(Fol. 26b) We are taught (in a Memera)' that R. Jose the son of R. Chanina said: "The daily services were ordained by the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob)." R. Joshua b. Levi said: "The daily services were ordained to correspond with the [two] perpetual-daily-offerings." We have a Baraitha coinciding with the opinion of R. Jose, the son of R. Chanina, and we have also a Baraitha coinciding with the opinion of R. Joshua b. Levi. As to the support of R. Jose we are taught, "Abraham ordained the morning service, as it is said (Gen. 19, 27.) And Abraham rose up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Omad (stood) refers to nothing else but prayer; for it is said (Ps. 106, 30.) Then stood up (Vaya'amod) Phinehas and offered a prayer. Isaac ordained the afternoon service (Mincha), for it is said (Gen. 24, 63.) And Isaac went out 'Lasuach' in the field towards evening. By the word Lasuach is meant prayer, for it is said (Ps. 102, 1.) A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out before the Lord his complaint (Sicho). Jacob ordained the evening service (Ma'arib), for it is said (Gen. 28, 11.) Vayifg'a upon a certain place, and tarried there all night; by the word Vayifg'a, prayer is meant, for it is said (Jer. 7, 16.) But thou — pray not thou in behalf of this people, nor lift up entreaty or prayer in their behalf, nor make intercession to me (Tifga)." We are taught, coinciding with the opinion of R. Joshua b. Levi: "Why did [the Rabbis] say that the time for the morning service is until noon? Because the perpetual-daily-morning-offering had also its time limited to noon. R. Juda says: Until the fourth hour of the day."
(Fol. 27b) We are taught that R. Eliezer says: "He who prays behind his teacher, he who greets his teacher [without calling him Rabbi], he who opposes his teacher's school [by organizing a separate academy], and who makes statements [in his teacher's name] that he did not hear from his teacher, causes the departure of the Shechinah from Israel." Our Rabbis taught: That once a disciple appeared before R. Joshua and said to him: "Rabbi, is the evening service optional or obligatory?" "Optional," answered R. Joshua. He then came before Rabban Gamaliel and asked the same question: "Is the evening service optional or obligatory?" "Obligatory," was Rabban Gamaliel's answer. "Behold! R. Joshua said to me it is optional!" the disciple remarked. Whereupon Rabban Gamaliel replied, "Wait until the shield bearers (great scholars) enter the house of learning." As soon as the shield bearers entered the house of learning, the inquirer arose and asked, "Is the evening service optional or obligatory?" "Obligatory," responded Rabban Gamaliel. "Is there any one here differing with me on this subject?" inquired Rabban Gamaliel of the scholars. "No," came the answer from R. Joshua. "Behold," interrupted Rabban Gamaliel, "it is said in your name that the service is only optional. Arise Joshua! And let the witness testify against thee!" R. Joshua stood up and said: "Were I alive and he (the witness) dead, I would have been able to deny it, but now, when I am alive and he is alive, how can one living being deny another living being?" So Rabban Gamaliel continued his lecture while R. Josliua remained standing, until all the people moved in excitement and said to Chutzephith the Meturgeman, "Stop!" and he stopped. "How long," said they, "shall we permit R. Joshua to be afflicted and reproached? Last New Year Rabban Gamaliel afflicted and reproached him. In Bechoroth, in the incident of R. Zadok, Rabban Gamaliel annoyed him and now again he reproached and afflicted him; shall we allow such annoyance to be continued? Let us take steps to deprive him of his dignity (of being the Exilareh). But who shall be his successor? Shall we put up R. Joshua? He is his chief opponent [and it would cause him too much aggravation]. Shall we put up R. Akiba? He has no ancestral merits, and may be disposed to Heavenly punishment [through prayers]. Let us therefore choose R. Elazar b. Azaria for he is wise, rich, and the tenth descendant of Ezra. He is wise, and therefore will be able to answer when questioned; he is rich and therefore, if ordered to attend the Emperor's court [of Rome], he will be as well able to do so as Rabban Gamaliel; he is the tenth descendant of Ezra and has therefore ancestral merits, and he (Rabban Gamaliel) will not be able to afflict upon him Heavenly punishment." So they came [to R. Elazar b. Azarlia] and said to him: "Is the master willing to become the head of the Academy?" (Fol. 28a.) R. Elazar replied: "I'll go and consult my household." He went and consulted his wife. "Perhaps," said she to him, "they will also depose thee [and you will be disgraced]." "There