Yerushalmi Berakhot 9:5 ירושלמי ברכות ט׳:ה׳

MISHNAH: One is required to recite a benediction for bad things the same way²²⁸The Babli (60b) points out that the Mishnah cannot mean that one has to use the same formula for bad news as for good since the opposite was declared in Mishnah 3. Here one talks only about the spirit in which the benedictions should be recited. it is said for good things, as it is written (Deut. 6:5): “You must love the Eternal, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, and all your force.” “With all your heart,” with your two instincts, the goodinstinct and the bad instinct. “With all your soul,” even if He takes your soul. “With all your force,” with all your money. Another explanation: “With all your force,” for every measure²²⁹This sermon identifies the roots מאד “power, plenty”, מדד “measure,” ידה, מדה “thanking.” It supports the early grammarians who reduced Semitic roots to two letters. that He measures for you, for everything thank him very much.
A person should not behave improperly before the Eastern gate, which lies in a straight line with the Holiest of Holies²⁵⁶The Eastern gate in the wall of the Temple Mount (which at the same time was the city wall) was in a straight line with the Eastern gate of the Temple courtyard, the Temple gate, and the Holiest of Holies, because the priest who was burning the red heifer on the Mount of Olives had to see the Temple door through the gate of the wall and the gate of the Temple court. One must assume that in Mishnaic times, the Temple itself was totally obliterated (since, after the war of Bar Kochba, Hadrian had constructed a temple of Jupiter on its site) but that the original Eastern gate was still there and the place of the Temple could be determined on a line perpendicular to the wall at that gate.. And one should not enter the Temple Mount with his walking stick, sandals²⁵⁷All service by priests in the Temple had to be performed barefoot. Hence, also laymen entering the Temple precinct had to be barefoot. [To show the difference between the Temple and a synagogue, shoes may not be removed in a synagogue.], money belt²⁵⁸Latin funda., or dust on his feet²⁵⁹One may not enter with unwashed feet.. Also one should not use it as a short cut²⁶⁰Latin compendiaria (via), cf. Chapter 1, Note 36., and certainly not spit there. All endings of benedictions in the Temple were “from eternity²⁶¹Instead of “Amen”, the answer to a benediction was “Praised be the Eternal, the God of Israel, from eternity”. This is the answer asserted to be given during the existence of the first Temple. When the second Temple was inaugurated, the formula was (Neh. 9:5): “Praised be the Eternal, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity,” to emphasize the two worlds, the existing one and the one to come. The heretics here cannot be Sadducees who started about three hundred years later; the Qumran documents show that it is totally false to impute a denial of the future world to Sadducees. [That “heretics” are called “Sadducees” in many editions of the Babli here is due to Christian censors who misunderstood the use of the word מין which in general, but not here, means “Christians.”].” When heretics did err and said that there was only one world, they ordained that one should say “from eternity to eternity.” They also instituted that one should greet his friend by the Name, as it was said (Ruth 2:4): “Lo, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters: The Eternal be with you!” And it says (Pr. 23:22): “Be not contemptuous because your mother got old.²⁶²Rashi in the Babli explains: Even though the action of Boaz looks wrong, since God’s name is used for wordly greeting, one should follow him since he is one of the elders of the people. In the verse, the harvesters answered: “May the Eternal bless you,” following Boas’s example.” (Ps. 119:126) “It is time to work for the Eternal; they violated Your Torah.” Rebbi Nathan says, they²⁶³The men of the Great Assembly, who instituted the response to the benedictions in the Temple and the way of greeting in the Name of God, violated the prescription of the Torah that God’s name may not be taken in vain (i. e., for secular purposes) in order to further God’s work and to instill religious feelings in the people. violated Your Torah, it is time to work for the Eternal.

HALAKHAH: Rebbi Berekhia in the name of Rebbi Levi: ²³⁰One is required to recite a benediction for bad things the same way it is said for good things. Because of (Ps. 92:5) “You are always exalted, o Eternal!” Your position is always the strongest²³¹This is a term from civil law; the person whose position is strongest is the one who does not have to prove his point, but the adversary has to. An example is a case in which one party bases its position on a written contract; the contract makes his position strongest.. Usually in the world, if a king of flesh and blood sits in judgment, if he dismisses²³²Latin dimissio, throwing out the indictment., everybody acclaims him; if he sentences to execution²³³Latin spiculum “thorn, dart, pointed instrument; arrow”., everybody says bad things about him since he is sweeping in his sentences. But the Holy One, praise to Him, is not so, rather: “You are always exalted, o Eternal!” Your position is always the strongest.

