sentences:  Moreover, his ascetic practices were not inspired by a consciousness of the futility of this life and its sinfulness, but by the anxiety to fulfill to the letter the Law, to "ponder on the Torah day and night".He begrudged the hours necessary for the care of the body as so many precious moments stolen from the study of the holy Law.He envied the generation of the desert who had been fed on heavenly manna, and were thus absolved from the care for their daily bread; an echo of this sentiment may be detected in the petition of Jesus for daily bread (on Simon b. YoḦai, see W. Bacher, "Ag.