Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah

Biographical Background and the Spiritual Growth of Rabbi Yehoshua

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah HaLevi, referred to in the Mishnah and in the sources of the Sages simply as "Rabbi Yehoshua" without his father's name, was one of the most prominent and influential Tannaim in the second generation of the Tannaim.^{[1, 2]} He served as a Levite singer and musician in the Second Temple before its destruction, an experience that left an indelible mark on him and connected him directly to the physical and ritual sacred service of the world of sacrifices.^[1] From his childhood Rabbi Yehoshua was directed to the world of study by his mother, who used to carry his cradle to the synagogue so that his ears would grow accustomed to the sound of the words of Torah.^[1] This maternal devotion won extraordinary praise from his principal teacher, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, who defined it with the words "Happy is she who bore him" and appointed him one of his five greatest disciples.^[1]

Rabbeinu Yonah, in his commentary on tractate Avot, proposes a deep connection between this life story and his ethical teaching; in his view, the special emphasis Rabbi Yehoshua placed on the value of a "good friend" stems directly from the figure of his mother, who functioned for him as a kind of good friend and initial moral guide who led him on the straight path.^[3] Alongside his extraordinary Torah greatness, Rabbi Yehoshua earned his living from hard physical labor as a blacksmith and engaged in the production and sale of charcoal and needles.^[1] This standing as a simple manual laborer gave him an exceptionally realistic understanding of the plight of the common people and reinforced his moderate, conciliatory and pragmatic approach.^{[1, 4]}

Even before the destruction of the Temple, Rabbi Yehoshua stood out as an influential public figure, as attested by the story of the redemption of the child Yishmael ben Elisha from captivity in Rome, who later became a central teacher of halakha in Israel.^[1] After the destruction, Rabbi Yehoshua continued his study and public activity at the center in Yavneh, where he served as a loyal colleague of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus and was appointed av beit din under the presidency of Rabban Gamliel.^[2] He headed his yeshiva in Peki'in in the Galilee, and died at a good old age, while various traditions throughout the generations identify his grave in Safed, Peki'in or Tiberias, near his teacher, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai.^{[1, 2]}

The Oven of Akhnai and the Revolution of the Oral Torah

A central and formative chapter in the teaching of Rabbi Yehoshua, which defined the limits of the halakhic authority of the Oral Torah for all generations, revolves around the monumental dispute concerning "the oven of Akhnai."^{[5, 6, 7]} The halakhic discussion in tractate Kelim dealt with the question whether a clay oven that was cut crosswise into segments and reassembled with sand or mortar placed between the segments is considered a whole vessel that is susceptible to impurity, as the Sages held, or whether its legal status is that of a broken vessel that is not susceptible to impurity and therefore remains pure, as Rabbi Eliezer held.^{[5, 6, 8]} The name of the oven, "Akhnai" (which means a snake), derives, according to the explanation of the Gemara, from the fact that the Sages surrounded the matter with various proofs and arguments that wound around it like a snake, and declared the oven impure.^[6] On that stormy day Rabbi Eliezer presented every possible answer in order to convince the other rabbis, but when they refused to accept his position, he began to perform extraordinary supernatural wonders to prove that he was right.^{[5, 6]} He caused a carob tree to move from its place, water to flow backward, and the walls of the study hall to bow their heads and begin to fall.^[5] Rabbi Yehoshua turned to the walls of the study hall and rebuked them aloud, saying that if Torah scholars defeat one another in halakha, the walls have no right to interfere.^[6] As a result, the walls of the study hall did not fall, out of respect for Rabbi Yehoshua, but neither did they stand upright, out of respect for Rabbi Eliezer, and remained leaning where they stood.^[6]

The climax of the drama occurred when a heavenly voice (bat kol) came forth and declared before the Sages that the halakha is according to Rabbi Eliezer everywhere.^[6] In response to this unprecedented intervention, Rabbi Yehoshua stood on his feet and proclaimed the verse: "It is not in heaven."^[6] Rabbi Yirmeyah explains in the Gemara the depth of this determination: from the moment the Torah was given from Mount Sinai to human beings, the legal system is not subject to heavenly revelations or to a later heavenly voice, since the Creator Himself established in the Torah the rule "follow the majority," which grants the human majority of the Torah sages the absolute sovereignty to shape and rule on halakha.^{[5, 6]} This interpretive revolution, which has been defined as the "Big Bang" of the Oral Torah, emphasized the necessity of creating a collegial-human center of authority that neutralizes individual revelations.^{[5, 7]}

