Guest Contribution by Rabbi Dr. Shalom Gold
More about this episode:
The story of the students of Rebby Akiva though very well known is, I believe, little understood. The “facts” as stated in the Talmud challenge us to believe what certainly seems to be absolutely unbelievable. R. Akiva, one of the greatest scholars in Jewish history is an abject and total failure. All, not some of his students, are “sinners,” every one of the twenty-four thousand has conducted himself in an inappropriate way towards his fellow students.
How could they learn Torah when they all behaved shamefully to one another? Their Rebby had proclaimed and preached that “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a great principle of Torah. Yet none of his students had internalized it. Their conduct is the antithesis of that noble, hallowed and eternal pronouncement. R. Akiva is a failure.
Even stranger is that all of the students commit the same sin over and over again. Not one of them is moved to be more sinfully creative.
Incidentally, where does it say that the punishment for such behavior is death? It takes a further stretch of the imagination to match the “sin” and its retribution.
Equally puzzling is that the gemora tells us the time of year that the students died, and the geographic parameters in which it all happened. Of what significance is this information?
Furthermore, why does the gemora describe them as “twelve thousand pairs of students” and not simply “twenty-four thousand students.”
In view of the traditional understanding of the story looms the big mystery. If they are “sinners” why do we mourn for them? Why does all of Israel year after year refrain from making weddings during the period from Pesach until Shavuot (Orach Chaim, siman 493)? If the students were “sinners” our Rabbis should have let the shameful episode fade away so that it would be forgotten.
There is, I believe, another way to understand the story of the students that would change our perception radically.
There is a gemora in Bava Metzia (62a) that deals with a very serious halachik and moral dilemma. “Two people were travelling along the way and one of them had in his possession a flask of water. If they divide the water and drink they will both die because there is not sufficient water to sustain them both until they arrive at a place where water is available.
Ben Petura ruled that it is better that they should both drink and die than one should witness the death of his companion. Such was the halacha until R. Akiva came and taught the Torah states “vachay achichah imach” (Vayikra 25:36) that your brother may live with you, “chayecha kodmin lehyeh chvercha” your life takes precedence over your companion’s life. The one who has the water should keep it all for himself.
R. Akiva is saying that a person’s first responsibility is to himself. The inherent dignity of a human being is his sense of self-worth. Man has been granted life and it is his responsibility to care for, to preserve and protect his wellbeing. This can all be summed up in one word, כבוד, one must respect himself.
The students had fully internalized R. Akiva’s teaching of “chayecho kodmim, your life is first.” They also understood that there is a situation where that principle is replaced by another, and that is in wartime. An army that goes to battle with everyone thinking, “my life takes precedence” has effectively lost the war before it began. In war when everyone’s life is in grave danger, it no longer applies because everyone is equally at risk for the greater good, which is the life of the Jewish people.
In the case of the two traveling and only one has water, he is not in danger, only his friend is. In war, where all are in the same situation, the question is not about the life of the individual but the survival of a nation. That responsibility falls on all equally because it’s not כבוד– dignity of one person but of all. It calls for all to equally risk their lives.
Historically, the students fall in battle against Rome. They were R. Akiva’s army.
When the gemora says “that they (the students) did not treat each other with respect,” it does not mean that they acted disrespectfully but rather that they did not employ the halachik ruling of their rebby “Your life comes first.” They understood that in wartime a completely different imperative is operating and that is “All Jews are responsible for one another.”
Idan Amari, an Israeli actor said recently:
“When I was around 18 years old I heard that the Nazis put the words ‘every man for himself’ over the heads of those entering the Buchenwald concentration camp. This is the exact opposite of the expression that ‘all Jews are responsible for one another.’”
The students were not “every man for himself” but a willingness that every man is ready to give himself for the Jewish people. They did not conduct themselves according to their Rebbi’s dictum, “Your life comes before your fellow’s life,” because that did not apply. They did not look out for themselves but remained with their partner until they both fell.
They were saintly martyrs who died in defense of their people and that’s why we mourn for them year after year.
R. Akiva was not a failure but the greatest success to the point that his students gave their lives for the Jewish people.
