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title of any pericope numbered in red to access the original language text.
96. |
Maxims of Hillel |
12 |
Hillel
said:
--"Be among the disciples of Aaron:
Love peace and pursue peace;
love your fellow creatures and bring them near to Torah." |
13 |
He used to say:
--"He who seeks his name, loses his name" and
--"He who does not increase deceases" and
--"He who does not learn deserves to die" and
--"He who abuses the crown will perish." |
|
-- Mishna,
Aboth
1.12-13 |
97. |
More Aphorisms of
Hillel |
5 |
Hillel
said:
--"Do not separate from the congregation" and
--"Do not trust yourself until the day of your
death" and
--"Do not judge your fellow creature until you have come
into his position" and
--"Do not say of a word, 'It cannot possibly be heard';
it will end by being heard" and
--"Do not say, 'I will study when I have time'; for you
may never have the time." |
6 |
He used to say:
--"A boor does not fear sin, nor is a peasant (am ha
aretz) pious (hasid)" and
--"The bashful cannot learn nor the hot-tempered
teach" and
--"No one too much involved in trade will be a sage"
and
--"In a place where there are no men, strive to be a
man." |
|
--- Mishna,
Aboth
2.5-6 |
98. |
Irony of Position |
5 |
Hillel
used to say:
--"My humiliation is my exaltation and my exaltation is
my humiliation."
--"Better for a man to be told: 'Ascend on high!'
than for him to be told: 'Descend below!' |
|
--- Midrash,
Shemoth
Rabba 45.5 |
100. |
The Golden Rule |
31a |
It happened again that a certain
stranger came before Shammai
and said to him:
--"I will become a proselyte providing you teach me the
whole Torah
while I'm standing on one foot."
(Shammai) knocked him down with the builder's rule in his
hand.
(The stranger) came before Hillel,
who made him a proselyte.
He told him:
--"What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor.
That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Go, learn
(it)!" |
|
--- Babylonian
Talmud, Shabbath
31a |
101. |
Hillel's
Hermeneutics |
37 |
These are the seven rules
Hillel
the elder used when interpreting (Torah) before the benei
Bathyra [=the leading scholars under Herod]:
(1) "the light & the heavy" [qal wachomer:
deduction a minori ad maius];
(2) "similar concept" [gezeyrah shawah:
analogy]
(3) "principle traced from one text" [binyan ab
mikatub echad: generalizing
the particular]
(4) "principle traced from two texts" [binyan ab
mishne kethubim: generalizing what appears more than
once]
(5) "include & divide/divide & include" [mikelal
uferat miferat ukelal: inference from general to
particular]
(6) "as deduced elsewhere" [kayotze
bobemaqom acher: inference
from one passage to another]
(7) "word joined to subject' [dabar ha lamed minyano:
conclusion from context]. |
|
--- Babylonian
Talmud (supplement), Aboth
de R. Nathan A
37 |
102. |
Hillel Resolves
Passover Halakha |
66a |
Our rabbis taught:...
Once, when the 14th (of Nisan) fell on a Sabbath,
the benei Bathyra were uncertain and did not know
whether or nor Passover suspended the Sabbath
(regulations).
They said:
--"Is there any man who knows whether or not Passover
suspends the Sabbath?"
They were told:
--"There is a man come from Babylon whose name is Hillel
ha Babli.
He attended Shemaiah
and Abtalion
-- the two greats of the period --
and should know whether or
not Passover suspends the Sabbath."
They sent and called him, saying to him:
--"Do you know anything about Passover suspending the
Sabbath or not?"
He told them:
--"Now is Passover the one time in the year when the
Sabbath is suspended?
Indeed, there are many more than 200 'passovers' in a year that suspend the Sabbath."
They said to him:
--"From where do you (get this)?"
He said to them:
--"In regard to Passover it is said: 'its appointed time'
(Num 9.2)
and in regard to the daily offering it is said: 'its
appointed time' (Num 28:10).
If 'its appointed time' said in regard to the daily
offering suspends the Sabbath,
so 'its appointed time' said
in regard to Passover suspends the Sabbath.
Moreover,
comparing the light to the heavy [qal wachomer]:
if the daily offering suspends the Sabbath,
although (to omit)
it is not punished by excommunication,
is not the decision to
be that the Passover -- (to omit) which is punished by
excommunication -- suspends the Sabbath?"
Immediately they set him at the head and appointed him
"prince" [nasi] over them. And all that day
he spent explaining everything in the paschal regulations [halakoth].
He began by rebuking them in these words, saying:
--"What did you do that caused me to come up from Babylon
to be prince over you? You were lazy! It proves you did not
attend Shemaiah and Abtalion" -- the two greats of the
period. |
|
---- Babylonian
Talmud, Pesachim
66a |
103. |
Paradoxes of
Gamaliel |
4 |
[Rabban
Gamaliel II] used to
say:
--"Do his [God's] will like your will,
so he may do your will like his will.
Void your will before his will,
so he may void the will of others before your will"... |
7 |
He used to say:
--"The more flesh, the more worms;
the more wealth, the more worry;
the more women, the more witchcraft;
the more maids, the more lust;
the more servants, the more larceny.
But the more Torah,
the more life;
the more sessions, the more wisdom;
the more counsel, the more understanding;
the more righteousness, the more peace."
