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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

she-ass were mainly employed (b) for carrying burdens (Gen. xxii. 3, xlii. 26); and(c) for plowing (Isa. xxx. 24; Deut. xxii. 10), in which the young Ass and

Asmodeus Ass

child (B. K. 84a). The Ass is not particular in its food, eating such things as brush and thistles, and

when hungry

it has been known to eat fish (B. K. nevertheless, baled provender for a young Ass should be opened out, a labor permissible on the Sabbath (Shab. 155«). The she-ass produces no

19b)



young before her third year (Bek. 196). A strap made either from ass-hide or calf-hide was employed in judicial scourgings, a fact which was thus wittily applied by an itinerant preacher in expounding the well-known words of Isaiah (i. 3) " The ass knoweth his master's crib, but Israel doth not know; therefore, let him that doth not know be chastised by the hide of him that doth know " (Mak. 23a). No other animal is perhaps so frequently mentioned in popular proverbs as the Ass. " Where our

were angels, we are but where they were men, we are Proverbial only asses " (Shab. 112b and often elseUse, where), a saying which shows that even in those days the Ass was considered an example of stupidity (B. B. 74a). Its stupidity and insensibility are expressed in the proverb, " The ass freezes even in July " (Shab. 53a). To be called "an ass" was therefore an insult: "If one hath called thee ass, go and get a halter for thyself" (B. K. 926). A variation of this is found forefathers

In

Syrian Ass, Showing Manner of Riding. (From a pkoto

ra[i!i

jr.

G. B. L.

In Rabbinical Literature



"

The ox

powerful

bit

(Shab.

515).

thou hast

asses' ears,

two say

to thee,

away

it

man

say unto thee,

pay no heed to him: but if go and get thee a saddle right

(Gen. R. xlv. 7). Other proverbs are, " The pace of the ass depends upon its barley [its food] " (Shab. 516) and " Many young asses die and their skins serve as trappings for their mother " (Lev. R. xx. 10 Gen. R. lxvii. 8). Concerning the color of asses, the following is found: "Thou sayest thou hast seen a black ass ? Then thou hast seen neither a black one nor a white one, for there are no black asses " (" Alphabet " of Ben Sira, letter 8). "





The Ass employed

for

plowing, the ass for carrying burdens, "is the reason given in the Talmud for the creation of these animals ('Ab. Zarah 56; Tanna debe Eliyahu R. ii.). As regards species, a distinction is drawn between the wild and the domesticated Ass, the former, " 'arud," being reckoned among the wild beasts of the field (Kil. viii. 6); hence the Biblical precept is applied to it (Kil. i. 6) forbidding it to be crossed with the domestic variety. The most valuable species is declared to be the Libyan, distinguished for its size and strength (Bek. 56); but which, on account of its fiery character, must be driven with a

Low



in the Palestinian saying, "If a

by Bonnls.)

The Deuteronomic code forhe-ass were utilized. bids the harnessing of the Ass with the ox (Deut. xxii. 10); the explanation usually offered being that as their strength and weight are so unequal, the harnessing of the two would entail annoyance and suffering on both. It may be, however, that back of the curious prohibition lies some obsolete superstition, the injunction resting on an omen that was no longer intelligible to the compiler of the code, j.

men

>y

to the sacrifice of Isaac

Abraham when he traveled was declared to be the same

animal which later bore Moses' wife and her sons into

However, Immanuel

asserts that this description applies not to the

Libyan Ass, but to the Lycaonian variety, which is mentioned in old sources (Mishnah Shab. v. 1), and which, according to the testimony of Greek and Latin writers, was frequently partially tamed for crossing with the mare (Krauss, " Lehnworter, " ii. The meat of the Ass is said to have the 3017). same specific gravity as human flesh ('Ar. 196) and the blood of a foal is held to be a remedy for jaunThe bite of an Ass was accounted dice (Shab. 1106). more dangerous than that of a dog, for it might break a bone (Pes. 496), a case being cited where an Ass completely crushed with its bite the arm of a

Ass with Panniers. (From



a Phenician terra-cotta in the Metropolitan

Egypt

(Ex.

animal

is

"

riding

Ass

is

Museum

of Art,

New York.)

iv. 20) and it is declared that the also to serve the Messiah, who is to

(Zech. ix. 9). The mother of this have been the one upon which Balaam

upon an ass "

said to

same come