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Earlier than this, Yochanan ben Zakai was living,
and Eliezer, being his pupil, would have been held of no
authority in Johanan's lifetime. Consequently, if we accept
the tradition that Akiva was 40 when beginning the study
of the Law, he must have been born about 40–50.
Besides
Eliezer, Akiva had other teachers—principally Joshua ben
Hananiah (Ab. R. N. l.c.) and Nahum Ish Gamzu (Hag. 12a).
He was on equal footing with Rabban Gamaliel II, whom he
met later. In a certain sense, Tarphon was considered as
one of Akiba's masters (Ket. 84b), but the pupil outranked
his teacher, and Tarphon became one of Akiba's greatest
admirers (Sifre, Num. 75). Akiba probably remained in Lod
(R. H. i. 6), as long as Eliezer dwelt there, and then removed
his own school to Bene Berak, five Roman miles from Jaffa
(Sanh. 32b; Tosef., Shab. iii. [iv.] 3). Akiba also lived
for some time at Ziphron (Num. xxxiv. 9), the modern Zafrân
(Z. P. V. viii. 28), near Hamath (see Sifre, Num. iv., and
the parallel passages quoted in the Talmudical dictionaries
of Levy and M. Jastrow). For another identification of the
place, and other forms of its name, see A. Neubauer, Géographie,
p. 391, and M. Jastrow, l.c.
Among
Akiva's other contemporaries were Elisha ben Avuya, Eliezer
ben Tzodok, Eleazar ben Azaria, Gamliel II, Yehuda ben Betheira,
Yochanan ben Nuri, Yosi Haglili, Rabbi Yishmael and Chanina
ben Dosa.
Akiba
and his wife
According to the Talmud, it would appear that Akiba owed
almost everything to his wife. Akiba was a shepherd in the
employ of the rich and respected Kalba Sabu'a, whose daughter
took a liking to him, the modest, conscientious servant.
She consented to secret betrothal on the condition that
he thenceforth devote himself to study. When the wealthy
father-in-law learned of this secret betrothal, he drove
his daughter from his house, and swore that he would never
help her while Akiba remained her husband. Akiba, with his
young wife, lived perforce in the most straitened circumstances.
Indeed, so poverty-stricken did they become that the bride
had to sell her hair to enable her husband to pursue his
studies. But these very straits only served to bring out
Akiba's greatness of character. It is related that once,
when a bundle of straw was the only bed they possessed,
a poor man came to beg some straw for a bed for his sick
wife. Akiba at once divided with him his scanty possession,
remarking to his wife, "Thou seest, my child, there
are those poorer than we!" This pretended poor man
was none other than the prophet Elijah, who had come to
test Akiba (Ned. 50a).
By
agreement with his wife, Akiba spent twelve years away from
her, pursuing his studies under Eliezer ben Hyrcanus and
Joshua ben Hananiah. Returning at the end of that time,
he was just about to enter his wretched home, when he overheard
the following answer given by his wife to a neighbor who
was bitterly censuring him for his long absence: "If
I had my wish, he should stay another twelve years at the
academy." Without crossing the threshold, Akiba turned
about and went back to the academy, to return at the expiration
of another twelve years. The second time, however, he came
back as a most famous scholar, escorted by 24,000 disciples,
who reverently followed their beloved master. When his poorly
clad wife was about to embrace him, some of his students,
not knowing who she was, sought to restrain her. But Akiba
exclaimed, "Let her alone; for what I am, and for what
you are, is hers" (she deserves the credit) (Ned. 50a,
Ket. 62b et seq.).
See
"His relationship with his wife" below for the
full story from the Talmud.
His Relations with Bar Kokba
The greatest tannaim of the middle of the 2nd century came
from Akiba's school, notably Rabbi Meir, Judah ben Ilai,
Simeon ben Yohai, Jose ben Halafta, Eleazar ben Shammai,
and Rabbi Nehemiah. Besides these, who all attained great
renown, Akiba undoubtedly had many disciples whose names
have not been handed down, but whose number is variously
stated by the Aggadah at 12,000 (Gen. R. lxi. 3), 24,000
(Yeb. 62b), and 48,000 (Ned. 50a). That these figures are
to be regarded merely as haggadic exaggerations, and not,
as some modern historians insist, as the actual numbers
of Akiba's political followers, is evident from the passage,
Ket. 106a, in which there are similar exaggerations concerning
the disciples of other rabbis.
The
part which Akiba is said to have taken in the Bar Kokba
revolt cannot be historically determined. The only established
fact concerning his connection with Bar Kokba is that the
venerable teacher regarded the patriot as the promised Jewish
Messiah (Yer. Ta'anit, iv. 68d), and this is absolutely
all there is in evidence of an active participation by Akiba
in the revolution. In this regard, Akiva expounded the following
verse homiletically: "A star has shot off Jacob"
(Numbers 24:17) and so nicknamed the rebel as Kochva, "the
star", rather than Kozieva. When Akiva would see bar
Kochba, he would say: "Dein hu Malka Meshiecha!"
(This is the King Messiah) (Jerusalem Talmud, Ta'anit 4:8).
The numerous journeys which, according to rabbinical sources,
Akiba is said to have made, cannot have been in any way
connected with politics. In 95–96 Akiba was in Rome (H.
Grätz, Gesch. d. Juden, iv. 121), and some time before
110 he was in Nehardea (Yeb. xvi. 7), which journeys cannot
be made to coincide with revolutionary plans.