is a maxim," replied he. "'Use thy precious bowl while thou hast it. even if it be broken the next day.'" "But," said she, "thou hast not any gray hair [and they will not respect thee]." At that time he was but eighteen years of age; thereupon miraculously eighteen of his locks suddenly turned gray. And this R. Elazar b. Azaria meant when he said: "Behold! I am as a man of seventy years of age" but not aged seventy. We are taught that on that day the porter was removed from the door [of the academy], and admission was granted to all students, for, during the administration of Rabban Gamaliel, the announcement was made: "Every scholar whose interior is not like his exterior (who is not pious), shall not enter the academy." On that day many benches were added in the academy. R. Jochanan said: "There is a difference of opinion between Abba Joseph b. Dustoi and the Rabbis; according to one, four hundred benches were added and according to the other, seven hundred benches [were added]." When Rabban Gamaliel noticed the tremendous increase he became discouraged and said to himself, "God forbid, I have perhaps prevented so many from studying the Torah." In a dream was shown to him "white earthen pitchers filled with ashes." But this was shown to him only in order to calm him. We are taught: "On that day the treatise of Edioth was studied in the academy and wherever we find 'On that day,' it means the day on which R. Elazar b. Azaria became the head of the academy. There was no Halacha previously undecided in the academy which was not decided that day. Even Rabban Gamaliel himself, although deposed, did not refrain from attending the academy, as is shown from what we are taught (in a Mishnah): 'On that day Juda the Ammouite, a proselyte, appeared in the academy and asked: 'May I enter the congregation [to marry a Jewess]?' Rabban Gamaliel said unto him: 'Thou art not at liberty to do so,' but R. Joshua said, 'Thou art at liberty to do so.' Rabban Gamaliel then said to R. Joshua, 'Behold it is said (Deu. 23, 4.) An Ammonite ' or Moabite shall not enter the congregation of the Lord!" To this R. Joshua retorted and said, 'Are then these nations still in their native places? Did not Senacherib, the king of Assyria, transplant the nations? As it is said (Is. 10, 13.) I have removed the bounds of the people, and their laid-up treasures have I plundered, etc., therefore, not knowing, we go according to the majority [and the majority are not Ammonites].' 'But,' replied Rabban Gamaliel, 'behold, it is said (Jer. 49, 6.) And afterwards I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, so they must have already returned.' To which R. Joshua rejoined: "Behold it is also said (Amos 9, 14.) And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and these have not returned as yet.' Thereupon the proselyte was immediately permitted to enter the congregation." Then Rabban Gamaliel said to himself: "Since it is so [that R. Joshua's decision was carried], I shall now go and effect a reconciliation with R. Joshua." He thereupon went. When he reached R. Joshua's house, he noticed that the walls of the house were black. "From the appearance of the walls of thy house," said Rabban Gamaliel, "it is evident that you are a smith." R. Joshua replied: "Woe unto the age whose leader thou art! for thou knowest not of the cares with which the scholars are occupied and whence they derive their livelihood!" "I have reproached thee, forgive me," Rabban Gamaliel pleaded, but R. Joshua ignored him. "Do it," he again pleaded, "for the sake of the honor of my father's house." R. Joshua then accepted his apology. "Now," they said, "who will go and inform the Rabbis?" [that they had become reconciled.] "I shall go," said a certain laundryman who was there. So R. Joshua sent the following message [through him]: "He who wore the vestment, shall be dressed with it again, and he who has not worn the vestment shall say to him who wore it: 'Take ofT thy priestly cloth, and I shall put it on.'" As soon as R. Akiba was informed of the situation, he said to the Rabbis: "Let all gates [leading to the academy] be closed so that none of Rabban Gamaliel's subordinates shall come and afflict the Rabbis" [in a spirit of revenge for their stand against Rabban Gamaliel]. Meantime R. Joshua said to himself: "It will be much better that I myself shall go and inform them." Accordingly he went and [upon reaching the academy] rapped at the door saying: "Let him sprinkle who is a sprinkler, the son of a sprinkler (a scholar, the son of a scholar); he who is neither himself a sprinkler, nor the son of a sprinkler shall say to him who is a sprinkler and the son of a sprinkler Thy water is plain cave water and thy ashes are plain ashes of a burned cane."
