Dying on earth, half inside and half out,
Wholly in heaven, who knows? My mind embraced
"Thy secret, Jochanan, how dare I doubt?
Follow thy Ruach, let earth, all it can,
Keep of the leavings!" Thus was brought about
The sepulture of Rabbi Jochanan:
Thou hast him,—sinner-saint, live-dead, boy-man,—
Schiphaz, on Bendimir, in Farzistan!
Note.—This story can have no better authority than that of the treatise, existing dispersedly in fragments, of Rabbinical writing, משׁך של דבים בדים, from which I might have helped myself more liberally. Thus, instead of the simple reference to "Moses' stick,"—but what if I make amends by attempting three illustrations, when some thirty might be composed on the same subject, equally justifying that pithy proverb םםשה עד םשה לא קם בםשה.