When the Babylonian amora Rabbi Zeira came to Israel, he made an extraordinary effort to accustom himself to the method of Torah study characteristic of the Land of Israel.

When Rabbi Zeira ascended from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael, he fasted one hundred fasts so that he would forget the Babylonian method of studying the Talmud, so that it would not hinder him [from learning the style of study of the Land of Israel]. He fasted an additional one hundred fasts so that Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon would not die during his lifetime, as then the burden of communal matters would fall upon him. Rabbi Zeira fasted yet another one hundred fasts so that the fire of Gehenna would not affect him.

Every thirty days, he would test himself: He would ignite an oven, climb in, and sit inside it, and the fire would not affect him. One day, the Sages gave him the evil eye [because they were jealous], and his legs were singed by the fire. From then on they called him: The short one with singed thighs. (Bava Metzia 85a)