Lag BaOmer

[Esoteric]

A Lag BaOmer bonfire celebration in Israel, symbol of the holiday
Official name
לַ״ג בָּעוֹמֶר‎
Type
Jewish
Significance
33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which begins the 2nd day of Pesach
Begins
18th day of Iyar
Date
18 Iyar
2023 date
Sunset, 8 May –
nightfall, 9 May
2024 date
Sunset, 25 May –
nightfall, 26 May
2025 date
Sunset, 15 May –
nightfall, 16 May
2026 date
Sunset, 4 May –
nightfall, 5 May
Related to
Pesach, Shavuot, Counting of the Omer
According to some of the Rishonim, it is the day on which the plague that killed Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples came to an end, and for this reason the mourning period of the Counting of the Omer concludes on Lag BaOmer in many communities.[2]

According to modern kabbalah, this day is the Hillula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and/or the anniversary of his death. According to a late medieval tradition, Simeon ben Yochai is buried in Meron, and this association has spawned several well-known customs and practices on Lag BaOmer, including the lighting of bonfires and pilgrimages to Meron.[3]

Additionally, in modern-day Israel, the holiday also serves to commemorate the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans.[4]

Etymology
Origins
Customs and practices
Rabbinic controversy
Zionism
See also
References
Sources
External links

modern Israel, early Zionists redefined Lag BaOmer from a rabbinic-oriented celebration to a commemoration of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire (132–136 CE). According to work published by Yael Zerubavel of Rutgers University, a number of Lag BaOmer traditions were reinterpreted by Zionist ideologues to focus on the victory of the Bar Kokhba rebels rather than their ultimate defeat at Betar three years later. The plague that decimated Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples was explained as a veiled reference to the revolt; the 33rd day when the plague ended was explained as the day of Bar Kokhba's victory. By the late 1940s, Israeli textbooks for schoolchildren painted Bar Kokhba as the hero while Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Akiva stood on the sidelines, cheering him on. This interpretation lent itself to singing and dancing around bonfires by night to celebrate Bar Kokhba's victory, and playing with bows and arrows by day to remember the actions of Bar Kokhba's rebel forces.[14]

This interpretation of the holiday reinforced the Zionist reading of Jewish history and underscored their efforts to establish an independent Jewish state. As Benjamin Lau writes in Haaretz:

This is how Lag Ba'omer became a part of the Israeli-Zionist psyche during the first years of Zionism and Israel. A clear distinction became evident between Jews and Israelis in the way the day was celebrated: The religious Jews lit torches in Rashbi's [Shimon bar Yochai's] honor and sang songs about him, while young Israelis, sitting around an alternative bonfire, sang about a hero "whom the entire nation loved" and focused on the image of a powerful hero who galloped on a lion in his charges against the Romans.[39]

Lag BaOmer is Hebrew for "33rd [day] in the Omer". The Hebrew letter ל (lamed) or "L" has the numerical value of 30 and ג (gimmel) or "G" has the numerical value of 3 (see Hebrew numerals). A vowel sound is conventionally added for pronunciation purposes.

Etymology

Some Jews call this holiday Lag LaOmer, which means "33rd [day] of the Omer", as opposed to Lag BaOmer, "33rd [day] in the Omer". Lag BaOmer is the traditional method of counting by some Ashkenazi and Hasidic Jews; Lag LaOmer is the count used by Sephardi Jews. Lag LaOmer is also the name used by Yosef Karo, who was a Sepharadi, in his Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 493:2, and cf. 489:1 where BaOmer is inserted by Moses Isserles).[5] (The form Lag B'Omer ["33rd day of an Omer"] is also sometimes used, though it is not grammatically correct in this setting.)