"Hast thou been appeased R. Joshua? said R. Akiba to him. "What we have done was only for thy sake. If so, then to-morrow you and I shall be at his (Rabban Gamaliers) door early." [And though everything was settled] R. Elazar b. Azaria was not deposed, but from that time on Rabban Gamaliel was to lecture two (Sabbaths while R. Elazar b. Azaria lectured one Sabbath, and it is thus understood, when the master said: "Whose Sabbath was this? That of R. Elazar b, Azaria." The disciple [who asked if the evening service is optional or obligatory] was R. Simon b. Jochai.
(Ib. b) (Mishnah) R. Nechunia b. Hakana, upon entering and leaving the academy was wont to make a short prayer. The Rabbis asked him what kind of a prayer it was? He replied, "When I enter I pray that no stumbling shall happen because of me; and upon leaving, I give praise for my share."
(Gemara) Our Rabbis taught: "Upon entering the house of learning what shall a man pray? 'May it be Thy will, O Lord, my God, that there shall be no stumbling through me and that we shall not stumble over a matter of Halacha, and that my associates shall find rejoicing in me, that I shall not judge as levitically unclean, that which is levitically clean; or as clean, that which is unclean; nor shall my companions stumble over a matter of Halacha and I shall find rejoicing in them.' Upon leaving what shall a man say? 'I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, my God, because thou hast placed my share among those who attended the academy, and hast not placed my share among those who attend the street; they arise early and I arise early [but there is a difference]. They arise early for idle talk, while I arise early for the words of the Torah. I toil and they toil; I toil and hope to receive everlasting compensation, but they are working and will not receive everlasting compensation. I run and they run; I run to eternity in the world to come, while they run into the pit of a cave.' "
Our Rabbis taught: When R. Eliezer became ill his disciples came to visit him. "Rabbi," they said, "teach us the way of life so that we may deserve to inherit eternity in the world to come." He said unto them: "Be careful to honor your comrades; know to whom you pray; restrain your children from frivolous thoughts, and set them between the knees of learned men; by these means you will deserve eternity in the world to come." When R. Jochanan b. Zakai became ill his disciples visited him; as soon as he saw them he burst into tears. "Rabbi." they said to him, "light of Israel! the right pillar! Why weepest thou?" He replied thus: "Were I to be brought before a mortal king, who is here to-day, but in the grave to-morrow; who may become angry with me, but whose anger is not everlasting; who may imprison me, but whose imprisonment is not forever; who may kill me, but kill only for this world; and whom I may bribe, even then would I fear; but now when I am led to appear before the King of Kings, the Holy One, praised be He! who liveth through all eternity; if He is wroth, it is everlasting; if He imprison me, it is imprisonment forever; if He kill, one is killed forever; and I can neither appease with words nor bribe Him with money; moreover there are two paths before me, one leading to Gehenna and the other leading to Paradise, and I know not in which I am led. Should I not weep?"' They then said to him: "Rabbi, bless us." He said to them: "May it be His will that your fear of God shall be as great as the fear of man." "Rabbi," they asked, "is that all?" Thereupon he answered: "Oh that! For when a man commits a crime [he does it in secrecy] saying 'no man should see me.' Although God seeth him everywhere." When at the point of dying he said to them: "Cleanse the house of all vessels on account of levitical impurity, and prepare a chair for Hezekiah, the King of Juda, who came [to take part in my procession]."
