1 One day he heard him reciting a tradition that Samuel had said: He that takes out of the sea a fish on the Sabbath, as soon as there is on it a dry spot as large as a sela’, he has committed a breach of the Sabbath laws. Thereupon R. Jose b. Abin asked him: Why does not the Master add, ‘and between the fins’? He replied : Are you not aware that R. Jose b. Abin had [already] stated this? [The former] retorted: I am R. Jose b. Abin. Thereupon R. Ashi enquired: Did you not frequent the discourses of R. Jose of Yokereth? He replied: Yes. R. Ashi then asked him: Why did you leave him, Sir, and come here? He replied: How could the man who showed no mercy to his son and daughter show mercy to me? What happened to his son? Once R. Jose had day-labourers [working] in the field; night set in and no food was brought to them and they said to his son, ‘We are hungry’. Now they were resting under a fig tree and he exclaimed: Fig tree, fig tree, bring forth thy fruit that my father's labourers may eat. It brought forth fruit and they ate. Meanwhile the father came and said to them, Do not bear a grievance against me; the reason for my delay is because I have been occupied up till now on an errand of charity. The labourers replied, May God satisfy you even as your son has satisfied us. Whereupon he asked: Whence? And they told him what had happened. Thereupon he said to his son: My son, you have troubled your Creator to cause the fig tree to bring forth its fruits before its time, may you too be taken hence before your time! What happened to his daughter? He had a beautiful daughter. One day he saw a man boring a hole in the fence so that he might catch a glimpse of her. He said to the man, What is [the meaning of] this? And the man answered: Master, if I am not worthy enough to marry her, may I not at least be worthy to catch a glimpse of her? Thereupon he exclaimed: My daughter, you are a source of trouble to mankind; return to the dust so that men may not sin because of you. He also had an ass. When it was hired out for the day [the people who hired it] would place, in the evening, the hire on its back and the ass would make its way home to its master. If, however, the money was too much or too little, it would not go. One day a pair of sandals were left on its back and the ass would not move until they were removed and only then did it proceed. Whenever the collectors of charity caught sight of R. Eleazar b. Birtah they would hide themselves from him, because he was in the habit of giving away to them all that he had. One day he was going to the market to buy a trousseau for his daughter. When the collectors of charity caught sight of him they hid themselves from him. He ran after them and said to them: I adjure you, [tell me] on what mission are you engaged? And they replied: [The marriage of] an orphaned pair. He said to then: I swear, they must take precedence over my daughter. And he took all that he had and gave to them. He was left with one zuz and with this he bought wheat which he deposited in the granary. When his wife returned house she asked her daughter, What did your father bring home? She replied, He has put in the granary all that he had bought. She thereupon went to open the door of the granary and she found that it was so full of wheat that the wheat protruded through the hinges of the door-socket and the door would not open on account of this. The daughter then went to the Beth-Hamidrash and said to him [her father], Come and see what your Friend has done for you. Whereupon he said to her, l swear, they shall be to you as devoted property, and you shall have no more right to share in them than any poor person in Israel. R. Judah the Prince ordained a fast and he prayed but no rain fell. He thereupon exclaimed: What a great difference there is between, Samuel the Ramathite and Judah the son of Gamaliel! Woe to the generation that finds itself in such plight! Woe to him in whose days this has happened. He felt very grieved and rain fell. Once the House of the Patriarch ordained a fast and did not inform either R. Johanan or Resh Lakish. In the morning, however, they did notify them. Resh Lakish then said to R. Johanan, But we have not undertaken the fast on the previous evening. The latter replied: We are subject to their ordinances. Once the House of the Patriarch ordained a fast and no rain fell. Thereupon Oshaiah, the youngest of the college scholars, expounded the verse, Then it shall be, if it be done in error by the congregation. This can be compared to a bride who lives in the house of her father. So long as her eyes are beautiful her body needs no examination; should, however, her eyes be bleared then her body needs examination. Thereupon the servants of the Patriarch came and put a scarf around his neck and tortured him. Whereupon the people of the city cried out, Leave him alone; us also he insults but since we see that whatever he does is for the sake of Heaven, we say nothing to him and we leave him alone, so you too leave him alone. Once Rabbi ordained a fast and no rain fell. Thereupon ‘Ilfa (some say, R. Ilfi),[stepped down before the ark and] recited [the prayer], ‘He causeth the wind to blow’, and the wind blew. [He continued], ‘He causeth the rain to fall’, and rain fell. Rabbi then asked him, What is your special merit? He replied: I live in a poverty-stricken remote place where wine for Kiddush and Habdalah is unobtainable but I take the trouble to procure for myself wine for Kiddush and Habdalah and thus help also others to fulfil their duty. Once Rab came to a certain place and decreed a fast but no rain fell. The Reader then stepped down at his request before the ark and recited, ‘He causeth the wind to blow’, and the wind blew; [he continued], ‘He causeth the rain to fall’, and rain fell. Rab thereupon asked him, What is your special merit? The latter replied: I am a teacher of young children and I teach the children of the poor as well as those of the rich; I take no fees from any who cannot afford to pay; further, I have a fishpond and any boy who is reluctant [to learn] I bribe with some of the fishes from it and thereby appease him so that he becomes eager to learn. Once R. Nahman ordained a fast and he prayed but no rain fell. He thereupon said, ‘Take Nahman and throw him down from the wall to the ground’. He felt greatly dejected and then rain came . Rabbah once decreed a fast . He prayed but no rain came. Thereupon the people remarked to him: When Rab Judah ordained a fast rain did fall. He replied: What can l do? Is it because of studies? We are superior to him, because in the time of R. Judah all studies were concentrated onᵃᵇᶜᵈᵉᶠᵍʰⁱʲᵏˡᵐ
