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Honor your father and mother
Upper left-hand quadrant:
...When R. Eliezar was asked, "How far should honoring our father
and our mother extend?" he replied, "Go and see what a certain
heathen named Dama ben Netinah did for his father in Ashkelon."...
R. Hanina said, If one who is not commanded (to honor his parents)
and nevertheless does is rewarded thus, how much more by far one who
is commanded and does so!
B.T. Kiddushim 31a
Upper right-hand quadrant:
Throughout the land of Egypt the hail struck down all that were in
the open, both man and beast; the hail also struck down all the grasses
of the field and shattered all the trees of the field.
Exod. 9:25
Lower left-hand quadrant:
After J. Judah ben Dama was slain, they brought out R. Hutzpit the Interpreter for
execution... Caesar: "What precepts do you wish to perform?" R. Hutzpit: "Reciting the
Shema of the evening and of the morning, whereby I assert over me the kingship of the
unique, great and awesome Name." Caesar: "O impudent ones! O arrogant ones! How
long will you persist in trusting your god?" ...He said to Caesar, "Woe unto you,
Caesar! What will you do on the last day, when the Lord will visit punishment on Rome
and on your gods?"
The Story of the Ten Martyrs
Lower right-hand quadrant:
At long last He came to Israel. They said, "We will do and hearken." (Exod. 24:7)
Of God's successive attempts to give the Torah, it is written, "The Lord came until
Sinai; after having (first) risen at Seir unto the people thereof, then having shined
forth at Mount Paran, He finally came unto the myriads holy, at His right hand a fiery
law for them" (Deut. 33:2)
Sif. Deut. 343
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