Talmud zu Jeschijahu 41:73

What is the seal of the Holy One, praise to Him? Rebbi Bevai in the name of Rebbi Reuben, “true.⁵¹Babli Šabbat 55a, in the name of R. Hanina, a midrash on 1K. 22:23.” What means “true”? Rebbi Abun said, that He is a Living Power and the King of this World. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, א is the start of the alphabet, מ the middle,⁵²Since the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, the middle is between the 11th (k) and the twelfth (l) letter. and ת the end. To say, I, the Eternal, am First,⁵³Is. 41:4. I did not receive anything from another. Besides Me there is no supreme power,⁵⁴Is. 44:6. The verse probably should have been quoted three times. for I have no co-owner. And with the last, I shall be,⁵³Is. 41:4. I shall not in the future turn it over to anybody else.

Beloved are proselytes [by God], for [Scripture] everywhere uses the same epithets of them as of Israel; [61b] as it is stated, But thou, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen.⁷Isa. 41, 8. Jacob is here interpreted as ibid. XLIV, 5, And another shall call himself by the name of Jacob—these are the proselytes of righteousness (cf. towards the end of this tractate). The order of the quotations in V is confused. The term ‘love’ is applied to Israel, as it is stated, I have loved you, saith the Lord,⁸Mal. 1, 2. and the term ‘love’ is applied to proselytes, as it is stated, And He loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.⁹Deut. 10, 18. Israel are called ‘servants’, as it is stated, For unto Me the children of Israel are servants,¹⁰Lev. 25, 55. V omits the quotation. and proselytes are called ‘servants’, as it is stated, To be His servants.¹¹Isa. 56, 6. The term ‘acceptable’ is used of Israel, as it is stated, And it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord,¹²Ex. 28, 38. and the term ‘acceptable’ is used of proselytes, as it is stated, Their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon Mine altar.¹³Isa. 56, 7. The term ‘keeping’ is applied to Israel, as it is stated, The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand,¹⁴Ps. 121, 5. and the term ‘keeping’ is applied to proselytes, as it is stated, The Lord preserveth the strangers.¹⁵ibid. CXLVI, 9. The term ‘ministering’ is applied to Israel, as it is stated, But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord, men shall call you the ministers of our God,¹⁶Isa. 61, 6. and the term ‘ministering’ is applied to proselytes, as it is stated, Also the aliens, that join themselves to the Lord, to minister unto Him.¹⁷ibid. LVI, 6.
Beloved are proselytes seeing that our father Abraham did not circumcise himself when he was twenty or thirty years of age, but when he was ninety-nine years old;¹⁸Cf. Gen. 17, 24. since if he had circumcised himself when he was twenty or thirty years old, no Gentile would have become a proselyte when he had passed the age of twenty or thirty. The Holy One, blessed be He, kept putting it off¹⁹The verb has fallen out of V. until he had reached ninety-nine years, so as not to close the door in the face of proselytes, [and to allow more days and years so as to increase the reward of those who do His will, as it is stated, The Lord was pleased, for His righteousness’ sake, to make the teaching great and glorious].²⁰Isa. 42, 21. The passage within brackets is added by MS.K. and H.
Our father Abraham called himself a ger, as it is stated, I am a stranger [ger] and a sojourner with you.²¹Gen. 22, 4. Similarly David, king of Israel, called himself a ger, as it is stated, For I am a stranger [ger] with Thee,²²Ps. 39, 13. and likewise it states, For we are strangers before Thee.²³1 Chron. 29, 15.
Beloved is the Land of Israel because it makes proselytes fit [to be received]. If a man says in the Land of Israel, ‘I am a proselyte’, he is accepted at once, but outside the Land of Israel he is not accepted unless his witnesses are with him. Beloved is the Land of Israel because it atones for iniquities and transgressions, as it is stated, And the inhabitant shall not say: ‘I am sick’, the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.²⁴Isa. 33, 24.
And so you find in the four classes that stand before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is stated, One shall say: ‘I am the Lord’s’; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.²⁵ibid. XLIV, 5. One shall say: ‘I am the Lord’s’—this alludes to one who belongs wholly to the Omnipresent and has no admixture of sin. Another shall call himself by the name of Jacob—this alludes to the proselytes of righteousness.²⁶A term to denote the genuine and complete convert. Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord—this alludes to those who repent. And surname himself by the name of Israel—this alludes to those who fear Heaven.

