thy hand; do with him as thou pleasest." God thought to divert his evil designs by keeping him thus occupied with Job, that Israel meanwhile might cross the sea without any hindrance, after which He would return and rescue Job from his tender mercies. God then said to Moses, "Behold I have delivered Job to Satan; make haste. Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward" (Exod. xiv. 15).

_Midrash Rabbah Shemoth_, chap. 21.

No man ever received a mite (in charity) from Job, and needed to receive such a second time (because of the good-luck it brought along with it).

Ibid.

A superstitious belief prevails to some extent in Poland, among the Christian population as well as the Jews, that coins obtained in certain circumstances bring luck apart altogether from any virtue they may be supposed to convey from the giver. A penny obtained, for instance, the first thing in the morning, by stumbling on it in the street, by the sale of an article in the market, or by gift of charity, is considered to bode luck, and cherished as a pledge of good fortune by being slightly spat upon several times on receipt, and then carefully stowed away, for a longer or shorter period, in some safe sanctum. Job was the luckiest man that ever lived; his very goats even were so lucky as to kill the wolves that came to devour them; and a beggar, as we see, who received a mite from his hands, never needed afterward to beg an alms from him again. (See "Genesis according to the Talmud," p. 288, No. 16.)

"And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, etc.; for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel" (1 Sam. xv. 6). And did they show kindness to all the children of Israel? No; but what is written is to teach that he who receives a disciple of the wise as a guest into his house, and gives him to eat and to drink, is as if he had shown kindness to all the children of Israel.

_Midrash Sh'muel_, chap. 18.

Rabbi Levi says, "When Solomon introduced the ark into the Temple, all the woodwork thereof freshened with sap and began to yield fruit, as it is said (Ps. xcii. 13), 'Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.' And thus it continued to bear fruit, which abundantly supplied the juveniles of the priestly caste till the time of Manasseh; but he, by introducing an image into the Temple, caused the Shechinah to depart and the fruit to wither; as it is said (Nah. i. 4), 'And the flower of Lebanon languisheth.'"

_Midrash Tillin Terumah._

The land of Israel is situated in the centre of the world, and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel, and the Temple in the centre of Jerusalem, and the Holy of holies in the centre of the Temple, and the foundation-stone on which the world was grounded, is situated in front of the ark.

_Midrash Tillin Terumah, Kedoshim._

In Ezek. v. 5 we read, "I have set Jerusalem in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her." On the literal interpretation of these words it was asserted that Jerusalem was the very centre of the world, or, as Jerome quaintly called it, "the navel of the earth." In the Talmud we find a beautiful metaphor in illustration of this view. It is in the last six lines of the ninth chapter of Derech Eretz Zuta, which read thus: "Issi ben Yochanan, in the name of Shemuel Hakaton, says, 'The world is like the eyeball of man; the white is the ocean which surrounds the world, the black is the world itself, the pupil is Jerusalem, and the image in the pupil is the Temple. May it be built in our own days, and in the days of all Israel! Amen!'" The memory of this conceit is kept alive to this day among the Greek Christians, who still show the sacred stone in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. This notion is not confined to Jewry. Classic readers will at once call to mind the appellation Omphalos or navel applied to the temple at Delphi (Pindar, Pyth., iv. 131, vi. 3; Eurip. Ion., 461; Æsch. Choeph., 1034; Eum. 40, 167; Strabo, etc.).

Two sparks issued from between the two cherubim and destroyed the serpents and scorpions and burned the thorns in the wilderness. The smoke thereof, rising and spreading, perfumed the world, so that the nations said (Cant. iii. 6), "Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed," etc.

_Ibid., Vayakhel._

Better to lodge in the wilderness of the land of Israel than dwell in the palaces outside of it.

_Midrash Rabbah_, chap. 39.

