Note 50 — Chapter VII · Men and Manners

Further reference may be made to Delitzsch, Jewish Artisan Life in the time of Christ, and also Büchler, Der galilaische ‘Am-ha-’ Arets des zweiten Jahrhunderts. Some of the trades then reckoned ignoble seem by no means so to us; for example, tanners, weavers, and hairdressers were particularly despised. One Rabbi quaintly remarks: “Ass-drivers are mostly wicked, camel-drivers mostly honest, sailors mostly pious, the best of physicians is destined for Gehenna, and the most honourable of butchers is a partner of Amalek.”