Taanit 20 - December 2, 28 Kislev

Today’s daf is sponsored by Deborah Aschheim Weiss in loving memory of Sara Yehudit Sharf (Sara Yehudit bat Sarah Imanu) on the Shloshim. “You inspired many with your commitment. You chose the Jewish Nation as your people, Hebrew as your language, and the land of Israel and Yerushalayim as your home, studying intensely along the way and marveling at the privilege. You touched the lives of so many around you. You will live on in the hearts and memories of many."

Nadimon ben Gurion is reaching the end of the day in which he needs to repay the loan of the water he borrowed from a wealthy gentile and the rain has still not come. He goes to the Temple to pray and the rain finally comes. However, the gentile claims that the sun has set and he has missed the deadline. However, the clouds move and the sun comes out and Nakdimon is able to repay the debt on time. He is likened to Moshe and Yehoshua who were able to change time. Yehoshua had the sun stand still in battle, but from where do we know that this happened with Moshe? Rav Yehuda had a tradition from Rav of translating certain verses in a manner that was the opposite of the simple reading – sometimes changing a positive verse to have a negative connotation and a negative one to have a positive connotation. A story is told of Rabbi Elazar, the son of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai who met an ugly man and treated him disrespectfully because of his looks. The ugly man reprimanded him and would not forgive him when Rabbi Elazar begged for forgiveness. Rabbi Elazar learned from this situation that one should be soft like a reed and not hard as a cedar tree. For that reason, a reed is used for writing a sefer Torah, tefillin, and mezuzot. One institutes fasts for buildings that collapse but only if it is something unnatural and unexpected. It seems that certain people had enough merits that if there was a wall that was about to fall, their merits would help to keep the wall from falling. A story is told of Rav and Shmuel who avoided a particular wall for years for concern it would fall but when Rav Ada bar Ahava was with them, they walked past the wall. Rav Huna needed to remove items from his house that was about to fall so he coaxed Rav Ada to go into the house so that Rav Huna could enter without concern it would fall on him. Rav Ada only later realized he was being used and gets upset with Rav Huna and tells him that even though he has merits, one should not rely on a miracle and also it will use up his merits! What did Rav Ada do to merit this? We are also told of good deeds Rav Huna was known to have done.