"And give thee a pleasant land" (a coveted land) (Jer. iii. 19). Why is it called a coveted land? Because the Temple was in it. Another reason why it was so called is, because the fathers of the world have coveted it. Rabbi Shimon ben Levi says, "Because they (who are buried) there will be the first to be raised in the days of the Messiah."

_Shemoth Rabbah_, chap. 32.

"When the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border, as He hath promised thee" (Deut. xii. 20). Rabbi Yitzchak said, "This scroll no man knows how long and how broad it is, but when unrolled it speaks for itself, and shows how large it is. It is so with the land of Israel, which, for the most part, consists of hills and mountains; but when the Holy One--blessed be He!--shall level it, as it is said (Isa. xl. 4), 'Every valley shall be raised and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth,' then shall that land speak, as it were, for herself, and its extent stand revealed."

_Devarim Rabbah_, chap. 4.

Blessed are they who dwell in the land of Israel, for they have no sin, no iniquity, either in their lives or in their deaths.

_Midrash Shochar Tov on Ps. lxxxv._

"Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith" (Prov. xvii. 1). This, saith Rabbi, means the land of Israel, for even if a man have nothing but bread and salt to eat, yet if he dwells in the land of Israel he is sure that he is a son of the world to come. "Than a house full of sacrifices with strife." This means the outside of the land, which is full of robbery and violence. Rabbi Y---- says, "He who walks but an hour in the land of Israel, and then dies within it may feel assured that he is a son of the world to come; for it is written (Deut. xxxii. 43), 'And his earth shall atone for his people.'"

_Midrash Mishle._

See also the Talmud, Kethuboth, fol. 111, col. 1. Dr. Benisch renders "and make expiation for His ground and His people." The Targums of Jonathan and the Yerushalmi have, "He will make atonement for His land and for His people;" and Onkelos puts it thus, "He will show mercy unto His land and His people." Our rendering, however, is in accordance with the sense given to it in the Talmud. There are Jews who travel about the world with bags of earth from the Holy Land, which they sell in small quantities for high prices to such as can afford it, and believe in its virtue as a protection against the worms of the grave.

Jerusalem is the light of the world; as it is said, "And the Gentiles shall come to Thy light" (Isa. lx. 3). And the light of Jerusalem is the Holy One--blessed be He!--as it is written, but "the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light" (Isa. Ix. 19).

_Bereshith Rabbah_, chap. 59.

Ten portions of wisdom, ten portions of the law, and ten portions of hypocrisy are in the world; nine portions of each are in the land of Israel and one outside of it.

_Midrash Rabbah Esther._

"And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord" (Isa. lxvi. 23). But how is it possible that all flesh shall come every new moon and Sabbath to Jerusalem? Rabbi Levi saith, "In the future Jerusalem will be as the land of Israel, and the land of Israel will be as the whole world." But how will they come from the end of the world every new moon and Sabbath? "The clouds will come and carry them and bring them to Jerusalem, where they will perform their morning prayer, and will carry them back to their several homes; and this is the meaning of the prophet's saying (Isa. Ix. 8), 'Who are these that fly as a cloud (in the morning), and as the doves to their windows (in the evening)?'"

_Pesikta._

"He stood and measured the earth" (Hab. iii. 6). Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai expounded "He stood and measured" thus: "The Holy One--blessed be He!--measured all the nations, and He found none worthy to receive the law except the generation in the wilderness. He measured all the mountains, and He found none on which to give the law except Mount Sinai. He measured all cities, and found none in which to build the Temple except Jerusalem. He measured all lands, and found none worthy to be given unto Israel except the one now called the land of Israel. This it is that is written, 'He stood up and measured the earth.'"

_Vayekra Rabbah_, chap. 13.

"I went down to the bottoms of the mountains" (Jonah ii. 6). From this we learn that Jerusalem is situated on seven hills. The world's "foundation-stone" sank to "the depths" under the Temple of the Lord, and upon this the sons of Korah stand and pray. (They) pointed this out to Jonah. The fish said unto him, "Jonah, behold thou art standing under the Temple of the Lord; therefore pray, and thou shalt be answered."

