My Radiant Eye

Or is it on account of my radiant eye I have lived so long?—I never slept in the study hall, or called anyone by an improper name. I never urinated in a desolate synagogue. I never ate or drank in a desolate synagogue or picked my teeth. I did not walk into a desolate synagogue in the summer just because of the heat, nor in winter just because of cold rain. Also, I know one may not deliver a eulogy for an individual inside a desolate synagogue. But you can read scripture inside a desolate synagogue, or you can teach in a desolate synagogue, or deliver eulogies for the community. When synagogues are deserted they are to be left alone and weeds allowed to grow. One should not pick the weeds, lest there be anguish that the synagogue is in ruins. When are the synagogues to be swept so that weeds do not grow inside them? When they are in use.—When synagogues are in ruins, weeds are not to be picked there. Because I know these things I was approved, although unworthy, after a three-day oral examination before the king of Sicily to whom by custom the power of approval is entrusted. Thereafter, I have worn the laurel crown—my eye radiant to this day.