It's a Bird, It's a plane, It's Superjew!

(1) A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. (2) The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. (3) When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. (4) And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him. (5) The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it.

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(4) Samuel did what the LORD commanded. When he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city went out in alarm to meet him and said, “Do you come on a peaceful errand?” (5) “Yes,” he replied, “I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Purify yourselves and join me in the sacrificial feast.” He also instructed Jesse and his sons to purify themselves and invited them to the sacrificial feast. (6) When they arrived and he saw Eliab, he thought: “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands before Him.” (7) But the LORD said to Samuel, “Pay no attention to his appearance or his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as man sees [does the LORD see]; man sees only what is visible, but the LORD sees into the heart.” (8) Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass before Samuel; but he said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” (9) Next Jesse presented Shammah; and again he said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” (10) Thus Jesse presented seven of his sons before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.” (11) Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the boys you have?” He replied, “There is still the youngest; he is tending the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send someone to bring him, for we will not sit down to eat until he gets here.” (12) So they sent and brought him. He was ruddy-cheeked, bright-eyed, and handsome. And the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” (13) Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD gripped David from that day on. Samuel then set out for Ramah.

(14) When he reached Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Thereupon the spirit of the LORD gripped him, and the ropes on his arms became like flax that catches fire; the bonds melted off his hands. (15) He came upon a fresh jawbone of an ass and he picked it up; and with it he killed a thousand men. (16) Then Samson said: “With the jaw of an ass, Mass upon mass! With the jaw of an ass I have slain a thousand men.” (17) As he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone away; hence that place was called Ramath-lehi.

(21) The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and shackled him in bronze fetters, and he became a mill slave in the prison. (22) After his hair was cut off, it began to grow back. (23) Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to make merry. They chanted, “Our god has delivered into our hands Our enemy Samson.” (24) When the people saw him, they sang praises to their god, chanting, “Our god has delivered into our hands The enemy who devastated our land, And who slew so many of us.” (25) As their spirits rose, they said, “Call Samson here and let him dance for us.” Samson was fetched from the prison, and he danced for them. Then they put him between the pillars. (26) And Samson said to the boy who was leading him by the hand, “Let go of me and let me feel the pillars that the temple rests upon, that I may lean on them.” (27) Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and there were some three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson dance. (28) Then Samson called to the LORD, “O Lord GOD! Please remember me, and give me strength just this once, O God, to take revenge of the Philistines, if only for one of my two eyes.” (29) He embraced the two middle pillars that the temple rested upon, one with his right arm and one with his left, and leaned against them; (30) Samson cried, “Let me die with the Philistines!” and he pulled with all his might. The temple came crashing down on the lords and on all the people in it. Those who were slain by him as he died outnumbered those who had been slain by him when he lived.

