NUMEROUS PROMINENT SCHOLARS survived the suffering of the destruction in Jerusalem together with Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai. Some of them escaped the city at an earlier or later date and together they settled in Jabneh.
One of these scholars, the closest to R. Jochanan, was Rabbi Zadok ben Elazar. This was the same Rabbi Zadok for the healing of whom Rabban Jochanan asked for the services of a doctor. Just as Rabban Jochanan visualized the destruction of the temple forty years before it occurred even so did Rabbi Zadok fast every day for forty years that the temple might not be destroyed.
It is told that when Rabban Jochanan presented Rabbi Zadok before Vespasian in the Roman camp outside of Jerusalem he showed more reverence to Rabbi Zadok than he did to Vespasian. When Vespasian noted this he asked, “What distinction has this man?” and Rabban Jochanan replied: “I can assure you that had there been another one like him you could not have triumphed over our people even if you had brought twice as many soldiers as you did.”
Vespasian further asked, “Wherein lies his strength?” and Rabban Jochanan answered, “For forty years he neither ate nor drank anything more than the juice of one fig which he consumed every night and after this he taught a host of disciples all day. You can therefore realize that had there been another like him, God would have had to spare our city for the sake of two such holy men.”
It is further told that once, when Rabbi Zadok was a priest in the temple, he saw two young priests hurrying to the service. In their haste they tried to overtake each other and when the nimbler one gained the lead he was stabbed by the one that trailed behind. Rabbi Zadok then called out in this wise: “Hear me oh, Jews. Here you see the body of a slain man and you all learned that when a murdered man is found and it is not known by whom he was killed it is necessary to behead a calf and over it the elders of the city must declare that they are innocent of the blood that was shed, that their hand was not in the crime, nor have they seen it committed. Now there arises the question arises whether the city or the temple has to bring this case, for I alone saw the crime and the law states that one witness is insufficient to condemn a man to death. According to the law it would therefore seem that the identity of the murderer has not been established and it is necessary for the elders to declare their innocence. Now the question whether the city or the temple has to bring this offering, for neither one of the two can conscientiously say “our hands did not shed this blood”; both the city and the people are guilty and the blood of the murdered man is a blot on both.”
Speaking in this vein he aroused all those gathered until they shed tears. When the father of the murdered man later declared that the victim was not killed outright and the dagger with which he was stabbed was therefore not unclean from coming in contact with a dead body, and he thus established that it was unnecessary to bring a sacrifice, because the victim atoned with his blood for the sins of the city, all those gathered rushed at the murderer and in an instant he was annihilated so that nothing remained of him.
It was also told of Rabbi Zadok that R. Gamliel ben R. Simeon (commonly referred to as Rabban Gamliel of Jabneh, he was also Nasi after the death of Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai) once gave a feast in his house for the scholars. Rabban Gamliel waited on his guests himself and with his own hand he filled their beakers. He handed the first beaker of wine to Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus but Rabbi Eliezer refused it, not wishing to be waited on by Rabban Gamliel. Rabban Gamliel then handed the same beaker to Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania and he accepted it.
Rabbi Eliezer then exclaimed: “How can one tolerate that Rabban Gamliel should stand and wait on us while we are sitting down?” but Rabbi Joshua answered: “One greater than Rabban Gamliel did the same. Our father Abraham was the greatest man of his generation, nevertheless he waited on his guests and served them. Even though his guests were angels, Abraham did not at first know it but thought that they were Arabs. I therefore see no wrong in that Rabban Gamliel serves the students of the Torah.”
Rabbi Zadok then arose from his place and said: “How much longer will you remain indifferent to the honor of God while you devote yourself to the honor due to man? God causes the winds to blow and the rain to fall, he fructifies the earth and provides for every creature according to its needs. All this he does not only for the just but also for the wicked and the idolaters. Is it not more than right that scholars like you should be served by Rabban Gamliel himself?”
Sometime later Rabbi Zadok saw the ruins of the temple and, turning his eyes heavenward, he said: “Creator of the world, You have done well. You have destroyed Your city, You burned Your temple and You remain calm as if You were not concerned.” That same night Rabbi Zadok had a dream. In his dream he saw God mourning over the ruins of the temple while the angels were weeping bitterly. He then became convinced that God mourned the destruction just as the people did.