Rebbi Ḥuna in the name of Rebbi Aḥa²³⁴In the printed edition of the Babli (60b), this homily of R. Aḥa is described as having R. Levi as first author. There are many other names given in manuscripts of the Babli.: (Ps. 101:1) “A song of David. Kindness and justice I shall sing, to You, o Eternal, I shall chant.” David said before the Holy One, praise to Him: If You act in kindness towards me, I shall sing. If You act in judgment towards me, I shall sing. In any case, I shall chant.

Rebbi Tanḥuma ben Yehudah²³⁴In the printed edition of the Babli (60b), this homily of R. Aḥa is described as having R. Levi as first author. There are many other names given in manuscripts of the Babli. said, (Ps. 56:11) “In God I will praise words, in the Eternal²³⁵The name “God”, majestic plural of ēl “power”, is always interpreted in the Talmud as “the measure of justice” acting by the immovable laws of the Creation. “Eternal” is traditionally interpreted as designating God the Merciful, Whose mercy is not subject to natural law. I will praise words.” On measures of judgment as on measures of mercy I shall praise words.

But the sages²³⁶In the Babli (60b) this is ascribed to R. Tanḥum, the following statement of R. Yudan bar Pelaiah is attributed to “rabbis”. say (Ps. 116:13): “I lift the cup of salvation, I call on the Name of the Eternal, trouble and sorrow I will find, but on the Name of the Eternal I shall call.” Whatever may happen to me, I shall call on the Name of the Eternal. Rebbi Yudan bar Pelaya²³⁷A late Amora, student of R. Jonah, whose name is frequently corrupted in Talmud and Midrashim. said: This is what Job said (Job 1:21): “The Eternal gave, and the Eternal took, may the Name of the Eternal be praised!” When He gave, He gave in mercy; when He took, He took in mercy. In addition, when He gave, He did not consult anybody, but when He took, He consulted His Court²³⁸The proof is in the next sentence. The text is elliptic and one has to add: “As R. Eleazar said” (three generations before R. Yudan; otherwise the homilies are arranged chronologically.) The court is the Heavenly Court of Law.. Rebbi Eleazar said, everwhere it says “and the Eternal” it means Him and His Court. The paradigm²³⁹Literally “Father’s building.” The theory behind this expression is that each word in the Torah has a unique meaning. If the meaning of a term is clear in one verse, “this built a father for all occurrences of this word,” one of the hermeneutical rules of R. Ismael for the understanding of the Torah. Its validity is extended to all of the Bible as rule #8 of the 32 rules of R. Eliezer, son of R. Yose the Galilean. of this is (1K. 22:23): “And the Eternal spoke woe over you²⁴⁰The prophecy of Michaihu starts with his vision of the Eternal surrounded by all the Hosts of Heaven..”

²⁴¹This and the next paragraphs are from Soṭa 5:5; in the transcription the introductory sentences were lost. There, the question is raised that one verse in Deuteronomy says: “You must love the Eternal, your God,” as quoted in our Mishnah, but another verse declares: “The Eternal, your God, you must fear.” How does one square these two verses? The answer is that both are required, as explained in the following. Act from love and act from fear. Act from love, because if you are tempted to hate²⁴²The obligations that the Jewish religion puts upon you., know that you must love and a lover is no hater. Act from fear, because if you are tempted to rebel, know that you must fear and one who fears does not rebel.

