User:Dave314159/Text Sandbox

 

The Legends of the Jews

 

The Legends of the Jews

BY
Louis Ginzberg

Translated from the German Manuscript by
Henrietta Szold

I

Bible Times and Characters
from the Creation to Jacob

Philadelphia
The Jewish Publication Society of America
1909

 

Copyright, 1909,
by
The Jewish Publication Society of America

 

 

To
My Brother Asher

 

Preface

Was sich nie und nirgends hat
begeben, das allein veraltet nie.

The term Rabbinic was applied to the Jewish Literature of post-Biblical times by those who conceived the Judaism of the later epoch to be something different from the Judaism of the Bible, something actually opposed to it. Such observers held that the Jewish nation ceased to exist with the moment when its political independence was destroyed. For them the Judaism of the later epoch has been a Judaism of the Synagogue, the spokesmen of which have been the scholars, the Rabbis. And what this phase of Judaism brought forth has been considered by them to be the product of the schools rather than the product of practical, pulsating life. Poetic phantasmagoria, frequently the vaporings of morbid visionaries, is the material out of which these scholars construct the theologic system of the Rabbis, and fairy tales, the spontaneous creations of the people, which take the form of sacred legend in Jewish literature, are denominated the Scriptural exegesis of the Rabbis, and condemned incontinently as nugæ rabbinorum.

As the name of a man clings to him, so men cling to names. For the primitive savage the name is part of the essence of a person or thing, and even in the more advanced stages of culture, judgments are not always formed in agreement with facts as they are, but rather according to the names by which they are called. The current estimate of Rabbinic Literature is a case in point. With the label Rabbinic later ages inherited from former ages a certain distorted view of the literature so designated. To this day, and even among scholars that approach its investigation with unprejudiced minds, the opinion prevails that it is purely a learned product. And yet the truth is that the most prominent feature of Rabbinic Literature is its popular character.

The school and the home are not mutually opposed to each other in the conception of the Jews. They study in their homes, and they live in their schools. Likewise there is no distinct class of scholars among them, a class that withdraws itself from participation in the affairs of practical life. Even in the domain of the Halakah, the Rabbis were not so much occupied with theoretic principles of law as with the concrete phenomena of daily existence. These they sought to grasp and shape. And what is true of the Halakah is true with greater emphasis of the Haggadah, which is popular in the double sense of appealing to the people and being produced in the main by the people. To speak of the Haggadah of the Tannaim and Amoraim is as far from fact as to speak of the legends of Shakespear and Scott. The ancient authors and their modern brethren of the guild alike elaborate legendary material which they found at hand.

It has been held by some that the Haggadah contains no popular legends, that it is wholly a factitious, academic product. A cursory glance at the pseudepigraphic literature of the Jews, which is older than the Haggadah literature by several centuries, shows how untenable this view is. That the one literature should have drawn from the other is precluded by historical facts. At a very early time the Synagogue disavowed the pseudepigraphic literature, which was the favorite reading matter of the sectaries and the Christians. Nevertheless the inner relation between them is of the closest kind. The only essential difference is that the Midrashic form prevails in the Haggadah, and the parenetic or apocalyptic form in the pseudepigrapha. The common element must therefore depart from the Midrash on the one hand and from parenesis on the other.

Folklore, fairy tales, legends, and all forms of story telling akin to these are comprehended, in the terminology of the post-Biblical literature of the Jews, under the inclusive description Haggadah, a name that can be explained by a circumlocution, but cannot be translated. Whatever it is applied to is thereby characterized first as being derived from the Holy Scriptures, and then as being of the nature of a story. And, in point of fact, this dualism sums up the distinguishing features of Jewish Legend. More than eighteen centuries ago the Jewish historian Josephus observed that "though we be deprived of our wealth, of our cities, or of the other advantages we have, our law continues immortal." The word he meant to use was not law, but Torah, only he could not find an equivalent for it in Greek. A singer of the Synagogue a thousand years after Josephus, who expressed his sentiments in Hebrew, uttered the same thought: "The Holy City and all her daughter cities are violated, they lie in ruins, despoiled of their ornaments, their splendor darkened from sight. Naught is left to us save one eternal treasure alone—the Holy Torah." The sadder the life of the Jewish people, the more it felt the need of taking refuge in its past. The Scripture, or, to use the Jewish term, the Torah, was the only remnant of its former national independence, and the Torah was the magic means of making a sordid actuality recede before a glorious memory. To the Scripture was assigned the task of supplying nourishment to the mind as well as the soul, to the intellect as well as the imagination, and the result is the Halakah and the Haggadah.

The fancy of the people did not die out in the post-Biblical time, but the bent of its activity was determined by the past. Men craved entertainment in later times as well as in the earlier, only instead of resorting for its subject-matter to what happened under their eyes, they drew from the fountain-head of the past. The events in the ancient history of Israel, which was not only studied, but lived over again daily, stimulated the desire to criticise it. The religious reflections upon nature laid down in the myths of the people, the fairy tales, which have the sole object of pleasing, and the legends, which are the people's verdict upon history—all these were welded into one product. The fancy of the Jewish people was engaged by the past reflected in the Bible, and all its creations wear a Biblical hue for this reason. This explains the peculiar form of the Haggadah.

But what is spontaneously brought forth by the people is often preserved only in the form impressed upon it by the feeling and the thought of the poet, or by the speculations of the learned. Also Jewish legends have rarely been transmitted in their original shape. They have been perpetuated in the form of Midrash, that is, Scriptural exegesis. The teachers of the Haggadah, called Rabbanan d'Aggadta in the Talmud, were no folklorists, from whom a faithful reproduction of legendary material may be expected. Primarily they were homilists, who used legends for didactic purposes, and their main object was to establish a close connection between the Scripture and the creations of the popular fancy, to give the latter a firm basis and secure a long term of life for them.

One of the most important tasks of the modern investigation of the Haggadah is to make a clean separation between the original elements and the later learned additions. Hardly a beginning has been made in this direction. But as long as the task of distinguishing them has not been accomplished, it is impossible to write out the Biblical legends of the Jews without including the supplemental work of scholars in the products of the popular fancy.

In the present work, "The Legends of the Jews," I have made the first attempt to gather from the original sources all Jewish legends, in so far as they refer to Biblical personages and events, and reproduce them with the greatest attainable completeness and accuracy. I use the expression Jewish, rather than Rabbinic, because the sources from which I have levied contributions are not limited to the Rabbinic literature. As I expect to take occasion elsewhere to enter into a description of the sources in detail, the following data must suffice for the present.

The works of the Talmudic-Midrashic literature are of the first importance. Covering the period from the second to the fourteenth century, they contain the major part of the Jewish legendary material. Akin to this in content if not always in form is that derived from the Targumim, of which the oldest versions were produced not earlier than the fourth century, and the most recent not later than the tenth. The Midrashic literature has been preserved only in fragmentary form. Many Haggadot not found in our existing collections are quoted by the authors of the Middle Ages. Accordingly, a not inconsiderable number of the legends here printed are taken from mediaeval Bible commentators and homilists. I was fortunate in being able to avail myself also of fragments of Midrashim of which only manuscript copies are extant. The works of the older Kabbalah are likewise treasuries of quotations from lost Midrashim, and it was among the Kabbalists, and later among the Hasidim, that new legends arose. The literatures produced in these two circles are therefore of great importance for the present purpose.

Furthermore, Jewish legends can be culled not from the writings of the Synagogue alone; they appear also in those of the Church. Certain Jewish works repudiated by the Synagogue were accepted and mothered by the Church. This is the literature usually denominated apocryphal-pseudepigraphic. From the point of view of legends, the apocryphal books are of subordinate importance, while the pseudepigrapha are of fundamental value. Even quantitatively the latter are an imposing mass. Besides the Greek writings of the Hellenist Jews, they contain Latin, Syrian, Ethiopic, Aramean, Arabic, Persian, and Old Slavic products translated directly or indirectly from Jewish works of Palestinian or Hellenistic origin. The use of these pseudepigrapha requires great caution. Nearly all of them are embellished with Christian interpolations, and in some cases the inserted portions have choked the original form so completely that it is impossible to determine at first sight whether a Jewish or a Christian legend is under examination. I believe, however, that the pseudepigraphic material made use of by me is Jewish beyond the cavil of a doubt, and therefore it could not have been left out of account in a work like the present.

However, in the appreciation of Jewish Legends, it is the Rabbinic writers that should form the point of departure, and not the pseudepigrapha. The former represent the main stream of Jewish thought and feeling, the latter only an undercurrent. If the Synagogue cast out the pseudepigrapha, and the Church adopted them with a great show of favor, these respective attitudes were not determined arbitrarily or by chance. The pseudepigrapha originated in circles that harbored the germs from which Christianity developed later on. The Church could thus appropriate them as her own with just reason.

In the use of some of the apocryphal and pseudepigraphic writings, I found it expedient to quote the English translations of them made by others, in so far as they could be brought into accord with the general style of the book, for which purpose I permitted myself the liberty of slight verbal changes. In particulars, I was guided, naturally, by my own conception of the subject, which the Notes justify in detail.

Besides the pseudepigrapha there are other Jewish sources in Christian garb. In the rich literature of the Church Fathers many a Jewish legend lies embalmed which one would seek in vain in Jewish books. It was therefore my special concern to use the writings of the Fathers to the utmost.

The luxuriant abundance of the material to be presented made it impossible to give a verbal rendition of each legend. This would have required more than three times the space at my disposal. I can therefore claim completeness for my work only as to content. In form it had to suffer curtailment. When several conflicting versions of the same legend existed, I gave only one in the text, reserving the other one, or the several others, for the Notes, or, when practicable, they were fused into one typical legend, the component parts of which are analyzed in the Notes. In other instances I resorted to the expedient of citing one version in one place and the others in other appropriate places, in furtherance of my aim, to give a smooth presentation of the matter, with as few interruptions to the course of the narrative as possible. For this reason I avoided such transitional phrases as "Some say," "It has been maintained," etc. That my method sometimes separates things that belong together cannot be considered a grave disadvantage, as the Index at the end of the work will present a logical rearrangement of the material for the benefit of the interested student. I also did not hesitate to treat of the same personage in different chapters, as, for instance, many of the legends bearing upon Jacob, those connected with the latter years of the Patriarch, do not appear in the chapter bearing his name, but will be found in the sections devoted to Joseph, for the reason that once the son steps upon the scene, he becomes the central figure, to which the life and deeds of the father are subordinated.

Again, in consideration of lack of space the Biblical narratives underlying the legends had to be omitted—surely not a serious omission in a subject with which widespread acquaintance may be presupposed as a matter of course.

As a third consequence of the amplitude of the material, it was thought advisable to divide it into several volumes. The references, the explanations of the sources used, and the interpretations given, and, especially, numerous emendations of the text of the Midrashim and the pseudepigrapha, which determined my conception of the passages so emended, will be found in the last volume, the fourth, which will contain also an Introduction to the History of Jewish Legends, a number of Excursuses, and the Index.

As the first three volumes are in the hands of the printer almost in their entirety, I venture to express the hope that the whole work will appear within measurable time, the parts following each other at short intervals.

Louis Ginzberg.

New York, March 24, 1909

Contents

		page
	Preface	VII
I.	The Creation of the World	1
	The First Things Created—The Alphabet—The First Day—The Second Day—The Third Day—The Fourth Day—The Fifth Day—The Sixth Day—All Things Praise the Lord.
II.	Adam	47
	Man and the World—The Angels and the Creation of Man—The Creation of Adam—The Soul of Man—The Ideal Man—The Fall of Satan—Woman—Adam and Eve in Paradise—The Fall of Man—The Punishment—Sabbath in Heaven—Adam's Repentance—The Book of Raziel—The Sickness of Adam—Eve's Story of the Fall—The Death of Adam—The Death of Eve.
III.	The Ten Generations	103
	The Birth of Cain—Fratricide—The Punishment of Cain—The Inhabitants of the Seven Earths—The Descendants of Cain—The Descendants of Adam and Lilith—Seth and His Descendants—Enosh—The Fall of the Angels—Enoch, Ruler and Teacher—The Ascension of Enoch—The Translation of Enoch—Methuselah.
IV.	Noah	143
	The Birth of Noah—The Punishment of the Fallen Angels—The Generation of the Deluge—The Holy Book—The Inmates of the Ark—The Flood—Noah Leaves the Ark—The Curse of Drunkenness—Noah's Descendants Spread Abroad—The Depravity of Mankind—Nimrod—The Tower of Babel.
V.	Abraham	183
	The Wicked Generations—The Birth of Abraham—The Babe Proclaims God—Abraham's First Appearance in Public—The Preacher of the True Faith—In the Fiery Furnace—Abraham Emigrates to Haran—The Star in the East—The True Believer—The Iconoclast—Abraham in Canaan—His Sojourn in Egypt—The First Pharaoh—The War of the Kings—The Covenant of the Pieces—The Birth of Ishmael—The Visit of the Angels—The Cities of Sin—Abraham Pleads for the Sinners—The Destruction of the Sinful Cities—Among the Philistines—The Birth of Isaac—Ishmael Cast Off—The Two Wives of Ishmael—The Covenant with Abimelech—Satan Accuses Abraham—The Journey to Moriah—The 'Akedah—The Death and Burial of Sarah—Eliezer's Mission—The Wooing of Rebekah—The Last Years of Abraham—A Herald of Death—Abraham Views Earth and Heaven—The Patron of Hebron.
VI.	Jacob	309
	The Birth of Esau and Jacob—The Favorite of Abraham—The Sale of the Birthright—Isaac with the Philistines—Isaac Blesses Jacob—Esau's True Character Revealed—Jacob Leaves His Father's House—Jacob Pursued by Eliphaz and Esau—The Day of Miracles—Jacob with Laban—The Marriage of Jacob—The Birth of Jacob's Children—Jacob Flees before Laban—The Covenant with Laban—Jacob and Esau Prepare to Meet—Jacob Wrestles with the Angel—The Meeting between Esau and Jacob—The Outrage at Shechem—A War Frustrated—The War with the Ninevites—The War with the Amorites—Isaac Blesses Levi and Judah—Joy and Sorrow in the House of Jacob—Esau's Campaign against Jacob—The Descendants of Esau.

I

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

		page
	The First Things Created .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .	3
	The Alphabet .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .	5
	The First Day .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .	8
	The Second Day .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .	13
	The Third Day .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .	18
	The Fourth Day .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .	23
	The Fifth Day .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .	26
	The Sixth Day .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .	30
	All Things Praise the Lord .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .	42

== I The Creation of the World ==

The First Things Created

In the beginning, two thousand years before the heaven and the earth, seven things were created: the Torah written with black fire on white fire, and lying in the lap of God; the Divine Throne, erected in the heaven which later was over the heads of the Ḥayyot; Paradise on the right side of God, Hell on the left side; the Celestial Sanctuary directly in front of God, having a jewel on its altar graven with the Name of the Messiah, and a Voice that cries aloud, “Return, ye children of men.”^[1]

When God resolved upon the creation of the world, He took counsel with the Torah.^[2] Her advice was this: “O Lord, a king without an army and without courtiers and attendants hardly deserves the name of king, for none is nigh to express the homage due to him.” The answer pleased God exceedingly. Thus did He teach all earthly kings, by His Divine example, to undertake naught without first consulting advisers.^[3]

The advice of the Torah was given with some reservations. She was skeptical about the value of an earthly world, on account of the sinfulness of men, who would be sure to disregard her precepts. But God dispelled her doubts. He told her, that repentance had been created long before, and sinners would have the opportunity to mend their ways. Besides, the Temple service would be invested with atoning power, and Paradise and hell were intended to do duty as reward and punishment. Finally, the Messiah was appointed to bring salvation, which would put an end to all sinfulness.^[4]

Nor is this world inhabited by man the first of things earthly created by God. He made several before ours, but He destroyed them all, because He was pleased with none until He created ours.^[5] But even this last world would have had no permanence, if God had executed His original plan of ruling it according to the principle of strict justice. It was only when He saw that justice by itself would undermine the world that He associated mercy with justice, and made them to rule jointly.^[6] Thus, from the beginning of all things prevailed Divine goodness, without which nothing could have continued to exist. If not for it, the myriads of evil spirits had soon put an end to the generations of men. But the goodness of God has ordained, that in every Nisan, at the time of the spring equinox, the seraphim shall approach the world of spirits, and intimidate them so that they fear to do harm to men. Again, if God in His goodness had not given protection to the weak, the tame animals would have been extirpated long ago by the wild animals. In Tammuz, at the time of the summer solstice, when the strength of behemot is at its height, he roars so loud that all the animals hear it, and for a whole year they are affrighted and timid, and their acts become less ferocious than their nature is. Again, in Tishri, at the time of the autumnal equinox, the great bird ziz^[7] flaps his wings and utters his cry, so that the birds of prey, the eagles and the vultures, blench, and they fear to swoop down upon the others and annihilate them in their greed. And, again, were it not for the goodness of God, the vast number of big fish had quickly put an end to the little ones. But at the time of the winter solstice, in the month of Țebet, the sea grows restless, for then leviathan spouts up water, and the big fish become uneasy. They restrain their appetite, and the little ones escape their rapacity.

Finally, the goodness of God manifests itself in the preservation of His people Israel. It could not have survived the enmity of the Gentiles, if God had not appointed protectors for it, the archangels Michael and Gabriel.^[8] Whenever Israel disobeys God, and is accused of misdemeanors by the angels of the other nations, he is defended by his designated guardians, with such good result that the other angels conceive fear of them. Once the angels of the other nations are terrified, the nations themselves venture not to carry out their wicked designs against Israel.

That the goodness of God may rule on earth as in heaven, the Angels of Destruction are assigned a place at the far end of the heavens, from which they may never stir, while the Angels of Mercy encircle the Throne of God, at His behest.^[9]

