The Aggadah, which is made up stories, dialogues, homilies, sayings, proverbs, fables, and riddles scattered through the Mishna and the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds (as well as the Masechtot, Mechilta, Sifra, Sifrei, Tosefta, Midrash Rabba, Midrash Tanchuma, Midrash Shmuel, Sefer Ha-Yetzira, Yalkut Shimon, etc.), was the principal form taken by the popular creativity of the Jewish people for several hundred years, flowering chiefly in the beginning of the Christian era. The first generations invested their liveliest powers in its creation and the later ones worked at perfecting and polishing its form. Its material contains many of the ideas and points of view of the Jewish people concerning its own history, past, present, and future. The national attitude, toward great men and their qualities, toward men and the world, toward specific beliefs and superstitions, are embodied in it.

The style of the Aggadah is generally simple and clear, with a certain well-paced graciousness. It combines the precision and incisiveness of a cultivated scholarly language with the colorful imagery of the spoken tongue. Some of the earlier sayings retain the fresh vigor of a language closely related to the usages of agricultural occupations. Much of this freshness and sly irony is, unfortunately, untranslatable.

The Bialik-Ravnitzky edition of the Aggadah, which appeared in six volumes from 1908 onwards and from which this translation was made, was the fruit of research into the numerous traditional collections of Aggadic sayings by the famous Hebrew poet and his scholarly patron. It was created with the needs of the modern Hebrew-reading and Hebrew-speaking generation in mind and intended as a popular, literary folk-collection rather than an archeological or scholarly monument. It has proved itself one of the most popular books in the Hebrew-reading world.—Hilda Auerbach

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Marriage

We learned that Rabbi Simeon said: Why did the Law say, “If any man take a wife” [Deut. 22:13] and not “if any woman take a man”? Because it is the way of a man to court a woman and not the way of a woman to court a man. This may be compared to a man who lost something—who looks for whom? He who has lost something looks for what he has lost.

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A youth of eighteen—to the bridal canopy.

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Rabbi Elazar said: No man without a wife can be called a man, for it is said: “Male and female created he them; . . . and called their name Adam.” [Gen. 2:4]

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In the past Adam was created out of the earth and Eve was created out of Adam, henceforth “In our image, after our likeness” [Gen. 1:26] there shall be no man without a woman and no woman without a man, nor both of them without the Divine Presence.

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Said Rabbi Tanchum, said Rabbi Hanilai: A man without a wife lives without joy, without any blessing, without any good. In the West [in Palestine] they said: Such a man lacks the Law and lacks a protecting wall. Rabbi bar Ula said: He also lacks peace.

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They learned from Rabbi Ishmael: until man’s twentieth year the Holy One, Blessed be He, sits and watches him to see when he will take a wife. When he reaches his twentieth year without marrying He says: May his bones be cursed!

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Said Rav Chisda: In what way am I better than my fellows? Because I was married at sixteen, and if I had been married at fourteen I could have said to Satan: I can battle you any time!

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Said Rav Huna: Whoever has reached twenty years and has not married a woman—passes all of his days in sin.

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Said Rabbi Yochanan: a bachelor who resides in a large city and does not sin—the Holy One, Blessed be He, proclaims his virtue daily.

Rav Safra was a bachelor living in a large city. A Tanna [teacher in the Talmud] repeated this saying before Rabba and Rav Safra. Rav Safra’s face grew troubled. Said Rabba to him: Not after your fashion, but after the fashion of Rav Hanina and Rav Oshaya, who were shoemakers in Palestine and used to sit in the whores’ market-place making shoes for the whores and bringing shoes to them; the whores used to stare at them but they would not raise their eyes to look back at them. And the whores had an oath swearing: by the lives of the holy wise men in Palestine.

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“The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever” [Psalms 19:9]. Said Rabbi Hanina: This is he who studies in cleanliness. What cleanliness? He takes a wife and afterwards he studies the Law.