When the leaders of the people realized that the laws and customs of Judaism were becoming forgotten they called all the scholars together on a certain day, and each of them recounted the laws and traditions as he remembered them. Rabbi Zadok testified in every case that a law was doubtful and his words were accepted as law.1)עדיות פרק ז׳.
The Talmud quotes the opinions of Rabbi Zadok a number of times in substantiation of laws. A maxim of his regarding the worth of the Torah, which later became popular among scholars, is also quoted. Rabbi Zadok used to say: You must not make the Torah as a crown to magnify yourself nor as a spade wherewith to dig.
Rabbi Zadok had a son, Rabbi Elazar, who was prominent during the decade preceding the destruction of the temple. His son devoted himself to commerce mostly and he obtained the title of Rabbi although he did not found an academy. When Rabbi Zadok was cured after his long fast through the intercession of Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai with Vespasian, his son said to him: “Give your healers their reward in this world that they may make no demands upon you in the world to come.” Instead of paying them with gold, Rabbi Zadok taught them to calculate on their fingers and also the rules of the calculation of weights.2)איכה רבתי פּרשה א׳ פּיסקא ל״א.
Rabbi Elazar also quoted his father as saying: “To what may one compare a just man in this world? One may compare him to a tree which grows in a clean place but whose branches extend over an unclean place. If those branches are cut off the tree and its roots continue to remain clean. Even so does God bring affliction on just men that they may be worthy of the pleasures of the world to come.
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Rabbi Zechariah ben HaKatzav was another colleague of Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai. His name is mentioned in connection with a situation which throws some light on the moral and social relationships of that time.
A woman who is held captive by the Gentiles in order to obtain a ransom may continue to live with her husband after she is released. A woman who is captured with the intention of being killed is forbidden to live with her husband after she is released, for we are justified in assuming that she submitted to the Gentiles in order to save her life. If a city has been occupied by an army, the wives of all the priests may not continue to live with their husbands unless they bring witnesses that testify to their purity; even if the witnesses are slaves or women servants their testimony is trustworthy. Untrustworthy is one’s own testimony, for one may not testify on his own behalf. Then Rabbi Zechariah said: “I swear by the sanctity of the temple that as long as the soldiers were in Jerusalem I did not let my wife out of my sight.” But the other scholars told him that no one might be trusted when testifying on his own behalf.3)כתובות כ״ז א׳ וב׳.
He was thus given a theoretical answer without being told what to do and the outcome of the case remains unknown. From other instances in the Talmud we learn that Rabbi Zechariah always sought to be lenient in such circumstances. Thus we find another case4)משנה עדיות פרק ח׳. of a young girl who was held as hostage among the Gentiles of Ascalon. When she returned from her captivity her family disowned her. There then appeared witnesses who testified that the girl was not violated while in captivity, but the members of her family refused to believe their testimony. Then the scholars said to them: If you believe that the girl was held captive then you must accept the testimony of the witnesses; if you refuse to believe them, then you have no grounds to believe that she was captive.
Rabbi Zechariah’s name also appears on other occasions. Once the scholars were trying to determine a case of the inheritance of a daughter who had no brothers. In relation to this case the Talmud states that the law was established according to the opinion of Rabbi Zechariah.
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Among the colleagues of Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai there was also Rabbi Nechunia (or Jochanan) ben Gudgada. He was a Levite in the temple and was in charge of the gates. He was a very pious man, and even after the temple no longer existed he continued to observe scrupulously all the regulations pertaining to purity. In the performance of his office he was very severe and while still gate keeper of the temple he said that any Levite who becomes confused during the singing at the service deserves to be punished by death. When Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania once wanted to aid him in closing the temple gates he refused the assistance for the same reasons.
The opinions of Rabbi Nechunia ben Gudgada, which he expressed at the time that all the scholars were questioned regarding the traditions of the laws, are interesting and characteristic of the times. He declared that a deaf girl who was given in marriage by her father might be divorced by her husband. Until that time it was accepted that a deaf woman might be divorced, but the case was not clear if the woman was given in marriage by her father. Until then it was also the accepted rule that if a man stole wood and used it in the construction of a building that the building be destroyed and the wood returned to its owner.5)תענית ט״ז א׳. But Rabbi Nechunia ruled that it was only necessary to pay the value of the article that was stolen. Similarly he ruled that a person who sacrifices a stolen animal as a sin offering has discharged his duty so long as it remains unknown that the animal was stolen.
