Rabbi Tzadok

Rabbi Tsadok fasted for forty years that Jerusalem should not be destroyed. When he would eat, one could see [the food] from the outside. And when he became healthy [again], they would bring him cakes of figs [and] he would suck out their liquid and throw them away.

One time, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Tzadok were all relaxing at the wedding celebration of Rabban Gamliel's son, while Rabban Gamliel was standing over them and pouring them drinks. When he offered a cup to Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Eliezer refused to take it, but when he offered to Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Yehoshua accepted it. Rabbi Eliezer said to him, "What is this Joshua? We are sitting, while Rabban Gamliel is standing over us and pouring us drinks, like he is our waiter! This is not befitting a person of his standing." Rabbi Yehoshua replied, "The greatest of people serve others, Avraham was the greatest person of his generation, yet he stood over the angels to serve them when they visited him, even though he thought that they were just ordinary people. If it was okay for Avraham to serve others, then surely it is fine for Rabban Gamliel to serve us drinks." Rabbi Tzadok said to them, "How long will you disregard the honor of God while occupying yourself with the honor of people. The Holy One, blessed be He, causes the winds to blow, the vapors to rise, the rain to fall, the earth to yield food, and sets a table before every person. And you're concerned that we're not giving Rabban Gamliel enough honor because we are letting him serve us?!"

He (Vespasian) said to Yochanan. "I am leaving and I will send someone else, but ask something that I can give you." He said to him, "Give me Yavneh and her Sages and the line of Rabban Gamliel and a cure to heal Rabbi Tsadok." What was the cure to heal Rabbi Tsadok? The first day, they gave him water with bran to drink; on the next day water with coarser bran; on the next day water with flour until his intestines grew a bit at a time.

Rabbi Eliezer says, "When a person comes to the rabbis to try to get out of a vow that she had made, the rabbis are allowed to ask her, "If you had known at the time that you took this vow that there was a possibility that you would disgrace the honor of your parents (by not fulfilling your vow), would you have still taken it? If she responds that, had she known this, she would not have taken the vow, the vow can be retroactively annulled, though the Chachamim disagree with Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Tzadok replies by saying, "Why are we talking about disgracing the parents; why not ask this person if she had considered the possibility that she would disgrace God's honor by making this vow?" Rabbi Tzadok answers his own question, stating, "If people were to consider the possibility of disgracing God's honor, then there would be no vows".

One time, a certain woman was trying to seduce Rabbi Tzadok and convince him to act immorally with her. He said to her, "I am feeling weak, do you have anything that I might be able to eat?". She replied to him, "I have some impure (tamei) food. What am I to derive from your question?" He replied to her, "That a person who commits this form of immorality (immoral sexual behavior) can eat this forbidden food." She then started the fire and started to put the meat on the stove. Suddenly, Rabbi Tzadok stood up, walked over to the oven and sat on it. She said to him, "What are you trying to tell me?". He replied, "That the person who commits the one immoral act falls into this one (i.e. the fires of Gehenna). She replied to him, "Had I known that it was so bad, I would not have tormented you as I did."

Rabbi Tzaddok would say: Do not separate yourself from the community. Do not act as a counselor-at-law (when serving as a judge). Do not make the Torah a crown to magnify yourself with, or a spade with which to dig.