Our teachers taught: To study the Law and to take a wife means: let him study the Law and take a wife afterwards. If he finds it impossible without a wife: let him take a wife and afterwards let him study the Law. Said Rav Judah, [said Samuel]: In practice—he takes a wife and afterwards he should study the Law. Rabbi Youchanan said: Millstones hang round his neck—can he occupy himself with the Law?

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“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; . . . but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.” Said Rabbi Simeon ben Yochai: This is said of one who used to speak contemptuously of women and was himself sunk in debauchery, saying: Where is the woman whom I should court? When he grew old he sought to get himself a wife. They said to him: Miserable, unfortunate creature! What woman wants to be asked by you with your nostrils dribbling and your ears heavy and your eyes dim!

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Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick,” is said of him who becomes engaged to a woman and takes her after some time. “But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life,” is spoken of him who becomes engaged to a woman and takes her immediately as his wife.

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A Roman lady asked Rabbi Yosi ben Halafta, said she to him: In how many days did the Holy One, Blessed be He, create the world? Said he to her: In six days. Said she: And from then on until now what has He been doing? Said he to her: The Holy One, Blessed be He, has been sitting and pairing off couples: so-and-so’s daughter to so-and-so. Said she: Is this His occupation? I can do as much. I have a number of slaves and maidservants and I could pair them off in a single hour. Said he to her: Although it is easy for you, it is as difficult as the rending of the Red Sea for the Holy One, Blessed be He. Whereupon Rabbi Yosi ben Halafta left her and departed. What did she do? She took one thousand male slaves and one thousand female slaves and stood them in double rows, saying: Let him marry her and let her be married to him, and she paired them off in a single night. On the morrow they came before her—one with his head cut open, another with his eye dislocated, one with his arm in pieces, another with his leg broken. Said she to them: What is the matter with you? Said one: I don’t want her. And the woman said: I don’t want him. Thereupon she sent for Rabbi Yosi ben Halafta. Said she to him: Rabbi, your teaching is the truth, it is both proper and seemly, everything you said was well said!

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Rabba listened to a man who was praying for a woman, saying: If only I could have her. Said he [Rabba] to him: You should not pray in this manner; if she is worthy of you, she will not leave you, and if not—you have denied God. Later [after he married her] he [Rabba] heard that he was saying: Either he would die before her or she must die before him. Said he [Rabba] to him: Did I not tell you that you should not pray for this thing in this manner?

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Said Rav as he had it from Rabbi Reuben Itztrobili: From the Pentateuch and from the Prophets and from the Hagiographa—we learn that woman comes to man from God. In the Pentateuch, as it is said: “Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the Lord.” From the Prophets, as it is said: “But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord.” In the Hagiographa, as it is said: “House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the Lord.”

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A man’s mate is from the Holy One, Blessed be He: either he goes to find her or she comes to find him.

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Who is it that is wealthy?

Said Rabbi Akiba: Whoever has a wife noted for her deeds.

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We learned that: “Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him,” means that they give him suitable advice, so that if he is a young boy and she is an elderly woman, if he is an elderly man and she a young girl, they say to him: What have you to do with a young girl? What have you to do with an elderly woman? Your bride is to be found among your own kind and you should not introduce disputes into your house.

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“Thou hast doves’ eyes” [Song of Solomon 1: 15]—a bride who has lovely eyes need not have her body inspected; if her eyes are bleary, then her body requires inspection.

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Concerning him who marries off his sons and daughters close to their season, the text says: “And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace.”

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Said Rabbi Judah said Rab: Concerning him who marries his daughter off to an old man and him who mates a mature woman with his little son, the text says, “To add drunkenness to thirst: The Lord will not spare him” [Deut. 29, 19-20].

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“Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore” [Lev. 19, 20]; Rabbi Eliezer says: This is meant of one who marries his daughter to an old man. Rabbi Akiba says: it is meant of him who causes his fullgrown daughter to wait.