In
view of the mode of traveling then in vogue, it is not at
all improbable that Akiba visited en route numerous other
places having important Jewish communities (Neuburger in
Monatsschrift, 1873, p. 393), but information on this point
is lacking. The statement that he dwelt in Gazaka in Media
rests upon a false reading in Gen. R. xxxiii. 5, and Ab.
Zarah, 34a, where for "Akiba" should be read "U?ba,"
the Babylonian, as Rashi on Ta'anit, 11b, points out. Similarly
the passage in Ber. 8b should read "Simon ben Gamaliel"
instead of Akiba, just as the Pesi?ta (ed. S. Buber, iv.
33b) has it. A sufficient ground for refusing credence in
any participation by Akiba in the political anti-Roman movements
of his day is the statement of the Baraita (Ber. 61b) that
he suffered martyrdom on account of his transgression of
Hadrian's edicts against the practice and the teaching of
the Jewish religion, a religious and not a political reason
for his death being given.
Akiba's
death, which according to Sanh. 12a occurred after several
years of imprisonment, must have taken place about 132,
before the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, otherwise,
as Z. Frankel (Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 121) remarks, the delay
of the Romans in executing him would be quite inexplicable.
That the religious interdicts of Hadrian preceded the overthrow
of Bar Kokba, is shown by Mek., Mishpa?im, 18, where Akiba
regards the martyrdom of two of his friends as ominous of
his own fate. After the fall of Bethar no omens were needed
to predict evil days. Legends concerning the date and manner
of Akiba's death are numerous, but according to Crawford
Howell Toy and Louis Ginzberg in the Jewish Encyclopedia,
they must all be disregarded as being without historical
foundation.
However
Jewish sources relate that he was subjected to a Roman torture
where his skin was flayed with iron combs. As this was happening,
astonishingly - especially for those performing the torture
- he was saying the Shema prayer. As they got to his forehead
area where a Jewish man lays Tefillin he expired.
His Personal Character
An example of his modesty is his funeral address over his
son Simon. To the large assembly gathered on the occasion
from every quarter, he said (Sem. viii., M. ?. 21b).
Brethren
of the house of Israel, listen to me. Not because I am a
scholar have ye appeared here so numerously; for there are
those here more learned than I. Nor because I am a wealthy
man; for there are many more wealthy than I. The people
of the south know Akiba; but whence should the people of
Galilee know him? The men are acquainted with him; but how
shall the women and children I see here be said to be acquainted
with him? Still I know that your reward shall be great,
for ye have given yourselves the trouble to come simply
in order to do honor to the Torah and to fulfill a religious
duty.
Akiba and Gamaliel II
Modesty is a favorite theme with Akiba, and he reverts to
it again and again. "He who esteems himself highly
on account of his knowledge," he teaches, "is
like a corpse lying on the wayside: the traveler turns his
head away in disgust, and walks quickly by" (Ab. R.
N., ed. S. Schechter, xi. 46). Another of his sayings, quoted
also in the name of Ben Azzai (Lev. R. i. 5), is specially
interesting from the fact that Book of Luke, xiv. 8-12,
is almost literally identical with it: "Take thy place
a few seats below thy rank until thou art bidden to take
a higher place; for it is better that they should say to
thee 'Come up higher' than that they should bid thee 'Go
down lower'" (see Prov. xxv. 7).
Though
so modest, yet when an important matter and not a merely
personal one was concerned Akiba could not be cowed by the
greatest, as is evidenced by his attitude toward the patriarch
Gamaliel II. Convinced of the necessity of a central authority
for Judaism, Akiba became a devoted adherent and friend
of Gamaliel, who aimed at constituting the patriarch the
true spiritual chief of the Jews (R. H. ii. 9). But Akiba
was just as firmly convinced that the power of the patriarch
must be limited both by the written and the oral law, the
interpretation of which lay in the hands of the learned;
and he was accordingly brave enough to act in ritual matters
in Gamaliel's own house contrary to the decisions of Gamaliel
himself[3]. Concerning Akiba's other personal excellences,
such as benevolence, and kindness toward the sick and needy,
see Ned. 40a, Lev. R. xxxiv.16, and Tosef., Meg. iv. 16.
Akiba filled the office of an overseer of the poor[4].
Eminent
as Akiba was by his magnanimity and moral worthiness, he
was still more so by his intellectual capacity, by which
he secured an enduring influence upon his contemporaries
and upon posterity. In the first place, Akiba was the one
who definitely fixed the canon of the Old Testament books.
He protested strongly against the canonicity of certain
of the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus, for instance (Sanh. x.
1, Bab. ibid. 100b, Yer. ibid. x. 28a), in which passages
???? is to be explained according to ?id. 49a, and ???????
according to its Aramaic equivalent ??????; so that Akiba's
utterance reads, "He who reads aloud in the synagogue
from books not belonging to the canon as if they were canonical,"
etc.
He
has, however, no objection to the private reading of the
Apocrypha, as is evident from the fact that he himself makes
frequent use of Ecclesiasticus (W. Bacher, Ag. Tan. i. 277;
H. Grätz, Gnosticismus, p. 120). Akiba stoutly defended,
however, the canonicity of the Song of Songs, and Esther
(Yad. iii.5, Meg. 7a). Grätz's statements (Shir ha-Shirim,
p. 115, and Kohelet, p. 169) respecting Akiba's attitude
toward the canonicity of the Song of Songs are misconceptions,
as I.H. Weiss (Dor, ii. 97) has to some extent shown. To
the same motive underlying his antagonism to the Apocrypha,
namely, the desire to disarm Christians—especially Jewish
Christians—who drew their "proofs" from the Apocrypha,
must also be attributed his wish to emancipate the Jews
of the Dispersion from the domination of the Septuagint,
the errors and inaccuracies in which frequently distorted
the true meaning of Scripture, and were even used as arguments
against the Jews by the Christians.
