Showing Results 1 - 10 of 16
Once, as a young man, I undertook to draw up a catalogue of the acknowledged goods of life. I set down my inventory of earthly desirables: health, love, talent, power, riches, and fame. Then I proudly…
This is the book of the generations/children of man, those that were born by my hands among the Hebrew women. I came to them, I the midwife, for they are vital [Exodus 1:15–19] and give birth to a son…
Here, dear reader, is a prayer for you that I composed to be recited on the first night—before your permitted intercourse, by virtue of the marriage canopy, wedding ceremony, and marriage contract…
And the sages have stated, in regard to the reward of those who serve the Almighty and carry out His will in this world, in Song of Songs Rabbah 6:8: Anyone who occupies himself with the Torah in this…
[1] After experience had taught me that all the things which regularly occur in ordinary life are empty and futile, and I saw that all the things which were the cause or object of my fear had nothing…
Dear reader, take out a sheet of paper and a pen and follow my calculations. This measure will not be pointless, as the numbers we will be dealing with are rather enormous, and mistakes can be easily…
Again, I caution you: when you go to some feast in celebration of the performance of a mitzvah, do not focus only on eating and drinking. Rather, you should first ask some sort of praiseworthy…
To the princes and the honored ones, rulers of the people, the members of the charitable association in the ghetto of the holy community of Venice, may their Rock and Redeemer protect those who…
Great hazards of the world are these rational brutes, the avaricious rich, as they are…
[The lessons a mother should give her son]: My son, you should know that before your body looked the way it does now, it was nothing. You were formed in my belly from the drops of fertility that came…