"That they bring thee pure oil" (which is typical of the Law). Berachoth, fol. 57, col. 1. 2. The east wind is always good; the west wind is always injurious. The north wind is good for wheat, when a third of their growth is completed, and unfavourable to olives, when in blossom. The south wind is injurious to wheat, when a third of their growth is completed, and favourable to olives, when in blossom . . . As a mnemonic sign take, the table (wheat) is in the north, and the candlestick (oil) is in the south (in the Temple). Yoma, fol. 21, col. 2. 6. Why is Israel likened to an olive? Because, as the olive does not yield its oil unless it be pressed, so do not the people of Israel repent unless they are chastened. Minachoth, fol. 53, col. 2. 7. Cherish the memory of that man; his name is Chananyah ben Chiskiyah. But for him, the book of Ezekiel would have been suppressed, on account of its contradictions to the words of the Law. He had three hundred bottles of oil brought up into an upper chamber (to lighten him during the long nights of investigation), and he reconciled them. Shabbath, fol. 13, col. 2. 8. Rabbi Tarphon says: Only olive oil may be used on the Sabbath. Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri, starting to his feet, exclaimed: What shall the men of Babylon do, who have only sesame oil? What shall the men of Media do, who have only nut oil? What shall the men of Alexandria do, who have only radish oil? What shall the men of Kapudkia (Cappadocia) do, who have neither the one nor the other, but napht (naphtha)? Shabbath, fol. 26, col. 1. 9. A man may not anoint his leg with oil on the Sabbath, when he has his shoe or his sandal on. (Because a drop may fall upon the latter, which would be tantamount to working on the Sabbath. Rashi.) But he may anoint his leg with oil, and then put on his shoe or sandal. He may also anoint his whole body, and roll over a leathern mat (katablia, Karaẞodn) without scruple (though the mat is improved by it). Shabbath, fol. 141, col. 2. Maimonides, Hilchoth Shabbath, Sec. 22, Halachah, 18. 10. He that sells his neighbour purified oil all the year round, is allowed one log and a half of sediment for each hundred. Bavametzia, fol. 40, col. 2. Rav 11. "These are the two sons of oil." (Zec. iv. 14.) Yitzchak said: These are the disciples of the wise in the land of Israel, who are easy (courteous) to one another like olive oil, in halachic debate. "And two olive trees." (Zec. iv. 3.) These are the disciples of the wise in Babylon, who are bitter to each other in halachic debate, like olive-berries. Sanhedrin, fol. 24, col. 1. 12. "Great among the nations, and princess among the provinces." (La. i. 1.) Rava said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Wherever they (the Jews) wander, they become the rulers of their masters. It happened, that two men were reduced to slavery on Mount Carmel. Their captor following behind, overheard one of them telling the other: The camel that went before us, is blind of one eye, is laden with two skin bottles, one containing wine and the other oil; and is driven by two men, one an Israelite, and the other a Gentile. You stiffnecked people, cried the captor, how do you know all this? They replied: The grass is nibbled on one side of the road only. The drops of wine on one side are sunk into the ground; whereas the oil drops remain above it. One of the drivers has relieved nature at some distance from the road, the other (according to Gentile indecency) on the road. The captor then run forward to ascertain the correctness of their inferences, and found them true in every particular. On his return, he kissed them on their heads, brought them to his house, and preparing a large entertainment, he danced gleefully before them, and said: Blessed be He, who has chosen the seed of Abraham, and given them of His wisdom, so that wherever they wander, they become the rulers of their masters. He then gave them their freedom, and they departed to their homes. Sanhedrin, fol. 104, col. 2. 13. As eating olives causes one to forget what one has known for the last seventy years, so does the partaking of olive oil bring back to the memory things, which one had known seventy years ago. Horayoth, fol. 13, col. 2. 14. Tekoah is the first town for oil. Abba-Shaul says: Next to it, ranks Regeb on the other side of Jordan . . . "And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman." (2 Sa. xiv. 2.) Rabbi Yochanan said: Because they are habitually using olive oil for food, the inhabitants of Tekoah are distinguished for wisdom. Minachoth, fol. 85, col. 2. 15. Rabbi Yehudah says: Onphaknon (oμpaktov) is oil of olives, yielding less than a third of the ordinary quantity, and people anoint themselves with it, because it has the effect of removing the hair and softening the skin. Minachoth, fol. 86, col. 1. 