1 , Thou shalt surely tithe? Give tithes that you may be enriched. R. Johanan met the young son of Resh Lakish and said to him, ‘Recite to me the Bible verse [you have learnt to-day]. The latter replied, ‘Thou shalt surely tithe’, at the same time asking, ‘What may be the meaning of these words?’ R. Johanan answered, ‘Give tithes that you may be enriched’ . The boy then asked, ‘Whence do you adduce this?’ R. Johanan replied: ‘Go test it [for yourself]’. The boy thereupon asked: Is it permissible to try the Holy One, blessed be He, seeing that it is written, Ye shall not try the Lord? -R. Johanan replied: Thus said R. Oshaia: The case of tithe-giving is excepted [from the prohibition], as it is said, Bring ye the whole tithe unto the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall be more than sufficiency. (What is the meaning [of the words], ‘That there shall be more than sufficiency?’ — R. Rami b. Hama said in the name of Rab: Until your lips grow weary from saying, ‘It is enough’.) The boy thereupon exclaimed, Had I reached this verse [in my Bible studies] I should need neither you nor R. Oshaia, your teacher. On another occasion R. Johanan met the young son of Resh Lakish sitting and reciting the verse, The foolishness of man perverteth his way; and his heart fretteth against the Lord. R. Johanan thereupon exclaimed in amazement: Is there anything written in the Hagiographa to which allusion cannot be found in the Torah? The boy replied: Is then this verse not alluded to in the Torah, seeing that it is written, And their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying: ‘What is this that God hath done unto us?’ R. Johanan lifted up his eyes and stared at him, whereupon the boy's mother came and took him away, Saying to him, ‘Go away from him, lest he do unto you as he did unto your father’. R. Johanan further said: Rain may fall even for the sake of an individual but sustenance [is granted] only for the sake of the many. [That] rain [may fall] for the sake of even one man may be learnt from the verse where it is written, The Lord will open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain of thy land; sustenance for the sake of the many, as it is written, Behold I will cause to rain bread for you. An objection was raised: R. Jose the son of R. Judah says: Three good leaders had arisen for Israel, namely. Moses, Aaron and Miriam, and for their sake three good things were conferred [upon Israel], namely, the Well, the Pillar of Cloud and the Manna; the Well, for the merit of Miriam; the Pillar of Cloud for the merit of Aaron; the Manna for the merit of Moses. When Miriam died the well disappeared, as it is said, And Miriam died there, and immediately follows [the verse], And there was no water for the congregation; and it returned for the merit of the [latter] two. When Aaron died the clouds of glory disappeared, as it is written, And the Canaanite, the king of Arad heard. What news did he hear? He heard that Aaron had died, and that the clouds of glory had disappeared; he thought that he was free to make war on Israel. Therefore it is written, And all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead. With reference to which R. Abahu said: Do not read, ‘they saw’ [wayir-u] but ‘they were seen’ [wayyero-u]. This is also in accordance with the view of Resh Lakish who said: [The word] ki may be used in four different senses, namely, ‘if’ ‘perhaps’. ‘but’, ‘because’. The two [the Well and the Cloud] returned because of the merit of Moses, but when Moses died all of them disappeared, as it is said, And I cut off the three shepherds in one month. Did they then all [three] die in one month? Did not Miriam die in Nisan, Aaron in Ab and Moses in Adar? This therefore is meant to teach you that the three good gifts which were given because of their merit were nullified and they all disappeared in one month. Thus we find that sustenance may be granted for the sake of one individual! — The case of Moses is exceptional; as he prayed on behalf of the many, he himself is regarded as a multitude. R. Hunah b. Manoah and R. Samuel b. Idi and R. Hiyya of Wastanya were wont to attend the discourses of Raba. When Raba died they came to those of R. Papa and whenever he expounded to them a law which did not appeal to them they winked at one another, and thus hurt him greatly.ᵃᵇᶜᵈᵉᶠᵍʰⁱʲᵏˡᵐⁿᵒᵖᵠʳˢᵗ