There are seven kinds of religious people²⁴³The same list appears in Yerushalmi Soṭa 5:5; a slightly different list with completely different interpretations in Babli Soṭa 22b declares explicitly that the first five are “destroyers of the world.” In the Yerushalmi, it is clear that the first five are considered in a negative light but they are still considered better than one who performs no commandments whatsoever.
פרוּש “Pharisee” is the designation of anybody who separates himself from impurity; in particular, one who follows the teachings of the rabbis.: Religious on the shoulder, religious on credit, religious balancing, religious “what is the deduction,” religious “I shall do it when I realize my guilt,” religious from fear, religious from love. Religious on the shoulder, he carries his deeds²⁴⁴Openly, for everybody to see. onhis shoulder. Religious on credit, “give me credit that I can perform commandments.²⁴⁵Every commentator has a different interpretation: One who asks for a loan pretending he needs it for a miẓwah, while he only wants the money and has no intention of performing the miẓwah (Qorban haëdah, Eliahu Fulda); I cannot pay now because I am occupied with a miẓwah (Pne Mosheh); give me money because I am so holy that I cannot go and earn money (Z. Frankel).” Religious balancing, he commits one sin and observes one commandment and balances one against the other. Religious “what is the deduction,” what I have that is what I am using to deduct for doing a commandment. Religious “I shall do it when I realize my guilt,” I committed that sin and therefore I shall do this good deed to counteract it²⁴⁶While this is clearly disapproved of here, it is approved in the Babli and also in Medieval catalogues of “actions of penitence” which, under the influence of Catholic practices, prescribed just such a course of action.. Religious from fear, like Job. Religious from love, like Abraham. No one is beloved as much as the religious from love, like Abraham.

Our forefather Abraham turned the evil instincts into good ones as it is written (Neh. 9:8): “You found his heart trustworthy before You.” Rebbi Aḥa said, he compromised, from “concluding a covenant with him²⁴⁸Abraham compromised with his evil instincts, taking “him” to refer to the evil instincts residing in the heart, not to Abraham..” But David could not stand them and killed them in his heart. What is the reason? (Ps. 109:22) “But my heart is slain²⁴⁹Taking חלל from the noun חָלָל “corpse” (or from Rabbinic Hebrew “empty space”), not from Biblical חיל “to tremble.” in me.”

Rebbi Aqiba was tortured before the evil Tineius Rufus²⁵²Governor of Palestine under the emperor Hadrian. The form of the name Tinejus is accepted by Mommsen, Renan and Schürer. (Graetz writes Tinnius or Titus Annius.) Babylonian sources give the name as טורנוס רופוס, this can be read as Turianus Rufus, traditionally interpreted as “Tyrant Rufus.” According to the Babli (Nedarim 50b), Rufus’s rich wife had divorced him, converted to Judaism, and married Rebbi Aqiba. A story closely similar to the one given here is told in the Babli (61a).. There came the time for reciting the Shema‘. He started to read and laughed. He said to him: Old man, you are either a sorcerer or one contemptuous of suffering. He said to him: The spirit of this man should be blown away; I am neither a sorcerer nor contemptuous of sufferings. But all my life I read this verse and said, when will I have occasion for these three (Deut. 6:5): “You must love the Eternal, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, and all your force.” I loved Him with all my heart. I loved Himwith all my money. But whether with all my soul I could not test. But now, when “with all your soul” came, the time of reciting the Shema‘ has arrived and my mind has not wavered, therefore I am reciting and laughing. He had not finished speaking when his soul flew away.

Neḥemiah from Emmaus²⁵³In Babylonian sources, Naḥum from Gimzo (Shevuöt 26a) or Neḥemiah from Emmaus (Pesaḥim 22b) was the teacher of Rebbi Aqiva; Naḥum is also quoted as teacher in Yerushalmi sources (Bereshit rabba 22, 53) but in a very critical sense. Hence, it seems that Naḥum was the developer of a rudimentary method of explaining the Torah by looking at expressions that mean inclusions or exclusions, that the method was made satisfactory only by R. Aqiba, and that Neḥemia was R. Aqiba’s student. (The tradition of the name in Pesaḥim 22b is doubtful.)
The method of inclusions and exclusions is much more general than the limited use made here in identifying particles which have extending or limiting character; its use is always called “the method of R. Aqiba”, in contrast to the “method of R. Ismael”, which is based on generalities and specifications. served Rebbi Aqiba for 20 years and he taught him “את and גם mean additions, אך and רק mean exclusions²⁵⁴The particles denoting exclusion are רַק “only”, אַךְ “but only”. Those denoting inclusion are גַּם “also”, and אֶת, which either is the particle of the accusative or means “and”. In R. Aqiba’s theory, all accusative particles also have the meaning of “and.” This is not original with him; in the Greek translation of Aquila, a student of Rebbis Eliezer and Joshua, every את is translated as καί “and”, whether it makes sense or not. In the verse in question, it is the accusative participle used as “and” that seems to result in a meaning unacceptable to pure monotheism..” He asked him: What means that which is written (Deut. 6:13) “את the Eternal, your God, you must fear.” He said to him, Him and His Torah²²⁵A geothermal bath, as in Tiberias..