In modern Israel, Lag BaOmer is "a symbol for the fighting Jewish spirit". The Palmach division of the Haganah was established on Lag BaOmer 1941,[dubious – discuss] and the government order creating the Israel Defense Forces was issued on Lag BaOmer 1948.[40] Beginning in 2004, the Israeli government designated Lag BaOmer as the day for saluting the IDF reserves

Lag BaOmer
Article Talk
Language
Download PDF
Watch

Lag BaOmer (Hebrew: לַ״ג בָּעוֹמֶר‎, LaG Bāʿōmer), also Lag B'Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar.[1]

Lag BaOmer

A Lag BaOmer bonfire celebration in Israel, symbol of the holiday

Official name
לַ״ג בָּעוֹמֶר
‎
Type
Jewish

Significance
33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which begins the 2nd day of Pesach

Begins
18th day of Iyar

Date
18 Iyar

2023 date
Sunset, 8 May –
nightfall, 9 May

2024 date
Sunset, 25 May –
nightfall, 26 May

2025 date
Sunset, 15 May –
nightfall, 16 Ma

2026 date
Sunset, 4 May –
nightfall, 5 May

Related to
Pesach, Shavuot, Counting of the Omer
According to some of the Rishonim, it is the day on which the plague that killed Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples came to an end, and for this reason the mourning period of the Counting of the Omer concludes on Lag BaOmer in many communities.[2]

According to modern kabbalah, this day is the Hillula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and/or the anniversary of his death. According to a late medieval tradition, Simeon ben Yochai is buried in Meron, and this association has spawned several well-known customs and practices on Lag BaOmer, including the lighting of bonfires and pilgrimages to Meron.[3]

Additionally, in modern-day Israel, the holiday also serves to commemorate the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans.[4]

A Lag BaOmer bonfire celebration in Israel, symbol of the holiday

Official name
לַ״ג בָּעוֹמֶר
‎
Type
Jewish

Significance
33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which begins the 2nd day of Pesach

Begins
18th day of Iyar

Date
18 Iyar

2023 date
Sunset, 8 May –
nightfall, 9 May

2024 date
Sunset, 25 May –
nightfall, 26 May

2025 date
Sunset, 15 May –
nightfall, 16 May

2026 date
Sunset, 4 May –
nightfall, 5 May

Related to
Pesach, Shavuot, Counting of the Omer
According to some of the Rishonim, it is the day on which the plague that killed Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples came to an end, and for this reason the mourning period of the Counting of the Omer concludes on Lag BaOmer in many communities.[2]

According to modern kabbalah, this day is the Hillula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and/or the anniversary of his death. According to a late medieval tradition, Simeon ben Yochai is buried in Meron, and this association has spawned several well-known customs and practices on Lag BaOmer, including the lighting of bonfires and pilgrimages to Meron.[3]


Additionally, in modern-day Israel, the holiday also serves to commemorate the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans.[4]

The origins of Lag BaOmer as a minor festival are unclear. The earliest clear reference to the observance of Lag BaOmer is a gloss to Mahzor Vitry in BL Add MS 27,201 (f. 227r), if it is the work of Isaac ben Dorbolo. The gloss points out that Purim and Lag BaOmer always fall on the same day of the week, but says nothing about the origin of the holiday.[a] Abraham ben Nathan,[6] David ben Levi of Narbonne,[7] MS ex-Montefiore 134,[8] Levi ben Abraham ben Hayyim,[9] Menachem Meiri (citing "a tradition of the geonim"), and Judah Halawa (citing a "yerushalmi")[10] are the first to name Lag BaOmer as the day on which the plague afflicting Rabbi Akiva's students ended, although this is said to explain a previously-existing custom to allow marriages between Lag baOmer and Shavuot.[11] According to MS ex-Montefiore 134, it was traditional to let blood on Lag BaOmer in celebration.[12]

Lag Baomer is commonly said to be the day on which Shimon ben Yochai died. Neither the Chazal nor the Rishonim mention that the date of his death was Lag Baomer.[13] The source for this idea appears to be a passage by Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, which read שמחת רשב"י "the celebration of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai" but was mistakenly printed as שמת רשב"י "when Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai died" - a difference of one letter.[13] The actual origin of kabbalistic traditions of visiting Meron on any of several dates in the month of Iyar date to the Middle Ages; but it is not clear when, by whom, or in what way Lag baOmer was first connected to Shimon ben Yochai.[13]

Nachman Krochmal, a 19th-century Jewish scholar, among others, suggests that the deaths of Rabbi Akiva's students was a veiled reference to the defeat of "Akiva's soldiers" by the Romans, and that Lag BaOmer was the day on which Bar Kokhba enjoyed a brief victory.[11]