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We learned that Rabbi Meier used to say: Whoever marries his daughter to an ignoramus is doing the same as if he bound and laid her before a lion; just as a lion tramples his prey and then eats it without any sense of shame, so an ignoramus beats his wife and then performs his marital duty without any sense of shame.

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A certain woman was once married to a scholar and used to bind the phylacteries upon his arm; then she married a tax-collector and used to bind the taxation-seals upon his arm.

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Our masters studied: How does one dance before the bride? The house of Shammai say: “She is praised according to her worth”; The house of Hillel say: “beautiful and charming bride.” Said the house of Shammai to the house of Hillel: If she is lame and blind, shall they call her “beautiful and charming bride”?—and the Torah said: “Keep thee far from a false matter” [Exodus 23, 7]. Said the house of Hillel to the house of Shammai: In your opinion, if a man bought a bad bargain in the market, should it be praised or made contemptible in his eyes? To which it was said: let it be praised in his eyes. Hence our wise men said: A man’s mind should always be mingled with that of his fellows.

They said of Rabbi Judah bar Elai that he used to take a branch of myrtle and dance before the bride saying: “Beautiful and charming bride.”

Rav Acha used to carry the bride across his shoulders and dance.

When Rav Dimi came he said: This is how they used to sing before the bride in the West [in Palestine]: “No eye-paint, no rouge and no adornments—and still a lovely woman!”

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They said of King Agrippa that he fell back before the bridal processions [in the streets] and the wise men praised him. Said they to him: What did you see? Said he to them: I wear a crown every day, but she wears her crown for a single hour.

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Rabbi Akiva preached: Man and wife—if they succeed, the Divine Presence is between them; if not—a fire devours them. A wicked woman is as bad as a rainy day.

What is a wicked woman like? . . . Rabba said: She adorns his table and turns her back upon him.

Owing to a wicked wife, old age leaps the quicker upon a man.

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Said Rabbi Judah: there are fourteen things, each of them worse than the one before: the abyss is hard, but the earth conquers it; the earth is hard, but the hills stand supreme over it; the mountain is difficult, but iron cleaves it; iron is hard, but fire penetrates it; fire is difficult, but water extinguishes it; water is difficult but the clouds suffer it; the clouds are heavy, but the wind scatters them; the wind is hard, but a wall resists it; a wall is hard, but man can tear it down; man is hard, but trouble can shake him; trouble is hard, but wine can obliterate it; wine is difficult, but sleep can make it pass away; sleep is hard, but illness can unsettle it; illness is difficult but the angel of death carries off the soul.

But a wicked woman is harder than all of these.

They said in Rav’s name: Any illness, but not in the intestines, any ache, but not heartache, any ailment but a head ailment, any wickedness but a wicked woman.

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People say: If your wife is small, lean over and whisper to her.

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Rav said: Let a man always be careful of his wife’s sorrow; for if her tears be frequent, the penalty for her sorrow is bound to come.

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We learned that Rabbi Simeon ben Elazar says:

When dealing with one’s lust, with a young child or a woman, let your left hand resist them while your right hand seems to draw them closer.

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Rav Rechumi used to study the Torah before Rav in Mechoza and he was in the habit of coming to his house on Yom Kippur Eve. Once he was carried away by his studying. His wife would watch for him: He’s coming now, he’s coming now—and he did not come. Her heart misgave her and a tear fell from her eye. [Just then] he was sitting on the roof, and the roof gave way beneath him and he died.

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He who forbids his wife to lend or borrow a sieve or measuring cup, a hand-mill or stove—should give her an honorable divorce, for thereby he is giving her a bad name among her neighbors; and the wife who swears never to borrow or lend a sieve or a measuring cup, a hand-mill or a stove, and not to weave fine clothes for her sons—should be sent away dishonorably, for she gives her husband a bad name among his neighbors.