The following are written with a he which is not pronounced: when I saw;²⁵Josh. 7, 21, written wa’er’eh and read wa’erë’. and I brought;²⁶ibid. XXIV, 8, written wa’abih and read wa’abi. the lion²⁷2 Sam. 23, 20, written ha’aryeh and read ha’ari. in the Book of Samuel;²⁸This excludes the parallel passage in 1 Chron. 11, 22 where ha’ari is both written and read. was he found;²⁹Jer. 48, 27, written nimẓa’ah but the reading is nimẓa’. and … saw;³⁰ibid. III, 7, written wattir’eh and read watter’ë’. this [city];³¹ibid. XXVI, 6, written hazzothah and read hazzoth. evil;³²Micah 3, 2, written ra‘ah and read ra‘. [the] evil;³³Jer. 18, 10, written hara‘ah and read hara‘. gone down;³⁴ibid. XV, 9, written ba’ah and read ba’. and he shall come;³⁵ibid. XLIII, 11, written uba’ah and read uba’. and a line;³⁶1 Kings 7, 23, written weḳaweh and read weḳaw. and a line;³⁷Zech. 1, 16, as in the preceding note. thoroughly;³⁸V incorrectly gives the keyword as wera‘. Ps. 51, 4, written harbeh and read hereb. them that love me;³⁹Prov. 8, 17, written ’ohabehah and read ’ohabai. and … friend;⁴⁰ibid. XXVII, 10, written were‘eh and read were‘a. deal;⁴¹Ruth 1, 8, written ya‘aseh and read ya‘as. open;⁴²Dan. 9, 18, written piḳḥah and read peḳaḥ. a lion;⁴³Lam. 3, 10, written ’aryeh and read ’ari. V incorrectly connects this with the next word joining them together as one. these;⁴⁴Ezra 5, 15, written ’elleh and read ’el. venison.⁴⁵V incorrectly reads ẓur. Gen. 27, 3, written ẓedah and read ẓayid.
The reverse is the case with the following:⁴⁶In the preceding a written he is not pronounced, but the following are spelt without a he which is to be pronounced. and multiplied;⁴⁷Josh. 24, 3, written wa’ereb and read wa’arbeh. on the housetop;⁴⁸1 Sam. 9, 26, written haggag and read haggagah. and they;⁴⁹2 Sam. 21, 9, written wehem and read wehemmah. be he;⁵⁰1 Kings 1, 37, written yehi and read yihyeh. and … shal be;⁵¹2 Kings 9, 37, written wehayath and read wehayethah. and behold;⁵²Isa. 41, 23, written wenerë and read wenireh. behold;⁵³ibid. LIV, 16, written hen and read hinneh. planted;⁵⁴In Jer. 17, 8, referring to yireh (shall … see) which is spelt without the final hei. Gedaliah;⁵⁵ibid. XL, 16, referring to ta‘aseh (do) which is without the final hei. and … she doted;⁵⁶Ezek. 23, 16, written watta‘gob and read watta‘gebah. the measure;⁵⁷ibid. XLV, 3, where ḥamesh (five) is written and ḥamishshah read. and I shall be glorified;⁵⁸Hag. 1, 8, written we’ekkabed and read we’ekkabedah. three;⁵⁹In Prov. 30, 18, we’arba‘ (yea, four) is written and we’arba‘ah read. she considereth;⁶⁰ibid. XXXI, 16, naṭa‘ (planteth) is written and naṭ‘ah read. she perceiveth;⁶¹ibid. 18, ballayil (by night) is written and ballayelah read. arise;⁶²In Lam. 2, 19, the same variant occurs as in the preceding. remember;⁶³ibid. V, 1, habbeṭ (behold) is written and habbiṭah read. turn Thou us;⁶⁴ibid. 21, wenashub (and we shall be turned) is written and wenashubah read. thou hast declared;⁶⁵1 Sam XXIV, 19, we’at is written and we’attah read. thou … hast cursed;⁶⁶Eccles. 7, 22, where the same variant occurs as in the preceding. Thou hast set;⁶⁷Ps. 90, 8, written shatta and read shattah. Thou hast made;⁶⁸Neh. 9, 6, written ’at and read ’attah. is sore affrighted;⁶⁹In Ps. 6, 4 the same variant occurs as in the preceding. the carved work thereof;⁷⁰ibid. LXXIV, 6, written we‘at and read we‘attah. with her harlotries;⁷¹In Ezek. 23, 43, written ‘at and read ‘attah. turn back;⁷²In Ruth 1, 12, lekna (go your way) omits the final hei. disclose;⁷³ibid. IV, 4, where we’eda‘ (that I may know) is written and read we’ede‘ah. Thou [hast] made an hedge;⁷⁴In Job 1, 10, ’at (Thou) is written and ’attah read. and [he] saw.⁷⁵ibid. XLII, 16, written wayyar and read wayyireh.

