יד יוסף: Graves of the Righteous

בס"ד

On Thursday, 8 July 2020, I visited the grave of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Elazar ben Arach. He was the most talented of the five principal students of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zaki and praised as greater than all of them put together, like an overpowering stream.. He considered being good hearted as the best characteristic a person could have. His guiding principles were, "Be diligent in Torah study; know how to answer an apostate; and know before whom you toil, who is the master of your craft, that he will pay you the wages of your labor (see Ethics of Our Fathers chapter 2).

Midrash Tehillim (1:17) applies the verse, “In everything he does, he succeeds”, (Psalm 1:3), to him, explaining that everybody needs his advice. It continues that when he advised people things turned out the way he said and the counsel he gave was successful. As such they would call him a prophet. He replied that he certainly was not a prophet. Rather he had learned from his rabbis that all advice that is given for the sake of heaven in the end will be fulfilled. This is because the word of G-d is in it.

The Jerusalem Talmud (Hagiga 9:1) praises Rabbi Elazar ben Arach as a great mystic. It recounts an incident where his teacher, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zaki, asks him to discuss a topic in מעשה מרכבה, loosely translated, the workings of the chariot or metaphysics. When he started his discourse fire descended from heaven and surrounded them. There were angels were leaping before them, like a wedding party rejoicing before a bridegroom. One angel answered from the midst of the fire and said that the workings of heaven are in accordance with the words of Eleazar ben Arakh. Rabbi Yochanon ben Zaki then exclaimed blessed is G-d that he gave our patriarchs such a son. There are those who expound properly but do not practice properly; and those who practice properly but do not expound properly; however, Eleazar ben Arakh expounds properly and practices properly. Blessed is Abraham that he had such a descendant. Two other students continued the discourse. A heavenly voice declared the place is reserved for you, the table is set for you, and you are invited to participate. The idea is that Rabbi Elazar ben Arach understood and conveyed to others a very difficult subject. The difficulty is that the Talmud does not bring the actual discourse.

Avot d’Rabbi Nathan (אבות דרבי נתן) (14:6) recounts Rabbi Yochanan ben Zaki’s distress at the death of his son. His students came to console him. The first mentioned how Adam the first man also lost a son. The rabbi was not consoled and said, “My own sorrow is not enough that you have to mention to me the sorrow of Adam”. Three other students followed with similar words eliciting the same response.

When Rabbi Elazar ben Arach saw that his teacher was really upset, he tried a different approach. He took his rabbi to the bathhouse. When he was relaxed gave words of comfort saying, let me give you an allegory. This is like a man who had a king ask him to watch over a valuable possession. Every day the man would scream and cry, when will I be free from this thing in peace? You are like this too my rabbi. You had a son. He read the Torah, prophets, sacred writings, the Mishna, legends, and he departed from this world without sin. It should be a consolation to you that you returned this deposit in perfect condition. Rabbi Yochanon replied, “Rabbi Elazar, my son, has comforted me in the way that people should be comforted”.

When Rabbi Yochanan passed away, four of his students went to the yeshiva at Yavneh. Rabbi Elazar ben Arach, however, joined his wife at Dyomset, a place of good water and beautiful scenery. He set up a yeshiva but nobody came. He then wanted to join his colleagues in Yavneh, but his wife would not agree to. "Who needs who?'' she asked. "They need me" he answered. She replied, "Does a bottle of wine travel to the mice or do the mice come to the wine?’ He heard her and settled there until he forgot his education. After a while they came and asked him "Which is better to eat along with a condiment, wheat bread or barley bread?" But he didn't know what to reply (see Ecclesiastes Raba 7:7b).

The answer is not immediately apparent and the commentaries on this are sparse. One, the Etz Yosef, brings a source which indicates the answer is barley bread. The logic seems to be that wheat bread is pleasant to eat by itself but barley bread not so much. However if barley bread has a condiment, it becomes pleasing. Therefore barley bread is superior with a condiment.

This is what is known as פִּלפּוּל תלמידי חכמים which may be best understood as the light hearted debates among wise students. They can be based on oblique connections, puns, and novel interpretation of the text. An example would be the mitzvah of eating matzah and maror physically together at the Passover Seder in order to precisely fulfill the words as they are stated in the Chumash. This does not seem to be the intent of the verse. Rather it means that a nice meal should be served at the seder which would include bread and a tossed salad. The joke is tongue in cheek and is amusing if you get it. A proper reply to the Etz Yosef would be to disagree saying even though a dip may make barley bread palatable, its improvement of proper wheat bread is far greater, and so on and so forth.

Discourses of this nature are very common in the Gemara and a major component of yeshiva education. If taken in earnest, which is not uncommon, a serious person may view it as a pinheaded analysis of minutiae. The result may be exasperation to irritating practices based on foolish logic, which have no basis in reality or morality and are in fact a mockery of the five books of Moses. It would seem that Rabbi Elazar ben Arach’s interest in this type of approach did not extend beyond the walls of the yeshiva.

The Gemara Shabbos (147b) adds to the story of the loss of Rabbi Elazar. It starts by saying that the wine of Phrygia and the water of the Deyomset deprived Israel of the ten lost tribes. This was because the members of these tribes were attracted to the pleasures of wine and bathing and did not occupy themselves with Torah, they were lost to the Jewish people. It continues, Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh happened to come there. He was drawn after these pleasures and it uprooted his yeshiva scholarship.

