Ancient Jewish Proverbs: Chapter I: Human Existence

*18. When the bride is hungry, she recalls the seven days of her marriage feast (Lam. R. to i. 7; D. 338). The Babylonian parallel to the preceding. p. 35 [paragraph continues] The marriage festivities usually lasted a whole week. (I have adopted Buber's reading tikhapan; the editions have tispōn, which yields no sense.) *19. What is beneath thine head is thine (Gen. R. ch. lxix. § 4; D. 472). You can only be sure of that which is actually in your possession. *20. While the fat one becomes lean, the lean one expires (Lam. R. to iii. 20; D. 553). By the time the oppressor of the poor, who battens on them, is brought to justice, his victims are dead through starvation. *21. Two kabs of dates—one kab of stones and more (Jom. 79b; D. p. 15). There is no such thing as unalloyed pleasure. Half of the sweet date at least consists of the stone, which is of no use and has to be thrown away. Cf. "No corn without chaff." The kab is a dry measure. *22. Poverty befits the Jew as a red leather trapping a white horse (Ḥag. 9b; D. 312). Even privations can serve a useful purpose, in hardening a person against troubles. The Jew is a proof of this. *23. A year of scarcity will change a weaver [for the better] if he be not proud (Ab. Zar. 26a; D. 200). Others translate "If a weaver is not humble, his life is shortened by a year," p. 36 which is by no means to be preferred to the rendering of Jastrow I have adopted. The meaning is, Adversity has its uses if we are willing to grasp them. One is reminded of Shakespeare's lines: