Musar for Bava Metzia 170:15

הוה קא מצטער רבי למסמכיה ולא הוה מסתייעא מילתא א"ל לא לצטער מר לדידי חזי לי סיפרא דאדם הראשון וכתיב ביה שמואל ירחינאה

Elijah used to frequent Rabbi's academy. One day — it was New Moon — he was waiting for him, but he failed to come. Said he to him [the next day]: 'Why didst thou delay?' — He replied: '[I had to wait] until I awoke Abraham, washed his hands, and he prayed and I put him to rest again; likewise to Isaac and Jacob.' 'But why not awake them together?' — 'I feared that they would wax strong in prayer<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If they prayed simultaneously. ');">¹⁶</span> and bring the Messiah before his time.' 'And is their like to be found in this world?' he asked. — 'There is R. Hiyya and his sons', he replied. Thereupon Rabbi proclaimed a fast, and R. Hiyya and his sons were bidden to descend [to the reading desk].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the synagogue of Talmudic times the reading-desk was on a lower level than the rest of the building. On fast days, according to the Midrash Tanhuma on [H], three men led the congregation in prayer, instead of one, as usual. ');">¹⁷</span> As he [R. Hiyya] exclaimed, 'He causeth the wind to blow', a wind blew; he proceeded, 'he causeth the rain to descend', whereat the rain descended. When he was about to say, 'He quickeneth the dead',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. P. B. p. 44. ');">¹⁸</span> the universe trembled, [and] in Heaven it was asked, 'Who hath revealed our secret to the world?'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That R. Hiyya's prayers are so efficacious. ');">¹⁹</span> 'Elijah', they replied. Elijah was therefore brought and smitten with sixty flaming lashes; so he went, disguised himself as a fiery bear, entered amongst and scattered them. Samuel Yarhina'ah<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H], the Lunar Expert or Astronomer. The word is an epithet of Samuel, the Babylonian amora, on account of his great astronomical skill, v. R.H. 20b. ');">²⁰</span> was Rabbi's physician. Now, Rabbi having contracted an eye disease, Samuel offered to bathe it with a lotion, but he said, 'I cannot bear it.' 'Then I will apply an ointment to it,' he said. 'This too I cannot bear,' he objected. So he placed a phial of chemicals under his pillow, and he was healed.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The vapour being sufficiently powerful to penetrate to the eye, though not applied directly. ');">²¹</span> Rabbi was most anxious<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'grieved'. ');">²²</span> to ordain him, but the opportunity was lacking.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Possibly he could not assemble the Ordination Board. ');">²³</span> Let it not grieve thee, he said; I have seen the Book of Adam,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Cf. Gen. V, 1. This is not to be confused with the Apocryphal Book of Adam known in many versions (v. J. E. I, 179f), but a book which God showed to Adam containing the genealogy of the whole human race, and which is the Jewish form of the view prevalent among Babylonians (v. Ginszberg, Legends, VI, p. 82), though this does not mean to imply that there was no Jewish version of the Book of Adam current in the days of Rabbi. Funk, Monumenta, I, p. 324, however, on the basis of Babylonian parallels, where the stars are described as the 'writing of Heaven', renders the statement of Rabbi simply to mean, 'I have seen it written in the stars'.] ');">²⁴</span> in which is written, 'Samuel Yarhina'ah

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