140 Hullin 27b; PRE 11. For a different view see Konen 26, which reads: He took water, earth, and light, out of which He created Behemoth; comp. notes 113 and 128.
141 Baba Batra 74b, where it is said that the male monster was castrated, and the desire to propagate its kind was taken away from the female. Konen 26 reads: He created Behemoth of the thousand mountains, as well as the ox who uproots thousand mountains daily, and both appear daily in paradise to make merry in the presence of the Lord. That Behemoth is a female monster disagrees with the view of the older rabbinic sources, as well as that of the pseudepigraphic writers (comp. notes 117–118, as well as note 127). Moreover Konen made two monsters out of the two names of the monster. The older rabbinic sources speak of Behemoth, or following Ps. 50.10, of “Behemoth upon a thousand hills,” but sometimes they use שור הבר or, in Aramaic sources, its equivalent תור בר, instead of Behemoth (comp. e.g. Targ. Ps. loc. cit.) and hence in Konen the female Behemoth of the thousand mountains (hills) is found alongside of the ox who uproots thousand mountains daily. Comp. also Kalir in the Piyyut (end of Lamentations in the Roman Mahzor) who speaks of the two consorts of Leviathan. Comp. note 127, and on the sports of the monsters in paradise see note 124.
142 PK 6, 58a; PR 16, 80b, and 194 (here it is also stated that Leviathan lies on the abyss, which otherwise would flood the earth; since the water of the ocean is salty, he is compelled to raise his fins whenever he wants to drink, in order that the water of the abyss should come up); WR 22.10; BaR 21.18; Tan. Pinehas 12; PRE 11. Comp. also Baba Batra 74b. The last-named Midrash understands Ps. 50.10 to say that the grass of the thousand mountains grows anew every night, whereas in the older Midrashim a view is cited, according to which the meaning of this verse is that thousand animals grazing on the thousand mountains serve as food for Behemoth. On Behemoth in the close proximity of paradise, comp. note 127 and Konen 26. For an allegorical interpretation of this legend, comp. Zohar I, 18b, 223a (bottom), as well as III, 217a, 240b.
143 WR 13.3; PRE 11. Concerning Behemoth as food for the pious, comp. further notes 127 and 139. On the prejudice against attending a theatre, comp. ‘Abodah Zarah 10b, where, like Tertullian, De Spectaculis 4, Ps. 1.1 is said to refer to the pious who keep away from the theatre and circus.
144 A quotation from a manuscript Midrash in Midbar Kede-
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