Siman - Taanis Daf 25
- Rebbe Chanina ben Dosa’s poverty and the miracles that occurred
The Gemara recounts a number of incidents about Rebbe Chanina ben Dosa’s poverty. His wife would throw a substance into her oven that produced smoke, because she was embarrassed that she had nothing to bake for Shabbos. One time, when a suspecting neighbor went to check what was producing all the smoke, she discovered that the oven was full of bread and the kneading bowl was full of dough. When she called to Rebbe Chanina’s wife to quickly get a shovel before the bread burned, Rebbe Chanina’s wife said she was already in the midst of doing that. A Tanna taught that she was actually bringing a shovel מפני שמלומדת בנסים – because she was accustomed that miracles happen for her. Another time, Rebbe Chanina’s wife asked him to pray for mercy to get out of poverty, and a hand came down from shomayim with a golden leg. She then had a dream that in the future the tzadikim will be eating at a table with three legs and they will be eating at a table with only two legs. She did not like the idea of eating at a flawed table and told him to have the golden leg returned. Once, when his daughter was distraught that she poured vinegar into the Shabbos lamps, he told her it does not make a difference. מי שאמר לשמן וידלוק הוא יאמר לחומץ וידלוק – He who told the oil to burn, he can tell the vinegar to burn as well.
- Why Rabbi Akiva was answered and not Rebbe Eliezer
It once happened during a drought that Rebbe Eliezer went down before the ark on a fast day and recited the twenty-four berachos but was not answered. Rebbe Akiva went down after him and said: אבינו מלכנו אין לנו מלך אלא אתה – Our Father, our King! We have no other king besides You. אבינו מלכנו למענך רחם עלינו – Our Father, our King! For your sake have mercy on us. The rain started to fall, and the Rabbis started whispering against Rebbe Eliezer, that he was not as great as Rabbi Akiva. Then, a Bas Kol came and said: לא מפני שזה גדול מזה – It is not because this one is greater than that one, אלא שזה מעביר על מדותיו וזה אינו מעביר על מדותיו – Rather, it is because this one, referring to Rebbe Akiva, is a forgiving person, and this one, referring to Rebbe Eliezer, is not.
- How Shmuel HaKatan interpreted rain falling before sunrise and after sunset
When Shmuel HaKatan decreed a taanis and the rains fell before sunrise, the people thought it was a shevach to them that they were answered so quickly. He told them that this is not the case. Rather, it is likened to a servant who wants to come to beseech his master and the master says to a shaliach: תנו לו ואל אשמע קולו – Give to him what he is asking for so that I do not have to hear him beseeching me. When Shmuel HaKatan proclaimed another fast and the rains fell after sunset, the people assumed it was a shevach to them, since it indicates that Hashem did want to hear their tefillos. He said to them that that is not the case. Rather, it is like the master who says to his shaliach regarding a servant that is beseeching him: המתינו לו עד שיתמקמק ויצטער ואחר כך תנו לו – Wait before giving him so that he is shamed and pained and then afterwards give him what he is asking for. According to Shmuel HaKatan, shevach to the community is when the shaliach tzibur says משיב הרוח and the winds blow immediately, and when he says ומוריד הגשם the rains fall immediately.
