Learning from Romans

(4) ...Bless it (the day) with delicacies. Rabbeinu (Rabbi Yehudah/Rebbi) made a feast for Antoninus on the Shabbat. They brought before him prepared foods that were cold. He ate from them and found them very tasty. He (Rebbi) made a feast for him (Antoninus) on a weekday and brought before him steaming foods. He (Antoninus) said to him (Rebbi) those (the cold food on Shabbat) tasted better to me than these (warm foods). He (Rebbi) explained that the warm weekday food was missing a single spice. He (Antoninus) said to him, ‘and is there anything in the king’s treasury that is lacking? He (Rebbi) said that the food was missing Shabbat, Do you have Shabbat?

(7) A certain matron asked Rabbi Yosi, saying: why did God steal [Adam's rib]? He replied in a parable: if a person gave you a deposit of an ounce of silver in secret, and returned to you a pound of gold publicly, would that be stealing? She said to him: so why was it done in secret? He replied: at first, He created her, and Adam saw her full of secretions and blood. He kept her away from him, and went back and created her a second time. She said to him: I will add further, I was meant to marry my mother's brother, but because I grew up in the same house as him, I was unattractive in his eyes, and he went and married a different woman, who is less attractive than I am.

Antoninus said to Rebbe: 'At what point is the soul given to a human? Is it from the moment of decree [that such a child will exist], or from the moment of formation?' He responded:'from the moment of formation.' He replied, 'is it possible that a piece of meat can last for three days without salt, and yet not become rotten? Rather it must be from the moment of decree.' Rebbe said: 'This thing that I learned from Antoninus, and there is a supporting verse: [Job 10:12] Your Providence has guarded my soul.'

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On the day when Rabbi died the Rabbis decreed a public fast and offered prayers for heavenly mercy. They. furthermore, announced that whoever said that Rabbi was dead would be stabbed with a sword.

Rabbi's handmaid ascended the roof and prayed: 'The immortals desire Rabbi [to join them] and the mortals desire Rabbi [to remain with them]; may it be the will [of God] that the mortals may overpower the immortals'. When, however, she saw how often he resorted to the privy, painfully taking off his tefillin and putting them on again, she prayed: 'May it be the will [of the Almighty] that the immortals may overpower the mortals'. As the Rabbis incessantly continued their prayers for [heavenly] mercy she took up a jar and threw it down from the roof to the ground. [For a moment] they ceased praying and the soul of Rabbi departed to its eternal rest.

'Go', said the Rabbis to Bar Kappara, 'and investigate'. He went and, finding that [Rabbi] was dead, he tore his cloak and turned the tear backwards. [On returning to the Rabbis] he began: 'The angels and the mortals have taken hold of the holy ark. The angels overpowered the mortals and the holy ark has been captured'. 'Has he', they asked him, 'gone to his eternal rest?' — 'You', he replied, 'said it; I did not say it'.

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He went and sent Titus [in his place]."And he said, "Where is their God, the Rock in which they trusted?" (Deuteronomy 32:37) This is [referring to] Titus, who cursed and blasphemed towards Heaven.What did he do? He grabbed a prostitute in his hand and entered into the Chamber of the Holy of Holies and spread out a Torah scroll and performed a sin upon it; and he took a sword and slashed the curtain (parochet); and a miracle occurred and blood gurgled and came out. And he thought that he had killed himself (a euphemism for God), as is it is stated (Psalms 74:4), "Your enemies roar in the midst of your meeting places, they have made their signs into signs."