During the Middle Ages, Lag BaOmer became a special holiday for rabbinical students and was called "Scholar's Day". It was customary to rejoice on this day through outdoor sports.[14]

According to another suggestion, Lag Baomer was the date on which the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem began under the Emperor Julian. With the failure of this project and the death of Julian, Lag Baomer initially became a fast day. After the Muslim conquest and the end of Christian oppression of Jews in Israel, mourning practices ceased to be observed. The choice to begin the reconstruction on the 33rd day of the omer may have been an anti-Christian polemic, as Jesus was said to have been killed at age 33.[15]

Kabbalistic significance
edit
Lag BaOmer has another significance based on the Kabbalistic custom of assigning a Sefirah to each day and week of the Omer count. The first week corresponds to Chesed, the second week to Gevurah, etc., and similarly, the first day of each week corresponds to Chesed, the second day to Gevurah, etc. Thus, the 33rd day, which is the fifth day of the fifth week, corresponds to Hod she-be-Hod (Splendor within [the week of] Splendor). As such, Lag BaOmer represents the level of spiritual manifestation or Hod that would precede the more physical manifestation of the 49th day (Malkhut she-be-Malkhut, Kingship within [the week of] Kingship), which immediately precedes the holiday of Shavuot.[citation needed]

While the Counting of the Omer is a semi-mourning period, all restrictions of mourning are lifted for Ashkenazim on the 33rd day of the Omer. The Sephardic custom is to cease mourning the following day, celebrations being allowed on the 34th day of the Omer, Lad BaOmer (ל״ד בעומר).[16][17] As a result, weddings, parties, listening to music, and haircuts are commonly scheduled to coincide with Lag BaOmer among Ashkenazi Jews, while Sephardi Jews hold weddings the next day.[18] It is customary mainly among Hassidim that three-year-old boys be given their first haircuts (upsherin). While haircuts may be taken anywhere, if possible, the occasion is traditionally held at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron, Israel, or at the Jerusalem grave of Shimon Hatzaddik for those who cannot travel to Meron.[19]

Families go on picnics and outings. Children go out to the fields with their teachers with bows and rubber-tipped arrows. Tachanun, the prayer for special Divine mercy on one's behalf, is not said on days with a festive character, including Lag BaOmer;[20] when God is showing one a "smiling face", so to speak, as He does especially on the holidays, there is no need to ask for special mercy.[citation needed]

Some rabbis, namely Moses Sofer[34] and Joseph Saul Nathansohn,[35] have opposed the celebration of or the practice of certain customs observed on Lag BaOmer. These halachic scholars pointed out that the way Lag BaOmer is observed differs from the traditional manner in which anniversaries of deaths are observed, as Lag BaOmer is observed in a festive way, whereas usually a yahrtzeit is marked by observances that "bring out the solemn and serious nature of the day".[36] Other issues raised include the practice of throwing clothes into bonfires, which is perceived as wasteful, the fact that the holiday has not been celebrated by earlier sages, and the prohibition of establishing holidays. Nevertheless, these authorities did not ban the holiday.[37]

Other rabbis responded to the aforesaid opposition by explaining that it has been observed by many great rabbis and that expensive clothes are never burned. They relate what happened on the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's death as evidence that the day is very holy and should be celebrated.[38]


In modern Israel, early Zionists redefined Lag BaOmer from a rabbinic-oriented celebration to a commemoration of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire (132–136 CE). According to work published by Yael Zerubavel of Rutgers University, a number of Lag BaOmer traditions were reinterpreted by Zionist ideologues to focus on the victory of the Bar Kokhba rebels rather than their ultimate defeat at Betar three years later. The plague that decimated Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples was explained as a veiled reference to the revolt; the 33rd day when the plague ended was explained as the day of Bar Kokhba's victory. By the late 1940s, Israeli textbooks for schoolchildren painted Bar Kokhba as the hero while Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Akiva stood on the sidelines, cheering him on. This interpretation lent itself to singing and dancing around bonfires by night to celebrate Bar Kokhba's victory, and playing with bows and arrows by day to remember the actions of Bar Kokhba's rebel forces.[14]