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One of the most outstanding contemporaries of Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai was Rabbi Nechunia ben Hakanah. Long before the destruction of the temple he was recognized as the leader of his own academy which remained a separate school and was not under the jurisdiction of Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai.
It is told that whenever Rabbi Nechunia went to his academy and returned home from it he would repeat a prayer whose contents have become immortalized and which serves as an example for later generations. When asked about his prayer he said: “When I go to the academy I pray to God to save me from error; that I should have no occasion to be angered at my comrades, nor that they should have to be angered with me. I pray that in my teachings I should not declare the clean to be unclean and the unclean to be clean, and that I should not be put to shame either in this world or in the world to come. When I leave the academy I thank the Creator for all that happened to me during the day; especially do I thank Him for this that it is my share to sit in a house of learning and not among the sinful, the idle and the scornful, for my way leads to eternal life and their way leads to hell.”
Rabbi Nechunia ben Hakanah was already an old man during the time of Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai. When his disciples asked him what he had done to deserve to be rewarded with long life he answered them: “I never sought to gain honor through the shame of another; I also never went to sleep until I knew that there was no person harboring ill will against me and I was never stingy with my money.”
Although Rabbi Nechunia headed an academy of his own there always existed the most friendly relations between him and Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai. This was clearly illustrated at the time when Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai expounded to his disciples the meaning of the Biblical verse “Justice exalteth a people but the disgrace of nations is a sin.” (Proverbs, 14:34.) Everyone was asked to express his opinion of the meaning of the verse. At the request of Rabban Jochanan, Rabbi Nechunia also stated his interpretation whereupon Rabban Jochanan said to his pupils: “I favor the opinion of Rabbi Nechunia more than my own and more than the opinions which you rendered.”
A maxim of Rabbi Nechunia which he frequently repeated was characteristic of the man. He was wont to say: “Whoever assumes the yoke of the Torah is relieved of the yoke of government and of the yoke of worldly occupations.” From this saying we may conclude that he was wealthy and was not worried with finding the means of livelihood; however, there is no documentary substantiation for such an opinion.
Of all his numerous decisions in matters pertaining to law there remained only one rule about the laws affecting the Day of Atonement. “Just as one who desecrates the Sabbath has forfeited his life but is free from payment, even so does one who desecrates the Day of Atonement forfeit his life but is free from payment.”6)פּסחים כ״ט א׳. This statement is interpreted by some to mean, that a person who has done work on the Sabbath is to be condemned to death but such a person no longer has to observe the Sabbath and is not to be punished for any further violations of the Sabbath, similarly one is to be punished for the desecration of the Day of Atonement, but until such punishment is meted out the offender is no longer bound by the regulations of the day. Another interpretation of his statement is that a person who has forfeited his life for desecrating the Sabbath does not in addition have to offer a sacrifice for the atonement of his sin; similarly, one who desecrated the Day of Atonement does not have to offer such a sacrifice even though the punishment for his transgression is in the hands of God.
Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, the pupil of Rabbi Nechunia, learned much from his teacher. Pondering the mysteries of life, he cited numerous sayings of his master especially in respect to the interpretation of various texts. He thus proved the power of repentance by the example of Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked Moses, “Who is God that I should listen to his voice?” but later, when he was being engulfed by the waters of the sea he realized that the God of Moses was the true God and in order to gain favor in His eyes he cried out, “Who is like you among the gods oh Lord!” God therefore saved him from the sea and he later became king of Nineveh. When the prophet Jonah came to Nineveh to announce the word of God, Pharaoh already understood that he spoke in the name of the God of Moses, who may not be resisted. He therefore arose from his throne and rent his clothes; he put on sack cloth and ashes and commanded his people to fast in order to appease the anger of God.
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Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas was another contemporary of Rabban Jochanan. The mention that is made of him in both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud indicates that he played an important role in codifying the Halacha. Ordinarily he was inclined to lenience where other scholars advocated severity. He frequently argued against the opinions of Rabban Jochanan ben Zakkai, Akabia ben Mahalalel and Rabbi Chanina, deputy of the High Priest, and his opinions touched on all matters of Jewish life.
