Judah ha-Nasi

Template:Short description Template:Infobox person Template:Redirect Judah ha-Nasi (Template:Langx, Yəhūḏā hanNāsīʾ‎; Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince or Judah the President) or Judah I, known simply as Rebbi or Rabbi, was a second-century rabbi (a tanna of the fifth generation) and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah. He lived from approximately 135 to 217 CE. He was a key leader of the Jewish community in Roman-occupied Judea after the Bar Kokhba revolt.

Name and titles

The title nasi was used for presidents of the Sanhedrin.<ref>Mishna Chagiga 2:2</ref> He was the first nasi to have this title added permanently to his name; in traditional literature he is usually called "Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi." Often though (and always in the Mishnah) he is simply called Rabbi "my teacher" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), the master par excellence. He is occasionally called Rabbenu "our master".<ref>Yevamot 45a; Menachot 32b; compare Abbahu's sentence, Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 30a</ref> He is also called "Rabbenu HaQadosh" "our holy master" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})<ref>Pesachim 37b; Shabbat 156a; Frankel ("Darke ha-Mishnah," p. 191) considers this as a later gloss, but Jewish Encyclopedia disagrees</ref> due to his deep piety.<ref>Shabbat 118b; Yerushalmi Megillah 74a; Sanhedrin 29c</ref><ref name="Katz2000">Template:Cite book</ref>

Biography

Youth

File:Ancient Galilee.jpg

The Galilee in late antiquity

Judah was born in 135 in the newly-established Roman province of Syria Palaestina to Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel II. According to the Talmud, he was of the Davidic line.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Genesis Rabbah 98:8; Shabbat 56a; Ketuvot 62b; see discussion in Shevet uMechokek MiBeit Yehudah</ref> He is said to have been born on the same day that Rabbi Akiva died as a martyr.<ref>Midrash Genesis Rabbah 53; Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:10; Kiddushin 72b</ref> The Talmud suggests that this was a result of divine providence: God had granted the Jewish people another leader of great stature to succeed Akiva. His place of birth is unknown.

Judah spent his youth in the city of Usha in the Lower Galilee. His father presumably gave him the same education that he had received, including Koine Greek.<ref>Sotah 49b</ref> This knowledge of Greek enabled him to become the Jews' intermediary with the Roman authorities. He favoured Greek as the language of the country over Jewish Palestinian Aramaic.<ref>Sotah 49b</ref> In Judah's house, only the Hebrew language was spoken, and the maids of the house became known for their use of obscure Hebrew terminology.<ref>Megillah 18a; Rosh Hashana 26b; Nazir 3a; Eruvin 53a</ref>

Judah devoted himself to the study of the oral and the written law. He studied under some of Akiva's most eminent students. As their student and through conversation with other prominent men who gathered about his father, he laid a strong foundation of scholarship for his life's work: the editing of the Mishnah.

His teachers

His teacher at Usha was Judah bar Ilai, who was officially employed in the house of the patriarch as judge in religious and legal questions.<ref>Menachot 104a; Shevuot 13a</ref> In later years, Judah described how in his childhood he read the Book of Esther at Usha in the presence of Judah bar Ilai.<ref>Megillah 20a; Tosefta Megillah 2:8</ref>

Judah felt especial reverence for Jose ben Halafta, the student of Akiva's who had the closest relations with Simon ben Gamaliel. When, in later years, Judah raised objections to Jose's opinions, he would say: "We poor ones undertake to attack Jose, though our time compares with his as the profane with the holy!"<ref>Yerushalmi Gittin 48b</ref> Judah hands down a halakhah by Jose in Menachot 14a.

Judah studied from Shimon bar Yochai in Teqoa,<ref>"when we studied the Torah with Shimon bar Yochai at Tekoa'"; Tosefta Eruvin 8:6; Shabbat 147b; compare Yerushalmi Shabbat 12c</ref> a place some have identified with Meron.<ref>See Bacher, l.c. ii. 76</ref> He also studied with Eleazar ben Shammua.<ref>Eruvin 53a; Yevamot 84a; compare Menachot 18a</ref> Judah did not study with Rabbi Meir, evidently in consequence of the conflicts which distanced Meir from the house of the patriarch. However, he considered himself lucky even to have seen Meir from behind.<ref>Eruvin 13b; Yerushalmi Beitzah 63a, where an anachronistic anecdote is connected with this saying of Judah's</ref>

Another of Judah's teachers was Nathan the Babylonian, who also took a part in the conflict between Meir and the patriarch; Judah confessed that once, in a fit of youthful ardour, he had failed to treat Nathan with due reverence.<ref>Bava Batra 131a; in different version Yerushalmi Ketuvot 29a; Bava Batra 16a</ref> In both halakhic and aggadic tradition, Judah's opinion is often opposed to Nathan's.

