Commentary for Taanit 41:4
אמר ליה רבי יוחנן איהדר ואוקי בנפשאי (דברים טו, יא) כי לא יחדל אביון מקרב הארץ ר' יוחנן הדר אילפא לא הדר עד דאתא אילפא מליך רבי יוחנן
Thereupon R'Johanan went back but Ilfa did not. When [at last] Ilfa returned, R'Johanan was already presiding over the school, and the scholars said to him: Had you remained here and studied the Torah you might have been presiding.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Tosaf.: 'Had you returned . . he (R. Johanan) would not have been presiding.]');"><sup>5</sup></span> Ilfa then suspended himself from the mast of a ship and exclaimed, If there is any one who will ask me a question from the Baraithas of R'Hiyya and R'Hoshaiah and I fail to elucidate it from the Mishnah then I will throw myself down and be drowned [in the sea].
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