Con diez pronunciamientos (ma'amaroth) se creó el mundo, [nueve "Y Él dijo", y "Al principio" es también un pronunciamiento, a saber. (Salmos 33: 6): "Por la palabra del Señor se hicieron los cielos".] ¿Qué se nos enseña por la presente? ¿No podría haber sido creado con un solo pronunciamiento? Pero, [esto se dijo] al castigo exacto de los malvados que destruyen el mundo, que fue creado con diez pronunciamientos [Porque si uno destruye un alma judía es como si destruyera un mundo entero, y el malvado, que en sus pecados destruyen sus almas, se considera que destruyeron el mundo entero. (Así lo he encontrado.) Y a mí me parece que destruyen el mundo mismo, porque inclinan a todo el mundo a la escala del castigo, de modo que es destruido por ellos. "Con diez pronunciamientos": no hay comparación entre destruir un trabajo creado en un día y (destruir) un trabajo creado en muchos días], y dar una buena recompensa a los tzadikim, que sostienen el mundo, que fue creado con diez pronunciamientos .
Pirkei Avot
Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai received [the oral tradition] from Hillel and Shammai. He used to say: if you have learned much Torah, do not claim credit for yourself, because for such a purpose were you created. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai had five disciples and they were these: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah, Rabbi Yose, the priest, Rabbi Shimon ben Nethaneel and Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach. He [Rabbi Johanan] used to list their outstanding virtues: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus is a plastered cistern which loses not a drop; Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah happy is the woman that gave birth to him; Rabbi Yose, the priest, is a pious man; Rabbi Simeon ben Nethaneel is one that fears sin, And Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach is like a spring that [ever] gathers force. He [Rabbi Yohanan] used to say: if all the sages of Israel were on one scale of the balance and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus on the other scale, he would outweigh them all. Abba Shaul said in his name: if all the sages of Israel were on one scale of the balance, and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus also with them, and Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach on the other scale, he would outweigh them all.
Ten miracles were wrought for our ancestors in Egypt, and ten at the sea. Ten plagues did the Holy one, blessed be He, bring upon the Egyptians in Egypt and ten at the sea. [With] ten trials did our ancestors try God, blessed be He, in the Wilderness, as it is said, “and they have tried Me these ten times and they have not listened to my voice” (Numbers 14:22).
Ten wonders were wrought for our ancestors in the Temple: [1] no woman miscarried from the odor of the sacred flesh; [2] the sacred flesh never became putrid; [3] no fly was ever seen in the slaughterhouse; [4] no emission occurred to the high priest on the Day of Atonement; [5] the rains did not extinguish the fire of the woodpile; [6] the wind did not prevail against the column of smoke; [7] no defect was found in the omer, or in the two loaves, or in the showbread; [8] the people stood pressed together, yet bowed down and had room enough; [9] never did a serpent or a scorpion harm anyone in Jerusalem; [10] and no man said to his fellow: the place is too congested for me to lodge overnight in Jerusalem.