In the Jerusalemite tradition, Judah ben Korshai (the halakhic specialist mentioned as assistant to Simon ben Gamaliel<ref>Horayot 13b</ref>) is designated as Judah's real teacher.<ref>Yerushalmi Shabbat 12c; Yerushalmi Pesachim 37b</ref> Jacob ben Hanina (possibly the R. Jacob whose patronymic is not given and in whose name Judah quotes halakhic sentences)<ref>Gittin 14b; compare Tosefta Avodah Zarah 5:4</ref> is also mentioned as one of Judah's teachers, and is said to have asked him to repeat halakhic sentences.<ref>Sifre Deuteronomy 306</ref>

Judah was also taught by his father (Simon ben Gamaliel);<ref>Bava Metziah 85b</ref> when the two differed on a halakhic matter, the father was generally stricter.<ref>See Frankel, l.c. p. 184</ref> Judah himself says: "My opinion seems to me more correct than that of my father"; and he then proceeds to give his reasons.<ref>Eruvin 32a</ref> Humility was a virtue ascribed to Judah, and he admired it greatly in his father, who openly recognised Shimon bar Yochai's superiority, thus displaying the same modesty as the Bnei Bathyra when they gave way to Hillel, and as Jonathan when he voluntarily gave precedence to his friend David.<ref>Bava Metziah 84b, 85a</ref>

Leadership

Nothing is known regarding the time when Judah succeeded his father as leader of the Jews remaining in Eretz Yisrael. According to Rashi, Judah's father Simon had served as the nasi or head of the Sanhedrin in Usha before it moved to Shefar'am (now Shefa-'Amr).<ref name= "BT-RoshHash">Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashana 31b, Rashi s.v. ומיבנא לאושא</ref> According to a tradition,<ref>Mishnah Soṭah, end</ref> the country at the time of Simon ben Gamaliel's death not only was devastated by a plague of locusts but suffered many other hardships.

From Shefar'am, the Sanhedrin transferred to Beit Shearim (now part of the Beit She'arim necropolis), where the Sanhedrin was headed by Judah.<ref name= "BT-RoshHash" /> Here he officiated for a long time. Eventually, Judah moved with the court from Beit Shearim to Sepphoris,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> where he spent at least 17 years of his life. Judah chose Sepphoris chiefly because of his ill health would improve in its high altitude and pure air.<ref>Jerusalem Talmud, Kilaim 32b; Genesis Rabbah 96; Ketubot 103b</ref> However, Judah's memorial as a leader is principally associated with Bet She'arim: "The Sages taught: The verse states: “Justice, justice, shall you follow.” This teaches that one should follow the Sages to the academy where they are found. For example [...] after Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi to Beit She’arim[.]"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Among Judah's contemporaries in the early years of his activity were Eleazar ben Simeon, Ishmael ben Jose, Jose ben Judah, and Simeon ben Eleazar. His better-known contemporaries and students include Simon b. Manasseh, Pinchas ben Yair, Eleazar ha-Kappar and his son Bar Kappara, Hiyya the Great, Shimon ben Halafta, and Levi ben Sisi. Among his students who taught as the first generation of Amoraim after his death are: Hanina bar Hama and Hoshaiah Rabbah in Eretz Yisrael,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Abba Arikha and Samuel of Nehardea in Babylon (the Jewish term for Lower Mesopotamia).

Only scattered records of Judah's official activity exist. These include: the ordination of his students;<ref>Sanhedrin 5a,b</ref> the recommendation of students for communal offices;<ref>Yevamot 105a; Yerushalmi Yevamot 13a</ref> orders relating to the announcement of the new moon;<ref>Yerushalmi Rosh Hashana 58a, above</ref> amelioration of the law relating to the Sabbatical year;<ref>Shevuot 6:4; Yerushalmi Shevuot 37a; compare Hullin 7a,b</ref> and to decrees relating to tithes in the frontier districts of Eretz Yisrael.<ref>Yerushalmi Demai 22c</ref><ref name="hullin6">Hullin 6b</ref> The last-named he was obliged to defend against the opposition of the members of the patriarchal family.<ref name="hullin6"/> The ameliorations he intended for Tisha B'Av were prevented by the college.<ref>Megillah 5b; Yerushalmi Megillah 70c</ref> Many religious and legal decisions are recorded as having been rendered by Judah together with his court, the college of scholars.<ref>Gittin 5:6; Ohalot 18:9; Tosefta Shabbat 4:16; see also Yevamot 79b, above; Kiddushin 71a</ref>

