m the Lord" (Lev. x. 2). Abba Yossi saith,
"Two threads of fire came out from the Holy of holies, and these were
disparted into four: two entered the nostrils of the one (i.e., Nadab),
and two entered the nostrils of the other (i.e., Abihu), and thus
consumed them. Their souls were burned, but not their garments; for it
is said, 'So they went near, and carried them in their coats'" (ver. 5).

_Torath Cohanim_, sec. _Shemini_.

Rabbi Jacob teaches that he who has no wife abideth without good,
without help, without joy, without blessing or atonement, to which Rabbi
Yehoshua ben Levi adds, (yea) also without peace or life. Rabbi Cheya
says that he is not a perfect man, for it is said, "And blessed them and
called their name man" (Gen. v. 2), where both are spoken of together as
one man.

_Midrash Rabbah Bereshith_, chap. 17.

"My beloved is like a roe" (1 Cant. ii. 9). As a roe leaps and skips
from bush to bush, from covert to covert, from hedge to hedge, so
likewise does the Holy One--blessed be He!--pass from synagogue to
synagogue, and from academy to academy, that He may bless Israel.

_Pesikta._

(Cant. v. 1), "I came into My garden," the synagogues and academies; "My
sister, My spouse," the congregation of Israel; "I have gathered My
myrrh with My spice," the Bible (that is); "I have eaten My honeycomb
with My honey" (this means) the Halachoth, Midrashoth, and Aggadoth; "I
have drank My wine with My milk," this alludes to the good works which
are reserved for the sages of Israel. After that, "Eat, O friends!
drink, yea, drink freely, O beloved!"

_Yalkut Eliezer_, fol. 41, col. 2.

When Solomon brought the ark into the Temple and said, "Lift up your
heads, O ye gates! and the King of glory shall come in," the gates were
ready to fall upon him and crush his head, and they would have done so
if he had not said at once, "The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory"
(Ps. xxiv. 9, 10). The Holy One--blessed be He!--then said to the gates,
"Since ye have thus honored Me, by your lives! when I destroy My Temple,
no man shall have dominion over you!" This was to inform us that while
all the vessels of the Temple were carried into captivity, the gates of
the Temple were stored away on the very spot where they were erected;
for it is said (Lam. ii. 9), "Her gates are sunk into the ground."

_Midrash Rabbah Devarim_, chap. 15.

We are reminded of this tradition in the conclusion service for
Yom Kippur, where