Since Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Shimon sat [together], and Rabbi Yehudah ben Gerim sat with them. Rabbi Yehuda opened and said, "How fine are the deeds of [the Roman] nation; they set up markets, they set up bridges, they set up bathhouses." Rabbi Yose was quiet. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai answered and said, "All that they set up, they didn't set up except for their own needs; they set up markets to place prostitutes in them, bathhouses to pamper themselves, bridges to take taxes from them." Rabbi Yehudah ben Gerim went and told over their words and they were heard by the government. [The government officials] said, "Yehuda that elevated [us] should be elevated, Yose that was quiet should be exiled to Tsippori, Shimon that disgraced [us] should be killed." He and his son went [and] hid in the study hall. Every day, his wife would bring them bread and a container of water and they ate. When the decree became more pronounced, he said to his son, "Women have weak resolve; maybe [the Romans] will distress her and she will reveal [our location]." They went and hid in a cave. A miracle occurred [and] a carob tree and a spring of water were created for them. And they would take off their clothes and would sit up to their necks in sand; the whole day they would study; at the time of prayers they would get dressed, cover themselves and pray; and [then] they would go back and take off their clothes so that they would not get worn out. They sat for twelve years in the cave. Eliyahu came and stood at the entrance of the cave [and] said, "Who will inform Bar Yochai that the Caeser has died and that his decree has been annulled?" They came out; they saw people that were plowing and planting. [Rabbi Shimon] said, "They are leaving over eternal life and involving themselves with temporary life." Every place upon which they would set their eyes would immediately burn. A Heavenly voice came out and said to them, "Did you come out [of the cave] to destroy my world? Go back to your cave!" They returned and went [back]; they sat for twelve months of a year; they [then] said, "the judgment of the wicked is twelve months in Gehinnom." A Heavenly voice came out and said, "Go out from your cave." They came out [again]. Every place that Rabbi Eliezer would strike, Rabbi Shimon would heal. He said to him, “My son, you and I are enough for the world.” As the [sun was setting] on the eve of Shabbat, they saw an old man holding two bundles of hyssops and running at twilight. They said to him, "What are these to you?" He said to them, "For the honor of the Shabbat." [They said back,] "Would one not suffice for you?" [He responded,] "One corresponding to (Exodus 20:7), 'Remember' and one corresponding to (Deuteronomy 5:11) 'Guard.'" [Rabbi Shimon] said to his son, "See, how beloved the commandments are to Israel." [And so] their minds were put at ease.

(7) These may be saved [from transgression] with their lives [i.e. by killing them]: one who pursues his fellow to kill him, and [one who pursues] a male or a betrothed maiden [to rape them]. But one who pursues an animal [to commit bestiality], and one who [intends] to desecrate the Sabbath, and one who [intends] to worship idols, one may not save them with their lives.

If he comes to kill you, rise up and kill him.

(13) You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

(13) לא תגנוב, the term “stealing” also includes the “stealing,” i.e. kidnapping of human beings. Even deceiving your fellow man deliberately is called “stealing” גנבת דעת הבריות, “stealing people’s minds, misleading them to believe that lies are truth. (compare Sanhedrin 86)

(1) The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, through the name of the LORD, and she came to test him with hard questions. (2) She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels bearing spices, a great quantity of gold, and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she asked him all that she had in mind. (3) Solomon had answers for all her questions; there was nothing that the king did not know, [nothing] to which he could not give her an answer.

(21) If the place where the LORD has chosen to establish His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of the cattle or sheep that the LORD gives you, as I have instructed you; and you may eat to your heart’s content in your settlements.

(28) You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.

(9) But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and to your children’s children: (10) The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to Me, “Gather the people to Me that I may let them hear My words, in order that they may learn to revere Me as long as they live on earth, and may so teach their children.”

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(7) He who came upon the road, and it was becoming dark [on the Shabbat eve], if he recognized [singled out] a tree or hedge, and said, "Under it [I will take] my Shabbat rest," [it is as if] he did not say anything. [But if he said], "At its trunk [I will take] my Shabbat rest," he may go from the spot of his feet [where he is standing] to its trunk, [up to] two thousand amot, and from its trunk to his home two thousand amot [more]; it comes out that, after it got dark, he may go four thousand amot.

On what do they differ? - One holds that the regulations concerning the Sabbath-limit are an institution of the Torah, whereas the other holds they are an institution of the Rabbis.

(42) “I came today to the spring, and I said: O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if You would indeed grant success to the errand on which I am engaged!

(42) ואבא היום AND I CAME THIS DAY — Today I started on my journey and today I have arrived here. Hence we may infer that the earth (the road) shrunk for him (i. e. that the journey was shortened in a miraculous manner) (Sanhedrin 95a). R. Acha said: The ordinary conversation of the patriarchs' servants is more pleasing to God than even the Torah (religious discourse) of their children, for the chapter of Eliezer (the account of his journey) is repeated in the Torah (i. e. it is written once as a narrative and again repeated as part of the conversation of the patriarch’s servant) whereas many important principles of the Law are derived only from slight indications given in the Text (Genesis Rabbah 60:8).

