Jewish%20thought for Sanhedrin 216:22

נחום איש גם זו הוה רגיל דכל דהוה סלקא ליה אמר גם זו לטובה יומא חד בעו [ישראל] לשדורי דורון לקיסר אמרי בהדי

R. Johanan said: After their kinds, but not they [alone].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The meaning is obscure. Maharsha explains it thus: — As stated above, whilst in the ark, copulation was forbidden. On their exit, it was permitted. That is the significance of 'after their kind', which denotes that mating was resumed, and they ceased to be a group of single entities. ');">⁴¹</span> R. Hana b. Bizna said: Eliezer [Abraham's servant] remarked to Shem [Noah's] eldest son,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Or 'great son', i.e., the most important of his sons, v. supra 69b. (Yad. Ramah.)] ');">⁴²</span> 'It is written, After their kinds they went forth from the ark. Now, how were you situated?'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'After their kind' implies that they kept to the habits of their kind throughout the flood. 'How then were you able to take care of them, and give them individual attention, since animals' habits are so divergent?' ');">⁴³</span> — He replied. '[In truth], we had much trouble in the ark. The animals which are usually fed by day we fed by day; and those normally fed by night we fed by night. But my father did not know what was the food of the chameleon. One day he was sitting and cutting up a pomegranate, when a worm dropped out of it, which it [the chameleon] consumed. From then onward he mashed up bran for it, and when it became wormy, it devoured it. The lion was nourished by a fever, for Rab said, "Fever sustains for not less than six (days) nor more than thirteen."44 As for the phoenix,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Heb. [H] reading doubtful, 'urishna' or 'urshana'. V. Lewysohn Zoologie, 353, and Gudemann, M., Religionsgeschichtliche Studien, 55]. ');">⁴⁵</span> my father discovered it lying 'in the hold of the ark. "Dost thou require no food?" he asked it. "I saw that thou wast busy," it replied, "so I said to myself, I will give thee no trouble." "May it be (God's) will that thou shouldst not perish," he exclaimed; as it is written, Then I said, I shall die in the nest, but I shall multiply my days as the phoenix.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Job XXIX, 18: v. A.J.V., a legendary immortal bird. ');">⁴⁶</span> R. Hana b. Liwai said: Shem, [Noah's] eldest son,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. p. 746, n. 7. ');">⁴⁷</span> said to Eliezer [Abraham's servant]. 'When the kings of the east and the west attacked you, what did you do?' — He replied. 'The Holy One, blessed be He, took Abraham and placed him at His right hand, and they [God and Abraham] threw dust which turned to swords, and chaff which turned to arrows, as it is written, A Psalm of David. The Lord said unto my master, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. CX, 1: supposed to be said by Eliezer, 'my master' referring to Abraham. ');">⁴⁸</span> and it is also written, Who raised up the righteous man [Sc. Abraham] from the east, called him to his foot; gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he made his sword as the dust, and his bow as driven stubble.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. XLI, 2. ');">⁴⁹</span> Nahum of Gimso<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A town in Judea. [V. II Chron. XXVIII, 18.] It is always written in two words: [H] which, taken by themselves, mean 'this too', and this connotation was attached thereto on account of his habit of saying, 'This too is for good.' ');">⁵⁰</span> was accustomed, whatever befell him, to say, 'This too is for good.' It once happened that the Jews wished to send a gift to the Emperor. Said they. 'By

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