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Whoever looks at his wife, thinking: let her die and I shall inherit what is hers—in the end she buries him.

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The Nature of Woman

Why is a man reconciled with ease, while a woman is reconciled with difficulty? In the one case, consider the stuff of which he was made, and in the other case, consider the stuff of which she was made [he of the soft earth—she of the hard bone].

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Women are a nation unto themselves.

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Ten measures of talk were allotted to the world, women took nine and the rest of the world took one.

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A woman is eager to uncover her neighbor’s pot to see what is cooking therein.

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A woman prefers painted houses and colored clothes to the eating of fatted calves.

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The wife of Rabbi Hisda was dressing up in front of her daughter-in-law. Rabbi Huna, son of Hinnana, sat before Rabbi Hisda and said: They taught this of a young girl, but not of an old woman. Said he to him: Lord, even your mother and even your mother’s mother and even if she were on the brink of the grave; for they say: the sixty-year-old woman is like the six-year-old—she runs to the sound of the drum.

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Two women in the house make a quarrel in the house.

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A woman envies nothing but her neighbor’s thigh.

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In the hour when a woman sits upon the travailing stool in childbirth she says: I shall never couple with my husband again. And the Holy One, Blessed be He, says to her: You shall return to your desire—you shall return to the desire of your husband.

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A woman desires her husband when he is setting out on a journey.

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Said Rav Samuel bar Onia in the name of Rav: A woman is an unfinished instrument, nor does she make a covenant with anyone save him who makes her whole, as it is said: “For thy Maker is thine husband” [Isaiah 54:5].

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Between Him and Her

“Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?” [Job 35:11]. Said Rabbi Yochanan: If the Law had not been given we should have learned modesty from the cat and robbery from the ant and shame from the dove and good manners from the rooster, who uses persuasion first and then has sexual intercourse.

How does he persuade her?

Said Rab Judah said Rav: He speaks thus to her: I will get you a cloak that will reach down to your knees; afterwards he says to her: pull out my coxcomb if I can afford it; and he refrains from getting it.

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Rav Huna said: The people of Israel are holy and they do not perform their marital duty by day.

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Said Rav Judah, said Rav: The men of Jerusalem were given to obscenity. A man would say to his friend: How did you dine today, on well-kneaded bread or bread that had not been kneaded, on white wine or red wine, at a broad table or at a short table, in good company or in bad company?

Said Rav Hisda: All of these similes are used of fornication.

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Said Rabbi Yochanan: Man has a small member—if he starves it, it is satisfied, if he satisfies it, it is hungry.

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Says Rabbi Yochanan: A lion’s behind is preferable to a woman’s behind.

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Our masters learned: Whoever changes money for a woman and passes it from his hand to hers only in order to look at her—even if he is learned in the Torah and known for his good deeds like Moses our teacher, he shall not be cleansed of the judgment of Hell, as it is said: “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished” [Proverbs 11:21].

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They taught that even the most virtuous among the virtuous cannot be appointed as a guardian against lechery.

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Said Rav Iddi: Every woman bears her weapons of defense upon her.

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They learned: a woman can be a water-skin filled with excrement and her mouth filled with blood, but yet everyone will run after her.

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“And Adam knew his wife again” [Gen. 4:25]. Desire was added to his desire, for in the past, if he did not see her he did not desire her, but now, whether he sees her or not he desires her.

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Rabbi Akiba says: Laughter and lightheadedness habituate a man to lewdness.

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Said Rabbi Isaac: From the day on which the Temple was destroyed the true flavor has been lacking from sexual intercourse and has only been granted to those committing sin, as it is said: “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” [Proverbs 9. 17]·

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Said Rabbi Isaac: We have found in all cases of those who commit sin that he who steals enjoys and that he who is stolen from loses, he who robs enjoys and he who is robbed loses, but here both of them enjoy it. Who loses? The Holy One, Blessed be He, loses from his store of potency (in creating a bastard).

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