Leaders who challenged Gd

Hi,

"And Rabbi Elazar said: Chanah launched words heavenward, as Shemuel I 1:10 says, 'And she prayed upon Gd' – this teaches that she launched words heavenward.

"And Rabbi Elazar said: Eliyahu launched words heavenward, as Melachim I 18:37 says, 'You turned their hearts back.' Rabbi Shemuel bar R' Yitzchak said: How do we know that Gd acknowledged this to Eliyahu? Michah 4:6 says, '[I will gather in] those whom I made ra.'…

"And Rabbi Elazar said: Moshe launched words heavenward, as Bamidbar 11:2 says, 'And Moshe prayed to Gd' – read it not as 'to Gd' but as 'upon Gd.' Rabbi Yannai's yeshiva taught it from Devarim 1:1, 'ודי זהב' – Moshe said before Gd, 'Master of the universe! The silver and gold You flowed upon the Jews until they said די [enough] is what caused them to create the calf!'"

(Talmud, Berachot 31b-32a)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Piety trumps Torah knowledge

Hi,

"R' Shimon and R' Elazar were sitting together, when R' Yaakov bar Acha approached.

"R' Elazar said to R' Shimon, 'Let us rise before him, for he is someone who piously fears sinning.

"R' Shimon replied, 'Let us rise before him, for he is a man of Torah.'

"R' Elazar said back, 'I told you he is someone who fears sinning, and you reply that he is [merely] a man of Torah?!"

(Talmud, Shabbat 31b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Respect for local authority

Hi,

"The sage Ulla went to Pumbedita. A person there brought him a bloody cloth to examine (to determine purity or impurity of its contents), but he refused to examine it.

"He explained: 'Rabbi Elazar is the Master Sage of Israel, and yet when he travels to Rabbi Yehudah's region he won't perform such an examination (out of respect for Rabbi Yehudah), how could I now perform such an examination in Pumbedita?!'"

(Talmud, Niddah 20b)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

How to make it to the next world

Hi,

"When Rabbi Elazar became ill, his students came to visit him. They asked him, 'Our master, teach us the paths of life, that we might merit life in the next world!'

"He told them: Be careful with the honor of your colleagues, keep your children from prattle and have them sit at the knees of Torah scholars, when you pray know before Whom you stand, and thus you will earn life in the next world."

(Talmud, Berachot 28b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai