When I was in yeshiva in Israel (Kerem b'Yavneh, 20 years ago), mid-December was the time when hundreds of young men spending their "gap year" learning in Israel toppled over the edge of burnout.
Sometime around November, a combination of 1) studying mussar, 2) experiencing peer pressure 3) sensing they had a rare opportunity to learn and 4) escaping home supervision reached a tipping point and students began learning until 1 AM or later, taking few breaks other than to collapse into bed. Calls home were reduced, the "Out Shabbos" or Shabbaton was a nuisance, showering became a special pre-Shabbos experience, and relatives' visits certainly did not warrant leaving the yeshiva campus.
I don't know that things are still so, but in those days this phase would last for weeks, and then burnout would set in. The pace would prove too much, and most guys would drop into bed for a few days before coming to some sort of equilibrium. I have fond memories of that time.
One of the main drivers of the whole experience was the mussar I mentioned above – messages focussed on convincing us to take advantage of every moment. One of my favorites was the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Goldvicht zt"l's answer for a question raised in Tosafos Kesuvos 17a מבטלין:
The gemara there seems to conflict with a story involving Rabbi Akiva. The gemara says that one who is learning Torah should cease his study to take care of a funeral. On the other hand, a story (recorded in Masechet Derech Eretz) presents Rabbi Akiva saying, "Once, early in my time serving the sages, I was walking along the road and I found a meit mitzvah [a corpse without anyone to take care of it]. I took care of it, transporting it 4 kilometers until I reached a cemetery and buried it. When I reported this to [my mentors] Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, they told me, 'Each step you took was like spilling innocent blood.'"
What was wrong with Rabbi Akiva's actions? Don't funeral needs override Torah study?
Tosafot there asks the question and offers two explanations, but I recall the Rosh Yeshiva zt"l explaining it in his own way: Rabbi Akiva was 100% right for taking care of the meit mitzvah. However, being right doesn't change the fact that he had lost many hours from study, and he would never be able to re-coup those hours. Even were he to add hours from other activities, those would be hours which he could always have added. The Rabbi Akiva he could have become would never exist; he had murdered his potential self.
That sort of thinking can drive you crazy, I know that, but it's so blunt, black-and-white, unvarnished and unapologetic, that I find it compelling. It's true – being "right" doesn't mean you get what you want – and it's demanding. I loved, and still love, lessons like that.
Showing posts with label Judaism: Rabbi Akiva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judaism: Rabbi Akiva. Show all posts
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Sunday, June 7, 2009
The Saga of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkenos
[The new Haveil Havalim is here!]
Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkenos is on my mind today, thanks to a class I taught about him yesterday.
Among many interesting facts:
Rabbi Eliezer underwent severe deprivation and bucked his family in order to study Torah (see below).
He was ex-communicated by the sages, and lived with it for the rest of his life (see Bava Metzia 59b).
A voice from heaven declared that he is always right (see Bava Metzia 59b).
And more than anyone else, Rabbi Eliezer was the sage he molded Rabbi Akiva (see Sanhedrin 68, for example).
Here are his origins, from Avot d’Rabbi Natan 6:3 -
What was the beginning for Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkenos?
He was 22 years old and he had not studied Torah. Once, he said, ‘I will go learn Torah before Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai.’ His father Hurkenos told him, ‘You will not taste food until you plow a full measure.’ He woke early and plowed a full measure.
They say that this day was Friday, and he went to eat at his father-in-law; alternatively, he ate nothing from midday Friday until midday on Sunday. When he was traveling he saw a stone, hallucinated, picked it up and put it in his mouth. Alternatively, it was cattle dung.
He stayed at a host, and went to sit before Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai in Yerushalayim until a bad smell came from his mouth. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said to him, ‘Eliezer, my son, didn’t you eat today?’ He was silent.
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai called the host and asked, ‘Did Eliezer eat with you at all today?’ They said, ‘We thought he was eating with Rebbe.’ He said, ‘And I thought he ate with you! Between us, we lost R’ Eliezer in the middle!’
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said to him: Just as a bad smell went forth from your mouth, so a good name in Torah should go forth for you.
His father Hurkenos heard that he was learning Torah with Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai; he said, ‘I will vow that my son Eliezer not benefit from my property!’
They say, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was teaching in Yerushalayim that day, with all of the leaders of Israel sitting before him. He heard that Hurkenos had come, and he set up guards and instructed them not to allow Hurkenos to sit before him.