It was stated: He who urinates turns his face towards North²⁶⁴In post-Hadrianic Jerusalem, situated North of the Temple Mount. He will face a direction pointing away from the Temple.. He who spreads his feet²⁶⁵To defecate; then his face is towards the Temple and his back away from it. turns his face towards South. Rebbi Yose bar Abun²⁶⁶Both R. Eleazar Askari and R. Zacharias Frankel prefer to cross out the words “bar Abun said, this baraita deals with” since in the next formulation, and in the parallel to that in the Babli (61b), R. Yose the Tanna is quoted that these rules hold only if one can see Jerusalem. But one should hesitate to follow them since in the comment of the Babli (61b) on the prohibitions of the Mishnah, the statement attributed here to the fifth generation R. Yose bar Abun is there credited to the fourth generation R. Abba, son of R. Ḥiyya bar Abba, in the name of R. Yoḥanan; it is clearly Amoraic. But R. Abba adds that all the rules apply only when the Temple exists (following R. Yehudah in the next baraita), and this is emphatically negated by the Yerushalmi. said, this baraita is from Mount Scopus towards the interior. Rebbi Aqiba says, everywhere²⁶⁷Even outside of the Land of Israel, in the interpretation of the Babli. The Babli also takes the rules of the baraita quite strictly, E-W and N-S, not the direction towards Jerusalem. They seem to suggest that everybody has to feel himself to be in Jerusalem everywhere in the world. It is impossible to say what the opinion of the Yerushalmi would be in this question. but only where there is no wall²⁶⁸Separating between him and the forbidden direction.. If was stated: He who spreads his feet should not face East with his back facing West but at an angle²⁶⁹Here in the Yerushalmi, צדדין denotes a position that is not in one of the four cardinal directions. In the parallel in the Babli, the same word means a place that is not N, E, S, W from Jerusalem!. Rebbi Yehudah says, when the Temple exists. Rebbi Yose said, from Mount Scopus towards the interior. Rebbi Aqiba says, everywhere but only where there is no wall.

Rebbi Aqiba said, I entered once after Rebbi Joshua to see the action²⁷⁰How he behaves in the bathroom.. They asked him, what did you see? He said to them, I saw him sitting and his side was towards the West²⁷¹At Jabneh, East of Jerusalem, he was facing either North or South.; he did not undress until he was sitting, he did not sit down before he rubbed²⁷²He cleaned the place before he sat down. There is an alternative explanation given in the Babli (62a, bottom) that is impossible here., and he did not cleanse himself with his right hand but with his left hand²⁷³The Babli and the Yerushalmi source Derekh Ereẓ 7 explain that R. Eliezer says, because one eats with his right hand; R. Joshua says, because one writes (words of Torah) with the right hand; R. Aqiba says, because one uses the right hand to show the musical signs when reciting the Torah.. Simeon ben Azai also said so: I entered once after Rebbi Aqiba to see the action. They asked him, what did you see? Etc.

It was stated²⁷⁴Tosephta Berakhot 6:19.: Nobody should enter the Temple Mount in shoes, with dust on his feet, or his coins tied up in his head-scarf, or his money belt on him outside. What is the reason? (Eccl. 4:17) “Watch your feet when you go to God’s house.” Rebbi Yose ben Yehudah says (Esth. 4:2): “He came as far as the king’s gate because nobody may enter the king’s gate in sackcloth.” He said, if it is so for a foul smelling drop²⁷⁵The semen from which the king was conceived., so much more for the gate of the Omnipresent!

