Matthew 9:20

New Testament

18 As he was saying these things, a leader came, bowed low before him, and said, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live.” 19 Jesus and his disciples got up and followed him. 20 But a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for 12 years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 For she kept saying to herself, “If only I touch his cloak, I will be healed.” 22 But when Jesus turned and saw her he said, “Have courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed from that hour. 23 When Jesus entered the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd, 24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but asleep!” And they began making fun of him.

Taanit 23b

Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic

§ The Gemara relates another story about a descendant of Ḥoni HaMe’aggel. Ḥanan HaNeḥba was the son of Ḥoni HaMe’aggel’s daughter. When the world was in need of rain, the Sages would send schoolchildren to him, and they would grab him by the hem of his cloak and say to him: Father, Father, give us rain. He said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, act on behalf of these children, who cannot distinguish between their Father in Heaven, Who can provide rain, and the father who cannot provide rain. The Gemara asks: And why was he called Ḥanan HaNeḥba? Because he would hide [maḥbi] himself in the lavatory so that people would not bestow honor upon him.

 Notes and References

"... The New Testament makes it clear that Jesus, like all observant Jews of the first century, wore 'tzi-tzi-yot'. These are the tassels that were attached to the four comers of one's robe as commanded in Numbers 15:37-41 and Deuteronomy 22:12. Jesus' observance of this commandment is dramatically illustrated by the story, found in Matthew 9, Mark 5 and Luke 8, of the woman who suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years. She was healed when she came up behind Jesus and touched what the King James Version of the Bible refers to as "hem of his garment" ... It seems there were some who, in an attempt to observe this commandment more fully, wore very long tzi-tzi-yot. Shmuel Safrai has noted the wealthy Jerusalem resident mentioned in the Talmud ... he was remembered with admiration as being so devout that his tzi-tzi-yot literally trailed behind him on the ground ..."

Biven, David The Hem of His Garment (pp. 1-4) Jerusalem Perspective Vol. 1, No. 7, 1988

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