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אמר רבי יוסי בן קסמא 

Rabbi Yosi ben Kisma said:

Once I was traveling on the road

and a man met me,

and he greeted me

and I returned the greeting to him.

He said to me,

"Rabbi, where are you from?"

And I said to him,

"From a great city of sages

and of scribes, I am."

He said to me,

"Rabbi, I want you to live with us in our place,

and I will give you thousands of gold dinars

and precious stones and gems."

I said to him,

"[Even] if you were to give me

all the silver and gold and precious stones

and gems in the world,

I would reside only in a place of Torah

for at the time of a person's death

they do not escort the person with

neither silver, nor gold

nor precious stones, nor gems,

but Torah and good deeds alone,

as it says,

"As you go forth it will guide you,

when you lay down it will watch you,

and when you awake it will converse with you."

"As you go forth it will guide you,"

in this world,

"when you lay down it will watch you,"

in the grave,

and when you awake it will converse with you."

in the World to Come;

and so it is written in the Book of Psalms

by David, king of Israel,

"The Torah of your mouth is better for me

than thousands in gold and silver,"

and it says,

"Mine is the silver and mine in the gold

the Word of God, Master of Legions."

Five acquisitions

the Holy One, Blessed is He, acquired in this world,

and they are:

Torah is one acquisition,

heaven and earth are one acquisition,

Abraham is one acquisition,

Israel is one acquisition,

[and] the Temple is one acquisition.

The Torah from where [do we know ]?

As is is written:

"God possessed me at the start of His way

before his works of old."

Heaven and earth from where?

As is it written:

"Thus spake God,

'the heaven is my throne

and the earth is my footstool.

What house would you build for me,

and what spot would be my resting-place?

And it says:

"How abundant are your works, God,

with wisdom you have made them all,

the earth, your acquisition, is full."

Abraham from where?

As is it written:

"And he blessed him and said,

Blessed is Abram to the Almighty, Most High,

maker of heaven and earth."

Israel from where?

As it is written,

"Until your nation passes through,

until this nation you have acquired passes through."

And it says:

"For the holy that are in the earth

and for the mighty all of my desires are in them."

The Temple from where?

As it is written:

"The foundation of your dwelling place you have made,

the Sanctuary, my Lord, your hands have established."

And it says:

"And he brought them to His holy border,

this mountain which his right hand had acquired."