“²⁷⁶Except for the quote from the Mishnah, this is the continuation of the previous Tosephta. One should not use it as a short cut, and certainly one should not spit there²⁷⁷This is quoted here to explain the expression “certainly”, or “so much more”..” If you say that wearing shoes, which is a respectful way, is forbidden, spitting, which is disrespectful, so much more.

If was stated: One did not say “Amen” in the Temple. What did they say²⁷⁸In the second Temple.? “Praised be His glorious name forever and ever.” From where²⁷⁹A formulaic word meaning: “From which verse do we know that such and such is true?” that one did not say “Amen” in the Temple? The verse says (Neh. 9:5): “Rise up and praise the Eternal, etc.” From where that this is for every single benediction, the verse says: “And Elevated for every benediction and praise.²⁸⁰The full verse is: Rise up and praise the Eternal, your God, from eternity to eternity they shall praise Your glorious name and Elevated for every benediction and praise. The Tosephta (6:22), quoted Babli 63a, explains that this means: For every single benediction and every single praise.”

Rebbi Joshua the Southerner²⁸¹Rebbi Joshua ben Levi. said: Three things did the earthly court decree and the Heavenly Court agreed with them, and they are the following: The ban on Jericho, the Esther scroll, and greeting people using the Name. The ban on Jericho (Jos. 7:11): “Israel sinned²⁸²Joshua decreed a ban on all property of the city of Jericho as ḥērem for the Eternal. After Akhan had taken property for himself, Israel was defeated at the Ai and Joshua was informed that “Israel sinned,” i. e., a transgression of his command was equated with a transgression of a divine command. Hence, Heaven accepted his human decree in the Heavenly Court. [While everybody can declare his own possession ḥērem or qorbān whereby its use is forbidden by a divine command (Lev. 27), Joshua here forbade the use of things that did not belong to him and, under usual circumstances, his decree would be invalid in a court of law.].” But was not Joshua the one who decreed it? This certainly implies that the Heavenly Court agreed with them. The Esther scroll (Esth. 9:27): “They confirmed and accepted, etc.” Rav said, “accepted” is written in singular²⁸³It is written קבל and read קִבְּלוּ.; this implies that they²⁸⁴In fact, He (God) accepted it. accepted. Greeting people using the Name (Ruth 2:4): “Lo, Boaz came from Bethlehem.” And from where that the Heavenly court agreed with them? The verse says (Jud. 6:12): “The Eternal is with you, o hero!²⁸⁵This is the greeting of the angel to Gideon, telling him to fight the Midianites. This shows that heavenly beings adapted the human manner of greeting as exemplified by Boaz. The argument implies that Gideon, who was quite early in the time of Judges, came after Boaz. This is explicit in Midrash Seder Olam Chap. 12 (in the author’s edition and commentary, Northvale N.J. 1998, p. 121–123.) Boaz was the grandson of Naḥshon ben Aminadav, prince of Judah during the wanderings in the desert (Ruth 4:20–21.)” Rebbi Abun in the name of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi: Also tithes, as it is said (Mal. 3:10): “Bring all tithes²⁸⁶The problem alluded to here is discussed in Yerushalmi Shevi‘it 6:1, Qiddushin 1:9 and Babli Arakhin 32b, referring to the obligations of the farmer regarding the produce of the Holy Land. It is spelled out in the Torah many times that these obligations (the heave for the priests, tithes for the Levites and the poor, the Sabbatical Year, etc.) come into force “when you come to the Land and inherit it,” as duties on the land distributed as family heritage to the tribes by Moses and Joshua. These commandments became obsolete when the tribes were led into captivity, including the obligations of the remaining Israelite population of Galilee who, according to our sources, were never exiled and who reappear in history at the time of the Hasmonean revolt without any record of resettlement in Galilee. The continued obligation to observe the Laws that depend on the Land therefore is derived only from the voluntary covenant enacted by the people in the time of Ezra and Nehemia (Shevi‘it 6:1): “Rebbi Lezer says: they voluntarily accepted the duties of the tithes. Why do I say this? (Neh. 10:1) ‘With all this, we enact a written trust and covenant signed by our princes, Levites, and priests.’ How does R. Lezer explain the inclusion (Neh. 10:37) of ‘the firstborn of our cattle and flocks’ [an obligation that does not depend on the Land and therefore is universal]? Since they accepted the obligations (of heave and tithes) that they could have avoided, Scripture gives them credit for those obligations which they had to fulfill anyhow as if they had accepted these also voluntarily.” The same idea is also expressed by an opponent of rabbinic Judaism who is reported (Shevi‘it 9:9) to have said: “Ḥallah (the heave to be taken from bread dough) is a biblical obligation (Num. 15:20) but the Sabbatical year is now an obligation only by the authority of Rabban Gamliel and his colleagues.” [Cf. the author’s The Scholar’s Haggadah, p. 280–281, and Seder Olam p. 248–250.], etc.” What is: “²⁸⁷Mal. 3:10: “Bring the full tithe into the (Temple) storehouse, so that there may be food in My House, test Me in this,” said the Eternal of Hosts, “if I will not open for you the skylights of heaven, and I shall pour out for you blessing until ‘without enough.’ ” The obligation accepted by the people on Earth without Heavenly Command gives Divine Reward. Hence, the obligation was accepted as Divine Command of human origin. Until ‘without enough?’ ” Rebbi Yose bar²⁸⁸The Rome manuscript does not have the words “Yose bar”. A son of R. Simeon bar Abba is otherwise unknown but the attribution is possible. R. Shelomo Cirillo has the reading “R. Yose in the name of R. Simeon bar Abba.” Simeon bar Abba in the name of Rebbi Yoḥanan: The thing about which it is impossible to say “enough”, that is blessing. Rebbi Berekhiah and Rebbi Chelbo and Rebbi Abba bar Ilaï in the name of Rav: Until your lips will wear out²⁹⁰This is explained in detail in Midrash Samuel 1:1 (which contains an enlarged version of the Yerushalmi here to the end of the tractate) that Elkanah went to Siloh four times a year, three times for the three holidays of pilgrimage and once for his private vow as explained in 1Sam. 1:2, and that every year he chose a different road to tell people to go to Shiloh for the holidays. A similar version is in Tanna dbe Eliahu I:8. saying, we have enough blessings, we have enough blessings.