According to the Talmud,<ref>Babylonian Talmud (Avodah Zarah 10a-b)</ref> Rabbi Judah HaNasi was very wealthy and greatly revered in Rome. He had a close friendship with "Antoninus", possibly the Emperor Antoninus Pius,<ref>A. Mischcon, Avodah Zara, p.10a Soncino, 1988. Mischcon cites various sources, "SJ Rappaport... is of the opinion that our Antoninus is Antoninus Pius." Other opinions cited suggest "Antoninus" was Caracalla, Lucius Verus or Alexander Severus.</ref> though it is more likely his famous friendship was with either Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus<ref name="Codex Judaica Kantor 2006, page 146">'Codex Judaica' Kantor, second edition, NY 2006, page 146</ref><ref>Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport, Erekh Millin, Warsaw 1914, p. 219</ref> or Antoninus who is also called Caracalla and who would consult Judah on various worldly and spiritual matters.<ref>Modern scholarship has difficulty fitting these accounts into the historical framework of the period of the Antonines, especially since Rabbi Judah the Prince thrived mainly at the end of the second century CE. Epiphanius of Salamis, in his treatise On Weights and Measures, mentions a fifth line of Caesar after Antoninus Pius, one named Antoninus who is also called Caracalla, the son of Septimius Severus, who was also contemporary with Judah the Prince, and whom the historian Heinrich Graetz believes may refer to the Roman Emperor who befriended Rabbi Judah the Prince. Antoninus the son of Severus (Template:Langx) is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 10b and in the Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva (MS. version aleph).</ref><ref>Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 3:2)</ref> Jewish sources tell of various discussions between Judah and Antoninus. These include the parable of the blind and the lame (illustrating the judgment of the body and the soul after death),<ref>Mekhilta Beshallah Shirah 2; Sanhedrin 91a,b; see a similar parable by him in Ecclesiastes Rabbah 5:10</ref> and a discussion of the impulse to sin.<ref>Genesis Rabbah 34; Sanhedrin 91b</ref>

The authority of Judah's office was enhanced by his wealth, which is referred to in various traditions. In Babylon, the hyperbolic statement was later made that even his stable-master was wealthier than King Shapur.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His household was compared to that of the emperor.<ref>Berachot 43a, 57b</ref> Simeon ben Menasya praised Judah by saying that he and his sons united in themselves beauty, power, wealth, wisdom, age, honour, and the blessings of children.<ref>Tosefta Sanhedrin 11:4; Baraita Ab. 6:8</ref> During a famine, Judah opened his granaries and distributed corn among the needy.<ref>Bava Batra 8a</ref> But he denied himself the pleasures procurable by wealth, saying: "Whoever chooses the delights of this world will be deprived of the delights of the next world; whoever renounces the former will receive the latter".<ref name="Avot of Rabbi Natan 28">Avot of Rabbi Natan 28</ref>

Death

File:Catacomb no. 14, The Cave of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi.jpg

Catacomb no. 14, the Cave of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi in Beit Shearim.

The year of Judah's death is deduced from the statement that his student Abba Arikha left Eretz Yisrael for good not long before Judah's death, in year 530 of the Seleucid era (219 CE).<ref>See "R. E. J." 44:45-61</ref> He assumed the office of patriarch during the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (c. 165). Hence Judah, having been born about 135, became patriarch at the age of 30, and died at the age of about 85. The Talmud notes that Rabbi Judah the Prince lived for at least 17 years in Sepphoris, and that he applied unto himself the biblical verse, "And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years" (Genesis 47:28).<ref>Jerusalem Talmud, Kelaim 9:3, 32a-b.</ref>

According to a different calculation, he died on 15 Kislev, AM 3978 (around December 1, 217 CE),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> in Sepphoris, and his body was interred in the necropolis of Beit Shearim, Template:Convert distant from Sepphoris,<ref>Cf. Babylonian Talmud Kettubot 103a-b; Bava Metzia 85a; Pesachim 49b; Jerusalem Talmud, Kelaim 9:3, 32a-b.</ref> during whose funeral procession they made eighteen stops at different stations along the route to eulogise him.