66 16. "Unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil." (Le. vii. 12.) Rabbi Akiva asked: Wherefore twice with oil?" And he replied: If the word "with oil" had not been mentioned at all, I should have concluded that, like all other meat offerings, it required a log of oil; but now the reiterated and superfluous use of the words "with oil" implies a diminution, viz. to half a log divided into two equal parts, one for the unleavened cakes, and the unleavened wafers, and one for the fried cakes. Akiva! exclaimed Rabbi Elazer ben Azaryah (probably after he had been raised to the patriarchal dignity. See page 154, Note 26), if thou talkest the whole day of "with oil," "with oil," I will not listen to thee; for the halachah delivered to Moses on Sinai, is, half a log for a thanksgiving, and a quarter of a log for a Nazarite, etc. Minachoth, fol. 89, col. 1. T. N. Rabbi Akiva, and several others mentioned in the Mishnah, in connection with this question, must have been eye-witnesses of the Temple services, and yet they disagree concerning the measures of oil required for the sacrifices! 17. Let no man send his neighbour a cask of wine with oil floating on the surface. A man did so once, and the receiver invited guests to drink the wine with him. But when he found oil in the cask, he thought that there was no wine in it, and such was his disappointment that he hanged himself. Chulin, fol. 94, col. 1. VERSE 20. And Noah builded an altar. SYNOPTICAL NOTES. ALTAR. 1. "The altar of wood was three cubits high . . . and he said unto me: This is the table that is before the Lord." (Eze. xli. 22.) He begins with the altar, and ends with the table! Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Elazer both explained, that so long as the Temple existed, the altar made atonement for Israel, but now it is a man's table that makes atonement for him (his hospitality). Berachoth, fol. 55, col. 1; Chaguigah, fol. 27, col. 1. 2. At first, whoever wished, might remove the ashes, in the morning, from the altar; and when there happened to be many priestly applicants for the office, they all ran up the inclined plane, and he that came first within four cubits of the top of the altar, performed it. But if two reached it at the same time, the head man cried out: Put forth your fingers (prepare for the decision by lot)! and then each applicant was allowed to put forth one or two fingers, but never the thumb. The covering of one's head being removed, says Rashi, and the head man giving out a number several times that of the applicants, who formed a circle, one began to count from the bare-headed priest, till the number was finished, and the priest, who happened to complete it, performed the office. But it happened once, as two priests were running up the incline, that one pushed down the other, and broke his leg. When the authorities saw, that this custom was attended with risk, they ordained that the ashes should be removed by lot only. Yoma, fol. 22, col. 1. 3. He that removes a live coal from the altar, and puts it out, is guilty of transgressing Le. vi. 13. Yoma, fol. 46, col. 2. 4. Rabbi Yochanan said, There are three crowns: that of the altar (the sacerdotal; Ex. xxx. 3), that of the table (the regal; Ex. xxv. 24), and that of the ark (the legal; Ex. xxv. 11). The first is already appropriated by Aaron; the second by David; and the third still waits for appropriation; whoever will, may take it. Shouldest thou deem it comparatively worthless, remember that (it is said of it, Pr. viii. 15)" By me kings reign." Yoma, fol. 72, col. 2. T. N. We are here furnished with the key to the whole history of Rabbinism, from the rise of the Hasmonean power, to the final triumph of that system at the cloes of the Guemaraic period. With the destruction of Jerusalem, the last vestige of regal and sacerdotal opposition to the encroachments of the Rabbis vanished; and henceforth the road to absolute supremacy was laid open to them. The strong hostility still manifested by the amhaaretz, the mass of the people, was overcome some three centuries afterwards; and from that time till about the end of the last century, their authority was, with hardly a dissentient voice, recognised by the whole nation. 5. Every day of the feast of Tabernacles, they went round the altar once, and said: O! Lord, save us, we beseech Thee; O! Lord, prosper us, we beseech Thee. But on the last day, they went round it seven times. On their departure they said: Beauty to thee, O, altar; beauty to thee, O, altar! Sucah, fol. 45, col. 1. 6. All who ascend to the top of the altar, do so on the right side, and going round on the top, descend on the left side; except when one ascends for the libation of water, for that of wine, and for burnt sacrifices of fowls, when accumulated on the east side (all of which might be injured by the smoke, if carried all round the incline, which had an area of more than one hundred cubits. Rashi). They, therefore, ascend and descend backwards on the left side. Sucah, fol. 48, col. 2. 7. The Post-Mishnic Rabbis have related: It happened once (at the water libations), that a Sadducean priest had poured some of the water to the foot of the altar, and all the people pelted him with their citrons. ("The fruits of goodly trees," prescribed in Lev. xxiii. 40; see margin.) The horn of the altar was thereby injured, and they brought a handful of salt, and temporarily stopped up the breach; not that the altar was thus rendered legally fit for service, but only that it might not appear injured. Sucah, fol. 48, col. 2. 