the names which he could quote in support of his
statements.

In this manner Rabbi Jochanan explained many laws and rendered them
comprehensible, when they seemed obscure or extraordinary. Rabbi
Jochanan's view of piety corresponded with his teaching that Job's
piety was not based on the love of God, but on the fear of God. To
love God; to serve Him out of love and not out of fear; to study the
law continually, and to have a good heart--these were the essentials
of a pious man. He once saw the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion
picking up a scanty nourishment of barley-corn from among the hoofs of
the horses of the enemy. When he recognized the woman, he broke out in
tears and told his companion how he had signed her marriage contract
as a witness when her father gave her one million golden dinars,
besides the wealth she received from her father-in-law. Then the old
sage exclaimed: "Unhappy nation, you would not serve God, therefore
you must serve your enemies; you would not offer half a shekel for the
Temple, therefore you must pay thirty times as much to the
institutions of your conquerors; you refused to keep the woods and
paths in order for the pilgrims, therefore you must build roads and
bridges for the Roman soldiers; and in you is fulfilled the prophecy:
Because thou servest not the Lord with joyfulness, and with gladness
of heart, by reason of abundance of all things, therefore shalt thou
serve thy enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger
and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things."

_Jochanan's Spirit in Affliction and in Death_

Rabbi Jochanan had domestic as well as national troubles. A dearly
beloved son was taken from him by death, and the soul of the father
was filled with grief. His five famous scholars came to offer sympathy
and consolation. One recalled the sorrow that Adam had endured when he
looked at the body of his murdered son. Another one urged the example
of Job; a third, that of Aaron, the brother of Moses; a fourth, that
of David, King of Israel.

"My sons," said the stricken father, "how can the sufferings of others
alleviate my sorrow?" But Eliezer ben Aroch, the most famous of his
scholars, then spoke to him and said:

"A certain man had a priceless jewel entrusted to him. He watched it
by day and by night for its safe keeping, but was always troubled by
the thought that he might lose it. When, therefore, the owner of the
jewel came to take it back, the m