1. Tehillim 90, 391. For further details relating to the pre-existent things, see Excursus I.
2. The Torah is conceived as having emanated from God’s wisdom. Comp. Excursus I.
3. PRE 3. As to God’s taking counsel with the angels and the Torah, comp. also vol. I, pp. 51 and 55. Similarly both Talmudim and the Midrashim frequently speak of God’s court of justice, consisting of the angels as members. Comp. Yerushalmi Berakot 9, 14b; Sanhedrin 1, 18a, and Babli 38b; WR 24.2; BaR 3.4; BR 51.2; ShR 6.1 and 12.4; Shir 1.9; PR 42, 175b; Tan. Wa-Era 16; Tan. B. I, 96, 106; II, 36, 51; Tehillim 119, 497; Yerushalmi Rosh ha-Shanah 2, 58b; ShR 30.18. Tertullian, Adversus Praxean, 16, clearly points to the fact that the legend that the angels were consulted by God with regard to the creation is due to an anti-Christian tendency. Its purpose is to exclude the possibility of assuming that the Trinity is implied wherever the Bible employs the plural in connection with the deity. Comp. notes 10 and 12 on vol. I, pp. 51–53.
4. Raziel 20b and Sode Raza in Yalkut Reubeni on Gen. 1.3, excerpted from an unknown but late midrashic source, since it is a further development of the Haggadot cited in notes 1 and 3 from Tehillim and PRE; comp. Luria on PRE 3, note 25, and vol. I, pp. 51–52.
5. BR 3.7 and 9.2; Koheleth 3.11; Tehillim 34, 245. This is a faint reflection of the view that God formed the world out of eternal chaos, since the legend could not question the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. Comp. Excursus I. The legend about the nine hundred and seventy-four generations which existed prior to the creation of the world (or cautiously expressed, the generations that God had intended to create), originally presupposed a pre-existent chaos; comp. BR. 28.4; Koheleth 1.15 and 4.3; Shir 4.4; Tehillim 90, 392, and 105, 459; Hagigah 13b; ARN 31, 91; Tan. Lek 11 and Yitro 9; ER               2, 9; 6, 33; 13, 68; 16, 130; EZ 10, 189. Subsequently the legend concerning the nine hundred and seventy-four generations was brought into relation with the Haggadah that the Torah was created one thousand years prior to the creation of the world. Comp. Excursus I. See also Shabbat 88b and Targum Job 22, 16, according to the manuscript reading recorded in Levy’s Chaldäisches Wörterbuch I, 186.
6. BR 12.15 and 21.7; Midrash Shir 39b; PR 40, 167a (instead of רע היא מתענג read עכבר היא מתגעג “he would act as a spoiled child”); Yelammedenu quoted by Sikli (comp. Poznanski in Hazofeh, III, 1b–17, and in Maybaum-Festschrift, as well as Ginzberg’s remarks in Hazofeh IV, 31; Ozar Midrashim 64); Yerushalmi Targumim on Gen. 1.2; a quotation from an unknown Midrash by R. Bahya in Kad ha-Kemah, Rosh ha-Shanah 68a, and by R. Aaron in Orehot Hayyim I, 99c. The goodness of God as underlying the principle of creation is very frequently mentioned by Philo; comp. De Mut. Nom., 5; De M. Opif., 5 (further references to Philo are cited by Siegfried, Philo, 205–206). Similarly Wisdom 11.24. The daily morning prayer (Yozer) reads: “And in His goodness He renews the creation every day continually.” God is often described as “the very good” (Yerushalmi Ta’anit 2, 65b; PK 25, 161a), and hence the maxim: “Only God is good” (Matthew 19.17; Alphabetot 83; the latter source was very likely used by R. Bahya, Gen. 1.31), is only a paraphrase of Ps. 149.9, as pointed out in the Alphabetot. Philo is accordingly dependent upon Jewish tradition, but the Jewish sources are independent of him, although it is rather striking that the rendering of אלהים by “God’s goodness” in the Targumim, loc. cit., coincides with that of Philo (Quis Haeres Sit, 6), while the Rabbis (see e.g. Sifre D., 27) maintain that the Tetragrammaton יהוה designates God’s attribute of goodness but His justice is expressed by אלהים. Comp. note 46 on vol. I, p. 164, as well as note 9.
7. As to Behemoth and Ziz, comp. vol. I, pp. 28, 29, 30.
8. Comp. Index, s.v. “Israel, Guardian Angels of”. Originally these two angels belonged to two different traditions: one considered Michael the guardian angel of Israel, while according to the other, contrary to Daniel 10.21, Gabriel occupied this position. The rivalry of these two angels is met with in Jewish legends throughout the centuries (comp. Index, s.v.) and the harmonizing tendency of our legend argues for its comparatively late date. Instead of Michael and Gabriel, in Hekalot 6, 179–180, the Serafim (two of them; comp. Sode Raza in Yalkut Reubeni,Gen. 1.26, 10a, which reads: There are two angels with whom God takes counsel, and these are the same with whom God took counsel at the time of the creation of Adam) are said to burn the books containing the accusations brought by Satan and the guardian angels of the Gentiles against Israel (in accordance with Yoma 77a, read דוביאל instead of דמואל and ברזי instead of בראיה). Comp, also Berakot 17a (בפמליא) and EZ 5, 182, as well as Rimze Haftarot, I Sheb'uot, concerning the accusations of the angels against Israel.
9. Konen 37–38; Midrash Behokmah 63–66; Pesikta Hadta 48–49. The distance of the angels of destruction, as well as all other evils, from God is alluded to in very old sources; comp. Yerushalmi Ta'anit 2, 65b; Tan. B. I, 95, and III, 39–40; Tan. Tazria’ 9; Tehillim 5, 54, and 87, 374; PK 24, 161b; Gittin 88a; Hagigah 12a; BR 3.6 and 51.31; MHG I, 22–25; see also note 54; note 176 on vol. II, p. 70, and note 766 on vol. III, p. 374. In all these and similar passages (Wa-Yekullu 17b–18a and Grünhut, ad loc.) the underlying idea is that God, the original source of good, would not come in close contact with evil. This view is related to, but not identical with, the doctrine of Philo that nothing but good emanates from God. To give a philosophic turn to a popular conception is one of Philo’s chief merits. A different opinion is expressed by Freudenthal, Hellenistische Studien, I, 70. Origen, Contra Celsum, 4, 66, is evidently based upon Philo. The fallen angels are found according to 2 Enoch 18, in the second heaven, i.e., far away from the throne of God. Attention, however, is to be drawn to the fact that in rabbinic sources the angels of destruction are not identified with the fallen angels, as in the Books of Enoch, and elsewhere in pseudepigraphic literature, but are the angels whose task it is to inflict punishment upon the wicked. The statement made in PR 22, 114a, that the angels of destruction, unlike all the others (comp. Friedmann, ad loc.), have “joints”, wishes to convey the idea that they do not stand before God’s throne, and do not fulfil their duties speedily like the other angels, but move about slowly, from one place to another, like human beings who move by means of “joints”.

The Alphabet

When God was about to create the world by His word, the twenty-two letters of the alphabet^[1] descended from the terrible and august crown of God whereon they were engraved with a pen of flaming fire. They stood round about God, and one after the other spake and entreated, “Create the world through me!” The first to step forward was the letter Taw. It said: “O Lord of the world! May it be Thy will to create Thy world through me, seeing that it is through me that Thou wilt give the Torah to Israel by the hand of Moses, as it is written, ‘Moses commanded us the Torah’” The Holy One, blessed be He, made reply, and said, “No!” Taw asked, “Why not?” and God answered: “Because in days to come I shall place thee as a sign of death upon the foreheads of men.” As soon as Taw heard these words issue from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, it retired from His presence disappointed.

The Shin then stepped forward, and pleaded: “O Lord of the world, create Thy world through me, seeing that Thine own name Shaddai begins with me.” Unfortunately, it is also the first letter of Shaw, lie, and of Sheker, falsehood, and that incapacitated it. Resh had no better luck. It was pointed out that it was the initial letter of Raʿ, wicked, and Rashaʿ, evil, and after that the distinction it enjoys of being the first letter in the Name of God, Raḥum, the Merciful, counted for naught. The Ḳof was rejected, because Ḳelalah, curse, outweighs the advantage of being the first in Ḳadosh, the Holy One. In vain did Ẓadde call attention to Ẓaddik, the Righteous One; there was Ẓarot, the misfortunes of Israel, to testify against it. Pe had Podeh, redeemer, to its credit, but Peshaʿ, transgression, reflected dishonor upon it. ʿAin was declared unfit, because, though it begins ʿAnawah, humility, it performs the same service for ʿErwah, immorality. Samek said: “O Lord, may it be Thy will to begin the creation with me, for Thou art called Samek, after me, the Upholder of all that fall.” But God said: “Thou art needed in the place in which thou art;^[2] thou must continue to uphold all that fall.” Nun introduces Ner, “the lamp of the Lord,” which is “the spirit of men,” but it also introduces Ner, “the lamp of the wicked,” which will be put out by God. Mem starts Melek, king, one of the titles of God. As it is the first letter of Mehumah, confusion, as well, it had no chance of accomplishing its desire. The claim of Lamed bore its refutation within itself. It advanced the argument that it was the first letter of Luḥot, the celestial tables for the Ten Commandments; it forgot that the tables were shivered in pieces by Moses. Kaf was sure of victory. Kisseh, the throne of God, Kabod, His honor, and Keter, His crown, all begin with it. God had to remind it that He would smite together His hands, Kaf, in despair over the misfortunes of Israel. Yod at first sight seemed the appropriate letter for the beginning of creation, on account of its association with Yah, God, if only Yeẓer ha-Raʿ, the evil inclination, had not happened to begin with it, too. Ṭet is identified with Ṭob, the good. However, the truly good is not in this world; it belongs to the world to come. Ḥet is the first letter of Ḥanun, the Gracious One; but this advantage is offset by its place in the word for sin, Ḥaṭṭat. Zain suggests Zakor, remembrance, but it is itself the word for weapon, the doer of mischief. Waw and He compose the Ineffable Name of God; they are therefore too exalted to be pressed into the service of the mundane world. If Dalet had stood only for Dabar, the Divine Word, it would have been used, but it stands also for Din, justice, and under the rule of law without love the world would have fallen to ruins. Finally, in spite of reminding one of Gadol, great, Gimel would not do, because Gemul, retribution, starts with it.

After the claims of all these letters had been disposed of, Bet stepped before the Holy One, blessed be He, and pleaded before Him: “O Lord of the world! May it be Thy will to create Thy world through me, seeing that all the dwellers in the world give praise daily unto Thee through me, as it is said, ‘Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen, and Amen’” The Holy One, blessed be He, at once granted the petition of Bet. He said, “Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” And He created His world through Bet, as it is said, “Bereshit God created the heaven and the earth.”

The only letter that had refrained from urging its claims was the modest Alef, and God rewarded it later for its humility by giving it the first place in the Decalogue.”^[3]

1. The mystic passages in the earliest rabbinic sources already discuss the idea that God created the world by the means of “letters” (comp., e.g., Yerushalmi Hagigah 2, 77c; Menahot 29b; Berakot 55a; BR 1.9; Midrash Shir 39b; PR 21, 108b, and 33, 153a; ER 31, 164; Shir 5.11; see also the passages referred to by Theodor on BR 9, line 9), and in gaonic literature this neo-Pythagorean- gnostic theory plays an important part, especially in the Sefer Yezirah (see Ginzberg’s article on the Sefer Yezirah in the Jewish Encyclopedia, and the literature cited there, as well as Joel, Blicke, I, 121), and the literature dependent on this book, as Midrash ‘Aseret ha-Dibrot 62, Konen 23–24, and many others. Along with these mystic speculations (Pesikta Hadta 36 asserts that God created the universe by means of the Sefer Yezirah; comp. also Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 1–5), the forms, names, and order of the Hebrew letters are a favorite theme of the “pedagogic Haggadot”, whose object it is to render the elementary instruction to the young interesting and attractive. Such Haggadot are, e.g., Shabbat 104a; Yerushalmi Megillah 1, 7 Id; BR 8.11 (see the numerous parallel passages cited by Theodor), as well as the non-mystic elements of the two versions of the Alphabet of R. Akiba. Darmesteter, R.E.J., IV, 259, seq., and Muller, Sitzungsberichte Wiener Akademie, Phil.-historische Klasse, CLXVIII, treatise 2, furnish a rich collection of parallels to these Haggadot from patristic as well as from later Christian literature. To these “pedagogic Haggadot” belong also the Tagin and Midrash R. Akiba, whereas Midrash ha-Shiloah (in Onkeneira’s Ayyumah Kannidgalot, 18) and Tikkune Zohar deal exclusively with the first word of the Bible, concerning which a great deal may be found in other parts of rabbinic literature; comp. BR 1.7; MGH I, 10–11; Alphabet of R. Akiba 19; Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 3–4; Midrash Aggada on Gen. 1.1; the commentaries Hadar, Da'at, Pa'aneah, and Toledot Yizhak on Gen., loc. cit. For interesting parallels in Christian literature relating to the forms of the Hebrew alphabet, comp, especially ps.-Matthew 31; Gospel of Thomas 6 (in both versions).
2. An allusion to Ps. 145.15; comp. also Berakot 4b.
3. There are different versions relating to the controversy of the letters about precedence&msash;originally a “pedagogic Haggadah”, it was later combined with the mystic theory of the letters. The text given is essentially based on 2 Alphabet of R. Akiba 50–55, with the omission of many biblical verses, which are quoted by God and by the letters. Other versions are found in MHG I, 12–13; ‘Aseret ha-Dibrot 62; Midrash R. Akiba 23–24; Zohar I, 2b–3a and 205b.

The First Day

On the first day of creation God produced ten things:^[1] the heavens and the earth, Tohu and Bohu, light and darkness, wind and water, the duration of the day^[2] and the duration of the night.^[3]

Though the heavens and the earth consist of entirely different elements,^[4] they were yet created as a unit, “like the pot and its cover.” ^[5] The heavens were fashioned from the light of God’s garment, and the earth from the snow under the Divine Throne.^[6] Tohu is a green band which encompasses the whole world, and dispenses darkness, and Bohu consists of stones in the abyss, the producers of the waters. The light created at the very beginning is not the same as the light emitted by the sun, the moon, and the stars, which appeared only on the fourth day. The light of the first day was of a sort that would have enabled man to see the world at a glance from one end to the other. Anticipating the wickedness of the sinful generations of the deluge and the Tower of Babel, who were unworthy to enjoy the blessing of such light, God concealed it, but in the world to come it will appear to the pious in all its pristine glory.^[7]

Several heavens were created,^[8] seven in fact,^[9] each to serve a purpose of its own. The first, the one visible to man, has no function except that of covering up the light during the night time; therefore it disappears every morning. The planets are fastened to the second of the heavens; in the third the manna is made for the pious in the hereafter; the fourth contains the celestial Jerusalem together with the Temple, in which Michael ministers as high priest, and offers the souls of the pious as sacrifices. In the fifth heaven, the angel hosts reside, and sing the praise of God, though only during the night, for by day it is the task of Israel on earth to give glory to God on high. The sixth heaven is an uncanny spot; there originate most of the trials and visitations ordained for the earth and its inhabitants. Snow lies heaped up there and hail; there are lofts full of noxious dew, magazines stocked with storms, and cellars holding reserves of smoke. Doors of fire separate these celestial chambers, which are under the supervision of the archangel Metatron. Their pernicious contents defiled the heavens until David’s time. The pious king prayed God to purge His exalted dwelling of whatever was pregnant with evil; it was not becoming that such things should exist near the Merciful One. Only then they were removed to the earth.

The seventh heaven, on the other hand, contains naught but what is good and beautiful: right, justice, and mercy, the storehouses of life, peace, and blessing, the souls of the pious, the souls and spirits of unborn generations, the dew with which God will revive the dead on the resurrection day, and, above all, the Divine Throne, surrounded by the seraphim, the ofanim, the holy Ḥayyot, and the ministering angels.^[10]

Corresponding to the seven heavens, God created seven earths, each separated from the next by five layers. Over the lowest earth, the seventh, called Ereẓ, lie in succession the abyss, the Tohu, the Bohu, a sea, and waters.^[11] Then the sixth^[12] earth is reached, the Adamah, the scene of the magnificence of God. In the same way the Adamah is separated from the fifth earth, the Arḳa, which contains Gehenna, and Shaʿare Mawet, and Shaʿare Ẓalmawet, and Beër Shaḥat, and Ṭiṭ ha-Yawen, and Abaddon, and Sheol,^[13] and there the souls of the wicked are guarded by the Angels of Destruction. In the same way Arḳa is followed by Ḥarabah, the dry, the place of brooks and streams in spite of its name, as the next, called Yabbashah, the mainland, contains the rivers and the springs. Tebel, the second earth, is the first mainland inhabited by living creatures, three hundred and sixty-five species,^[14] all essentially different from those of our own earth. Some have human heads set on the body of a lion, or a serpent, or an ox; others have human bodies topped by the head of one of these animals. Besides, Tebel is inhabited by human beings with two heads and four hands and feet, in fact with all their organs doubled excepting only the trunk.^[15] It happens sometimes that the parts of these double persons quarrel with each other, especially while eating and drinking, when each claims the best and largest portions for himself. This species of mankind is distinguished for great piety, another difference between it and the inhabitants of our earth.

Our own earth is called Ḥeled, and, like the others, it is separated from the Tebel by an abyss, the Tohu, the Bohu, a sea, and waters.

Thus one earth rises above the other, from the first to the seventh, and over the seventh earth the heavens are vaulted, from the first to the seventh, the last of them attached to the arm of God. The seven heavens form a unity, the seven kinds of earth form a unity, and the heavens and the earth together also form a unity.^[16]

When God made our present heavens and our present earth, "the new heavens and the new earth"^[17] were also brought forth, yea, and the hundred and ninety-six thousand worlds which God created unto His own glory.^[18]

It takes five hundred years to walk from the earth to the heavens, and from one end of a heaven to the other, and also from one heaven to the next,^[19] and it takes the same length of time to travel from the east to the west, or from the south to the north.^[20] Of all this vast world only one-third is inhabited, the other two-thirds being equally divided between water and waste desert land.

Beyond the inhabited parts to the east is Paradise^[21] with its seven divisions, each assigned to the pious of a certain degree. The ocean is situated to the west, and it is dotted with islands upon islands, inhabited by many different peoples. Beyond it, in turn, are the boundless steppes full of serpents and scorpions, and destitute of every sort of vegetation, whether herbs or trees. To the north are the supplies of hell-fire, of snow, hail, smoke, ice, darkness, and windstorms, and in that vicinity sojourn all sorts of devils, demons, and malign spirits. Their dwelling-place is a great stretch of land, it would take five hundred years to traverse it. Beyond lies hell. To the south is the chamber containing reserves of fire, the cave of smoke, and the forge of blasts and hurricanes.^[22] Thus it comes that the wind blowing from the south brings heat and sultriness to the earth. Were it not for the angel Ben Nez, the Winged, who keeps the south wind back with his pinions, the world would be consumed.^[23] Besides, the fury of its blast is tempered by the north wind, which always appears as moderator, whatever other wind may be blowing.^[24]

In the east, the west, and the south, heaven and earth touch each other, but the north God left unfinished, that any man who announced himself as a god might be set the task of supplying the deficiency, and stand convicted as a pretender.^[25]

The construction of the earth was begun at the centre, with the foundation stone of the Temple, the Eben Shetiyah,^[26] for the Holy Land is at the central point of the surface of the earth, Jerusalem is at the central point of Palestine, and the Temple is situated at the centre of the Holy City. In the sanctuary itself the Hekal is the centre, and the holy Ark occupies the centre of the Hekal, built on the foundation stone, which thus is at the centre of the earth.^[27] Thence issued the first ray of light, piercing to the Holy Land, and from there illuminating the whole earth.^[28] The creation of the world, however, could not take place until God had banished the ruler of the dark.^[29] “Retire,” God said to him, for I desire to create the world by means of light.” Only after the light had been fashioned, darkness arose, the light ruling in the sky, the darkness on the earth.^[30] The power of God displayed itself not only in the creation of the world of things, but equally in the limitations which He imposed upon each. The heavens and the earth stretched themselves out in length and breadth as though they aspired to infinitude, and it required the word of God to call a halt to their encroachments.^[31]