Aquila
was a man after Akiba's own heart; under Akiba's guidance
he gave the Greek-speaking Jews a rabbinical Bible (Jerome
on Isa. viii. 14, Yer. ?id. i. 59a). Akiba probably also
provided for a revised text of the Targums; certainly, for
the essential base of the so-called Targum Onkelos, which
in matters of Halakah reflects Akiba's opinions completely
(F. Rosenthal, Bet Talmud, ii. 280).
Akiba as Systematizer
Akiba's true genius, however, is shown in his work in the
domain of the Halakah, both in his systematization of its
traditional material and in its further development. The
condition of the Halakah, that is, of religious praxis,
and indeed of Judaism in general, was a very precarious
one at the turn of the first Christian century. The lack
of any systematized collection of the accumulated Halakot
rendered impossible any presentation of them in form suitable
for practical purposes. Means for the theoretical study
of the Halakah were also scant; both logic and exegesis—the
two props of the Halakah—being differently conceived by
the various ruling tannaim, and differently taught. According
to a tradition which has historical confirmation, it was
Akiba who systematized and brought into methodic arrangement
the Mishnah, or Halakah codex; the Midrash, or the exegesis
of the Halakah; and the Halakot, the logical amplification
of the Halakah (Yer. She?. v. 48c, according to the correct
text given by Rabbinowicz, Di?du?e Soferim, p. 42; compare
Gi?. 67a and Dünner, in Monatsschrift, xx. 453, also
W. Bacher, in Rev. Ét. Juives, xxxviii. 215.) The
Mishna of Akiva, as his pupil Meir had taken it from him,
became the basis of the Six Orders of the Mishna.
The
de?te??se?? t?? ?a???µ???? ?aßß? ???ß?
mentioned by Epiphanius (Adversus Hæreses, xxxiii.
9, and xv., end), as well as the "great Mishnayot of
Akiba" in the Midr. Cant. R. viii. 2, Eccl. R. vi.
2, are probably not to be understood as independent Mishnayot
(de?te??se??) existing at that time, but as the teachings
and opinions of Akiba contained in the officially recognized
Mishnayot and Midrashim. But at the same time it is fair
to consider the Mishnah of Judah ha-Nasi (called simply
"the Mishnah") as derived from the school of Akiba;
and the majority of halakic Midrashim now extant are also
to be thus credited.
Johanan
bar Nappa?a (199–279) has left the following important note
relative to the composition and editing of the Mishnah and
other halakic works: "Our Mishnah comes directly from
Rabbi Meir, the Tosefta from R. Nehemiah, the Sifra from
R. Judah, and the Sifre from R. Simon; but they all took
Akiba for a model in their works and followed him"
(Sanh. 86a). One recognizes here the threefold division
of the halakic material that emanated from Akiba: (1) The
codified Halakah (which is Mishnah); (2) the Tosefta, which
in its original form contains a concise logical argument
for the Mishnah, somewhat like the Lebush of Mordecai Jafe
on the Shul?an 'Aruk; (3) the halakic Midrash.
The
following may be mentioned here as the halakic Midrashim
originating in Akiba's school: the Mekilta of Rabbi Simon
(in manuscript only) on Exodus; Sifra on Leviticus; Sifre
Zu??a on the Book of Numbers (excerpts in Yal?. Shim'oni,
and a manuscript in Midrash ha-Gadol, (edited for the first
time by B. Koenigsberger, 1894); and the Sifre to Deuteronomy,
the halakic portion of which belongs to Akiba's school.
What
was Rabbi Akiva like? - A worker who goes out with his basket.
He finds wheat - he puts it in, barley - he puts it in,
spelt - he puts it in, beans - he puts it in, lentils -
he puts it in. When he arrives home he sorts out the wheat
by itself, barley by itself, spelt by itself, beans by themselves,
lentils by themselves. So did Rabbi Akiva; he arranged the
Torah rings by rings.
–
Avot deRabbi Natan ch. 18; see also Gittin, 67a
Akiba's Halakah
Admirable as is the systematization of the Halakah by Akiba,
his hermeneutics and halakic exegesis—which form the foundation
of all Talmudic learning—surpassed it. A rule was later
established: "whenever Rabbi Akiva disputes a single
sage, the halakhic ruling follows him, but not so when he
disputes more than one sage."[citation needed]
The
enormous difference between the Halakah before and after
Akiba may be briefly described as follows: The old Halakah
was, as its name indicates, the religious practice sanctioned
as binding by tradition, to which were added extensions,
and, in some cases, limitations, of the Torah, arrived at
by strict logical deduction. The opposition offered by the
Sadducees—which became especially strenuous in the last
century B.C.—originated the halakic Midrash, whose mission
it was to deduce these amplifications of the Law, by tradition
and logic, out of the Law itself.
It
might be thought that with the destruction of the Temple
in Jerusalem—which event made an end of Sadduceeism—the
halakic Midrash would also have disappeared, seeing that
the Halakah could now dispense with the Midrash. This probably
would have been the case had not Akiba created his own Midrash,
by means of which he was able "to discover things that
were even unknown to Moses" (Pesi?., Parah, ed. S.
