The Rabbis have taught, a man should not sell to his neighbor shoes made from the hide of a beast that has died of disease, as if of a beast that had been slaughtered in the shambles, for two reasons:  first, because he imposes on him (for the skin of a beast that dies of itself is not so durable as the hide of a slaughtered animal); second, because there is danger (for the beast that died of itself might have been stung by a serpent, and the poison remaining in the leather might prove fatal to the wearer of shoes made of that leather).  A man should not send his neighbor a barrel of wine with oil floating upon its surface; for it happened once that a man did so, and the recipient went and invited his friends to a feast, in the preparation of which oil was to form a chief ingredient; but when the guests assembled, it was found out that the cask contained wine, and not oil; and because the host had nothing else in preparation for a worthy feast, he went and committed suicide.  Neither should guests give anything from what is set before them to the son or daughter of their host, unless the host himself give them leave to do so; for it once happened during a time of scarcity that a man invited three of his friends to dine, and he had nothing but three eggs to place before them.  Meanwhile, as the guests were seated at the board, the son of the host came into the room, and first one of the guests gave him his share, and then the other two followed his example.  Shortly afterward the host himself came in, and seeing the child with his mouth full and both hands, he knocked him down to the ground, so that he died on the instant.  The mother, seeing this, went and threw herself headlong, from the housetop, and the father followed her example.  Thus Rabbi Eliezar ben Yacob said, “There perished in this affair three souls of Israel.”

Ibid., fol. 94, col. 1.

Once the Roman Government issued a decree that the Israelites should neither observe the Sabbath nor circumcise their sons.  Thereupon Reuben the son of Istrubli trimmed his hair as a Gentile, and went among the Roman senators and plied them with wise remonstrance.  “If one,” said he, “has an enemy, does he wish him to be poor or rich?” “To be poor,” was the reply.  “Then,” he argued, “won’t he be poorer if you prohibit him from working on the Sabbath?” “It is well said,” observed the senators; and they at once abolished their decree respecting the Sabbath.  Again he asked, “If one has an enemy, does he wish him to be weak or strong?” “Why, weak, to be sure,” was the inevitable answer.  “Then,” said he, “let the Jews circumcise their children, then will they be weakened.”  “The argument is good,” said they, and the decree against circumcision was rescinded.  Again he asked, “If one has an enemy, does he wish him to increase or decrease?” “To decrease, of course,” said they.  In response to his argument the decree against catamenia was accordingly abolished.  When, however, they