searched from Dan to Beersheba, and did not find an ignorant
one." (_Sanhedrin_, fol. 94, col. 2.)

When the Holy One--blessed be He!--remembers that His children are in
trouble among the nations of the world, He drops two tears into the
great ocean, the noise of which startles the world from one end to the
other, and causes the earth to quake.

_Berachoth_, fol. 59, col. 1.

We read in the Talmud that a Gentile once came to Shamai and said, "How
many laws have you?" Shamai replied, "We have two, the written law and
the oral law." To which the Gentile made answer, "When you speak of the
written law, I believe you, but in your oral law I have no faith.
Nevertheless, you may make me a proselyte on condition that you teach me
the written law only." Upon this Shamai rated him sharply, and sent him
away with indignant abuse. When, however, this Gentile came with the
same object, and proposed the same terms to Hillel, the latter proceeded
at once to proselytize him, and on the first day taught him Aleph, Beth,
Gemel, Daleth. On the morrow Hillel reversed the order of these letters,
upon which the proselyte remonstrated and said, "But thou didst not
teach me so yesterday." "True," said Hillel, "but thou didst trust me in
what I taught thee then; why, then, dost thou not trust me now in what I
tell thee respecting the oral law?"

_Shabbath_, fol. 31, col. 1.

Every man as he goes on the eve of the Sabbath from the synagogue to his
house is escorted by two angels, one of which is a good angel and the
other an evil. When the man comes home and finds the lamps lit, the
table spread, and the bed in order, the good angel says, "May the coming
Sabbath be even as the present;" to which the evil angel (though with
reluctance) is obliged to say, "Amen." But if all be in disorder, then
the bad angel says, "May the coming Sabbath be even as the present," and
the good angel is (with equal reluctance), obliged to say "Amen" to it.

Ibid., fol. 119, col. 2.

Two are better than three. Alas! for the one that goes and does not
return again.

_Shabbath_, fol. 152, col. 1.

As in the riddle of the Sphinx, the "two" here stands for youth
with its two sufficient legs, and the "three" for old age, which
requires a third support in a staff.

There were two things which God first thought of creating on the eve of
the Sabbath, which, however, were not created till after the Sabbath had
closed. The first was fire, which Ad