Hillel the Elder began his path in a state of extreme poverty, yet he refused to forsake daily Torah study. On one occasion, when he did not have money to pay the fee to the guard of the study hall, he climbed onto the roof, and from there he listened intently to the discourse inside the study hall.

The Sages said about Hillel the Elder that each and every day he would work and earn a tarpe’ik [a small coin], half of which he would give to the guard of the study hall and half of which went for his sustenance and the sustenance of the members of his household.

One time he did not find employment to earn a wage, and the guard of the study hall did not allow him to enter. He climbed onto the roof, suspended himself, and sat at the edge of the skylight so that he could hear the words of the Torah of the living God from the mouths of Shemaya and Avtalyon.

They said: That day was Friday, and it was the season of Tevet, winter, and snow fell on him from the sky. After dawn on Shabbat morning, Shemaya said to Avtalyon: Avtalyon, my brother, every day at this hour the study hall is light, yet today it is dark; is it perhaps a cloudy day? They glanced upward and saw the form of a man in the skylight. They climbed up and found snow that was three cubits [approximately 1.5 m] high atop him. They extricated him, bathed him, smeared him with oil, and sat him opposite the fire. They said: This man is worthy of us desecrating Shabbat on his behalf. (Yoma 35b)