Taanit

so as not to be put to shame. She had a bad neighbour who said,I know that these people have nothing, what then is the meaning of all this [smoke]? She went and knocked at the door. [The wife of R. Hanina] feeling humiliated [at this] retired into a room. A miracle happened and [her neighbour] saw the oven filled with loaves of bread and the kneading trough full of dough; she called out to her: You, you, bring your shovel, for your bread is getting charred; and she replied, I just went to fetch it. A Tanna taught: She actually had gone to fetch the shovel because she was accustomed to miracles. Once his wife said to him: How long shall we go on suffering so much: He replied: What shall we do?-Pray that something may be given to you, [she replied]. He prayed, and there emerged the figure of a hand reaching out to him a leg of a golden table. Thereupon he saw in a dream that the pious would one day eat at a three-legged golden table but he would eat at a two-legged table. Her husband said to her:1 Are you content that everybody shall eat at a perfect table and we at an imperfect table? She replied: What then shall we do? — Pray that the leg should be taken away from you, [she replied]. He prayed and it was taken away. A Tanna taught: The latter miracle was greater than the former; for there is a tradition that a thing may be given but once; it is never taken away again. Once on a Friday eve he noticed that his daughter was sad and he said to her, My daughter, why are you sad? She replied: My oilcan got mixed up with my vinegar can and I kindled of it the Sabbath light. He said to her: My daughter, Why should this trouble you? He who had commanded the oil to burn will also command the vinegar to burn. A Tanna taught: The light continued to burn the whole day until they took of it light for the Habdalah.2 R. Hanina b. Dosa had goats. On being told that they were doing damage he exclaimed, If they indeed do damage may bears devour them, but if not may they each of them at evening time bring home a bear on their horns. In the evening each of them brought home a bear on their horns. Once a woman neighbour of R. Hanina was building a house but the beams would not reach the walls. She thereupon came to him and said: I have built a house but the beams will not reach the walls. He asked her: What is your name? She replied: Aiku. He thereupon exclaimed: Aiku,3 may your beams reach [the walls]. A Tanna taught: They projected one cubit on either side. Some say, New pieces joined themselves [miraculously] to the beams.4 It has been taught: Polemo says: I saw that house and its beams projected one cubit on either side, and people told me: This is the house which R. Hanina b. Dosa covered with beams, through his prayer. Whence did R. Hanina b. Dosa have goats seeing that he was poor? And furthermore, did not the Sages say: We may not rear small cattle in Palestine?5 — R. Phinehas said: Once it happened that a man passed by his house and left there hens and the wife of R. Hanina b. Dosa found them. Her husband, however, forbade her to eat of their eggs. As the eggs and the chickens increased in number he was very troubled by them and he therefore sold them and with the proceeds he purchased goats. One day the man who lost the hens passed by [the house] again and said to his companions, Here I left my hens. R. Hanina overhearing this asked him: Have you any sign [by which to identify them]? He replied: Yes. He gave him the sign and took away the goats. These were the goats that brought bears on their horns. R. Eleazar b. Pedath found himself in very great want. Once after being bled he had nothing to eat. He took the skin of garlic and put it into his mouth; he became faint and he fell asleep. The Rabbis coming to see him noticed that he was crying and laughing, and that a ray of light was radiating from his forehead . When he awoke they asked him: Why did you cry and laugh? He replied: Because the Holy One, Blessed be He, was sitting by my side and I asked Him, How long will I suffer in this world? And He replied: Eleazar, my son, would you rather that I should turn back the world to its very beginnings? Perhaps you might then be born at a happier hour?6 I replied: All this, and then only perhaps?7 I then asked Him, Which is the greater life, the one that I had already lived, or the one I am still to live. He replied: The one that I have already lived. I then said to Him: If so, I do not want it. He replied: As a reward for refusing it I will grant you in the next world thirteen rivers of balsam oil as clear as the Euphrates and the Tigris, which you will be able to enjoy. I asked, And nothing more? He replied: And what shall I then give to your fellow men? I said: Do I then ask the share of one who has nothing? He thereupon snapped at my forehead and exclaimed: Eleazar, my son, I have shot you with my arrows.8 R. Hama b. Hanina ordained a fast but no rain fell. People said to him: When R. Joshua b. Levi ordained a fast rain did fall. He replied: I am I, and he is the son of Levi.9 Go and ask him that he may come [and pray for us] and let us concentrate on our prayer, perhaps the whole community will be contrite in heart and rain will fall.10 They prayed and no rain fell. He11 then asked them: Are you content that rain should fall on our account? They replied: Yes. He then exclaimed: heaven, heaven, cover thy face.12 But it did not cover [its face]. He then added: How brazen is the face of heaven! It then became covered and rain fell. Levi ordained a fast but no rain fell. He thereupon exclaimed: Master of the Universe, Thou didst go up and take Thy Seat on high and hast no mercy upon Thy children. Rain fell but he became lame. R. Eleazar said: Let a man never address himself in a reproachful manner towards God, seeing that one great man did so and he became lame, and he is Levi. But was this actually the cause [of his lameness]? Was it not rather because he demonstrated to Rabbi a particular form of prostration?13 — Both were the cause of his lameness. R. Hiyya b. Luliani overhearing the clouds saying to one another, Come, let us take water to Ammon and Moab, exclaimed: Master of the Universe! When Thou wast about to give the Law to Thy people Israel Thou didst offer it around amongst all the nations of the world but they would not accept it, and now Thou wouldst give them rain; let them [the clouds] empty their waters here; and they emptied their waters on the spot. R. Hiyya b. Luliani expounded: What is the meaning of the verse, The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall glow like a cedar in Lebanon?14 If it is said, ‘Palm-tree’ why is also said ‘Cedar’? And if ‘Cedar’ why also ‘Palm-tree’? Had it been said, ‘Palm-tree’ and not ‘Cedar’ I might have argued that just in the same way [ beams) new joints (Aruch).] 4.]