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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:BEN AZZAI:YERUSHALMI
Shalom :
In Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Bikkurim 2:2 we have Rabbi Yochanan going to one place and saying: '' I am the Ben Azzai of this place.'' An old man asks a very complicated question and disproves Rabbi Yochanan's answer after which the old man says: ''There goes the Ben Azzai of this town!'' Rabbi Yochanan ''compares himself with Ben Azzai and is quickly informed that he is no Ben Azzai.'' (R. Abrams).
Gosh forbid any of our ancient sages or rabbis were as dense as Dan Quail. Unfortunately, in this country at this time, we have all come across rabbis, to whom we could all say :'' Rabbi, I have studied with Rabbis, I have known Rabbis, Rabbis have been my friends, and you sir are no Rabbi."
But who was Simeon ben Azzai? He was a Tanna in the first third of the 2nd century CE, circa 130 CE. He never received semikah so is not officially a rabbi, yet was called rabbi because of his brilliance. He was not actually a Talmid of rabbi Akiva but usually follows his teachings and defers to him. And with great honor.
It is said that God opened the Torah to him so he could explain things that even Hillel and Shammai did not understand. He never married although he was engaged to Akiva's daughter. When chastised he answered: "What shall I do? My soul clings lovingly to the Torah; let others contribute to the preservation of the race.'' [Talmud Bavli Tractate Yevamoth 8:4]. He was pious, polite, and tradition says he viewed Paradise and was allowed to enter it. ''He beheld the mysteries of the garden and died; God granted him the death of His saints." But it is also said he is one of the Ten Martyrs along with Rabbi Akiva.
Simeon ben Azzai is the archetype of the "talmid hara'ui lehora'ah", the student worthy of ordination, which implies that he never actually obtained the degree of rabbinic ordination, or perhaps, in modern terms, he was Yoreh Yoreh, the lower, standard rabbinic degree, attained by most communal, teaching and pulpit rabbis, but not Yadin Yadin, the higher rabbinic degree that allows one to function on a rabbinical court posits R. Baker.
In Tractate Horiot in the Yerushalmi Talmud throughout the first chapter, whenever someone wants to refer to someone who would undoubtedly know the correct law, they use the term "Ben Azzai." This term is an idiom to represent that, a sitting judge knows better than to follow a mistaken judgment. In fact, some Amoraim claimed great authority by calling themselves "Ben Azzais." ( Yer. Bik. 2: 65a; Yer. Peah 6. 19c). So the use of Ben Azzai as an idiom extends throughout the Yerushalmi and into the Bavli. [ B. Kiddushin 20a, Y. Peah 6:3, Y. Sotah 9:2, B. Eruvin 29a, B. Kiddushin 20a, B. Arachin 30b, B. Sotah 45b.]
Abayye said that he felt so confident in answering questions once, he was like ben Azzai in the markets of Tiveria: [Talmud Bavli Tractate Kiddushin 20a.] Rava tells his students, on a day when he felt good, "Today I can answer questions like ben Azzai did in the markets of Tiveria!":[ Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 29a.]
Rabbi Akiva apparently looked down on him for not having bothered to take the rabbinic degree, and for not being married – he felt that Ben Azzai's soul was not sufficiently settled, not having married. Of course, some of that may have been personal. Ben Azzai was betrothed to R' Akiva's daughter for years, but never actually married her (Talmud Bavli Tractate Ketoboth. 63a-b). And yet, Ben Azzai and Akiva are often paired and compared: as opponents, as teacher and student, as equals in their study, and later in the Pardes experience, R. Baker concludes.
Ben Azzai is also known, in Talmud Bavli Tractate Sotah 3:4, for recommending that people teach their daughters Torah. Unfortunately, that idea was not taken up immediately. Rather Rabbi Eliezer's recommendation against this became the generally-followed rule until the last century. But Ben Azzai was not talking of Talmud nor of the whole of Torah but just of the Sotah rules, so daughters would not become adulteresses.