Buber, 39b). Akiba made the accumulated treasure of the
oral law—which until his time was only a subject of knowledge,
and not a science—an inexhaustible mine from which, by the
means he provided, new treasures might be continually extracted.
If
the older Halakah is to be considered as the product of
the internal struggle between Phariseeism and Sadduceeism,
the Halakah of Akiba must be conceived as the result of
an external contest between Judaism on the one hand and
Hellenism and Hellenistic Christianity on the other. Akiba
no doubt perceived that the intellectual bond uniting the
Jews—far from being allowed to disappear with the destruction
of the Jewish state—must be made to draw them closer together
than before. He pondered also the nature of that bond. The
Bible could never again fill the place alone; for the Christians
also regarded it as a divine revelation. Still less could
dogma serve the purpose, for dogmas were always repellent
to rabbinical Judaism, whose very essence is development
and the susceptibility to development. Mention has already
been made of the fact that Akiba was the creator of a rabbinical
Bible version elaborated with the aid of his pupil, Aquila,
and designed to become the common property of all Jews,
thus Judaizing the Bible, as it were, in opposition to the
Christians.
But
this was not sufficient to obviate all threatening danger.
It was to be feared that the Jews, by their facility in
accommodating themselves to surrounding circumstances—even
then a marked characteristic—might become entangled in the
net of Grecian philosophy, and even in that of Gnosticism.
The example of his colleagues and friends, Elisha ben Abuyah,
Ben Azzai, and Ben Zoma strengthened him still more in his
conviction of the necessity of providing some counterpoise
to the intellectual influence of the non-Jewish world.
Akiba's Hermeneutic System
Akiba
sought to apply the system of isolation followed by the
Pharisees (?????? = those who "separate" themselves)
to doctrine as they did to practise, to the intellectual
life as they did to that of daily intercourse, and he succeeded
in furnishing a firm foundation for his system. As the fundamental
principle of his system, Akiba enunciates his conviction
that the mode of expression used by the Torah is quite different
from that of every other book. In the language of the Torah
nothing is mere form; everything is essence. It has nothing
superfluous; not a word, not a syllable, not even a letter.
Every peculiarity of diction, every particle, every sign,
is to be considered as of higher importance, as having a
wider relation and as being of deeper meaning than it seems
to have. Like Philo (see Siegfried, Philo, p. 168), who
saw in the Hebrew construction of the infinitive with the
finite form of the same verb—which is readily recognizable
in the Septuagint—and in certain particles (adverbs, prepositions,
etc.) some deep reference to philosophical and ethical doctrines,
Akiba perceived in them indications of many important ceremonial
laws, legal statutes, and ethical teachings (compare D.
Hoffmann, Zur Einleitung, pp. 5-12, and H. Grätz, Gesch.
iv. 427).
He
thus gave the Jewish mind not only a new field for its own
employment, but, convinced both of the unchangeableness
of Holy Scripture and of the necessity for development in
Judaism, he succeeded in reconciling these two apparently
hopeless opposites by means of his remarkable method. The
following two illustrations will serve to make this clear:
The
high conception of woman's dignity, which Akiba shared in
common with most other Pharisees, induced him to abolish
the Oriental custom that banished women at certain periods
from all social intercourse. He succeeded, moreover, in
fully justifying his interpretation of those Scriptural
passages upon which this ostracism had been founded by the
older expounders of the Torah (Sifra, Me?ora, end, and Shab.
64b).
The Biblical legislation in Ex. xxi. 7 could not be reconciled
by Akiba with his view of Jewish ethics: for him a "Jewish
slave" is a contradiction in terms, for every Jew is
to be regarded as a prince (B. M. 113b). Akiba therefore
teaches, in opposition to the old Halakah, that the sale
of a daughter under age by her father conveys to her purchaser
no legal title to marriage with her, but, on the contrary,
carries with it the duty to keep the female slave until
she is of age, and then to marry her (Mek., Mishpa?im, 3).
How Akiba endeavors to substantiate this from the Hebrew
text is shown by A. Geiger (Urschrift, p. 187).
How little he cared for the letter of the Law whenever he
conceives it to be antagonistic to the spirit of Judaism,
is shown by his attitude toward the Samaritans. He considered
friendly intercourse with these semi-Jews as desirable on
political as well as on religious grounds, and he permitted—in
opposition to tradition—not only eating their bread (Sheb.
viii. 10) but also eventual intermarriage (?id. 75b). This
is quite remarkable, seeing that in matrimonial legislation
he went so far as to declare every forbidden union as absolutely
void (Yeb. 92a) and the offspring as illegitimate (?id.
68a). For similar reasons Akiba comes near abolishing the
Biblical ordinance of Kilaim; nearly every chapter in the
treatise of that name contains a mitigation by Akiba.
Love
for the Holy Land, which he as a genuine nationalist frequently
and warmly expressed (see Ab. R. N. xxvi.), was so powerful
with him that he would have exempted agriculture from much
of the rigor of the Law. These examples will suffice to
justify the opinion that Akiba was the man to whom Judaism
owes preeminently its activity and its capacity for development.
Religious Philosophy
Goethe's
saying, that "in self-restraint is the master shown,"
is contradicted by Akiba, who, though diametrically opposed
to all philosophical speculation, is nevertheless the only
tanna to whom we can attribute something like a religious
philosophy. A tannaitic tradition (?ag. 14b; Tosef., ?ag.
ii. 3) mentions that of the four who entered paradise, Akiba
was the only one that returned unscathed. This serves at
least to show how strong in later ages was the recollection
of Akiba's philosophical speculation (see Elisha b. Abuya).