Our Rabbis taught that "Simon Happekuli has arranged the Eighteen Benedictions before Rabban Gamaliel at Jamnia, according to their present arrangement. Rabban Gamaliel said to the sages: 'Is there not anyone who knows how to compose a prayer concerning the Sadducees?' Thereupon Samuel the junior, came down and composed it. The following year he (Samuel the junior) forgot it (Fol. 29a) and for two or three hours he tried to recollect [but did not succeed]; still the congregation did not remove him [from the reader's place]." Why not? Has not R Juda in the name of Rab said: "If one errs in any part of the Eighteen Benedictions he should not be removed, but if he errs in the section referring to heretics he should be removed, in the apprehension that he is a heretic." Samuel the junior is different, since he himself composed it [therefore he shows no cause for suspicion]. But why should we not apprehend that perhaps he reconsidered it? Abaye said: "We have a tradition that a righteous person never becomes wicked." Is this so? Behold, it is written (Ez. 18, 24.) But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness. This is said of a man who was wicked in the beginning, but if one is righteous from the very beginning, it does not happen so. Is this so? Are we not taught: "Do not rely upon thyself [that thou art righteous] even until the last day of thy death; for R. Jochanan the High Priest served in the High Priesthood for eighty years and at last became a Sadducee." Abaye said: "Janai (the King) and Jochanan are the same person" [hence he was wicked in his early years]. Raba said: "Janai and Jochanan are two different persons; Janai was wicked from the very beginning, and Jochanan righteous from the very beginning." It is quite right according to the opinion of Abaye, but according to the opinion of Raba [who said that Jochanan was righteous from the very beginning], how should the question be answered? Raba may explain that a righteous person from the very beginning should also [not be relied upon] lest he become wicked. And if so., then why did not the Rabbis remove Samuel the junior? With Samuel the junior it is different; for he commenced to say it, and erred in the middle of it. For R. Juda in the name of Rab, and according to some in the name of R. Joshua b. Levi, said: "The above quotation [of Rab regarding the suspicion] refers only to him who has not even commenced to say it, but if he commenced the benediction and erred in the middle of it he may be allowed to finish it [without any suspicion]."
(lb. b) Elijah, the brother of R. Sala Chasida, said to R. Juda "Do not get angry and thou wilt not sin. Do not get drunk and thou wilt not sin. And when thou art about to go on thy way, take counsel first with thy Possessor and then go out." What does it mean by, "Take counsel first with thy Possessor and then go out." R. Jacob said in the name of R. Chisda: "This refers to the road-prayer which a man should say before he goes on his way." (Fol. 30a) And how shall he make this prayer? R. Chisda said standing, and R. Shesheth said, even while walking. R. Chisda and R. Shesheth were once walking along the road. [Suddenly] R. Chisda stopped and began to pray. "What is R. Chisda doing?" asked H. Shesheth of his attendant. "He stopped and said a prayer," was the reply of his attendant. Thereupon R. Shesheth ordered his attendant to stop also and to pray, remarking, "If thou canst be good do not be bad."
Our Rabbis taught: "A blind man or one who cannot determine the direction, let him direct his heart towards his Heavenly Father; for it is said (I Kings 8, 44.) They will pray unto the Lord. If he is outside of Palestine let him direct his heart toward Palestine, for it is said (Ib. 48.) They will pray unto Thee in the direction of their land. If he stand in Palestine let him direct his heart towards Jerusalem, for it is said (Ib. ib. 44.) They will pray unto the Lord in the direction of the city which thou hast chosen. If he stand in Jerusalem then let him direct his heart towards the Temple, for it is said (Ib. ib. 33.) And they will pray and praise unto this house. If he stand in the Temple then let him direct his heart towards the Holy of Holies; for it is said (Ib. ib. 30.) And they will pray towards this place. If he stand in the Holy of Holies let him direct his heart towards the Kaporeth. If he stand behind the cover of the ark, let him consider it as if he were standing in front of the Kaporeth. Hence, if one is in the east, he should face towards west; in the west, he should face towards east; in the south, he should face towards the north; in the north, he should face towards the south. It is thus found that all Israel directs its heart towards one place [towards the Holy of Holies]." Where is the Biblical passage [to refer to this]? Thy neck is like the tower of David built on terraces (Songs 4, 4), i.e., a mound towards which all turn."