“They died from Gevas until Antiparis” which was the place where they fought and died. “And they all died during one period “that was the last battle.”
The Midrash (Yakut Shimon Mishler) says that “When Rebby Akiva was executed, the Romans put his body in his prison cell… Eliyahu the Prophet came with Rebby Yehoshua Hegari to the prison and the doors were all open and all the guards and prisoners asleep. They went to Rebby Akiva’s cell and took him. Eliyahu carried him and travelled all night until they arrived at Antipiras that is Kuzrin.” This was the same place that his students fell. Eliyahu understood that RebbyAkiva wanted to be with his holy students.
In order to make it clear that they were devoted to one another, the Gemora says that “twelve thousand pairs of students died,” not twenty-four thousand. That number could have been misunderstood to mean that 24,000 separate individuals went out to battle. “Pairs” represents friendship, camaraderie, unity of purpose, study partners, hand in hand.
The story may have been written at a time when Rome still occupied Eretz Yisroel so our Rabbis used their codes to conceal the real meaning.
The cause of death that appears at the conclusion of the story, namely askerah is used elsewhere also to describe an ugly and painful death. Death on the battlefield is not pretty or painless.
On Yom Hazikaron 5780 we mourn for 23,816 soldiers who gave their lives in defense of their people.
Yhi Zichrom Baruch.
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| Yom Hazikaron - 2020 (Israel Hayom) |
In the middle of all the havoc and change going on in the world right now, some things remain constant. Despite all the turmoil, disease, and destruction - some of those constants still deserve to be recognized.
It is in this spirit that I present the words of Rabbi Dr. Shalom Gold, Rav of Kehilot Zichron Yoseph in the Har Nof section of Jerusalem. Rabbi Gold is a Religious Zionist rabbi who is passionate about his (our) country, the State of Israel.
Rabbi Gold has posted here before on a variety of issues related to Israel - viewed through his Religious Zionist lens. Most of which I have heartily agreed with.
Today is Yom HaZikaron, (Israel’s Memorial Day) honoring Israel’s fallen soldiers who died defending the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. What follows is Rabbi Gold’s thoughtful post in the form of an original Dvar Torah relating to this day. Which coincides with the observance of the Aveilus portion of Sefira.
The following is a famous gemora in Masechet Yevamot 62b. An analysis of the text is the subject of this essay.
“They said: R’ Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of disciples extending from Gevas until Antiparis. And they all died during one period because they did not treat each other with respect. And the world was left barren of Torah until R’ Akiva came to our rabbis in the south and taught (the Torah) to them. They were R’ Meir, R’ Yehudah, R’ Yose, R’ Shimon, and R’ Elazar ben Shamua. And it was these later disciples who upheld the study of Torah at that time.”
More about this episode:
“A Tanna stated: All [the twelve thousand pairs of disciples] died between Pesach and Shavuos. Rav Chama bar Abba said, and others say that Rav Chiya bar Avin said: They all died an ugly death. What death was it? Rav Nachman said: Askerah.”
The story of the students of Rebby Akiva though very well known is, I believe, little understood. The “facts” as stated in the Talmud challenge us to believe what certainly seems to be absolutely unbelievable. R. Akiva, one of the greatest scholars in Jewish history is an abject and total failure. All, not some of his students, are “sinners,” every one of the twenty-four thousand has conducted himself in an inappropriate way towards his fellow students.
How could they learn Torah when they all behaved shamefully to one another? Their Rebby had proclaimed and preached that “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a great principle of Torah. Yet none of his students had internalized it. Their conduct is the antithesis of that noble, hallowed and eternal pronouncement. R. Akiva is a failure.
Even stranger is that all of the students commit the same sin over and over again. Not one of them is moved to be more sinfully creative.
Incidentally, where does it say that the punishment for such behavior is death? It takes a further stretch of the imagination to match the “sin” and its retribution.
Equally puzzling is that the gemora tells us the time of year that the students died, and the geographic parameters in which it all happened. Of what significance is this information?
Furthermore, why does the gemora describe them as “twelve thousand pairs of students” and not simply “twenty-four thousand students.”
