📖 SATURDAY PRAYER: MALCHUT-YESHIVAT HAVERIM יְשִׁיבָה חברים – BABYLONIAN TALMUD p165
READING: BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN OF SATURDAY
Then the angels confessed and praised the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written [Psalms, viii.
10]: “O Eternal One, our Lord, how excellent is thy name on all the earth!” but the ending of the
verse [ibid. 2], “Thou who hast set thy majesty above the heavens,” is not cited in this verse.
Then every one of the angels befriended Moses and each of them disclosed some mystery to
him, as it is written [Psalms, lxviii. 19]: “Thou didst ascend on high, lead away captives, receive
gifts among men,” which means that because at first the angels called Moses one born of a
woman (man), they at the close gave him gifts, and even the Angel of Death disclosed a mystery
to him, as it is written [Num. xvii. 12 and 13]: “And he put on the incense, and made an
atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living.” Now if the Angel of
Death had not disclosed unto Moses this mystery, how could he have imparted it to Aaron?
Said R. Jehoshua b. Levi again: When Moses descended from Heaven, Satan came before the
Holy One, blessed be He, and said: “Lord of the universe! Where is the Torah?” And the Lord
answered: “I have given it to the earth.” Satan descended to earth and said to it: “Where is the
Torah?” And the earth answered [Job, xxviii. 23]: “God (alone) understandeth her way, and he
knoweth her place.” Satan then went to the sea, and the sea said: “She is not with me.” He then
went to the deep, and the deep answered: “Not in me is she,” as it is written [ibid. 14]: “The deep
saith, Not in me is she;