Study Chullin folio 60A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
I wish to see Him. R' Yehoshua went and stood the emperor facing the sun in the season of Tammuz, i.e., summer. R' Yehoshua said to him: Look at it. The emperor said to him: I cannot. R' Yehoshua said to him: Now, if with regard to the sun, which is only one of the servants that stand before Go
§ The Talmud recounts: The Roman emperor said to R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya: I desire to arrange bread, i.e., a meal, for your God. R' Yehoshua said to him: You cannot. The emperor asked him: Why? R' Yehoshua said to him: His hosts are too great. The emperor said to him: Truly, I wish to do it. R
The emperor worked to arrange another meal all the 6 months of winter. Rain came and sank it all in the sea. The emperor said to R' Yehoshua: What is this? R' Yehoshua said to him: These are only the sweepers and floor washers that wait on Him, and they alone have eaten everything. The emperor sa
§ The Talmud recounts: The daughter of the Roman emperor said to R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya: Your God is a carpenter, as it is written: “Who lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters” (Psalms 104:3). Tell Him to make for me a distaff, a simple tool used in spinning. R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya sa
One day R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya was passing there, and he saw that she was sitting and untangling bunches of wool in the Roman market. R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya said to her: Is the distaff my God gave you pleasing? She said to him: Tell your God to take back what He has given me. R' Yehoshua ben Ḥa