Akiba's
utterances (Abot, iii. 14, 15) may serve to present the
essence of his religious conviction. They run:
How
favored is man, for he was created after an image; as Scripture
says, "for in an image, Elohim made man" (Gen.
ix. 6).
Everything is foreseen; but freedom [of will] is given to
every man.
The world is governed by mercy... but the divine decision
is made by the preponderance of the good or bad in one's
actions.
Akiba's anthropology is based upon the principle that man
was created ????, that is, not in the image of God—which
would be ???? ?????—but after an image, after a primordial
type; or, philosophically speaking, after an Idea—what Philo
calls in agreement with judean theology, "the first
heavenly man" (see Adam ?admon). Strict monotheist
that Akiba was, he protested against any comparison of God
with the angels, and declared the traditional interpretation
of ???? ???? (Gen. iii. 22) as meaning "like one of
us" to be arrant blasphemy (Mek., Beshalla?, 6). It
is quite instructive to read how a contemporary of Akiba,
Justin Martyr, calls the old interpretation—thus objected
to by Akiba—a "Jewish heretical one" (Dial. cum
Tryph. lxii.). In his earnest endeavors to insist as strongly
as possible upon the incomparable nature of God, Akiba indeed
lowers the angels somewhat to the realms of mortals, and,
alluding to Ps. lxxviii. 25, maintains that manna is the
actual food of the angels (Yoma, 75b). This view of Akiba's,
in spite of the energetic protests of his colleague Rabbi
Ishmael, became the one generally accepted by his contemporaries,
as Justin Martyr, l.c., lvii., indicates.
Freedom of Will
Against
the Judæo-Gnostic doctrine (Recognit. iii. 30; Sifre,
Num. 103; Sifra, Wayikra, 2), which teaches that angels—who
are spiritual beings—and also that the departed pious, who
are bereft of their flesh, can see God, the words of Akiba,
in Sifra, l.c., must be noticed. He insists that not even
the angels can see God's glory; for he interprets the expression
in Ex. xxxiii. 20, "no man can see me and live"
(???), as if it read "no man or any living immortal
can see me."
Next
to the transcendental nature of God, Akiba insists emphatically,
as has been mentioned, on the freedom of the will, to which
he allows no limitations. This insistence is in opposition
to the Christian doctrine of the sinfulness and depravity
of man, and apparently controverts his view of divine predestination.
He derides those who find excuse for their sins in this
supposed innate depravity (?id. 81a). But Akiba's opposition
to this genetically Jewish doctrine is probably directed
mainly against its Christian correlative, the doctrine of
the grace of God contingent upon faith in Christ, and baptism.
Referring to this, Akiba says, "Happy are ye, O Israelites,
that ye purify yourselves through your heavenly Father,
as it is said (Jer. xvii. 13, Heb.), 'Israel's hope is God'"
(Mishnah Yoma, end). This is a play on the Hebrew word ????
("hope" and "bath"). In opposition to
the Christian insistence on God's love, Akiba upholds God's
retributive justice elevated above all chance or arbitrariness
(Mekilta, Beshalla?, 6).
God's Two Attributes
But
he is far from representing justice as the only attribute
of God: in agreement with the ancient Palestinian theology
of the ??? ???? ("the attribute of justice") and
??? ?????? ("the attribute of mercy") (Gen. R.
xii., end; the ?a??st??? and ???ast??? of Philo, Quis Rer.
Div. Heres, 34 Mangey, i. 496), he teaches that God combines
goodness and mercy with strict justice (?ag. 14a). The idea
of justice, however, so strongly dominates Akiba's system
that he will not allow God's grace and kindness to be understood
as arbitrary. Hence his maxim, referred to above, "God
rules the world in mercy, but according to the preponderance
of good or bad in human acts."
Eschatology and Ethics
As
to the question concerning the frequent sufferings of the
pious and the prosperity of the wicked —truly a burning
one in Akiba's time—this is answered by the explanation
that the pious are punished in this life for their few sins,
in order that in the next they may receive only reward;
while the wicked obtain in this world all the recompense
for the little good they have done, and in the next world
will receive only punishment for their misdeeds (Gen. R.
xxxiii.; Pesi?. ed. S. Buber, ix. 73a). Consistent as Akiba
always was, his ethics and his views of justice were only
the strict consequences of his philosophical system. Justice
as an attribute of God must also be exemplary for man. "No
mercy in [civil] justice!" is his basic principle in
the doctrine concerning law (Ket. ix. 3), and he does not
conceal his opinion that the action of the Jews in taking
the spoil of the Egyptians is to be condemned (Gen. R. xxviii.
7).
From
his views as to the relation between God and man he deduces
the inference that he who sheds the blood of a fellow man
is to be considered as committing the crime against the
divine archetype (????) of man (Gen. R. xxxiv. 14). He therefore
recognizes as the chief and greatest principle of Judaism
the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"
(Lev. xix. 18; Sifra, ?edoshim, iv.). He does not, indeed,
maintain thereby that the execution of this command is equivalent
to the performance of the whole Law; and in one of his polemic
interpretations of Scripture he protests strongly against
a contrary opinion allegedly held by Christians, according
to which Judaism is "simply morality" (Mek., Shirah,
3, 44a, ed. I.H. Weiss). For, in spite of his philosophy,
Akiba was an extremely strict and national Jew.
