Talmudic source for Quotation: How a man should clothe himself, his children, & his wife (1717)

[Mark Mandel]

There is indeed an oft-cited Rabbi Hanina, in fact at least two of that
name:

R. Hanina b[en] Hama (died about 250); often cited just as R. Hanina, and
sometimes as ha-Gadol `the Great'
(http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=241&letter=H)

R. Hanina b. Dosa (1st century)
(http://www.jewishsearch.com/article_407.html)

As for this quotation, Google finds the following in the Talmud (Tractate
Chullin), attributed to R. Avira. This is from G's HTML version (*
http://tinyurl.com/ygw78m2)*; the PDF (*http://tinyurl.com/yfw9cd6) *is
inaccessible at the moment. It was very common for the teachers to speak "in
the name of" their teachers, or at least they are often cited that way.
Neither do I intend to delve into the original, as a reader of neither
Hebrew nor Aramaic.

=====

VI.
BAVLI HULLIN
CHAPTER SIX
FOLIOS 83B-89B

Page 6
...
I.6 A. R. Avira expounded, sometimes he said this in the name of R. Ammi
and sometimes he said this in the name of R. Assi, “What is the
Page 7
meaning of what is written, ‘It is well with the man who deals
generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice’
(Psa. 112: 5)? A person should always eat and drink [on a standard]
lower than his means. And he should dress and clothe himself in
accord with his means. And he should respect his wife and children
[on a standard that is] beyond his means. For they depend on him
and he depends on the one who spoke and brought the world into
being.”

======

This 1889 version (*http://tinyurl.com/yzsusey)* looks like a swipe from
Hawthorne. (Title page material corrected for apparent OCR errors.)

=====

A FAMILY TREE And Other Stories
BY BRANDER MATTHEWS

NEW YORK
LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO
15 EAST SIXTEENTH STREET
1889

Copyright, 1889, by BRANDER MATTHEWS

...

NOTES OF AN UNEVENTFUL VOYAGE. 127

" You will observe," he continued, " that I
have emerged from my stateroom this morning
crowned with the high hat of civilization, al-
though it looks as rough as the buffalo-robe of
barbarism. Observe, also, our fellow-passengers
of the female persuasion. There's a modern Jew-
ish adage, I believe, that a man should clothe
himself beneath his ability, his children according
to his ability, and his wife above his ability.

=====

Mark Mandel


On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 9:33 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> "Let a man clothe himself beneath his ability; his children according
> to his ability; and his wife above his ability."
>
> I did not find this in the Yale Book of Quotations.  Ought it to
> be?  My earliest find is 1617.
>
> 1836:  I happened upon this in Hawthorne's notebooks, where he calls
> it a "modern Jewish adage".  The Centenary Edition of the Works of
> NH, vol. 23 (Miscellaneous Prose and Verse), p. 151.  The editor's
> note, page 518, cites 1835 (Gentleman's Magazine) and 1617 (Purchas),
> presumably because they are the likely sources for NH.  [Verified from
> paper.]
>
> ...


>      R. Hanica:  I infer that there is a Rabbi Hanina in Jewish
> history of the early Christian era (Roman times).  [A little browsing
> via Google Books.  I do not intend to delve into the Hebrew.]
>
> Joel
>
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org