The Oven of Aknai (W1)

Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai received [the oral tradition] from Hillel and Shammai.He used to say:...Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai had five disciples and they were these: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah,... He [Rabbi Johanan] used to list their outstanding virtues: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus is a plastered cistern which loses not a drop; Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah happy is the woman that gave birth to him; ...

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving Rabbi Eliezer, who stayed in the Upper Galilee, and the people there asked him thirty halakhot in the halakhot of sukka..[R. Eliezer answers only the ones where he has received a tradition]..They said to him: Are all the matters that you know only from what you heard? He said to them:...In all my days, no person ever preceded me into the study hall, and I never slept in the study hall, neither substantial sleep nor a brief nap; and I never left anyone in the study hall and exited; and I never engaged in idle conversation; and I never said anything that I did not hear from my teacher.

§ We learned in a mishna there (Kelim 5:10): If one cut an earthenware oven widthwise into segments, and placed sand (chol) between each and every segment, Rabbi Eliezer deems it ritually pure. Because of the sand, its legal status is not that of a complete vessel, and therefore it is not susceptible to ritual impurity. And the Rabbis deem it ritually impure, as it is functionally a complete oven. And this is known as the oven of akhnai. The Gemara asks: What is akhnai, a snake, in this context? Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: that the Rabbis surrounded it with their statements like this snake, and deemed it impure. The Sages taught: On that day, Rabbi Eliezer answered all possible answers in the world to support his opinion, but the Rabbis did not accept from him.

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Questions:

1. What's the deal with the oven? Is it important?
2. Accordingly, what tactics do you think are appropriate now that Rabbi Eliezer has answered all questions and they have not been convincing?

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Rabbi Eliezer said to them: If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, this carob tree will prove it. The carob tree was uprooted from its place one hundred cubits, and some say four hundred cubits. The Rabbis said to him: One does not cite halakhic proof from the carob tree.

Rabbi Eliezer then said to them: If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, the stream will prove it. The water in the stream turned backward and began flowing in the opposite direction. They said to him: One does not cite halakhic proof from a stream.

Rabbi Eliezer then said to them: If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, the walls of the study hall will prove it. The walls of the study hall leaned inward and began to fall. Rabbi Yehoshua scolded the walls and said to them: If Torah scholars are contending with each other in halakha, what is the nature of your involvement in this dispute? The Gemara relates: The walls did not fall because of the deference due Rabbi Yehoshua, but they did not straighten because of the deference due Rabbi Eliezer, and they still remain leaning.

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1. What?!
2. How do you understand Rabbi Yehoshua's statement to the walls?

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Rabbi Eliezer then said to them: If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, Heaven will prove it. A Divine Voice emerged and said: Why are you differing with Rabbi Eliezer, as the halakha is in accordance with him in every place?! Rabbi Yehoshua stood on his feet and said: “It is not in heaven!” (Deuteronomy 30:12). What is the relevance of the phrase “It is not in heaven”? Rabbi Yirmeya says: Since the Torah was already given at Mount Sinai, we do not regard a Divine Voice, as You already wrote at Mount Sinai, in the Torah: “After a majority to incline” (Exodus 23:2).

Years after, Rabbi Natan encountered Elijah the prophet and said to him: What did the Holy One of Blessing, do at that time? Elijah said to him: The Holy Blessed One smiled and said: My children have triumphed over Me; My children have triumphed over Me.

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1. What does 'it is not in heaven' mean?
2. How do you understand Elijah's report of G-d's response?

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The Sages said: On that day, the Sages brought all the ritually pure items deemed pure by Rabbi Eliezer and burned them in fire, and the Sages reached a consensus in his regard and excommunicated him. And the Sages said: Who will go and inform him? Rabbi Akiva said to them: I will go, lest an unseemly person go and he would thereby destroy 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? He said to him: My teacher, it appears to me that your colleagues are distancing themselves from you. Rabbi Eliezer too, rent his garments and removed his shoes, and he dropped and sat upon the ground. His eyes shed tears, 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 some say that even dough in a woman’s hands spoiled. The Sages taught: There was great anger on that day, as any place that Rabbi Eliezer fixed his gaze was burned. And even Rabban Gamliel, the Nasi of the Sanhedrin at Yavne, the head of the Sages who were responsible for the decision to excommunicate Rabbi Eliezer, was coming on a boat at the time, and a large wave swelled over him and threatened to drown him. Rabban Gamliel 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 neither was it for my honor that I acted, 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.

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1. Was Rabbi Eliezer's excommunication justified? Why or why not?
2. What about his reaction to his excommunication?

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The Gemara further relates: Imma Shalom [lit. Mother of Peace], the wife of Rabbi Eliezer, was the sister of Rabban Gamliel. From that incident forward, she would not allow Rabbi Eliezer to lower his head and recite the taḥanun prayer, which includes supplication and entreaties. 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 lower one's head in 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 lowered his head in prayer. She said to him: Arise, you killed my brother. Meanwhile, the sound of a shofar emerged from the house of Rabban Gamliel to announce that the Nasi had died. Rabbi Eliezer said to her: From where did you know? She said to him: This is the tradition that I received from the house of the father of my father: All the gates are locked, except for the gates of verbal mistreatment.

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1. We started with a dispute about an oven and ended up killing Rabban Gamliel and excommunicating R' Eliezer. How did we get here?
2. What do you take away from the ending, about the gates being locked?