Having half an hour to spare today in Tzfat (Safed), I went to investigate the grave of Rabbi Nachum Ish Gamzu which, oddly enough, is located on Gamzu Street! The ancient grave is housed inside a more recent structure which both protects the grave and serves as a prayer room.
Rabbi Nachum Ish Gamzu (ר' נחום איש גמזו) was a Tanna (the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah) of the 2nd generation (1st century CE), the teacher of Rabbi Akiva. Although only one halakah of his has been preserved, it is known that he interpreted the whole Torah according to the principles of inclusion and exclusion (ribbui u-mi'uṭ), which he taught Rabbi Akiva.
Rabbi Nachum used to explain the accusative particle et (את) by saying that it implied the inclusion in the object of something besides that which is explicitly mentioned. However, in the sentence "You shall fear [et] the Lord your God", he did not explain the particle et before "the Lord," since he did not wish to cause any one else to share in the reverence due to God; he justified his inconsistency with the explanation that the omission in this passage was as virtuous as was his resort to interpretation in all the other passages.
In later years Rabbi Nachum's hands and feet became paralyzed, and he was afflicted with other bodily ailments. He bore his troubles patiently, however, and even rejoiced over them. In answer to a question of his pupils as to why, since he was such a perfectly just man, he had to endure so many ills, he declared that he had brought them on himself because once when he was on the way to his father-in-law's and was carrying many things to eat and drink, he met a poor man who asked him for food. As he was about to open the bundle the man died before his eyes. In deepest grief, and reproaching himself with having perhaps caused by his delay the man's death, he cursed himself and wished himself all the troubles to which his pupils referred. Various other stories are told of miracles that happened to him.
Nachum Ish Gamzu's name is described in the Talmud as having grown colloquially from his tendency to react to misfortune with unyielding optimism, in each case uttering the phrase that became famously attached to him: gam zu le-tovah, meaning, "this, too, is for the best." The two words gam zu (גמ זו), meaning "this too" were combined into the single-word nickname Gamzu (גמזו), with Ish Gamzu then meaning "The Gamzu Man."
The Talmud tells how Rabbi Nachum was once sent to Rome to try to persuade the Emperor to treat the Jews more kindly. He took with him a precious box, filled with gold and diamonds, as a gift for the Emperor. On the way he stopped at an inn, where he stayed for the night. On the following morning he continued his journey, not knowing that the innkeeper had stolen the precious things from the box and filled it with sand and soil.
When Rabbi Nachum finally reached Rome and presented himself to the Emperor, he handed the box to the Emperor. On opening the box, the Emperor was filled with anger to find it contained nothing but sand and soil. Thinking that the Jews wanted to mock him, he had Nachum thrown into prison. However, Nachum was not dismayed and said, as was usual for him, "Gam zu l'tovah" ("this is also for good").
That night the Prophet Elijah appeared to the Emperor in a dream, dressed as one of his advisers, and told him that the Jews would certainly not have dared to mock the Emperor, and suggested that perhaps this was thus surely no ordinary sand and soil. He had heard, the adviser said, that when Abraham, the first Jew, went to battle against Chedarlaomer and his confederate kings, he threw sand and soil at them, which G-d turned into arrows and deadly weapons and in this way Abraham won the battle against the mighty kings. Maybe this sand and soil were of the same kind!
Now the Emperor had been at war for some time, but could not defeat his enemy. So he ordered this sand and soil to be used. Indeed, the miracle happened, and the enemy was defeated!
Nachum was immediately freed from prison and given many gifts and the petition of the Jews was granted.