1. This number, as Lekah, Gen. 1.1, correctly remarks, corresponds to God’s “ten words”. Comp. vol. I, p. 49 (beginning).
2. I.e., “time”, which is here mentioned as having been created simultaneously with the world. This is in agreement with Philo, who in De M. Opif., 7, rejects the view which assumes that “time” is older
3. Hagigah 12a; PRE 3. The former passage mentions God’s ten attributes which were made use of at the creation of the world. So also in ARN, second version 43, 119, whereas the first version knows only of seven such attributes. This latter view corresponds to Jub. 2.2; Philo, De M. Opif., 7; Tadshe 6, which state that only seven categories of creation took place on the first day. Other sources ascribe three kinds of creation to each day; comp, vol. I, pp. 82–83. Quite instructive is the fact that the Talmud does not conceive רוח אלוהים (Gen. 1.2) as “God’s spirit”, but as “God’s wind”, which interpretation is certainly due to an anti-Christian tendency, since the Christians identified God’s spirit with the Holy Ghost; comp. Origen, Princip., I, 33, and Jerome, ad loc. The Jewish interpretation was later accepted by some of the Church Fathers, as e.g., by Ephraim, I, 8 B, F; Basilius, Hexaemeron, 3, and Theodoretus, Gen., loc, cit.; comp, also Ginzberg, Haggada bei den Kirchenv., 14–15. The prevalent opinion of the Palestinian Midrashim is that by “God’s spirit” the spirit (=soul) of Adam is meant; according to others it implies the spirit of the Messiah; BR 8.1. The souls of all the pious, however, were likewise created at the same time as Adam, or, as others assert, the primordial light which came into being on the first day is the material out of which the souls have been formed; comp. Excursus I, where details are also given concerning the view of the Rabbis about the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo, on which they insist to the extent of counting Tohu (“void”) and Bohu (“emptiness”) among the things created. As to God’s spirit in the form of a dove (Matthew 3.16), comp. Tosefta Hagigah 2.5; Yerushalmi 2, 77a; Babli 15a; BR 2.4.
4. The heavens, like all the beings dwelling therein, consist of a combination of fire (not of an earthly or physical nature) and water, whereas the earth was formed of the snow found under the heavenly throne; Konen 24; BR 4.7 (שמים “heaven” = אש ומים “fire and water”); Hagigah 12a; BaR 12.4. Comp. further Lekah, Gen. 1.1 (ארץ “earth” is derived from רץ “the running one”, i.e., the one around which everything moves), and note 18.
5. BR 1.15; Yerushalmi Hagigah 2, 77c; Babli 12a; Tamid 32a (the question is here discussed whether light or darkness was created first; to Philo, too, darkness is something positive, not merely the absence of light; comp. De M. Opif., 7 where darkness is identified \ with (ἀήρ air); WR 36.1; Tan. B. I. 10 and 15; PRE 18; Shemuel 5, 55–56; Mishle 60; Tosefta Keritot (end); Mekilta (beginning). In most of the passages just quoted mention is made of two more views in addition to the one given in the text. According to one, the heaven preceded the earth (so Philo), while according to the second, the earth preceded the heaven. Joel, Blicke, I, 112, remarks that in these speculations we have an echo of the Greek theories appertaining to cosmogony. Recognitiones, I, 27, agrees with the later Rabbis that heaven and earth were created simultaneously. Comp. Konen 24, where the old view is still retained. Although created simultaneously, nevertheless the heavens were created by God’s right hand, and the earth by His left; PRE 18; Zohar II, 18b, 65b; comp. Luria, PRE, ad loc. At the very beginning God created the world to come, which He, however, hid, so that not even the angels could see it, then He fashioned this world; Alphabetot 97; comp. Isa. 64.4.
6. PRE 3. But in the older sources (BR 3.4; PK 21, 145b; WR 31.7; ShR 15.22 and 50.1; Tan. B. I. 6, and II, 123; Tan. Wa-Yakhel 6; Tehillim 27,221, and 104,440) it is the light emanating from God’s splendor, that was the beginning of all creation. The view that snow was the primeval component of the earth is mentioned only in PRE and in the sources dependent on it (comp. Luria, ad loc.), whereas ShR 13.1 maintains that the world was created of the earth found under God’s throne; comp, however, BR1.6 and parallel passages, where it is proved by Job 37.7 that the earth was created of snow. Zohar III, 34b, however, is directly dependent on ShR, loc, cit. As to the account of the creation in Konen 24–25, comp. Excursus I. It may also be remarked that the statement in ShR 15.22, according to which the light emanated from fire (of a heavenly kind) occurs very likely already in 4 Ezra 6.40, where lumen aliquid luminis is based on the faulty reading אור מאור instead of אור מאש. It is however possible that 4 Ezra wishes to say the same as many of the Midrashim just quoted, according to which the primordial light was made of God’s splendor, in Hebrew “light from light.” Philo expresses this view in words similar to those of the Haggadah; comp. Freudenthal, Hellenistische Studien, 71; Weinstein, Genesis der Agada, 41. See also the following note.
7. BR 3.6, 11.2, 12.6, and 42.3; Hagigah 12a (only this passage and BHM VI, 59, give a detailed but rather obscure description of Tohu and Bohu comp. Joel, Blicke, I, 142); PR 5, 20a, and 46, 187a; EZ 21, 94; Tehillim, 97, 422. Comp, further ER 3, 14 and 16–17; EZ 12, 193; Nispahim 56; PRE 3 (here, in accordance with ARN, second version, 37, 95, should be read אורות צדיקים instead of ארחות צדיקים); comp. also vol. I, pp. 86, 262, 388; vol. IV, p. 234, with regard to the future light of the pious. On this light which is, however, not identified with the primordial light (but comp. 4 Ezra 6.40, which reads; lumen,…de thesauris tuis, which literally corresponds to the rabbinic אור הגנוז, since גנז = “preserved in the treasury”; see also the preceding note), comp. the Apocalypse of Baruch 51.3; Enoch 38.4 (numerous parallel passages are cited by Charles, ad loc.); 2 Enoch 66.3 and 9. Concerning Philo’s view on the primordial light, comp. De M. Opif., 8 and 18; Sachs, Beiträge, II, 34; Weinstein, Genesis der Agada, 38. For the further development of this light doctrine among the medieval philosophers and mystics, comp. Al-Barceloni, 18–22; Zohar I, 31b, 34a, 45b, and II, 158b.
8. The Hebrew word for heaven שמןם (for its etymology see note 16; BR 4.7 and parallel passages cited by Theodor) looks like a plural though it is really a singular (see Barth, Z.D.M.G., 42; 346), hence the conception that there are several heavens is already met with in the Bible. But the exact fixing of their number belongs to a more recent date. Comp. the following two notes.
9. The significance of the number seven in Jewish legend may be seen by referring to the Index s.v. Seven. PK 23, 154b–155a; Tehillim 9,87 (comp. the parallel passages cited by Buber); PRE 18 and Tadshe 6, 19–20, maintain that from the history of mankind and that of Israel, as well as from nature, one may prove that this number plays an important part. Similar discussions on the importance of “seven” are found in Philo, De M. Opif., 30–34 (in a very elaborate form), and in 4 Maccabees 14.17. Yezirah 4, which is the source for Zohar I, 15b and 38a, as well as for MHG I, 11, points out that everything physical is determined by seven limitations: above and below, right and left, before and behind, and its own individual form. Similarly Philo, All. Leg., 1.2. Zohar I, 38a, derives the conception of seven heavens, seven hells, and other “sevens” from this fundamental idea, and this view of Zohar deserves serious attention. On the seven heavens comp. further the following note. The dependence of Tadshe, loc. cit., on Philo is not to be assumed (against Epstein, R.E.J., XXI, 87, seq.), in view of the fact that the conception of the seven stages of man’s age, though of Greek origin, occurs not only in Philo and Tadshe, but also in Koheleth 1.2.
10. Hagigah 12b. For the correct reading of this classic passage concerning the seven heavens, comp., besides Variae Lectiones, ad loc., MHG I, 14–15. The seven heavens are further mentioned in BR 19.7; PK 1, lb, and 24, 154b–155a (the names of the heavens are different here from those in the Talmud); PR 5, 17b–18b, and 15, 68b; Shir 5.1; Tan. B. III, 37–38; Tan. Pekude 6 and Naso 15; BaR 12.6 and 13.2; WR 29.11; Tehillim 9,88, and 109,471; Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 5–6 (read מעונןת instead of מעינות). The last-named source, 21–26, also gives a detailed description of the heavens (this is the only rabbinic passage which speaks of a heavenly ladder leading from one heaven to another; comp. note 49 on Vol. I, p. 70). See also ʿAseret ha-Dibrot 63–65 and the older version of this Midrash on the first commandment; ARN 37, 110; Midrash Shir 2b; Alphabetot 86–87; PRE 18; DR 2.32; comp. also PK 1,7b; PR 20,98b; Zohar I, 85b; II, 164b–165a, 172a; III, 9a–10a. That the idea concerning the seven heavens originated in the tannaitic period cannot be definitely proved. It is found in a statement by R. Meir (ARN, loc, cit.), but the authenticity of this source is not above suspicion. From DR 2.32; Tehillim 109, 471 (read רב for רבנןl), and 148, 538, it may be seen that even much later the prevailing view was that there were only three (according to some, two) heavens. This view is in agreement with the opinion of 12 Testaments, Levi 3, and 2 Cor. 15.6. 2 Enoch 3–31, whose cosmogony, however, is rather syncretistic, and the following pseudepigraphic works (which contain Christian revisions), 3 Baruch; Ascension of Isaiah 8.13; Testament of Abraham 19 (longer recension), as well as some versions of the 12 Testaments (containing Christian revisions), loc, cit., are the oldest passages referring to the seven heavens. The view of “ten heavens” (corresponding to the ten groups of angels; it may also be a learned combination of the views concerning the three and seven heavens, respectively) is found in some of the texts of 2 Enoch 22 and Zohar II, 164b–165a and 172a. The later popular view among Jews, Christians, and gnostics was that there were seven heavens. The learned classes, however, were not inclined to accept this view; they were of the opinion that two, or at most, three heavens, were sufficient. As to the rabbinic sources, comp. Hagigah, DR, Tehillim, loc, cit. As to the Church Fathers, see Ginzberg, Haggada bei den Kirchenv., 10–14, as well as Siegfried, Philo., index, s.v. “Himmel”. In the description of the individual heavens, each of the sources follows its own way. As to the pseudepigraphic works, comp. 2 Enoch; 3 Baruch; Ascension of Isaiah; 12 Testaments, Levi. As to the rabbinic literature, see Hagigah; Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 21–26; Sode Raza in Yalkut Reubeni on Gen. 1.1, 3c–4a; Raziel 12a–13d, 19a–19c, and 27c–27d; Zohar II, 254a–263a, whose fantastic description of the seven “Hekalot” (the heavenly halls) is nothing more than an account of the seven heavens. Just as the gnostics speak of three hundred and sixty-five heavens (Tertullian, Haer., 1), even so do the Jewish mystics assert that besides the seven heavens there is still another great number of heavens; comp. BHM I, 132; Alphabetot 89; Sode Raza, loc. cit. With regard to the description of the heavens in the text according to Hagigah, the following is to be noticed. The manna is placed in the third heaven; comp. vol. III, p. 44, and Apocalypse of Baruch 29.8. As to the fourth heaven in which the heavenly temple is situated, comp. Zebahim 62a; Menahot 110a; Kebod Huppah, 11. For the literature apertaining to this subject, see Excursus I. PR 20, 98b, seems to locate the heavenly temple in the seventh heaven. As to the removal of the instruments of punishment from the sixth heaven, comp. Tan. B. I, 99; BR 51.3; Tehillim 5.54. With regard to this subject, i.e., on the idea that no evil is to be found in God’s proximity, see note 9. Comp. further Enoch 60.17, and vol. IV, p. 102. As to the dew for the purpose of quickening the dead, comp. vol. III, p. 95; vol. IV, p. 333, 336, 360. See also the Apocalypse of Baruch 29.7 and 73.2; 2 Enoch 22.9; as well as the “dew of light” of the gnostics in Preuschen, Adamschriften, 63. The old rabbinic sources where this is mentioned are the following: Yerushalmi Berakot 5, 9b; Ta'anit 1, 63d. This dew particularly plays a very important part in mystic literature; comp. PRE 34 (end) and the sources cited by Luria. As to the seventh heaven ʿArabot, comp. BHM I, 132, which is the source for Tolaʿat Yaʿakob (at the end of Asher Yazar).
11. The sea and the water in Jewish legend, like Apsu and Tiamat in Babylonian mythology, are two different elements: the one is sweet water and the other salt water. To point out the exact nature of this difference, Konen 24 uses the phrase מים מתוקים (“sweet water”), in contrast to ים (“sea” = salt water).
12. That is, counted from above downward.
13. Seven names for hell are already given in ‘Erubin 19a, which in Tehillim 11, 100 (with some variants) appear as seven compartments of hell; comp. notes 55–57.
16. Hagigah 12b. For the correct reading of this classic passage concerning the seven heavens, comp., besides Variae Lectiones, ad loc., MHG I, 14–15. The seven heavens are further mentioned in BR 19.7; PK 1, lb, and 24, 154b–155a (the names of the heavens are different here from those in the Talmud); PR 5, 17b–18b, and 15, 68b; Shir 5.1; Tan. B. III, 37–38; Tan. Pekude 6 and Naso 15; BaR 12.6 and 13.2; WR 29.11; Tehillim 9,88, and 109,471; Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 5–6 (read מעונןת instead of מעינות). The last-named source, 21–26, also gives a detailed description of the heavens (this is the only rabbinic passage which speaks of a heavenly ladder leading from one heaven to another; comp. note 49 on Vol. I, p. 70). See also ʿAseret ha-Dibrot 63–65 and the older version of this Midrash on the first commandment; ARN 37, 110; Midrash Shir 2b; Alphabetot 86–87; PRE 18; DR 2.32; comp. also PK 1,7b; PR 20,98b; Zohar I, 85b; II, 164b–165a, 172a; III, 9a–10a. That the idea concerning the seven heavens originated in the tannaitic period cannot be definitely proved. It is found in a statement by R. Meir (ARN, loc, cit.), but the authenticity of this source is not above suspicion. From DR 2.32; Tehillim 109, 471 (read רב for רבנןl), and 148, 538, it may be seen that even much later the prevailing view was that there were only three (according to some, two) heavens. This view is in agreement with the opinion of 12 Testaments, Levi 3, and 2 Cor. 15.6. 2 Enoch 3–31, whose cosmogony, however, is rather syncretistic, and the following pseudepigraphic works (which contain Christian revisions), 3 Baruch; Ascension of Isaiah 8.13; Testament of Abraham 19 (longer recension), as well as some versions of the 12 Testaments (containing Christian revisions), loc, cit., are the oldest passages referring to the seven heavens. The view of “ten heavens” (corresponding to the ten groups of angels; it may also be a learned combination of the views concerning the three and seven heavens, respectively) is found in some of the texts of 2 Enoch 22 and Zohar II, 164b–165a and 172a. The later popular view among Jews, Christians, and gnostics was that there were seven heavens. The learned classes, however, were not inclined to accept this view; they were of the opinion that two, or at most, three heavens, were sufficient. As to the rabbinic sources, comp. Hagigah, DR, Tehillim, loc, cit. As to the Church Fathers, see Ginzberg, Haggada bei den Kirchenv., 10–14, as well as Siegfried, Philo., index, s.v. “Himmel”. In the description of the individual heavens, each of the sources follows its own way. As to the pseudepigraphic works, comp. 2 Enoch; 3 Baruch; Ascension of Isaiah; 12 Testaments, Levi. As to the rabbinic literature, see Hagigah; Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 21–26; Sode Raza in Yalkut Reubeni on Gen. 1.1, 3c–4a; Raziel 12a–13d, 19a–19c, and 27c–27d; Zohar II, 254a–263a, whose fantastic description of the seven “Hekalot” (the heavenly halls) is nothing more than an account of the seven heavens. Just as the gnostics speak of three hundred and sixty-five heavens (Tertullian, Haer., 1), even so do the Jewish mystics assert that besides the seven heavens there is still another great number of heavens; comp. BHM I, 132; Alphabetot 89; Sode Raza, loc. cit. With regard to the description of the heavens in the text according to Hagigah, the following is to be noticed. The manna is placed in the third heaven; comp. vol. III, p. 44, and Apocalypse of Baruch 29.8. As to the fourth heaven in which the heavenly temple is situated, comp. Zebahim 62a; Menahot 110a; Kebod Huppah, 11. For the literature apertaining to this subject, see Excursus I. PR 20, 98b, seems to locate the heavenly temple in the seventh heaven. As to the removal of the instruments of punishment from the sixth heaven, comp. Tan. B. I, 99; BR 51.3; Tehillim 5.54. With regard to this subject, i.e., on the idea that no evil is to be found in God’s proximity, see note 9. Comp. further Enoch 60.17, and vol. IV, p. 102. As to the dew for the purpose of quickening the dead, comp. vol. III, p. 95; vol. IV, p. 333, 336, 360. See also the Apocalypse of Baruch 29.7 and 73.2; 2 Enoch 22.9; as well as the “dew of light” of the gnostics in Preuschen, Adamschriften, 63. The old rabbinic sources where this is mentioned are the following: Yerushalmi Berakot 5, 9b; Ta'anit 1, 63d. This dew particularly plays a very important part in mystic literature; comp. PRE 34 (end) and the sources cited by Luria. As to the seventh heaven ʿArabot, comp. BHM I, 132, which is the source for Tolaʿat Yaʿakob (at the end of Asher Yazar).
17. BR 1. 13; Tan. B. I, 6. Comp. also Alphabetot 97.
18. 30 Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 4–5; Alphabetot 89. A passage found at the end of the Mishnah which, however, does not belong to it, but is a later insertion (comp. Sanhedrin 100a; Tehillim 31, 239, and Schwarz, Die Controversen, 2) reads as follows: In the time to come God will bestow three hundred and ten worlds on every righteous person. Comp. further Petirat Mosheh 121 (where רבוא is to be struck out), and Ketoret ha-Sammim 4b, where a passage from ARN is cited concerning the three hundred and ten worlds. This passage does not occur in our texts of this Midrash, but it resembles the statement of BHM I, 132 (this is the source of R. Bahya, Gen. 1.1) with reference to the three hundred and ninety heavens. On these heavens see Derek Erez R. 2 (end) and Targum Yerushalmi Exod. 28. 30. Instead of three hundred and ten, Alphabetot of R. Akiba has three hundred and forty. In the same source, 29, the view regarding the distance between the angels and the Shekinah is very likely connected with the statement made in ‘Abodah Zarah 3b and Seder Rabba 4 concerning the eighteen thousands worlds. Comp. likewise note 97.
19. 31 BR 6.6 and numerous parallel passages cited by Theodor. Comp. likewise Ascension of Isaiah 7.18; vol. II, p. 307; vol. III, p. III; vol. IV, p. 334. See also the sources cited in the following note.
20. Ta'anit 10a; Pesahim 94a; Yerushalmi Berakot 1, 2c. Comp. the material collected by Hirschensohn, Sheba’ Hokmot, 1–13, on the views of the ancient rabbinic sources concerning the extension of the earth and other physical-meteorological observations found in these writings. On the thickness of the heavens comp. BR 6.6, and the Greek Baruch 3.
21. Konen 27. Yalkut Reubeni on Lev. 2.13 quotes the following from an unknown Midrash: The world is divided into three parts: inhabited land, desert, and sea; the temple is situated in the inhabited land, the Torah was given in the desert, and salt from the sea is offered with every sacrifice. God’s power extends over all these three parts of the earth; He led Israel through the Red Sea, they wandered through the wilderness, and reached the inhabited land, Palestine; R. Bahya on Num. 10.35. According to 4 Ezra 42, a seventh part of the earth is water; but this bears no relation to Recognitiones 9, 26. This passage contains only the view that the world is divided into seven zones. Comp. the rabbinic parallel passages cited in note 28. The division into twelve zones, which is frequently found in non-Jewish sources (comp. Broil, Sphaera, 296, and Jeremias, AT AO 2, 50–51), is not unknown to rabbinic literature, where it is stated that according to Deut. 32.8 the earth consists of twelve parts corresponding to the twelve sons of Jacob. Comp. Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 4; Alphabet R. Akiba 24; Lekah, Gen. 1.14 (end, where it is said that the various zones correspond to the signs of the Zodiac). See further note 73 on vol. I, p. 173.—The view that paradise is situated in the east is based on Gen. 2.8. But מקדם in this verse was taken by very old authorities in the sense of “pre-existing” (comp. Excursus I). Thus many Rabbis assert that paradise was situated in the west, or to be more accurate, in the north-west.
27. Tan. B. III, 78; Tan. Kedoshim 10. We are here confronted with a legend which is composed of various elements. Palestine, God's favorite land, was created before all other parts of the world; Sifre D., 37; Mekilta RS, 168; Ta'anit 10a; Sibyl. 5.300. Comp. likewise Excursus I. Instead of Palestine in general, Jerusalem (Yoma 54b; Tehillim 50, 279; Targum Ps. 50.2), or the site of the temple (comp. the following note) is designated as the beginning of creation. The widespread popular notion that the earth came into being as a result of a stone which God had thrown into the water (comp. Dähnhardt, Natursagen, I, 4, and see further the remarks on water as the primeval first element in Excursus I) was subsequently brought into relation with the view that creation began with the site of the temple; hence the legend that creation began with the stone found in the holy of holies; see Tosefta Yoma 4.6; comp. also Babli 54b (ר׳ יצחק נפחא, in view of Tosefta 'Erubin 7.18, against Rabbinovicz, is to be retained); Yerushalmi 5, 42b; Tan., loc. cit., and parallel passages. Independent of, and partly contradictory, to this view is the opinion which maintains that Palestine is situated in the centre of the earth; Jub. 8.12; Enoch 26.1 (according to 90.20, Gehenna is likewise located in the centre of the earth, because an entrance thereof is found in Jerusalem, the centre of Palestine; see 'Erubin 19a; Preuschen, Adamschriften, 27, which is not anti-Jewish); PR 10, 34a, and many of the parallel passages in later Midrashim, cited by Friedmann (Yoma, loc. cit., on the contrary, distinguishes between the centre of the earth and Jerusalem), to which many more may be added; comp. e.g. Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 4; Zohar II, 151a; III, 161b and 221b. Jerusalem is already mentioned in Aristeas, 83 as               the centre of Palestine, and this agrees with the later Midrashim, Tan., loc. cit., and parallel passages; Seder Rabba di-Bereshit, loc. cit. Since it was assumed that the ark was placed in the centre of the holy of holies (Meleket ha-Mishkan 53; not so Maimonides, Yad ha-Hazakah, Bet ha-Behirah 4.1, and RSBM on Baba Batra 99a) upon the Eben Shetiyyah, the legend, desirous of finding creation centres (comp. the elaborate account of such circles in Zohar II, 157, and III, 161b), quite naturally saw in this stone the centre of the earth. In view of the belief that the creation of the earth (and of everything; comp. Yoma 85a) began with its centre, the Eben Shetiyyah also became the beginning of creation. The oldest source (Yoma 5.2), where this stone is mentioned, leaves no doubt that it is considered to have come down there at the time of the first prophets (i.e., Samuel and David; comp. Sotah 48b and Yerushalmi 9, 24b; see, however, Yerushalmi Berakot 5, 8d), and it is therefore impossible to assume that the Mishnah identified it with the stone with which creation began. It is accordingly probable that {שתיה is the same as אשתיה, and א׳ שתיה is to be translated “fire-stone”, i.e., meteor. We have here, therefore, a tradition based upon 2 Samuel 24.16, seq., and 1 Chron. 21.26, according to which a meteor fell down at this place (note that the Mishnah does not read היה נתון), where subsequently the holy of holies was situated. Hadar on Exod. 19.19 quotes Targum Yerushalmi ad loc., in which אבני אישתא is employed in the sense of meteors. Later, however, א׳ שתיה was connected with שתי “loom” (creation as a spinning out of skeins of the warp is a favorite picture; comp. BR 10.5 and the parallels given by Theodor) and א׳ שתיה “foundation”; comp. Tosefta, Yerushalmi, and Babli Yoma, loc. cit.; Yerushalmi Pesahim 4, 30d; PK 28, 171a; Tan. B. III, 78; Tan. Ahare 3 and Kedoshim 10; WR 20.4; BaR 21.4; Shir 3, 9. In all these passages it is stated that the stone was called Eben Shetiyyah because the foundation of the world had been laid with it. A later development of the Eben Shetiyyah legend transferred to this stone all that which had originally been said concerning the foundation of the temple (comp. vol. IV, p. 96, and note 69 appertaining to it). It is therefore asserted that the “Ineffable Name” was engraved on this stone, whose power checks the Tehom from overflowing the earth; comp. Targum Yerushalmi Exod. 28.30; Targum Eccl. 3.11. This legend is further enlarged upon in Jewish Jesus tales. Since the knowledge of this name enabled anyone to accomplish all one desired, a device was necessary to prevent misuse. At               the gate of the temple two brazen dogs were placed (on such magic dogs comp. vol. III, pp. 6–7), so that whenever a person who had acquired the knowledge of the Name would pass, they began to bark. Frightened by this sound, the person would forget the knowledge of the Name. Jesus, however, had written the Name on paper, which he hid under his skin. He forgot the Name while passing the dogs, but later learned it again from the paper which he pulled out from under his skin. By means of the Name he was able to perform all the miracles. Comp. Krauss, Leben Jesu, index s.v. “Grundstein.” The view that the Name of the Messiah is engraved upon a stone of the heavenly temple belongs likewise to the Eben Shetiyyah legend cycle. For further details concerning this legend, see vol. I, p. 352; Feuchtwanger in Monatsschrift LV, 43–47; Jeremias, Babylonisches im NT, 79–80, and AT AO 2, 49, 155, 372, 374, 585.
31. 43 BR 5.8 and 46.3, where the Midrash refers to Aquila’s translation of שדי by “ikanos”; comp. Theodor on the second passage just referred to and Joel, Blicke, I, 147. As to the aspiration of created things               to be infinite, see the utterance of R. Simeon b. Lakish in Hagigah 12a (combined with the myth of the rebellion of the waters; see note 42), and Dahnhard, Natursagen, I, 2. Comp. also Tan. B. I, 7-8, 80, 197, 202; Tan. Hayye Sarah 3. In the first passage of Tan, it is said that the heavens which were created out of the heap of snow (comp. note 18), in accordance with God’s blessing, “became fruiful and multiplied”.

