Taanit 25 – Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa

Earlier, we mentioned that the High Priest's prayer was no match to that of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa. In his merit, the world was sustained, but Rabbi Chanina himself only had a bag of carob nuts a week. His wife was embarrassed by their poverty and would put smoking wood into her empty oven on Friday. Once, her neighbor decided to check what she was baking – since she knew that they had nothing – and knocked on the door. R. Chanina's wife hid inside. However, the neighbor saw an oven full of bread and called – "Your bread is being burned, bring a shovel!" R' Chanina's wife replied that she went for the shovel herself. This was actually true since she was used to miracles.

Another time, however, she said life was too hard and asked Rabbi Chanina to pray. A golden hand appeared and gave him one leg of a golden table. However, Rabbi Chanina was shown a dream wherein the World to Come all were eating at a three-legged table, but the table of his wife and him only had two. She asked him to pray again, and the leg was taken back.

Once, R' Chanina's daughter was sad: she put vinegar instead of oil into the Shabbat lamp. However, R' Chanina commented: the One who made the oil burn can command the vinegar to burn, and so it was: vinegar lamp burned till the end of Shabbat.

Rabbi Chanina had some goats, and the neighbors claimed that they were ruining their fields. Rabbi Chanina said, "If they do – they should be eaten by bears, but if not – each should bring a bear on her horns," Indeed, each goat brought a bear on its horns.

Art: Dancing Bears by William Holbrook Beard