Seven Hundred.

"For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet," etc. (Isa. iii. 1, 2). By "the stay" is meant men mighty in the Scriptures, and by "the staff" men learned in the Mishna; such, for instance, as Rabbi Yehudah ben Tima and his associates. Rav Pappa and the Rabbis differed as to the Mishna; the former said there were six hundred orders of

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the Mishna, and the latter that there were seven hundred orders. "The whole stay of bread" means men distinguished in the Talmud; for it is said, "Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled" (Prov. ix. 5). And "the whole stay of water" means men skillful in the Haggadoth, who draw out the heart of man like water by means of a Pretty story or legend, etc.

Chaggigah, fol. 14, col. 1.

There are seven hundred species of fish, eight hundred of locusts, twenty-four of birds that are unclean, while the species of birds that are clean cannot be numbered.

Chullin, fol. 63, col. 2.