The Second Day

On the second day God brought forth four creations, the firmament, hell, fire, and the angels.^[1]

The firmament is not the same as the heavens of the first day. It is the crystal stretched forth over the heads of the Ḥayyot, from which the heavens derive their light, as the earth derives its light from the sun. This firmament saves the earth from being engulfed by the waters of the heavens; it forms the partition between the waters above and the waters below.^[2] It was made to crystallize into the solid it is by the heavenly fire, which broke its bounds, and condensed the surface of the firmament. Thus fire made a division between the celestial and the terrestrial at the time of creation, as it did at the revelation on Mount Sinai.^[3] The firmament is not more than three fingers thick,^[4] nevertheless it divides two such heavy bodies as the waters below, which are the foundations for the nether world, and the waters above, which are the foundations for the seven heavens, the Divine Throne, and the abode of the angels.^[5] The separation of the waters into upper and lower waters was the only act of the sort done by God in connection with the work of creation.^[6] All other acts were unifying. It therefore caused some difficulties. When God commanded, “Let the waters be gathered together, unto one place, and let the dry land appear,” certain parts refused to obey. They embraced each other all the more closely. In His wrath at the waters, God determined to let the whole of creation resolve itself into chaos again. He summoned the Angel of the Face, and ordered him to destroy the world. The angel opened his eyes wide, and scorching fires and thick clouds rolled forth from them, while he cried out, “He who divides the Red Sea in sunder!”—and the rebellious waters stood. The all, however, was still in danger of destruction. Then began the singer of God’s praises: “O Lord of the world, in days to come Thy creatures will sing praises without end to Thee, they will bless Thee boundlessly, and they will glorify Thee without measure. Thou wilt set Abraham apart from all mankind as Thine own; one of his sons Thou wilt call ‘My first-born’; and his descendants will take the yoke of Thy kingdom upon themselves. In holiness and purity Thou wilt bestow Thy Torah upon them, with the words, ‘I am the Lord your God’ whereunto they will make answer,’ All that God hath spoken we will do.’ And now I beseech Thee, have pity upon Thy world, destroy it not, for if Thou destroyest it, who will fulfil Thy will?” God was pacified; He withdrew the command ordaining the destruction of the world, but the waters He put under the mountains, to remain there forever.^[7]

The objection of the lower waters to division and separation^[8] was not their only reason for rebelling. The waters had been the first to give praise to God, and when their separation into upper and lower was decreed, the waters above rejoiced, saying, “Blessed are we who are privileged to abide near our Creator and near His Holy Throne.”

Jubilating thus, they flew upward, and uttered song and praise to the Creator of the world. Sadness fell upon the waters below. They lamented: “Woe unto us, we have not been found worthy to dwell in the presence of God, and praise Him together with our companions.” Therefore they attempted to rise upward, until God repulsed them, and pressed them under the earth.^[9] Yet they were not left unrewarded for their loyalty. Whenever the waters above desire to give praise to God, they must first seek permission from the waters below.^[10]

The second day of creation was an untoward day in more than the one respect that it introduced a breach where before there had been nothing but unity; for it was the day that saw also the creation of hell. Therefore God could not say of this day as of the others, that He “saw that it was good.”

A division may be necessary, but it cannot be called good, and hell surely does not deserve the attribute of good.^[11]

Hell^[12] has seven divisions,^[13] one beneath the other. They are called Sheol, Abaddon, Beër Shahat, Țiț ha-Yawen, Shaʿare Mawet, Shaʿare Ẓalmawet, and Gehenna. It requires three hundred years to traverse the height, or the width, or the depth of each division, and it would take six thousand three hundred^[14] years to go over a tract of land equal in extent to the seven divisions.^[15]

Each of the seven divisions in turn has seven subdivisions, and in each compartment there are seven rivers of fire and seven of hail. The width of each is one thousand ells, its depth one thousand, and its length three hundred, and they flow one from the other, and are supervised by ninety thousand Angels of Destruction. There are, besides, in every compartment seven thousand caves, in every cave there are seven thousand crevices, and in every crevice seven thousand scorpions. Every scorpion has three hundred rings, and in every ring seven thousand pouches of venom, from which flow seven rivers of deadly poison. If a man handles it, he immediately bursts, every limb is torn from his body, his bowels are cleft asunder, and he falls upon his face.^[16] There are also five different kinds of fire in hell. One devours and absorbs, another devours and does not absorb, while the third absorbs and does not devour, and there is still another fire, which neither devours nor absorbs, and furthermore a fire which devours fire. There are coals big as mountains, and coals big as hills, and coals as large as the Dead Sea, and coals like huge stones, and there are rivers of pitch and sulphur flowing and seething like live coals.^[17]

The third creation of the second day were the angel hosts, both the ministering angels and the angels of praise. The reason they had not been called into being on the first day was, lest men believe that the angels assisted God in the creation of the heavens and the earth.^[18]

The angels that are fashioned from fire have forms of fire,^[19] but only so long as they remain in heaven. When they descend to earth, to do the bidding of God here below, either they are changed into wind, or they assume the guise of men.^[20] There are ten ranks or degrees among the angels.^[21] The most exalted in rank are those surrounding the Divine Throne on all sides, to the right, to the left, in front, and behind, under the leadership of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.^[22]

All the celestial beings praise God with the words, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,” but men take precedence of the angels herein. They may not begin their song of praise until the earthly beings have brought their homage to God.^[23] Especially Israel is preferred to the angels. When they encircle the Divine Throne in the form of fiery mountains and flaming hills, and attempt to raise their voices in adoration of the Creator, God silences them with the words, “Keep quiet until I have heard the songs, praises, prayers, and sweet melodies of Israel.” Accordingly, the ministering angels and all the other celestial hosts wait until the last tones of Israel’s doxologies rising aloft from earth have died away, and then they proclaim in a loud voice, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.”

When the hour for the glorification of God by the angels draws nigh, the august Divine herald, the angel Shamʿiel, steps to the windows^[24] of the lowest heaven to hearken to the songs, prayers, and praises that ascend from the synagogues and the houses of learning, and when they are finished, he announces the end to the angels in all the heavens. The ministering angels, those who come in contact with the sublunary world,^[25] now repair to their chambers to take their purification bath. They dive into a stream of fire and flame seven times, and three hundred and sixty-five times they examine themselves carefully, to make sure that no taint clings to their bodies.^[26] Only then they feel privileged to mount the fiery ladder and join the angels of the seventh heaven, and surround the throne of God with Ḥashmal and all the holy Ḥayyot. Adorned with millions of fiery crowns, arrayed in fiery garments, all the angels in unison, in the same words, and with the same melody, intone songs of praise to God.^[27]

7. Hadar on Gen. 1.9 and thence in BHM V, 150-156; the text needs to be emended. The sentence from ונתן to בראשית certainly does not belong here, and instead of ותלאן וכו׳ read וקרלן בפלגןת באצבעא. Comp. Konen 25 and Sanhedrin 38b. Read also וקרען בפלגות and after נטה עליהם הקב״ל insert ידי. On the formula of incantation used by the “angel of the countenance” (שר הפנים) comp. Origen, Contra Celsum, 4.34. Quite a considerable number of versions of the legend of the rebellion of the waters (comp. note 42) are extant. The waters above, which are masculine, aspired to a union with the               waters below, which are feminine, and had not God separated them by means of the firmament (read ונתן הרקיע . . . והמים הזכרים), their union might have destroyed the world. Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 6. As to other versions comp. the notes 52, 53, and 72.
11. BR 4.16, where two other reasons are given why the Bible does not have the sentence “And He saw that it was good” with reference to the second day of creation: 1) because the things created on the second day were not completed on that day and were finished on the third; hence this sentence is repeated twice on the third day; 2) because God had foreseen that Moses would incur death on               account of the “water”; comp. vol. 111, 307, seq. Two of the midrashic explanations are also cited by the Church Fathers; comp. Jerome on Gen. 1.8; Ephraim 1, 15 B-C; Albertus Magnus XIX, 1.731; Origen, Ad Africanum, 4. See Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsätze, 176, and Ginzberg, Haggada bei den Kirchenv. 15-16. Midrash ha-Ne’elam on Gen. 1.9 reads: Only unity is good. This agrees almost verbatim with Philo, De Allegor., 2.1. That hell was created on the second day is also found in various other passages of rabbinic literature; comp. BR 11.9 and 31.9; Pesahim 54a; PRE 3; ShR 15.22; Tan. B. I, 12; Tan. Hayye Sarah 3; Tosefta Berakot 5 (6).7. Comp. Excursus I.
18. BR 1.3 and 3.8 (according to one opinion the angels were created as late as the fifth day, simultaneously with the other winged creatures), as well as 11.9; Tan. B. I, 1 and 12; ShR 15.22; PRE 4; Tehillim 24, 204; 76, 373–374; 104, 442; Konen 25. Reminiscences of the old view, according to which the angels were created on the first day (Jub. 2.2; 2 Enoch 29.3; Apocalypse of Baruch 21.6), have been preserved even in authoritative Midrashim, but particularly in the mystic literature. In the latter an attempt is made to               harmonize the conflicting views concerning the day on which the angels were created by assuming that the higher ranks were created on the first day, and the lower ones later; comp. Tan. Wa-Yesheb 4 and Yelammedenu in Ozar Midrashim, I, 64 (where two contrary opinions are found besides one another); ER 1, 3, as well as 19, 160, and perhaps also BR 21.9 (ER, loc. cit., understands BR to say that the Cherubim were created first, taking מקדם to mean “in the beginning”); PRE 4; Konen 24 (in the two last-mentioned sources the archangels are differentiated from the other angels; comp. the words ז׳ מלאכים שנבראו תחלה, and Luria, note 1); Zohar I, 46a (the contrary opinion is given in III, 217); Ketab Tamim 59; Peletat Soferim 2; Zohar Hadash lib and 12a (mention is made here of angels who existed prior to the creation of the world; comp. Excursus I); R. Bahya on Gen. 38.12 The authoritative view maintaining that the angels were created on the second day (as to the reason given for this view, comp. also the statement in Alphabetot 89 and 103 concerning the disappearance of all the angels before the creation of the new world; see further Tertullian, Adversus Hermogenem 34) is also found in Tan. Hayye Sarah 3 and in the quotation from this Midrash in Makiri Is. 43, 141; Batte Midrashot IV, 33; Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 1.26 Comp. also note 22 on vol. I, p. 59.
19. PRE 4; Konen 25 and 24 The fact that the angels were created of fire does not interfere with their incorporeality, for in legend fire, particularly the heavenly fire, is incorporeal (comp. Konen 24); see also Enoch, at the beginning and 20, which reads: “All the fiery hosts of great archangels and incorporeal powers” Although they are incorporeal, they are not eternal, since there are angels who come into being for a moment only and vanish immediately after Thus there are angels who spring up daily out of the stream Dinur (=“stream of fire”; comp. Dan. 7. 10); they praise God, and then disappear Out of every word uttered by God angels are created Comp. Hagigah 13b–14a; BR 78.1 (Michael and Gabriel are the only angels who do not vanish); Alphabetot 88; Trypho in Justin’s Dialogue, 128 Trypho’s remarks concerning angels are particularly important with respect to the attitude of the Synagogue towards angelology His remark, 60, that wherever Scripture speaks of the appearance of angels, it wishes to express symbolically God’s visible activity, is also found in BR 97.3; ShR 2.5 and 32.9 His other statement, 128, that the angels are borne by God’s power, corresponds to the view poetically expressed by the Rabbis that the               splendor of the Shekinah sustains the angels. Comp. PK 6, 57a; ShR 32.4 and 47.5. A statement like that of Jub. 15.27 to the effect that certain classes of angels bear the sign of the Abrahamic covenant on them would have struck the Rabbis as blasphemy. Comp. the following note and note 6 on vol. I, p. 50.
20. BR 21.9; Yelammedenu in Yalkut II, 69 and 925; ShR 25.2; PRE 4; Tehillim 104, 442 (in the two last-named sources the angels are wind when performing their duties, in God’s presence they are fire). Comp. also BR 50.1. On angels as shades, see BaR 10.5; perhaps also Baba Batra 91a. In WR 31.5 it is said that the angels are males and not females, i.e., they never assume the form of women; but comp. the parallel passages in Mishle 21, 89, and BR, loc. cit. It is, however, to be observed that Lekah, Gen. 3.24, in citing the last-named passage does not read the word נשים. Men, women, boys, and maidens among angels are mentioned in mystical literature, but this description has hardly anything to do with their forms; it merely expresses the different degrees of their ranks. Comp. Yalkut Hadash, s.v. מלאכים Nos. 63, 93; R. Moses ha-Darshan in Magazin, XV, 80; Hasidim 277. Although the rabbinic sources hardly offer any remarks concerning the forms of angels, many a statement is found in the older literature regarding their size and rapidity; comp. Enoch 40.1; Berakot 4b; Hullin 91b; BR 68.12 and 51.1. As to the material out of which the angels were created, comp. the preceding note, as well as PK 1, 3a–3b; ShR 3.11; BaR 15.8; DR 5.12; Yerushalmi Rosh ha-Shanah 2, 58a; 2 ARN 24, 48–49; Tan. Wa-Yiggash 6; Targum Job 25.2; Pesahim, 118a (bottom). Along with fire which is the peculiar heavenly element, water and snow (also hail) are mentioned as the material out of which the angels were fashioned. On fire, water, and snow as the primeval elements, comp. Index, s.v. The statement found in many passages of rabbinic literature that Michael was created of fire and Gabriel of snow or water (see Index, s.v. “Michael”, “Gabriel”) implies the view that the former belongs to heaven and the latter to the earth. The idea that the residence of the angels is in heaven is unanimously expressed by the Rabbis, as well as by the authors of the pseudepigraphic writings. Philo’s view, De Gigant., 2, and De Somn., 22, that the angels inhabit the air is entirely unknown to the Rabbis (BR 26.5, to which Siegfried, Philo, 147, alludes, has nothing to do with the place inhabited by the angels; this passage was misunderstood by Siegfried; for the correct translation thereof, see note 1 on vol. I, 105). Similarly there is nothing               nothing in the older sources of rabbinic literature in support of Philo's statement concerning the identity of the angels with the souls (Noë 4; De Gigan., and De Somn., loc. cit.), which is only found in the Kabbalah; comp., e.g., Zohar I, 7a, and note 444 on vol. II, p. 184.
22. PRE 4; Enoch 9.1; 40. 2–10 (here the reading is Phanuel instead of Uriel); 71.9. On these four archangels comp. vol. III, p. 232, and the note 440 appertaining to it. The very old view concerning the seven archangels (Enoch 20, 1–8; 81.5; 90.21–22: 12 Testaments, Levi 8.1, and in many other works of the pseudepigraphic literature, as well as rabbinic writings of the post-talmudic period as PRE, loc. cit., and particularly in mystic works; comp.               Al-Barceloni, 247, which is indeed the oldest rabbinic source on the names of the archangels and their relation to the planets; Raziel 38a, 61a, where various sources are made use of) naturally supposes seven classes of angels. Along with the sevenfold and fourfold divisions of angels, found in pseudepigraphic and rabbinic literatures, we meet with the conception of twelve archangels, which is connected with the signs of the Zodiac; comp. Raziel 52a, 61a (which is based on another source than the two other passages referred to above). As to this view in pseudepigraphic literature, comp. Bousset, Religion, 374–376.
27. Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 28–30; 3 Hekalot 161–163. In other sources it is not Shamiel who appears as the master of heavenly song (probably the correct reading is Shammiel, since it is derived from               שַׁמַּה “he summoned”), but Michael (comp. vol. I, p. 386), or rather Metatron; comp. Sefer ha-Heshek, 26, No. 13, and 8a, No. 61. The mystic literature knows also of a heavenly Hazzan; comp. Hagigah 13b and PR 20, 97a, concerning the function of the angel Sandalfon (on the text of PR see Ketab Tamim, 59). See also the account in the mystic literature of the gaonic period (Pirke Hekalot, Wertheimer’s edition, 31; comp. also Baer, Siddur, 120) concerning the angel Israel; comp. Zunz, Synagogale Poesie, 477. This angel is described as belonging to the order of the Hayyot; comp. note 253 on vol. I, 388. Originally the name Hayyot was used to designate the creatures with animal forms mentioned in Ezekiel 1.5, seq., as surrounding God’s throne. These were considered as a distinguished class of angels (Sifra 1.1 and Sifre N., 103; in these passages the life of the angels, or at least of this class, is assumed to be eternal; comp. note 62); subsequently, however, the Hayyot denoted a class of angels. Similarly Hashmal (Ezek 1.4) is taken to be as the name of a class of angels; comp. Hagigah 13a–13b. In this passage of the Talmud (comp. Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 28) the description of God’s throne in Is. 6.1–3 is said to be identical with that of Ezek. 1.5, seq., and the discrepancies are removed. Thus it is said, for instance, that the six wings of the Seraphim in Is, correspond to the four faces of the Hayyot of Ezek., since two of the wings with which they had formerly praised God were taken away from them after the destruction of the temple. PR 33, 155b–156a, reads somewhat differently. The bull image of the Hayyot (Ezek. 1.10), was changed by Ezekiel’s prayer to that of Cherubim, so that God should not be constantly reminded of Israel’s aberration in connection with the golden calf. The feet of the Seraphim (Is. 6.2) were concealed for the same reason because the calves’ feet (Ezek. 1.7) would have constantly served as a reminder of the golden calf; Hagigah 13b; WR 27.3. On the liturgical formulas which the angels employ in their doxology, comp. Hullin 91b—92a; Hagigah 14a; ER 31, 163; Hasidim 400; Seder R. Amram 18a. See also the quotations from medieval authors given in Baer’s Siddur, 120. Comp. also Hagigah 12b; Mahkim 119; Seder Troyes 26 (Moses caught the formula Baruk Shem, etc., from the whispering angels); DR 2.36. In all these legends the tendency is to trace back the origin of the essential parts of the liturgy, as the Shema’, Bareku, and Kedushah, to the angels; comp. also vol. III, pp. 256–257. Not all angels however are perfect; comp. the sources cited at the beginning of this note, according to which countless               numbers of angels perish in the stream Dinur, whenever they do not chant their hymns at the exact moment. Comp. Zohar III, 64b; Ekah 3, 132–133.

