16:
No doubt the description in the Gemara [
Gittin 56a-b] of how Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai got out of besieged Jerusalem and managed to get an interview with Vespasian is highly romanticized, but the core of the story is also, no doubt, true. Indeed, everything in the story rings true except its very conclusion. Up to about a century ago almost every child knew by heart the famous request of Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai of the Roman general: "Give me Yavneh and its sages and the dynasty of Rabban Gamli'el". Unfortunately, in all probability that is indeed romanticized nonsense!
17:
More than five years ago, when we were studying the end of tractate Sanhedrin, I wrote:
Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai was a "left-winger" politically, meaning that he had consistently opposed the nationalist and fanatical opposition of the "right-wing" zealots to the Roman war machine – not because he favoured the Romans, but because he saw that the opposition was futile and that it could only end with the complete destruction of Judah's independence. (I use the terms "left" and "right" as an avowed anachronism simply because it seems to be the simplest way of conveying the political forces at work in Jerusalem during the great siege.) Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai was smuggled out of Jerusalem disguised as a corpse – for the fanatical zealots had forbidden all exit from the desperate city. (Even burial outside the city was forbidden; an exception was made in the case of Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai because of the veneration in which he was held by the public at large.) According to the story as told by the Gemara [Gittin 56b] Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai immediately presented himself before the Roman war lord and demanded "Give me Yavneh and its sages" – and his wish was granted! Modern historians surmise that Yavneh was, in fact, a Roman internment camp in which they kept "friendly" prisoners-of-war.
18:
The greatness of Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai does not lie in the true historical nature of Yavneh at that time – whatever it was. His greatness lies in what he did once he got there. Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai realized only too clearly that when the war ended Judaism would be left without its most venerated institution: the Bet Mikdash. Roman sources claim that Titus did not want to destroy the Bet Mikdash. That is sheer apologetic nonsense! The Temple was the cradle and nursery of Judean nationalism, and even Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai could see that the Roman general would make sure that the Temple would also be the tomb of Judean nationalism. There was no chance that the Bet Mikdash would be spared. Furthermore, Jerusalem itself would probably be a complete ruin by the end of the war.
19:
Thus it was that in Yavneh, Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai set about creating an alternative to the Bet Mikdash in Jerusalem. Clearly, he sought to make it possible for Judaism to dispense with the panoply and cultus of the sacrificial system. Indeed, it is quite possible that, with all his anguish over the destruction of Jerusalem, he was able to see in that destruction the foundations of a different kind of Judaism. A story is told [Avot de-Rabbi Natan 4:5] of an incident which occurred after the destruction:
On one occasion Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai was leaving Jerusalem and Rabbi Yehoshu'a was walking after him. He [Yehoshu'a] saw the ruins of the Bet Mikdash and cried out, 'Woe to us! The place where atonement is obtained for Israel's sins is destroyed!' Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai replied, 'My son, do not be distressed. We have another [means of] atonement which is just as effective. I refer to acts of kindness. For the prophet [Hosea 6:6] says, "It is kindness I require, not sacrifice, says God".'
To be continued.
In Avot 116 I wrote:
The duty of being charitable is a prime duty in the Jewish way of life, and in the realm of commandments between one person and another it is surpassed in importance, perhaps, only by the commandment to behave towards others in a kindly manner. (The latter involves physical involvement, the former monetary kindness.) The Hebrew term which I have translated as "wellbeing" is 'shalom'. Shalom means more than just 'peace'.
Jacob Chinitz writes:
With all our desire, and the desire of the Torah, for Peace, the Torah, and our own commonsense, dictate that exceptions to the state of Peace have to be recognized. Self-Defense, the Defense of other innocent victims, the arrest and prosecution of criminals. We have to assume, for example, that Lo Taamod Al Dam Reakho [Do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow" (Leviticus 19:16) – SR], would obligate us to fight in order to save our fellow who is in danger. But if these exceptional situations are multiplied, as in the case of the soldier or the policeman, we may end up with individuals, and perhaps even groups, that have no Peace. While the Torah does not accept Pacifism, do not the Pacifists have a good case when they argue that even self-defense ends up destroying Peace? I remember my father Z”L telling the story about the saint who was slapped on the cheek, and instead of retaliating, he said: "I hope he has not hurt his hand on my bony face!" Is this Redifat Shalom [pursuit of peace = SR] in the extreme, or does it encourage assault by removing the deterrence of retaliation? A Hebrew writer by the name of David Shiminovitz wrote: Ato Rotzeh Liheyot Tzodek, Heye Chazak! [If you want to be right, be strong – SR] His thesis was that weakness is not only not saintly, it is actually sinful, in that it encourages evil in the world. Rabbi Yitz Greenberg said: Weakness corrupts and absolute weakness corrupts absolutely.
Michael Lewyn writes:
I realize I'm being picky here, but I'm not sure it makes much sense to use terms like "right-wing" and "left-wing" to describe the events of 2000 years ago.
I respond:
See what I wrote above in the body of today's shiur. I realize that the terms "right" and "left" received a political connotation only because of the seating arrangements in the French National Assembly soon after the revolution of 1789. But it seems to me that the terms convey the 'weltanschauung' of Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai and the Zealots more succinctly than any description.
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