_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 10.

"And there went out fire from the Lord" (Lev. x. 2). Abba Yossi saith, "Two threads of fire came out from the Holy of holies, and these were disparted into four: two entered the nostrils of the one (i.e., Nadab), and two entered the nostrils of the other (i.e., Abihu), and thus consumed them. Their souls were burned, but not their garments; for it is said, 'So they went near, and carried them in their coats'" (ver. 5).

_Torath Cohanim_, sec. _Shemini_.

Rabbi Jacob teaches that he who has no wife abideth without good, without help, without joy, without blessing or atonement, to which Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi adds, (yea) also without peace or life. Rabbi Cheya says that he is not a perfect man, for it is said, "And blessed them and called their name man" (Gen. v. 2), where both are spoken of together as one man.

_Midrash Rabbah Bereshith_, chap. 17.

"My beloved is like a roe" (1 Cant. ii. 9). As a roe leaps and skips from bush to bush, from covert to covert, from hedge to hedge, so likewise does the Holy One--blessed be He!--pass from synagogue to synagogue, and from academy to academy, that He may bless Israel.

_Pesikta._

(Cant. v. 1), "I came into My garden," the synagogues and academies; "My sister, My spouse," the congregation of Israel; "I have gathered My myrrh with My spice," the Bible (that is); "I have eaten My honeycomb with My honey" (this means) the Halachoth, Midrashoth, and Aggadoth; "I have drank My wine with My milk," this alludes to the good works which are reserved for the sages of Israel. After that, "Eat, O friends! drink, yea, drink freely, O beloved!"

_Yalkut Eliezer_, fol. 41, col. 2.

When Solomon brought the ark into the Temple and said, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates! and the King of glory shall come in," the gates were ready to fall upon him and crush his head, and they would have done so if he had not said at once, "The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory" (Ps. xxiv. 9, 10). The Holy One--blessed be He!--then said to the gates, "Since ye have thus honored Me, by your lives! when I destroy My Temple, no man shall have dominion over you!" This was to inform us that while all the vessels of the Temple were carried into captivity, the gates of the Temple were stored away on the very spot where they were erected; for it is said (Lam. ii. 9), "Her gates are sunk into the ground."

_Midrash Rabbah Devarim_, chap. 15.

We are reminded of this tradition in the conclusion service for Yom Kippur, where we repeat, "Speedily thou shalt open the hidden gates to those who hold fast Thy law." The allusion is to "the gates of the Temple," which "are supposed to be sunk in the ground."

Rabbi Akiva once met on a journey a remarkably ugly man toiling along under a great load of wood. Rabbi Akiva said unto him, "I adjure thee to tell me whether thou art a man or a demon." "Rabbi," said he, "I was once a man, and it is now some time since I left the world. Day after day I have to carry a load like this, under which I am obliged to bow down, and submit three times a day to be burned." Then Rabbi Akiva asked him, "What was the reason of this punishment?" and the reply was, "I committed an immorality on the Day of Atonement." The Rabbi asked him if he knew of anything by which he might obtain for him a remission of his punishment. "I do," was the answer. "When a son whom I have left behind me is called up to the (public) reading of the law, and shall say, 'Blessed be the blessed Lord,' I shall be drawn out of hell and taken into Paradise." The Rabbi noted down the name of the man and his dwelling-place, whither he afterward went and made inquiries about him. The people of the place only replied, "The name of the wicked shall rot" (Prov. x. 7). Notwithstanding this, the Rabbi insisted, and said, "Bring his son to me." When they brought him, he taught the lad to repeat the blessing, which he did on the ensuing Sabbath at the public reading of the law; upon which his father was immediately removed from hell to Paradise. On the self-same night the father repaired direct to Rabbi Akiva, and gratefully expressed his hope that the Rabbi's mind might be as much at rest as his own was.

