Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa was a great Sage and tzadik who lived during the time of the Holy Temple. Rabbi Chanina lived a life of poverty, but even though he was poor, he wanted to donate a gift to the Holy Temple. What could he give, when he could barely feed his own family? One day Rabbi Chanina was standing by the roadside watching the other Jews bringing their sacrifices to the Temple. He began walking down the road, meditating on his dilemma. Sudden-ly he noticed, standing by the road, a huge boulder of an unusually beautiful shape and color. That gave him an idea. "Why, I could work this stone and polish it until it is a truly beautiful object. Then it will be a fitting gift for the Holy Temple."
He worked on the stone and when his job was completed, he looked around for porters to carry it to Jerusalem. But no one would carry it for the five small coins, which were the only money he possessed. Suddenly five men appeared from nowhere and immediately agreed to bring his stone to Jerusalem for the tiny sum of five coins.
In moments Rabbi Chanina stood in Jerusalem with his stone-- the porters had disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. A miracle had occurred to enable the tzadik to make his gift to the Holy Temple. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa donated his five coins to the fund for poor scholars and returned home a happy and fulfilled man.