Hurkenos came to sit, and the guards would not permit it. He skipped upward until he reached Ben Tzitzit haKeset and Nakdimon ben Gurion and Ben Kalba Savua; he sat among them, trembling [due to the elite company among whom he sat].
They say that on that day, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai set his eyes on R’ Eliezer and told him, ‘Begin and teach!’ He said, ‘I cannot begin.’ Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai pressed him, as did the students, and he began and taught things no ear had ever heard. With every utterance that came from his mouth, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai stood and kissed his head and said, ‘Rabbi Eliezer, my rebbe, you have taught me truth!’
Before the time came for him to depart, his father Hurkenos stood and declared, ‘My masters, I came only to vow that my son Eliezer not benefit from my property; now, all of my property is given to my son Eliezer, and all of his brothers have no share at all.’
Of particular interest to me and the parallels between his story, and that of his student Rabbi Akiva, including:
1) Both started to learn relatively late in life;
2) Both were disowned, Rabbi Akiva through his father-in-law and Rabbi Eliezer through his father (although for opposite reasons – Rabbi Akiva for his ignorance, Rabbi Eliezer for his desire to learn), and both were re-claimed when they excelled in their studies;
3) Both studied Torah despite great deprivation;
4) Both were men of great humility; Rabbi Akiva studies with his young son (Avot d’Rabbi Natan 6:2) and Rabbi Eliezer refuses to teach until he is forced to do so.
Just something on my mind today.
Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkenos is on my mind today, thanks to a class I taught about him yesterday.
Among many interesting facts:
Rabbi Eliezer underwent severe deprivation and bucked his family in order to study Torah (see below).
He was ex-communicated by the sages, and lived with it for the rest of his life (see Bava Metzia 59b).
A voice from heaven declared that he is always right (see Bava Metzia 59b).
And more than anyone else, Rabbi Eliezer was the sage he molded Rabbi Akiva (see Sanhedrin 68, for example).
Here are his origins, from Avot d’Rabbi Natan 6:3 -
What was the beginning for Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkenos?
He was 22 years old and he had not studied Torah. Once, he said, ‘I will go learn Torah before Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai.’ His father Hurkenos told him, ‘You will not taste food until you plow a full measure.’ He woke early and plowed a full measure.
They say that this day was Friday, and he went to eat at his father-in-law; alternatively, he ate nothing from midday Friday until midday on Sunday. When he was traveling he saw a stone, hallucinated, picked it up and put it in his mouth. Alternatively, it was cattle dung.
He stayed at a host, and went to sit before Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai in Yerushalayim until a bad smell came from his mouth. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said to him, ‘Eliezer, my son, didn’t you eat today?’ He was silent.
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai called the host and asked, ‘Did Eliezer eat with you at all today?’ They said, ‘We thought he was eating with Rebbe.’ He said, ‘And I thought he ate with you! Between us, we lost R’ Eliezer in the middle!’
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said to him: Just as a bad smell went forth from your mouth, so a good name in Torah should go forth for you.
His father Hurkenos heard that he was learning Torah with Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai; he said, ‘I will vow that my son Eliezer not benefit from my property!’
They say, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was teaching in Yerushalayim that day, with all of the leaders of Israel sitting before him. He heard that Hurkenos had come, and he set up guards and instructed them not to allow Hurkenos to sit before him.
Hurkenos came to sit, and the guards would not permit it. He skipped upward until he reached Ben Tzitzit haKeset and Nakdimon ben Gurion and Ben Kalba Savua; he sat among them, trembling [due to the elite company among whom he sat].
They say that on that day, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai set his eyes on R’ Eliezer and told him, ‘Begin and teach!’ He said, ‘I cannot begin.’ Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai pressed him, as did the students, and he began and taught things no ear had ever heard. With every utterance that came from his mouth, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai stood and kissed his head and said, ‘Rabbi Eliezer, my rebbe, you have taught me truth!’
Before the time came for him to depart, his father Hurkenos stood and declared, ‘My masters, I came only to vow that my son Eliezer not benefit from my property; now, all of my property is given to my son Eliezer, and all of his brothers have no share at all.’
Of particular interest to me and the parallels between his story, and that of his student Rabbi Akiva, including:
1) Both started to learn relatively late in life;
2) Both were disowned, Rabbi Akiva through his father-in-law and Rabbi Eliezer through his father (although for opposite reasons – Rabbi Akiva for his ignorance, Rabbi Eliezer for his desire to learn), and both were re-claimed when they excelled in their studies;
3) Both studied Torah despite great deprivation;
4) Both were men of great humility; Rabbi Akiva studies with his young son (Avot d’Rabbi Natan 6:2) and Rabbi Eliezer refuses to teach until he is forced to do so.