This interpretation of the holiday reinforced the Zionist reading of Jewish history and underscored their efforts to establish an independent Jewish state. As Benjamin Lau writes in Haaretz:

This is how Lag Ba'omer became a part of the Israeli-Zionist psyche during the first years of Zionism and Israel. A clear distinction became evident between Jews and Israelis in the way the day was celebrated: The religious Jews lit torches in Rashbi's [Shimon bar Yochai's] honor and sang songs about him, while young Israelis, sitting around an alternative bonfire, sang about a hero "whom the entire nation loved" and focused on the image of a powerful hero who galloped on a lion in his charges against the Romans.[39]

In modern Israel, Lag BaOmer is "a symbol for the fighting Jewish spirit". The Palmach division of the Haganah was established on Lag BaOmer 1941,[dubious – discuss] and the government order creating the Israel Defense Forces was issued on Lag BaOmer 1948.[40] Beginning in 2004, the Israeli government designated Lag BaOmer as the day for saluting the IDF reserves.[41]


Rabbi Akiva

"Akiva" redirects here. For other uses, see Akiva (disambiguation).
Akiva ben Joseph (Mishnaic Hebrew: עֲקִיבָא בֶּן יוֹסֵף, ʿĂqīḇāʾ ben Yōsēp̄; c. 50 – 28 September 135 CE),[1] also known as Rabbi Akiva (רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא), was a leading Jewish scholar and sage, a tanna of the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second century. Rabbi Akiva was a leading contributor to the Mishnah and to Midrash halakha. He is referred to in Tosafot as Rosh la-Hakhamim -"Chief of the Sages".[2] He was executed by the Romans in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt.

Born
c. 50 CE
Lod, Judaea, Roman Empire
Died
28 September 135
Caesarea, Judaea, Roman Empire
Religion
Judaism
Buried
Tiberias, Galilee

Bibliography

Early years

Akiva ben Joseph (written עֲקִיבָא in the Babylonian Talmud and עֲקִיבָה in the Jerusalem Talmud),[3] born c. 50 CE, was of humble parentage.[4][5] According to some sources, he was descended from converts to Judaism.[6]

When Akiva married the daughter of Ben Kalba Sabuaʿ (בֶּן כַּלְבָּא שָׂבוּעַ),[a] a wealthy citizen of Jerusalem, Akiva was an uneducated shepherd employed by him. The first name of Akiva's wife is not provided in earlier sources, but a later version of the tradition gives it as Rachel.[4][8] She stood loyally by her husband during the period of his late initiation into rabbinic studies after he was 40 years of age,[4] and in which Akiva dedicated himself to the study of Torah.

A different tradition[8] narrates that, at the age of 40, Akiva attended the academy of his native town, Lod, presided over by Eliezer ben Hurcanus. Hurcanus was a neighbour of Joseph, the father of Akiva. The fact that Eliezer was his first teacher, and the only one whom Akiva later designates as "rabbi", is of importance in settling the date of Akiva's birth. These legends set the beginning of his years of study at about 75–80CE.

Besides Eliezer, Akiva studied under Joshua ben Hananiah[8] and Nachum Ish Gamzu.[9] According to the Jerusalem Talmud, R. Joshua ordained Akiva as his fellow-student, presumably with semikhah.[10] Akiva was on equal footing with Gamaliel II, whom he later met. Rabbi Tarfon was considered as one of Akiva's masters,[11] but the pupil outranked his teacher and he became one of Akiva's greatest admirers.[4][12] Akiva remained in Lod[4][13] as long as Eliezer dwelt there, and then moved his own school to Beneberak.[4][14] Akiva also lived for some time at Ziphron,[15] modern Zafran[16] near Hamath.[17]

