nahmani

This disagrees with the teaching of R. Samuel b. Nahmani in the name of R. Jonathan, viz. By virtue of three [meritorious acts] Moses became worthy of three [favours].

For R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan:

As the Rabbis departed from the school of Rab Hisda (another version : the school of R. Samuel b. Nahmani) they said to him : "Our leaders are well laden ; with no breach, and no going forth, and no outcry in our broad places" (Ps. cxliv. 14).

R. Jonathan likewise retracted; for R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan : Whence do we learn that the dead converse one with the other? As it is said, "And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying" (Deut. xxxiv. 4). What means "saying"? The Holy One, blessed be He, spake to Moses, "Go, tell Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, The oath which I swore unto you have I fulfilled for your children."

R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan : If a man feels the need to relieve himself, he should not say the Tefillah; because it is said, "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel" (Amos iv. 12).

R. Samuel b. Nahmani also said in the name of R. Jonathan : What means that which is written, "Guard thy foot when thou goest to the house of God" (Eccles. iv. 17)? Guard thyself so that thou sinnest not; but if thou sinnest, bring an offering into My presence. "And be ready to hearken " (Eccles. iv. 1 7) — Raba said : Be ready to hearken to the words of the Sages ; for if they sin, they bring an offering and repent. "It is better than when fools give sacrifices" (ibid.) — be not like the fools who sin and bring an offering without repenting.

R. Hillel, the son of R. Samuel b. Nahmani, said : They correspond to the eighteen times the Divine Name [JHWH] is mentioned by David in the Psalm "Ascribe unto the Lord, O ye sons of might" (Ps.xxix). Rab Joseph said : They correspond to the eighteen times the Divine Name is mentioned in the Shema'. R. Tanhum said in the name of R. Joshua b. Levi : They correspond to the eighteen vertebrae in the spinal column.

R. Levi said : According to R. Hillel, the son of R. Samuel b. Nahmani, it corresponds to "The God [el] of glory thundereth" (Ps. xxix. 3) ; according to Rab Joseph, it corresponds to "One" in the Shema; according to R. Tanhum in the name of R. Joshua b. Levi, it corresponds to the small vertebra in the spinal column.

or if thou wilt, from the following : "But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked " (ibid, xxxii. 15). R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan : Whence is it that the Holy One, blessed be He, afterwards admitted [the plea of] Moses ? As it is said, "I multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal" (Hosea ii. 10).

R. Eleazar said : Up to here we have the words of the disciple, but from here onwards the words of the Master. R. Samuel b. Nahmani said : All of them are the words of the disciple ; but thus spake Moses before the Holy One, blessed be He, "Lord of the universe ! The word which Thou saidst unto me, 'Go, speak to Israel,' I went and spoke in Thy name. And now what can I say to them?"

R. Isaac b. Nahmani said : It was explained to me by R. Joshua b. Levi : The ordinary man [acts] as we have stated ; a high priest [bends] at the beginning of each benediction ; a king, when once he bends, should not straighten himself [until the end of the Tefillah] ; as it is said, "And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord from kneeling on his knees" (I Kings viii. 54).

What is the significance of "No eye hath seen" etc.? R. Joshua b. Levi said : It refers to the wine preserved in the grape from the six days of creation. R. Samuel b. Nahmani said : It refers to Eden, upon which the eye of no creature has gazed.

Surely it is required [to teach as follows :] First, that the All-merciful declares [the owner] must redeem it and then eat it ; and second, only those things which require "a song of praise" require redemption, but if they do not require "a song of praise," redemption is unnecessary ! This is according to the statement of R. Samuel b. Nahmani in the name of R. Jonathan who said : [not translated] Whence is it that we say "a song of praise" only over wine ? As it is said, "And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine which cheereth God and man?" (Judges ix. 13). If it cheereth man, how does it cheer God ? Hence it is to be inferred that we have "a song of praise" only over wine.

R. Hiyya b. Abba b. Nahmani stated that Rab Hisda said in the name of Rab (another version : Rab Hisda said in the name of Ze'iri) : Overall kinds of perfumes the benediction is "...Who Greatest fragrant woods," excepting musk which comes from a species of animal and its benediction is "...Who createst various kinds of spices."

I have here only the benediction for meals ; whence is the benediction over Torah derived? R. Ishmael said : By a fortiori reasoning — for temporal life one says a benediction ; how much more so for the life of the world to come! R. Hiyya b. Nahmani, the disciple of R. Ishmael, says in the name of R. Ishmael : [This reasoning] is unnecessary ; for it states, "For the good land which He hath given thee" (Deut. viii. 10) and elsewhere it is stated, "And I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the commandments," etc. (Exod. xxiv, 12).

R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan : He was called Basalel because of his wisdom : for at the time that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Go, tell Besalel, 'Make for Me a tabernacle, an ark and vessels'," Moses went and inverted the order, saying to him, "Make an ark and vessels and a tabernacle." He replied, "Moses, our teacher, it is the way of the world for a man to build a house and afterwards furnish it ; but thou sayest, 'Make for Me an ark, vessels and a tabernacle'! Where shall I place the vessels which I make? Perhaps thus spake the Holy One, blessed be He, unto thee, 'Make a tabernacle, an ark and vessels'." Moses replied, "Perhaps thou wert in the shadow of God and thou knowest this."

