R. Judah, the Pious, wished to get his daughter married because he did not want her to engage any longer in money-lending and pawnbroking, for she was thereby putting herself into serious danger.

So he said to his daughter: "I am going to find a husband for you."

She replied: "Dear father, who will attend to the business of lending money and pawnbroking?"

And he replied: "This is why I wish to find a husband for you who will attend to it."

Whereupon she replied: "If you insist on giving me a husband, let him be a learned man, for it is written that to give one's daughter in marriage to an ignorant man is like tying her to a lion."

The daughter desired a man upon whose wisdom she could depend, but the father was not concerned. The discussion went on until the father lost his temper and swore that she would have to marry.

"My dear daughter," he said, "I have sworn that you must take a husband."

The daughter replied: "If you have taken an oath, I will not break it. But, my dear father, if you insist on giving me a husband, let him be a scholar."

The father replied: "I will go to the other pious man who lives here and ask his advice."

So he went to the other man and listened to his discourse on the laws. When he had finished his lecture and the pupils had retired to their rooms, R. Judah said to the other man: "Have you among the students of your yeshibah one who is a good scholar?"

The Hasid replied: "I have two young men, who are both very good students. One is called R. Johanan and the other R. Hanina."

R. Judah returned home and told his daughter that the other rabbi had two fine young men in his yeshibah, both good scholars, one called R. Johanan and the other R. Hanina, and that R. Hanina was a young man of unique merit.

The daughter said: "Tell me, father, is he a good or a bad man?"

The father replied: "No man knows that before his death."

Then the daughter said: "I will take Hanina."

The next day R. Judah went to the other rabbi and waited until the other pupils had returned home. Then he asked R. Hanina to wait, as he wanted to speak to him.

Then the pious man said to R. Hanina: "Do you want to get married?"

Hanina replied : "No, for I have not studied enough."

Then R. Judah said to him: "You must marry my daughter."

R. Hanina replied: "No, my dear rabbi, I am not worthy to marry your daughter."

But R. Judah insisted that he must marry her.

Then R. Hanina said: "If you insist, then I wish to make her a present and betroth her to me, but I will not marry her until I have studied more. When I, God willing,

come back from my studies, I will go through the marriage ceremony."

R. Judah repeated all this to his daughter, who was very well pleased. Accordingly they made the betrothal and fixed the time of the wedding. The good R. Hanina

departed and the Lord, blessed be He, helped him to meet a rabbi who knew the whole Torah. R. Hanina was about a hundred miles away from Regensburg and they heard nothing of him, for he had gone so far away.

Now R. Judah and the other rabbi saw in a dream that R. Hanina would not be able to come back at the appointed time. The pious man wept day and night and at last he told his daughter.

When she heard it from her father, she wept more bitterly than the father, for she had not wished to marry at all in the first place, but now she found the time too long to wait.

So the father said: "My dear daughter, do not weep. If he does not come on the Sunday before the time fixed for the wedding, I will get you another husband."

In short, the day came and the bridegroom did not appear. So they betrothed her to another. But he was not worthy to go with her under the wedding canopy. Therefore she wept day and night and prayed to God that He might bring back her bridegroom, R. Hanina.

R. Hanina remained ten years with his teacher and became as great a scholar as the rabbi himself. One day they had a discussion about a certain word and R. Hanina found therein the name of R. Judah. So he remembered that he was to have married his daughter and, looking up the date fixed for the marriage, he found that the following Sunday was the day he was expected to return. Having counted the number of miles, he found he was more than a hundred miles away from Regensburg. So R. Hanina went to his rabbi, who was a prophet, and told him the story.

The latter said to him: "If you do not arrive at the time fixed, your bride will wed another man and the children will be bastards (God forbid!) and it will all be your

fault."

R. Hanina wept bitterly and said: "My dear Rabbi, advise me what to do."

The rabbi said: "I will tell you what to do, I will send along with you my best pupils; start tomorrow morning at daybreak and it may be that the Lord, blessed be He, will help you to reach home in time."