(Pr. 23:22): “Be not contemptuous because your mother got old.” Rebbi Yose bar Abun said, if words of Torah become old in your mouth, do not become contemptuous about them. What is the reason? “Be not contemptuous because your mother got old.” Rebbi Zeïra said, when your people got old, get up and repair it the way Elkanah did who instructed Israel in the pilgrimage for holidays. That is what is written: (1Sam. 1:2) “This man went up from his town²⁹⁰This is explained in detail in Midrash Samuel 1:1 (which contains an enlarged version of the Yerushalmi here to the end of the tractate) that Elkanah went to Siloh four times a year, three times for the three holidays of pilgrimage and once for his private vow as explained in 1Sam. 1:2, and that every year he chose a different road to tell people to go to Shiloh for the holidays. A similar version is in Tanna dbe Eliahu I:8., etc.”

(Ps. 119:126) “It is time to work for the Eternal, they violated Your Torah.” Rebbi Nathan inverts the verse: “They violated Your Torah, it is time to work for the Eternal.” Rebbi Ḥilqiah in the name of Rebbi Simon: He who restricts his Torah to fixed times breaches the covenant. What is the reason? “They violated Your Torah, it is time to work for the Eternal.” It was stated: Rebbi Simeon ben Yoḥai says: If you see that people have given up on Torah, get up and strengthen yourself in it and you will receive the reward of all of them. What is the reason? “They violated Your Torah, it is time to work for the Eternal!”

