אבות ה׳:ו׳ - ה׳:ז׳

At twilight: on the eve of the Shabbat of creation, before the creation was completed.

The mouth of the earth: to swallow Korach and his congregation.

and the mouth of the well: The well of Miriam that went with Israel in the wilderness on all of the journeys. And some say, that it opened its mouth and uttered song, as it stated (Numbers 21:17), "rise up, O well; answer it."

and the mouth of the donkey: At twilight it was decreed about it that it should speak with Bilaam.

and the rainbow: as a sign of the covenant that there would not be another flood.

and the manna: that descended for Israel for forty years in the wilderness.

and the staff [of Moshe]: with which the signs were preformed. And it was [made] of sapphire.

and the shamir: It is like a type of worm, the [size of a grain of] barley in its entirety. When they would [place] it on the stones that were marked with ink [to demark what they wanted cut, the stones] would become indented on their own. And with it did they engrave the stones of the vest (ephod) and the breastplate, as it is written about them, "in their fullness."

the letters: The shape of the letters that were engraved on the tablets;

the writing: that they could be read from all four sides.

the tablets: were [made] of sapphire. Their length was six and their width was six and their thickness was three, like a stone whose length, width and thickness are equal and it was split into two. And they were soft and they were quarried from the ball of the sun.

also the destructive spirits: These are the shedim (demons). As after the Holy One, blessed be He, created Adam and Chava, he was involved in their creation. And when He created their spirits, He did not suffice to create their bodies before the [Shabbat] day was sanctified (began), and they remained spirits without a body.

and the ram of Avraham, our father: It was decreed about it at twilight that it would be stuck in the thicket by its horns at the time of the binding [of Yitschak].

also the tongs (tsevat), made with tongs: The [Aramaic] translation of (Numbers 4:9) "its tongs" is tsivtaha. The tongs can only be made with other tongs - and [so,] who made the first ones? Perforce they were made by themselves by the hand of Heaven; and they were created at twilight. And this was pushed off in the gemara in the chapter [entitled] Makom she'Nahagu (Pesachim 54a); and they said it is possible that the first tongs were made in a mold, as they cut the copper [for the tongs] with fire and cast it into the mold and it immediately became tongs.

An unformed person (golem): This is an expression as per [its usage in the phrase,] "unformed vessels (golmei kelim)." So [too] is a man who is not finished in his intellect - not in his character traits and not in his wisdom - called unformed (golem).

does not speak in front of someone who is greater than him in wisdom: As so have we found with Elazar and Itamar, who did not want to speak in front of their father, when Moshe became angry with them; and [instead] Aharon responded.

and he does not interrupt the words of his fellow: that he not mix him up. As it is written (Numbers 12:6), "'listen to my words,'" [meaning] listen to me until I [have spoken]. All the more so with simple people [is there a concern that it will mix them up].

and is not impulsive in answering: so that his answer be as is proper. And so was it with Elihu, he said (Job 36:2), "Wait for me a little and I will tell you."

and he asks to the point and answers as is proper: It is counted as one thing here, and this is its explanation: The student asks to the point, which is to say about the topic with which they are involved, and then the teacher will answer him as is proper. But if the student asks not to the point, he brings the teacher to answer as is not proper. [This is] in the way of what Rabbi Chiya said to Rav (Shabbat 3b), "When Rabbi is in this tractate, do not ask him about another tractate." And so [too] do you find with the people that were impure from [contact with a dead] soul, who saw that Moshe was involved with the laws of Pesach and asked him about that same topic.

and he speaks to the first [point] first: And so did we find with the Holy One, blessed be He; since Moshe said to Him (Numbers 3:11), "'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh'" - that is the first - "'and that I should bring out the Children of Israel'" - behold, the second. And the Holy One, blessed be He, answered about the first (Numbers 3:12), "'Since I will be with you'"; and about the second, "'in your bringing the people out from Egypt, you will serve God.'"

and about that which he has not heard [anything], says, "I have not heard [anything]": If he is deciding a legal case from the analysis of his own mind, he should not say, "So have I heard from my teachers." And we found with the men of Charan (Genesis 29:6) when Jacob asked them, "Is there peace (wellness) with him," they answered him, "there is peace and behold his daughter, Rachel, is coming with the flock"; which is to say, "This we know, but if you ask more, behold Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the flock and she will tell you, as we do not know more than this."

and he concedes to the truth: And even though he can uphold his words with claims that he [can produce]. And so did we find with Moshe when Aharon pushed him and said to him, "If you have heard [the law] with regards to temporary [sacrifices], you should not be lenient [with it] with regards to permanent sacrifices. "And Moshe heard and it was good in his eyes" (Leviticus 10:20). He conceded to him and he was not embarrassed [so as] to say, "I didn't hear [this]"; but rather [he said,] "I have heard [this] and I had forgotten [it]."

And their opposites [are the case] with an unformed person: The opposite of these things that are in the wise man are [found] in the unformed person.