A student once led the prayer service
in the presence of R'
Eliezer.
He recited a much longer prayer than was usual.
"How long he prays," the other
students
complained.
"Is his prayer longer then than
Moshe's," asked R'
Eliezer. "Of Moshe the verse says, 'I fell before Hashem, forty days
and
forty nights ...'"
On another
occasion, a student led the service, saying the
prayers in a short way.
"How short he prays," the other
students
complained.
"Is his prayer then, shorter than
Moshe's," asked
R' Eliezer. "Of Moshe the verse says, And Moshe cried before Hashem,
"Hashem please, heal her please"; [saying only five words]."
(Brochos 34a)
Rabban Gamliel's son once, became
very sick. He sent two
scholars to R' Chanina ben Dosa to request that he pray for him. When
R'
Chanina saw the scholars coming, he went up to the loft, and began to
pray.
On coming down, he greeted them,
saying, "Go now, his
temperature has dropped."
"Are you a prophet?" they asked him.
"I am not a prophet, nor a trainee
prophet," he
answered, "but I have, as a tradition in our family, this guideline: if
my
prayer flows smoothly, I know that the heavens have accepted it; if
not, they
have rejected it."
They noted the time of this
conversation, and then returned
to Rabban Gamliel.
"I assure you," Rabban Gamliel told
them on
hearing this story, "it was this moment, no earlier, no later, that his
fever left him, and he asked for water to drink."
(Brochos 34b)
R' Chanina ben Dosa once, went to
learn Torah [in the
yeshiva] of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai's
son fell
sick.
"Chanina, my child," Rabban Yochanan
ben Zakkai
asked of him, "pray for my son that he might live."
R' Chanina rested his head against
his knees, and prayed,
and the boy lived.
"Was ben Zakkai to hit his head
against his knees all
day," Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai commented to his wife, "they would
pay no attention to him."
"What," asked his wife, "is he
greater than
you are?"
"No," he answered, "just that he is
like the
servant of the king, who enters and leaves the king's presence without
permission, whereas I am like an officer, and not in the habit of
walking in at
all times."