The Messianic Age and the Future World
His
doctrine concerning the Jewish Messiah was the realistic
and thoroughly Jewish one, as his declaration that Bar Kokba
was the Messiah shows. He accordingly limited the Messianic
age to forty years, as being within the scope of a man's
life—similar to the reigns of David and Solomon—against
the usual conception of a millennium (Midr. Teh. xc. 15).
A distinction is, however, to be made between the Messianic
age and the future world (???? ???). This latter will come
after the destruction of this world, lasting for 1,000 years
(R. H. 31a). To the future world all Israel will be admitted,
with the exception of the generation of the Wilderness and
the Ten Tribes (Sanh. xi. 3, 110b). But even this future
world is painted by Akiba in colors selected by his nationalist
inclinations, for he makes Messiah (whom, according to Ezek.
xxxvii. 24, he identifies with King David) the judge of
all the heathen world (?ag. 14a).
Legends
A
man like Akiba would naturally be the subject of many legends.
The following examples indicate in what light the personality
of this great teacher appeared to later generations.
His innovative method
"When
Moses ascended into heaven, he saw God occupied in making
little crowns for the letters of the Torah. Upon his inquiry
as to what these might be for, he received the answer, "There
will come a man, named Akiba ben Joseph, who will deduce
Halakot from every little curve and crown of the letters
of the Law." Moses' request to be allowed to see this
man was granted; but he became much dismayed as he listened
to Akiba's teaching; for he could not understand it"
(Men. 29b). This story gives in naive style a picture of
Akiba's activity as the father of Talmudical Judaism.
His transformation
The
Aggadah explains how Akiba, in the prime of life, commenced
his rabbinical studies. Legendary allusion to this change
in Akiba's life is made in two slightly varying forms, of
which the following is probably the older:
Akiba,
noticing a stone at a well that had been hollowed out by
drippings from the buckets, said: "If these drippings
can, by continuous action, penetrate this solid stone, how
much more can the persistent word of God penetrate the pliant,
fleshly human heart, if that word but be presented with
patient insistency" (Ab. R. N. ed. S. Schechter, vi.
28).
His
martydom
The most common version of Akiva's death is that the Roman
government ordered him to stop teaching Torah, on pain of
death, and that he refused. The Roman judge who condemned
him sentenced him to a punishment that was unusually severe
even by Roman standards: flaying alive. [citation needed]
There
is some disagreement about the extent of Akiva's involvement
in the Bar Kochba rebellion. (Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
online) Participation in a rebellion would be a more serious
threat to Roman rule than merely teaching a deviant religion—even
one that questions the validity of worshipping the Emperor
as a god. [citation needed]
Akiba's
martyrdom—which is an important historical event—gave origin
to many legends. The following account of his martyrdom
is on a high plane and contains a proper appreciation of
his principles: When Rufus—"Tyrannus Rufus," as
he is called in Jewish sources—who was the pliant tool of
Hadrian's vengeance, condemned the venerable Akiba to the
hand of the executioner, it was just the time to recite
the Shema. Full of devotion, Akiba recited his prayers calmly,
though suffering agonies; and when Rufus asked him whether
he was a sorcerer, since he felt no pain, Akiba replied,
"I am no sorcerer; but I rejoice at the opportunity
now given to me to love my God 'with all my life,' seeing
that I have hitherto been able to love Him only 'with all
my means' and 'with all my might,'" and with the word
"One!" he expired (Yer. Ber. ix. 14b, and somewhat
modified in Bab. 61b).
The
version in the Babylonian Talmud (Berachot 61b) tells it
as a response of Akiva to his students, who asked him how
even now—as he is being tortured—he could yet offer prayers
to God. He says to them, "All my life I was worried
about the verse, 'with all your soul,' (and the sages expounded
this to signify), even if He takes away your soul. And I
said to myself, when will I ever be able to fulfill this
command? And now that I am finally able to fulfill it, I
should not? Then he extended the final word Echad ("One")
until his life expired with that word. A heavenly voice
went out and announced: "Blessed are you, Rabbi Akiva,
that your life expired with "Echad". Pure monotheism
was for Akiba the essence of Judaism: he lived, worked,
and died for it.
Contrary
to the vision (Men. 29b), which sees Akiba's body destined
to be exposed for sale in the butcher's shop, legend tells
how Elijah, accompanied by Akiba's faithful servant Joshua,
entered unperceived the prison where the body lay. Priest
though he was, Elijah took up the corpse—for the dead body
of such a saint could not defile—and, escorted by many bands
of angels, bore the body by night to Cæsarea. The
night, however, was as bright as the finest summer's day.
When they arrived there, Elijah and Joshua entered a cavern
which contained a bed, table, chair, and lamp, and deposited
Akiba's body there. No sooner had they left it than the
cavern closed of its own accord, so that no man has found
it since (Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash, vi. 27, 28; ii. 67,
68; Braunschweiger, Lehrer der Mischnah, 192-206).
His students
Akiva taught thousands of students: on one occasion, twenty-four
thousand students of his died in a plague.[5] His five main,
last remaining students were Judah bar Ilai, Rabbi Meir,
Rabbi Nehemiah, Jose ben Halafta and Shimon bar Yochai.
His wealth and influence
Akiba's success as a teacher put an end to his poverty;
for the wealthy father-in-law now rejoiced to acknowledge
a son-in-law so distinguished as Akiba. There were, however,
other circumstances which made a wealthy man of the former
shepherd lad.