The personal and cosmic price of this confrontation was heavy; in order to prevent the splitting of the Torah, the Sages, headed by the Nasi, Rabban Gamliel, were compelled to excommunicate Rabbi Eliezer and to burn his ritually pure items.^{[7, 8]} This aroused an immense cosmic anger, and on that day the world was struck: a third of the olives, a third of the wheat and a third of the barley, and everywhere Rabbi Eliezer cast his eyes was burned.^[8] Rabban Gamliel himself, who was at that time on a ship in the middle of the sea, nearly drowned because of an enormous wave that rose against him, and was compelled to stand and declare before the Creator that the excommunication had not been carried out for his own honor or for the honor of his father's house, but solely for the sake of preventing disputes in Israel and preserving the unity of the Torah.^[8]

The Institutional Confrontations with Rabban Gamliel in Yavneh

The spiritual leadership of the Yavneh period was marked by a built-in and constant tension between the president of the Sanhedrin, Rabban Gamliel, who sought to establish centralized and rigid rule in order to prevent anarchy, and Rabbi Yehoshua, who represented a collegial and decentralized approach that protects the freedom of opinion of the Sages.^{[4, 9]} Despite these fundamental disagreements, the two maintained deep mutual esteem and loyal friendship.^{[2, 4, 9]} This tension reached a boiling point in three sharp institutional confrontations that shook the institution of the presidency ^{[1, 4]}:

The first confrontation concerned the intercalation of the month and the sanctification of Rosh Hashanah.^{[1, 4]} Rabbi Yehoshua, with the support of Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas and Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri, held that the witnesses whom Rabban Gamliel had accepted were false witnesses, and that the president's decision to proclaim the beginning of the month was mistaken from the outset.^{[1, 4]} In a harsh response intended to demonstrate absolute authority, Rabban Gamliel decreed that he appear before him carrying his staff and his money precisely on the Day of Atonement as it fell according to his own private calculation.^{[1, 4, 9]} Encouraged by Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas, who explained to him that the decision of the beit din binds all of Israel even if it contains an error, Rabbi Yehoshua set aside his personal opinion before the honor of the president.^{[1, 4, 9]} He appeared in Yavneh at the appointed time, and merited a warm gesture from Rabban Gamliel, who kissed his head and called him "my teacher and my disciple" – my teacher in wisdom and my disciple in that he accepted my words.^{[1, 4]}

The second confrontation took place in tractate Bekhorot and revolved around the firstborn animal of Rabbi Tzadok, which developed a blemish in its lips.^{[1, 4]} Halakha determines that an unblemished firstborn is eaten by the priest only after its sacrificial portions are offered, whereas a blemished firstborn is permitted to be eaten as ordinary meat without offering.^[1] Because of the suspicion that priests would intentionally inflict blemishes on firstborn animals in order to permit them for eating, the Sages decreed a prohibition on eating any firstborn that developed a blemish in the possession of a priest.^[1] Rabbi Tzadok asked Rabbi Yehoshua whether this decree applies also to priests who are Torah scholars, who are presumed trustworthy and sin-fearing, or only to priests who are ignorant.^{[1, 4]} Rabbi Yehoshua ruled leniently and distinguished between Torah scholars and the ignorant, but Rabban Gamliel ruled stringently, equally, and prohibited eating for all.^{[1, 4]} When Rabban Gamliel came to the study hall and asked whether anyone disagreed with his ruling, Rabbi Yehoshua at first denied the fact that he had disagreed with it, out of a desire to prevent a dispute.^{[1, 4]} Rabban Gamliel, who discovered that he had ruled otherwise, forced him to stand on his feet and admit it before everyone, and left him standing for a long hour while he himself lectured before the assembly.^{[1, 4, 10]} This humiliation aroused enormous resentment among the people, who defended his honor.^{[1, 4]}

The final, third explosion occurred over the question of the status of the evening prayer – whether it is "optional" or "obligatory."^{[4, 9]} Rabbi Yehoshua ruled that it is an optional prayer, whereas Rabban Gamliel determined that it is obligatory.^[4] In this confrontation too the humiliating pattern recurred in which Rabban Gamliel forced Rabbi Yehoshua to stand on his feet throughout the entire lecture in the study hall.^{[4, 10]} At this stage the patience of the members of the Sanhedrin snapped; out of anger at the repeated injury to Rabbi Yehoshua's honor, they decided to remove Rabban Gamliel from the office of Nasi.^{[4, 9]} The members of the Sanhedrin considered appointing Rabbi Yehoshua himself as Nasi in his place, but refrained from doing so because he was a direct and personal party to the dispute, which could have been construed as a personal coup.^{[4, 9]} In his place Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, who was young and wealthy, was chosen.^{[4, 9]} After a time, when Rabban Gamliel appeased Rabbi Yehoshua at his home, Rabban Gamliel was restored to his position in a rotation arrangement in which the presidency was divided between him and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah.^[4]

