רב פפא אמר מאי אינו כתענית ציבור אינו כראשונות אלא כאחרונות ואסורה
And even R'Simeon B'Gamaliel merely says that if he sits and does not work it does not look like conceit, yet he certainly does not forbid it? - Rather, what does 'is not like a public fast' mean? In respect o the Ne'ilah service.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' On specially proclaimed public fast-days an extra service was added at the end of the day', called ne'ilah, which means 'closing'. R. Johanan states that there is no ne'ilah on the Ninth of Ab.');"><sup>17</sup></span> But surely R'Johanan said: Would that a man would go on praying all day!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If a man does not remember whether he has recited his statutory prayers, R. Johanan rules that he should recite them now, though there is an opposing view that a man must not pray when in this doubt. Now, since R. Johanan holds that a man must pray when in doubt, why should there not be a ne'ilah service on the Ninth of Ab, seeing that it is like a specially proclaimed public fast in many respects?');"><sup>18</sup></span>
Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael
(Exodus 16:31) "And it was like coriander seed, white ('gad')": I do not know (from this) what it was like. R. Yehoshua says: It was like coriander seed. (But then I would think:) Just as coriander seed is red, so, this. It is, therefore, written "white." R. Eliezer says: It was like "haggadah" (from "gad"), which "pulls" a person's heart. Others say: It testifies ("maggid," from "gad") about itself that it is manna, for it falls neither on Sabbath, or festival, or Yom Kippur. R. Yossi says: Just as the prophet reveals ("maggid," like "gad") what is hidden, so, did the manna reveal it. How so? (see Yoma 75a) (Exodus 16:31) "and its taste was like dough fried in honey": R. Yehoshua says: like stewed eskriti. R. Eliezer says: Like fine flour floated on a sieve and kneaded with honey. (16:32) "And Moses said: This is the thing, etc.": I might think that Aaron placed it there in the fortieth year. It is, therefore, written (Ibid. 34) "And Aaron placed it before the (ark of) testimony." When was the ark made? In the second year (of the exodus). Thus, Aaron placed it there in the second year. And this is one of the ten things created on Sabbath eve (of the creation) at twilight: the rainbow, the manna, the staff (with which the signs were performed), the writing, (the form of the letters carved on the tablets), the shamir (a miraculous stone-cutting worm), the tablets, the opening of the mouth of the earth to swallow up the wicked, the opening of the mouth of (Bilam's) ass, the grave of Moses, and the cave where Moses and Eliyahu stood. Others say: Also the vestments of the first man and the staff of Aaron, its almonds and blossoms. Seven things are concealed from the eyes of man: the day of death, the day of consolation, the depth of judgment, the source of his livelihood, what is in the heart of his neighbor, the restoration of the kingdom of the house of David, and the uprooting of the kingdom of the "liable one" (i.e., Rome).
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