The Make Space for Difference Project

Therefore, Adam was created alone, to teach you that anyone who destroys one soul from the Jewish people, the verse ascribes him blame as if he destroyed an entire world. And anyone who sustains one soul from the Jewish people, the verse ascribes him credit as if he sustained an entire world.

And this was done due to the importance of maintaining peace among people, so that one person will not say to another: My father is greater than your father. And so that the heretics will not say: There are many authorities in Heaven. And to tell of the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as when a person stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to each other. But the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, stamped all people with the seal of Adam the first man, and not one of them is similar to another. Therefore, each and every person is obligated to say: The world was created for me.

Said R' Levi: The Holy One Blessed Be He appeared to them like a picture which is visible form all angles. A thousand people may gaze on it and it gazes on all of them. So is the Holy One Blesses Be He. When He spoke, every individual Yisrael maintained: "He spoke to me!" "I am Hashem your (plural) G-d" is not written here, rather " I am Hashem your (singular) G-d".

Said R' Yosi son of R' Haninah: In accordance with each and everyone's personal capacities did the word speak to him. Do not be astonished at the Manna which came down on Yisrael - each one tasting the flavour that he was capable of tasting - the infants in accordance with their capacities... the young men in accordance with their capacities... and the old in accordance with their capacities. If that was so in the case of the Manna, that everyone tasted the flavour that he could appreciate, the word (the word of Hashem at the receiving of the Torah), all the more so! Said (King) David (Psalm 29:4): " The Voice of Hashem is in strength". It does not say "In HIS strength", but just strength - in the strength (capacities) of each man.

(1) “God said: Let the water under the heavens be gathered to one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so” (Genesis 1:9).

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Let the water eagerly await [yekavu] for Me, for what I am going to do with it in the future.’ This is analogous to a king who built a palace and settled mute people in it. They would rise early and inquire regarding the king’s wellbeing with gestures, with fingers, and with kerchiefs. The king said: ‘If they could speak, would it not be even more so?’ This was a rhetorical question. The king then settled speaking residents in it. They rose and seized the palace and said: ‘This palace is not the king’s; it is ours.’ The king said: ‘Let the palace be restored to its previous state.’ So, from the beginning of the creation of the world the praises of the Holy One blessed be He would arise only from the water, as it is written: “It is from the sound of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea” (Psalms 93:4). What would they say? “The Lord is mighty on High” (Psalms 93:4). [God said:] ‘If these [waters] that have no ability to talk and speak, and yet they laud Me, when I create Man, all the more so.’ [But] the generation of the Flood arose and rebelled against Him, the generation of Enosh arose and rebelled against Him, the generation of the Dispersion arose and rebelled against Him. The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Let these [mankind] be expelled, and let those who had dwelled here before arise and come back.’ That is what is written: “The rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:12).

MISHNA: A priest who has blemishes on his hands may not lift his hands to recite the Priestly Blessing. Rabbi Yehuda says: Even one whose hands were colored with satis, a blue dye, may not lift his hands because the congregation will look at him.

GEMARA: It is taught in a baraita: The blemishes that the Sages said disqualify a priest are those on his face, hands, and feet. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: If his hands are spotted with white blotches, he may not lift his hands. This is also taught in a baraita: If a priest’s hands are spotted, he may not lift his hands. If his hands are curved or bent, he may not lift his hands.

Rav Asi said: A priest from Haifa or Beit She’an may not lift his hands to recite the Priestly Benediction, This is also taught in a baraita: One may not allow the people of Beit She’an, nor the people of Beit Haifa, nor the people of Tivonin to pass before the ark in order to lead the service because they pronounce alef as ayin and ayin as alef.

Rabbi Ḥiyya said to Rabbi Shimon, son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: If you were a Levite, you would be disqualified from singing on the platform in the Temple courtyard because your voice is thick. He went and told his father, and Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to him: Go and say to him: When you study and reach the verse: “And I will wait upon [veḥikkiti] the Lord” (Isaiah 8:17), will you not be a maligner and a blasphemer? Rabbi Ḥiyya, who was from Babylonia, was unable to differentiate between the letters ḥet and heh, and he would therefore pronounce the word veḥikkiti as vehikkiti, which means: And I will strike.

Rav Huna said: A priest whose eyes run may not lift his hands. Wasn’t there a certain priest with this condition in the neighborhood of Rav Huna, and he would spread his hands? That priest was familiar in his town. This is also taught in a baraita: One whose eyes run should not lift his hands, but if he is familiar in his town, he is permitted.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One who is blind in one eye may not lift his hands. Wasn’t there a certain priest who was blind in one eye in the neighborhood of Rabbi Yoḥanan, and he would lift his hands? That priest was familiar in his town. This is also taught in a baraita: One who is blind in one eye may not lift his hands, but if he is familiar in his town, he is permitted.

Rabbi Yehuda said: One whose hands are colored should not lift his hands. It was taught in a baraita: If most of the townspeople are engaged in this occupation, dyeing, he is permitted.

The Sages taught: There was an incident where one man’s wife died, and she left him a son to nurse, and he did not have money to pay the wages of a wet-nurse. And a miracle was performed on his behalf, and he developed breasts like the two breasts of a woman, and he nursed his son. Rav Yosef said: Come and see how great this person is that a miracle of that magnitude was performed on his behalf. Abaye said to him: On the contrary, how dishonorable is this person that the order of creation was altered on his behalf.