It is said that when Judah died, no one had the heart to announce his demise to the anxious people of Sepphoris, until the clever Bar Ḳappara broke the news in a parable, saying: "The heavenly host and earth-born men held the tablets of the covenant; then the heavenly host was victorious and seized the tablets."<ref>Yerushalmi Kilayim 32b; Ketuvot 104a; Yerushalmi Ketuvot 35a; Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:11, 9:10</ref>

Judah's eminence as a scholar, who gave to this period its distinctive impression, was characterised at an early date by the saying that since the time of Moses, the Torah and greatness (i.e. knowledge and rank) were united in no one to the same extent as in Judah I.<ref>Gittin 59a; Sanhedrin 36a</ref>

Two of Judah's sons assumed positions of authority after his death: Gamaliel succeeded him as nasi, while Shimon became hakham of his yeshiva.

According to some Midrashic and Kabbalistic legends, Judah ha-Nasi had a son named Yaavetz who ascended to Heaven without experiencing death.<ref>אוצר המדרשים, עשר גלויות פרשה ב</ref><ref>דרך ארץ זוטא א יח</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Talmudic narratives

Various stories are told about Judah, illustrating different aspects of his character.

It is said that once he saw a calf being led to the slaughtering-block, which looked at him with tearful eyes, as if seeking protection. He said to it: "Go; for you were created for this purpose!" Due to this unkind attitude toward the suffering animal, he was punished with years of illness. Later, when his maid was about to kill some small animals which were in their house, he said to her: "Let them live, for it is written: '[God's] tender mercies are over all his works'."<ref>Psalms 145:9</ref> After this demonstration of compassion, his illness ceased.<ref>Bava Metzia 85a; Genesis Rabbah 33</ref> Judah also once said, "One who is ignorant of the Torah should not eat meat."<ref>Pesachim 49b</ref> The prayer he prescribed upon eating meat or eggs also indicates an appreciation of animal life: "Blessed be the Lord who has created many souls, in order to support by them the soul of every living being."<ref>Yerushalmi Berachot 10b</ref>

He exclaimed, sobbing, in reference to three different stories of martyrs whose deaths made them worthy of future life: "One man earns his world in an hour, while another requires many years".<ref>Avodah Zarah 10b, 17a, 18a; for a sentence by Judah on the ranking of the pious in the future world see Sifre, Deut. 47</ref> He began to weep when Elisha ben Abuyah's daughters, who were soliciting alms, reminded him of their father's learning.<ref>Yerushalmi Hagigah 77c; compare Hagigah 15b</ref> In a legend relating to his meeting with Pinchas ben Yair, he is described as tearfully admiring the pious Pinchas' unswerving steadfastness, protected by a higher power.<ref>Hullin 7b</ref> He was frequently interrupted by tears when explaining Lamentations 2:2 and illustrating the passage by stories of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple.<ref>Lamentations Rabbah 2:2; compare Yerushalmi Ta'anit 68d</ref> While explaining certain passages of Scripture,<ref>I Samuel 28:15; Amos 4:13, 5:15; Zephaniah 2:3; Lamentations 3:29; Ecclesiastes 12:14</ref> he was reminded of divine judgment and of the uncertainty of acquittal, and began to cry.<ref>Yerushalmi Hagigah 77a; Leviticus Rabbah 26; Midrash Shmuel 24</ref> Hiyya found him weeping during his last illness because death was about to deprive him of the opportunity of studying the Torah and of fulfilling the commandments.<ref>Ketuvot 103b</ref>

Once, when at a meal his students expressed their preference for soft tongue, he made this an opportunity to say, "May your tongues be soft in your mutual intercourse" (i.e., "Speak gently without disputing").<ref>Leviticus Rabbah 33, beginning</ref>

Before he died, Judah said: "I need my sons! ... Let the lamp continue to burn in its usual place; let the table be set in its usual place; let the bed be made in its usual place."<ref>Ketubot 103a</ref>

His prayers

While teaching Torah, Judah would often interrupt the lesson to recite the Shema Yisrael. He passed his hand over his eyes as he said it.<ref>Berachot 13b</ref>

When 70-year-old wine cured him of a protracted illness, he prayed: "Blessed be the Lord, who has given His world into the hands of guardians".<ref>Avodah Zarah 40b</ref>

He privately recited daily the following supplication on finishing the obligatory prayers: "May it be Thy will, my God and the God of my fathers, to protect me against the impudent and against impudence, from bad men and bad companions, from severe sentences and severe plaintiffs, whether a son of the covenant or not."<ref>Berachot 6b; compare Shabbat 30b</ref>