8. Rabbi Eliezer (who survived the destruction of the Temple) said: Those seventy bullocks (offered on the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles), for whose benefit were they intended? For the seventy nations (of which Rabbinic Jews to this day maintain, that the whole Gentile world consists, "according to the number of the sons of Israel." De. xxxii. 8). The seventy bullocks were intended, adds Rashi, to atone for them, that rain may come all over the world; for on the feast of Tabernacles, judgment is given concerning water). The single bullock on the eighth day was intended for the benefit of the single (chosen) nation. It is like a king of flesh and blood, who says to his slaves: Make me a great feast; but on the last day, he says to his friend: Make me a small feast, that I may enjoy of thine. Woe to the idolaters! exclaimed Rabbi Yochanan, who know not what they have lost. As long as the Temple was in existence, the altar made atonement for them; but now who makes atonement for them? Sucah, fol. 55, col. 2. T. N. a. And yet the Jewish press has the assurance to reiterate the assertion, that the doctrine of the atonement is a Christian invention! How much would be left of the Pentateuch, and more especially of Leviticus, if all the passages referring to sacrificial atonement, were expunged from it? To break with the past is at least intelligible, and sometimes also laudable; but to deny the past can only be accounted for, though not justified by, the anomalous position, in which the reforming Jews find themselves. b. To this day all the Jews, with few exceptions, hold a special service on the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, that is, in the month of October, praying for the blessing of rain during the coming winter! From October till April, the Jews in Northern Europe bless God, in their daily prayers, both morning and evening, for that "He causes the wind to blow, and the rain to come down." And one of the Eighteen Benedictions, composed in Palestine, during the first century of the Christian era, runs as follows: "Bless, O Lord our God, this year and all its various produce;" and in winter, it is added: "And give us the blessing of dew and rain," etc. Such is the conservatism of traditional Judaism! 9. The Post-Mishnic Rabbis have related: It happened that Miriam, of the priestly order of Bilgah, had changed her faith and married a soldier (sardiot, σrpariwτns) of the Greek king. When the Greeks entered the Temple, she kicked with her sandal against the altar, and cried: Lukos! Lukos! (Aukos, wolf) How long wilt thou waste the money of Israel, and render them no help in their distress! When the wise men heard of it, they abolished her priestly order, after the expulsion of the Syro-Greeks. Sucah, fol. 56, col. 2. 10. Rabbi Elazer said: The altar neutralises evil decrees, feeds the world, endears Israel to God, and atones for iniquity. fol. 10, col. 2. Kethuboth, 11. Whoever is buried in the land of Israel, is interred, as it were, beneath the altar. It is here written (Ex. xx. 24): "An altar of earth shalt thou make unto me; and it is further written (De. xxxii. 43, see original): "And his earth will atone for his people." Kethuboth, fol. 111, col. 1. Rabbi 12. For he hates putting away." (Mal. 2. 16.) Yehudah renders the phrase: If he hates (his wife), let him put her away. (See A. V., in loco, marginal reading, which should not have been added; the rendering in the text being certainly the correct one.) Rabbi Yochanan renders it: For hateful is he that puts away. But there is really no difference between them; the latter has in view the divorce of the first married wife, and the former refers to that of the other wives. For Rabbi Elazer had said: Whoever divorces his first wife (ie., the first among other wives), even the altar sheds tears over him; as it is said (Mal. ii. 13): "And this ye have done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out," etc. Guittin, fol. 90, col. 2. T. N. The practice of divorce prevails at present among the Jews all over the world, and, to a certain extent, even in England, when the law of the country can be evaded with impunity, many of the poorer Jews going over to the Continent for that purpose. The reader should compare this with the same citation, as given by the writer on "The Talmud," in the Quarterly Review, and he will understand, why all reference to treatise, folio, and column, is there suppressed. 13. As for the exact site of the Temple, the Babylonian exiles might have discovered it by its former foundations; but how could they ascertain the spot, where the altar had been erected? Rabbi Elazer replied: They saw an altar built upon it, and Michael the Great Prince standing by it, and offering a sacrifice upon it. Zevachim, fol. 62, col. 1. 14. Wood in which insects are found, cannot be used as fuel upon the altar. Minachoth, fol. 85, col. 2. 15. There was a place for collecting the ashes in the middle of the altar, and at times there were in it nearly 300 cors (equal to 9000 measures) of ashes. That is exaggeration, remarked Rava. Rav Ammi said: The Law, the Prophets, and the wise men use hyperbolic language. The Law: "Cities great and walled up to heaven.' (De. i. 28.) The Prophets: "The earth rent with the sound of them." (1 Ki. i. 40.) The wise men, as above. Rav Yitzchak bar Nachmaine |