אמר ליה רב יוסף לרב יוסף בריה דרבה אבוך במאי זהיר טפי אמר ליה בציצית יומא חד הוה קא סליק בדרגא איפסיק ליה חוטא ולא נחית ואתא כמה דלא רמיה ואמר אביי תיתי לי דכי חזינא צורבא מרבנן דשלים מסכתיה
R. Jose also said: I have never in my life said anything from which I retracted.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rashi refers this] to his opinions on other people: even if unfavourable he did not retract even in the owner's presence, because he did not state them in the first place without being perfectly sure of their truth.
');"><sup>37</sup></span> R. Nahman said: May I be rewarded<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'may it (sc. reward) come to me
');"><sup>38</sup></span> for observing three meals on the Sabbath. Rab Judah said: May I be rewarded for observing devotion in prayers.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I did not pray mechanically. — The same phrase is used in a derogatory and possibly opposite sense elsewhere, v. Ber. 55a, B.B. 164b.
');"><sup>39</sup></span> R. Huna son of R. Joshua said: May I be rewarded for never walking four cubits bareheaded.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. infra 156b.
');"><sup>40</sup></span> R. Shesheth said: May I be rewarded for fulfilling the precept of tefillin.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Glos. Rashi: he never walked four cubits without wearing his tefillin; similarly with respect to fringes.
');"><sup>41</sup></span> R. Nahman also said: May I be rewarded for fulfilling the precept of fringes. R. Joseph asked R. Joseph son of Rabbah: Of what is thy father most observant? Of fringes, he replied. One day he was ascending a ladder<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Or, stairs. ');"><sup>42</sup></span> when a thread [of his fringes] broke, and he would not descend until [another] was inserted. Abaye said: May I be rewarded for that when I saw that a disciple had completed his tractate,
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
ומקדשי תיראו . Relating to the Sanctuary with a sense of awe and remembering whose abode it is will implant within us [our hearts] the necessary reverence and humility even before we enter the Temple there to present our prayers. Nowadays, due to our sins, the synagogue takes the place of the Temple, and we call it the מקדש מעט the miniature sanctuary. We should relate to it as well as to the Torah scholars with the proper amount of reverence.
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Orchot Tzadikim
A man should never be obstinate with the Creator, may He be Blessed, or with his teachers, for in this manner, one wise man praised himself. "All my days I have never transgressed the opinions of my companions. I know that I am not a priest, and yet if my companions would say to me 'Go up on the pulpit and give the priestly benediction,' I would go up" (Shabbath 118b).
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit
This also explains the Midrash saying that Tzipporah was so named, since like a bird, צפור, she purified, the reference being to the offerings of צפורים to signify purification of people who had previously been afflicted with צרעת (Shemot Rabbah 32; Leviticus 14,4). Similarly it is used to purify the house afflicted with certain kinds of stains (Leviticus 14,49). Rabbi Yossi used to refer to his wife as "his house". As long as this twin sister of Abel had been under the control of Cain,- maybe she (Tzipporah) blamed G–d. Cain was jealous, blaming his fate on the original sin of his father Adam who had brought contamination into the world, had made him an outcast like the מצרע the person afflicted with that skin disease. This fits because we know that such an affliction is usually due to slanderous talk of a person (Eyruvin 15). Moses' staff, מטה, was rooted in the עץ החיים, tree of life, the סוד of Abel who had not been tainted with sin. Abel lived for 49 days as the Ari zal explains the meaning of the word שבעתים "sevenfold," to mean seven times seven (Genesis 4,15). The word יקם, "will be avenged," is composed of the respective letters in the threesome יתרו-קין-מצרי. Abel lived 49 days in this world which was created with the letter "ה" (Genesis 2,4, see Menachot 29). The number 49 is equivalent to the numerical value of the word מט"ה, Moses' staff. The letter ה in the word is a reference only to G–d having created the world with the help of that letter. It became the staff and symbol of Moses later on. When Moses refused the mission to go to Pharaoh and bring about the חידוש העולם, his staff was turned into a צרעת serpent, and his hand became afflicted with צרעת, to show that he had aborted his purpose in life.