Ben Azzai is also known, in Talmud Bavli Tractate Sotah 3:4, for recommending that people teach their daughters Torah. Unfortunately, that idea was not taken up immediately. Rather Rabbi Eliezer's recommendation against this became the generally-followed rule until the last century. But Ben Azzai was not talking of Talmud nor of the whole of Torah but just of the Sotah rules, so daughters would not become adulteresses.
There is also a story, in Talmud Bavli Tractate Chagigah 14b, about the intensity of Ben Azzai's learning. In the middle of a series of stories about the intensity of teaching mysticism – that flames shoot out of the heads of those who teach it correctly – we have a story where Ben Azzai is teaching, and flames surround his little group. When asked if he was teaching mysticism, he responded that no, he was just tying together pusukim from Torah, Neviim and Ketuvim. In other words, his big strength was Torah interpretation.
Ben Azzai's "Great Principle", which opposes Rabbi Akiva's principle of "love your fellow as yourself ", is from Genesis: "This is the book of the generations of Adam… In the day when God created Adam… Man was created in God's image." In a sense, then, Akiva's great principle is outer-directed, while Ben Azzai's is inner-directed, towards the perfection of the intellect and attachment to the Torah, such that the Torah would saturate him. R. Baker believes this devotion to Torah kept him from marrying.
Ben Azzai's "Great Principle", which opposes Rabbi Akiva's principle of "love your fellow as yourself ", is from Genesis: "This is the book of the generations of Adam… In the day when God created Adam… Man was created in God's image." In a sense, then, Akiva's great principle is outer-directed, while Ben Azzai's is inner-directed, towards the perfection of the intellect and attachment to the Torah, such that the Torah would saturate him. R. Baker believes this devotion to Torah kept him from marrying.
Four entered the Orchard (Pardes): Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Akher and Rabbi Akiva. One peeked and died; one peeked and was smitten; one peeked and cut down the shoots; one ascended safely and descended safely.
Ben Azzai peeked and died. Concerning him Scripture says: "Precious in the eyes of he Lord is the death of His loyal ones" (Ps. 16. 15).
Ben Zoma peeked and was smitten. Concerning him Scripture says: "If you have found honey, eat only your fill lest you become filled with it and vomit" (Prov. 25:16).
Akher peeked and cut down the shoots. Concerning him Scripture says: "Do not let your mouth bring your flesh to sin, and do not say before the angel that it is an error; why should God become angry at your voice, and ruin your handiwork" (Eccl. 5:5).
Rabbi Akiva ascended safely and descended safely. Concerning him Scripture says: "Draw me, let us run after you, the King has brought me into His chambers" (Song I:4). [Tosefta Hagigah 2:3-4]
Ben Azzai peeked and died. Concerning him Scripture says: "Precious in the eyes of he Lord is the death of His loyal ones" (Ps. 16. 15).
Ben Zoma peeked and was smitten. Concerning him Scripture says: "If you have found honey, eat only your fill lest you become filled with it and vomit" (Prov. 25:16).
Akher peeked and cut down the shoots. Concerning him Scripture says: "Do not let your mouth bring your flesh to sin, and do not say before the angel that it is an error; why should God become angry at your voice, and ruin your handiwork" (Eccl. 5:5).
Rabbi Akiva ascended safely and descended safely. Concerning him Scripture says: "Draw me, let us run after you, the King has brought me into His chambers" (Song I:4). [Tosefta Hagigah 2:3-4]
In the Kabbalistic texts the idea of Light is paramount. Pardes is described as full of the radiance of Light. There are some ten lines in it about Ben Azzai (who did not return). "Ben Azzai peeked and died. He gazed at the radiance of the Divine Presence like a man with weak eyes who gazes at the full light of the sun and becomes blinded by the intensity of the light that overwhelms him... He did not wish to be separated, he remained hidden in it, his soul was covered and adorned ... he remained where he had cleaved, in the Light to which no one may cling and yet live."
The light a) overwhelms him; b) he wishes to unite with it; c) he is hidden in it, his soul is covered and adorned.
