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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

ter,"p. 166, Freiburg-in-Breisgau, 1899).

OnceHerod

heard a Bat Kol saying that fortune should attend every slave who would then rise in reInstances bellion against his master; thereupon in he destroyed the house of the HasmoTalmudic neans (B. B. 3a). In four cases the TemTimes. pie-court itself called out against or in favor of the priests ministering in the When Jonathan hen Uzziel translated the Scriptures into Aramaic, a Bat Kol cried "Who reveals My secrets to My children?" And when he was about to translate the Hagiographa, it cried " Let this suffice, lest he betray the time of the Messiah " (Meg. 3a). Bat Kol announced that the legal norm should be established according to the views of the school of Hillel in cases in which they conflicted with those of the school of Shammai ( Yer. Ber. 36, below and elsewhere). But the Tosefta on the same question (Yeb. i., end; 'Eduy. ii. 3) does not mention a Bat Kol- When a Bat Kol called out that the views of Rabbi Eliezer should be adopted, " The Torah is not in heaven R. Joshua declared we pay no heed to the Bat Kol. " That is to say, the Bat Kol deserved no consideration in giving legal decisions (Yer. Hag. lxxxi. 11 Bab. B. M. 596 Hul. 44a, and frequently elsewhere). Hillel devoted his life to study of the Law, while his brother Shebna, who was engaged in business, supported him, thinking they should share as well everything in common in the life to come but a Bat Kol called out (Cant, " If a man would give all the substance of viii. 7) his house for love, it would utterly be contemned" (Sotah 21a). "Every day," says Rab (see Bacher, "Die Agadader Babylonischen Amoraer,"p. 11, note 58), "a Bat K°l resounds from Mt. Horeb, proclaiming unto man, that he neglects the Law " Bat Kol announces: "The whole (Ab. vi. 2). world is fed because of the merit of My son, an hia and he himself is content with a peck of locustbeans from one Friday to another " (Ber. 176, etc.). While a heretic was with the patriarch Judah, a Bat Kol called out " To pronounce the benedictions of the grace after meals is worth as much as forty gold Bat Kol proclaims daily: dinars" (Hul. 87a). " This and this maid, this and this house, this and " this field, are destined for such and such a man (Sotah 2a, etc.). Simon ben Yohai and his son had hidden themselves for thirteen years in a cave. When they came out, everything on which they turned their eyes took fire, and a Bat Kol called to them " Have ye come out in order to destroy My world V When Simon was once watching a bird-catcher, he heard a Bat Kol saying, as each bird passed: "Let and the this bird be caught let this bird go free " bird was caught or allowed to escape accordingly (Shab. 336; Yer. Sheb. ix. 1, p. 39a and elsewhere. In later sources the legend is changed). From these examples it is evident that the Bat Kol was heard under various conditions— in the interest of a whole nation or of a favored individual either as a plaintive cry or as a voice of admonition. As a rule, the accounts are m*ely embellishments of the Biblical narrative: at times they are clearly legendary in character. The question arises whether the Bat Kol was not a psychological fact, especially in those cases in which it was repeated by the person

Temple (Pes.

57a).



A











'



Wo

!

'

A

H



A





who actually

Bat Kol

heard

The psychological

it.

must be admitted

possibility

where the imagination may have been stimulated by the soPsycholitude of a desert or of ruins, or by the logical impressiveness of the mountain where Basis. God gave His revelation or again, by the overwhelming consciousness of sin, or, when face to face with death, that great mystery of man's existence. An inner voice may have made itself heard. The same is the case when the voice of the national and religious conviction impelled leaders of the people, men beloved and almost worshiped by their fellows, to a martyr's death. Thus the prominent Talmud teacher Elisha ben Abuya, who became an apostate, told his favorite pupil, R. Mei'r, that once, when the Day of Atonement fell on a Sabbath and he was violating both, a voice behind the sanctuary whispered to him: "Let every sinner return to Me except Elisha, who knows Me and yet cases

in



sins against

Me"

H a g-

(Yer.

near end; Bab.

776,

Ruth R. on iii.13; Eccl. R. on vii. 8). Supernatural phenomena are also accompanied by a Bat Kol. Thus Johanan related " Once, when on a ship, we saw a chest of gems and diamonds in the water surrounded by fish. When a man sprang into the sea to get it, a sea-monster was about to swallow half of him; but he drove it away with vinegar. A What dost thou Bat Kol then resounded, saying want with the chest in which the wife of Hanina ben Dosa keeps the purple which the pious will wear in the future world? " Rabba bar bar Hana, among Hag.

136;



'



'

many mythical

stories, relates that he saw from a ship a bird standing only ankle-deep in water. When the travelers wanted to cool themselves in the sea, a Bat K°l called out " Seven years ago a carpenter's ax fell into the water and has not yet reached bottom! " Rabba bar bar Hana also tells of a Bat Kol he heard in the wilderness at Mt. Sinai saying: "Wo " is Me that I have sworn to send Israel into exile R. Perida having taught his (B. B. 736, 74a, 746.) pupil one thing four hundred times, a Bat K°l called to him to choose between two rewards Bat 3£ol for his patience and God Himself proand Death., claimed that lie should receive both

his



!



When Joshua ben Levi ('Er. 746). wrested the knife from the Angel of Death, the dying man heard a Bat Kol saying: "Give it back to him; When Judah I. for mankind needs it " (Ket. 776). lay in the agonies of death, a Bat Kol said, in the " words of Isa. lvii. 2 "He shall enter into peace (Ket. 104a and elsewhere.) The Sabbath was violated for his burial; but excepting a laundryman who had failed to do him honor, those present were comforted by a Bat Kol that assured to all a portion in the life to come. When, in consequence of this, the laundryman threw himself from a balcony, the Bat Kol was again heard, saying that even the laundry:

man was assured of

!

a portion in the

life to

come

(Yer.

Kil. ix. 3, 326).

When

R. Jose b. R. Eleazar died, a serpent at the of his father's grave prevented the burial, until a Bat Kol declared " The father was no greater than the son " As Rabba bar Nahmani expired, he

mouth



i

muttered out: is

"

Clean

"Happy

!

Clean

thy body, clean

!

"

and a Bat Kol called

Rabba bar Nahmani, thy soul! " At Pumbedita

art thou,

clean slips