Just something on my mind today.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Rabbi Akiva the Undaunted
I am making no progress on my derashah for Shabbat, and my Avot d'Rabbi Natan class for Shabbat afternoon is proving recalcitrant as well, but I am completely taken by Rabbi Akiva, the topic of the latter class.
Here's a rough translation of the section of Avot d'Rabbi Natan we'll be using (6:2); the particular segment that fascinates me is in bold:
Pirkei Avot teaches: "Wrestle in the dust of their feet."
How? When a talmid chacham enters the city, do not say, ‘I do not need him.’ Rather, go to him. Do not sit with him on a bed, chair or bench, but rather sit before him on the ground, and accept every word that leaves his mouth in intimidation, awe, trembling and shaking, as your ancestors received the Torah from Har Sinai in intimidation, awe, trembling and shaking.
Alternatively: ‘Wrestle in the dust of their feet’ refers to Rabbi Eliezer, and ‘Drink their words thirstily’ refers to Rabbi Akiva.
What was Rabbi Akiva’s beginning? They said: He was forty years old, and he had not learned at all. Once he was standing by a well and he asked, ‘Who carved this stone?’ They told him, ‘The water which continually falls upon it, daily.’ And they said to him, ‘Akiva! Have you not read (Job 14:19), ‘Stones were eroded by water?’
Immediately Rabbi Akiva drew a logical inference for himself: If the soft can carve the hard, then how much more so could words of Torah, which are hard as iron, carve my heart of flesh and blood!
Immediately Rabbi Akiva sought to study Torah. He and his son went and sat by the schoolteachers, and he said, ‘My master, teach me Torah!’ Rabbi Akiva gripped the top of the board and his son gripped the other end of the board, and the teacher wrote א ב and he learned it, א ת and he learned it, Torat Kohanim and he learned it. He continued to learn until he had learned the entire Torah.
He sat before Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua and said to them, “My masters, begin to teach me the reasons of the mishnah!” When they taught him a law, he went and sat privately and asked, “Why is thisא written? Why is this ב written? Why is this said?” He then went back and asked them and stumped them with words.
Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: I’ll compare this to a chiseler who was chiseling in the mountains. Once he took his blade and went and sat atop a mountain, and struck small pebbles from it, and people came and asked him, ‘What are you doing?’
He said to them, ‘I will uproot this mountain and cast it into the Jordan River.’
They said to him, ‘You cannot uproot the entire mountain!’
He continued to chisel until he reached a great stone. He then entered beneath it, undermined it and uprooted it and cast it into the Jordan River, saying, ‘This is not your place; that is your place.’
That is what Rabbi Akiva did to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua.
Rabbi Tarfon said to him: Akiva! Regarding you it is written (Job 28:11), ‘He binds the streams so that they do not weep; he brings that which is hidden to light.’ That which had been hidden from humanity, Rabbi Akiva has brought to light.
Each day Rabbi Akiva would bring a bundle of wood. Half he would sell to support himself, and the other half he would use for his own needs. His neighbors complained, saying to him, ‘Akiva! You have destroyed us with smoke! Sell the wood to us, and purchase oil with the money and study by the light of a lamp!’
He replied, ‘I meet many needs with the wood; I use part to study and part to warm myself and part on which to sleep.’
Rabbi Akiva will make paupers liable for judgment, for when they are asked, ‘Why did you not learn Torah’ and they reply, ‘Because we were poor,’ they will be told, ‘Rabbi Akiva was exceptionally poor and destitute!’ And when they say, ‘We had children,’ they will be told, ‘Rabbi Akiva had sons and daughters.’ But they will say: It is because of the merit of his wife Rachel.
Rabbi Akiva went to study Torah when he was forty years old. After thirteen years he taught Torah publicly.
They said: He did not pass away until he had tables of silver and gold, and he ascended to his bed with ladders of gold. His wife had tunics and an ir shel zahav. His students said: Our master, you have embarrassed us with what you have made for her! Rabbi Akiva replied: She endured great pain with me, for Torah.
I love the resolution of that image of the chiseler uprooting the mountain; I have known such people, in Torah and elsewhere, and their dedication to a vision and their resilient refusal to bow before adversity is awe-inspiring.
But I wonder: What is the rock, and what is the Jordan River?
