16. Rabbi Jacob said, “this world may be likened to a courtyard before the world to come, therefore prepare thyself in the hall, to enter into the dining-room.”
17. He used to say, “one hour employed in repentance and good deeds in this world is better than the whole life in the world to come; and one hour's refreshment of spirit in the world to come is better than the whole life in this world.”
18. Rabbi Simon, son of Eleazar, said, “try not to pacify your neighbor in the moment of his anger, and do not console him while his dead lies before him; inquire not of him in the moment of his vowing, nor desire to see him in the time of his calamity.”
19. The younger Samuel used to say, “rejoice not when thine enemy falls, and let not thy heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it and it be evil in His sight, and He turn His wrath from him.”
20. Elisha, son of Abuya, said, “he who teaches a child, is like to one who writes on clean paper; but he who teaches [pg 211] old people, is like to one who writes on blotted paper.” Rabbi José, the son of Judah, of a village near Babylon, said, “to what may he who learns the law from little children be likened? To one who eats unripe grapes and drinks new wine. And to what may he who learns the law from old men be likened? To one who eats ripe grapes and drinks old wine.” Rabbi Meier said, “look not at the flask, but that which is therein, for there are new flasks full of old wine, and old flasks which have not even new wine in them.”
21. Rabbi Eleazer Hakapher said, “envy, lust, and ambition take men out of the world.”
22. He used to say, “those who are born are doomed to die, the dead to live, and the quick to be judged, to make us know, understand, and be informed that He is God. He is the Former, Creator, Omniscient, Judge, Witness, and Claimant, and He will judge thee hereafter, blessed be He; for in His presence there is no unrighteousness, forgetfulness, respect of persons, or acceptance of a bribe, for everything is His. Know also that everything is done according to the account, and let not thine evil imagination persuade thee that the grave is a place of refuge for thee, for against thy will wast thou formed, and against thy will wast thou born, and against thy will dost thou live, and against thy will shalt thou die, and against thy will must thou hereafter render an account and receive judgment in the presence of the King of kings, the Holy God, blessed be He.”
Chapter V
1. With ten expressions[494] the world was created. “But wherefore is this taught, since God could have created it with one expression?” “This is to punish the wicked, who destroy the world that was created with ten expressions, and to reward the righteous who establish the world created with ten expressions.”