Avot131

נושא: Avot

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai had five students, namely: Rabbi Eli'ezer ben-Hyrkanos, Rabbi Yehoshu'a ben-Ĥananyah, Rabbi Yosé ha-Kohen, Rabbi Shim'on ben-Netan'el, And Rabbi El'azar ben-Arakh. He would enumerate their virtues [thus]: Rabbi Eli'ezer ben-Hyrkanos is a cemented cistern that never loses a drop. Rabbi Yehoshu'a ben-Ĥananyah – happy she who gave him birth! Rabbi Yosé ha-Kohen is pious. Rabbi Shim'on ben-N^etan'el is sin-fearing. Rabbi El'azar ben-Arakh is an ever renewing source. He would say that if all the sages of Israel were on one side of the scales and Eli'ezer ben-Hyrkanos on the other he would outweigh them all. [However,] Abba Sha'ul quotes him as saying that if all the sages of Israel were on one side of the scales – including Rabbi Eli'ezer ben-Hyrkanos – and Rabbi El'azar ben-Arakh were on the other he would outweigh them all.

24:
Of Rabbis Yosé ha-Kohen and Shim'on ben-Netan'el next to nothing is known. A very few halakhot and 'reminiscences' can be found scattered throughout the Talmud that are attributed to Rabbi Yosé ha-Kohen; I could find no further mention of Rabbi Shim'on ben-Netan'el. This leaves us with the fifth student of Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai mentioned in our present mishnah: Rabbi El'azar ben-Arakh.

25:
Not all that much is known about Rabbi El'azar ben-Arakh either, but what we do know is tantalizingly enigmatic. As our present mishnah clearly indicates Rabbi Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai held him in high esteem. This may possibly be for his halakhic acumen, though I think that is unlikely. The few halakhic statements attributed to him in our sources suggest that, rather like Rabbi Eli'ezer, he was a "Shamuti" and tended towards the halakhic viewpoint of Bet Shammai. But the high regard in which he was held by his teacher seems to stem from a very different branch of Jewish studies.

26:
In order to understand the status of this particular field of studies we must first acquaint ourselves with a mishnah [Ĥagigah 2:1] –

We do not expound 'forbidden sexual liaisons' among three people, nor 'creation' among two; and we do not expound 'the chariot' [even] to one person unless he is wise and [already] has his own perceptions [of this topic].

This mishnah continues with a dire warning of the fate that may overtake people who delve into "what is above and what is below, what is before and what behind".

In his "Guide for the Perplexed" Rambam identifies 'creation' [Ma'aseh Bereshit] with the natural sciences and 'the chariot' [Ma'aseh Merkavah] with the study of theology. While the former identification may well be true also of Tannaïtic times, it seems that the latter term, for the sages of the Mishnah, referred to occult investigations into the nature of God and the governance of the universe. The term merkavah – chariot – derives from the enigmatic description given by the prophet Ezekiel in the first chapter of his book of the divine throne with its 'wheels' and its four-headed 'animals' and so forth.

The mishnah in Ĥagigah makes it clear that studies of 'the chariot' were to be kept occult and not discussed in the Bet Midrash.

27:
The main story about Rabbi El'azar ben-Arakh is found in several sources: the Tosefta has an account (parallel to the above mishnah); the account also occurs, slightly expanded, in the Babylonian Gemara; and it also features in the Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Ĥagigah 9a] with many weird and wondrous amplifications. Here is the gist of the account as given in the Babylonian Talmud [Ĥagigah 14b] –

Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai was travelling on a donkey and Rabbi El'azar ben-Arakh was following him on his donkey. He said to him, "Rabbi, teach me one topic about 'the chariot'." He replied, "Have I not taught you that 'the chariot' may not be taught even to one person unless he is wise and already has his own perceptions?" He [El'azar] then said, "Permit me to recount for you one thing that you taught me." He [Rabban Yoĥanan] said, "Do so," and he alighted from his donkey, wrapped his head in his tallit and sat down on a stone under an olive tree. He asked him, "Rabbi, why have you alighted from your donkey?" He responded, "Is it possible that you will expound concerning 'the chariot', God's presence [Shekhinah] will be with us and ministering angels will accompany us and I shall be riding on a donkey!?" Immediately Rabbi El'azar ben-Arakh began expounding about 'the chariot'…

[When he had finished] Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai stood up and kissed him on his head, saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who has granted Father Abraham a descendent who knows how to contemplate, investigate and expound about 'the chariot'… Happy are you, Father Abraham, that El'azar ben-Arakh came from your loins!"

28:
The passage goes on to mention that as a result of this episode Rabbi Yehoshu'a and Rabbi Yosé ha-Kohen also decided to delve into such matters. Apparently, interest is the occult and the mysterious is contagious or infectious. However, it is also very dangerous – as we shall see in our next shiur.

To be continued.

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