Does the rock represent the sages, and Rabbi Akiva chisels away at their teachings, embracing and then understanding and then challenging their lessons until he can sink them in the river before his own accomplishments?
Or is Rabbi Akiva himself the rock, and is his task that of immersing his own stubborn self in the Torah?
Here's a rough translation of the section of Avot d'Rabbi Natan we'll be using (6:2); the particular segment that fascinates me is in bold:
Pirkei Avot teaches: "Wrestle in the dust of their feet."
How? When a talmid chacham enters the city, do not say, ‘I do not need him.’ Rather, go to him. Do not sit with him on a bed, chair or bench, but rather sit before him on the ground, and accept every word that leaves his mouth in intimidation, awe, trembling and shaking, as your ancestors received the Torah from Har Sinai in intimidation, awe, trembling and shaking.
Alternatively: ‘Wrestle in the dust of their feet’ refers to Rabbi Eliezer, and ‘Drink their words thirstily’ refers to Rabbi Akiva.
What was Rabbi Akiva’s beginning? They said: He was forty years old, and he had not learned at all. Once he was standing by a well and he asked, ‘Who carved this stone?’ They told him, ‘The water which continually falls upon it, daily.’ And they said to him, ‘Akiva! Have you not read (Job 14:19), ‘Stones were eroded by water?’
Immediately Rabbi Akiva drew a logical inference for himself: If the soft can carve the hard, then how much more so could words of Torah, which are hard as iron, carve my heart of flesh and blood!
Immediately Rabbi Akiva sought to study Torah. He and his son went and sat by the schoolteachers, and he said, ‘My master, teach me Torah!’ Rabbi Akiva gripped the top of the board and his son gripped the other end of the board, and the teacher wrote א ב and he learned it, א ת and he learned it, Torat Kohanim and he learned it. He continued to learn until he had learned the entire Torah.
He sat before Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua and said to them, “My masters, begin to teach me the reasons of the mishnah!” When they taught him a law, he went and sat privately and asked, “Why is thisא written? Why is this ב written? Why is this said?” He then went back and asked them and stumped them with words.
Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: I’ll compare this to a chiseler who was chiseling in the mountains. Once he took his blade and went and sat atop a mountain, and struck small pebbles from it, and people came and asked him, ‘What are you doing?’
He said to them, ‘I will uproot this mountain and cast it into the Jordan River.’
They said to him, ‘You cannot uproot the entire mountain!’
He continued to chisel until he reached a great stone. He then entered beneath it, undermined it and uprooted it and cast it into the Jordan River, saying, ‘This is not your place; that is your place.’
That is what Rabbi Akiva did to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua.
Rabbi Tarfon said to him: Akiva! Regarding you it is written (Job 28:11), ‘He binds the streams so that they do not weep; he brings that which is hidden to light.’ That which had been hidden from humanity, Rabbi Akiva has brought to light.
Each day Rabbi Akiva would bring a bundle of wood. Half he would sell to support himself, and the other half he would use for his own needs. His neighbors complained, saying to him, ‘Akiva! You have destroyed us with smoke! Sell the wood to us, and purchase oil with the money and study by the light of a lamp!’
He replied, ‘I meet many needs with the wood; I use part to study and part to warm myself and part on which to sleep.’
Rabbi Akiva will make paupers liable for judgment, for when they are asked, ‘Why did you not learn Torah’ and they reply, ‘Because we were poor,’ they will be told, ‘Rabbi Akiva was exceptionally poor and destitute!’ And when they say, ‘We had children,’ they will be told, ‘Rabbi Akiva had sons and daughters.’ But they will say: It is because of the merit of his wife Rachel.
Rabbi Akiva went to study Torah when he was forty years old. After thirteen years he taught Torah publicly.
They said: He did not pass away until he had tables of silver and gold, and he ascended to his bed with ladders of gold. His wife had tunics and an ir shel zahav. His students said: Our master, you have embarrassed us with what you have made for her! Rabbi Akiva replied: She endured great pain with me, for Torah.
I love the resolution of that image of the chiseler uprooting the mountain; I have known such people, in Torah and elsewhere, and their dedication to a vision and their resilient refusal to bow before adversity is awe-inspiring.
But I wonder: What is the rock, and what is the Jordan River?
Does the rock represent the sages, and Rabbi Akiva chisels away at their teachings, embracing and then understanding and then challenging their lessons until he can sink them in the river before his own accomplishments?
Or is Rabbi Akiva himself the rock, and is his task that of immersing his own stubborn self in the Torah?
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