The Third Day

Up to this time the earth was a plain, and wholly covered with water. Scarcely had the words of God, “Let the waters be gathered together,” made themselves heard, when mountains appeared all over and hills,^[1] and the water collected in the deep-lying basins. But the water was recalcitrant, it resisted the order to occupy the lowly spots, and threatened to overflow the earth, until God forced it back into the sea, and encircled the sea with sand. Now, whenever the water is tempted to transgress its bounds, it beholds the sand, and recoils.^[2]

The waters did but imitate their chief Rahab, the Angel of the Sea, who rebelled at the creation of the world. God had commanded Rahab to take in the water. But he refused, saying, “I have enough.” The punishment for his disobedience was death. His body rests in the depths of the sea, the water dispelling the foul odor that emanates from it.^[3]

The main creation of the third day was the realm of plants, the terrestrial plants as well as the plants of Paradise. First of all the cedars of Lebanon and the other great trees were made. In their pride at having been put first, they shot up high in the air. They considered themselves the favored among plants. Then God spake, “I hate arrogance and pride, for I alone am exalted, and none beside,” and He created the iron on the same day, the substance with which trees are felled down. The trees began to weep, and when God asked the reason of their tears, they said: “We cry because Thou hast created the iron to uproot us therewith. All the while we had thought ourselves the highest of the earth, and now the iron, our destroyer, has been called into existence.” God replied: “You yourselves will be the ones to furnish the axe with a handle. Without your assistance the iron will not be able to do aught against you.”^[4]

The command to bear seed after their kind was given to the trees alone. But the various sorts of grass reasoned, that if God had not desired divisions according to classes, He would not have instructed the trees to bear fruit after their kind with the seed thereof in it, especially as trees are inclined of their own accord to divide themselves into species. The grasses therefore reproduced themselves also after their kinds. This prompted the exclamation of the Prince of the World, “Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; let the Lord rejoice in His works.”^[5]

The most important work done on the third day was the creation of Paradise. Two gates of carbuncle form the entrance to Paradise,^[6] and sixty myriads of ministering angels keep watch over them. Each of these angels shines with the lustre of the heavens. When the just man appears before the gates, the clothes in which he was buried are taken off him, and the angels array him in seven garments of clouds of glory, and place upon his head two crowns, one of precious stones and pearls, the other of gold of Parvaim,^[7] and they put eight myrtles in his hand, and they utter praises before him and say to him, “Go thy way, and eat thy bread with joy.” And they lead him to a place full of rivers, surrounded by eight hundred kinds of roses and myrtles. Each one has a canopy according to his merits,^[8] and under it flow four rivers, one of milk, the other of balsam, the third of wine, and the fourth of honey. Every canopy is overgrown by a vine of gold, and thirty pearls hang from it, each of them shining like Venus. Under each canopy there is a table of precious stones and pearls, and sixty angels stand at the head of every just man, saying unto him: “Go and eat with joy of the honey, for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and she is sweeter than honey, and drink of the wine preserved in the grape since the six days of creation^[9] for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and she is compared to wine.” The least fair of the just is beautiful as Joseph and Rabbi Johanan, and as the grains of a silver pomegranate upon which fall the rays of the sun.^[10] There is no light, “for the light of the righteous is the shining light.”

And they undergo four transformations every day, passing through four states. In the first the righteous is changed into a child. He enters the division for children, and tastes the joys of childhood. Then he is changed into a youth, and enters the division for the youths, with whom he enjoys the delights of youth. Next he becomes an adult, in the prime of life, and he enters the division of men, and enjoys the pleasures of manhood. Finally, he is changed into an old man. He enters the division for the old, and enjoys the pleasures of age.

There are eighty myriads of trees in every corner of Paradise, the meanest among them choicer than all the spice trees. In every corner there are sixty myriads of angels singing with sweet voices, and the tree of life stands in the middle and shades the whole of Paradise.^[11] It has fifteen thousand tastes, each different from the other, and the perfumes thereof vary likewise. Over it hang seven clouds of glory, and winds blow upon it from all four sides,^[12] so that its odor is wafted from one end of the world to the other. Underneath sit the scholars and explain the Torah. Over each of them two canopies are spread, one of stars, the other of sun and moon, and a curtain of clouds of glory separates the one canopy from the other.^[13] Beyond Paradise begins Eden, containing three hundred and ten worlds^[14] and seven compartments for seven different classes of the pious. In the first are “the martyr victims of the government,” like Rabbi Akiba and his colleagues;^[15] in the second those who were drowned;^[16] in the third^[17] Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples; in the fourth those who were carried off in the cloud of glory;^[18] in the fifth the penitents, who occupy a place which even a perfectly pious man cannot obtain; in the sixth are the youths^[19] who have not tasted of sin in their lives; in the seventh are those poor who studied Bible and Mishnah, and led a life of self-respecting decency. And God sits in the midst of them and expounds the Torah to them.^[20]

As for the seven divisions of Paradise, each of them is twelve myriads of miles in width and twelve myriads of miles in length. In the first division dwell the proselytes who embraced Judaism of their own free will, not from compulsion. The walls are of glass and the wainscoting of cedar. The prophet Obadiah,^[21] himself a proselyte, is the overseer of this first division. The second division is built of silver, and the wainscoting thereof is of cedar. Here dwell those who have repented, and Manasseh, the penitent son of Hezekiah, presides over them. The third division is built of silver and gold. Here dwell Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Israelites who came out of Egypt, and the whole generation that lived in the desert.^[22] Also David is there, together with all his sons^[23] except Absalom, one of them, Chileab, still alive. And all the kings of Judah are there, with the exception of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, who presides in the second division, over the penitents. Moses and Aaron preside over the third division. Here are precious vessels of silver and gold and jewels and canopies and beds and thrones and lamps, of gold, of precious stones, and of pearls, the best of everything there is in heaven.^[24] The fourth division is built of beautiful rubies,^[25] and its wainscoting is of olive wood. Here dwell the perfect and the steadfast in faith, and their wainscoting is of olive wood, because their lives were bitter as olives to them. The fifth division is built of silver and gold and refined gold,^[26] and the finest of gold and glass and bdellium, and through the midst of it flows the river Gihon. The wainscoting is of silver and gold, and a perfume breathes through it more exquisite than the perfume of Lebanon. The coverings of the silver and gold beds are made of purple and blue, woven by Eve, and of scarlet and the hair of goats, woven by angels. Here dwells the Messiah on a palanquin made of the wood of Lebanon, “the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom of gold, the seat of it purple.” With him is Elijah. He takes the head of Messiah, and places it in his bosom, and says to him, “Be quiet, for the end draweth nigh.” On every Monday and Thursday and on Sabbaths and holidays, the Patriarchs come to him, and the twelve sons of Jacob, and Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, and all the kings of Israel and of Judah, and they weep with him and comfort him, and say unto him, “Be quiet and put trust in thy Creator, for the end draweth nigh.” Also Korah and his company, and Dathan, Abiram, and Absalom come to him on every Wednesday, and ask him: “How long before the end comes full of wonders? When wilt thou bring us life again, and from the abysses of the earth lift us” The Messiah answers them, “Go to your fathers and ask them”; and when they hear this, they are ashamed, and do not ask their fathers.

In the sixth division dwell those who died in performing a pious act, and in the seventh division those who died from illness inflicted as an expiation for the sins of Israel.^[27]

3. Baba Batra 74b; Tan. IV, 97–98; Tan. Hayye Sarah 3 and Hukkat 1; BaR 18.22; ShR 15.22; Tehillim 1, 17 (ערותו של יום); Wa-Yosha’ 46; Hagigah 12a (הים היה מרחיב ובו׳). Comp. also vol. I, pp. 14–16, 27, and 40 (Leviathan, Rahab, and the angel of death are considered identical), as well as vol. III, p. 25, and Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 7, 25d, where the prince of the sea (שר של ים)) is mentioned twice. In the Midrashim cited above two entirely different elements are combined: God’s strife with Rahab (which is a reminiscence of an old Babylonian myth), taken from the Babylonian Talmud, loc. cit., and the weeping of the waters on account of the separation of the upper and lower waters (a mythological explanation of rain as tears), which is found in the Palestine sources (BR 5.4 and the Midrashim cited in note 52). The eagerness of the waters to obey God’s command is emphasized in PR 192b–193a and WR (according to a quotation from it found in Makiri on Ps. 33, 210) as a protest against the mythological account of the rebellion of the waters. A legend which is also composed of various elements is the one given in Tan. Hayye Sarah, loc. cit., and ShR, loc. cit., where the ocean and the “sea of death” are considered identical (a Babylonian view, comp. KAT 3, 576, note 2), and at the same time it is said that it will be “cured” in the time to come. The last statement is found in the old sources in connection with the Sea of Sodom (comp. note 184 on vol. I, p. 256), which was known to Pausanias and the Church Fathers as the “Dead Sea”. This name is unknown in Jewish sources;               hence the above-mentioned Midrash confused the “Dead Sea” of his source—of Christian origin?—with the “Sea of Death” of Babylonian mythology, that is the ocean. In ‘Erubin 22b it is supposed that the ocean surrounds the earth (so also Herodotus II, 21 and 23), whereas according to PRE 5, the earth extends over the waters of the abyss as a ship in the midst of the sea. ‘Aseret ha-Dibrot 63 speaks of the “Great Sea that encompasses the earth”. This corresponds to ‘Erubin, loc. cit., since the designation of “Great Sea” for the ocean is known in rabbinic literature; comp. the explicit statement concerning this identity made in Konen 32, as well as Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 9 and Luria, note 7 on PRE, loc. cit., and the statement (in Sifre D., 39; Mikwaot 5.4; BR 5.8) that there is only one sea; the Bible speaks of “seas”, because the sea differs in its peculiarities in different places. The reason why the ocean does not overflow, though all the waters enter into it, is because the salt waters “absorb” the sweet; BR 13.9; Bekorot 9a; Koheleth 1.7. A different view is given in Tikkune Zohar (end), which reads: The ocean derives its name (אוקינוס) from אוקי “he spat out”, because it “spits out” the water or the aquatic animals that come into it. Comp. Kohut’s essay in Jüdische Wochenschrift II, No. 5, on the ocean according to Jewish sources.—With regard to the strife of the waters, comp. also 4 Ezra 4.15–17, where it is said that the waves of the sea took counsel to wage war against the wood of the field that they win more territory; although the wood had been vanquished by fire, the counsel of the waves of the sea did not succeed because the sand kept them within their bounds. This is, however, not a mythological conception, as maintained by many, but a fable; comp. the following note. The reason why the waters of the seas and the abysses did not overflow the earth is due to the fact that God had sealed their boundaries with His name; Prayer of Manasseh 3. For details on this “sealing” comp. vol. III, p. 99, and vol. IV, p. 96.
4. Konen 25, which essentially follows BR 5.9. Comp. further Sanhedrin 39b; ER 29, 143; Elleh Ezkerah (beginning). It is a legendary application of an old fable, which is already found in Ahikar; comp. Smend, Alter und Herkunft des Achikar-Romans, 77, seq. From Ahikar it was directly or indirectly borrowed by the Greeks; comp. Back, Monatsschrift XXV, 132–135, and XXXIII, 267. On the pride of the trees comp. Tub ha-Arez 93, which reads: The fruits of the ground thrive even when moistened by the feminine waters (on the sex of the waters comp. vol. I, p. 162), but not the trees, which,               on account of their pride, would not thrive unless moistened by masculine waters. According to PRE 5 and Aguddat Aggadot 7, tne plants of paradise were created first and were afterwards utilized for the purpose of the cultivation of the earth. For the opposite view comp. BR 15.1, which reads: God took cedars of Lebanon, which were not larger than the tentacles of a grasshopper, and planted them in paradise. Comp. note 96 on vol. I, p. 82. The shooting up of the trees is only a special application of the view that the first things in creation were produced in their fully developed form (comp. note 21 on vol. I, p. 59). This view is especially emphasized by Philo, De M. Opif, 13, with reference to plants, which God brought forth out of the ground in their complete form, “as if the earth had been pregnant with them for a long time”. PRE 5 similarly speaks of the pregnancy of the earth, where, in connection with the conception of rain as the consort of the earth (comp. note 39 on vol. I, p. 162), the legitimate fecundation is differentiated from the illegitimate. When the earth is fructified by rain, it is considered a legitimate fecundation, whereas when it is artificially watered, it is an illegitimate fecundation. As to the statement made in PRE concernfrig the origin of rain, comp. also BR 13.9–10 and the parallel passages cited by Theodor, where various views are expressed on this point. The view that the clouds drew their water from the ocean, and the objection raised against it, is also found in the Slavonic version of III Baruch 10.8.
5. Hullin 60a; comp. Back, Monatsschrift XXIX, 307, with reference to this talmudic passage. The Palestinian sources, BR 5.9, and Yerushalmi Kilayim 1, 27b, mention two views: according to one the earth did not follow God’s bidding; it only produced edible fruits, but not edible trees, which it was also commanded by God to produce. On account of this disobedience it was cursed by God after Adam’s fall. The opposite view maintains that the earth was so eager to obey God ’s orders that it went one step further and produced all trees bearing fruit; but after Adam’s fall the fertility of the earth was diminished, and it produced barren trees as well; comp. vol. I, p. 80 (top). “The prince of the world” mentioned in Hullin, loc. cit., bears no relation to the demiurge of the Gnostics, nor to Satan, “the prince of the earth” (John 12.31, and in many other places of the New Testament), but it signifies, here as elsewhere in rabbinic literature (comp. Index, s.v.)t the angel in charge of the world, or, to be more accurate, the earth. Comp. Joel, Blicke, I, 124–128. The               identification of this angel with Metatron in the mystic literature of the gaonic period is not found in talmudic sources. In Ascension of Isaiah 2.4 “the ruler of the world” is Satan as the prince of the world in the New Testament.
11. I.e., the branches of this tree extend to the farthest ends               of paradise. On the joys of the four different ages, which the pious experience, see Zohar I, 140a, where it is explained allegorically.
24. Read שבשמים instead of שמנים, and comp. Konen 28. On Chileab comp. Vol. II, p. 260 and vol. IV, p. 118. On Menasseh               comp. Vol. IV, p. 280. On those who repent, see note 89 and Koheleth 1.8.
27. Ma‘aseh de-R. Joshua b. Levi 48–49. This description is partly (not in its entirety, as Jellinek asserts) incorporated into Konen 28–30, which source is to be used for the establishing of a correct text of Ma‘aseh (comp. notes 94–95). Great caution must, however, be taken, since Konen had other sources, along with Ma‘aseh, at its disposal for the description of paradise. R. Joshua b. Levi’s description of paradise, found in Gaster’s Ma‘asiyyot 96–97, corresponds to ours in the introductory parts only, in which the adventure of this sage with the angel of death is mentioned (according to Ketubot 77b; comp. note 90), but not in the description of paradise proper. Very characteristic is the fact that this source knows only of three halls of paradise, one of glass, for proselytes; one of silver, for the righteous of Israel (instead of כל מלכי ישראל, p. 97, line 24, read כל אותם שהם מזרע ישראל); one of gold, in which dwell the three patriarchs and Moses, Aaron, David, “the weeping” Messiah, and Elijah comforting him. On the division of paradise into three, comp. note 85. The most elaborate description of paradise is that given by Jellinek in BHM III, 131–140 (comp. also the additions, 194–198), published under the title of Seder Gan ‘Eden. This description has been extensively made use of by kabbalistic authors (comp. Jellinek, Einleitung und Zusätze, as well as Zohar I, 41a; III, 167b) who describe it as a part of the Book of Enoch. It, however, shows traces of speculative mysticism (for instance, great emphasis is laid upon the difference between spirit and soul, on the union of the masculine with the feminine souls which result in the productions of new souls, and on many other views of speculative mysticism), and it therefore could not have originated earlier than the end of the twelfth century. The division of the pious into seven classes is also known to this source, but it differs from the divisions found elsewhere (Perek Gan ‘Eden 52–53 and Sha‘are Gan ‘Eden 42–43 = Baraita di-Shemuel 28–29; comp. note 90). This source is also acquainted with a portion of paradise assigned to women, who, like the men, are divided into               seven classes, each of which is under the supervision of some famous woman from biblical times. These are: Bithiah, the foster-mother of Moses, Jochebed, Miriam, Huldah the prophetess, Abigail, the four matriarchs, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah. As nine women are given here as heads of seven divisions, the text must therefore be corrected in accordance with Zohar III, 167b. The distinction drawn here between the garden (=paradise) and Eden is old (comp. note 84 and Sha’are Gan ‘Eden, loc. cit., where the dwellers of Eden are divided into twelve classes), but this source expresses this distinction in a different manner. To the old mysticism belongs the conception of the 390 heavens and 18000 worlds (comp. note 30), but this source gives a different interpretation of this mystic doctrine. Quite new is the conception of the secret chamber of the Messiah in paradise which is called here, as well as in Zohar II, 8a, by the peculiar name “bird’s nest”. On the whole, the Messiah plays an important part in this description of the life of the pious in paradise. Old is the view that the pious, particularly the patriarchs and the Messiah, grieve over Israel’s suffering, and pray to God for their redemption; Berakot 18b; ShR 15.26; BaR 19.15; Tehillim 14, 115; Ekah 2, 11 (in the two last-named passages it is Jacob especially who is most concerned about Israel’s suffering); Baba Mezi’a 85b (comp. this passage in vol. IV, p. 219); Mahzor Vitry 17; Pardes 54d; Seder Rashi 22; a kabbalistic source in Yalkut Reubeni on Deut. 23.3; Tosafot on Sotah 34d (caption אבותי), and the passages cited there from the Talmud; see further PR 12, 46b— 47a. Whereas Tehillim 30, 234 and 14 (according to the reading of Makiri, ad. loc., 79, bottom), and PR 2, 5b, state that the pious when dead continually praise God, later sources (PR 198a; BHM V, 43; Recanati on Gen. 3.24; R. Bahya on Exod. 20.8; Seder Gan ‘Eden 138) maintain that on the Sabbath, festivals, and new-moons the dead rise from their graves, behold the the Shekinah, and praise the Lord. Comp. also Zohar II, 8a (which very likely depends upon the Seder Gan ‘Eden, loc. cit.), Yalkut Reubeni Gen. 19.2; vol. III, p. 400. On Korah comp. vol. III, p. 300, and vol. IV, p. 234.—R. Joshua b. Levi is also the author of a description of hell which is given in vol. II, pp. 310, seq. For further details concerning the description of hell and paradise, comp. Gaster, Hebrew Version of Hell and Paradise in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1893, pp. 571 611; Rachlin, Bar Levoi, 70 86; Landau, Hölle und Fegfeuer (Heidelberg, 1909, passim). A fragment of a description               of paradise is found in Steinschneider-Festschrift, Hebrew section, 55–56. Comp. also Abkat Rokel, II, 1.

