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text: Jerusalem Talmud Ta'anit
  תלמוד ירושלמי תענית
  Halakha.com
  
  
  Jerusalem Talmud Ta'anit
  
  
  
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  to her, and opened her womb.1 The Key of the Revival of the Dead, for it is written, And ye shall
  know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves.2 In Palestine they said: Also the Key of
  Sustenance, for it is said, Thou openest thy hand etc.3 Why does not R. Johanan include also this
  [key]? — Because in his view sustenance is [included in] Rain.4
   R. ELIEZER SAYS: ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST etc. The question was asked,
  Whence did R. Eliezer derive this? Did he learn it from Lulab5 or from the Libation of Water?6 If he
  learnt it from Lulab, then just as the obligation of the use of the Lulab comes into force on the [first]
  day of Tabernacles, so too should we begin to make mention of rain on that day. Or perhaps he learnt
  it from Libation. [If so, then] just as Water Libation may be [carried out] on the evening [preceding
  the first day] — (for a Master [interpreting the verse], And the meal-offering thereof and their
  drink-offerings,7 said, Even by night)-so too should one begin to make mention of rain on that
  evening!8 — Come and hear: R. Abbahu said: R. Eliezer deduced it from Lulab only. Some there are
  who say: R. Abbahu had a tradition. Whilst others say: He based it on a Baraitha. Which is the
  Baraitha? — It has been taught: ‘When do we [begin to] make mention of Rain? R. Eliezer says:
  From the time of the taking up of the Lulab; R. Joshua says, From the time when the Lulab is
  discarded.9 Said R. Eliezer: Seeing that these Four Species are intended only to make intercession
  for water,10 therefore as these cannot [grow] without water so the world [too] cannot exist without
  water. R. Joshua said to him: Is not rain on the Feast a sure sign of [God's] anger? R. Eliezer replied:
  I too did not say to pray but to make mention. And just as one makes mention of the Revival of the
  Dead all the year round11 although it will take place only in its proper time, so too should mention be
  made of the Power of Rain all the year round although it comes only in its due season. Therefore if
  one desires to make mention all the year round he may do so. Rabbi says: I hold the view that when
  one ceases to pray [for rain]12 one should also no longer make mention of it. R. Judah b. Bathyra
  says: On the second day of the Feast one [begins] to make mention. R. Akiba says: On the sixth day
  of the Feast. R. Judah says in the name of R. Joshua: The last to step before the Ark on the last day
  of the Feast makes mention, the first does not; on the first day of Passover the first makes mention,
  the last does not. Did not then R. Eliezer reply well to R. Joshua?- R. Joshua can answer you: It is
  quite in order to make mention of the Revival of the Dead [all the year round], since any day may be
  its time, but is rain seasonable at all times? Have we not learnt: Should Nisan terminate and then rain
  fall it is a sign of [God's] anger, for it is said, Is it not wheat harvest to-day etc.?13
   ‘R. Judah b. Bathyra says: on the second day of the Feast one [begins] to make mention’. What is
  R. Judah b. Bathyra's reason? — It has been taught: R. Judah b. Bathyra says, Of the second day of
  the Feast, Scripture Says, we-niskehem,14 [‘and their drink-offerings’] and of the sixth day,
  u-nesakeah15 [‘and its drink-offerings’] and of the seventh day, kemishpatam16 [according to their
  rule]. Note [the letters] Mem, Yod, Mem which form the word mayim [‘water’].17 Here you have the
  biblical allusion to the Libation of Water. And what makes him [R. Judah b. Bathyra] fix it on the
  second day? — Because [the first of the allusions to the Water Libation] is found in connection [with
  the order for] the second day. Hence why we should [begin] to make mention on the second day. R.
  Akiba says: On the sixth day of the Feast one [begins] to make mention, for of the sixth day
  Scripture says, And its drink-offerings.18 Scripture thus speaks of two libations,19 the Libation of
  Water and the Libation of Wine. Perhaps both Libations must be of wine? — He [R. Akiba] is of the
  same opinion as R. Judah b. Bathyra who said, There is an allusion to water.2
  
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  One day he heard him reciting a tradition that Samuel had said: He that takes out of the sea a fish on
  the Sabbath, as soon as there is on it a dry spot as large as a sela’, he has committed a breach of the
  Sabbath laws.1 Thereupon R. Jose b. Abin asked him: Why does not the Master add, ‘and between
  the fins’? He replied : Are you not aware that R. Jose b. Abin had [already] stated this? [The former]
  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