Turnus Rufus, the wicked, once asked Rabbi Akiba, "Why is the day of Sabbath better than

any other day, that you should honor it so highly?"

R. Akiba replied: "Why are you better than any other man, that people should show you more respect than others?"

Whereupon the wicked man replied : "It is the will of the Emperor that honor should be shown to me."

Then R. Akiba rejoined: "It is the will of the Lord, blessed be He, that the Sabbath should be

honored."

Then the wicked man said: "How do you know that this is the right day, maybe it is another day which you do not think is the same? How do you know that this is the Sabbath day?"

R. Akiba replied: "This can be proved from the river Sambation. For this river casts up stones all the six days of the week, so that one is not able to cross, but on the Sabbath it is quiet like any other body of water and rests, even as the Lord, blessed be He, Himself rests. But I can give you a still better proof from your own father's grave. Smoke issues from it during the six days of the week, for all those days he is punished in Gehenna, but on the Sabbath day there is no smoke, for on that day the wicked rest in Gehenna. Thus we can prove that the day we call Sabbath is the real Sabbath." Turnus Rufus replied: "You have insulted and offended me."