Give Me Your Hand

Rabbi Hiyya ben Abba fell ill and Rabbi Johanan went in to visit him. He said to him: “Are your sufferings welcome to you?” He replied: “Neither they nor their reward.” He said to him: “Give me your hand.” He gave him his hand and he raised him.

Rabbi Johanan once fell ill and Rabbi Hanina went in to visit him. He said to him: “Are your sufferings welcome to you?” He replied: “Neither they nor their reward.” He said to him: “Give me your hand.” He gave him his hand and he raised him. Why could not Rabbi Johanan raise himself? — They [the Rabbis] replied: “The prisoner cannot free himself from jail.”

Rabbi Eleazar fell ill and Rabbi Johanan went in to visit him. He noticed that he was lying in a dark room, and he bared his arm and light radiated from it. Thereupon he noticed that Rabbi Eleazar was weeping, and he said to him: “Why do you weep? Is it because you did not study enough Torah? Surely we learnt: The one who sacrifices much and the one who sacrifices little have the same merit, provided that the heart is directed to heaven. Is it perhaps lack of sustenance? Not everybody has the privilege to enjoy two tables.

It is perhaps because of (the lack of) children? This is the bone of my tenth son!” – He replied to him: “I am weeping on account of this beauty that is going to rot in the earth.” He said to him: “On that account you surely have a reason to weep;” and they both wept. In the meanwhile he said to him: “Are your sufferings welcome to you?” He replied: “Neither they nor their reward.” He said to him: “Give me your hand.” He gave him his hand and he raised him.

Babylonian Talmud: Brachot 5b

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