one day to the place on purpose to disinherit him
before the assembled Rabbis. It so happened that Rabbon Yochanan was at
that time lecturing before some of the great men of Jerusalem, and when
he saw the father enter, he pressed Rabbi Eliezer to deliver an
exposition. So racy and cogent were his observations that Rabbon
Yochanan rose and styled him his own Rabbi, and thanked him in the name
of the rest for the instruction he had afforded them. Then the father of
Rabbi Eliezer said, "Rabbis, I came here for the purpose of
disinheriting my son, but now I declare him sole heir of all I have, to
the exclusion of his brothers."

_Avoth d'Rab. Nathan_, chap. 6.

The father of Eliezer acts more magnanimously by his son than
does the father of St. Francis. Like the Rabbi, as Mr. Ruskin
relates in his "Mornings in Florence," St. Francis, one of whose
three great virtues was obedience, "begins his spiritual life by
quarreling with his father. He 'commercially invests' some of
his father's goods in charity. His father objects to that
investment, on which St. Francis runs away, taking what he can
find about the house along with him. His father follows to claim
his property, but finds it is all gone already, and that St.
Francis has made friends with the Bishop of Assisi. His father
flies into an indecent passion, and declares he will disinherit
him; on which St. Francis, then and there, takes all his clothes
off, throws them frantically in his father's face, and says he
has nothing more to do with clothes or father."

Not the same strict scrutiny is required in money matters as in cases of
capital punishment; for it is said (Lev. xxiv. 23), "Ye shall have one
manner of law." What distinction is there made between them? With regard
to money matters three judges are deemed sufficient, while in cases of
capital offense twenty-three are required, etc.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 32, col. 1.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, "In twenty-four cases doth the tribunal
excommunicate for the honor of a Rabbi, and all are explained in our
Mishna." Rabbi Elazer interposed and asked, "Where are they?" The reply
was, "Go and seek, and thou shalt find." He went accordingly and sought,
but found only three--the case of the man who lightly esteems the
washing of hands; of him who whispers evil behind the bier of a disciple
of the wise; and of him who behaves haughtily toward the Most High.

_Berac