Avot124

25:
Before we relate to the specific teaching of Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai in our present mishnah it is worthwhile to describe one other incident in which he was involved. This is most timely because of the Torah Reading this past Shabbat, so many may already have heard the story. But it certainly bears repeating.

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27:
According to the Mishnah [Parah 3:5] this ceremony was carried out only nine times in Israel's history. The last time was about a decade before the destruction of the Bet Mikdash. Herod Agrippa II, was the son of the Herod Agrippa whom we have described as being beloved of the Pharisees. (See Sotah 082 for a full description.) The Roman Emperor Claudius had awarded this man the right to appoint the high priests in Jerusalem: this was because Judea was being governed by Roman procurators who, as non-Jews, did not have the right to interfere in this matter. In the year 59 CE Herod Agrippa appointed as High Priest Yishma'el ben Piavi. This high priest presided over the last Red Heifer ceremony in that year. Initially, Yishma'el intended to perform the ritual according to Sadducean custom, but he was persuaded by Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai to adopt the Pharisaic requirements for the ceremony [Tosefta Parah 3:5].

28:
Only a very small amount of the ashes of the Red Heifer we used in the purificatory rite, so the ceremony described in the Torah was a rare event. Therefore, the ceremony held in the year 59 CE aroused a great deal of interest – and no small amount of ridicule. One midrash [Pesikta Rabbati 14] describes how a non-Jew whose interest had been aroused told Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai,

Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai gave him a reasoned response:

29:
From his response to this non-Jew it is clear that Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai was hinting that the ceremony of the Red Heifer was not so much a purificatory process as a ceremony intended to allay fears which come after contact with a corpse: perhaps the corpse exudes some kind of contagion. Thus, he hints, the ceremony of the Red Heifer serves to reassure the fearful. In any case, apparently this response satisfied the non-Jew. After he had gone Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai's students rounded on him.

Obviously they had not understood the full meaning of what he had said to the non-Jew. With the utmost bravery he responded to them:

Obviously, after thought, such a response must prompt a question: if this is the case why bother with the ceremony at all? His response was simple:

30:
The intellectual side of Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai's dealing in this matter shows creative critical evaluation; but his emotional attachment is still to the traditional ceremony. Even though he admits – at least to himself – that the ceremony only has a psychological value (which may be outmoded) he will not part with the ceremony itself. In this surely he is a prototype of the modern Conservative Jew.

To be continued.