Post-Talmudic narratives

Rabbi Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg relates that the spirit of Rebbi Judah used to visit his home, wearing Shabbat clothes, every Friday evening at dusk. He would recite Kiddush, and others would thereby discharge their obligation to hear Kiddush. One Friday night there was a knock at the door. "Sorry," said the maid, "I can't let you in just now because Rabbeinu HaKadosh is in the middle of Kiddush." From then on Judah stopped coming, since he did not want his coming to become public knowledge.<ref>Sefer Hasidim §1129 (Cf. Ketubot 103a)</ref>

Teachings

Compilation of the Mishnah

Template:Eras of the Halakha {{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} According to Rabbinical Jewish tradition, God gave both the Written Law (the Torah) and the Oral Law to Moses on biblical Mount Sinai. The Oral Law is the oral tradition as relayed by God to Moses and from him, transmitted and taught to the sages (rabbinic leaders) of each subsequent generation.

For centuries, the Torah appeared only as a written text transmitted in parallel with the oral tradition. Fearing that the oral traditions might be forgotten, Judah undertook the mission of consolidating the various opinions into one body of law which became known as the Mishnah. This completed a project which had been mostly clarified and organised by his father and Nathan the Babylonian.<ref name="Codex Judaica Kantor 2006, page 146"/>

The Mishnah consists of 63 tractates codifying Jewish law, which are the basis of the Talmud. According to Abraham ben David, the Mishnah was compiled by Rabbi Judah the Prince in 3949 AM, or the year 500 of the Seleucid era, which corresponds to 189 CE.<ref>Abraham ben David, Seder Ha-Kabbalah Leharavad, Jerusalem 1971, p.16 (Hebrew)</ref><ref>Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews, vol. 6, Philadelphia 1898, p. 105</ref>

The Mishnah contains many of Judah's own sentences, which are introduced by the words, "Rabbi says."

The Mishnah was Judah's work, although it includes a few sentences by his son and successor, Gamaliel III,<ref>Pirkei Avot 2:2-4</ref> perhaps written after Judah's death. Both the Talmuds assume as a matter of course that Judah is the originator of the Mishnah—"our Mishnah," as it was called in Babylon—and the author of the explanations and discussions relating to its sentences. However, Judah is more correctly considered redactor of the Mishnah, rather than its author. The Mishnah is based on the systematic division of the halakhic material as formulated by Rabbi Akiva; Judah following in his work the arrangement of the halakot as taught by Rabbi Meir (Akiva's foremost student).<ref>Sanhedrin 86a</ref>

Halacha

Using the precedent of Rabbi Meir's reported actions, Judah ruled the Beit Shean region to be exempt from the requirements of tithing and shmita regarding produce grown there.<ref>Babylonian Talmud Hullin 6b; Jerusalem Talmud Demai 2:1. The region of Beit Shean was typically seen as not settled by Jews returning from the Babylonian captivity, and therefore had not the same consecrated status as other areas of the country. As for Rabbi Judah HaNasi's enactment, the release from shmita obligations and the release from tithing all home-grown produce throughout the remaining six years of the seven-year cycle were one and the same (cf. Maimonides, Mishne Torah (Hilchot Terumoth 1:5); Jerusalem Talmud Shevi'it 6:4; p. 51a in the Oz veHadar edition.</ref> He also did the same for the cities of Kefar Tzemach, Caesarea and Beit Gubrin.<ref>Jerusalem Talmud Demai 2:1</ref>

He forbade his students to study in the marketplace, basing his prohibition on his interpretation of Song of Songs 7:2, and censured one of his students who violated this restriction.<ref>Moed Kattan 16a, b</ref>

Biblical interpretation

His exegesis includes many attempts to harmonise conflicting Biblical statements. Thus he harmonises the contradictions between Genesis 15:13 ("400 years") and 15:16 ("the fourth generation");<ref>Mekhilta Bo 14</ref> Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:18;<ref>Mekhilta Yitro, Bahodesh, 8</ref> Numbers 9:23, 10:35 and ib.,<ref>Sifre Numbers 84</ref> Deuteronomy 14:13 and Leviticus 11:14.<ref>Hullin 63b</ref> The contradiction between Genesis 1:25 (which lists 3 categories of created beings) and 1:24 (which adds a fourth category, the "living souls") Judah explains by saying that this expression designates the demons, for whom God did not create bodies because the Sabbath had come.<ref>Genesis Rabbah 7, end</ref>

