Rabbi Akiva; Greatest Scholar of His Time of Years 50 to 135 (Talmudic Period)

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

Rabbi Akiva was of humble origins, being a shepherd all his life.    He was a Jew who remained uneducated until the age of 40 which was highly unusual, back in these days  of Roman occupation in Jerusalem when he was born  in the year 50.  Twenty more years and the Romans will burn down Jerusalem and the Temple.  Jews were in a period of unrest and questions during this period.  Essenes were off in caves without women, studying and living in  male-only groups, like fraternities.   

It was his wife, Rachel, daughter of the rich Kalba Savua/Sabbua, who helped him, to finally devote himself to learning.  "His employer, Kalba Savua, was one of the wealthiest men in Yerushalayim. His home was like a palace, full of food and drink for everyone who came to visit. Many guests came, not only poor and needy people, but also the wise and the learned, for Kalba Savua was known as a man who respected the Torah and its scholars."  Like most all fathers, Kalba Sabbua had hoped that Rachel would want to marry one of his rich friends, but Rachel was young and thought differently.  "Most people thought Akiva was a very plain simple man, but Rachel saw that he was modest and polite and that he had more good sense than most of the people she knew. She would often think, “If only he could study Torah, he would be wiser and more righteous than anyone else!”  The typical story of lovers, they married without her father's permission.

She and Akiva were poor but happy. They rented a small shed. They used straw for pillows and blankets, and they ate whatever meagre food they could afford. Akiva grieved to see his beloved Rachel suffer. She had been used to such luxuries and comforts! Now her hands were rough from the cold and her beautiful hair was covered with straw instead of gold and silver ornaments. “If only I could, I would give you a ‘Jerusalem of gold,’ a golden pin with a picture of Yerushalayim engraved on it,” he said.  

Rachel and Akiva had two daughters and one son. One of their daughters was married to Ben Azzai, a 2nd-century Tanna. (teacher of this period of 1st 2 centuries CE, beginning with the death of Rabbi Hillel and Shammai and ending with the generation after Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi.  This makes 6 generations of Tannaim..)          

This is what Rachel wanted.  She wanted him to study and become a teacher, even though they had children to support.    "He chopped down trees for firewood and sold them in the marketplace to earn money for food. Whenever he could, he sent money to Rachel, but sometimes she went hungry.                                         

For twelve years Akiva learned Torah. In all that time he did not once return home, for he and Rachel agreed that he would not come back until he felt he had finished his studies.  At last, after the twelfth year, Rabbi Akiva returned, at the age of 52 or older.   He was now a famous rabbi and he came with 12,000 students! Rabbi Akiva went directly to Rachel’s house."

I imagine that Rachel had extra support from her father when Akiva had left. It was more important to her that her husband could use his mind in studying and return in a better and more auspicious position.  It would also be better for her and their children.                                                     

 He had studied with many leading scholars and developed his own method of biblical interpretation according to which every word and sign in the Bible has a particular significance and can be used to establish a source for accepted halakhic decision.

Akiva was most interested in the Oral Law of the Torah.  He collected and arranged the whole Oral Law according to subjects, and on this basis the Mishnah was later recorded by Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi and his colleagues.  Akiva was regarded as the greatest scholar of his time, and thousands of students studied at his school in Beneberak, Jerusalem.

                                                                

Bnei Brak takes its name from the ancient Biblical city of Beneberak, mentioned in the Tanakh (Joshua 19:45) in a long list of towns within the allotment of the tribe of Dan.

 Bnei Brak was founded as an agricultural village by eight Polish Hasidic families who had come to Palestine as part of the Fourth Aliyah. Yitzchok Gerstenkorn led them. It was founded about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the site of Biblical Beneberak.  Bnei Brak was originally a moshava, and the primary economic activity was the cultivation of citrus fruits. Due to a lack of land, many of the founders turned to other occupations, and the village began to develop an urban character. Arye Mordechai Rabinowicz, formerly rabbi of Kurów in Poland, was the first rabbi. He was succeeded by Rabbi Yosef Kalisz, a scion of the Vurker dynasty. The town was set up as a religious settlement from the outset, as is evident from this description of the pioneers:              

B'nai Brak is a city located on the central Mediterranean coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an area of 709 hectares (1752 acres, or 2.74 square miles), and had a population of 204,639 in 2019. It is one of the poorest and most densely populated cities in Israel, and the fourth-most densely populated city in the world.

Akiva's  interest in mystical speculation is reflected in the statement that he was the only one of 4 rabbis who studied mysticism and remained unscathed.  He also participated in political missions, traveling with Rabbi Gamaliel, etc, to Rome to secure the reversal of Domitian's legislation against the Jews and journeying widely among Jewish communities outside of Palestine.                                    

Rabbi Akiva had also developed a way of teaching morality to young children.  He used the alphabet and used moral sayings for teaching the Hebrew alphabet to small children.  This is in the Late Midrash.                              

  Simeon bar Kokhba took back Jerusalem in 132 but was killed in 135. He was the aluf who dared and had amassed an army to do so.  It was a revolt against Hadrian in 132.  Not all rabbis had accepted Akiva's view of bar Kokhba being the much awaited Messiah.  We have learned from this not to accept as the Messiah someone we "know  so well" as the Messiah.

According to Talmudic tradition, he was one of Bar Kokhba's enthusiastic supporters, saying of him, "This is the king-messiah!"  When the Roman government prohibited the study of the Law, Akiva ignored the decree publicly.  He was arrested as a rebel and remained long in in prison, being finally executed at Caesarea. "The Romans took him out of prison to be executed but before that, had lacerated his flesh with iron combs." His disciples were the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people during subsequent generations, while various later works were falsely ascribed to him in order to lend them authority.  No rabbi of the Talmudic period made a more profound impression on Jewish history and on the imagination of the Jewish people.  

This story is of great interest to me as I personally saw something like this during my own education.  I was the youngest student at Lewis & Clark College when I started as a freshman, and was in classes with returnee veterans of the Korean War at Portland State U , older students.  What a difference in behavior.  While the college age students and I were quiet, shy and afraid of asking questions of the professor, these men were always asking and commenting in the time of discussion.  They were mature and knew more.  It was a privilege to be in class with them, but it made me all the shyer.  I didn't want to appear to be stupid. 

                                                                                             College of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho where Danny graduated

 Let this be a lesson to people wanting to get that education !  When I married Danny, I did the same thing without knowing about Rabbi Akiva.  I continued to teach and sent him back to college since he had only had a year of it before going into the Air Force.  He left the motor vehicles department in testing new drivers to becoming a teacher with a Master's Degree, something I had not attained.  He had just needed to be "driven."

  

Research

https://bje.org.au/knowledge-centre/what-is-judaism/akiva-and-rachel/

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

The Jewish Kingdom of Kuzar, the rise and fall of the legendary country of converts, Khazaria, by Rabbi Zeleg Shachnowitz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bnei_Brak