Taanit 21A

משום דנפישי בני חילא דמחוזא.

due to the fact that there are many soldiers in the city of Meḥoza, and if I let them all eat, they will take all the food I own.

אילפא ורבי יוחנן הוו גרסי באורייתא, דחיקא להו מילתא טובא, אמרי: ניקום וניזיל וניעבד עיסקא ונקיים בנפשין ״אפס כי לא יהיה בך אביון״. אזלו, אותיבו תותי גודא רעיעא, הוו קא כרכי ריפתא, אתו תרי מלאכי השרת.

§ The Talmud relates another story that involves an unstable wall. Ilfa and R' Yoḥanan studied Torah together, and as a result they became very hard-pressed for money. They said: Let us get up and go and engage in commerce, and we will fulfill, with regard to ourselves, the verse: “Although there should be no needy among you” (Deuteronomy 15:4), as we will no longer be complete paupers. They went and sat under a dilapidated wall and were eating bread, when two ministering angels arrived.

שמעיה רבי יוחנן דאמר חד לחבריה: נישדי עלייהו האי גודא ונקטלינהו, שמניחין חיי עולם הבא ועוסקין בחיי שעה! אמר ליה אידך: שבקינהו, דאיכא בהו חד דקיימא ליה שעתא. רבי יוחנן שמע, אילפא לא שמע. אמר ליה רבי יוחנן לאילפא: שמע מר מידי? אמר ליה: לא. אמר מדשמעי אנא ואילפא לא שמע, שמע מינה לדידי קיימא לי שעתא.

R' Yoḥanan heard that one angel said to the other: Let us knock this wall down upon them and kill them, as they abandon eternal life of Torah study and engage in temporal life for their own sustenance. The other angel said to him: Leave them, as there is one of them whose time of achievement stands before him, i.e., his time has yet to come. R' Yoḥanan heard all this, but Ilfa did not hear the angels’ conversation. R' Yoḥanan said to Ilfa: Did the Master hear anything? Ilfa said to him: No. R' Yoḥanan said to himself: Since I heard the angels and Ilfa did not hear, I can learn from this that it is I whose time of achievement stands before me.

אמר ליה רבי יוחנן: איהדר, ואוקי בנפשאי ״כי לא יחדל אביון מקרב הארץ״. רבי יוחנן הדר, אילפא לא הדר. עד דאתא אילפא, מליך רבי יוחנן.

R' Yoḥanan said to Ilfa: I will return home and fulfill with regard to myself the contrary verse: “For the poor should never cease out of the land” (Deuteronomy 15:11). R' Yoḥanan returned to the study hall, and Ilfa did not return, but went to engage in business instead. By the time that Ilfa came back from his business travels, R' Yoḥanan had been appointed head of the academy, and his financial situation had improved.