Part 3 (2/2)

(13) ”The fear of Heaven” does not mean dread of punishment, but rather awe at the greatness and might of G.o.d, and is identical with love and service (see Deuteronomy, VI, 13 and X, 12). It is produced by following out the practices ordained in the _Torah_ (Maimonides, _Guide for the Perplexed_, ed. Friedlander, p. 392). Consult Friedlander, _Jewish Religion_, pp. 273-274, the _Jewish Encyclopedia_, art. _Fear of G.o.d_, and Schechter, _Aspects_, p. 72.

4. Jose, the son of Joezer, of Zeredah, and Jose, the son of Jochanan (14), of Jerusalem received (the tradition) from them (15). Jose, the son of Joezer, of Zeredah said, ”Let thy house be a meeting-place for the wise; cover thyself with the dust of their feet (16), and drink in their words with thirst.”

(14) In _Chagigah_, II, 2, we are told that when two leading teachers are named in the _Mishnah_ as having received the _Torah_, they const.i.tute a ”pair” ([zug]), the first being the president([nasi]), and the second the vice-president ([av beit din]) of the _Sanhedrin_. There were five pairs of such teachers, flouris.h.i.+ng between 170 and 30 B.C.E., the first being Jose b. Joezer and Jose b. Jochanan, and the last being Hillel and Shammai. See Frankel, _Monatschrift_, 1852, pp.

405-421, Mielziner, _Introduction_, pp. 22-23, and Strack, _Spruche_, p. 13.

(15) Some texts read ”from him” ([mimenu]). ”From them” must refer to disciples of Antigonus whose sayings have been lost.

(16) It was the custom of pupils to sit at the feet of their teachers.

5. Jose, the son of Jochanan, of Jerusalem said, ”Let thy house be open wide; let the poor be members of thy household, and engage not in much gossip with woman.” This applies to one's own wife; how much more (17), then, to the wife of one's neighbor? Hence the sages say, ”Whoso engages in much gossip with woman brings evil upon himself, neglects the study of the _Torah_, and will in the end inherit _gehinnom_” (18).

(17) On the _kalwa-chomer_, ”a conclusion _a minori ad majus_,” see Meilziner, _Introduction to the Talmud_, p. 130 _et seq._, and Strack, _Einleitung in den Talmud_, p. 120.

Cf. Chapter VI, 3. The equivalent biblical expression is [af ki].

(18) [gey-hinim (gimil-yud hey-nun-yud-mem(sofit))], [gei ben-hinim], a glen south of Jerusalem where Moloch was wors.h.i.+pped, whence a place where the wicked were punished in the hereafter; ”h.e.l.l, being the opposite of 'the Garden of Eden,'” ”paradise.” Cf. chapter V, 22 and 23. See Friedlander, _Jewish Religion_, p. 223.

6. Joshua, the son of Perachyah, and Nittai, the Arbelite, received (the tradition) from them. Joshua, the son of Perachyah, said, ”Provide thyself with a teacher, and possess thyself of a companion (19); and judge every man in the scale of merit.”

(19) A fellow-student.

7. Nittai, the Arbelite, said, ”Keep aloof from a bad neighbor (20); a.s.sociate not with the wicked, and abandon not the belief in retribution” (21).

(20) Cf. chapter II, 14.

(21) This may mean either that one must not imagine that punishment for evil deeds will not befall him, or when punishment has been meted out, one must not despair of the good.

8. Judah, the son of Tabbi, and Simeon, the son of Shatach (22), received (the tradition) from them. Judah, the son of Tabbi, said, ”(In the judge's office) act not the counsel's part (23); while the litigants are standing before thee, let them be regarded by thee as guilty, but when they are departed from thy presence, regard them as innocent, the verdict having been acquiesced in by them.”

(22) Lived about 104-69 B.C.E. He was a leader of the Pharisees at the time of Alexander Jannaeus.

(23) A judge should be strictly impartial.

9. Simeon, the son of Shatach, said, ”Be very searching in the examination of witnesses (24), and be guarded in thy words, lest through them they learn to lie.”

(24) It is related that the son of Simeon b. Shatach was innocently condemned to death, because the witnesses were not carefully cross-questioned.

10. Shemaiah and Abtalion (25) received (the tradition) from them.

Shemaiah said, ”Love work; hate lords.h.i.+p (26); and seek no intimacy with the ruling power” (27).

(25) Lived about the middle of the first century B.C.E.

(26) ”Woe to leaders.h.i.+p, for it buries those who possess it.”

(_Pesachim_, 87b).

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