R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan : A man is only shown [in a dream what emanates] from the thoughts of his heart ; as it is said, "As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed" (Dan. ii. 29). Or if thou wilt I can say from this passage, "That thou mayest know the thoughts of thy heart" (ibid. v. 30). Raba said : Thou mayest know this from the fact that a man is never shown [in a dream] a golden date-palm or an elephant entering the eye of a needle.

R. Samuel b. Nahmani said : It may be derived from the following: "In the Lord, I will praise His word ; in God, I will praise His word" (ibid. Ivi. 11) — "In the Lord, I will praise His word" refers to His attribute of goodness; "In God, I will praise His word" refers to His attribute of retribution.

R. Jacob b. Iddi and R. Samuel b. Nahmani differ in this matter; one declaring that He beheld the atonement money, the other declaring that He beheld the Temple. The more probable view is that of him who said that He beheld the Sanctuary ; because it is said, "As it is said to this day, In the mount where the Lord is seen."

R. Samuel b. Nahmani said : His sustenance will fly to him like a bird ; as it is said, "And precious silver unto thee."

R. Samuel b. Nahmani said : What means that which is written, "If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast planned devices [zamam], lay thy hand upon thy mouth" (Prov. xxx. 32)? Everyone who makes himself foolish for the sake of words of Torah will in the end be lifted up ; but if he muzzles [zamam] his mouth, he will have to put his hand to his mouth.

R. Shmuel ben Nahmani said in the name of R. Yohanan: The Evil Inclination entices man in this world and testifies against him in the world to come, as it is said, “He that delicately brings up his servant from a child shall have him become a ruler (manon) at the end” (Proverbs 29:21), and according to the Atbah of R. Hiyya a witness is called manon.

R. Shmuel b. Nahmani said: The verse says, “As the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies” (Esther 9:22). “The days” [would have been enough.] “As the days” comes to include the eleventh and the twelfth.

Why did R. Shmuel b. Nahmani not derive the rule from the phrase “in their times’? He does not accept the distinction [made above between] “time,” “their time” and “their times.”

That which was said by R. Shmuel b. Nahmani in the name of R. Yonathan: Every bride who is modest in the house of her father-in-law is rewarded by having kings and prophets among her descendants. How do we know this? From Tamar, as it is written, “And Judah saw her and thought her to be a harlot; for she had covered her face” (Genesis 38:15). . Just because she covered her face did he think her to be a harlot?

Samuel b. Nahmani opened his discourse on this section from here: “Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle” (Isaiah 55:13):

R. Shmuel b. Nahmani said: This [Ramataim-Tzophim] means, a man who came from two heights (ramot) which faced (tzophot) one another. R. Hanin said: It means: a man who came from ancestors of the most exalted position (rumo). And who were they? The sons of Korah, as it says, And the sons of Korah did not die. A Tanna taught in the name of our Teacher: A special place was assigned to them in Gehinnom and they stood on it.

What do these three, five and seven represent? This was a dispute between R. Isaac b. Nahmani and one who was with him, and who was he, R. Shimon b. Pazzi, or, according to others, by R. Shimon b. Pazzi and one who was with him, and who was with him, R. Isaac b. Nahmani, or according to others, R. Shmuel b. Nahmani. One said that [these represent] the [number of Hebrew words in the three verses of the] priestly blessings, while the other said "the three keepers of the door" (II Kings 25:18); [the five represent] "five of them that saw the king's face" (II Kings 25:19) [and the seven] "seven men of them that saw the king's face" (Esther 1:14).

What do these three, five and seven represent? This was a dispute between R. Isaac b. Nahmani and one who was with him, and who was he, R. Shimon b. Pazzi, or, according to others, by R. Shimon b. Pazzi and one who was with him, and who was with him, R. Isaac b. Nahmani, or according to others, R. Shmuel b. Nahmani. One said that [these represent] the [number of Hebrew words in the three verses of the] priestly blessings, while the other said "the three keepers of the door" (II Kings 25:18); [the five represent] "five of them that saw the king's face" (II Kings 25:19) [and the seven] "seven men of them that saw the king's face" (Esther 1:14).

What do these three, five and seven represent? This was a dispute between R. Isaac b. Nahmani and one who was with him, and who was he, R. Shimon b. Pazzi, or, according to others, by R. Shimon b. Pazzi and one who was with him, and who was with him, R. Isaac b. Nahmani, or according to others, R. Shmuel b. Nahmani. One said that [these represent] the [number of Hebrew words in the three verses of the] priestly blessings, while the other said "the three keepers of the door" (II Kings 25:18); [the five represent] "five of them that saw the king's face" (II Kings 25:19) [and the seven] "seven men of them that saw the king's face" (Esther 1:14).

If [they sell] the synagogue they may buy an ark. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Yonatan: This rule applies only to a synagogue in a village, but a synagogue in a town, since people from all parts come to it, it may not be sold, for it belongs to the public.