Rabbi Akiva, Rachel and the Straw

During this year, the newlywed couple lived in abject poverty. They didn’t have sheets or pillows; they rested their heads directly on straw. In the morning, Rebbe Akiva would remove the straw from his wife’s hair (Ran). His wife would sell her hair and earn a meager income (Yerushalmi). According to the Maharsha, she would remove the straw from his hair. Rebbe Akiva said that as a gesture of thanks for helping him look his best, he would buy her a beautiful crown with the Yerushalayim skyline when he could afford it. The Ran says he fulfilled this promise many years later, and that very crown was mentioned in a discussion regarding the laws of wearing jewelry on Shabbos.

One day, a man called upon Rebbe Akiva and his wife. He requested some straw because his wife had recently given birth and had nothing to lie down on. Rebbe Akiva then remarked to his wife, “Look, there are people who have even less than us.” The Gemara states that the father of the newborn was none other than Eliyahu HaNavi. The Ran explains that Eliyahu HaNavi wanted to comfort them in their sorry state of poverty.