Gittin, fol. 70, col. 1.
A lad should, at the age of fifteen, begin to apply himself to the Gemara.
Avoth, chap. 5.
"So I bought her to me for fifteen" (Hosea iii. 2), that is, on the fifteenth day of Nisan, when Israel was redeemed from the bondage of Egypt. "Silver;" this refers to the righteous. "An homer and a half-homer;" these equal forty-five measures, and are the forty-five righteous men for whose sake the world is preserved. I don't know whether there are thirty here (that is, in Babylon), and fifteen in the land of Israel, or vice versà; as it is said (Zech. xi. 13), "I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." It stands to reason that there are thirty in the land of Israel, and, therefore, fifteen here. Abaii says that the greater part are to be found under the gable end of the synagogue. Rav Yehudah says the reference is to the thirty righteous men always found among the nations of the world for whose sake they are preserved (but see No. 103 infra). Ulla says it refers to the thirty precepts received by the nations of the world, of which, however, they keep three only; i.e. they do not enter into formal marriage-contracts with men; they do not expose for sale the bodies of such animals as have died from natural causes; and they have regard for the law.
Chullin, fol. 92, col. 1.
Rabbi Cheyah bar Abba says, "I once visited a house-holder at Ludkia, and they placed before him a golden table so loaded with silver plate, basins, cups, bottles and glasses, besides all sorts of dishes, delicacies, and spices, that it took sixteen men to carry it. When they set the table in its place they said (Ps. xxiv. 1), 'The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,' and upon removing it, they said (Ps. cxv. 16), 'The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth hath He given to the children of men.' I said, 'Son, how hast thou come to deserve all this?' 'I was,' replied he, 'a butcher by trade, and I always set apart for the Sabbath the best of the cattle.' 'How happy art thou,' I remarked (adds Rabbi Cheyah), 'to have merited such a reward, and blessed be God who has thus rewarded thee.'"
Shabbath, fol. 119, col. 1.
Rash Lakish said, "I have seen the flow of milk and honey at Tzipori; it was sixteen miles by sixteen miles."
Meggillah, fol. 6, col. 1.
Rashi explains the above as follows:—The goats fed upon figs from which honey distilled, and this mingled with the milk which dropped from the goats as they walked along. On the spot arose a lake which covered an area of sixteen miles square. (See also Kethuboth, fol. iii, col. 2.)