Part 22 (1/2)

Ibid., fol. 43, col. 2.

The harp in the time of the Messiah will have eight strings; as it is written (Ps. xii. 1), ”The chief musician upon eight,” etc.

_Eirchin_, fol. 13, col. 2.

On the ninth day of the month Ab (about August) both the first Temple and the second were destroyed.

_Rosh Hashanah_, fol. 18, col. 2.

In 2 Kings xxv. 8, the seventh of Ab is the date given for the first of these events, whereas Jeremiah (lii. 12) mentions the tenth as the fatal day. Josephus (Wars of the Jews, Book vi.

chap. 4, sec. 15) coincides with the latter.

On the ninth of Ab one must abstain from eating and drinking, and anointing one's self, and wearing shoes, and matrimonial intercourse. He may not read the Bible, the Talmud, the Midrash, the Halachoth, or the Haggadoth, excepting such portions as he is not in the habit of reading, such he may then read. The lamentations, Job, and the hard words of Jeremiah should engage his study. Children should not go to school on this day, because it is said (Ps. xix. 8), ”The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.”

_Taanith_, fol. 30, col. 1.

Nowadays, on the date referred to, Jews do not wear their tallith and phylacteries at morning prayer; by this act laying aside the outward signs of their covenant with G.o.d; but, contrary to custom, they put them on in the evening, when the fast is nearly over.

He who does any work on the ninth of Ab will never see even a sign of blessing. The sages say, whoso does any work on that day and does not lament over Jerusalem will never see her joy; for it is said (Isa. lxvi.

10), ”Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her; rejoice for joy, all ye that mourn for her.”

_Taanith_, fol. 30, col. 2.

If there be nine shops all selling the meat of animals which have been legally butchered, and one selling the meat of animals which have not, and if a person who has bought meat does not know at which of these shops he bought it, he is not ent.i.tled to the benefit of the doubt; the meat he has purchased is prohibited.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 15, col. 1.

A woman prefers one measure of frivolity to nine measures of Pharisaic sanctimoniousness.

_Soteh_, fol. 20, col. 1.

The Talmud has much to say, and does say a great deal, about women. And although what it says tends rather to discountenance than to promote their development, it is not insensible to what they might become under refinement of culture, and occasionally enforces the duty of attending to their higher education. In proof of both positions we appeal to the following quotations:--

In the Mishna, from which the above quotation is taken, we are told that Ben Azai (the son of impudence) says, a man is bound to instruct his daughter in the law, although Rabbi Eliezer, who always a.s.sumes an oracular air, and boasts that the Halachah is always according to his decision (_Bava Metzia_, fol. 59, col. 2), insists, on the other hand, that he who instructs his daughter in the law must be considered as training her into habits of frivolity; and the saying above ascribes to the s.e.x such a power of frivolity as connects itself evidently with the foregone conclusion that they are by nature incapable of being developed into any solidity of worth or character. The Gemara, Tosephoth, and Ras.h.i.+ as well all support Rabbi Eliezer in laying a veto on female education, for fear lest, with the acquisition of knowledge, women might become cunning, and do things on the sly which ought not to be done by them. Literally the saying is:--For from it (i.e., the acquisition of knowledge) she comes to understand cunning, and does things on the quiet.

_Soteh_, fol. 21, col. 2, Ras.h.i.+.

Another good reason for neglecting female education those who take the Talmud as an authority find in these words: women are light-minded, i.e., of shallow natural endowment, on which any serious discipline would be thrown away.

_Kiddus.h.i.+n_, fol. 80, col. 2.

Another argument to the same effect is, that there is no distinct command in the law of Moses inculcating the duty; for in Deut. xi. 19 it is merely said, ”And ye shall teach them to your children,” a command which, as it pa.s.ses refracted through the Rabbinic medium, becomes your sons, but not your daughters.

Ibid., fol. 29, col. 2.

As the immediately preceding command, so interpreted, cannot be carried out by any one not favored with male children, the well-known Talmudic dictum acquires force and point, ”Blessed is the man whose children are sons, but luckless is he whose children are daughters.”

_Bava Bathra_, fol. 16, col. 2.