The Fourth Day

The fourth day of creation produced the sun, the moon, and the stars. These heavenly spheres were not actually fashioned on this day; they were created on the first day, and merely were assigned their places in the heavens on the fourth.^[1] At first the sun and the moon enjoyed equal powers and prerogatives.^[2] The moon spoke to God, and said: “O Lord, why didst Thou create the world with the letter Bet?" God replied: “That it might be made known unto My creatures that there are two worlds.” The moon: “O Lord, which of the two worlds is the larger, this world or the world to come?” God: “The world to come is the larger.” The moon: “O Lord, Thou didst create two worlds, a greater and a lesser world; Thou didst create the heaven and the earth, the heaven exceeding the earth; Thou didst create fire and water, the water stronger than the fire, because it can quench the fire; and now Thou hast created the sun and the moon, and it is becoming that one of them should be greater than the other.” Then spake God to the moon: “I know well, thou wouldst have me make Thee greater than the sun. As a punishment I decree that thou mayest keep but one-sixtieth of thy light.” The moon made supplication: “Shall I be punished so severely for having spoken a single word? “God relented: “In the future world I will restore thy light, so that thy light may again be as the light of the sun.” The moon was not yet satisfied. “O Lord,” she said, “and the light of the sun, how great will it be in that day?” Then the wrath of God was once more enkindled: “What, thou still plottest against the sun? As thou livest, in the world to come his light shall be sevenfold the light he now sheds.”^[3]

The sun runs his course like a bridegroom. He sits upon a throne with a garland on his head.^[4] Ninety-six angels accompany him on his daily journey, in relays of eight every hour, two to the left of him, and two to the right, two before him, and two behind. Strong as he is, he could complete his course from south to north in a single instant, but three hundred and sixty-five angels restrain him by means of as many grappling-irons. Every day one looses his hold, and the sun must thus spend three hundred and sixty-five days on his course. The progress of the sun in his circuit is an uninterrupted song of praise to God. And this song alone makes his motion possible. Therefore, when Joshua wanted to bid the sun stand still, he had to command him to be silent. His song of praise hushed, the sun stood still.^[5]

The sun is double-faced; one face, of fire, is directed toward the earth, and one, of hail, toward heaven, to cool off the prodigious heat that streams from the other face, else the earth would catch afire. In winter the sun turns his fiery face upward, and thus the cold is produced.^[6] When the sun descends in the west in the evening, he dips down into the ocean and takes a bath, his fire is extinguished, and therefore he dispenses neither light nor warmth during the night. But as soon as he reaches the east in the morning, he laves himself in a stream of flame, which imparts warmth and light to him, and these he sheds over the earth. In the same way the moon and the stars take a bath in a stream of hail before they enter upon their service for the night.^[7]

When the sun and the moon are ready to start upon their round of duties, they appear before God, and beseech him to relieve them of their task, so that they may be spared the sight of sinning mankind. Only upon compulsion they proceed with their daily course. Coming from the presence of God, they are blinded by the radiance in the heavens, and they cannot find their way. God, therefore, shoots off arrows, by the glittering light of which they are guided. It is on account of the sinfulness of man, which the sun is forced to contemplate on his rounds, that he grows weaker as the time of his going down approaches, for sins have a defiling and enfeebling effect, and he drops from the horizon as a sphere of blood, for blood is the sign of corruption.^[8]

As the sun sets forth on his course in the morning, his wings touch the leaves on the trees of Paradise, and their vibration is communicated to the angels and the holy Ḥayyot, to the other plants, and also to the trees and plants on earth, and to all the beings on earth and in heaven. It is the signal for them all to cast their eyes upward. As soon as they see the Ineffable Name, which is engraved in the sun, they raise their voices in songs of praise to God. At the same moment a heavenly voice is heard to say, “Woe to the sons of men that consider not the honor of God like unto these creatures whose voices now rise aloft in adoration.”^[9] These words, naturally, are not heard by men, as little as they perceive the grating of the sun against the wheel to which all the celestial bodies are attached, although the noise it makes is extraordinarily loud.^[10] This friction of the sun and the wheel produces the motes dancing about in the sunbeams. They are the carriers of healing to the sick,^[11] the only health-giving creations of the fourth day, on the whole an unfortunate day, especially for children, afflicting them with disease.^[12]

When God punished the envious moon by diminishing her light and splendor, so that she ceased to be the equal of the sun as she had been originally,^[13] she fell,^[14] and tiny threads were loosed from her body. These are the stars.”^[15]

3. Konen 25–26, which is based on older sources; comp. BR6. 3; Hullin 60b; Shebu’ot 9a (the sacrifice of atonement on the new-moon is God’s acknowledgement that He dealt too severely with the moon); PRE 4 and 51; Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 1.16 and Num. 28.15. These sources, as well as others (Mekilta Bo 1, 3a; PK 5, 54a; PR 15, 78a; Tan. B. II, 47), also speak of the compensation received by the moon for its reduction in size: it became a symbol of Israel and the pious, whereas the sun represents Esau and the ungodly. More over the moon is sometimes seen also by day while the sun on the other hand is never seen by night. A reminiscence of the mythological conception of the diminution of the moon (the rationalistic explanation of the Haggadah by Back, Monatsschrift XXIX, 226, seq., must not be taken seriously) as a punishment for its rebellious conduct toward God may be found in Enoch 18.15,               where mention is made of the chastisement of the stars which “did not come at their appointed times”. This corresponds to the reproach administered to the moon, mentioned in BR, loc. cit., for having encroached upon the province of its colleague (=the sun), i.e., for having shone during the day. The myth sought to explain the appearance of the moon by day, which, owing to the superiority of the sun over it, was rather baffling to the primitive mind. Hullin, loc. cit., as well as the later addition in BR (אני הוא שגרמתי), does not present the myth in its original form.—That the sun and moon are endowed with wisdom and passion like man is originally a mythological conception which had been maintained for a long time by Jews and Christians. On this conception in pseudepigraphic literature and Philo, comp. Psalms of Solomon, end (the prayer at the appearance of the new-moon, קדוש לבנה, in present use, which is already found in Sanhedrin 42a, partly corresponds to this psalm); Apocalypse of Baruch 48.9; Enoch 2, 1–5, 3 (it is more than a poetic description of the order reigning in nature and the lack of order displayed by man); Philo, De Plant. Noe, 3; Be Somn. 1, 4 and 2, 16. On the rabbinic sources containing this view, comp., besides the passages referred to at the beginning of this note, also those cited in notes 102, 104, 105, 112. For the Christian sources, see Origen, 1, 7; Visio Pauli 4–6. Like the heavenly bodies, even so the earth, the plants, in short, all existing things, were conceived more or less by analogy to man; comp. note 193.—Concerning the motions of the heavenly bodies, the Books of Enoch, as well as the old rabbinic sources, contain a good deal of material which is on the boundary line of mythology and astronomy; comp. Pesahim 94a; Yerushalmi Rosh ha-Shanah 2, 58a; Baba Batra 25a; PK 29, 186a–186b; ER 2, 9–10; Hallel 89; Shir 3.11; see also the two writings Baraita di-Shemuel and Baraita di-Mazzalot, which are entirely devoted to this subject. Old material is found also in Raziel, which is particularly instructive for the history of astrology. Of interest is “the case” in which the disc of the sun is inserted (ναρθήκιον נרתיק “case”), a conception often mentioned in old rabbinic literature as well as in the writings of the Persians and Arabs (comp. Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsätze, 145–146). It is noteworthy that this “case” is known in rabbinic sources (BR 6.6; Koheleth 1.5; PK 29, 186a; Nedarim 8b; ‘Abodah Zarah 3b; Tehillim 19, 168 and 170; Tan. B. II, 98; Tan. Tezawweh 8; Hallel 89; Baraita di-Ma'aseh Bereshit 50) by the Greek word נרתיק—Concerning the darkness of               the sun and the moon, which occupied the minds of the ancients, comp. Mekilta Bo 1.3a; Tosefta Sukkah 2.6 and Babli 29a; Derek Erez 2; Nispahim 10; see also the references in note 112, and Index s.v. Eclipse. The view that the light of the sun is seven times as intense as that of the moon (Enoch 72.37, 73.2, and 78.4, as well as 2 Enoch 11.2) is based on Is. 30.26. This opinion is also shared by the legend given in the text in accordance with Konen 24–25 concerning the restoration of the light of the moon and the sevenfold increase of the light of the sun in the future. The old midrashic sources (Midrash Tannaim 181; ShR 15.21; Targum, ad loc.), however, conceive the passage of Is., loc. cit., in a different manner, and according to them the relationship between the light of the sun and that of the moon is 1:49 or 1:343. That the sun and the moon had been of equal size, as stated by Enoch 72.37, is not stated explicitly in rabbinic literature, but the legend given in the text implies it. Similar is the view of modern scientists that the moon was originally an independent planet; comp. See, Researches, II. Like all first things created (comp. vol. I, p. 59), the moon was created in a fully developed form, so that there was full moon on the fourth day of creation; Seder ‘Olam 4.
5. MHG I, 41–42; PRE 6; Tehillim 19, 168–170; Baraita deMa‘aseh Bereshit 50; Kohcleth 86; ‘Aseret ha-Dibrot 64; Zohar Hadash on Gen. 4, 19b; 2 Enoch 11.4; Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 6. Comp. also vol. I, p. 132. The song of praise of the heavenly bodies is partly based on Ps. 19, but presupposes also an acquaintance with the Pythagorean doctrine (perhaps of oriental origin) of the music of the spheres. The original text of Enoch 41.7 very likely read והם מודים ומפארים ושבתי אם לא ישבחו: “And they give thanks               and they glorify; they would cease to exist if they would not praise.“In consequence of the similarity between the letters and , the translator was misled into making the text say just the opposite. With regard to the music of the spheres, Philo, De Car., 3, refers to it in the very words which remind one of the anonymous Midrash quoted in Hadar, Deut. 32.1. Comp. also DR 10.1 and 2; Yelammedenu in alkut I, 729. See further vol. I, pp. 44, seq. The song of praise of the sun and moon did not strike the naive mind as strange, in view of the fact that the surfaces of these luminaries resemble the human countenance; comp. R. Benjamin b. Zerah (about 1050) in his piyyut אלהינו אלוהים אמת in the Roman and German Mahzor (comp. Zunz, Literaturgeschichte, 121), who undoubtedly made use of a version of Midrash Konen different from ours, but which Treves still had before him in his commentary on the Roman Mahzor entitled Kitnha Dabishuna, ad loc. The human countenance of the sun is also referred to in the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 6. Comp. also the preceding note as well as note 112 and note 6 on vol. IV, p. 4.
8. WR 31.9; Tehillim 19, 169; ER 2, 11; MHG I, 42; Alphabetot 118; Baraita de-Ma'aseh Bereshit 50. Quite similar is the statement of the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 8 to the effect that the angels remove the crown of the sun in the evening, bring it to heaven, and “renew” it there (the “renewing” of creation every day is also alluded to in the morning prayer, at the end of Yozer, comp. note 6), because the sun and its rays are becoming defiled on earth. With regard to the compulsory motion of the heavenly bodies, which do not wish to shed their light upon a sinful world, comp. vol. III, pp. 197–298;               vol. IV, p. 309. In Visio Pauli 4–6, the sun, moon, stars, and the sea implore God to grant them the power to destroy the sinners. There is a widespread view, which is based on Deut. 31.28, to the effect that the earth, the heaven, and the heavenly bodies bear witness for and against man, according to his actions; comp. Enoch 1.7; Sifre D., 306; ‘Abodah Zarah 3a. The following legend is quoted by many medieval authors (Mahzor Vitry 373; Zohar III, 275a; Sefer Mizwot Gadol, 42nd positive precept; Kaneh in Yalkut Reubeni I, 16, 8b) from an unknown midrashic source which reads: Whenever Satan brings accusations against Israel on the New Year, the day when God sits down to judge the whole universe, God commands him to produce witnesses in support of his accusations. But he can only secure one witness on that day, the sun, because the moon is invisible at that time; but when Satan appears ten days later, on the Day of Atonement, with his second witness, he is informed by the Lord that Israel repented of their sins during the ten days of penitence and that they were pardoned. Satan fares still worse in the legend given in PR 45, 185b–186a, according to which, while Satan is searching for more sins, God removes sins from the balance in which the good and evil deeds are weighed. On the appearance of the heavenly bodies, before and after their daily course, before God, comp. Baba Batra 25a and vol. III, p. 116.
10. 107 BR 6.7; ShR 5.9; Koheleth Z. 86; Shemuel 9, 74; Yoma 20b–21a; PRE 34. On the grating of the sun against its wheel, comp. Sachs, Beiträge, I, 50; Perles, Etymologische Studien, 72; Grunbaum, Gesammclte Aufsätzet 145. This has nothing to do with the music of the spheres, despite the statement of Maimonides, Guide of the               Perplexed, II, 8, and Zohar Hadash Bereshit 4 (caption תני ר״ שמעון). The old Jewish sources are not acquainted with the conception of the music of the spheres; comp. note 102. As to the noises which resound throughout the universe but are nevertheless inaudible to man, a good deal more is mentioned in the sources just quoted. These noises are at the birth and death of man, at the first sexual intercourse, as well as at the time of divorce, the felling of a fruitful tree and the sloughing of the skin of a serpent, the falling of rain (Yoma loc. cit., reads more accurately: the roaring of the taurine angel when he causes the water from the lower abyss to be poured into the upper abyss; comp. Ta'anit 25b; Baraita de-Ma'aseh Bereshit 49; Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 10; Responsen der Geonim, Harkavy’s edition, No. 289, p. 142); finally there resounds out of Rome such a loud voice, that were it not for the grating of the sun, it would have been audible all over the world. In these sources mythological conceptions, as, for instance, the roaring of the taurine angel of the abyss, which is merely the Jewish recast of the Babylonian belief about the god “Ea”, are found side by side with purely poetical images. As to the loud voice which resounds at the time of a divorce, comp. Index s.v. Divorce. See also vol. I, p. 59.
12. 109 Yerushalmi Ta'anit 4, 68b; Babli 27b; Soferim 7.5. One should not go out of doors on Wednesday night (i.e., on Wednesday eve, for according to the Jewish conception the day belongs to the preceding night) because the demon Agrat the daughter of Mahlat (=אגרת בת מחלת; the transliteration is doubtful, and Kohut’s Persian etymology in Angelologie, 88, is certainly untenable) with her eighteen myriads of malicious throngs come out on this night (also on Saturday night) to inflict evil on man. See Pesahim 111a and 112b; PRK (Grünhut’s edition) 73; BaR 12.3. Comp. further Sifra 26.4; Geiger, Kebuzzat Maamarim, 167, and Ginzberg’s note in the supplement. In the middle ages Monday (comp. vol. I, p. 15) and Wednesday were considered as unlucky days, and there is an accepted rule אין מתחילין בב״ד “one should not begin any undertaking on Monday or Wednesday”. Brüll, Jahrbücher, IX, 5 (comp. also ibid., 66), accepts the explanation found in a manuscript, according to which the belief               is due to the fact that 13 in Persian signifies “bad”; but this explanation is rather far-fetched.
15. Hadar on Gen. 1.16, which cites an unknown midrashic source; Toledot Yizhak on Gen., loc. cit., which is very likely based on Hadar. According to this legend, the word כוכבים “stars” is connected with the word כבה “was extinguished”; the light of the moon was dimmed because some of her parts fell off. On the etymology of שמש “sun”, ירח and סהר “moon”, see Konen 25–26. The text of this passage is to be corrected in accordance with Zohar Hadash Bereshit 4, 19b: שמש=שַׁמָּשׁ “servant of man”. Jellinek emended it correctly without having known the parallel passage.—In the legends concerning the sun, moon, and the stars it is presupposed that these luminaries are endowed with consciousness and intelligence. This idea, as pointed out in note 100, was so widespread among the ancients that Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed, II, 5 (comp. also Yad haHazakah, Yesode ha-Torah, 3.9), was justified in referring to the Haggadah as support for his doctrine which he borrowed from the Greeks, that the heavenly bodies were endowed with intelligence. Philo, De Plan. Noe, 3 and De Somn., 4, likewise calls attention to the agreement among the Jews and the Greeks concerning this view. It should, however, be observed that in the liturgy, at least as far as the old prayers are concerned, the conception of the heavenly bodies as intelligent or animate beings is entirely ignored, though the opportunity has frequently presented itself to make use of this idea, as, for instance, in the morning and evening prayer, in the passages of Yozer and Ma‘arib ‘Arabim. On the passages in pseudepigraphic literature stating that the heavenly bodies are endowed with life and senses, comp. note 100, as well as Enoch 41.5, and the passages cited by Charles. Not only Enoch 18.13–16, but also the Talmud (Mo’ed Katan 16a) speaks of “rebellious” stars; comp. also vol. IV, p. 36, on Meroz (Jud. 5.23). On the eclipse of the moon and sun comp. note 100. See further Philo, De M. Opif., 19, and Steinschneider in Magazin für Literatur d. Auslands, 1845, No. 80. Concerning the material of which the sun and moon were made very little is found in the Haggadah; according to Konen 25 the moon consists of light, the sun of fire. The statement made in the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 9 to the effect that the moon has the likeness of a               woman (in the original myth she must have been the wife of the sun) is unknown in Jewish sources. On the human form of the moon, however, see note 102. Comp. further Index, s.v. “Man in the Moon”.

The Fifth Day

On the fifth day of creation God took fire^[1] and water, and out of these two elements He made the fishes of the sea.^[2] The animals in the water are much more numerous than those on land. For every species on land, excepting only the weasel, there is a corresponding species in the water, and, besides, there are many found only in the water.”^[3]

The ruler over the sea-animals is leviathan.^[4] With all the other fishes he was made on the fifth day.^[5] Originally he was created male and female like all the other animals. But when it appeared that a pair of these monsters might annihilate the whole earth with their united strength, God killed the female.^[6] So enormous is leviathan that to quench his thirst he needs all the water that flows from the Jordan into the sea.^[7] His food consists of the fish which go between his jaws of their own accord.^[8] When he is hungry, a hot breath blows from his nostrils, and it makes the waters of the great sea seething hot. Formidable though behemot, the other monster, is, he feels insecure until he is certain that leviathan has satisfied his thirst.^[9] The only thing that can keep him in check is the stickleback, a little fish which was created for the purpose, and of which he stands in great awe.^[10] But leviathan is more than merely large and strong; he is wonderfully made besides. His fins radiate brilliant light, the very sun is obscured by it,^[11] and also his eyes shed such splendor that frequently the sea is illuminated suddenly by it.^[9] No wonder that this marvellous beast is the plaything of God, in whom He takes His pastime.^[12]

There is but one thing that makes leviathan repulsive, his foul smell, which is so strong that if it penetrated thither, it would render Paradise itself an impossible abode.^[13]

The real purpose of leviathan is to be served up as a dainty to the pious in the world to come. The female was put into brine as soon as she was killed, to be preserved against the time when her flesh will be needed.^[14] The male is destined to offer a delectable sight to all beholders before he is consumed. When his last hour arrives, God will summon the angels to enter into combat with the monster. But no sooner will leviathan cast his glance at them than they will flee in fear and dismay from the field of battle. They will return to the charge with swords, but in vain, for his scales can turn back steel like straw. They will be equally unsuccessful when they attempt to kill him by throwing darts and slinging stones; such missiles will rebound without leaving the least impression on his body. Disheartened, the angels will give up the combat, and God will command leviathan and behemot to enter into a duel with each other. The issue will be that both will drop dead, behemot slaughtered by a blow of leviathan's fins, and leviathan killed by a lash of behemot's tail. From the skin of leviathan God will construct tents to shelter companies of the pious while they enjoy the dishes made of his flesh. The amount assigned to each of the pious will be in proportion to his deserts, and none will envy or begrudge the other his better share. What is left of leviathan's skin will be stretched out over Jerusalem as a canopy, and the light streaming from it will illumine the whole world, and what is left of his flesh after the pious have appeased their appetite, will be distributed among the rest of men, to carry on traffic therewith.^[15]

On the same day with the fishes, the birds were created, for these two kinds of animals are closely related to each other. Fish are fashioned out of water, and birds out of marshy ground saturated with water.^[16]

As leviathan is the king of fishes, so the ziz is appointed to rule over the birds.^[17] His name comes from the variety of tastes his flesh has; it tastes like this, zeh, and like that, zeh.^[18] The ziz is as monstrous of size as leviathan himself. His ankles rest on the earth, and his head reaches to the very sky.^[19]

It once happened that travellers on a vessel noticed a bird. As he stood in the water, it merely covered his feet, and his head knocked against the sky. The onlookers thought the water could not have any depth at that point, and they prepared to take a bath there. A heavenly voice warned them: “Alight not here! Once a carpenter’s axe slipped from his hand at this spot, and it took it seven years to touch bottom.” The bird the travellers saw was none other than the ziz.^[20] His wings are so huge that unfurled they darken the sun.^[21] They protect the earth against the storms of the south; without their aid the earth would not be able to resist the winds blowing thence.^[22] Once an egg of the ziz fell to the ground and broke. The fluid from it flooded sixty cities, and the shock crushed three hundred cedars. Fortunately such accidents do not occur frequently. As a rule the bird lets her eggs slide gently into her nest. This one mishap was due to the fact that the egg was rotten, and the bird cast it away carelessly. The ziz has another name, Renanim,^[23] because he is the celestial singer.^[24] On account of his relation to the heavenly regions he is also called Sekwi, the seer, and, besides, he is called “son of the nest,”^[25] because his fledgling birds break away from the shell without being hatched by the mother bird; they spring directly from the nest, as it were.^[26] Like leviathan, so ziz is also a delicacy to be served to the pious at the end of time, to compensate them for the privations which abstaining from the unclean fowls imposed upon them.^[27]