So he took fifty fine young men with him, received a parting blessing from his teacher and departed with his young men in peace on a Friday morning. They journeyed until they reached a high mountain. R. Hanina rested a while at the foot of the mountain, while his companions went up. When they reached the top of the mountain, they felt very tired, lay down and fell asleep, while R. Hanina was lying asleep below. Towards evening one of them woke up and, awakening the others, called to R. Hanina, but there was no reply and they did not know what had become of him. Then they said: "Let us go on. It may be that we shall arrive in time and we will then join in the wedding festivities."

Accordingly they went on.

After an hour had passed, R. Hanina woke up and, going up to the mountain, called for his companions, but they were not there. So he sat down and wept bitterly. He lifted up his hands over his head and prayed to God for help. Then he went on and thought that perhaps God would help him to reach Regensburg in time. Then he

considered that it would be better to put up at an inn rather than break the Sabbath. But he saw before him a huge forest and he thought: "In this forest there surely are many robbers who would kill me, but it is better to lose my life than break the Sabbath." So he went on.

When he left the forest, it was three o'clock in the afternoon. And as it was winter time, it was near the time of the beginning of the Sabbath. So he thought, "It will soon be Sabbath, therefore I will lie down under a tree and rest here."

Suddenly looking round, he saw a beautiful house in front of him. He thought: "There are surely robbers in this house, who will put me to death, still it is better that I lose my life than that I should break the Sabbath."

And he decided to stay in the house for the Sabbath. As he opened the door and went in, he saw that there were four rooms, one on each side. He opened the room looking toward the east and saw a beautiful bedstead therein, and into that room opened three more rooms, one more beautiful than the other. Going into another room, he found there also beautiful beds. The bedspreads were of silk, the frame of the bed of pure silver, and the posterns also of silver. In the innermost chamber an old man was sitting on a beautiful chair, holding the scroll of the Law in his hands. Facing him there was another chair, on which R. Hanina sat down, saying: "It is better that I remain here and listen to words of learning rather than break the Sabbath."

The old man had a long beard which almost touched the ground.

As the Sabbath approached, an attendant came in and said: "Is it time to call the people to synagogue and to kindle the lights?"

The old man replied: "As you think fit."

After a while, the man came and brought some water and washed his head in honor of the Sabbath, and did likewise to R. Hanina. R. Hanina thought: "The water is very fine, it smells of spices."

After he had washed them, the attendant went away. After a while, he came back and summoned the people for service. Seven men came in, the servant made the eighth, the old man and R. Hanina completed the ten. The old man rose up and said his prayers. The attendant took R. Hanina and led him after the old man. All the others knew where to go. When they came to the synagogue, he saw that it was all inlaid with precious stones and everything was beautifully and tastefully arranged. The attendant took R. Hanina and placed him next to the old man. When, the old man rose up and recited the prayers, R. Hanina thought that he had never in his life heard a

more beautiful voice; it was finer than the sound of the organ and the fife. He said the evening prayer just as we do it. When they finished prayer, R. Hanina looked round to see whether there was an organ or pipes or a choir of singers in the synagogue, but he saw nothing. The reader sang alone, the others kept quiet. Suddenly he heard a voice saying: "O Lord, it is known before Thee that I am desirous of doing Thy will, but the evil inclination prevents me. O Lord, may Thy loving-kindness warm up toward me so that I may be able to fear Thee."

Then R. Hanina heard another voice saying: "Do not grieve, for you will happily be in Regensburg on Sunday in good time."

When they had finished prayers, the old man took his seat again at the table, R. Hanina did likewise, and they studied awhile, while the others went up to heaven. The attendant put on the table beautiful vessels of silver and gold. Then he brought wine which had the aroma of spices taken from paradise. It was the precious wine known as the wine of Capri.

When he had laid the table, the attendant said to the old man, "Come and wash your hands."

And the old man washed his hands. R. Hanina did likewise and sat down at the table. Then the attendant brought all kinds of delicious food, such as no man had ever seen or heard of before. After each course he brought a new kind of wine better than the previous. After R. Hanina had eaten and drunk, he thought of his bride but he kept quiet and was thankful for all that had happened to him, for it was assuredly much better than lying in the field. After they had finished their meal, the attendant took R. Hanina to his bedroom, in which there was a carbuncle which illuminated the room the whole night as f it were bright day. Then R. Hanina lay down upon a bed standing on four golden wheels. The pillows were studded with pearls, the sheets were of pure silk.

