One hundred and three chapters (or psalms) were uttered by David, and he did not pronounce the word Hallelujah until he came to contemplate the downfall of the wicked; as it is written (Ps. civ. 35), “Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul, Hallelujah!’ Instead of one hundred and three we ought to say a hundred and four, but we infer from this that ”Blessed is the man,“ etc., and ”Why do the heathen rage?" etc., are but one psalm.
Berachoth, fol. 9, col. 2.
One of the most charming women that we find figuring in the Talmud was the wife of Rabbi Meir, Beruriah by name; and as we meet with her in the immediate context of the above quotation. it may be well to introduce her here to the attention of the reader. The context speaks of a set of ignorant fellows (probably Greeks) who sorely vexed the soul of Rabbi Meir, her husband, and he ardently prayed God to take them away. Then Beruriah reasoned with her husband thus:—“Is it, pray, because it is written (Ps. civ. 35), ‘Let the sinners be consumed’? It is not written ‘sinners,’ but ‘sins.’ Besides, a little farther on in the, text it is said, ‘And the wicked will be no more;’ that is to say, ‘Let sins cease, and the wicked will cease too.’ Pray, therefore, on their behalf that they may be led to repentance, and these wicked will be no more?” This he therefore did, and they repented and ceased to vex him. Of this excellent and humane woman it may well be said, “She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness” (Prov. xxxi. 26). Her end was tragic. She was entrapped by [ p. 181 ] a disciple of her husband, and out of shame she committed suicide. See particulars by Rashi in Avodah Zarah, fol. 18, col. 2.
The Hasmoneans ruled over Israel during the time of the second Temple a hundred and three years; and for a hundred and three the government was in the hands of the family of Herod.
Avodah Zarah, fol. 9, col. 1.
Rabbi Yochanan the son of Zacchai lived a hundred and twenty years; forty he devoted to commerce, forty to study, and forty to teaching.
Rosh Hashanah, fol. 30, col. 2.
One hundred and twenty elders, and among them several prophets, bore a part in composing the Eighteen Blessings (the Shemonah Esreh).
Meggillah, fol. 17, col. 2.
A similar tradition was current among the early Christians, with reference to the composition of the Creed. Its different sentences were ascribed to different apostles. However fitly this tradition may represent the community of faith with which the prophets on the one hand and the apostles on the other were inspired, it is not recommended by the critic as a proceeding calculated to ensure unity in a work of art.
Rabbi Shemuel says advantage may be taken of the mistakes of a Gentile. He once bought a gold plate as a copper one of a Gentile for four zouzim, and then cheated him out of one zouz into the bargain. Rav Cahana purchased a hundred and twenty vessels of wine from a Gentile for a hundred zouzim, and swindled him in the payment out of one of the hundred, and that while the Gentile assured him that he confidently trusted to his honesty. Rava once went shares with a Gentile and bought a tree, which was cut up into logs. This done, he bade his servant go to pick him out the largest logs, but to be sure to take no more than the proper number, because the Gentile knew how many there were. As Rav Ashi was walking abroad one day he saw some grapes growing in a roadside vineyard, and sent his servant to see whom they belonged to. “If they belong to a Gentile,” he said, “bring some here to me; but if they belong to an Israelite, do not meddle with them.” The owner, who happened to be in the vineyard, overheard the Rabbi’s order and called out, “What! is it lawful to rob a Gentile?” “Oh, no,” said [ p. 182 ] the Rabbi evasively; “a Gentile might sell, but an Israelite would not.”
Bava Kama, fol. 113, col. 2.
This is given simply as a sample of the teaching of the Talmud on the subject both by precept and example. There is no intention to cast a slight on general Jewish integrity, or suggest distrust in regard to their ethical creed.
Rabbon Gamliel, Rabbi Eliezer ben Azaryah, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva once went on a journey to Rome, and at Puteoli they already heard the noisy din of the city, though at a distance of a hundred and twenty miles. At the sound all shed tears except Akiva, who began to laugh. “Why laughest thou?” they asked. “Why do you cry?” he retorted. They answered, “These Romans, who worship idols of wood and stone and offer incense to stars and planets, abide in peace and quietness, while our Temple, which was the footstool of our God, is consumed by fire; how can we help weeping?” “That is just the very reason,” said he, “why I rejoice; for if such be the lot of those who transgress His laws, what shall the lot of those be who observe and do them?”
Maccoth, fol. 24, col. 2.
When Adam observed that his sin was the cause of the decree which made death universal he fasted one hundred and thirty years, abstained all that space from intercourse with his wife, and wore girdles of fig-leaves round his loins. All these years he lived under divine displeasure, and begat devils, demons, and spectres; as it is said (Gen. v. 3), “And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat in his own likeness, after his image,” which implies that, until the close of those years, his offspring were not after his own image.
Eiruvin, fol. 18, col. 2.
There is a tradition that there was once a disciple in Yabneh who gave a hundred and fifty reasons to prove a reptile to be clean (which the Scripture regards as unclean.—Compare Lev. xi. 29).
Ibid., fol. 13, col. 2.
The ablutionary tank made by Solomon was as large as a hundred and fifty lavatories.
Ibid., fol. 14, col. 1.
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A hundred and eighty years before the destruction of the Temple, the empire of idolatry (Rome) began the conquest of Israel.
Shabbath, fol. 15, col. 1.
The empire of Rome was, some think, so designated, because it strove with all its might to drag down the worship of God to the worship of man, and resolve the cause of God into the cause of the Empire.
During the time of the second Temple Persia domineered over Israel for thirty-four years and the Greeks held sway a hundred and eighty.
Avodah Zarah, fol. 9, col. 1.
Foolish saints, crafty villains, sanctimonious women, and self-afflicting Pharisees are the destroyers of the world. What is it to be a foolish saint? To see a woman drowning in the river and refrain from trying to save her because of the look of the thing. Who is to be regarded as a crafty villain? Rabbi Yochanan says, “He who prejudices the magistrates by prepossessing them in favor of his cause before his opponent has had time to make his appearance.” Rabbi Abhu says, “He who gives a denarius to a poor man to make up for him the sum total of two hundred zouzim; for it is enacted that he who possesses two hundred zouzim is not entitled to receive any gleanings, neither what is forgotten in the field, nor what is left in the corner of it (see Lev. xxiii. 22), nor poor relief either. But if he is only one short of the two hundred zouzim, and a thousand people give anything to him, he is still entitled to the poor man’s perquisites.”
Soteh, fol. 2 1, col. 2.