Raba, when he had finished his prayer, said thus: "Lord, until I was created I was nothing, and now that I am created, I am as if I were not created. Dust I am in life, and how much more when I am dead? Behold I am before Thee like a vessel filled with shame and confusion. May it please Thee, O Lord our God, that I may no more sin, and what I have sinned before Thee, blot out in Thy great mercy, but not through chastisements and evil diseases." And the same was the confession of Rab Hamnuna the Less on the Day of Atonement.
Mar, the son of Rabina, when he had ended his prayer, said as follows: "Lord, keep our tongue from evil, and our lips from speaking guile. And towards those who curse my soul, let me be silent, and let my soul be like the dust towards all. Open my heart in Thy law, and let my soul follow after Thy commandments, and deliver me from an evil accident, from the evil disposition, and from an evil woman, and from all evil which lifts itself up to come into the world. And all who think evil against me, speedily destroy their counsel, and render vain their thoughts. May it please Thee, that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before Thee, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."
Rabbi Sheisheth, when he had fasted, said, after he had finished his prayer: "Lord of the world, it is evident before Thee, that at the time that the Sanctuary stood, a man sinned, and he brought an offering, nor did they offer of it anything but its fat and its blood, and he was forgiven. And now I have remained in fasting, and my fat and my blood have been diminished, may it please Thee, that my fat and my blood which have been diminished be as if I had offered them upon the altar, and be merciful to me."
Rabbi Jochanan, when he had finished the book of Job, said thus: "The end of a man is to die, and the end of an animal is to be slaughtered, and all are appointed to death. Blessed is he who has grown up in the Thorah, and busied himself with the Thorah, and labours to have a quiet spirit towards his Creator, and who has grown big with a good name, and who has departed from this world with a good name. And of him, says Solomon (Eccl 7:1): A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.'"
It was customary in the mouth of Rabbi Meir: "Learn with all thy heart and with all thy soul, in order to know My ways, and to grow up by the gates of My Thorah. Keep My Thorah in thy heart, and let My fear be before thine eyes. Keep thy mouth from all sin, and cleanse and sanctify thyself from all transgression and sin, and I shall be with thee in every place."
Fol. 55 a. Rabbi Chisda said: "Every dream is without a meaning, but not if one has fasted (on account of it)." Also Rabbi Chisda said: "A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read." Also Rabbi Chisda said: "Neither is there a good dream in which everything comes to pass, nor yet a bad dream in which everything comes to pass." Also Rabbi Chisda said: "An evil dream is better than a good dream." Also Rabbi Chisda said: "An evil dream, its sorrow is sufficient; a good dream, its pleasure is sufficient." Rabbi Joseph said: "A good dream even the joy with me annuls it." [91] Rabbi Chisda also said: "An evil dream is heavier than a chastisement, for it is written (Eccl 3:14), And God doeth it, that men should fear before Him.'" And Rabbah, the grandson of Chanah, said, Rabbi Jochanan said: "This refers to an evil dream. (Jer 23:28), The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.' But what have the wheat and the chaff to do with a dream?" But, says Rabbi Jochanan, in name of Rabbi Simeon, the son of Joche, "As wheat alone is not possible without straw, so also is a dream not possible without false things." Rabbi Berachiah said: "A dream, even if a part of it is fulfilled, the whole of it is not fulfilled. Whence have we this? From Joseph, for it is written (Gen 37:9), And behold the sun and the moon,' etc. And at that time his mother was no more." Rabbi Levi said: "Let a man always look forward in regard to a good dream, even as long as twenty-two years. Whence have we that? From Joseph, for it is written (Gen 37:2), These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph was seventeen years old,' and so on. And it is written (Gen 41:46), And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh,' and so on. From seventeen to thirty, how much is it? Thirteen. And seven of plenty, and two of famine, that makes twenty-two."