ABSTRACT

The above-mentioned sources give examples of Babylonian rabbinic aloofness from and Palestinian rabbinic involvement with non-rabbis.3 Y.Taanit 1:4 (64b), for instance, contains several stories which portray non-rabbis praying effectively for rain and rabbis informing them that their prayers were answered on account of their good deeds.4 One story portrays a donkey driver praying and receiving a favorable response. The rabbis summon him for questioning, whereupon he describes his righteous action and the rabbis pronounce him “worthy of praying and being answered.”