Commentary for Gittin 47:5

לגוי אפילו בארץ ישראל. מי משחררו רבו ראשון נותן דמיו והשני משחררו ובחוצה לארץ אפילו ישראל. נימר אם ידע רבו השני שניהן נותנין את דמיו

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. Birtah2 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,3 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.4 R. Judah the Prince5 ordained a fast and he prayed but no rain fell. He thereupon exclaimed: What a great difference there is between, Samuel the Ramathite6 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.7 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,8 expounded the verse, Then it shall be, if it be done in error by the congregation.9 This can be compared to a bride who lives in the house of her father. So long as her eyes10 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 Habdalah11 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 it12 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’.13 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 on

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