When he returned, he was given an aliya and asked to read from the sefer Torah. He was supposed to read ״הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם״ [haḥodesh hazeh lakhem - This month shall be for you]” (Exodus 12:2), but he read it as, "The deaf-mute was their heart" (haḥeresh haya libbam - הַחֵרֵשׁ הָיָה לִבָּם), interchanging the similar letters reish for dalet, yod for zayin, and beit for khaf. Sometimes, though, handwriting is very poor even in a Sefer Torah. It is possible that this was in fact what was written and in a Freudian slip he read it as such. In any event the Rabbis asked G-d to have mercy on him, and his learning was restored.

The Gemara finishes saying we learned in a mishna that Rabbi Nehorai says: Exile yourself to a place of Torah and do not say that the Torah will come after you, or that your colleagues will impart it to you, and do not rely on your own understanding about this (see Ethics of our Fathers 4:14). It was taught: Rabbi Nehorai was not his name, but rather Rabbi Neḥemya was his name and some say that it was Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh. And why was he called Rabbi Nehorai? It was because he would illuminate [manhir] the eyes of the Sages in halakha.

This is typically viewed as a warning against doing what Rabbi Elazar did and a rebuke of him. The stories suggest that he was very insightful, creative and influential and one would expect him to be cited many times. Instead it is very sparse, basically what is written here.

Part of the reason may be that the help he extended to others was in painful and embarrassing situations. As a result they did not go into details rather simply gave him lavish general praise. Also the text suggests that he was often ignored, marginalized, mocked, belittled, and typically outside the fold.

It could be that after he left the yeshiva world, he deteriorated and became a disgrace. It’s also possible that he was estranged and devoted his talents to other pursuits but, I can't say that this is problematic.

At some point religious studies can be a profession, hobby, or personal interest. Teaching is a high calling, especially religious studies, but the moral difference between an accountant in a yeshiva and a grocery store may be negligible. In addition it is important to consider the dissemination of knowledge that the world needs. It comes out that if there are many people studying the Gemara but few can identify the north star, it may further the cause of heaven to study astronomy than learn the Daf Yomi a second time.

I would say these are the foundations of Jewish religious thought and practice:

1. conversant about the Chumash

2. memorize the Ten Commandments and use them as a practical and moral guide

3. know the contents of the siddur and be able to use it as a handbook

4. read a book of Jewish law entirely, periodically review it, and consult it when necessary. E.G. Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, Rambam, Shulchan Aruch, Arba'ah Turim, Aruch HaShulchan

5. Knowledge of basic principles of the Kabbalah specifically the 10 Sferos, the 4 or 5 universes, and the 4 of 5 faces (partzufim).

The Tanya, writings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav, and the Mishna Brura provide refinements.

What in fact happened to Rabbi Elazar ben Arach is a matter of speculation. In any event his tomb is very distinguished. It is housed in a large building with seats, books, a picnic table, running water with a bathroom nearby. Next to his grave are the graves of other prominent Talmudic scholars including some of his fellow students of Rabbi Yochanon ben Zaki. They are tastefully well preserved, but not nearly like his.

The tomb of Rabbi Elazar ben Arach is hidden away in the Galilee but easily accessible. From the central bus station in Safed take bus # 45 to the second to last stop, Alma 1 (עלמה) on Route 886. There’s a sign on the road identifying the trail to the grave. It’s less than a ten minute walk. Google maps will point the way.

Getting there was a bit of an adventure. From Beit Shemesh I caught Bus 597 to B’nei Brak a bit after 9:00 a.m., however an hour earlier would have been better. From there I took the 981 to Tsafat. The bus was crowded, the other passengers could have been better mannered, and there was significant traffic, but I’ve seen much worse. On top of that my stomach was a bit skittish. At Tsafat Bus 45 was waiting on the platform. I would have liked to use the bathroom but it wasn’t a necessity. It was 3:15 and I didn’t want to wait another hour so I just took it. Google Maps instructed me to disembark at “School (בית ספר)” on 10 Nart (נארת) Street in Raihaniyya. Unfortunately a fence surrounding the town prevents access to the path to the grave. The way back to Rt. 886 was not clear so I went back to the bus stop. I grabbed something to eat at a picnic table at the school across the street from a lunch I had packed. I didn’t notice any open restaurants. While I was trying to figure out what to do, the bus came. I explained the situation to the driver, who kindly and knowingly nodded his head. He then let me hitch a ride and dropped me off at the precise place.

It was a pleasant walk. The surrounding area is quite beautiful with many olive trees. The pavilion was easy to identify. Once there I said a number of Psalms. I said a number of Psalms including 45 and 134 which are praises of religious scholars, 46 tranquility in times of war, 148 beauty of nature. I said the prayer that was posted on the wall and made special requests, but I can’t recall what. I made a video for YouTube thanking my readers for their support. I had something to eat including rugelach that someone had donated to the site. A person was there studying and as I left a group of grammar school students came with a meal. I felt very relaxed and happy there.

For the trip back I had to add money for the bus to my Rav Kav card. There was a machine for this in the Tsafat Bus Station, but I couldn't get it to work. Thank G-d there was an employee to help me. It would have been better to fill it before I left. I also had to pay attention to the battery on my smartphone, but I was able to recharge it on the bus. It was after 11:00 at night when I got back to my apartment. It was a busy day but very worthwhile and enjoyable. May Rabbi Elazar ben Arach be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.