2 In a dream he was made to recite the verse, ‘And I cut off the three shepherds’. When next day these disciples took leave of him he said to them, Go in peace. R. Shimi b. Ashi was wont to frequent [the discourses] of R. Papa and used to annoy him, very much with questions. One day he observed that R. Papa fell on his face [in prayer] and he heard him saying. ‘May God preserve me from the insolence of Shimi’. The latter thereupon vowed silence and annoyed him no more [with questions]. Resh Lakish too held the view that rain may fall even for the sake of an individual, for Resh Lakish said: Whence do we adduce that rain may fall even for the sake of an individual? Because it is written, Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, even of the Lord that maketh lightnings, and He will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. You might have thought, only when all need [it]. therefore Scripture says. ‘to everyone’. Further, it has been taught: Had Scripture said, ‘to everyone’ [only] you might have thought [rain would fall] only when one needs it for all his fields, therefore Scripture adds, ‘field’. Had the word ‘field’ [been used] you might have thought only when the whole field needs [rain] Scripture therefore adds, ‘grass’. This is borne out by the case of Daniel b. Kattina who had a garden which he was in the habit of inspecting daily and he would exclaim, ‘This bed needs water and that one does not’; and rain would fall on those beds that needed water. What is the meaning of the verse, ‘Even the Lord that maketh hazizim [lightnings]? — R. Jose son of R. Hanina said: This teaches that God provides a haziz for each righteous man. What are hazizim? Rab Judah said: Porehoth. R. Johanan said: Porehoth are a sign of [coming] rain. What are porehoth? — R. Papa said: A thin cloud under a thick cloud. Rab Judah said: Should fine rain come down before the heavy rain then the rain will continue for some time; should it follow a heavy downpour of rain then the rain will soon cease. If before the rain, the rain will continue, of this the sieve serves as a reminder; if after a heavy rain, the rain will cease, of this goats’ excrement serves as a reminder. ‘Ulla chanced to be in Babylon and observing light clouds [porehoth] he exclaimed, ‘Remove the vessels for rain is now coming’. No rain however fell and he exclaimed, As the Babylonians are false, so too is their rain. ‘Ulla chanced to be in Babylon and observing that a basketful of dates was being sold for a zuz he exclaimed, ‘A basketful of honey for a zuz and yet the Babylonians do not occupy themselves with the study of the Torah’. During the night he was in agony [from eating the dates] and he then exclaimed, ‘A basketful of knives for a zuz and yet the Babylonians occupy themselves with the study of the Torah. It has been taught: R. Eliezer said: The whole world draws its water supply from the waters of the ocean, as it is said, But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole of the ground. Thereupon R. Joshua said to him: But are not the waters of the ocean salty? He replied: They are sweetened by the clouds. R. Joshua said: The whole world drinks from the upper waters, as it is said, And drinketh water as the rain of heaven cometh down. If so, what is the force of the verse, ‘But there went up a mist from the earth’? This teaches that the clouds grow in strength as they rise towards the firmament and then open their mouth as a flask and catch the rain water, as it is said, Which distil rain from His vapour, they are perforated like a sieve and they slowly distil [mehashroth] waters on the ground. as it is said, Distilling [hashroth] of waters, thick clouds of the skies; there is but one hand-breadth space between one drop and another, in order to teach you that the day on which rain falls is as great as the day whereon heaven and earth were created, as it is said, Who doeth great things past finding out; and it is written, Who giveth rain upon the earth; and it is also written, Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord . . . His discernment is past finding out? Whose view is supported by the verse, Who waterest the mountains from Thine upper chambers, which R. Johanan interprets to mean the upper chambers of the Almighty? Whose view? — It is that of R. Joshua. And R. Eliezer's view?-As [the waters] ultimately find their way above [Scripture] aptly terms them, ‘from Thine upper chambers’ For if it were not so, how will you explain, Powder and dust from heaven?’ What you must [say is] that as these rise upwards [from the ground] the words, ‘from heaven’ are quite aptly applied to them. Likewise as the waters eventually find their way above Scripture aptly refers to them as, from Thine upper chambers’. Whose view supports R. Hanina who said this, He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap; He layeth up the deeps in storehouses, [as meaning,] Who caused the storehouses to be filled with grain? The deeps-the view of R. Eliezer. And what of R. Joshua's [view]? — That [verse] refers to Creation of the world.ᵘᵛʷˣʸᶻᵃᵃᵃᵇᵃᶜᵃᵈᵃᵉᵃᶠᵃᵍᵃʰᵃⁱᵃʲᵃᵏᵃˡ