The Rehabilitation of the Nation after the Destruction and Healthy Mourning

After the collapse of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple, Rabbi Yehoshua confronted a wave of national despair and extreme mourning that threatened to consume the life forces of the people.^{[11, 12]} Many groups of "Perushim" imposed on themselves extreme self-denials, including total abstention from eating meat and drinking wine.^{[11, 12]} Rabbi Yehoshua engaged them and conducted with them a sophisticated Socratic dialogue whose aim was to hold up a mirror to the unfeasibility of total mourning.^{[11, 12]} When the Perushim explained their abstinence by saying that meat and wine had been offered and poured as libations upon the altar and were now abolished, Rabbi Yehoshua replied that by this logic they should also abstain from eating bread (since the meal-offerings had been abolished), from eating fruit (since the first fruits had been abolished) and from drinking water (since the water libation of the festival of Sukkot had been abolished).^{[11, 12]} These pointed questions brought the Perushim to complete silence.^[12]

At this point Rabbi Yehoshua presented the balanced model of healthy and constructive mourning; he explained that on the one hand it is impossible not to mourn at all over the national catastrophe, but on the other hand one may not impose upon the public decrees that most of the public cannot endure.^[12] As an alternative to paralyzing self-denials, Rabbi Yehoshua instituted a series of symbolic rites of remembrance integrated into the routine of life and building.^[12] He ruled that when a person builds his house and plasters it with lime, he must leave a small area unplastered as a remembrance of the destruction (unless he mixed sand or straw into the lime, in which case full plastering is permitted because this is considered "tarkhasid," which dulls the whiteness).^{[12, 13]} Likewise, when preparing a banquet or a woman's jewelry, one must omit a small item to recall the national lack.^[12]

This special symbolism found expression in the custom of placing "ashes of burning" (scorched ash) on the head of the bridegroom in place of the tefillin, based on the words of the prophet Isaiah "to give them a garland instead of ashes," which promises that whoever mourns over Jerusalem will merit to see her joy.^[12] Rabbi Yehoshua also acted as a teacher of halakha and a spiritual guide for future generations, with the intention of preparing the people for the future building of the Third Temple.^[9] He went up together with the Sages of Israel to behold the ruins of the Holy of Holies at the time when the Romans planned to plow up the city and to establish in it a pagan city.^[9] His sober and painful outlook on the reality of the destruction found expression in his halakhic testimony: "From the day the Temple was destroyed, there is no day that has no curse, the dew did not descend for blessing, and the taste of the fruits was taken away."^[14]

International Diplomacy, Theological Disputations and the Encounter with the Sages of Athens

Rabbi Yehoshua's political and diplomatic skills made him the chief ambassador of the Jewish people before the Roman Empire and before philosophers and men of religion throughout the ancient world.^{[1, 2, 15]} One of the most significant events occurred in the days of the reign of Hadrian (around 130 CE), when the wicked kingdom initially decreed that the Temple be rebuilt.^{[15, 16]} Following the declaration, wealthy leaders such as Pappus and Lulianus set up banking tables from Acre to Antioch in order to provide those ascending from the Diaspora with silver, gold and all their physical needs.^[16] However, the Cutheans (Samaritans) hastened to sabotage the plan and reported to the emperor that if this rebellious city were rebuilt and its walls completed, the Jews would refuse to pay various taxes ("mindah" – that is, the measure of the land, "belo" – that is, the provogiron tax, and "halakh" – that is, the angaria tax).^[16] The emperor withdrew from his intention and canceled the building of the Temple.^{[1, 2]}

The frustrated and furious Jews gathered in their masses in the Valley of Beit Rimmon and began to plan an armed rebellion against the empire.^{[1, 2, 16]} The Sages of Israel, who understood that such a rebellion would lead to mass slaughter and the final destruction of the Jewish settlement, asked Rabbi Yehoshua to calm the spirits by means of his wondrous powers of persuasion.^{[1, 2]} Rabbi Yehoshua rose before the people and delivered the famous parable of the lion and the stork (or the Egyptian "kore" with the long beak).^{[2, 16]} The parable tells of a lion with a bone stuck in its throat who promised a great reward to whoever would remove it.^{[1, 2]} The stork inserted its long beak into the lion's mouth, drew out the bone, and when it asked for its reward the lion replied that the very fact that it had entered the mouth of a hungry lion and emerged in peace was its greatest reward.^[2] Rabbi Yehoshua applied the moral to the political reality vis-à-vis Rome: "So too we – it is enough for us that we entered this nation and emerged in peace, and this is our reward."^[2] This realistic argument made it clear to the masses that, against the devouring might of the empire, physical survival and the preservation of spiritual independence are the maximum achievement, and it prevented terrible bloodshed.^{[2, 16]} Throughout his old age Rabbi Yehoshua continued to travel to Rome to the emperor in order to intercede and ease the situation of Israel in the face of harsh decrees that had been issued against them.^[2]

