R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Johanan: Bezalel was so called on account of his wisdom. At the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses; Go and tell Bezalel to make me a tabernacle, an ark and vessels, 21 Moses went and reversed the order, saying, Make an ark and vessels and a tabernacle. Bezalel said to him: Moses, our Teacher, as a rule a man first builds a house and then brings vessels into it; but you say, Make me an ark and vessels and a tabernacle. Where shall I put the vessels that I am to make? Can it be that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to you, Make a tabernacle, an ark and vessels? Moses replied: Perhaps you were in the shadow of God 22 and knew!

R. Isaac said: We must not appoint a leader over a Community without first consulting it, as it says: See, the Lord hath called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri. 20 The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Do you consider Bezalel suitable? He replied: Sovereign of the Universe, if Thou thinkest him suitable, surely I must also! Said [God] to him: All the same, go and consult them. He went and asked Israel: Do you consider Bezalel suitable? They replied: If the Holy One, blessed be He, and you consider him suitable, surely we must!

R. Johanan said: There are three things which the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself proclaims, namely, famine, plenty, and a good leader. 'Famine', as it is written: The Lord hath called for a famine. 17 'Plenty', as it is written: I will call for the corn and will increase it. 18 'A good leader', as it is written: And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, See I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri. 19

Rab Judah also said in the name of Rab: There are three things for which one should supplicate: a good king, a good year, and a good dream. 12 'A good king', as it is written: A king's heart is in the hands of the Lord as the water-courses. 13 'A good year', as it is written: The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 14 'A good dream', as it is written; Wherefore cause Thou me to dream 15 and make me to live. 16

Rab Judah also said: 8 Three things shorten a man's days and years: To be given a scroll of the Law to read from and to refuse, to be given a cup of benediction to say grace over and to refuse, and to assume airs of authority. 'To be given a scroll of the Law to read from and to refuse', as it is written: For that is thy life and the length of thy days. 9 'To be given a cup of benediction to say grace over and to refuse', as it is written: I will bless them that bless thee. 10 'To assume airs of authority', as R. Hama b. Hanina said: Why did Joseph die before his brethren? 11 Because he assumed airs of authority.

If one draws out his prayer and expects therefore its fulfilment, he will in the end suffer vexation of heart, as it says, Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; 1 and R. Isaac also said: Three things cause a man's sins to be remembered [on high], namely, [passing under] a shaky wall, 2 expectation of [the fulfilment of] prayer, and calling on heaven to punish his neighbour? 3 — There is no contradiction; one statement speaks of a man who expects the fulfilment of his prayer, the other of one who does not count upon it. What then does he do? — He simply utters many supplications. 'He who draws out his meal', because perhaps a poor man will come and he will give him something, as it is written, The altar of wood three cubits high … and he said to me, This is the table that is before the Lord 4 [Now the verse] opens with 'altar' and finishes with 'table'? R. Johanan and R. Eleazar both explain that as long as the Temple stood, the altar atoned for Israel, but now a man's table atones for him. 'To draw out one's stay in a privy', is this a good thing? Has it not been taught: Ten things bring on piles; eating the leaves of reeds, and the leaves of vines, and the sprouts of vines, and the rough parts of the flesh of an animal, 5 and the backbone of a fish, and salted fish not sufficiently cooked, and drinking wine lees, and wiping oneself with lime, potters' clay or pebbles which have been used by another. Some add, to strain oneself unduly in a privy! — There is no contradiction: one statement refers to one who stays long and strains himself, the other to one who stays long without straining himself. This may be illustrated by what a certain matron said to R. Judah b. R. Ila'i: Your face is [red] like that of pig-breeders and usurers, 6 to which he replied: On my faith, both [occupations] are forbidden me, but there are twenty-four privies between my lodging and the Beth ha-Midrash, and when I go there I test myself in all of them. 7