Whosoever destroyeth one soul of Israel, Scripture counts it to him as though he had destroyed the whole world; and whoso preserveth one soul of Israel, Scripture counts it as though he had preserved the whole world.

Sanhedrin, fol. 37, col. 1.

The greatness of God is infinite; for while with one die man impresses many coins and all are exactly alike, the King of kings, the Holy One—­blessed be He!—­with one die impresses the same image (of Adam) on all men, and yet not one of them is like his neighbor.  So that every one ought to say, “For myself is the world created.”

Ibid., fol. 37, col. 1.

“He caused the lame to mount on the back of the blind, and judged them both as one.”  Antoninus said to the Rabbi, “Body and soul might each plead right of acquittal at the day of judgment.”  “How so?” he asked.  “The body might plead that it was the soul that had sinned, and urge, saying, ’See, since the departure of the soul I have lain in the grave as still as a stone.’  And the soul might plead, ’It was the body that sinned, for since the day I left it, I have flitted about in the air as innocent as a bird.’” To which the Rabbi replied and said, “Whereunto this thing is like, I will tell thee in a parable.  It is like unto a king who had an orchard with some fine young fig trees planted in it.  He set two gardeners to take care of them, of whom one was lame and the other blind.  One day the lame one said to the blind ’I see some fine figs in the garden; come, take me on thy shoulders, and we will pluck them and eat them.’  By and by the lord of the garden came, and missing the fruit from the fig trees, began to make inquiry after them.  The lame one, to excuse himself, pleaded, ‘I have no legs to walk with;’ and the blind one, to excuse himself, pleaded, ‘I have no eyes to see with.’  What did the lord of the garden do?  He caused the lame to mount upon the back of the blind, and judged them both as one.”  So likewise will God re-unite soul and body, and judge them both as one together; as it is written (Ps. 1, 4), “He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people.”  “He shall call to the heavens from above,” that alludes to the soul; “and to the earth, that He may judge His people,” that refers to the body.

Sanhedrin, fol. 91, cols, 1, 2.

Rabbi Yehudah, surnamed the Holy, the editor of the Mishnah, is the personage here and elsewhere spoken of as the Rabbi by pre eminence.  He was an intimate friend of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius.

One thing obtained with difficulty is far better than a hundred things procured with ease.

Avoth d’Rab.  Nathan, ch. 3.

In the name of Rav, Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abba says, “Whoso buys a scroll of the law in the market seizes possession of another’s meritorious act; but if he himself copies out a scroll of the law, Scripture considers him as if he had himself received it direct from Mount Sinai.”  “Nay,” adds Rav Yehudah, in the name of Rav, “even if he has amended one letter in it, Scripture considers him as if he had written it out entirely.”