Alongside political diplomacy, Rabbi Yehoshua conducted brilliant philosophical and theological disputations with the sages of the nations of the world.^{[1, 4]} He debated extensively with the emperor Hadrian and became known as one who successfully contended with the great sages of Athens (the "elders of the house of Athens").^{[1, 15, 17]} A theological confrontation of profound significance is described in tractate Chagigah, where a certain heretic (min) made insulting hand gestures toward Rabbi Yehoshua in the emperor's palace.^{[18, 19]} The heretic signaled with his hand that the people of Israel is a people whose God has completely hidden His face from it and rejected it.^[19] Rabbi Yehoshua answered him with a counter-gesture, signaling that the hand of the Creator is still stretched out over us to protect us.^[19]

The commentary "Ben Yehoyada" on the passage reveals a deep theological layer in this gesture; whereas "face" represents the high spiritual influence of ChaBaD (Chokhmah, Binah, Da'at), which may be hidden at a time of destruction and exile ("I will surely hide My face"), the "hand" represents loving-kindness and strength (the right and left arm) that bestow ceaseless abundance without interruption.^[18] By his gesture Rabbi Yehoshua showed that despite the physical hiding of the face that came with the destruction of the Temple, the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, is always stretched out over us through His unceasing loving-kindness.^{[18, 19]} The emperor, who questioned the heretic about the meaning of the gestures and discovered that he had not understood Rabbi Yehoshua's answer, ordered him put to death on the charge of impudence for making gestures before the emperor without understanding.^[19]

In another dispute, the emperor's daughter mocked him for his outward ugliness and wondered how glorious Torah could dwell in an ugly vessel.^{[1, 15]} Rabbi Yehoshua answered her in kind and showed her that fine wine, which sours in vessels of silver and gold, is preserved well precisely in simple earthenware vessels ("vessels of clay"), and thereby demonstrated that Torah and wisdom exist in the best way precisely in a person who does not fall into the traps of beauty and bodily pride.^{[1, 15]}

His Ethical-Educational Thought and Legacy for the Generations

The ethical and educational teaching of Rabbi Yehoshua, as formulated in tractate Avot, places interpersonal and social relationships at the top of the scale of values required for achieving human perfection.^{[1, 20]} When Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai turned to his disciples and asked them to go out and see what is "the straight path to which a person should cleave," Rabbi Yehoshua answered: "A good friend."^{[1, 3, 20]} The commentary of the Bartenura explains that a good friend is a person who rebukes his friend when he sees him doing something improper.^[3] Rabbeinu Yonah adds a deep psychological touch and clarifies that when the good friend advises a person to remove his faults, the person is not ashamed before him and is not angry with him, because he knows that his friend's heart is sincere toward him, and as a result he is ready to listen to his advice and correct his ways.^[3] By contrast, a "good neighbor," ranked by Rabbi Yose, represents only constant physical presence by day and by night, whereas a "good friend" signifies a deep spiritual bond of counsel, guidance and moral rebuke.^[3] Conversely, the evil path from which one must keep far is a "bad friend," who constantly entices a person and leads him to stray from the straight path.^[3] Rabbi Yehoshua also warned against three inner forces that remove a person from the world: "an evil eye, the evil inclination, and hatred of people," which represent the collapse of a person's social and psychological structure.^[1]

Rabbi Yehoshua's legacy remains engraved as a model of sober, courageous and pragmatic leadership, combining uncompromising social sensitivity with firm adherence to his principles.^{[4, 9]} In his final moments, when he was about to die, Sages gathered around him in deep concern and asked him: "Who now will stand for us against the heretics?"^[11] Rabbi Yehoshua reassured them and answered them on the basis of the verse in Jeremiah: "Counsel has perished from the sons – their wisdom has become corrupted" – since counsel has perished from the sons (the people of Israel), the wisdom of the nations has become corrupted and vanished, and they will not have the power to defeat you in theological disputations.^[11] His death left an immense void in Jewish leadership, a void formulated in a baraita that appears at the end of tractate Sotah and in tractate Chagigah ^{[11, 21]}:

"When Rabbi Yehoshua died, counsel and thought ceased."^{[11, 21]}

The statement that "counsel and thought ceased" does not reduce his figure to intellectual ability alone, but illuminates his rare capacity to steer the course of a people without sovereign territory, to pilot the Jewish ship through the stormy geopolitical waters of the Roman period, and to preserve the unity of the Oral Torah in an era of destruction and uncertainty.^{[2, 21]}