It
appears that Akiba, authorized by certain rabbis, borrowed
a large sum of money from a prominent heathen woman—a matrona,
says the legend. As bondsmen for the loan, Akiba named God
and the sea, on the shore of which the matrona's house stood.
Akiba, being sick, could not return the money at the time
appointed; but his "bondsmen" did not leave him
in the lurch. An imperial princess suddenly became insane,
in which condition she threw a chest containing imperial
treasures into the sea. It was cast upon the shore close
to the house of Akiba's creditor, so that when the matrona
went to the shore to demand of the sea the amount she had
lent Akiba, the ebbing tide left boundless riches at her
feet. Later, when Akiba arrived to discharge his indebtedness,
the matrona not only refused to accept the money, but insisted
upon Akiba's receiving a large share of what the sea had
brought to her (Commentaries to Ned. l.c.).
The
Talmud also enumerates six occasions in which Akiva gained
his wealth (Nedarim, 50a-b). Akiba's many journeys brought
numerous adventures, some of which are embellished by legend.
Thus in Ethiopia he was once called upon to decide between
the swarthy king and the king's wife; the latter having
been accused of infidelity because she had borne her lord
a white child. Akiba ascertained that the royal chamber
was adorned with white marble statuary, and, basing his
decision upon a well known physiological theory, he exonerated
the queen from suspicion (Num. R. ix. 34). It is related
that during his stay in Rome Akiba became intimately acquainted
with the Jewish proselyte ?e?ia' bar Shalom, a very influential
Roman—according to some scholars identical with Flavius
Clemens, Domitian's nephew, who, before his execution for
pleading the cause of the Jews, bequeathed to Akiba all
his possessions (Ab. Zarah, 10b).
Another
Roman, concerning whose relations with Akiba legend has
much to tell, was Tinnius Rufus, called in the Talmud "Tyrannus"
Rufus. One day Rufus asked: "Which is the more beautiful—God's
work or man's?" "Undoubtedly man's work is the
better," was Akiba's reply; "for while nature
at God's command supplies us only with the raw material,
human skill enables us to elaborate the same according to
the requirements of art and good taste." Rufus had
hoped to drive Akiba into a corner by his strange question;
for he expected quite a different answer from the sage,
and intended to compel Akiba to admit the wickedness of
circumcision. He then put the question, "Why has God
not made man just as He wanted him to be?" "For
the very reason," was Akiba's ready answer, "that
the duty of man is to perfect himself" (Tan., Tazri'a,
5, ed. S. Buber 7).
His relationship with his wife
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2007)
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Akiva
was the shepherd of a rich man nicknamed Kalba Savua because
anyone who entered his house hungry like a dog (kalba) went
out satiated (savua) (a reference to his hospitality toward
guests). Kalba Savua's daughter, whose name was Rachel,
noticed his modesty and good nature. She saw that he had
a great mind, and that if he would put his mind to The Almighty's
Divine Torah, he would flourish into a great teacher in
Israel. She spoke with Akiva about G-d and the role of the
Jewish people, and it sparked his interest. One day Akiva
came to Rachel by a river, and asked her why the Jewish
people, if they were G-d's Chosen people, had to suffer
so much. She replied,
"The
greater, the higher a man's task is, the more he must endure,
the more he must fight and suffer. An ordinary simple man
who doesn't bother about anything usually lives a quiet
an undisturbed life. The man who wants to do something,
who is concerned with the general welfare has troubles and
worries. When G-d elevated Israel and chose us from all
the nations, He placed us in the midst of every conflict.
Wherever something great is being fought for, Israel must
be there. Few peoples rise above the others, to put their
foot on the neck of the nations. The various generations
come up, grow, flourish and disappear. Israel must play
its part in all of them. Of course, that involves suffering
and sorrow. Sometimes we are hurled down to earth, and the
ploughs are drawn across our backs and we are marked by
long furrows. But G-d has always raised us up again. He
has never punished us as He has punished those who torment
us. He has never doomed us to die like those nations who
oppress us. If we must suffer more than other peoples, G-d
has also given us the strength to bear our troubles; to
endure." [citation needed]
Rachel's words moved Akiva, and he told her that he could
only dedicate himself to Torah if he had a wife like her
by his side. She said that she would accept his "wooing"
if he would devote himself to the study of G-d's law. He
said he would, and they married in secret. Her father, hearing
this, drove her out of his house and prohibited her by vow
of having any share in his assets.
Rachel
brought Akiva to Gamzu, a small place near Lod, to learn
from the Torah sage Nochum of Gamzu. He learned with him
until he died, at which point he moved to Yavneh to study
at the feet of ben Zakkai, as well as Gamliel II HaNasi
(the Prince), and Yehoshua ben Chananya. After 12 years,
he returned to his home with twelve thousand disciples following
him. He overheard a neighbor saying to his wife Rachel:
"How long will you live as a widow while still married?
Your husband has probably forgotten all about you!"
She answered her: "If he would listen to me, he should
go study another twelve years." Hearing this, Rabbi
Akiva said: "So I'm doing it with her approval!"
and went and studied another twelve years.
When
he came back this time, he had twenty-four thousand disciples
with him. Hearing this, his wife was about to go out and
greet him. Her female neighbors said to her: "Go borrow
garments and dress yourself!" She replied: "A
righteous man knows the spirit of his domestic beast"
(Proverbs 12:10). When she reached him she prostrated herself
and started kissing his feet. His servants started pushing
her away. He said to them: "Let her be! What both I
and you have is hers."
