of the universe, let me, I pray thee, go down and cool the fiery furnace, and rescue these righteous men from its fury.”  Whereupon Gabriel interposed, and said, “God’s power is not to be demonstrated thus, for thou art the prince of hail, and everybody knows that water quenches fire; but I, the prince of fire, will go down and cool the flame within and intensify it without (so as to consume the executioners), and thus will I perform a miracle within a miracle.”  Then the Holy One—­blessed be He!—­said to him, “Go down.”  Upon which Gabriel exclaimed, “Verily the truth of the Lord endureth forever!” (Ps. cxvii. 2.)

P’sachim, fol. 118, col. 1.

One peppercorn to-day is better than a basketful of pumpkins to-morrow.

Chaggigah, fol. 10, col. 1.

One day of a year is counted for a whole year.

Rosh Hashanah, fol. 2, col. 2.

If a king be crowned on the twenty-ninth of Adar (the last month of the Sacred year), on the morrow—­the first of Nissan—­it is reckoned that he commences his second year, that being the new year’s day for royal and ecclesiastical affairs.

For the sake of one righteous man the whole world is preserved in existence, as it is written (Prov. x. 25), “The righteous man is an everlasting foundation.”

Yoma, fol. 38, col. 2.

Rabbi Meyer saith, “Great is repentance, because for the sake of one that truly repenteth the whole world is pardoned; as it is written (Hosea xiv. 4), ’I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him.’” It is not said, “from them,” but “from him.”

Ibid., fol. 86, col. 2.

He who observes one precept, in addition to those which, as originally laid upon him, he has discharged, shall receive favor from above, and is equal to him who has fulfilled the whole law.

Kiddushin, fol. 39, col. 2.

If any man vow a vow by only one of all the utensils of the altar, he has vowed by the corban, even although he did not mention the word in his oath.  Rabbi Yehuda says, “He who swears by the word Jerusalem is as though he had said nothing.”

Nedarim, fol. 10, col. 2.

Balaam was lame in one foot and blind in one eye.

Soteh, fol. 10, col. 1, and Sanhedrin, fol. 105, col. 1.

One wins eternal life after a struggle of years; another finds it in one hour (see Luke xxiii. 43).

Avodah Zarah, fol. 17, col. 1.

This saying is applied by Rabbi the Holy to Rabbi Eliezar, the son of Durdia, a profligate who recommended himself to the favor of heaven by one prolonged act of determined penitence, placing his head between his knees and groaning and weeping till his soul departed from him, and his sin and misery along with it; for at the moment of death a voice from heaven came forth and said, “Rabbi Eliezar, the son of Durdia, is appointed to life everlasting.”  When Rabbi the Holy heard this, he wept, and said, “One wins eternal life after a struggle of years; another finds it in one hour.” (Compare Luke xv. 11-32.)