Noteworthy among the other numerous Scriptural interpretations which have been handed down in Judah's name are his clever etymological explanations, for example: Exodus 19:8-9;<ref name="Shabbat 87a">Shabbat 87a</ref> Leviticus 23:40;<ref>Sukkah 35a</ref> Numbers 15:38;<ref>Sifre Numbers 115</ref> II Samuel 17:27;<ref>Midrash Tehillim to Psalms 3:1</ref> Joel 1:17;<ref>Yerushalmi Peah 20b</ref> Psalms 68:7.<ref>Mekhilta Bo 16</ref>

He interpreted the words "to do the evil" in II Samuel 12:9 to mean that David did not really sin with Bathsheba, but only intended to do so. As she was actually divorced at the time he took her. Abba Arikha, Judah's student, ascribes this apology for King David to Judah's desire to justify his ancestor.<ref>Shabbat 56a</ref> A sentence praising King Hezekiah<ref name="hullin6"/> and an extenuating opinion of King Ahaz<ref>Leviticus Rabbah 36</ref> have also been handed down in Judah's name. Characteristic of Judah's appreciation of aggadah is his interpretation of the word "vayagged" (Exodus 19:9) to the effect that the words of Moses attracted the hearts of his hearers, like the aggadah does.<ref name="Shabbat 87a"/> Once when the audience was falling asleep in his lecture, he made a ludicrous statement in order to revive their interest, and then explained the statement to be accurate in a metaphorical sense.<ref>Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1:15; compare Mekhilta Beshallach Shirah 9</ref>

Judah was especially fond of the Book of Psalms.<ref>See Avodah Zarah 19a; Midrash Tehillim to Psalms 3:1</ref> He paraphrased the psalmist's wish "Let the words of my mouth ... be acceptable in thy sight,"<ref>Psalms 19:14</ref> thus: "May the Psalms have been composed for the coming generations; may they be written down for them; and may those that read them be rewarded like those that study halakhic sentences".<ref>Midrash Tehillim to Psalms 1:1</ref> He said that the Book of Job was important if only because it presented the sin and punishment of the generations of the Flood.<ref>Genesis Rabbah 26, end</ref> He proves from Exodus 16:35 that there is no chronological order in the Torah.<ref>Sifre Numbers 64</ref> Referring to the prophetic books, he says: "All the Prophets begin with denunciations and end with comfortings".<ref>Midrash Tehillim to Psalms 4:8</ref> Even the genealogical portions of the Book of Chronicles must be interpreted.<ref>Ruth Rabbah 2, beginning</ref>

It appears that there was an aggadic collection containing Judah's answers to exegetical questions.<ref>Pesikta Rabbati 46 (ed. Friedmann, p. 187a)</ref> Among these questions may have been the one which Judah's son Simeon addressed to him.<ref>According to Midrash Tehillim to Psalms 117:1</ref>

Other quotes

• What is the right way for man to choose? That which is honorable in his own eyes (i.e. approved by his conscience), and, at the same time, honorable in the eyes of his fellow-men.<ref name="pa21">Pirkei Avot 2:1</ref>
• Be as careful with a light mitzvah as a serious one, for you do not know the reward given for mitzvot. Calculate the loss of a mitzvah against its gain, and the gain of a sin against its loss. Look at three things and you will not come to sin: Know what is above you, an eye seeing and an ear listening, and all your deeds are written in a book.<ref name="pa21"/>
• Look not at the jar, but upon what is inside; many a new jug is full of old wine; and many an old jug does not even contain new wine.<ref>Pirkei Avot 4:20</ref>
• Much have I learned from my teachers; more from my colleagues; but most from my students.<ref>Makkot 10a; Tanhuma Ta'an. 7a</ref>
• Why is the story of the Nazirite<ref>Numbers 6:1–ff.</ref> juxtaposed to the story of the suspected adulteress?<ref>Numbers 5:11–ff.</ref> In order to tell you that anyone who sees a suspected adulteress in her corrupted state, he should put himself under a vow never again to drink wine.<ref>Berakhot 63a</ref>
• Let your secret be known only to yourself; and do not tell your neighbor anything which you perceive may not fitly be listened to.<ref name="Avot of Rabbi Natan 28"/>
• Great is work, for whoever does not work, people speak about him: From what does that man eat? From what does he drink? ... Great is work, for whoever works, his hand is never missing a prutah.<ref>Avot of Rabbi Natan (B) 21</ref>

References

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