The respect in which he was held by the other scholars is seen from the fact that in his later years, when old age and failing eyesight made it impossible for him to come to the academy, the scholars came to his home to discuss the various laws. Being a rich man, the Talmud relates that he seated his guests on couches of gold. The attitude of that time toward learning is portrayed in the story of Rabbi Dosa who told that the mother of Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania was in the habit of bringing her infant son to the Synagogue in his crib in order that he might absorb the words of the Torah.7)ירושלמי יבמות פרק א׳.
A maxim of Rabbi Dosa concerning the proper conduct for men has been immortalized by the people. It said: Morning sleep and midday wine and children’s talk and spending time with the vulgar drive a man from the world.
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The most interesting of the scholars of that time was undoubtedly Rabbi Nachum of Gimso. He was a native of the town Gimso which was located east of Lud. This town is mentioned in Chronicles II as having been conquered by Philistines from the Jews during the reign of king Ahaz. Since Nachum was in the habit of saying “All is for the best” (גם זו לטובה) on every occasion, the name of his native town assumed a double significance, and the appelation “the man of Gimso” may have referred to his native town or to his oft used maxim.
None of his teachings have come down to us although it is proudly mentioned that he was the teacher of Rabbi Akiba.8)חגיגה י״ב א׳. But his whole life is described as a continuous series of miracles which occurred to him, and because of his worth these also affected the whole people.
It is told that even when the worst befell him he would say “It is for the best.”9)תענית כ״א א׳. Once, when the emperor was angry and threatened new decrees, the Jews decided to appease his anger with a gift. But there was no one whom they could send, for the messenger was in danger of losing his life in case the emperor refused the gift. They therefore decided to send it with Nachum of Gimso, feeling certain that if he would be the bearer of the gift it would be accepted and he would succeed in obtaining the desired concessions.
The Jews of his city thereupon filled a box with diamonds and pearls to send to the emperor. While on his way, Nachum stopped overnight in a hostelry which harbored thieves. The thieves removed the diamonds and the pearls and filled the box with sand. But when Nachum saw this he was not afraid but said, “It is for the best,” for he felt certain that God would so order it that the king would accept the sand instead of the diamonds.
Thus he proceeded on his way until he arrived in the royal city and when it was discovered that the gift which he brought was ordinary sand there was great anger against the Jews, for it seemed as if they were mocking the emperor.
But then there appeared the prophet Elijah in the guise of a courier and he calmed the assembly by saying: “I think that the Jews have sent a very valuable gift to the emperor, for the sand in this box is the same sand that was used by Abraham who shot it from his bow at the four kings of the host of Kedarlaomer when they captured Lot.” It so happened that the emperor was then engaged in a war with a neighboring country which he could not conquer. The sand which Nachum brought in the box was therefore tried on the enemy and its effects were so marvelous that the enemy was immediately subdued. When the emperor realized the value of the sand which the Jews sent him he decided to do kind deeds to Jews. The box was filled with diamonds and pearls from the emperor’s treasury and Nachum was sent back in great honor.
On his return trip he again lodged in the same hostelry and everyone marvelled that he was still alive. When they asked him what happened he told them everything and also of the marvellous nature of the sand.
The people immediately filled large boxes with the same sand and took these to the emperor. They told the emperor that Nachum was carrying diamonds and pearls as a gift for him but that these were stolen and sand from their house was substituted instead. As proof they brought the boxes filled with the same sand.
Then the emperor commanded that this be investigated and when it was proved that the sand which they brought did not possess the same virtues as the sand which Nachum brought they were accused of trying to deceive the king and were sentenced to death.
It is also told that in his old age Nachum became blind and lost the use of his arms and legs. He lay in an old shack which was ready to tumble any minute. The shack was also infested with vermin and the bed posts were placed in bowls of water to prevent the vermin from climbing up. Once his pupils wanted to remove his bed from the house but he commanded them to remove the furnishings first, for they could feel certain that as long as he remained within the house it would not collapse. They did as he commanded them and the minute that they carried him out on his bed the house collapsed.
His disciples thereupon said to him: “Is it possible that a just man like you should suffer such a bitter end?”
To this Nachum replied: “Children, I have well deserved it. Once, as I was going to the house of my father-in-law, leading three donkeys loaded with food and drink, a poor man came to me and asked, that I should give him food. But I said to him: Wait until I unload the donkey. But before I had time to unload the donkey, the poor man fell down dead from hunger. It was then that I cursed myself that my eyes which had no pity on his eyes should become blind and that all my limbs which did not hasten to feed the poor should become crippled.”