In view of the traditional understanding of the story looms the big mystery. If they are “sinners” why do we mourn for them? Why does all of Israel year after year refrain from making weddings during the period from Pesach until Shavuot (Orach Chaim, siman 493)? If the students were “sinners” our Rabbis should have let the shameful episode fade away so that it would be forgotten.
There is, I believe, another way to understand the story of the students that would change our perception radically.
There is a gemora in Bava Metzia (62a) that deals with a very serious halachik and moral dilemma. “Two people were travelling along the way and one of them had in his possession a flask of water. If they divide the water and drink they will both die because there is not sufficient water to sustain them both until they arrive at a place where water is available.
Ben Petura ruled that it is better that they should both drink and die than one should witness the death of his companion. Such was the halacha until R. Akiva came and taught the Torah states “vachay achichah imach” (Vayikra 25:36) that your brother may live with you, “chayecha kodmin lehyeh chvercha” your life takes precedence over your companion’s life. The one who has the water should keep it all for himself.
R. Akiva is saying that a person’s first responsibility is to himself. The inherent dignity of a human being is his sense of self-worth. Man has been granted life and it is his responsibility to care for, to preserve and protect his wellbeing. This can all be summed up in one word, כבוד, one must respect himself.
The students had fully internalized R. Akiva’s teaching of “chayecho kodmim, your life is first.” They also understood that there is a situation where that principle is replaced by another, and that is in wartime. An army that goes to battle with everyone thinking, “my life takes precedence” has effectively lost the war before it began. In war when everyone’s life is in grave danger, it no longer applies because everyone is equally at risk for the greater good, which is the life of the Jewish people.
In the case of the two traveling and only one has water, he is not in danger, only his friend is. In war, where all are in the same situation, the question is not about the life of the individual but the survival of a nation. That responsibility falls on all equally because it’s not כבוד– dignity of one person but of all. It calls for all to equally risk their lives.
Historically, the students fall in battle against Rome. They were R. Akiva’s army.
When the gemora says “that they (the students) did not treat each other with respect,” it does not mean that they acted disrespectfully but rather that they did not employ the halachik ruling of their rebby “Your life comes first.” They understood that in wartime a completely different imperative is operating and that is “All Jews are responsible for one another.”
Idan Amari, an Israeli actor said recently:
“When I was around 18 years old I heard that the Nazis put the words ‘every man for himself’ over the heads of those entering the Buchenwald concentration camp. This is the exact opposite of the expression that ‘all Jews are responsible for one another.’”
The students were not “every man for himself” but a willingness that every man is ready to give himself for the Jewish people. They did not conduct themselves according to their Rebbi’s dictum, “Your life comes before your fellow’s life,” because that did not apply. They did not look out for themselves but remained with their partner until they both fell.
They were saintly martyrs who died in defense of their people and that’s why we mourn for them year after year.
R. Akiva was not a failure but the greatest success to the point that his students gave their lives for the Jewish people.
“They died from Gevas until Antiparis” which was the place where they fought and died. “And they all died during one period “that was the last battle.”
The Midrash (Yakut Shimon Mishler) says that “When Rebby Akiva was executed, the Romans put his body in his prison cell… Eliyahu the Prophet came with Rebby Yehoshua Hegari to the prison and the doors were all open and all the guards and prisoners asleep. They went to Rebby Akiva’s cell and took him. Eliyahu carried him and travelled all night until they arrived at Antipiras that is Kuzrin.” This was the same place that his students fell. Eliyahu understood that RebbyAkiva wanted to be with his holy students.
In order to make it clear that they were devoted to one another, the Gemora says that “twelve thousand pairs of students died,” not twenty-four thousand. That number could have been misunderstood to mean that 24,000 separate individuals went out to battle. “Pairs” represents friendship, camaraderie, unity of purpose, study partners, hand in hand.
The story may have been written at a time when Rome still occupied Eretz Yisroel so our Rabbis used their codes to conceal the real meaning.
The cause of death that appears at the conclusion of the story, namely askerah is used elsewhere also to describe an ugly and painful death. Death on the battlefield is not pretty or painless.
Judge for yourself the merit of this interpretation.
On Yom Hazikaron 5780 we mourn for 23,816 soldiers who gave their lives in defense of their people.
Yhi Zichrom Baruch.