Marriage

According to the Talmud, Akiva was a shepherd for Ben Kalba Sabuaʿ when the latter's daughter noticed his modesty and fine character traits. She offered to marry him if he would agree to begin studying Torah, as at the time he was 40 years old and illiterate. When her father found out she was secretly betrothed[18] to an unlearned man, he was furious. He drove his daughter out of his house, swearing that he would never help her while Akiva remained her husband. Akiva and his wife lived in such poverty that they used straw for their bed. The Talmud relates that once Elijah the prophet assumed the guise of a poor man and came to their door to beg for some straw for a bed for his wife[4] after she had given birth. When Akiva and his wife saw that there were people even poorer than they, Rachel said to him, "Go, and become a scholar".[19]

By agreement with his wife, Akiva spent twelve years away from home, pursuing his studies. He would make a living by cutting wood from the forest, selling half for his wife's and children's wellbeing, and using the other half for keeping a fire burning at night to keep himself warm and to provide light thereby for his own studies.[20] Returning at the end of twelve years accompanied by 12,000 disciples, at the point of entering his home he overheard his wife say to a neighbour who was critical of his long absence: "If I had my wish, he should stay another twelve years at the academy." Without crossing the threshold, Akiva went back to the academy. He returned twelve years later escorted by 24,000 disciples. When his wife went out to greet him, some of his students, not knowing who she was, sought to restrain her.[4] But Akiva exclaimed, "Let her alone; for what is mine and yours, is hers" (she deserves the credit for our Torah study). Not knowing who he was, Ben Kalba Sabuaʿ also approached Akiva and asked him for help annulling his vow to disown his daughter and her husband. Akiva asked him, "Would you have made your vow if you had known that he would become a great scholar?" Ben Kalba Sabuaʿ replied, "Had I known that he would learn even one chapter or one single Halakha, ". Akiva said to him, "I am that man". Ben Kalba Sabuaʿ fell at Akiva's feet and gave him half his wealth.[19][21]

According to another source,[22] Akiva saw that at some future time he would take in marriage the wife of Turnus Rufus (his executioner, also known as Quintus Tineius Rufus) after she converted to Judaism, for which reason he spat on the ground (for having come from a fetid drop), smiled (at her conversion) and wept (at such beauty eventually rotting in the dust after death). The motive behind this marriage is not given.

suppression of the Bar Kochba revolution; otherwise the delay of the Romans in executing him would be quite inexplicable.[39] That the religious interdicts of Hadrian preceded the overthrow of Bar Kochba is shown by the Mekhilta.[40][4]

Jewish sources relate that he was subjected to combing, a Roman torture in which the victim's skin was flayed with iron combs.

Death

The death of Akiva is usually rendered as some redacted form of three separate versions of the circumstances. Each version shares the same basic plot points: Akiva defies the Roman prohibition on teaching Torah, the consul Turnus Rufus orders his execution, Akiva is flayed alive, and his final words are the Shema prayer.

The most common version of Akiva's death is that the Roman government ordered him to stop teaching Torah, on pain of death, and that he refused. When Turnus Rufus, as he is called in Jewish sources, ordered Akiva's execution, Akiva is said to have recited his prayers calmly, though suffering agonies; and when Rufus asked him whether he was a sorcerer, since he felt no pain, Akiva replied, "I am no sorcerer; but I rejoice at the opportunity now given to me to love my God 'with all my life,' seeing that I have hitherto been able to love Him only 'with all my means' and 'with all my might.'" He began reciting the Shema, and with the word Echad, "[God is] One!", he expired.[4][41]

The version in the Babylonian Talmud tells it as a response of Akiva to his students, who asked him how he could yet offer prayers to God. He says to them, "All my life I was worried about the verse, 'with all your soul' (and the sages expounded this to signify), even if He takes away your soul. And I said to myself, when will I ever be able to fulfil this command? And now that I am finally able to fulfil it, I should not?" Then he said the Shema and he extended the final word Echad ("One") until his life expired with that word. A heavenly voice went out and announced: "Blessed are you, Rabbi Akiva, that your life expired with Echad".[42]

Another legend is that Elijah bore the body by night to Caesarea. The night, however, was as bright as the finest summer's day. When they arrived, Elijah and Joshua entered a cavern that contained a bed, table, chair, and lamp, and deposited Akiva's body there. No sooner had they left it than the cavern closed of its own accord, so that no one has found it since.[4][43] Rebbe Akiva's modern day tomb is located in Tiberias.[44] Annually, on the night of Lag BaOmer, Boston Chassidim and local residents gather at the tomb of Rebbe Akiva to light a bonfire, a tradition reinstated by the Bostoner Rebbe in 1983.[45]

