פירוש על ברכות 13:20

According to Hyman, n. p. 722 b, we should read Jose b. Zimra.

See Introduction, § iv, and also Abelson, Immanence of Ood, p. 70 note.

Of justice.

"The Holy of Holies" added by M. According to the Jewish sources, he was one of the last of the High Priests and suffered martyrdom (see fol. 57 b) with Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel the Elder. He is accordingly identified by some with Ishmael b. Phabi who held the Office about 60 c.e. This identification, however, is very uncertain, and there are scholars who doubt whether there was a High Priest of that name. They think that the person referred to here is the Tanna Ishmael, who was the son of a High Priest, and that the theosophical passages where he is mentioned (see fol. 51 a) are later legendary additions to the Talmud. See A. T. i. pp. 259-263.

A divine appellation usually explained as a combination of keter "throne" and el "God." Schorr (quoted by Goldschmidt) connects it with ὀχθρὁϛ, Heb. עליון "Most High."

See p. 8 n. 5.

Since God asked for the blessing of a mortal. An instance of the doctrine of Imitatio Dei; see Introduction, § IV.

Cf. "R. Simeon b. Eleazar said : Do not appease thy fellow in the hour of his anger, and comfort him not in the hour when his dead lies before him, and question him not in the hour of his vow, and strive not to see him in the hour of his disgrace." Abot iv. 23, Singer, pp. 197 f.

So the Hebrew literally.

Euphemism for Israel.

The number is corrupt, and there are numerous variants ranging from 88,888 to 8,888. J. T. reads 56,848. The correct number is 82,080; see Brodetsky in J. R. II. p. 173.

So M. Edd. : But it stands on one foot at all times! During the rest of the day, it has red streaks [in its white comb], but not during the afore-mentioned hours.

Edd. : Sadducee ; an alteration to satisfy the scruples of the mediaeval Censor who regarded every reference to the Min as an attack on Christianity.

"On waking up" occurs in M. but is wanting in edd.

I.e. self-reproach.

This is the reading of M. and the earliest edd. Subsequently it was altered to "that the Shekinah should rest only upon Israel" for fear of the Censor. Bacher detects in the words a polemic against the aspirations of Christianity; A. T. II. p. 179, n. 8.

What follows is the purport of Moses' request, "Show me now Thy ways."

Lit. hold the deed of their fathers in their hands.

Against this attempt to solve the problem, cf. "R. Jannai said: It is not in our power to explain either the prosperity of the wicked or the afflictions of the righteous" ; Abot iv. 19, Singer, p. 197.

R. Jose's statement that God granted the three requests of Moses.

The third request "to know God's ways," according to R. Meir, remained unanswered, Exod. xxxiii. 19 teaching that prosperity and its opposite are solely dependent apon the will of God.

At the burning bush where Moses hid his face: Exod. iii. 6.

These Rabbis explain the act of "hiding the face" as meriting reward not punishment.

M.: Hannina; but this is doubtful. There is another variant : Huna. See D. S. ad loc.

What feature in the "back" of God had an interest for Moses? This could only be the peculiar shape of the knot of the head-Tefillin which resembles the Hebrew letter dalet or mem.

According to Exod. xii. 37 the number of Israelites who left Egypt was 600,000. This number is described as "many," the same term being applied