2 Nezikin, whereas we study all the six sections. When R. Judah reached the passage in [the Mishnah], ‘If a woman was preserving vegetables in a pot etc. or as some say the passage, ‘If olives are preserved together with their leaves then the leaves are not susceptible to uncleanness’, he exclaimed: I see here disputations of Rab and Samuel, and yet we to-day teach ‘Ukkazin in thirteen different sessions. And yet when Rab Judah removed one shoe [as a sign of humiliation] rain fell but when we cry out the whole day no one pays need to us. Is it because of some failing? If so, let any one who knows of it declare it. What, however, can the great men of a generation do when their generation does not [appear good enough to favour in the eyes of God]. Once Rab Judah saw two men using bread wastefully and he exclaimed: It seems that there is plenty in the world. He gave an angry look and a famine arose. Thereupon the Rabbis said to R. Kahana the son of R. Nehunia, his attendant, You who are so constantly with him, endeavour to persuade him to go out by the door near the market place. He prevailed upon him and he went out to the market place and seeing there a large crowd he asked. What is the matter? He was told, They stand around a mass of ground dates which is on sale. Whereupon he exclaimed: It seems that there is famine in the world. He then said to his disciple: Take off my shoes. As soon as he had taken off one shoe rain fell. As he was about to take off the other Elijah appeared and said to him: The Holy One, Blessed be He, said, if you will take off the other shoe I will lay waste the world. R. Mari the son of the daughter of Samuel related: Once I was standing on the bank of the river Papa and I saw angels in the guise of sailors who brought sand and loaded ships with it and it turned into fine flour. When the people came to purchase [it] I called out to them: Do not buy this because it resulted from a miracle. Next day boatloads of wheat came from Perezina. Once Raba came to Hagrunia and ordained a fast but no rain fell. Thereupon he said to the people: Continue with your fasting overnight. Next morning he said to them: If there is any one of you who had a dream let him tell it. Thereupon R. Eleazar from Hagrunia replied: To me in my dream the following was said: Good greetings to the good teacher from the good Lord who from His bounty dispenseth good to His people. Raba then exclaimed: It seems that this is a favourable time to pray. He prayed and rain fell. Once a certain man was sentenced by the Court of Raba to receive corporal punishment because he had intercourse with a Gentile woman. Raba had the man punished and he died. The matter reached the ears of King Shapur and he sought to punish Raba. Whereupon Ifra Hormuz, the mother of King Shapur, said to her son, Do not interfere with the Jews because whatever they ask of their God He grants them. The king asked her, For example? They pray and rain falls [she replied]. He retorted: This must have been because it is the season for rain; let them pray now, in the Tammuz cycle for rain. She sent a message to Raba: Concentrate now your mind and pray for rain. He prayed but no rain fell. He then exclaimed: Master of the Universe, ‘O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us; a work Thou didst in their days, in the days of old.’ But as for us we have not seen [it] with our eyes. Whereupon there followed such a heavy fall of rain that the gutters of Mahuza emptied their waters into the Tigris. Raba's father then appeared unto him in a dream and said to him: Is there anyone who troubles Heaven so much? Change thy [sleeping] place. He changed his place and next morning he discovered that his bed had been cut with knives. R. Papa ordained a fast and no rain fell. As he felt faint he sipped a plateful of grits and he again prayed, but still no rain fell. Thereupon R. Nahman b. Ushpazarti said to him: If you, Sir, will sip another plateful of grits rain would fall. Raba felt humiliated and faint, and rain fell. R. Hanina b. Dosa was journeying on the road when it began to rain. He exclaimed: Master of the Universe, the whole world is at ease, but Hanina is in distress; the rain then ceased. When he reached home he exclaimed: Master of the Universe, the whole world is in distress and Hanina is at ease; whereupon rain fell. [With reference to this incident] R. Joseph remarked: Of what avail was the prayer of the High Priest [on the Day of Atonement] against that of R. Hanina b. Dosa? For we have learnt: [The High Priest on the Day of Atonement] prayed a short prayer in the outer room [of the Temple]. What did he pray? Raba son of R. Adda and Rabin son of R. Adda both said in the name of Rab Judah: ‘May it be Thy will, O Lord our God, that this year may be one of rain and of heat’. Is then heat beneficial? Is it not rather something harmful? — Rather [the prayer reads thus], ‘If the year is to be a year of heat, let it also be a year of rain and of dew, and let the prayer of those journeying on the roads gain admission before Thee. R. Aha the son of Raba in the name of Rab Judah completed the prayer as follows: ‘May a ruler never cease from the house of Judah and may Israel never be in need of sustenance one from another, nor from another people’. Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: Every day a Heavenly Voice is heard declaring, The whole world draws its sustenance because [of the merit] of Hanina my son, and Hanina my son suffices himself with a kab of carobs from one Sabbath eve to another. Every Friday his wife would light the oven and throw twigs into itⁿᵒᵖᵠʳˢᵗᵘᵛʷˣʸᶻᵃᵃᵃᵇᵃᶜᵃᵈᵃᵉᵃᶠᵃᵍ