Religious and scholarly perspectives

Religious philosophy

See also: Pardes (legend)
A Tannaitic tradition mentions that of the four who delved into the Pardes (legend), Akiva was the only one who was able to properly absorb this wisdom, with the other three suffering various consequences as a result of the attempt.[46] This serves at least to show how strong in later ages was the recollection of Akiva's philosophical speculation.[4]

The relationship between God and man
edit
Akiva's opinion about the creation of man is recorded in Pirkei Avot:

How favoured is man, for he was created after an image; as Scripture says,[47] "for in an image, God made man."[48]
Akiva's ontology is based upon the principle that man was created בצלם, that is, not in the image of God—which would be בצלם אלהים—but after an image, after a primordial type; or, philosophically speaking, after an Idea—what Philo calls in agreement with Judean theology, "the first heavenly man" (see Adam ḳadmon). Strict monotheist that Akiva was, he protested against any comparison of God with the angels, and declared the plain interpretation of כאחד ממנו[49] as meaning "like one of us" to be arrant blasphemy.[4][50] It is quite instructive to read how a Christian of Akiva's generation, Justin Martyr, calls the literal interpretation—thus objected to by Akiva—a "Jewish heretical one".[51] In his earnest endeavours to insist as strongly as possible upon the incomparable nature of God, Akiva indeed lowers the angels somewhat to the realms of mortals, and (alluding to Psalms 78:25) maintains that manna is the actual food of the angels.[4][52] This view of Akiva's, in spite of the energetic protests of his colleague Rabbi Ishmael, became the one generally accepted by his contemporaries.[53][4]

From his views as to the relation between God and man, he deduces that a murderer is to be considered as committing the crime against the divine archetype (דמות) of man.[4][54] Similarly, he recognizes as the chief and greatest principle of Judaism the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."[4][55] He does not, indeed, maintain thereby that the execution of this command is equivalent to the performance of the whole Law; and in one of his polemic interpretations of Scripture he protests strongly against a contrary opinion allegedly held by Christians, and other non-Jews since the diaspora, according to which Judaism is at best "simply morality."[4][56] For, in spite of his philosophy, Akiva was an extremely strict and national Jew.[4]

But he is far from representing strict justice as the only attribute of God: in agreement with the ancient Israel theology of the מדת הדין, "the attribute of justice", and מדת הרחמים, "the attribute of mercy,"[4][57] he teaches that God combines goodness and mercy with strict justice.[58] Hence his maxim, referred to above, "God rules the world in mercy, but according to the preponderance of good or bad in human acts."[4]

Eschatology

Eschatology
edit
As to the question concerning the frequent sufferings of the pious and the prosperity of the wicked—truly a burning one in Akiva's time—this is answered by the explanation that the pious are punished in this life for their few sins, so that in the next they may receive only reward; while the wicked obtain in this world all the recompense for the little good they have done, and in the next world will receive only punishment for their misdeeds.[59] Consistent as Akiva always was, his ethics and his views of justice were only the strict consequences of his philosophical system. Justice as an attribute of God must also be exemplary for man. "No mercy in [civil] justice!" is his basic principle in the doctrine concerning law,[4][60] and he does not conceal his opinion that the action of the Jews in taking the spoil of the Egyptians is to be condemned.[4][61]

Biblical canon

See also: Development of the Hebrew Bible

Akiva was instrumental in drawing up the canon of the Tanakh. He protested strongly against the canonicity of certain of the Apocrypha,[4] the Wisdom of Sirach, for instance,[62] in which passages קורא is to be explained according to Kiddushin 49a, and חיצונים according to its Aramaic equivalent ברייתא; so that Akiva's utterance reads, "He who reads aloud in the synagogue from books not belonging to the canon as if they were canonical," etc. But he was not opposed to a private reading of the Apocrypha,[4] as is evident from the fact that he himself makes frequent use of Sirach.[63] Akiva stoutly defended, however, the canonicity of the Song of Songs, and Esther.[4][64] Grätz's statements[65] respecting Akiva's attitude toward the canonicity of the Song of Songs were viewed as misconceptions by I.H. Weiss.[4][66]

