Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Yosei: For the sake of fastidious people, He blessed it with delicacies.26Though such people are very fussy eaters, God blessed Shabbat that all its food should be delicious. Our master [Rabbi] once prepared a feast for Antoninus27A Roman governor who was friendly with him. on Shabbat. He brought before him some cold cooked dishes. He ate them and enjoyed them.
He [Rabbi] prepared another feast for him on a weekday. He brought before him some hot cooked dishes. He said to him: ‘Those [from Shabbat] pleased me more than these.’28Even though the Shabbat dishes were served cold. He said to him: ‘They [the weekday foods] are missing a certain spice.’
He said to him: ‘Is it possible that the pantry of the king is lacking anything?’29Tell me which spice you lack, and I can bring you some from the royal pantry. He said: ‘They are lacking Shabbat. Do you have Shabbat?’ Rabbi Yishmael ben Rabbi Yosei asked Rabbi, he said to him: ‘The [Jewish] residents of Babylon, by what merit do they live?’
He said to him: ‘It is by the merit of the Torah [which they study diligently].’ ‘And the residents of the Land of Israel, by what merit [do they live]?’ He said to him: ‘It is by the merit of tithes [which they separate from their produce].’ ‘And the residents outside of the Land of Israel, by what merit [do they live]?’ ‘It is by the merit of the fact that they honor Shabbatot and the festivals.’
Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: One time a certain person in Laodicea invited me and brought before us a round tabletop borne on sixteen poles, and on it was every type of food that was created during the six days of Creation. There was a certain child sitting in the middle of the tabletop and proclaiming and saying: “The earth and all that it holds are the Lord’s, the world and all its inhabitants” (Psalms 24:1).
And why did he go to such lengths?30Why was the child placed there in order to proclaim this? It was so the host should not become haughty [from all his wealth]. I said to him [the host]: ‘Son, from where did you merit all this honor?’ He said to me: ‘I used to be a butcher, and every time I saw a fine animal over the week days, I would set it aside for Shabbat.’
I said to him: ‘It is not for naught that you merited [all this].’ Rabbi Tanḥuma said: There was an incident in Rome on the day before the great fast [Yom Kippur]. There was a certain tailor there and he went [to the market] to purchase a fish. It happened that he and the child [servant] of the governor were vying for it.
This one would offer a higher price and the other one would offer a still higher price, until it reached twelve dinars, and the tailor purchased it. At dinnertime, the governor said to the child: ‘Why did you not bring me a fish?’ He said to him: ‘My master, I will not conceal it from you, I went [to the market] and there was only one fish there and it happened that I and a certain Jew were vying for it.
He offered a higher price and I offered a higher price until it reached twelve dinars. Would you have wanted me to bring you a fish for twelve dinars?’ he asked rhetorically. He said to him: ‘Who is it [who bought the fish]?’ He said to him: ‘A man named such-and-such.’
He sent for him and he came before him. He said to him: ‘What did you see, Jewish tailor, that led you to eat a fish that cost twelve dinars?’ He said to him: ‘My master, we have one day [each year] that atones for us for all the sins we have performed all the days of the year. When it arrives, should we not accord it honor?’
He said to him: ‘Because you adduced a justification for your position, you are exempt [from punishment].’ How did the Holy One blessed be He reward him? He went and cut it open and He brought it about for him that there was a fine gem inside it, and he supported himself from it all his days.