Midrash su Amos 8:9

When Rabba b. R. Huna and R. Hamnuna died [in Babylon] their bodies were carried to Palestine. (Ib. b) At the arrival of a narrow bridge [where two could not pass at once] both camels that were carrying the coffins remained standing. An Ishmaelitic merchant, who was present, happened to see this and in surprise asked the reason for the camels' stopping. He was told that each of the deceased Rabbis wished to give the other the right of way. "If I were to give my view of the matter," the Arab said, "I should decide in favor of the one who is himself great and the son of a great man." The Arab had hardly concluded his remarks when the camel bearing Rabba b. R. Huna passed over the bridge. At that instant the molars and the front teeth of the Arab fell out. A young disciple declaimed the following eulogy. "A learned scion of an ancient race Upward to Sacred Palestina draws, And bears unto illimitable space The code of battles, the great Book of Laws. The cormorant and hedgehog nightly gloat Upon destruction spreading far and wide; For God His wrath upon the earth has hurled, And from our midst recall our pious learned. The omnipotent delights when from the sinful world An innocent bright soul has Home returned." When R. Abina died, the funeral orator held the following oration: "Bend, ye majestic palms, in grief sincere. O'er one who, like a palm had flourished here; Nor cease your mourning when the moon's soft ray Change to shadowy night the brilliant day. For noon's broad glare had oft to midnight waned, Ere slumber o'er his studious eyelids reigned." R. Ashi said to Bar Kipuk [the funeral orator]: "What oration will you make on the day of my death?" And he answered him the following: "How can the lowly hyssop still survive, When with devouring flames the cedars strive? When Leviathan be the angler's prey, What have the fishes of the pond to say? If in deep torrents dry the fisher's hook, How fares it with the waters of the brook?" Ba'r Abin said to him: "God forbid that net and flame be used in orations over the "Weep for the losers but not for the lost (deceased), for he passed into rest but we into grief." R. Ashi felt discouraged over their expression, and the result was that the orator's feet turned upward so that when R. Ashi died, neither one of the orators was able to come and hold orations. And this is what Rabbi Ashi meant when he said: "Neither bar Abin nor bar Kipuk would be bound to perform the ceremony of Chalitza." When Raba came to the river Tigris, he said to bar Abin: "Pronounce an [appropriate] prayer," and the latter began: "The major part of Israel went through water; remember the covenant and have mercy. We went astray from Thee as a woman goeth astray from her husband; do not cast us off, for it may have the same meaning as that of the bitter-water." R. Chanin, the son-in-law of the Exilarch, had been childless for a long time; he prayed and was answered. On the day of the circumcision, the father died. The funeral orator on this occasion declaimed the following eulogy: "Parental joy was changed to hopeless pain; Where bliss had entered, grief was doomed to reign; For in the moment of his hope fulfilled, The joyful beating of that heart was stilled." The child was named Chanin, after his father. When R. Pedath died, R. Isaac b. Elazar began the eulogy as follows: "This day is as grievous to Israel as the day in which the sun would set at noon; for it is written (Amos 8, 9) And it shall come to pass in that day that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, upon which R. Jochanan said that it refers to the death of the king Josiah." When R. Jochanan died, R. Ami observed the seven days (of mourning). Whereupon R. Aba the son of R. Chiya b. Abba said: "R. Ami did so on his own authority, and it has no precedent; for so said my father in the name of R. Jochanan: 'Even over a teacher of whom one has acquired the greater part of his wisdom, one need not sit in mourning more than one day.' " When R. Zera departed, the funeral orator delivered the following eulogy: "In Babylon this noble sage was born; In Palestine he was adorned and cherished, 'Woe unto me,' doth Redeth sadly mourn, 'For my most precious jewel now has perished.' " When R. Abahu died, the pillars of Kisri shed tears; when R. Jose died, the gutters of Sepphoris were overrun with blood;' when R. Jacob b. Acah died, the stars were seen in the daytime; when R. Assi died, all the trees were rooted up; when R. Samuel b. Isaac and also when R. Chiya died, stones of fire fell from heaven; when R. M'nachem b. R. Simai, all the images became obliterated and as smooth as if passed upon with a roller; when R. Tanchum b. Chiya of the village Aku died, all the impressions upon the images were effaced; when R. Isaac b. Eliashib, seventy burglaries were committed in Taberia; when R. Hamnuna, hailstones fell from heaven; when Rabba and R. Joseph died, the bridge-arches of the Euphrates collapsed; when Abayi and Rabba, the bridge-arches of Tigris collapsed;' when R. Mesharshia died, the trees brought forth thorns [instead of fruit].