from his father a thousand towns and
a thousand ships, and yet he went about with a leather sack of flour at
his back, roaming from town to town and from province to province in
order to study the law. This great Rabbi never once set eye on his
immense patrimony, for he was engaged in the study of the law all day
and all night long. And so strange was he to his own servants, that
they, on one occasion, not knowing who he was, pressed him against his
will to do a day's work as a menial; and though he pleaded with them as
a suppliant to be left alone to pursue his studies in the law, they
refused, and swore, saying, "By the life of Rabbi Elazer ben Charsom,
our master, we will not let thee go till thy task is completed." He then
let himself be enforced rather than make himself known to them.

_Yoma_, fol. 35, col. 2.

The wife of Potiphar coaxed Joseph with loving words, but in vain. She
then threatened to immure him in prison, but he replied (anticipating
Ps. cxlvi. 7), "The Lord looseth the prisoners." Then she said, "I will
bow thee down with distress; I will blind thine eyes." He only answered
(_ibid._, ver. 8), "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind and raiseth
them that are bowed down." She then tried to bribe him with a thousand
talents of silver if he would comply with her request, but in vain.

Ibid.

A Midrash tells us that Potiphar's wife not only falsely accused
Joseph herself, but that she also suborned several of her female
friends to do likewise. The Book of Jasher, which embodies the
Talmudic story quoted above, tells us that an infant in the
cradle spoke up and testified to Joseph's innocence, and that
while Joseph was in prison his inamorata daily visited him. More
on this topic may be found in the Koran, chap. xii. The amours
of Joseph and Zulieka, as told by the glib tongue of tradition,
fitly find their consummation in marriage, and certain Moslems
affect to see in all this an allegorical type of Divine love, an
allegory which some other divines find in the Song of Solomon.

The thickness of the earth is a thousand paces or ells.

_Succah_, fol. 53, col. 2.

The crust of the earth as far as the abyss is a thousand ells,
and the abyss under the earth is fifteen thousand. There is an
upper and a lower abyss mentioned in Taanith, fol. 25, col. 2.
Riddia, the angel who has the command of the waters, and resides
between the two abysse