Avot127

8:
The most obvious way in which the essential halakhic conservatism of Rabbi Eli'ezer is discovered is in the fact that he was opposed to all 'innovation'. He proudly maintained that he never uttered an halakhic opinion that he had not already heard from his teachers! Although his teacher, Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai, was undoubtedly proud of his student, as we have already seen, he was also aware of his shortcomings. In our present mishnah the way that the teacher describes the pupil is not unmitigated praise. He describes Eli'ezer as "a cemented cistern that never loses a drop". (In Tannaïtic times the neighbours sharing a courtyard had a common source of water, a cistern which was well-cemented to prevent the water leaking away into the soil into which the cistern was dug. The cistern was fed by a water conduit.) Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai likens Rabbi Eli'ezer to such a cistern: everything that he had ever learned from his teachers he retained in his head; but he never replenished the 'cistern' with novel ideas of his own.

9:
The fact that all his learning had come to him from others made Eli'ezer certain that in all matters halakhic he was always right! It was this insistence of his that eventually brought about his downfall. The Gemara [Bava Metzi'a 59b] describes the episode in great detail (and not without some miraculous embroidery). The subject for discussion in the Sanhedrin that day concerned an oven. We are concerned here with the kind of oven that can still be seen in use among modern Bedouin: it is, in fact, a clay pot. The round oven is constructed by joining together, one on top of the other, rings of clay cemented together until the pot has been formed. (It is probable that because the rings of clay looked like a serpent coiled upon itself that the oven was known as an "Akhnai" oven: 'Akhna' is the Aramaic word for a serpent. Though others contend that it is merely the name of the owner of the particular oven in dispute.)

10:
This oven had contracted ritual impurity. The question was could its impurity be removed? The Torah [Leviticus 6:21] says that the only way in which an impure earthenware utensil can be rendered pure is by breaking it up. Rabbi Eli'ezer insisted that in the case of the present oven if the rings were dismantled (broken) and then re-assembled with sand between them the oven would be rendered ritually pure. All the other sages held that this was not enough: the utensil had to be smashed before it could be re-assembled. The insistence of Rabbi Eli'ezer that he was right and all the others were wrong brought about a vote in the Sanhedrin; and Rabbi Eli'ezer was, of course, a splendid minority of one person. Even though the view of the majority had been ascertained Rabbi Eli'ezer maintained that they were all wrong and that only his view was the right one.

11:
According to the account given in the Gemara he used every argument he could muster to try to convince his colleagues but they adamantly refused. It is at this point that the story takes on a miraculous tinge, and we can safely assume that these were pious embellishments included to indicate how right Rabbi Eli'ezer was. One example can suffice:

12:
Finally, in frustrated despair, Rabbi Eli'ezer said that heaven itself would vindicate his claim!

13:
The Gemara goes on to relate that Rabbi Natan met up with Elijah the prophet (who according to tradition did not die but was snatched up to heaven and regularly visits sages on earth). He asked him what happened in heaven when Rabbi Yehoshu'a had told God not to interfere. The reply was that God sat there smiling and saying, "My sons have beaten Me, my sons have beaten Me." In other words: Rabbi Yehoshu'a is right and God may not interfere with the development of halakhah.

To be continued.