"
_Sanhedrin_, fol. 45, col. 2.
We may here repeat the story of the execution of the eighty
women here alluded to, as that is told by Rashi on the preceding
page of the Talmud. Once a publican, an Israelite but a sinner,
and a great and good man of the same place, having died on the
same day, were about to be buried. While the citizens were
engaged with the funeral of the latter, the relations of the
other crossed their path, bearing the corpse to the sepulchre.
Of a sudden a troop of enemies came upon the scene and caused
them all to take to flight, one faithful disciple alone
remaining by the bier of his Rabbi. After a while the citizens
returned to inter the remains they had so unceremoniously left,
but by some mistake they took the wrong bier and buried the
publican with honor, in spite of the remonstrance of the
disciple, while the relatives of the publican buried the Rabbi
ignominiously. The poor disciple felt inconsolably distressed,
and was anxious to know for what sin the great man had been
buried with contempt, and for what merit the wicked man had been
buried with such honor. His Rabbi then appeared to him in a
dream, and said, "Comfort thou thy heart, and come I will show
thee the honor I hold in Paradise, and I will also show thee
that man in Gehenna, the hinge of the door of which even now
creaks in his ears.
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