13. Baba Batra 75a, which literally reads: If Leviathan were not to put his head into paradise and become perfumed by its               fragrance, no creature could exist on account of the awful odor he emits. This statement has nothing to do with the medieval legend concerning the offensive odor of the devil, but it is related to the ancient identification of Leviathan with the sea. The latter has an offensive odor. Comp. vol. III, p. 25 (end of paragraph).
15. PK 29, 188a–188b; Baba Batra 75a; Alphabetot 98. The contest between the angels and the monsters is variously described in the sources quoted above, and especially noteworthy is the description of Alphabetot. Gabriel receives the order from God to drag out Leviathan from the Great Sea (=Ocean, or the Mediterranean Sea; comp. Baba Batra 74b and note 73), for which purpose the angel provides himself with the necessary implements. He succeeds in hooking Leviathan, but is swallowed up in his attempt to drag him out on dry land. Whereupon God Himself is obliged to seize Leviathan, and He slays him in the presence of the pious. Then Michael and Gabriel are sent against the male and female Behemoth, but being unable to carry out God's command (this is the way the fragmentary text is to be emended), He Himself is then obliged to accomplish it. For further details concerning Leviathan and Behemoth, comp. Pirke Mashiah, 76; BHM VI. 150; WR 13.3; Kalir in the piyyut ויכון עולם (end of Lamentations in Roman Mahzor), who made use of old sources which are no longer extant, in his description of the two monsters and of their contest which ends with the annihilation of both. Comp. further vol. I, pp. 29 and 30 with reference to Ziz and Behemoth. It is noteworthy that the tannaitic literature does not contain anything concerning Leviathan and Behemoth (the remark in Sifra 11.10 that Leviathan is a clean fish has hardly anything to do with the view that it will be eaten at the Messianic banquet, comp. also Hullin 67b and note 139, beginning), nor concerning the Messianic banquet. The word used in Abot 3.25 need not be taken literally, as may be seen from Tosefta Sanhedrin 8.9. Only in post-tannaitic literature, especially in later Midrashim, does the Messianic banquet play a great part. Comp., besides the sources already quoted, Nistarot R. Simeon 80; BHM V, 45–46; VI, 47; Alphabet R. Akiba 33. Comp. also vol. IV, pp. 115–116 and 249. Luzzatto, in his notes on the Roman Mahzor II, 212b, correctly remarked that the legend about the Messianic banquet wants to convey the view that this will be the                                           ed. Sulzbach, Job, loc. cit. All these legends concerning Leviathan and Behemoth point to the fact, which has already been observed by several authors (comp. especially Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos, 41–69), that a good deal of old mythological material has been preserved in them. Nevertheless one must not look exclusively for Babylonian myths, and one is not warranted to identify, on the basis of Enoch, loc. cit., Behemoth and Leviathan with Tiamat and Kingu, respectively, of the Babylonian mythology, since not only the rabbinic sources but also Job 40 clearly describes Behemoth as a land monster. It may therefore be said that Behemoth belongs to quite another cycle of myths, but owing to learned combinations, the pseudepigraphic authors made it the consort of Leviathan, whereas the rabbinic sources retain the original conception of it as a land monster. The allegorical interpretation of the Leviathan-Behemoth legends originated at a very early date, and is found not only among the Gnostics (comp. the Jewish gnostic Apocalypse of Abraham, loc. cit., and Hippolytus 5.21, on Leviathan as a bad angel in the system of Justinus), but also in rabbinic sources. Comp. ER 2, 61–62 (partly quoted in note 124); Guide of the Perplexed, III, 23; Kimhi on Is. 27.1, and particularly in kabbalistic literature in which Leviathan is identified with “Evil” which will disappear in Messianic times, when the righteous as purely spiritual beings like the angels, will enjoy life in paradise. See Ma‘areket 8, 102–103b; Nefesh ha-Hayyim 1, 17; the numerous passages cited from Zohar by Heilpern, ’Erke ha-Kinnuyim, s.v. לויתן. See also the remark of R. David b. R. Judah he-Hasid in Shitah Mekubbezet on Baba Batra 75a. On Leviathan as the serpent encircling the world, comp. Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsälze, 129, and note 275 on vol. I, p. 394.
27. WR 22.10, where it is explicitly stated that Ziz and Leviathan belong to the “clean animals” (comp. note 127 with reference to Leviathan), whereas in 13.3 and Tehillim 146, 535, it is emphasized, with reference to the use of these animals, that in the time of               the Messiah a new Torah will be given which will dispense with the present dietary laws. Nistarot R. Simeon 8 reads: Behemoth will be slaughtered, Leviathan (a fish does not require to be killed ritually) will be torn by Ziz, and the latter slaughtered by Moses. In view of the description of the contest between Behemoth and Leviathan (comp. vol. I, p. 28), we should probably read in Nistarot ובהמות לויתן שוהטו, “and Behemoth will be slain by Leviathan”, i.e. by the points of his fins, which may be used as instruments for ritual slaughtering; comp. Hullin 1.2. On the disposal of the three monsters, Leviathan, Behemoth, and Ziz, that is, the representatives of the three animal kingdoms, at the Messianic banquet, see Tehillim 18, 153, and 23, 202, whence the statement found in later writings (Kad ha-Kemah, end of letter ח, 93a; Levita, Tishbi, s.v. יוכנה) that the bird Bar Yokni will be used as food for the pious in Messianic times. No trace is found in older sources of the identity of this bird with Ziz; but since רננים (Job 49.13) is according to Bekorot 57b, the same as Bar Yokni, and in the opinion of Targum, ad loc., it is the same as תרנגול ברא i.e., Ziz (comp. Targum Ps. 50.11), it was quite natural for the later authorities to identify Bar Yokni with Ziz. In most of the Ziz legends the dependence upon Iranic mythology is evident. The “heavenly singer and seer” is naturally the sacred cock of Avesta (Vendidad 18, 33, seq .); comp. Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsätze, 37, seq.; Rubin, Kabbala und Agada, 23–25; Ginzberg in Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. “Cock”, as well as note 194. Of Iranic origin is also the conception that the wings of Ziz eclipse the sun. With this should be compared the sun birds of the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 6–8 and the Chalkidri in 2 Enoch 15; comp. Bousset, Religion, 568. Highly instructive is the following passage in Konen 26, which precedes the description of the creation of Ziz (comp. note 131): And He created an Ofan (a kind of angel) on earth, whose head reaches the holy Hayyot who is the mediator between Israel and their heavenly Father. He bears the name Sandalfon and fashions out of the prayers wreaths (or crowns) for God’s majesty, which ascend upon the head of the Lord at his uttering the holy name. Whatever is said here concerning Sandalfon is taken from Hagigah 13b (comp. also PR 20, 97a). The connection, however, between Sandalfon and Ziz can only be understood when one considers the fact that Ziz was originally taken as the heavenly singer; he is hence identical with Sandalfon. To quite a different cycle of legends belongs the conception of the gigantic bird Ziz, which will be eaten by the pious in the world to come.

===The Sixth Day===

As the fish were formed out of water, and the birds out of boggy earth well mixed with water, so the mammals were formed out of solid earth,^[1] and as leviathan is the most notable representative of the fish kind, and ziz of the bird kind, so behemot is the most notable representative of the mammal kind. Behemot matches leviathan in strength, and he had to be prevented, like leviathan, from multiplying and increasing, else the world could not have continued to exist; after God had created him male and female, He at once deprived him of the desire to propagate his kind.^[2] He is so monstrous that he requires the produce of a thousand mountains for his daily food. All the water that flows through the bed of the Jordan in a year suffices him exactly for one gulp. It therefore was necessary to give him one stream entirely for his own use, a stream flowing forth from Paradise, called Yubal.^[3] Behemot, too, is destined to be served to the pious as an appetizing dainty, but before they enjoy his flesh, they will be permitted to view the mortal combat between leviathan and behemot, as a reward for having denied themselves the pleasures of the circus and its gladiatorial contests.^[4]

Leviathan, ziz, and behemot are not the only monsters; there are many others, and marvellous ones, like the reëm, a giant animal, of which only one couple, male and female, is in existence. Had there been more, the world could hardly have maintained itself against them. The act of copulation occurs but once in seventy years between them, for God has so ordered it that the male and female reëm are at opposite ends of the earth, the one in the east, the other in the west. The act of copulation results in the death of the male. He is bitten by the female and dies of the bite. The female becomes pregnant and remains in this state for no less than twelve years. At the end of this long period she gives birth to twins, a male and a female. The year preceding her delivery she is not able to move. She would die of hunger, were it not that her own spittle flowing copiously from her mouth waters and fructifies the earth near her, and causes it to bring forth enough for her maintenance. For a whole year the animal can but roll from side to side, until finally her belly bursts, and the twins issue forth. Their appearance is thus the signal for the death of the mother reëm. She makes room for the new generation, which in turn is destined to suffer the same fate as the generation that went before. Immediately after birth, the one goes eastward and the other westward, to meet only after the lapse of seventy years, propagate themselves, and perish.^[5] A traveller who once saw a reëm one day old described its height to be four parasangs, and the length of its head one parasang and a half.^[6] Its horns measure one hundred ells, and their height is a great deal more.^[7]

One of the most remarkable creatures is the “man of the mountain,” Adne Sadeh, or, briefly, Adam.^[8] His form is exactly that of a human being, but he is fastened to the ground by means of a navel-string, upon which his life depends. The cord once snapped, he dies. This animal keeps himself alive with what is produced by the soil around about him as far as his tether permits him to crawl. No creature may venture to approach within the radius of his cord, for he seizes and demolishes whatever comes in his reach. To kill him, one may not go near to him, the navel-string must be severed from a distance by means of a dart, and then he dies amid groans and moans.^[9]

Once upon a time a traveller happened in the region where this animal is found. He overheard his host consult his wife as to what to do to honor their guest, and resolve to serve “our man,” as he said. Thinking he had fallen among cannibals, the stranger ran as fast as his feet could carry him from his entertainer, who sought vainly to restrain him. Afterward, he found out that there had been no intention of regaling him with human flesh, but only with the flesh of the strange animal called “man.”^[10]

As the “man of the mountain” is fixed to the ground by his navel-string, so the barnacle-goose is grown to a tree by its bill. It is hard to say whether it is an animal and must be slaughtered to be fit for food, or whether it is a plant and no ritual ceremony is necessary before eating it.^[11]

Among the birds the phœnix is the most wonderful. When Eve gave all the animals some of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the phœnix was the only bird that refused to eat thereof, and he was rewarded with eternal life. When he has lived a thousand years, his body shrinks, and the feathers drop from it, until he is as small as an egg. This is the nucleus of the new bird.^[12]

The phœnix is also called “the guardian of the terrestrial sphere.” He runs with the sun on his circuit, and he spreads out his wings and catches up the fiery rays of the sun.^[13] If he were not there to intercept them, neither man nor any other animate being would keep alive. On his right wing the following words are inscribed in huge letters,^[14] about four thousand stadia high: “Neither the earth produces me, nor the heavens, but only the wings of fire.” His food consists of the manna of heaven and the dew of the earth. His excrement is a worm, whose excrement in turn is the cinnamon used by kings and princes.^[13] Enoch, who saw the phœnix birds when he was translated, describes them as flying creatures, wonderful and strange in appearance, with the feet and tails of lions, and the heads of crocodiles; their appearance is of a purple color like the rainbow; their size nine hundred measures. Their wings are like those of angels, each having twelve, and they attend the chariot of the sun and go with him, bringing heat and dew as they are ordered by God. In the morning when the sun starts on his daily course, the phoenixes and the chalkidri^[15] sing, and every bird flaps its wings, rejoicing the Giver of light, and they sing a song at the command of the Lord^[16]

Among reptiles the salamander and the shamir are the most marvellous. The salamander originates from a fire of myrtle wood^[17] which has been kept burning for seven years steadily by means of magic arts. Not bigger than a mouse, it yet is invested with peculiar properties. One who smears himself with its blood is invulnerable,^[18] and the web woven by it is a talisman against fire.^[19] The people who lived at the deluge boasted that, were a fire flood to come, they would protect themselves with the blood of the salamander.^[20]

King Hezekiah owes his life to the salamander. His wicked father, King Ahaz, had delivered him to the fires of Moloch, and he would have been burnt, had his mother not painted him with the blood of the salamander, so that the fire could do him no harm.^[21]

The shamir was made at twilight on the sixth day of creation together with other extraordinary things.^[22] It is about as large as a barley corn, and it possesses the remarkable property of cutting the hardest of diamonds. For this reason it was used for the stones in the breastplate worn by the high priest. First the names of the twelve tribes were traced with ink on the stones to be set into the breastplate, then the shamir was passed over the lines, and thus they were graven. The wonderful circumstance was that the friction wore no particles from the stones. The shamir was also used for hewing into shape the stones from which the Temple was built, because the law prohibited iron tools to be used for the work in the Temple.^[23] The shamir may not be put in an iron vessel for safe-keeping, nor in any metal vessel, it would burst such a receptacle asunder. It is kept wrapped up in a woollen cloth, and this in turn is placed in a lead basket filled with barley bran.^[24] The shamir was guarded in Paradise until Solomon needed it. He sent the eagle thither to fetch the worm.^[25] With the destruction of the Temple the shamir vanished.^[26]

A similar fate overtook the tahash, which had been created only that its skin might be used for the Tabernacle. Once the Tabernacle was completed, the tahash disappeared. It had a horn on its forehead, was gaily colored like the turkeycock, and belonged to the class of clean animals.^[27]

Among the fishes there are also wonderful creatures, the sea-goats and the dolphins, not to mention leviathan. A seafaring man once saw a sea-goat on whose horns the words were inscribed: “I am a little sea-animal, yet I traversed three hundred parasangs to offer myself as food to the leviathan.”^[28] The dolphins are half man and half fish; they even have sexual intercourse with human beings; therefore they are called also “sons of the sea,” for in a sense they represent the human kind in the waters.^[29]

Though every species in the animal world was created during the last two days of the six of creation,^[30] yet many characteristics of certain animals appeared later. Cats and mice, foes now, were friends originally. Their later enmity had a distinct cause. On one occasion the mouse appeared before God and spoke: “I and the cat are partners, but now we have nothing to eat.” The Lord answered: “Thou art intriguing against thy companion, only that thou mayest devour her. As a punishment, she shall devour thee.”

Thereupon the mouse: “O Lord of the world, wherein have I done wrong?” God replied: “O thou unclean reptile, thou shouldst have been warned by the example of the moon, who lost a part of her light, because she spake ill of the sun, and what she lost was given to her opponent.^[31] The evil intentions thou didst harbor against thy companion shall be punished in the same way. Instead of thy devouring her, she shall devour thee.” The mouse: “O Lord of the world! Shall my whole kind be destroyed?” God: “I will take care that a remnant of thee is spared.” In her rage the mouse bit the cat, and the cat in turn threw herself upon the mouse, and hacked into her with her teeth until she lay dead. Since that moment the mouse stands in such awe of the cat that she does not even attempt to defend herself against her enemy’s attacks, and always keeps herself in hiding.^[32]

Similarly dogs and cats maintained a friendly relation to each other, and only later on became enemies. A dog and a cat were partners, and they shared with each other whatever they had. It once happened that neither could find anything to eat for three days. Thereupon the dog proposed that they dissolve their partnership. The cat should go to Adam, in whose house there would surely be enough for her to eat, while the dog should seek his fortune elsewhere. Before they separated, they took an oath never to go to the same master. The cat took up her abode with Adam, and she found sufficient mice in his house to satisfy her appetite. Seeing how useful she was in driving away and extirpating mice, Adam treated her most kindly. The dog, on the other hand, saw bad times. The first night after their separation he spent in the cave of the wolf, who had granted him a night’s lodging. At night the dog caught the sound of steps, and he reported it to his host, who bade him repulse the intruders. They were wild animals. Little lacked and the dog would have lost his life. Dismayed, the dog fled from the house of the wolf, and took refuge with the monkey. But he would not grant him even a single night’s lodging; and the fugitive was forced to appeal to the hospitality of the sheep. Again the dog heard steps in the middle of the night. Obeying the bidding of his host, he arose to chase away the marauders, who turned out to be wolves. The barking of the dog apprised the wolves of the presence of sheep, so that the dog innocently caused the sheep’s death. Now he had lost his last friend. Night after night he begged for shelter, without ever finding a home. Finally, he decided to repair to the house of Adam, who also granted him refuge for one night. When wild animals approached the house under cover of darkness, the dog began to bark, Adam awoke, and with his bow and arrow he drove them away. Recognizing the dog’s usefulness, he bade him remain with him always. But as soon as the cat espied the dog in Adam’s house, she began to quarrel with him, and reproach him with having broken his oath to her. Adam did his best to pacify the cat. He told her he had himself invited the dog to make his home there, and he assured her she would in no wise be the loser by the dog’s presence; he wanted both to stay with him. But it was impossible to appease the cat. The dog promised her not to touch anything intended for her. She insisted that she could not live in one and the same house with a thief like the dog. Bickerings between the dog and the cat became the order of the day. Finally the dog could stand it no longer, and he left Adam’s house, and betook himself to Seth’s. By Seth he was welcomed kindly, and from Seth’s house, he continued to make efforts at reconciliation with the cat. In vain. Yes, the enmity between the first dog and the first cat was transmitted to all their descendants until this very day.^[33]

Even the physical peculiarities of certain animals were not original features with them, but owed their existence to something that occurred subsequent to the days of creation. The mouse at first had quite a different mouth from its present mouth. In Noah’s ark, in which all animals, to ensure the preservation of every kind, lived together peaceably, the pair of mice were once sitting next to the cat. Suddenly the latter remembered that her father was in the habit of devouring mice, and thinking there was no harm in following his example, she jumped at the mouse, who vainly looked for a hole into which to slip out of sight. Then a miracle happened; a hole appeared where none had been before, and the mouse sought refuge in it. The cat pursued the mouse, and though she could not follow her into the hole, she could insert her paw and try to pull the mouse out of her covert. Quickly the mouse opened her mouth in the hope that the paw would go into it, and the cat would be prevented from fastening her claws in her flesh. But as the cavity of the mouth was not big enough, the cat succeeded in clawing the cheeks of the mouse. Not that this helped her much, it merely widened the mouth of the mouse, and her prey after all escaped the cat.^[34] After her happy escape, the mouse betook herself to Noah and said to him, “O pious man, be good enough to sew up my cheek where my enemy, the cat, has torn a rent in it.” Noah bade her fetch a hair out of the tail of the swine, and with this he repaired the damage. Thence the little seam-like line next to the mouth of every mouse to this very day.^[35]

The raven is another animal that changed its appearance during its sojourn in the ark. When Noah desired to send him forth to find out about the state of the waters, he hid under the wings of the eagle. Noah found him, however, and said to him, “Go and see whether the waters have diminished.” The raven pleaded: “Hast thou none other among all the birds to send on this errand?” Noah: “My power extends no further than over thee and the dove.”^[36] But the raven was not satisfied. He said to Noah with great insolence: “Thou sendest me forth only that I may meet my death, and thou wishest my death that my wife may be at thy service.”^[37] Thereupon Noah cursed the raven thus: “May thy mouth, which has spoken evil against me, be accursed, and thy intercourse with thy wife be only through it.”^[38] All the animals in the ark said Amen. And this is the reason why a mass of spittle runs from the mouth of the male raven into the mouth of the female during the act of copulation, and only thus the female is impregnated.^[39]

Altogether the raven is an unattractive animal. He is unkind toward his own young so long as their bodies are not covered with black feathers,^[40] though as a rule ravens love one another.^[41] God therefore takes the young ravens under His special protection. From their own excrement maggots come forth,^[42] which serve as their food during the three days that elapse after their birth, until their white feathers turn black and their parents recognize them as their offspring and care for them.^[43]

The raven has himself to blame also for the awkward hop in his gait. He observed the graceful step of the dove, and envious of her tried to emulate it. The outcome was that he almost broke his bones without in the least succeeding in making himself resemble the dove, not to mention that he brought the scorn of the other animals down upon himself. His failure excited their ridicule. Then he decided to return to his own original gait, but in the interval he had unlearnt it, and he could walk neither the one way nor the other properly. His step had become a hop betwixt and between. Thus we see how true it is, that he who is dissatisfied with his small portion loses the little he has in striving for more and better things.^[44]

The steer is also one of the animals that has suffered a change in the course of time. Originally his face was entirely overgrown with hair, but now there is none on his nose, and that is because Joshua kissed him on his nose during the siege of Jericho. Joshua was an exceedingly heavy man. Horses, donkeys, and mules, none could bear him, they all broke down under his weight. What they could not do, the steer accomplished. On his back Joshua rode to the siege of Jericho, and in gratitude he bestowed a kiss upon his nose.^[45]

The serpent, too, is other than it was at first. Before the fall of man it was the cleverest of all animals created, and in form it resembled man closely. It stood upright, and was of extraordinary size.^[46] Afterward, it lost the mental advantages it had possessed as compared with other animals, and it degenerated physically, too; it was deprived of its feet, so that it could not pursue other animals and kill them. The mole and the frog had to be made harmless in similar ways; the former has no eyes, else it were irresistible, and the frog has no teeth, else no animal in the water were sure of its life.^[47]

While the cunning of the serpent wrought its own undoing, the cunning of the fox stood him in good stead in many an embarrassing situation. After Adam had committed the sin of disobedience, God delivered the whole of the animal world into the power of the Angel of Death, and He ordered him to cast one pair of each kind into the water. He and leviathan together thus have dominion over all that has life. When the Angel of Death was in the act of executing the Divine command upon the fox, he began to weep bitterly. The Angel of Death asked him the reason of his tears, and the fox replied that he was mourning the sad fate of his friend. At the same time he pointed to the figure of a fox in the sea, which was nothing but his own reflection. The Angel of Death, persuaded that a representative of the fox family had been cast into the water, let him go free. The fox told his trick to the cat, and she in turn played it on the Angel of Death.^[48] So it happened that neither cats nor foxes are represented in the water, while all other animals are.^[49]

When leviathan passed the animals in review, and missing the fox was informed of the sly way in which he had eluded his authority, he dispatched great and powerful fish on the errand of enticing the truant into the water. The fox walking along the shore espied the large number of fish, and he exclaimed, “How happy he who may always satisfy his hunger with the flesh of such as these.” The fish told him, if he would but follow them, his appetite could easily be appeased. At the same time they informed him that a great honor awaited him. Leviathan, they said, was at death’s door, and he had commissioned them to install the fox as his successor. They were ready to carry him on their backs, so that he had no need to fear the water, and thus they would convey him to the throne, which stood upon a huge rock. The fox yielded to these persuasions, and descended into the water. Presently an uncomfortable feeling took possession of him. He began to suspect that the tables were turned; he was being made game of instead of making game of others as usual. He urged the fish to tell him the truth, and they admitted that they had been sent out to secure his person for leviathan, who wanted his heart,^[50] that he might become as knowing as the fox, whose wisdom he had heard many extol. The fox said reproachfully: “Why did you not tell me the truth at once? Then I could have brought my heart along with me for King Leviathan, who would have showered honors upon me. As it is, you will surely suffer punishment for bringing me without my heart. The foxes, you see,” he continued, “do not carry their hearts around with them. They keep them in a safe place, and when they have need of them, they fetch them thence.” The fish quickly swam to shore, and landed the fox, so that he might go for his heart. No sooner did he feel dry land under his feet than he began to jump and shout, and when they urged him to go in search of his heart, and follow them, he said: “O ye fools, could I have followed you into the water, if I had not had my heart with me? Or exists there a creature able to go abroad without his heart?” The fish replied: “Come, come, thou art fooling us.” Whereupon the fox: “O ye fools, if I could play a trick on the Angel of Death, how much easier was it to make game of you?” So they had to return, their errand undone, and leviathan could not but confirm the taunting judgment of the fox: “In very truth, the fox is wise of heart, and ye are fools.”^[51]

