In the Mishnah
A member of the third generation of the
Mishnah sages, Akiba was a disciple of Nahum of Gimzo, Rebbi Eliezer son
of Hyrcanos, and Rebbi Yehoshua. Some say that Rebbi Tarfon was also a
teacher of his; others claim he was his contemporary colleague.
"What was Rabbi Akiva like? - A worker who
goes out with his basket. He finds wheat - he puts it in, barley - he
puts in, spelt - he puts in, beans - he puts in, lentils - he puts 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, and arranged the Torah rings by rings" (Avot deRabbi Natan
ch.18; see also Babylonian Talmud, tractate Gittin, 67a).
Rabbi Akiva held countless disputes with
his teachers and colleagues. 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.
Biography
Rabbi Akiva was born to a proselyte
named Joseph. He was an am ha'aretz (Hebrew: ignoramus) during his first
forty years. During that period he used to say: "O that I would find a
talmid chacham (Torah scholar) and bite him like a donkey" (Talmud
tractate Pesachim, 49b).
He was the shepherd of a rich man nicknamed Kalba Savua because anyone
who entered his house hungry like a dog (Kalba) went out sated (savua)
(a reference to his hospitality toward guests). Kalba Savua's daughter,
whose name was Rachel, noticed his modesty and good nature. She asked
him: "If I marry you, will you go study at (a Torah) school?" He
answered positively, and they married in secret and she sent him off (to
study). Her father, hearing this, drove her out of his house and
prohibited her by vow of having any share in his assets.
He went and sat twelve years at school. When he returned, he had twelve
thousand disciples following him. He overheard an old man saying to
Rachel: "How long will you live as a widow while still married?" She
answered him: "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. |
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Throughout
time, the cry of Shema has always symbolized the
ultimate manifestation of faith in the gravest situations.
With the Shema on their lips, Jews went to martyrdom at the
Inquisitor's stake and in the Nazi gas chambers. Rabbi Akiva endured while his flesh was being torn with
iron combs, and died reciting the Shema. He pronounced the
last word of the sentence, "Echad" (one) with his last
breath (Talmud Berachot 61b). The
Talmud says that when
Jacob was about to reveal the end of days to his children,
he was concerned that one of them might be a non-believer.
His sons reassured him immediately and cried out, "shema Yisrael."
We are commanded to say
the Shema twice each day: once in the morning and again in
the evening. This requirement is derived from the verse:
"And you should speak about them when you... lie down and
when you get up" (Deut. 6:7). The
Talmud explains that when you "lie down and when you get up"
does not refer to the literal position of one's
body, but rather designates the time of day to say the Shema
(Brachot 10b). |
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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 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 (tractate Ketubot,
62b-63a).
Rabbi Akiva was very rich. The Talmud enumerates (tractate Nedarim,
50a-b) six occasions in which he gained his riches.
When the Simon bar Kokhba (bar Kozeba) revolt took place (135), Rabbi
Akiva expounded the following verse homiletically: "A star has shot off
Jacob" (Numbers 24:17) - "Kokhba has shot off Jacob" (a word-play based
on the Rebel's nickname, bar Kokhba). (It was because of this homily
that bar Kokhba got his name). When Rabbi Akiva would see bar Kozeba,
he'd say: "This is the Melekh Hamoshiach (Anointed King)!" (Jerusalem
Talmud, tractate Ta'anit 4:8).
Following the failure of bar Kokhba's revolt, the Romans prohibited the
public study of Torah. Rabbi Akiva defied this order, and was
imprisoned. The Roman officer Tornos Rufus sentenced him to death. It
was the time of reciting the Shema (see: Jewish services). They ripped
his flesh with iron spikes, and he acknowledged the "burden of the
Kingdom of Heaven." His disciples asked him: "Rabbi, as far as this?" He
replied: "All my life I was worried about this verse (from the Shema
Yisrael), "(And you shall love the Lord your God) ...with all your
soul," (and the sages expounded this to signify) even if He takes away
your soul. I said: "When will I encounter such a situation and fulfil
this!" Now that I encountered it, won't I fulfil it?" He laid out the
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" (Talmud Berachot 61b). |
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Among his contemporary |
Elisha ben Avuya
Rabbi Eleazar ben Zadok Rabbi Eleazar ben Azarya Rabban Gamliel
Rebbi Yehuda ben Beteira Rebbi Yochanan ben Nuri Rebbi Yosei Haglili
Rebbi Yishmael |
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