Sanhedrin

Raba taught: What is meant by the verse, He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a stone despised in the thought of him that is at ease?  — This teaches that when Noah rebuked them and spoke words to them that were as hard as fiery flints, they derided him. Said they to him, 'Old man, what is this ark for?' — He replied, 'The Holy One, blessed be He, will bring a flood upon you.' 'A flood of what,' they jeered? 'If a flood of fire, we have a substance called 'alitha;  whilst should He bring a flood of water: if He brings it up from the earth, we have iron plates with which we can cover the earth [to prevent the water from coming up]; if from heaven, we have a substance called 'akob (others say, 'akosh)  [which can ward it off].' — He replied. 'He will bring it from between the heels of your feet, as it is written, He is ready for the steps of your feet.'  It has been taught: The waters of the flood were as severe as semen,  as it is written, It is ready for the steps of the feet. R. Hisda said: With hot passion they sinned, and by hot water they were punished. [For] here it is written, And the water cooled;  whilst elsewhere it is said, Then the king's wrath cooled down. And it came to pass, after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.  What was the nature of these seven days?  — Rab said: These were the days of mourning for Methuselah, thus teaching that the lamenting for the righteous postpones retribution. Another meaning is: After the seven days during which the Holy One, blessed be He, reversed the order of nature,  the sun rising in the west and setting in the east.  Another meaning: the Holy One, blessed be He, [first] appointed a long time for them, and then a short time.  Another meaning: After the seven days during which He gave a foretaste of the future world, that they might know what good they had withheld from themselves. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, man and wife.  Have then beasts marital relationship? — R. Samuel b. Nahman said in R. Jonathan's name: It means of those with which no sin had been committed.  Whence did he [Noah] know? — R. Hisda said: He led them past the ark; those which the ark accepted had certainly not been the object of sin; whilst those which it rejected had certainly been the object of sin. R. Abbahu said: [He took only] those which came of their own accord. Make thee an ark of gopher wood:  what is 'gopher'? — R. Adda said: The scholars of R. Shila said, It is mabliga;  others maintain, golamish. A window  shalt thou make to the ark.  R. Johanan said: The Holy One, blessed be He, instructed Noah, 'Set therein precious stones and jewels, so that they may give thee light, bright as the noon.'  And in a cubit shalt thou finish it above:  for thus would it stand firm.  With lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.  A Tanna taught: The bottom storey was for the dung; the middle for the animals; and the top for man. And he sent forth a raven.  Resh Lakish said: The raven gave Noah a triumphant retort. It said to him, 'Thy Master hateth me, and thou hatest me. Thy Master hateth me — [since He commanded] seven [pairs to be taken] of the clean [creatures], but only two of the unclean.  Thou hatest me — seeing that thou leavest the species of which there are seven, and sendest one of which there are only two. Should the angel of heat or of cold smite me, would not the world be short of one kind? Or perhaps thou desirest my mate!' — 'Thou evil one!' he exclaimed; 'even that which is [usually] permitted me  has [now] been forbidden: how much more so that which is [always] forbidden me!' And whence do we know that they  were forbidden? — From the verse, And thou shalt enter into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and the wives of thy sons with thee;  whilst further on it is written, Go forth from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.  Whereon R. Johanan observed: From this we deduce that cohabitation had been forbidden. Our Rabbis taught: Three copulated in the ark, and they were all punished — the dog, the raven, and Ham. The dog was doomed to be tied, the raven expectorates [his seed into his mate's mouth]. and Ham was smitten in his skin. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated.  R. Jeremiah said: This proves that the clean fowl dwelt with the righteous.  And lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf taraf [as food].  R. Eleazar said: The dove prayed to the Holy One, blessed be He, 'Sovereign of the Universe! Let my sustenance be as bitter as the olive, but in Thy charge, rather than sweet as honey and in the charge of flesh and blood.' Whence do we know that taraf connotes food? — From the verse, Feed me  with food convenient for me. After their kinds they went forth from the ark.  R. Johanan said: After their kinds, but not they [alone].  R. Hana b. Bizna said: Eliezer [Abraham's servant] remarked to Shem [Noah's] eldest son,  'It is written, After their kinds they went forth from the ark. Now, how were you situated?'  — He replied. '[In truth], we had much trouble in the ark. The animals which are usually fed by day we fed by day; and those normally fed by night we fed by night. But my father did not know what was the food of the chameleon. One day he was sitting and cutting up a pomegranate, when a worm dropped out of it, which it [the chameleon] consumed. From then onward he mashed up bran for it, and when it became wormy, it devoured it. The lion was nourished by a fever, for Rab said, "Fever sustains for not less than six (days) nor more than thirteen."44 As for the phoenix,  my father discovered it lying 'in the hold of the ark. "Dost thou require no food?" he asked it. "I saw that thou wast busy," it replied, "so I said to myself, I will give thee no trouble." "May it be (God's) will that thou shouldst not perish," he exclaimed; as it is written, Then I said, I shall die in the nest, but I shall multiply my days as the phoenix.' R. Hana b. Liwai said: Shem, [Noah's] eldest son,  said to Eliezer [Abraham's servant]. 'When the kings of the east and the west attacked you, what did you do?' — He replied. 'The Holy One, blessed be He, took Abraham and placed him at His right hand, and they [God and Abraham] threw dust which turned to swords, and chaff which turned to arrows, as it is written, A Psalm of David. The Lord said unto my master, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool  and it is also written, Who raised up the righteous man [Sc. Abraham] from the east, called him to his foot; gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he made his sword as the dust, and his bow as driven stubble. Nahum of Gimso  was accustomed, whatever befell him, to say, 'This too is for good.' It once happened that the Jews wished to send a gift to the Emperor. Said they. 'By