Magic and Miracles: Class Four

MISHNA: One who prays and erred - that is a bad omen for him. And if he is the communal prayer leader - that is a bad omen for those who sent him, because a person’s agent is like himself. They said about Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa that he would pray for the sick and say: This will live and this will die. They said to him: From where do you know? He said to them: If my prayer is fluent in my mouth, I know it is accepted. And if not, I know it is rejected.

The Sages taught: Once it happened that Rabban Gamliel’s son fell ill. He dispatched two scholars to Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa to ask for mercy on his behalf. When he saw them, he went up to the attic and prayed for mercy on his behalf. Upon his descent, he said to them: Go, as the fever has already left. They asked him: Are you a prophet? He replied to them: I am neither a prophet nor son of a prophet (see Amos 7:14), but I have inherited this teaching: If my prayer is fluent in my mouth, I know that it is accepted. And if not, I know that it is rejected. They sat and wrote and worked out what the hour was. When they came before Rabban Gamliel, he said to them: By the Temple service! You were neither earlier or later; rather, this is how it happened: at that hour, his fever broke and he asked us for water to drink.

And it also happened with Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa, who went to study Torah before Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, and Rabbi Yoḥanan’s son fell ill. He said to him: Ḥanina, my son, ask for mercy on his behalf so that he will live. Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa placed his head between his knees and asked for mercy for him and he lived. Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said: Had ben Zakkai stuck his head between his knees throughout the entire day, they would have paid him no attention. His wife said to him: And is Ḥanina greater than you? He replied to her: No, but he is like a servant before the King. I am like a minister before the King.

Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa was traveling along a road, the rain came. He said before Him: Master of the Universe, the entire world is comfortable, but Ḥanina is suffering. The rain ceased. When he arrived at his home, he said before Him: Master of the Universe, the entire world is suffering, and Ḥanina is comfortable? The rain came.

Rav Yehuda said Rav said: Each and every day a Divine Voice emerges and says: The entire world is sustained by My son Ḥanina, and Ḥanina, My son, suffices with a kav of carobs from Shabbat eve to Shabbat eve. His wife would heat the oven every Shabbat eve and create smoke, due to embarrassment. She had a certain evil neighbor. She said: Since I know they have nothing, what, is all this? She went and knocked on the door. She was embarrassed, and she ascended to an inner room. A miracle was performed for her, as she saw the oven filled with bread and the kneading basin filled with dough. She said to her: So-and-so, so-and-so, bring a shovel, as your bread is burning. She said to her: I too went inside for that. A tanna taught: She indeed had gone inside to bring a shovel, because she was accustomed to miracles.

His wife said to him: Until when will we continue to suffer all this? He said to her: What can we do? Ask for mercy that something will be given to you. He asked for mercy, the appearance of the palm of a hand emerged and gave him one leg of a golden table. She saw in a dream; in the future, the righteous will eat at a golden table that has three legs, but they were at a table that has two legs. He said to her: Are you content that everyone will eat at a complete table and we at a defective table? She said to him: But what can we do? Ask for mercy, that it be taken from you. He asked for mercy, and it was taken. A tanna taught: The last miracle was greater than the first, as it is learned that things are certainly given gives but not taken back.

One evening, he saw that his daughter was sad. He said to her: My daughter, why are you sad? She said to him: I confused a vessel of vinegar for a vessel of oil and I used it to light the lamp for Shabbat. He said to her: My daughter, why does that bother you? He Who said to the oil "burn" can say to the vinegar "burn." A tanna taught: It burned continuously the entire day, until they brought from it light for havdala.

Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa had some goats. They said to him: They are causing us to lose money. He said to them: If they are causing you to lose money, let them be eaten by bears. But if not, each of them, will come this evening with a bear between its horns. Evening arrived, each one brought in a bear between its horns.

And Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa, from where did he have goats? Wasn’t he poor? And furthermore, the Sages said: One may not raise small, domesticated animals in Eretz Yisrael. Rav Pineḥas said Once it happened and a certain man passed by the entrance of his house and left chickens there. And Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa’s wife found them. And he said her: Do not eat of their eggs. And the egg quantity increased, and so did the chickens and they were distressing them, they sold them and bought goats with their proceeds. Once that same man who lost the chickens passed by and said to his companion: Here is where I left my chickens. Rabbi Ḥanina heard. He said to him: Do you have a sign to recognize them? He said to him: Yes. He told him the sign and took the goats. And these are the very goats that brought bears between their horns.

The Sages taught: There once happened to be a certain place where an arvad was harming the local people and animals. They came and told Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa. He told them: Show me his hole. They showed him its hole. He placed his heel over the mouth of the hole, arvad came out and bit him, and died. He placed it over his shoulder and brought it to the study hall. He said to them: See, my sons, the arvad does not kill, rather transgression kills. At that moment they said: Woe unto the person who was attacked by an arvad and woe unto the arvad that was attacked by Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa.

They said about Rebbi Ḥanina ben Dosa that he was standing in prayer when a Chavarbar (brightly dotted snake) came and bit him, and he did not interrupt his prayer. They went and found that dotted snake lying dead at the entrance of its hole. They said, woe to the human who is bitten by a dotted snake, but woe to the dotted snake that bites Rebbi Ḥanina ben Dosa. [What is the nature of that dotted snake? If it bites a human and the human reaches water first, the dotted snake dies, but if the dotted snake reaches water first, the human dies.] His students asked him: Rabbi, did you not notice? He said to them: Let the things that happened happen to me! I was concentrating on my prayer and did not notice! Rebbi Isaac ben Eleazar said, the Holy One, praise to Him, created a well under his foot soles, to confirm what has been said (Ps. 145: 19): “He will do the will of those who fear Him, He will hear their entreaties and save them.”