The Kings  of Israel 

מלכי ישראל

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa was an extraordinary figure. Although he lived in poverty and great deprivation, miraculous acts routinely accompanied him. 

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa was traveling along a road when it began to rain. He said before God: Master of the Universe, the entire world is comfortable due to the needed rainfall, but Hanina is getting wet and suffering. The rain ceased. When he reached his home, he said before God: Master of the Universe, the entire world is suffering due to the lack of the rain, and Hanina is comfortable. The rains came. Rav Yosef said: What effect does the prayer of the High Priest have vis-à-vis Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa?...<footnote data-num="34"/>

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Each and every day a divine voice emerges and says: The entire world is sustained in the merit of My son Hanina ben Dosa, yet for Hanina My son a kav of carobs [a small volume of low-quality food] is enough for him from Shabbat eve to Shabbat eve.

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa’s wife would heat the oven every week before Shabbat and generate smoke, due to her shame.<footnote data-num="35"/> She had a certain evil neighbor who said to herself: I know that they have nothing. What is all this smoke? She went and knocked on the door to investigate. Rabbi Hanina’s wife was embarrassed, and entered an inner room. A miracle was performed for her, as her neighbor saw the oven filled with bread and the kneading bowl filled with dough. She said to Rabbi Hanina’s wife, calling her: So-and-so, So-and-so, bring a peel,<footnote data-num="36"/> as your bread is burning. Rabbi Hanina’s wife said to her: I too went inside for that purpose. The Sages taught: She had indeed entered the inner room to bring a peel, because she was accustomed to miracles [and anticipated that one would be performed to spare her shame].

Rabbi Hanina’s wife said to him: Until when will we continue to suffer so much from poverty? He said to her: What can we do? She said to him: Pray for mercy that they will give you something from Heaven. He prayed for mercy and a form like the palm of a hand emerged from the heavens and gave him one leg of a golden table. That night, his wife saw in a dream that the righteous are destined to eat in the World to Come at a golden table that has three legs, but she will be eating at a two-legged table.<footnote data-num="37"/>

She told her husband her dream, and he said to her: Are you content that everyone will eat at a complete table and we will eat at a deficient table? She said to him: But what can we do? Pray for mercy, that they take the leg of the golden table from you. He prayed for mercy, and they took it. The Sages taught: The latter miracle was greater than the former, as we learned that the heavens give but do not retract.<footnote data-num="38"/>

One twilight just before Shabbat, Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa saw that his daughter was sad. He asked her: My daughter, why are you sad? She explained to him: I confused a vessel of vinegar for a vessel of oil and I kindled the Shabbat lamp with the vinegar. He said to her: My daughter, what is your concern? He who said to the oil that it should burn, He will say to the vinegar that it should burn. The Sages taught: That lamp burned continuously the entire day, until they brought from it light for Havdala.

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa had goats. His neighbors said to him: Your goats are causing damage by eating in our fields. He said to them: If they are causing damage, let the bears eat them. But if not, let each of them, this evening, bring a bear impaled on its horns. That evening, each and every one of them brought a bear impaled on its horns. 

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa had a certain neighbor who was building a house, but the ceiling beams were too short and did not reach from one wall to the other. She came before Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa and said to him: I built my house, but my beams do not reach from one wall to the other. He said to her: What is your name? She said to him: Aykhu. He declared: If so [Aykhu], may your beams reach your walls. The Sages taught: The beams not only reached the walls, but they continued until they protruded one cubit from this side and one cubit from that side. Some say that the beams extended by segments. It is taught that the Sage Peleimo says: I saw that house, and its beams protruded one cubit on this side and one cubit on that side. They said to me: This is the house that Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa roofed with his prayer.

From where did Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa have goats? Wasn’t he poor? Moreover, the Sages said: One may not raise small domesticated animals in the Land of Israel [because they damage surrounding fields and the property of others]. Rav Pinhas said: There was an incident involving a certain man who passed near the entrance of Rabbi Hanina’s house and left chickens there. Rabbi Hanina’s wife found them and tended to them. Rabbi Hanina said to her: Do not eat from their eggs, because they do not belong to us. But they laid many eggs, and chickens hatched. The sheer number of chickens was disturbing them; they sold them and bought goats with their proceeds. Once, the man who had lost the chickens passed and said to his companion: Here is where I left my chickens. Rabbi Hanina heard and said to him: Do you have an identifying sign on them? He said to him: Yes. He gave him the sign and took the goats. Those are the goats that brought the bears impaled on their horns. 

The Sages taught: There was an incident in a certain place where there was an arod [a dangerous reptile] that was harming the people. They came and informed Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa. He said to them: Show me its hole. They showed him its hole. He placed his heel over the mouth of the hole and that arod came out and bit Rabbi Hanina and it died.

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa then took the carcass of the arod on his shoulder and brought it to the study hall. He said to those assembled there: See, my sons, it is not the arod that kills, but rather it is transgression that kills.

At that moment the Sages said: Woe to a person who was met by an arod, and woe to the arod that was met by Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa. <source>(Ta’anit 24b–25a; Berakhot 33a) </source>