In the morning, R. Hanina rose up and again listened to the old man as he was studying, until the attendant called them to the synagogue.

When they came to the synagogue, the reader rose up and began to pray. The previous night I here were eight visitors, now there were sixteen, and they joined the reader in the services. Altogether there were twenty-two voices, which rose up to heaven. Then they took the scroll from the Ark and read the portion of the week. For the portion of Cohen they called up Aaron, the Priest, for the portion of Levi they called Moses our teacher, and then all the others, including R. Hanina. When they had finished the prayers, Aaron as well as the old man discoursed on the portion of the Torah. R. Hanina said nothing. Afterwards, the attendant called them to dinner and they had a very good meal. After the meal they went again to the synagogue and read the afternoon service. Then they ate the third meal, as prescribed, and discoursed on the Torah until the time came for evening service. The old man rose up and read the prayers. When he had finished, he gave R. Hanina the greeting of peace, to which

R. Hanina responded, and then they read the habdalah. After habdalah they all suddenly disappeared except the attendant. He was about to leave also, when R. Hanina ran after him, caught hold of his mantle, and said to him: "Tell me, who were those men whom I have seen and who are you?"

The man replied: "I am the Prophet Elijah, the reader who recited the prayers was our master Moses, and the others were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Aaron the Priest, while the old man was the Prophet Jeremiah."

R. Hanina was very much frightened and let the attendant go. But the old man called R. Hanina again and said to him: "Come, let us study some more Torah." R. Hanina complied, and the old man taught him the whole of the Torah. He taught him also all the seventy languages. When R. Hanina had mastered all his studies, the old man said to him: "Come, let us have some food together."

After they had eaten, R. Hanina complained to the old man, telling him of the plight he was in and said to him: "Dear master, tell me what to do."

The old man said, "I know full well that unless you get there tomorrow your bride will be wedded to another man, therefore I will tell you what to do. Rise up early tomorrow morning, go up the mountain on the left, until you come to a wood. There you will find the fifty students whom you have lost and who will greatly rejoice at your coming. Then a cloud will descend at your feet. Step on it, together with your fifty friends, and the cloud will rise in the air and bring you in a little while to Regensburg."

So R. Hanina laid himself down to sleep, and when the morning dawned, he rose up, received a parting blessing from the old man and went on his way, following the directions which the old man had given him. When he came to the forest, he found his young friends, who rejoiced mightily at his return, greeted him and received his greeting in return. After they had walked a short distance, a cloud descended from heaven and placed itself at their feet. They all mounted it together and were carried very quickly to Regensburg.

R. Judah was just then going out to perform his natural functions – the privies were in those days out in the fields – when he saw a cloud approaching with many people on it. He sent at once for the other pious man to come out and see the cloud. The latter came out and saw the wonderful sight, and they both watched it until the cloud had descended on a high mountain near the city of Regensburg. The two pious men ran up to the mountain to see what kind of people were in the cloud. As R. Hanina came out of the cloud with his young friends, R. Judah recognized his son-in-law, fell weeping upon his neck and kissed him and bade him welcome. The other rabbi did likewise and R. Hanina returned their greetings. When they asked him what he had learned, seeing that he had been away so long, the young students replied: "He knows the whole of the Torah as well as the seventy languages, and moreover he is a prophet."

Thereupon R. Judah, the Pious, fell down at his feet and kissed him, and when he rose up, he sent for his daughter to come and meet her bridegroom, R. Hanina, who had returned with great splendor. The daughter quickly went up to the mountain and fell down before R. Hanina and kissed his feet, and wept for joy. Then R. Judah took him into the town and performed the marriage ceremony. They celebrated the wedding feast on the mountain, eating and drinking seven whole days.

All arrangements had already been made for the daughter to marry another man, if R. Hanina had not arrived that day. Many people came and studied with R. Hanina. May the Lord grant us the benefit of their merit at all times. Amen. Selah.