Avot126

Today's shiur is dedicated by Joe Brown in memory of Peggy Dvorak z"l, who passed away on 6th Tammuz last. Peggy was the mother of Joe's colleague Judy Gray.

1:
The previous mishnah having mentioned Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai as being the next generation after Hillel our present mishnah now goes on to the sages of the generation that followed Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai. This was the generation of spiritual rebirth after the national catastrophe of losing the war against the Romans and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Bet Mikdash. Our mishnah says that Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai had five students. This, of course, is not the case: he had many more than five students. But the five that are singled out in our present mishnah were the most influential and had the greatest impact on the development of Judaism. At least, that is how it seems to the author of our mishnah. Blessed with the hindsight of history we can certainly agree concerning two of them; the other three are rather unimportant historically.

2:
Clearly, much importance is ascribed to Rabbi Eli'ezer ben-Hyrkanos; the fact that towards the end of our mishnah there appears to be some reservation concerning him is born of the fact that Eli'ezer ben-Hyrkanos was a controversial figure in his lifetime and towards the end of his career his pig-headed insistence on having his halakhic opinion accepted against the view of the majority brought about his downfall despite his enormous halakhic acumen. His partner, Rabbi Yehoshu'a, was the exact opposite: quiet-spoken, unassuming – and greatly loved and respected. When his own clash with authority came the result was the exact opposite of what happened to Rabbi Eli'ezer.

3:
Rabbi Eli'ezer was born into a prosperous family. His father, Hyrkanos, was a farmer with considerable estates, and planned that his eldest son would follow in his footsteps. Eli'ezer, however, fell in love with Torah learning. When his father realized that his son was not going to manage the family estates he turfed him out completely. Eli'ezer went from riches to rags and suffered great privation, trying to make his way to Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai. Sometimes days would pass when he had nothing to eat. When he finally arrived at his destination the first thing that Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai noticed was that the young man's breath smelled bad. "My son, have you eaten today?" he asked. Eli'ezer remained silent. The sage repeated his question. Still no response. After he had sat the young student down to eat, very impressed with his determination against all odds, he said to him: "Just as a bad smell came from your mouth so shall you become famous for your Torah learning." [Avot de-Rabbi Natan 6:3]

4:
Soon Eli'ezer began to make a name for himself. When his father, Hyrkanos, got to hear of this he was furious and went to Jerusalem to seek out his son in order to disinherit him entirely. He pushed his way into the place where Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai was meeting with his students, and forced his way down the hall and sat down in the front row with all the dignitaries. Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai must have realized what was happening because he asked Eli'ezer to give the lesson. The lesson was brilliant and several times Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai beamed at the extraordinary capability of his student and even kissed him on the head a couple of times!

5:
Hyrkanos was impressed with the way in which his son was respected by the greatest scholars of the age.

Gently, Eli'ezer thanked his father and then explained to him that according to Torah law he had no right to disinherit his brothers and he would make do with the portion of his father's estate allotted him by law. [Avot de-Rabbi Natan 6:3]

6:
All this, of course, happened before the great war broke out in the year 66 CE. We have already seen what happened inside Jerusalem during the war and how Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai escaped from Jerusalem. Rabbi Eli'ezer was one of the students who carried the sage on a stretcher as he feigned death.

To be continued.

In our discussion in Avot 122 I asked whether anyone had any information as to whether a body was lighter after death than before. Avraham Arbiv writes:

There is no difference between the weight of a body before and after death. The impression that a dead body is heavier derives from its lack of mobility. About one hundred years ago there were even "scientific" tests that proved that the human body loses about 21 grams of its weight immediately after death. But these were disproven. I suggest you visit this site: http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp.