The pupils of R. Johanan, son of Zakkai, asked their teacher: "Friend Johanan, tell us, how did you come to live so long?"

They meant to say: "What meritorious deeds have obtained for you long life?"

He replied: "I took care not to defile the neighborhood of the place of prayer, never called a man by his nickname, and have never omitted to sanctify the Sabbath over a cup of wine (kiddush). I had an old mother, and .one day when I had no wine for the kiddush, she sold the veil from her head and bought wine and gave it to me so that I was able to say the kiddush."

We read in the Gemara that when his mother died, she left him four hundred ankers of wine; and when he died, he left three thousand vats.