Her
father heard that a great man had arrived in town. He said:
"Let me go to him, perhaps he may annul my vow."
Rabbi Akiva asked him: "Had you known that her husband
would become a great man, would you have vowed?" Kalba
Savua answered: "Why, if he even knew one chapter,
even one Halakha!" Rabbi Akiva then said: "I am
him." He prostrated himself and kissed him on his feet,
and gave him half his assets (Ketubot 62b-63a).
His Favorite Maxim
This was not the only occasion on which Akiba was made to
feel the truth of his favorite maxim ("Whatever God
doeth He doeth for the best"). Once, being unable to
find any sleeping accommodation in a certain city, he was
compelled to pass the night outside its walls. Without a
murmur he resigned himself to this hardship; and even when
a lion devoured his ass, and a cat killed the cock whose
crowing was to herald the dawn to him, and the wind extinguished
his candle, the only remark he made was, "This, likewise,
must be for a good purpose!" When morning dawned he
learned how true his words were. A band of robbers had fallen
upon the city and carried its inhabitants into captivity,
but he had escaped because his abiding place had not been
noticed in the darkness, and neither beast nor fowl had
betrayed him (Ber. 60b).
Akiba and the Dead
A legend according to which the gates of the infernal regions
opened for Akiba is analogous to the more familiar tale
that he entered paradise and was allowed to leave it unscathed
(?ag. 14b). There exists the following tradition: Akiba
once met a coal-black man carrying a heavy load of wood
and running with the speed of a horse. Akiba stopped him
and inquired: "My son, wherefore dost thou labor so
hard? If thou art a slave and hast a harsh master, I will
purchase thee of him. If it be out of poverty that thou
doest thus, I will care for thy requirements." "It
is for neither of these," the man replied; "I
am dead and am compelled because of my great sins to build
my funeral pyre every day. In life I was a tax-gatherer
and oppressed the poor. Let me go at once, lest the demon
torture me for my delay." "Is there no help for
thee?" asked Akiba. "Almost none," replied
the deceased; "for I understand that my sufferings
will end only when I have a pious son. When I died, my wife
was pregnant; but I have little hope that she will give
my child proper training."
Akiba
inquired the man's name and that of his wife and her dwelling-place;
and when, in the course of his travels, he reached the place,
Akiba sought for information concerning the man's family.
The neighbors very freely expressed their opinion that both
the deceased and his wife deserved to inhabit the infernal
regions for all time—the latter because she had not even
initiated her child into the Abrahamic covenant. Akiba,
however, was not to be turned from his purpose; he sought
the son of the tax-gatherer and labored long and assiduously
in teaching him the word of God. After fasting 40 days,
and praying to God to bless his efforts, he heard a heavenly
voice (bat ?ol) asking, "Wherefore givest thou thyself
so much trouble concerning this one?" "Because
he is just the kind to work for," was the prompt answer.
Akiba persevered until his pupil was able to officiate as
reader in the synagogue; and when there for the first time
he recited the prayer, "Bless ye the Lord!" the
father suddenly appeared to Akiba, and overwhelmed him with
thanks for his deliverance from the pains of hell through
the merit of his son (Kallah, ed. Coronel, 4b, and see quotations
from Tan. in Isaac Aboab's Menorat ha-Maor, i. 1, 2, §
1, ed. Jacob Raphael Fürstenthal, p. 82; also Ma?zor
Vitry, p. 112). This legend has been somewhat elaborately
treated in Yiddish under the title, Ein ganz neie Maase
vun dem Tanna R. Akiba, Lemberg, 1893 (compare Tanna debe
Eliyahu Zu??a, xvii., where Johanan ben Zakkai's name is
given in place of Akiba).
References
This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish
Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.. The
JE cites the following sources:
Z. Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, pp. 111-123;
J. Brüll, Mebo ha-Mishnah, pp. 116-122;
Weiss, Dor, ii. 107-118;
H. Oppenheim, in Bet Talmud, ii. 237-246, 269-274;
Isaac Gastfreund, Biographie des R. Akiba, Lemberg, 1871;
J. S. Bloch, in Mimizra? u-Mima'Arab, 1894, pp. 47-54;
Heinrich Grätz, Gesch. d. Juden, iv. (see index);
Ewald, Geschichte der Volkes Israel, vii. 367 et seq.;
Joseph Derenbourg, Essai, pp. 329-331, 395 et seq., 418
et seq.;
Hamburger, R. B. T. ii. 32-43;
W. Bacher, Ag. Tan. i. 271-348;
Isaak Markus Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten,
ii. 59 et seq.;
Landau, in Monatsschrift, 1854, pp. 45-51, 81-93, 130-148;
Dünner, ibid. 1871, pp. 451-454;
Neubürger, ibid. 1873, pp. 385-397, 433-445, 529-536;
D. Hoffmann, Zur Einleitung in die Halachischen Midraschim,
pp. 5-12;
H. Grätz, Gnosticismus, pp. 83-120;
F. Rosenthal, Vier Apokryph. Bücher . . . R. Akiba's,
especially pp. 95-103, 124-131;
S. Funk, Akiba (Jena Dissertation), 1896;
M. Poper, Pir?e R. Akiba, Vienna, 1808;
M. Lehmann, Akiba, Historische Erzählung, Frankfort-on-the-Main,
1880;
J. Wittkind, ?u? ha-Meshulash, Wilna, 1877;
Braunschweiger, Die Lehrer der Mischnah, pp. 92-110
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