His disciples once requested him to tell them whereby he merited unusual longevity, when he replied, "I have never converted the Synagogue into a passageway for the sake of convenience; have never trodden over the heads of the holy people i.e., come late to college and stepped between the rows of attentive students; compare Abdan, and have never pronounced the priestly blessing before offering the benediction preceding it" (Meg. 27b; Soṭah 39a).
Abdan |