Moed Katan 16B

אף דברי תורה בסתר.

so too, the words of Torah, which are “the work of the hands of an artist,” i.e., God, must remain hidden in the study hall.

יצא רבי חייא ושנה לשני בני אחיו בשוק, לרב ולרבה בר (בר) חנה. שמע רבי, איקפד. אתא רבי חייא לאיתחזויי ליה, אמר ליה: עייא, מי קורא לך בחוץ! ידע דנקט מילתא בדעתיה, נהג נזיפותא בנפשיה תלתין יומין.

Despite R' Yehuda HaNasi’s decree, R' Ḥiyya went out and taught his two nephews, Rav and Rabba bar bar Ḥana, in the marketplace. R' Yehuda HaNasi heard what he had done and became angry with him. When R' Ḥiyya came at some later date to visit him, R' Yehuda HaNasi mockingly said to him: Iyya, who is calling you outside? By asking this question R' Yehuda HaNasi was intimating that R' Ḥiyya should leave his house. R' Ḥiyya understood that R' Yehuda HaNasi had taken the matter to heart and was insulted, and so he conducted himself as if he had been admonished, as a self-imposed punishment, for 30 days.

ביום תלתין שלח ליה: תא. הדר שלח ליה דלא ליתי.

On the 30th day, R' Yehuda HaNasi sent him a message, saying: Come and visit me. However, he later reversed his opinion and sent him another message, telling him not to come.

מעיקרא מאי סבר ולבסוף מאי סבר? מעיקרא סבר: מקצת היום ככולו. ולבסוף סבר: לא אמרינן מקצת היום ככולו.

The Talmud asks: At the outset what did he hold, and ultimately what did he hold? Initially, R' Yehuda HaNasi held that the legal status of part of the day is like that of an entire day, and since the 30th day already begun, R' Ḥiyya’s time of admonition had ended. But ultimately he held that with regard to this issue we do not say that the legal status of part of the day is like that of an entire day.

לסוף אתא. אמר ליה: אמאי אתית? אמר ליה: דשלח לי מר דליתי. והא שלחי לך דלא תיתי! אמר ליה: זה ראיתי, וזה לא ראיתי. קרי עליה: ״ברצות ה׳ דרכי איש גם אויביו ישלים אתו״.

In the end R' Ḥiyya came on that same day. R' Yehuda HaNasi asked him: Why have you come? R' Ḥiyya responded: Because you, Master, sent me a message that I should come. He said to him: But I sent you a second message that you should not come. He responded: This messenger that you sent, i.e., the first one, I saw him and I did as He said: but that messenger, i.e., the second one, I did not see. R' Yehuda HaNasi read the verse about R' Ḥiyya: “When a man’s ways please YHWH, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7), as it was clear to him that R' Ḥiyya had merited divine assistance.