_Midrash Assereth Hadibroht._

There are three things which a man does not wish for: Grass to grow up among his grain-crops; to have a daughter among his children; or that his wine should turn to vinegar. Yet all these three are ordained to be, for the world stands in need of them. Therefore it is said, "O Lord, my God, Thou art very great!... He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle" (Ps. civ. 1, 14)

_Midrash Tanchuma._

There are four cardinal points in the world, etc. The north point God created but left unfinished; for, said He, "Whoever claims to be God, let him come and finish this corner which I have left, and thus all will know that he is God." This unfinished corner is the dwelling-place of the harmful demons, ghosts, devils, and storms.

_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 3.

A Min once asked Rabbi Akiva, "Who created this world?" "The Holy One--blessed be He!"--was the reply. "Give me positive proof of this," begged the other. "Come to-morrow," answered the Rabbi. On coming the next day, the Rabbi asked, "What are you dressed in?" "In a garment," was the reply. "Who made it?" asked the Rabbi. "A weaver," said the other. "I don't believe thee," said the Rabbi; "give me a positive proof of this." "I need not demonstrate this," said the Min; "it stands to reason that a weaver made it." "And so thou mayest know that God created the world," observed the Rabbi. When the Min had departed, the Rabbi's disciples asked him, "What is proof positive?" He said, "My children, as a house implies a builder, and a garment a weaver, and a door a carpenter, so likewise the existence of the world implies that the Holy One--blessed be He!--created it."

_Midrash Terumah._

When the Holy One--blessed be He!--created the world, it was a level expanse free from mountains; but when Cain slew Abel his brother, whose blood was trodden down on the earth, He cursed the ground, and immediately hills and mountains sprang into existence.

_Midrash Vayosha._

"The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and behold ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude" (Deut. i. 10). Why did He bless them with stars? As there are degrees above degrees among these stars, so likewise are there degrees above degrees among Israel. Again, as these stars are without limit, without number, and of great power from one end of the world to the other, so likewise is Israel. (Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 41.)

_Midrash Rabbah Devarim._

"Flee, my beloved" (A.V. "make haste," Cant. viii. 14). When Israel eat and drink, and bless and praise the Holy One--blessed be He!--He hearkeneth to their voice and is reconciled; but when the Gentiles eat and drink and blaspheme and provoke the Holy One--blessed be He!--He has a mind to destroy His world, until the Law enters and pleads in defense, "Lord of the universe! before Thou regardest those that blaspheme, look and behold Thy people Israel, who bless, and praise, and extol Thy great Name, with the Law, and with songs and with praises!" And the Holy Spirit shouts "Flee, my beloved! flee from the Gentiles, and hold fast to Israel!"

_Midrash Rabbah Shir-Hashirim._

Rabbon Gamaliel called on Chilpa, the son of Caroyna, when the latter asked the Rabbi to pray on his behalf; and he prayed, "The Lord grant thee according to thine own heart" (Ps. xx. 4). Rabbi H----, son of Rabbi Isaac, said, "It was not so; he prayed thus, 'The Lord fulfill all thy petitions'; for a man often thinks in his heart to steal or commit some other transgression, and therefore 'The Lord grant thee according to thine own heart,' is a prayer not to be offered on behalf of every man." But the answer was, "His heart was perfect before his Creator, and therefore he did so pray on his behalf."

_Midrash Shochar Tov_, 20.

Thou wilt find that whithersoever the righteous go a blessing goes with them. Isaac went down to Gerar, and a blessing followed him. "Then Isaac sowed," etc. (Gen. xxvi. 12). Jacob went down to Laban (Gen. xxx. 27), and Laban said, "I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake." Joseph went down to Potiphar, and "the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake" (Gen. xxxix. 5). Thus also thou wilt find it was with the ark which came down to the house of Obed-edom, etc. (2 Sam. vi. 11). Our forefathers came into the land and a blessing followed at their heels, as it is said (Deut. vi. 11), "And houses full of good things," etc.