¹This chapter, known as Pereḳ Ḳinyan Torah, ‘The Chapter on the Acquisition of the Torah’, or as Pereḳ R. Meir, ‘The Chapter of R. Meir’, is an appendix to the tractate Aboth. Cf. Aboth, Sonc. ed., p. 78, n. 2. It is printed in P.B., pp. 208ff.BARAITHA. R. Meir said: Whoever occupies himself with the Torah for its own sake merits many things; nay more, the whole world is beholden to him. He is called friend,²Cf. Isa. 41, 8, where it is used of Abraham. beloved,³Cf. Prov. 8, 17, I love them that love me. a lover of the All-present and a lover of his fellow-creatures, one who gladdens⁴Cf. Judg. 9, 13, [wine] which cheereth God and man. The Torah is compared by the Rabbis to wine. the All-present and his fellow-creatures. It clothes him⁵Cf. Isa. 61, 10, He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. with meekness and reverence [of God]; it fits him to be righteous, pious, upright and faithful; it keeps him far from sin and brings him near to merit. From him men enjoy counsel, sound knowledge, understanding and strength; as it is stated, Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine.⁶Prov. 8, 14. It gives him sovereignty,⁷A regal appearance. dominion,⁸An impressive personality. greatness and [the ability to be] searching in judgment, and to him are revealed the secret [meanings] of the Torah.⁹Cf. Ps. 25, 14; Amos 3, 7. He becomes like a well that never fails and like a stream which gathers strength as it flows on. He is modest, patient and forgiving of insults directed at him It makes him great and exalts him above all things.

It was stated¹⁶⁸Tosephta 7:11 [Gen. rabba 41(2)] in this version only the person afflicted with ritan is required to divorce his wife for medical reasons. Another version in the Babli, 77b [Lev. rabba16(1)], requires all sufferers from boils to refrain from sexual activity.: “Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel said, I met an old man, smitten with boils, from Sepphoris. He told me, there are 24 kinds of boils; the worst one, and the one for which a woman is bad, is flowing boils¹⁶⁹Usually derived somehow from Greek ῥέω “to flow”.. Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan: With the latter kind, the evil Pharao was smitten¹⁷⁰This is anonymous in Gen. rabba41(2).; that is what is written¹⁷¹Gen. 12:17.: “The Eternal smote Pharao and his house with great plagues,” etc. ¹⁷²This is slightly distorted in Gen. rabba 41(2), correct in 52(14). It was read by H. Graetz as mixed Aramaic/Greek/Latin sentence: dĕ-ἐτόλμησεν lĕmagga‘ ba-σῶμα dĕ-matrona; where ἐτόλμησεν is aorist of τολμάω “to dare, to presume”. Rebbi Berekhia said: Because he dared to touch the matron’s body. There are 24 kinds of cedar¹⁷³This is added here because of the number 24. In the Babli (Roš Haššanah 23a, Sukkah 37a, Ta‘anit 25b, Baba batra 80b) there are only 10 kinds mentioned, the 10 explained here, with sometimes different and multiple identifications. The original text seems to be in Gen. rabba 15(2): “R. Samuel ben Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan: There are 24 kinds of cedar but only 7 are of the best kind.”, and from all of them the verse mentioned only seven. That is what is written¹⁷⁴Is. 41:19.: “I shall give in the desert cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil wood¹⁷⁵In the Babli identified as the balsamum shrub.; I put in the prairie beroš, tidhar, and teaššur together. Beroš is cypress; tidhar is idra¹⁷⁶This Aramaic word for a tree has not been identified. In the Babli identified as ساج “teak”.;teasššur is the box-tree¹⁷⁷Greek πύξινον “box-tree”.. They added to them¹⁷⁸This expression is out of place here; it belongs to the tannaïtic tradition reported in the Babli that there are 10 kinds of cedar, with three added to the seven mentioned by Isaiah. ’allonim, ‘armonim, and ’almogim. ’Allonim are oaks, ‘armonim plane trees, ’almuggim aloës.