Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and Kabbala. Maurice Henry Harris
things are said concerning garlic:—It nourishes, it glows inwardly, it brightens the complexion, and increases virility. Some say that it is a philtre for love, and that it exterminates jealousy.
Five things cause forgetfulness:—Partaking of what has been gnawed by a mouse or a cat, eating bullock's heart, habitual use of olives, drinking water that has been washed in, and placing the feet one upon the other while bathing.
Five things restore the memory again:—Bread baked upon coals, soft-boiled eggs without salt, habitual use of olive oil, mulled wine, and plenty of salt.
He who does not cheer the bridegroom whose wedding breakfast he has enjoyed transgresses against the five voices (mentioned in Jer. xxxiii. II):—"The voice of joy, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say 'Praise ye the Lord of Hosts.'"
Mount Sinai had five names:—(1.) Wilderness of Zin, because on it the Israelites were commanded to observe the law; (2.) Wilderness of Kadesh, because on it the Israelites were consecrated to receive the law; (3.) Wilderness of Kedemoth, because precedence was there given to Israel over all other nations; (4.) Wilderness of Paran, because there the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied; (5.) Wilderness of Sinai, because from it enmity came to be cherished to the Gentiles. It was denominated Horeb according to Rabbi Abhu, because from it came down destruction to the Gentiles.
Mar (the master) has said, "From dawn to the appearance of the sun is five miles." How is this proved? It is written (Gen. xix. 15), "When the dawn arose the angels hurried Lot;" and it is added (verse 25), "The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar." And Rabbi Chanena said, "I myself have seen that place, and the distance is five miles."
He that cooks in milk the ischiadic sinew on an annual festival is to be scourged five times forty stripes save one:—For cooking the sinew, for eating the sinew, for cooking flesh in milk, for eating flesh cooked in milk, and for lighting the fire.
To this very day this sinew is extracted from the hind quarters of all animals before it is allowable for a Jew to eat them. This operation, in popular parlance, is termed porging.
The mysteries of the law are not to be communicated except to those who possess the faculties of these five in combination:—"The captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator" (see Isa. iii. 3).
"Captain of fifty." This should be read, not captain of fifty, but captain of five, that is, such as knew how to manage the five-fifths of the law (or Pentateuch).
Five characteristics were ascribed to the fire upon the altar:—It crouched there like a lion, it shone as the sun, it was perceptible to the touch, it consumed liquids as though they were dry materials, it caused no smoke.
How is it that the word signifying "And I will be glorified," occurs in Hag. i. 8 without the letter which is the symbol for five, though it is sounded as if that letter was there? It indicates the absence of five things from the second Temple which were to be found in the first, (1.) The ark, i.e., the mercy-seat of the cherubim; (2.) the fire from heaven upon the altar; (3.) the visible presence; (4.) the Holy Spirit (of prophecy, says Rashi); and (5.) the Urim and Thummim.
How then, it may be asked, if these five tokens of the Divine presence and favor which rendered the first Temple so glorious were wanting in the second could it be said (Hag. ii. 9), "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former"? It is a question which it is natural to ask, and it should be ingenuously answered. Is it that these were tending to usurp the place of the spiritual, of which they were but the assurance and the symbol, and darken rather than reveal the eternal reality they adumbrated?
The Israelites relished any flavor they fancied in the manna except the flavor of these five things (mentioned in Num. xi. 59):—"Cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic."
Five things happened to our forefathers on the 17th of Tammuz, and five on the 9th of Ab. On the 17th of Tammuz (1.) the tables of the covenant were broken; (2.) the daily sacrifice was done away with; (3.) the city walls were cleft asunder; (4.) Apostumes burned the roll of the law; (5.) and set up an idol in the temple. On the 9th of Ab (1.) the decree was uttered that our ancestors should not enter the land of Canaan; both the (2.) first and the (3.) second Temple were destroyed; (4.) Byther was subjugated and (5.) the city was plowed up.
The Rabbis have taught where it is we learn that if one has five sons by five wives he is bound to redeem each and all of them. It is from what is taught in Exod. xxxiv. 20, where it is said, "All the first born of thy sons shalt thou redeem."
If Israel had not sinned they would have had no other Scriptures than the five-fifths of the law (that is, the Pentateuch) and the book of Joshua, which last is indispensable, because therein is recorded how the land was distributed among the sons of Israel; but the remainder was added, "Because in much wisdom is much grief" (Eccles. i. 18).
"If a man steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, five oxen shall be given in restitution for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep" (Exod. xxii. 1). From this observe the value put upon work. For the loss of an ox, because it involves the loss of labor, the owner is recompensed with five oxen; but for the loss of a sheep, which does no work, he is only recompensed with four.
"And Esau came from the field, and he was faint" (Gen. xxv. 29). Rabbi Yochanan said that wicked man committed on that day five transgressions:—He committed rape, committed murder, denied the being of God, denied the resurrection from the dead, and despised the birthright.
There are five celebrated idolatrous temples, and these are the names of them:—The Temple of Bel in Babylon, the Temple of Nebo in Chursi, the Temple of Thretha in Maphog, the Temple of Zeripha in Askelon, and the Temple of Nashra in Arabia. When Rabbi Dimmi came from Palestine to Babylon he said there were others, viz, the Temple of Yarid in Ainbechi, and that of Nadbacha in Accho.
"And they also transgressed my covenant, which I have commanded them; and they also have taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and have also put it among their own stuff" (Josh. vii. 11). Rav Illaa says, in the name of Rav Yehudah ben Mispartha, the fivefold repetition of the particle also shows that Achan had trespassed against all the five books of Moses. The same Rabbi further adds that Achan had obliterated the sign of the covenant, for it is said in relation to him, "And they have also transgressed my covenant;" and with reference to circumcision, "He hath broken my covenant."
He who eats an ant is flogged five times with forty stripes save one.
Rabbi Akiva used to say there are five judgments on record each of twelve months' duration:—That of the deluge, that of Job, that of the Egyptians, that of Gog and Magog, and that of the wicked in hell. This last is said of those whose demerits outweigh their virtues, or those who have sinned against their bodies.
Five possessions hath the Holy One—blessed be He!—purchased for Himself in this world:—(1.)