Hillel the elder²⁹¹This is Hillel, contemporary of Shammai and ancestor of the house of the Patriarchs. The same sayings appear in Hebrew in Babli 63a and Tosephta 6:24. used to say: When they collect, spread²⁹²If people teach the select few, you should teach only large masses, and vice-versa.. And when they spread, collect. So Hillel used to say, if you see that the Torah is beloved by Israel and everybody enjoys it, spread. And if not, collect.Rebbi Eleazar said, just as the baby needs to suckle at all times of the day, so every Jew needs to exert himself in Torah all all times of the day. Rebbi Jonah in the name of Rebbi Yose ben Gezirah²⁹³An otherwise unknown Amora, but he might be identical with R. Yose Quẓira, son-in-law of R. Yose ben Yose, of the fourth/fifth generation of Amoraim in Galilee. [A similar statement appears in Babli Ḥulin 89a in the name of the earlier Galilean R. Isaac.], all small talk is bad but small talk of Torah is good. All lies are good and the lies of Torah are bad²⁹⁴This sentence is unintelligible. In the quotes of the sentence in works of medieval authors, one finds many different versions. In the commentary of Rabbenu Jonah to Pirqe Avot, the reading is Aramaic כרבייא “plowings” instead of כדבייא “lies.” This has support in the introduction of R. Zeraḥiah Halevi to his Maör haqaṭan, who reads Hebrew חרשיא “plowings.” Since the roots חרש (Arabic חרת̇) “to plow” and חרש (Arabic ח̇רשׂ) “to be silent” are identical in Hebrew, both authors give the interpretation” silence” also to the Aramaic equivalent כרב. The author of ‘En Yaaqob reads ברכייא, “blessings.” All these authors read first “bad” then “good” as in the preceding sentence; Rabbenu Jonah even quotes the sentence about silence as alternative reading for “small talk.” Many commentators write here that the sentence should be: All lies are bad and the lies of Torah are good, referring to lies such as Eliezer’s when he met Rebecca, first gave her gold rings and then inquired after her family but in his recital to them pretended to first having asked about her family and only afterwards given her the heavy gold jewelry, to keep within accepted norms of behavior..

Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said: In a scroll of the pious²⁹⁵This kind of literature has not been identified. It might be similar to some of the Sadducee Qumran scrolls. they found written: If you abandon me²⁹⁶The Torah. for one day, I shall abandon you for two days. An example of two people who went, one from Tiberias and one from Sepphoris, and met at a certain shelter. As soon as they parted and each one went one mil, they were separated two mil. Or a woman who sat and waited for a man. All the time that he intended to marry her, she sat and waited for him. When he put her out of his mind, she went and married another.

It was stated²⁹⁷Tosephta Menaḥot 6:24–25, a parallel to the entire paragraph in slightly different language. A parallel in the Babli (Menaḥot 43b) has the formulation that “every man in Israel is obliged to recite 100 benedictions every day.” In the Yerushalmi and the Tosephta, not only benedictions are counted but all religious deeds, and it is asserted that the number 100 is reached automatically. in the name of Rebbi Meïr: There is no one in Israel who does not perform 100 commandments every day. He recites the Shema‘ and benedictions before and after, eats his bread and recitesbenedictions before and after, prays 18 benedictions three times and then he performs other commandments and recites benedictions after them. Similarly, Rebbi Meïr used to say: There is no man in Israel who is not surrounded by commandments: Tefillin on his head, tefillin on his arm, a mezuzah on his door, circumcision in his flesh, and the four ẓiẓiot of his tallit surround him. That is what David said (Ps. 119:164): I praised You sevenfold every day for Your just laws²⁹⁸In order to end up with a count of seven, the Yerushalmi (and the Yerushalmi source Midrash Tehillim 12) must consider tefillin as one commandment. In Babli and Tosephta, circumcision is not counted, probably because the fact of circumcision goes to the credit of the parents, not the baby, and, therefore, tefillin must count for two commandments.. And so it says (Ps. 34:8): The angel of the Eternal camps around those that fear Him and rescues them²⁹⁹The implication being that the angel is created by the good deeds of the person protected.. When he³⁰⁰David. entered the bath house, he saw himself naked. He said, woe to me that I am stripped of commandmends. When he looked at his circumcision, he started to acclaim the Holy One, praise to Him (Ps. 12:1): For the director, on the eighth³⁰¹Taken not as an eight-stringed harp but the commandment performed on the eighth day., a song from David.

Rebbi Eleazar said in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina³⁰²A similar homily is in Babli 64a as conclusion of the tractate; there, the expression “students of the sages” means “rabbis” but here it genuinely means “students.”: The students of the Sages increase peace in the world. What is the reason? (Is. 54:13) “All your sons are students of the Eternal, and ample peace is for your sons.”