_Yalkut Ekev._

"And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth" (Num. xxiii. 5). An angel took up his seat in Balaam's throat, so that when he wished to bless, the angel permitted him, but when he desired to curse, the angel tickled his throat and stopped him. "Word" in this place means simply an angel; as it is said (Ps. cvii. 20), "He sent His word and healed them." Rabbi Yochanan says, "There was an iron nail in his throat which permitted him when he wished to bless, but rasped his throat and prevented him when about to curse." "Word" in this place means only an iron nail; for it is said (Num. xxxi. 23), "Every thing (or word, for the original has both meanings) that may abide the fire."

Ibid.

Rabbi Avin said four kinds of excellency were created in the world: (1.) Man's excellency over the animal kingdom; (2.) the eagle's excellency over the feathered tribes; (3.) the excellency of the ox over domestic cattle; and (4.) the lion's excellency over the wild beasts. All were fixed under the chariot of God; as it is said (Ezek. i. 10), "As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle." And why all this? In order that they should not exalt themselves, but know that there is a kingdom of heaven over them; and on this account it is said (Eccles. v. 8), "He that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they." This is the meaning of Exod. xv. 1: "He hath triumphed gloriously."

_Midrash Shemoth_, chap. 23.

No man in Israel despised himself more than David when the precepts of the Lord were concerned, and this is what he said before God (Ps. cxxxi. 1, 2), "'Lord, my heart was not haughty' when Samuel anointed me king. 'Nor were mine eyes lofty' when I slew Goliath. 'Neither did I exercise myself in matters too great and wonderful for me' when I brought up the ark. 'Have I not behaved myself, and hushed my soul, as a babe that is weaned of his mother?' As a child which is not ashamed to uncover himself before his mother, so have I likened myself before Thee, in not being ashamed to depreciate myself before Thee for Thy glory," etc. (See 2 Sam. vi. 20, 21.)

_Bamidbar_, chap. 4.

"I sleep, but my heart waketh" (Cant. v. 2). The Synagogue of Israel says "I sleep" with regard to the end of days, "but my heart waketh" with regard to the redemption; "I sleep" with regard to redemption, but the heart of the Holy One--blessed be He!--waketh to redeem me.

_Midrash Shir Hashirim._

Rabbi Ishmael saith all the five fingers of the right hand of the Holy One of Israel--blessed be He!--are severally the efficient causes of redemptions. (1.) With His little finger He pointed out to Noah how to construct the ark; as it is said (Gen. vi. 15), "And thus thou shalt make it." (2.) With the finger next to the little one He smote the Egyptians; as it is said (Exod. viii. 19), "This is the finger of God." (3.) With the third finger from the little one He wrote the tables; as it is said (Exod. xxxi. 18), "Tables of stone written by the finger of God." (4.) With the fourth finger, that which is next the thumb, the Holy One--blessed be He!--pointed out to Moses how much the Israelites should give as a ransom for their souls; as it is said (Exod. xxx. 13), "This shall they give." (5.) With the thumb and the whole hand the Holy One--blessed be He!--will in the future destroy the children of Esau, for they oppress the children of Israel, as also the children of Ishmael, for they are their enemies; as it is said (Micah v. 9), "Thine hand shall be uplifted upon thy adversaries, and all thy enemies shall be cut off."

_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 48.

"For Mine own sake, for Mine own sake, will I do it" (Isa. xlviii. 11). Why this repetition? The Holy One--blessed be He!--said, "As I redeemed you when you were in Egypt for My name's sake"--(Ps. cvi. 8), "He saved them for His name's sake,"--"so in like manner will I do it from Edom for My own name's sake. Again, as I redeemed you in this world, so likewise will I redeem you in the World to come;" for thus He saith (Eccles. i. 9), "The thing that hath been is that which shall be" (Isa.