This idea comes down to us today, of bitul ha-yesh, nullification of existence. The soul is a candle flame which is nullified before the infinite Divine Light, which is an understanding of "ki ner mitzvah vetorah or", a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light – the mitzvoth that we do feed the flame of our souls, but that flame is nullified beside the Light expressed by Him who gave us the Torah. R. Baker posits it is the "lower unity", recognizing that existence is nullified, has no real existence, beside God.
And yet even though today such an idea drives whole systems of Torah, if we look at it in context of Ben Azzai's life, and the ideas he espouses, perhaps it's not the ideal life of the Torah scholar, of the Tanna.
This idea comes down to us today, of bitul ha-yesh, nullification of existence. The soul is a candle flame which is nullified before the infinite Divine Light, which is an understanding of "ki ner mitzvah vetorah or", a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light – the mitzvoth that we do feed the flame of our souls, but that flame is nullified beside the Light expressed by Him who gave us the Torah. R. Baker posits it is the "lower unity", recognizing that existence is nullified, has no real existence, beside God.
And yet even though today such an idea drives whole systems of Torah, if we look at it in context of Ben Azzai's life, and the ideas he espouses, perhaps it's not the ideal life of the Torah scholar, of the Tanna.
''He is an unbalanced genius. He was insufficiently attached to others. He did not marry, so was not grounded in the basic interpersonal relationship, and he did not take semicha, to take his proper place on the Sanhedrin - to fulfill his duty to his community, to all of Israel. He was unbalanced - too heavy in the intellect (self-directed), insufficiently outer-directed, he strove to reach Up, and never came back Down.''
Is the old man Elijah or is it Rabbi Yochanan saying it to himself? Or is the old man just someone who knows more than Rabbi Yochanan? Many times in the Talmud, for example with the four sons of Passover, multiple people can be different aspects of the same person. Certainly Yochanan had moments of humility where he would realize the true answers to any question about God, lie in the infinite, and any attempt to quality God in the finite, diminishes God, and hence is not possible. That being the case, on Elijah returning from Heaven, would have answers in the days before the coming of Moshiac. So in each of us, when we realize we do not know something, if we are honest with ourselves, have Elijah, so to speak, talking to us. And there is always the possibility, as we grow older, that we forgot what we already know and make errors, and hence the old man, is the elderly voice inside of us, correcting us for our miss-speaking.
It has been said that Hillel is depicted as coming to Jerusalem and declaring himself an expert and promptly being shot down (Tractate Pesachim 4:11), but a closer reading of the Talmud with a historical eye sees Hillel teaching the Hebraic Priests the Judaic Talmudic laws of Passover. It is they who disagree with him, because during these Hasmonean times, Jewish kings, aligned with the Priests, were actually killing Rabbis. In the end, Hillel is made Nasi, the head of the Rabbinic academy. Hebraism would exist till 70 CE, and survives in a liberal form in Karaitism today.
Why do the sages compare themselves with Ben Azzai when there are other bright rabbis, and Ben Azzai isn't even a rabbi? Because he was not a rabbi, he had no talmidim that could claim wisdom learned from him. Because he was never married, no one could claim to be a son who learned from him. In fact, all Ben Azzai was in fact was a genius brain. It would be like one comparing their mind to a computer. Toss in his piety and his entrance to Heaven, or that he was actually a martyr, and he is an excellent one to try to emulate academically.
The Yerushalmi, as we have learned, is the Talmud of Rabbi Yochanan to a great extent. He redacted its gemorah. The story doesn't show Yochanan in a bad light, in as much as it shows him to be human. Admitting to being human and being imperfect, allows one to permission to err without the constant pressure to be perfect, but more than that, gives reason for the whole purpose of the Talmud, Torah and Judaism. We are imperfect people who err. We have ego. We have a yetzer ha ra. Without continual prayer, study, chesbon ha nefesh, vidui, etc, we will sink. So showing our sages in the Talmud, [just as the Torah shows our ancestors], with warts, provides the raison d'etre for the Rabbinic Judaism.
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
JEWISH RENEWAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC
BLUFFTON, SC
SAVANNAH,GA
MEMBER: TEMPLE OSEH SHALOM
thanks: to Rabbis J. Baker and J. Abrams
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