Abba Sikkara was the leader of the zealots [biryonei] of Jerusalem and the son of the sister of Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai sent a message to him: Come to me in secret. He came, and Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said to him: Until when will you do this and kill everyone through starvation? Abba Sikkara said to him: What can I do, for if I say something to them they will kill me. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said to him: Show me a method so that I will be able to leave the city, and it is possible that through this there will be some small salvation. Abba Sikkara said to him: This is what you should do: Pretend to be sick, and have everyone come and ask about your welfare, so that word will spread about your ailing condition. Afterward bring something putrid and place it near you, so that people will say that you have died and are decomposing. And then, have your students enter to bring you to burial, and let no one else come in so that the zealots not notice that you are still light. As the zealots know that a living person is lighter than a dead person. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai did this. Rabbi Eliezer entered from one side and Rabbi Yehoshua from the other side to take him out. When they arrived at the entrance of the city on the inside, the guards, who were of the faction of the zealots, wanted to pierce him with their swords in order to ascertain that he was actually dead, as was the common practice. Abba Sikkara said to them: The Romans will say that they pierce even their teacher. The guards then wanted at least to push him to see whether he was still alive, in which case he would cry out on account of the pushing. Abba Sikkara said to them: They will say that they push even their teacher. The guards then opened the gate and he was taken out. When Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai reached there, i.e., the Roman camp, he said: Greetings to you, the king; greetings to you, the king. Vespasian said to him: You are liable for two death penalties, one because I am not a king and yet you call me king, and furthermore, if I am a king, why didn’t you come to me until now? Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said to him: As for what you said about yourself: I am not a king, in truth, you are a king, if not now, then in the future. As if you are not a king, Jerusalem will not be handed over into your hand...And as for what you said with your second comment: If I am a king why didn’t you come to me until now, there are zealots among us who did not allow us to do this. Understanding that Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai was prepared to ask him not to destroy the Temple, Vespasian said to him: If there is a barrel of honey and a snake [derakon] is wrapped around it, wouldn’t they break the barrel in order to kill the snake? In similar fashion, I am forced to destroy the city of Jerusalem in order to kill the zealots barricaded within it. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai was silent and did not answer...In the meantime, as they were talking, a messenger [feristaka] arrived from Rome, and said to him: Rise, for the emperor has died, and the noblemen of Rome plan to appoint you as their leader and make you the next emperor...(entertaining interlude about Vespasian's shoes not fitting)...Vespasian then said to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai: I will be going to Rome to accept my new position, and I will send someone else in my place to continue besieging the city and waging war against it. But before I leave, ask something of me that I can give you. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said to him: Give me Yavneh and its Sages and do not destroy it, and spare the dynasty of Rabban Gamliel and do not kill them as if they were rebels, and lastly give me doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok. Rav Yosef read the following verse about him, and some say that it was Rabbi Akiva who applied the verse to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai: “I am the Lord…Who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish” (Isaiah 44:25), as he should have said to him to leave the Jews alone this time. And why didn’t Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai make this request? He maintained that Vespasian might not do that much for him, and there would not be even a small amount of salvation.
Leadership Lessons (corresponding to numbers in section below)
- The ability to act within the constraints of realistic political options to achieve the primary moral goal, rather than to pursue unrealistic ambitions and risk ending up empty-handed
- The ability to recognize and seize a historic moment of opportunity that may never return in order to advance critical interests
- Fearless confrontation of contemporary currents or trends that threaten long-term stability, even at the cost of short-term conflict
- Refusing to sacrifice basic moral values in pursuit of military or political success
- Taking the bold steps necessary to protect the core component of one's vital interests
- Maintaining a sense of doubt and humility in one's decisions
*"The Enduring Leadership of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's Eternal Man," Major General (Retired) Amos Yadlin
David Ben-Gurion
- The decision to accept the UN's Partition Plan (even without Jerusalem and viable borders, appreciating the possibility of a sovereign Jewish state)
- The decision to declare the State of Israel (Small window of opportunity; the costs and benefits of declaring as the British were leaving in spite of impending Arab invasions)
- Ensuring only one military (not acquiescing to the zealous factions; sinking the Altalena delivering weapons to Etzel)
- Forgoing Judea and Samaria (after 1948 war, stopping at Green Line. Prioritizing democracy and considering the risks of being a Jewish minority. "Tafasta merubah, lo Tafasta" - if you try to gain too much, you won't end up with anything)
- Insisting on Jerusalem (in 1949 in response to the proposed internationalization of Jerusalem, immediately sending major government offices/positions and Knesset to be based in Jerusalem)
*"The Enduring Leadership of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's Eternal Man," Major General (Retired) Amos Yadlin
"Ben-Gurion was born David Grün (or Green), and on arriving in Palestine his first action was to Hebraize his name, thereby emulating the determination of many of the early Zionists to discard any semblance of the Yiddish culture that characterized Jewish exilic existence in Eastern European. David Green became David Ben-Gurion, adopting the surname of a historical figure – a wealthy philanthropist named Nakdimon Ben-Gurion who had lived in Jerusalem in the period preceding the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. The Talmud relates that Nakdimon Ben-Gurion (in stark contrast to the sworn socialist David Ben-Gurion) was so rich that he gave his daughter a dowry of ten thousand golden dinars, and that he used his wealth to feed the starving citizens of Jerusalem when it was under siege by Titus’s Roman legions prior to the breach of its walls and its eventual total destruction (Babylonian Talmud Tractate Gittin 56a). The Talmud also notes that Nakdimon Ben-Gurion, together with some of his wealthy colleagues, was in favor of a compromise with the overwhelmingly more powerful Roman forces but that the Jewish extremists (sadly) won out in a vain messianic belief that God would not allow his Temple to be destroyed a second time. Perhaps David Ben-Gurion, when acceding to the proposals to partition Palestine – both in 1937 when he accepted the Peel commission’s recommendation to give the Jews in Palestine a tiny state, and in 1948 when he declared the establishment of the State of Israel in accordance with the more generous November 1947 United Nations partition vote (in contrast to the “all or nothing” uncompromising stance of the anti-socialist and ultra-nationalist Jabotinski-Begin “Herut” faction) – looked to Nakdimon Ben-Gurion’s pragmatic attitude as his exemplar."
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