which the sages readily paid him such a sum as compensated him fully for the loss he sustained in honoring his parent."

Rabbi Yoshua, the son of Korcha, relates: "An aged inhabitant of Jerusalem once told me that in this valley two hundred and eleven thousand myriads were massacred by Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, and in Jerusalem itself he slaughtered upon one stone ninety-four myriads, so that the blood flowed till it touched the blood of Zachariah, that it might be fulfilled which is said (Hos. ii. 4), ‘And blood toucheth blood.' When he saw the blood of Zachariah, and noticed that it was boiling and agitated, he asked, 'What is this?' and he was told that it was the spilled blood of the sacrifices. Then he ordered blood from the sacrifices to be brought and compared it with the blood of the murdered prophet, when, finding the one unlike the other, he said, ‘If ye tell me the truth, well and good; if not, I will comb your flesh with iron currycombs!' Upon this they confessed, 'He was a prophet, and because he rebuked us on matters of religion, we arose and killed him, and it is now some years since his blood has been in the restless condition in which thou seest it.' 'Well,' said he, 'I will pacify him.' He then brought the greater and lesser Sanhedrin."

THE HEART OF THE TALMUD

MAN

Who is wise?-He who learns from everybody. Who is strong?-He who conquers himself. Who is rich?-He who is satisfied with what he has. Who is honorable?—He whom his neighbors honor. There are three conditions which will show what a man is: The flowing cup, the well-filled purse, and his anger.

The Brute is not afraid of sin.

The Ignoramus cannot be truly pious.

The Timid cannot learn.

The Bully cannot teach.

And he who trades always will never be wise.

Much meat-many words;

Many possessions-much worry;

Many women-much superstition;

Many maid servants-much immorality;

Many servants-much thievery;

More science-more life;

More studies-more wisdom;

More advance-more understanding;

More justice-more peace!

LIFE AND THE WORLD

The world stands upon three things: science, religion

and charity.

One hour of science and good works in this world is better than all the promised joys of the next! For a long time there was a dispute between two schools of thought upon the value of Life. One school declared: "To live is better than not to live at all!" And the other claimed that it was better not to live at all than to live! Finally they came to an agreement, and it was this: "It is better for men not to be compelled to live at all; but now that they are on earth, they should try to make the best of it, and do a great many good deeds during their lives."

There are three persons whose life is no life at all: the soft-hearted, the hard-hearted and the heavyhearted.

No man completes his life without having more than half of his wishes unfulfilled.

Better let men kill you than that you should kill them. For your blood is not any redder than that of your neighbor.

GOOD AND BAD LUCK

Misfortune is bad enough when it gets here—why suffer in advance by worrying over it?

Let not worry enter your heart, for worry has killed many men.

WISDOM AND FOLLY

There are seven qualities which identify the wise man: he does not speak his opinion first, when a greater person than he is present; he never interrupts a speaker; he does not answer prematurely nor without deliberation; he asks questions and answers to the point; he discusses things in

their proper order and one at a time; if he should be ignorant of a subject, he admits it; and he admits a mistake which he has made. The fool and simpleton never admit a mistake.

If a man holds virtue higher than wisdom, his own wisdom shall endure; but if he should think wisdom greater than virtue, his wisdom will vanish.

PIETY AND VIRTUE

There are three who deserve a heavenly reward: a bachelor who lives in the city and leads a chaste life; a poor man who finds a well-filled purse and returns it to the owner; and a rich man who secretly gives of his profits to the needy.

When a man dies he cannot take with him his silver, nor his gold, nor pearls and jewels; the only things that go with him are his piety and his good deeds. Piety leads you while you walk the road of life; piety guards you when you lie down to die, and piety intercedes for you when you awaken in the eternal life.-There was a man who had three friends. He thought but little of the first, more of the second and most of the third. One day the king called for this man, to answer charges that had been placed against him. He was greatly afraid and went to the first friend and begged him to intercede for him. This friend refused to go with him to the palace. The second friend said: "I will go with you to the door of the palace, but I will not enter with you nor speak to the king for you." And the poor frightened man went to the third friend, and the third friend not only came with him but entered the palace hall and pleaded for him before the court of the king. These three friends are: riches, relatives and piety.

SIN AND VICES

It is better to sin with good intentions than do a kind deed with evil intentions.

Body and soul might quarrel about their guilt and sinfulness. The body could say: I am sure I did not commit any sins, because since you (to the soul) have left me, I have been lying peacefully and calm. And the soul could answer: Not I committed the sin, but you! For since I left you, I have been in the realms of light free from all sinful desires. The Great Judge, however, will do as did the gardener whose fruit was stolen. He saw a cripple and a blind man nearby and accused them, but each called attention to his own crippled condition, claiming he could not have committed the theft. But the gardener picked up the cripple, placed him on the shoulders of the blind man, and exclaimed: "That's how you did it!" Thus body and soul sin together, although neither could sin alone.

There are two men who hate God: he who speaks the opposite from what he thinks, and he who could bear witness to save an innocent man from punishment and yet does not do it.

PASSIONS

Unclean thoughts are at first only guests in our minds. But if they become too friendly, they soon will be masters of our minds.

A sinful desire is at first thin as a spider's thread; soon it increases in strength, and at last it will be strong as a ship's hawser.