Schemuel I 3:14 Talmud-Verweise: Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin & Jerusalem Talmud Rosh Hashanah

¹⁵⁴This paragraph is inserted only because R. Cahana, a very minor figure, was mentioned before and there was a story known about him. In the Babli, Berakhot27a, it is told that R. Jeremiah bar Abba was praying behind Rav, and that Rav remained immovable until R. Jeremiah had finished praying, from which it is inferred that one may not walk by a person standing in silent prayer. Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba was standing praying. Rav¹⁵⁵The person here must be Rebbi Cahana, as correctly identified in Roš Haššanah, not one of the Rav Cahanas mentioned in the Babli, one of which was a student (and possibly stepson) of Rav, one generation before R. Ḥiyya bar Abba, and the other a contemporary of Rav Ashi, five generations later. Nevertheless, this Rebbi Cahana is characterized as a Babylonian, first by his use of the prefix ק for the present participle and also because only Babylonian families of priests trace their family back to the priest Eli of Shiloh, whose male descendants are cursed to die young. Cahana came and stood behind him in prayer. When Rebbi Ḥiyya had finished, he sat down in order not to walk by him. Rav Cahana spent a long time praying. After he finished, he told him, is that your way to make your teacher suffer? He told him, I am a descendant of the House of Eli, of whom it is written¹⁵⁶1S. 3:14.: if the sin of the House of Eli would be atoned for by sacrifice and offering. By sacrifice and offering it cannot be atoned for, but it can be atoned for by prayer¹⁵⁷In the Babli, Roš Haššanah 18a, the verse is applied to the family of Rabba bar Nahmani, who could prolong life by Torah study and charity work.. He prayed for him, he reached old age while his fingernails remained red like those of a small child¹⁵⁸Translation of the text of ר, דקקה, rather than the text here, רקקה “exceedingly thin”..

Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba was standing praying. Rebbi Cahana came and stood behind him in prayer. When Rebbi Ḥiyya had finished, he sat down in order not to walk by him. [Rav Cahana spent a long time praying.]¹⁰⁰In this paragraph, the corrector’s additions are from Sanhedrin. After he finished, he told him, is that your way to make your superiors suffer? He told him, I am a descendant of the House of Eli, of whom it is written¹⁰¹1S. 3:14. Babli 18a.: if the sin of the House of Eli would forever be atoned for by sacrifice and offering. By sacrifice and offering it cannot be atoned for, [but] it can be atoned for by prayer. He prayed for him, he reached old age while his fingernails remained red like those of a small child.