(10) So Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded: Aaron cast down his rod in the presence of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and it turned into a serpent. (11) Then Pharaoh, for his part, summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and the Egyptian magicians, in turn, did the same with their spells; (12) each cast down his rod, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed their rods.

(16) And all of these things are words of untruth and deceit. And it is that with which the early idolaters fooled the peoples of the nations, so that they would follow them. And it is not fitting for Israel who are wise sages to follow this hot air, and not to bring to the heart that there is benefit in them, as it is stated (Numbers 23:23), "Since there is no divining in Yaakov and no magic in Israel"; and it is stated (Deuteronomy 18:14), "Since these nations that you are inheriting listen to the soothsayers and to the magicians, but you not like this, etc." Anyone who believes in these things, and similar to them, and thinks in his heart that they are true and a matter of wisdom, but that the Torah forbade them, is nothing but one of the fools and one [of those] lacking intelligence and in the category of woman and children, whose intelligence is not complete. But wise ones and those complete in their intelligence have known with clear proofs that all of these things that the Torah forbade are not matters of wisdom, but rather emptiness and hot air, that those lacking in intelligence followed and left all of the paths of truth on their account. And because of this, the Torah said when it warned against all of this hot air ((Deuteronomy 18:14), 'Be complete with the Lord, your God."

(2) Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. (3) Moab was alarmed because that people was so numerous. Moab dreaded the Israelites, (4) and Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this horde will lick clean all that is about us as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, (5) sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor in Pethor, which is by the Euphrates, in the land of his kinsfolk, to invite him, saying, “There is a people that came out of Egypt; it hides the earth from view, and it is settled next to me. (6) Come then, put a curse upon this people for me, since they are too numerous for me; perhaps I can thus defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed indeed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

(9) When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. (10) Let no one be found among you who consigns his son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, (11) one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead. (12) For anyone who does such things is abhorrent to the LORD, and it is because of these abhorrent things that the LORD your God is dispossessing them before you.

Abaye said, The laws of sorcery are like the laws of melacha on shabbos, in that, some actions get you stoned, some actions you aren't punished for but are still wrong, and some are allowed in the first place. The one who performs sorcery is stoned. the one who makes illusions is not stoned but still did wrong. things that are allowed are like the actions of Rav Chanina and Rav Oshaya, who would learn the laws of creation every friday night and a young calf would be created for them and they would eat it.

(6) He left all that he had in Joseph’s hands and, with him there, he paid attention to nothing save the food that he ate. Now Joseph was well built and handsome. (7) After a time, his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” (8) But he refused. He said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master gives no thought to anything in this house, and all that he owns he has placed in my hands. (9) He wields no more authority in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except yourself, since you are his wife. How then could I do this most wicked thing, and sin before God?” (10) And much as she coaxed Joseph day after day, he did not yield to her request to lie beside her, to be with her. (11) One such day, he came into the house to do his work. None of the household being there inside, (12) she caught hold of him by his garment and said, “Lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and got away and fled outside.

(2) Shimon the Righteous was from the remnants of the Great Assembly. He would say, "On three things the world stands: on the Torah, on the service and on acts of lovingkindness."

Rabbah bar Rav Huna said (and some say Rav Huna said that Rabbi Elazar said): "From the Torah, from the Prophets, and from the Writings [we can learn that] on the road the a person wants to travel on [to the cities of refuge], they permit him to go. From the Torah, as it is written: 'Do not go with them' (Numbers 22:12); and it is written, 'Get up, go with them!' (Numbers 22:20) [regarding Bilaam]; from the Prophets, as it is written: 'I am the Eternal your God who teaches you for your profit, to lead you on the paths that you go' (Isaiah 48:17); from the Writings, as it is written: 'If he is of the scorners, he will scorn; and if he is of the poor, he will be given grace' (Proverbs 3:34)."