--"He who gets a good name gets himself substance;
he who gets words of Torah gets himself life in the
world to come." |
|
--- Mishna,
Aboth
2.4, 7 |
104. |
Aphorisms of
Aqiba |
14 |
Rabbi
Aqiba (ben Joseph)
said:
--"Laughter and levity accustom a man to lewdness."
And:
--"Tradition is a fence for the Torah;
tithes are a fence for wealth;
vows are a fence for abstinence [perishuth];
silence is a fence for wisdom." |
15 |
He used to say:
--"Beloved is the human [Adam] who is made in
the (divine) Image,
greater still the love which revealed to him that he was made
in the Image,
as it is said:
--'For in the Image of God he made the human"
(Gen 9:6).
Beloved is Israel who are called 'sons,'
greater still the love which revealed to them
that they are called 'sons" of the Sustainer,
as it is said:
--'You are the sons of the LORD your God' (Deut
14:1)"... |
16 |
(He used to say:)
--"All is foreseen, but freedom is given."
(And):
--"The world is judged by good,
but all in proportion to
much being done." |
17 |
He used to say:
--"All is given in pledge; and a net is cast over the
living.
The shop is open and the merchant gives credit.
The ledger is open and the hand writes.
Let all who want to borrow come and borrow.
But the collectors make their appointed rounds each day
and exact payment from a man if he knows it or not.
That on which they rely is theirs and the judgment is true.
And all is ready for the feast." |
|
--- Mishna,
Aboth
3.14-17 |
107. |
Who to love or
hate |
4 |
"...and hatred on one's
fellows (excludes a person from the world to come)":
Thus one learns a man is not to say:
--"Love the sages but hate the disciples," (or)
love the disciples but hate worldly people" [am ha
aretz].
Rather, love them all.
But hate Epicureans, instigators, apostates and informers.
Even David said so:
--"LORD, I hate those who hate you..." (Ps
139:21).
But does it not say:
--"You shall love your neighbor as yourself:
I am the
LORD" (Lev 19:18)?
On what ground?
--"Because I created him!
And if he does what your people
do, you shall love him;
but if he does not, you shall not love
him." |
|
--- Babylonian
Talmud (supplement), Aboth
de R. Nathan 16.4 |
108. |
Votes versus
Signs |
|
It has been taught:
Once Rabbi
Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus)
used all the arguments in the world,
but (the other rabbis) did not accept them.
He said to them:
--"If tradition [halakah] is as I (say), let
this carob tree be proof."
The carob tree moved 100 cubits [=150 feet] from its place --
some say 400 cubits.
They said to him:
--"No proof is produced from a carob!"
He said to them in return:
--"If tradition is as I (say), let the canal water be
proof."
Indeed, the canal water flowed backwards.
They said to him:
--"No proof is produced from canal water!"
He said to them in return:
--"If tradition is as I (say), let the walls of the
schoolhouse be proof."
The walls of the schoolhouse bent over (as if) to fall.
But Rabbi Rabbi
Joshua (ben cHanania)
scolded them, saying to them:
--"If the disciples of the sages are clarifying this or
that in the tradition,
what is that to you?"
To honor Rabbi Joshua (the walls) did not fall down.
But to honor Rabbi Eliezer, they did not stand straight.
And they stayed---and still stand---leaning.
(Rabbi Eliezer) said to them in return:
--"If tradition is as I (say), let there be proof from
Heaven!"
And an echoing voice [bath qol] came forth and said:
--"What have you against Rabbi Eliezer?
Tradition is always on his side!"
Rabbi Joshua rose to his feet and said:
--"it is not in heaven!" (Deut 30:12).
Why did he say:
--"it is not in heaven"?
Rabbi
Jeremiah said:
--"The Torah
was given to us from Mount Sinai.
We do not pay attention to an echoing voice,
because on Mount Sinai you wrote in the Torah:
--"You are to incline after the majority" (Exod
23:2).
Rabbi
Nathan met Elijah (and)
said to him:
--"What did the Holy One, blessed be He!, do in that
hour?"
He said:
--"He laughed and said:
-- 'My sons have outshone me! My sons have outshone me!'
It is said:
On that day they brought everything that Rabbi Eliezer
pronounced clean
and burned them in the fire.
And they counted (hands) and excommunicated him. |
|
--- Babylonian
Talmud, Baba
Metzia
59b |
109. |
Worth More than a
Bird |
6 |
Rabbi
Simeon ben Jochai
and his son hid in a cave for thirteen years (after the
Hadrianic war, 135 CE).
Their only food was dried carob, until their bodies broke out
in sores.
At the end of this period (Simeon) came
and sat at the mouth
of the cave;
and he saw a hunter in the act of catching birds.
When Rabbi Simeon hear an echoing voice [bath qol]
from heaven cry, "Mercy!" one (bird) escaped;
but if (the voice) cried "Condemned!," (the bird)
was caught.
He said"
--"Even a bird is not caught without the approval of
Providence! Then how much more is the life of a human?"
So, he went out and found that the (Roman) persecution (of
Jews) was over. |
|
--- Midrash,
Bereshith
Rabba 79.6 |
110. |
Carefree
Creatures |
14 |
Rabbi
Simeon ben Eleazar
says:
--"Have you ever seen an animal or a bird who has a
trade?
And yet they sustain themselves without trouble!
And were they not created only to serve me?
And I was created to serve my Maker.
Is it not right that I be sustained without care?
But I have weakened my works and I have wasted my
sustenance." |
|
--- Mishna,
Kiddushin
4.14 |
|