Welcome to The Oral Talmud!
Below you will find the original video recording of this episode, the core Talmud sources from the conversation (click their citation hyperlinks to find the texts in their fuller context), and a section of Further Learning (links to books, articles, and additional resources mentioned by our hosts).
And remember, the most fulfilling way to deepen your learning is to find a chevruta (a study partner) to share it with!
Here are some questions to ask yourself and/or a chevruta as you encounter this text:
This week Dan & Benay pick up where they left off in the story of The Oven of Akhnai, reading the part of the story that is often neglected: the fallout from excommunicating Rabbi Eliezer.
- What morals did the sages intend for us to take from the narrative?
- What can each character symbolize when we map their stances and choices on to conflict in our present day?
- How should we respond to hurt and fracturing of community?
אמרו אותו היום הביאו כל טהרות שטיהר ר"א ושרפום באש ונמנו עליו וברכוהו ואמרו מי ילך ויודיעו אמר להם ר"ע אני אלך שמא ילך אדם שאינו הגון ויודיעו ונמצא מחריב את כל העולם כולו מה עשה ר"ע לבש שחורים ונתעטף שחורים וישב לפניו ברחוק ארבע אמות אמר לו ר"א עקיבא מה יום מיומים אמר לו רבי כמדומה לי שחבירים בדילים ממך אף הוא קרע בגדיו וחלץ מנעליו ונשמט וישב על גבי קרקע זלגו עיניו דמעות לקה העולם שליש בזיתים ושליש בחטים ושליש בשעורים ויש אומרים אף בצק שבידי אשה טפח תנא אך גדול היה באותו היום שבכל מקום שנתן בו עיניו ר"א נשרף ואף ר"ג היה בא בספינה עמד עליו נחשול לטבעו אמר כמדומה לי שאין זה אלא בשביל ר"א בן הורקנוס עמד על רגליו ואמר רבונו של עולם גלוי וידוע לפניך שלא לכבודי עשיתי ולא לכבוד בית אבא עשיתי אלא לכבודך שלא ירבו מחלוקות בישראל נח הים מזעפו אימא שלום דביתהו דר"א אחתיה דר"ג הואי מההוא מעשה ואילך לא הוה שבקה ליה לר"א למיפל על אפיה ההוא יומא ריש ירחא הוה ואיחלף לה בין מלא לחסר איכא דאמרי אתא עניא וקאי אבבא אפיקא ליה ריפתא אשכחתיה דנפל על אנפיה אמרה ליה קום קטלית לאחי אדהכי נפק שיפורא מבית רבן גמליאל דשכיב אמר לה מנא ידעת אמרה ליה כך מקובלני מבית אבי אבא כל השערים ננעלים חוץ משערי אונאה
It was said:That very same day, the Sages brought all the "ritually purified" things deemed pure byRabbi Eliezerand burned them in fire, and they reached a consensus about him and blessed him [a euphemism for "excommunicated him"]. And they said: Who will go and inform him? Rabbi Akiva said to them: I will go, lest someone unsuitable go and inform him, and he would end up destroying the entire world.What did Rabbi Akiva do? He wore black and wrapped himself in black,and sat before Rabbi Eliezer at a distance of four cubits, which is the distance that one must maintain from an excommunicated individual. Rabbi Eliezer said to him: Akiva, what is different about today from other days? Rabbi Akiva said to him: My master, it appears to me thatcolleagues are distancing themselves from you. Rabbi Eliezer, too, rent his garments and removed his shoes, as is the custom of an excommunicated person, and he dropped from his seat and sat upon the ground.Tears fell from his eyes, and the entire world was afflicted: One-third of its olives were afflicted, and one-third of its wheat, and one-third of its barley. And there are those who say that even dough kneaded in a woman’s hands spoiled. The Sages taught: There was great rage on that day, as any place that Rabbi Eliezer fixed his gaze was burned.And even Rabban Gamliel--he was coming on a boat at the time, and a large wave swelled over him and threatened to drown him--said: It seems to me that this is only for the sake of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus. Rabban Gamliel stood on his feet and said: Master of the Universe, it is revealed and known before You that it was not for my honor that I acted when excommunicating Rabbi Eliezer, nor was it for the honor of the house of my father that I acted; rather, it was for Your honor, so that disputes will not proliferate in Israel. In response, the sea calmed from its raging.Imma Shalom, the wife of Rabbi Eliezer, was the sister of Rabban Gamliel. From that incident forward, she would not allow Rabbi Eliezer to fall on his face [and pray out of anguish]. A certain day was around the day of the New Moon, and she inadvertently substituted a full thirty-day month for a deficient twenty-nine-day month, i.e., she thought that it was the New Moon, when one does not say the prayers of supplication, but it was not. Some say that a pauper came and stood at the door, and she took bread out to him. When she returned, she found him and saw that he had fallen on his face. She said to him: Arise, you havekilled my brother. Just then, the sound of a shofar emerged from the house of Rabban Gamliel to announce thathehad died. Rabbi Eliezer said to her: From where did you know that your brother would die? She said to him: This is the tradition that I received from the house of the father of my father: All the gates of Heaven are locked, except for the gates of prayer by victims ofverbal wronging.
Further Learning
- The teaching about Hillel and Shammai both being right, even though the law is decided according to Hillel, is on Eruvin 13b - The Oral Talmud focuses on this story in: Episode 19 - Episode 22 - Episode 44 - Episode 187
- Learn more about "The Orchard," written by Yochi Brandes, translated by Dan Libenson, which deepens appreciation for the lives and characters of the Talmud: on Judaism Unbound
- For Tova Hartman on The Oven of Akhnai, find "Are You Not a Man of God?: Devotion, Betrayal, and Social Criticism in Jewish Tradition": incomplete on Google Books
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