5. A quotation from a manuscript Midrash in Midbar               Kedemot ק׳, No. 12, and Aguddat Aggadot 39. A similar statement is found MHG I, 95–96 concerning a certain serpent related to the one which seduced Eve. Comp. also Rashi on Is. 30.6 and Herodotus III, 109.
11. Responsa of R. Meir of Rothenburg (Lemberg edition, No. 160), and through the literary channels, namely, the writings of the Franco-German scholars of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, who often discussed the “legal status” of the barnacle-goose, scholars of other countries became acquainted with this legend, though there it failed to engage the popular fancy. Christian authors, at the same               time, discussed the question whether it was permissible to eat these birds during Lent. Comp. Geraldus Cambiensis (1154–1189), whose zeal burned against the rashness of those who indulged in the enjoyment of this bird during the Lent season. It appears, however, that his zeal was not of much avail, since Duran, in his Magen Abot, 35b, confirms the persistence of the “rashness and indulgence” of the Frenchmen of his time, two hundred years after that “zeal for the observance”. Comp. Oppenheim, Monatsschrift, XVIII, 88–93; Gtidemann, Erziehungswesen II, 117, 213, and III, 129; Steinschneider, Hebräische Bibliographie V, 116–117; Steinschneider in Gosche’s Archiv III, 8; Ha-Goren IV, 99; Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. “Barnacle-goose.”
23. Tosefta Sotah 15.1; Babli 48b; Yerushalmi 9, 20d. It is               stated in PR 33, 155a, that the Shamir was also applied to the building of the temple for the purpose of splitting the rock-like hard wood (so is גלומי to be translated; comp. Syriac גלמא “rocky ground”).
29. Tosefta Bekorot 1.11 and Babli 8a, where instead of דולפינין of the Tosefta, the Aramaic בני ימא is used, which Rashi renders by “sirens” while ps.-R. Gershon explains it as “seamen”. In our text of               the Talmud nothing is said about a union of the sirens and men, and it is uncertain whether this statement of Rashi is based on a different text (עם for כבני) or whether, influenced by the belief in fays and naiads, prevalent in the Middle Ages, all through Europe, Rashi ascribes to the Talmud something which is alien to it. According to the Tosefta and the Talmud, the dolphins give birth to their children in the same manner as human beings do. The assertion of Duran, Magen Abot, 68a, concerning the dolphins belongs rather to European folklore, although it pretends to be Jewish. Comp. Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, 153–155; Löw, Aramaische Fischnämen, No. 49, in Nöldeke-Festschrift; Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsätze, 101. According to Enoch 19.2, the women who caused the fall of the angels were transformed into sirens; comp. Apocalypse of Baruch 10.8.
35. 2 Alphabet of Ben Sira 26a–26b; see also 34b, where it is said that Noah stole the hair which he needed for his work, from a sleeping swine. The story told in this source (25a–34b) concerning the donkey, which was shocked at having to serve man without any compensation, practically agrees with the Sicilian legend by Dahnhardt, Natursagen, III, 178. The characteristics of these animals to scent their excrement and to urinate, as soon as one of them starts to do it, is explained in the following manner. They threatened God that they would stop to propagate their species in case they were not to receive their reward for their work. They received the following answer: “Ye will receive your reward for your labor as soon as your urine will flow as a stream big enough to work a mill and when your excrement will smell as perfume.” Hence the donkeys               wish to ascertain whether they have fulfilled the conditions under which a reward was promised to them.
39. 2 Alphabet of Ben Sira 26b–27a and 34a–35a. The older sources (Sanhedrin 108b; BR 36.7; Yerushalmi Ta‘anit 1, 64d; Tan. Noah 12) state that three were punished because they did not observe the law of abstinence while in the ark (comp. vol. 1, p. 166): Ham, the dog, and the raven. Ham became the ancestor of the black               (colored) race; the dog remains attached to the body of his mate after cohabitation; the raven conceives through his mouth. Comp. further note 46 on vol. I, p. 164, and note 54 on vol. I, p. 166.
48. The angel of death occurring often in rabbinic literature, in which he is identified with Satan (Baba Batra 16a), is also well known in pseudepigraphic literature; comp. the Apocalypse of Baruch 21.25; Ascension of Isaiah 9.16. See also note 317 on vol. I, p. 300. The relationship between Leviathan and the angel of               death clearly points to the assumption that the view prevalent in the Kabbalah concerning the identity of Satan with Leviathan (comp. note 127) goes back to an ancient tradition. According to a legend handed down from a different version, there are several angels of death. Thus PRK 14b (Schönblum’s edition) states that there are six angels of death. Gabriel is in charge of taking away the lives of young persons; Kazfiel is appointed over kings; Meshabber over animals; Mashhit over children; Af over the other kinds of men; Hemah over domestic animals. On the relation of Gabriel to the angel of death, comp. Ma'aseh Torah 98; Huppat Eliyyahu 6; Zohar I, 99a.
51. 2 Alphabet of Ben Sira 27a–28b and 36a. The text requires many emendations. 28a, line 8, read: אִמְרוּ לי האמת; 28a, line 15: לכאן ולכאן; 36a, 1.15: ושם נכון. On the origin of this animal fable, comp. Ginzberg, Jewish Encyclopedia, II, 680; s.v. “Ben Sira”, Abrahams, Book of Delight, 159, seq. It should be further noted that although MHG II, 45, Sekel, Exod. 29, Imre No'am and Hadar on Exod. 7.14 give different versions of the similar fable found in Yalkut I, 182 (in the first edition מדרש is given as source) concerning the lion, the ass, and the fox, there can be no doubt that the origin of our fable is to be found in that about the ape and the crocodile (Pantchatantra IV, 1), which has found its way also into the Alphabet of Ben Sira, where, however, it was combined with other elements. Whether the author of the Alphabet had directly made use of the Indian-Arabic fable literature, or whether he had adapted fables known to him from older Jewish writings, is a moot question. The first alternative, however, is the more likely, since the author knows a number of animal fables, which are not extant in the older Jewish literature. Some animal fables are also given in 1 Alphabet 5a–5b and 7a–7b; but those are found also in the older rabbinic literature, so that the priority of this source is more than questionable. The account of the pious son who was compensated by Leviathan because he had fulfilled his father’s last wish (on this motive comp.. vol. 1, pp. 118, seq.) is known not only to 1 Alphabet (5a–5b), but is also               found in Hibbur ha-Ma'asiyyot, fifth commandment, and is very likely borrowed from there in the Ma'asehbuch 194. In these sources the following stories are welded into one: The story from 1 Alphabet 7a 7b, with the lesson “not to do any good to the wicked, so that one should not suffer from them”; the story given in vol. IV, pp. 138 141, concerning the man who understood the language of the animals; as well as the one about the pious son. This, of course, proves that the sources are quite new. WR 22.4 and Koheleth 5.4 must certainly have been made use of by Alphabet and the two other sources mentioned.—The Talmudim, like the Midrashim, contain very extensive material of animal folk-lore, a very small part of which is to be found in Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds (350 358). As to the post-talmudic period, see Duran, Magen Abot (comp., e.g., 35b37b) and Shebet Musar (particularly chapter 22), which contains vast material on this subject. The following contains material taken from the older sources. The propagation of animals is usually the result of cohabitation, but there is also spontaneous generation, i.e., animals springing forth as the result of the putrefaction of animals or vegetables. Man, fish, and serpent are the only species whose mates face each other during cohabitation, because they are the only living creatures to whom God spoke (Gen. 3.14; Jonah 2.11); hence this distinction is conferred upon them; Bekorot 8a; BR 20.3. Once in seven years God transforms nature, as a result of which the hornet springs forth from the remains of the horse; bees from the cattle; the wild boar from the mountain-mouse; the multipede from the backbone of the fish; the serpent from the backbone of the human body which did not formerly bow down at the time of prayer; Yerushalmi Shabbat 1, 3b. The beginning of this passage is badly corrupted, part of it, however, may be restored in accordance with Baba Kamma 16a (bottom) and with the text of R. Hananel, Baba Kamma loc. cit. One may read, with certainty, קמושה מיתעבר חוח...אפא מיתעבד שד ממוחו דרישא...ודמעיא סממא. It is questionable whether קמוש and חוח in Yerushalmi and Babli are to be taken as bramble-bushes. Targum on Is. 34.13 and Hos. 9.6 takes these nouns to be certain species of animals, as has been rightly observed by Duran, Magen Abot, 58b; comp. also Kimhi on the first passage. Both Yerushalmi and Babli speak in this connection of the sexual metamorphosis of the hyena (comp. note 177 with respect to the peculiarity of giving birth through the mouth, comp. Huppat Eliyyahu 3, where this is ascribed to the raven), and Babli knows               of a long process of transformations of this animal, which finally becomes a demon. Concerning the splendor of the color of this animal, it is said that it possesses 365 different colors; see BR 7.4; Tan. Tazria’ 2; Tehillim 103, 432. Comp. also Berakot 6a, where this is stated with reference to the bird Kerum.—The serpent is the wicked among the animals (Bekorot 68a; Yerushalmi Berakot 2, 9a; accordingly MHG I, 95, הרשע=the serpent), and despite his punishment after the fall, this animal retained his weakness for the feminine sex; comp. Shabbat 109a, and note 60 on vol. I, p. 72. A remedy against serpents is the fumigation of the places frequented by them with the horns of a hind (this is also found in Pliny, Historia Naturalis, VIII, 32, 50), which is the “pious one“ among the animals. Whenever a drought occurs, the other animals apply to the hind to pray to God, who will listen to its prayers on account of its piety. It digs a pit in the ground into which it sticks its horns, and prays to God for rain. Whereupon God causes water to come up from the abyss. See Tehillim 25, 187. The attribute “pious” is shared by the hind with the stork which is called in Hebrew Hasidah, “the pious one”, because the animals of this species are kind to one another; Hullin 63a; Tehillim 104, 144; Philo, De Decalogo, 12, who is very likely dependent upon Aristotle, Historia Animalium, 9.13. Comp. also Hasidim 240–241, and the passages referred to by the editor, as well as Shebet Musar 25 (end), concerning the family purity of the stork. The heron, though it is closely related to the stork, is possessed of a different nature; it is a very unkind animal, and its name in Hebrew is therefore Anafah, “the wrathful one”; Hullin, loc. cit. The stork and the heron both belong to the family of birds that are distinguished for their keen sight, so that from Babylon they can see any object in Palestine; Hullin 63a–63b; PK 29.187b. The ostrich like the heron is also a cruel bird, which does not even care for its young; Lekah, Lev. 11.16 (it is very likely based on a reading very different from our texts of Hullin 64b). On the hyena, jackal, and bear comp. note 181. The lowest and least developed mind is attributed to the fishes; Philo, De M. Opif., 22 (it is very likely based on Plato, Timaeus, 92a), and this view is connected with the statement that the fishes did not receive any names from Adam; Tosafot on Hullin 66b; and Pa’aneah, Lev. 11 (end). Philo, however, Quaestiones, Gen. 12, makes Adam name every living thing. Descriptions of fabulous animals are found in the Hebrew version of the Alexander legend (comp. Lèvi in Steinschneider-Festschrift 145, seq.); Hadassi, Eshkol 24b–24c, and Zel               ‘Olam, II, 5, seq. The following account by R. Akiba goes back to an Indian fable. R. Akiba saw once a lion, a dog, and a lizard (אנקקניתא is akin to Hebrew אנקה); the lion wanted to attack the dog, but could not carry out his plan out of fear of the lizard (read צדי), which is the protector of the lion, whereas the dog is the protector of the lizard. Tehillim 104, 445.

All Things Praise the Lord

“Whatever God created has value.” Even the animals and the insects that seem useless and noxious at first sight have a vocation to fulfil. The snail trailing a moist streak after it as it crawls, and so using up its vitality, serves as a remedy for boils. The sting of a hornet is healed by the house-fly crushed and applied to the wound. The gnat, feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it, is a specific against the poison of a viper, and this venomous reptile itself cures eruptions, while the lizard is the antidote to the scorpion.^[1]

Not only do all creatures serve man, and contribute to his comfort, but also God “teacheth us through the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wise through the fowls of heaven.” He endowed many animals with admirable moral qualities as a pattern for man. If the Torah had not been revealed to us, we might have learnt regard for the decencies of life from the cat, who covers her excrement with earth; regard for the property of others from the ants, who never encroach upon one another’s stores; and regard for decorous conduct from the cock, who, when he desires to unite with the hen, promises to buy her a cloak long enough to reach to the ground, and when the hen reminds him of his promise, he shakes his comb and says, “May I be deprived of my comb, if I do not buy it when I have the means.” The grasshopper also has a lesson to teach to man. All the summer through it sings, until its belly bursts, and death claims it. Though it knows the fate that awaits it, yet it sings on. So man should do his duty toward God, no matter what the consequences. The stork should be taken as a model in two respects. He guards the purity of his family life zealously, and toward his fellows he is compassionate and merciful. Even the frog can be the teacher of man. By the side of the water there lives a species of animals which subsist off aquatic creatures alone. When the frog notices that one of them is hungry, he goes to it of his own accord, and offers himself as food, thus fulfilling the injunction, “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.”^[2]

The whole of creation was called into existence by God unto His glory,^[3] and each creature has its own hymn of praise wherewith to extol the Creator. Heaven and earth, Paradise and hell, desert and field, rivers and seas—all have their own way of paying homage to God. The hymn of the earth is, “From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, glory to the Righteous.” The sea exclaims, “Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty.”

Also the celestial bodies and the elements proclaim the praise of their Creator—the sun, moon, and stars, the clouds and the winds, lightning and dew. The sun says, “The sun and moon stood still in their habitation, at the light of Thine arrows as they went, at the shining of Thy glittering spear”; and the stars sing, “Thou art the Lord, even Thou alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth Thee.”

Every plant, furthermore, has a song of praise. The fruitful tree sings, “Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy, before the Lord, for He cometh; for He cometh to judge the earth”; and the ears of grain on the field sing, “The pastures are covered with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.”

Great among singers of praise are the birds, and greatest among them is the cock. When God at midnight goes to the pious in Paradise, all the trees therein break out into adoration, and their songs awaken the cock, who begins in turn to praise God. Seven times he crows, each time reciting a verse. The first verse is: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” The second verse: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.” The third: “Arise, ye righteous, and occupy yourselves with the Torah, that your reward may be abundant in the world hereafter.” The fourth: “I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!” The fifth: “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?” The sixth: “Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.” And the seventh verse sung by the cock runs: “It is time to work for the Lord, for they have made void Thy law.”

The song of the vulture is: “I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they have increased”—the same verse with which the bird will in time to come announce the advent of the Messiah, the only difference being, that when he heralds the Messiah he will sit upon the ground and sing his verse, while at all other times he is seated elsewhere when he sings it.

Nor do the other animals praise God less than the birds. Even the beasts of prey give forth adoration. The lion says: “The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man; He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; He shall cry, yea, He shall shout aloud; He shall do mightily against his enemies.” And the fox exhorts unto justice with the words: “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not his hire.”

Yea, the dumb fishes know how to proclaim the praise of their Lord. “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters,” they say, “the God of glory thundereth, even the Lord upon many waters”; while the frog exclaims, “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever!”

Contemptible though they are, even the reptiles give praise unto their Creator. The mouse extols God with the words: “Howbeit Thou art just in all that is come upon me; for Thou hast dealt truly, but I have done wickedly.” And the cat sings: “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.”^[4]

4. Perek (Pirke) Shirah. On the oldest source where this small treatise is made use of and on its history, comp. Steinschneider, Hebräische Bibliographie, XIII, 103, 106, and Zunz, Magazin, XVIII, 301–302. It is questionable whether, as Steinschneider maintains, this treatise was influenced by the fable of the contest of animals which plays an important role in the writings of the Pure Brethren.               The conception that the animals and all created things chant praise to God is genuinely Jewish, and is not only poetically expressed in the Bible (Ps. 65.14, etc.), but occurs quite frequently in talmudic and midrashic literature, where the “singing” and praise of the animals and trees are spoken of; comp. Rosh ha-Shanah 8a; Hullin 54b; ‘Abodah Zarah 24b; BR 13.2; Tehillim 104, 442–443 (read אין אני עומד; the words ואיני יודע are an explanatory gloss), and 148, 538. That animals chant praise seems quite natural in legends, since they originally spoke in human language (comp. vol. I, p. 71), and after the fall of man they were still in possession of languages which many a wise man understood; Gittin 45a. Comp. also vol. IV, p. 138, seq. The language of trees was understood not only by R. Johanan b. Zaccai (Sukkah 28a; Baba Batra 184a; Soferim 16.9), but also by the Gaon R. Abraham; comp. ‘Aruk, s.v. סח 1, and the parallels cited by Kohut, as well as Toratan shel Rishonim I, 63. If we further find that in Perek Shirah inanimate objects also praise God, we have to bear in mind that Hippolytus, Haeres., 9, 25 explicitly states (comp. also 5, 2, where the same assertion is made concerning the gnostic sect of the Naasenians) that according to the Jewish view, “all things in creation are endowed with sensation, and that there is nothing inanimate”. In mystic literature the angels of animals, trees, rivers, etc., praise God; comp. Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 7–8; Tosafot on ‘Abodah Zarah 17a (bottom); Hullin 7a (bottom). Comp. notes 102, 105, 112, and Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsätze, 340. The Christian legend knows not only of talking animals, trees, or other inanimate objects like ships, water, pictures, etc. (comp. Günter, Christliche Legende, s.v. “Redend”; Acts of Xantippe, 30; Narrative of Zosismus II), but is also familiar with the chants of praises of all things, which are divided into twelve classes, and utter their praise in turn one hour every day. Comp. the Testament of Adam, and the literature appertaining to it, cited by Bezold, Das Arabisch-Aethiopische Testamentum Adami in Orientalische Studien, 893–912, and James, The Lost Apocrypha 2–4. 2 Enoch 2.5 is a reminiscence of Ps. 150.6, while the Testament of Abraham 3 speaks of the human language of the trees; comp. Hagigah 14b.—In connection with the praises enumerated in Perek Shirah the following is to be noted: On the earth comp. Sanhedrin 37b and 94a (“the prince of the earth”, alluded to in this passage, refers to the angel of the earth; comp. note 75); on the sea and the water comp. note 53; concerning the trees see Hagigah 14b. God’s visit paid to the pious in paradise,               with which the song of the cock is to be connected, is frequently mentioned in later Midrashim, especially in the mystic literature; comp. Midrash Shir 42a; midrashic quotation in the anonymous commentary on Song of Songs, published in Steinschneider-Festschrift, Hebrew section, 55–56, where the song of praise of the trees in paradise is brought in connection with God’s visit; Seder Gan ‘Eden 132–133; Zohar I, 10b, 40b, 72a, 77a–77b, 82b, 92a, 92b, 178b, 218b; II, 46a, 57a, 173b, 175b, 196a; III, 22a, 22b, 23a, 52b, 193a; Zohar Hadash Bereshit 3, 17b. On the cock as the herald of light, and the one who admonishes man not to forget to chant praise to God, comp, the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 7, and for further details, see Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsätze, 77, seq., and Ginzberg in Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. “Cock”, and note 39. As to the song of praise of the vulture, comp. Hullin 63a. Concerning the song of the mouse, comp, note 171. On the hymn of the frog see vol. IV, pp. 101–102, and Löw Lurchnatnen 7 in Florilegium in honor of M, de Vogüe, 398. In connection with the Hebrew name of the first letter of the alphabet, God is made to say: “I open the tongue and mouth of all men אלף = אפתח לשון פה, so that they shall praise Me daily and recognize Me as King over the four corners of the earth. Were it not for the daily hymns and songs of praise, I should not have created the world.” The heavens, the earth, the rivers, the brooks, the mountains, and the hills, in brief, the entire order of creation, chant hymns to the Creator. Adam too intoned a hymn to the Lord saying, (comp, vol. I, 83–85): “It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praise to His name.” With these words he referred to the songs of praise intoned by the celestials and terrestrials; Alphabet R. Akiba 12–13.