the evening—fulfills the commandment to meditate in God's law by day and night. Bar Kappara appreciated not only natural science, but also the Greek love of the beautiful. He explained Genesis 9:27 as follows: "The words of the Torah should be recited in the speech of Japheth (i.e. Greek) in the tents of Shem (i.e. in the synagogues and schools)". Bar Kappara's respect for the exact sciences was equaled by his aversion for metaphysical speculation, which in his time flourished among Jews and Christians in the form of gnosis. Referring to Deuteronomy 4:32 ("Ask now of the past days, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth") Bar Kappara says, "Seek to know only of those days that followed Creation; but seek not to know what went before". The Jerusalem Talmud contains a prayer he wrote and included in the repetition of the 18th section of Thanksgiving in the Amidah. The sayings of Bar Kappara regarding the incense offering () are recited thrice daily by Sephardi Jews (before and after Shacharit, and before Mincha); twice daily by Hasidic Jews (before Shacharit, and before Mincha); and once daily by Ashkenazi Jews (before Shacharit). Quotes Which is a brief passage upon which all fundamentals of the Torah are dependent? "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:6). A man should always teach his son a clean and easy profession. References Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1972, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, Israel. Sefer Ha-Aggadah (Book of Legends), 1992, Schocken, New York. Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography Bacher, Agada der Tannaiten, ii. 503–520 (for other passages in the same, see the Index); Brüll, Mebo ha-Mishnah, i. 244, 289–292; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 313; idem, Mebo, 20a et seq., 71a; Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, 4th ed., iv. 198, 199, 211; Hamburger, Supplement to R. B. T. pp. 36–38; Kohan, in Ha-Asif, iii. 330–333 (Kohan here first pointed out the identity of Bar Kappara with Eleazar ben Eleazar ha-Ḳappar); Abraham Krochmal, in He-Ḥaluẓ, ii. 84; Rapoport, in Literaturblatt des Orients, i. 38, 39; Reifmann, Pesher Dabar; Weiss, Dor Dor we-Dorshaw, ii. 191, 219. 2nd-century births 3rd-century deaths 2nd-century rabbis 3rd-century rabbis Mishnah rabbis Talmud rabbis of the Land of Israel