Taanit

Nezikin,1 whereas we study all the six sections. When R. Judah reached the passage in [the Mishnah],2 ‘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’,3 he exclaimed: I see here disputations of Rab and Samuel,4 and yet we to-day teach ‘Ukkazin in thirteen different sessions.5 And yet when Rab Judah removed one shoe [as a sign of humiliation]6 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 men7 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.8 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. 9 R. Mari the son of the daughter of Samuel related: Once I was standing on the bank of the river Papa10 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.11 Once Raba came to Hagrunia12 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,13 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 cycle14 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.’15 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 Mahuza16 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.17 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. Ushpazarti18 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:19 [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 twigs20 into it place where Rabbah resided. Ushparti’.]