Талмуд к Ийова 37:23

Rebbi Yoḥanan¹⁵The Rome ms. has “R. Ḥanina” and that must be the correct reading since R. Yoḥanan belongs to the generation after R. Jonathan but R. Ḥanina (the Amora) was an older colleague of R. Jonathan and should be mentioned first. and Rebbi Jonathan went to make peace in the Southern settlements. They came to a place where they found the reader saying¹⁶In the first benediction of the ‘Amidah. The parallel in the Babli (33b) is in the name of R. Ḥanina only who notes there that the three attributes we mention are only permitted because Moses used them in the Torah and the Men of the Great Assembly adopted them for prayer.
In the Babli, R. Ḥanina let the reader finish and only afterwards asked him: Did you finish all that can be said about your Creator? This argument also is accepted by the Yerushalmi since the explanations of the verses that follow are based on the principle that God’s infinity cannot be expressed in finite words. In the Yerushalmi tradition, anyone who deviates from the pattern instituted by the Sages has to be stopped in the middle of his prayer.: “The great God, the strong and awe-inspiring, the noble and overpowering;” they stopped him and told him: you are not permitted to add to the formula the Sages coined for benedictions. Rav Huna in the name of Rav: (Job 37:23) “The All-powerful, we did not find for Him the fullness of His might,” we did not find out the might and strength of the Holy One, praise to Him¹⁷It is too much for finite man.! Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Yoḥanan: (Job 37:20) “Can it be told to Him if I should speak, if a man tells, he certainly will be swallowed up.” If a man comes to tell the strengths of the Holy One, praise to Him, he sets himself up to be swallowed away from the world. Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman said (Ps. 106:2) “Who can tell the strengths of the Eternal?” For example, I and my colleagues¹⁸Not Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman but King David, meaning that Psalms cannot be composed without inspiration. This side remark is only brought as preliminary to Rebbi Abun’s interpretation.. Rebbi Abun said: “Who can ever tell the strengths of the Eternal?” Jacob¹⁹In the parallel in the Babli (Megillah 18a) he is called Rebbi Yehudah from Kefar Giboraia. His birthplace is a village North of Safed. He is mentioned as being in Tyre, where Rebbi Ḥaggai had him whipped because he proposed the principle of patrilineal descent for Jews [Midrash Qohelet rabba 7(44), Bereshit rabba 7(3), Bemidbar rabba 19]. of Kefar Naburaia explained in Tyre: (Ps. 65:2) “Silence is praise for You, God in Zion!” The medicine for everything is silence; like a priceless²⁰Greek τιμή “value, price”. jewel: everyone who adorns himself with it, diminishes it.

[They asked Rebbi Eliezer,] how far does honoring father and mother go? He said to them, you are asking me? Go and ask Dama ben Netinah. Dama ben Netinah was the head of the city council. Once his mother was slapping him in front of the entire council and a slipper fell from her hand, and he handed it back to her so that she should feel no inconvenience. Rebbi Ḥizqiah said: He was a Gentile from Ascalon and the head of the city council. He never sat on the stone on which his father used to sit and when his father died, he worshipped the stone. Once the jaspis of Benjamin was lost. They inquired, who would have one of similar quality? They were informed that Dama ben Netinah did. They went to him and agreed on 100 denars. He went to the upper floor to bring it and found his father sleeping. Some say that the key to the chest was in his father’s fingers; some say his father’s foot was resting on the chest. He descended to them and told them: I could not bring it to you. They thought, maybe he wants more money, and raised the price to two hundred, then to a thousand. When his father woke up from his sleep, he went up and brought it to them. They wanted to give him according to the amount last mentioned, but he refused. He said: Do I sell my father’s honor for money? I will not have any advantage from honoring my father. What reward did the Holy One, praise to Him, give him? Rebbi Yose bar Abun said: The following night, his cow gave birth to a red heifer and Israel gave him its weight in gold and took it. Rebbi Sabbatai said (Job 37:23), it is written: “Justice and much charity He will not suppress.” The Holy One, praise to Him, will not wait to give the reward for good deeds to the Gentiles.