Aquila, meanwhile, was a disciple of Akiva and, under Akiva's guidance, gave the Greek-speaking Jews a rabbinical Bible.[4][67] Akiva probably also provided for a revised text of the Targums; certainly, for the essential base of the Targum Onkelos, which in matters of Halakha reflects Akiva's opinions completely.[4][68]

nationalist frequently and warmly expressed,[4][86] was so powerful with him that he would have exempted agriculture from much of the rigour of the Law. These examples will suffice to justify the opinion that Akiva was the man to whom Judaism owes pre-eminently its activity and its capacity for further development in accordance with the tradition he received

entered paradise and was allowed to leave it unscathed.[4][96] There exists the following tradition: Akiva once met a coal-black man carrying a heavy load of wood and running with the speed of a horse. Akiva stopped him and inquired: "My son, why do you work so hard? If you are a slave and have a harsh master, I will buy you from him. If it be out of poverty that you do this, I will take care of your needs." "It is for neither of these," the man replied; "I am dead and am compelled because of my great sins to build my funeral pyre every day. In life, I was a tax-gatherer and oppressed the poor. Let me go at once, lest the demon tortures me for my delay." "Is there no help for you?" asked Akiva. "Almost none," replied the deceased; "for I understand that my sufferings will end only when I have a pious son. When I died, my wife was pregnant; but I have little hope that she will give my child proper training." Akiva inquired about the man's name and that of his wife and her dwelling place. When, in the course of his travels, he reached the place, Akiva sought information concerning the man's family. The neighbours very freely expressed their opinion that the deceased and his wife deserved to inhabit the infernal regions for all time—the latter because she had not even performed brit milah for the child. Akiva, however, was not to be turned from his purpose; he sought the son of the tax-gatherer and laboured long and assiduously in teaching him the word of God. After fasting for 40 days and praying to God to bless his efforts, he heard a heavenly voice (bat kol) asking, "Why do you go to so much trouble on behalf of this person?" "Because he is just the kind to work for," was the prompt answer. Akiva persevered until his pupil was able to officiate as a reader in the synagogue; and when there for the first time he recited the prayer, "Bless the Lord!" the father suddenly appeared to Akiva and overwhelmed him with thanks for his deliverance from the pains of hell through the merit of his son.[4][97] This legend has been somewhat elaborately treated in Yiddish.[98] Another version of this story exists in which Johanan ben Zakkai's name is given in place of Akiva.[99]

Akiva's Halakha
edit
Admirable as is the systematization of the Halakha by Akiva, his hermeneutics and halakhic exegesis—which form the foundation of all Talmudic learning—surpassed it.[4]

The enormous difference between the Halakha before and after Akiva may be briefly described as follows: The old Halakha was (as its name indicates) the religious practice sanctioned as binding by tradition, to which were added extensions and (in some cases) limitations of the Torah, arrived at by strict logical deduction. The opposition offered by the Sadducees (which became especially strenuous in the first century BC) led to the development of the halakhic midrash, whose purpose was to deduce these amplifications of the Law, by tradition and logic, out of the Law itself.[4]

It might be thought that with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem—which event made an end of Sadduceeism—the halakhic Midrash would also have disappeared, seeing that the Halakha could now dispense with the Midrash. This probably would have been the case had not Akiva created his own Midrash, by means of which he was able "to discover things that were even unknown to Moses."[4][75] Akiva made the accumulated treasure of the oral law—which until his time was only a subject of knowledge, and not a science—an inexhaustible mine from which, by the means he provided, new treasures might be continually extracted.[4]

If the older Halakha is to be considered as the product of the internal struggle between Phariseeism and Sadduceeism, the Halakha of Akiva must be conceived as the result of an external contest between Judaism on the one hand and Hellenism and Hellenistic Christianity on the other. Akiva no doubt perceived that the intellectual bond uniting the Jews—far from being allowed to disappear with the destruction of the Jewish state—must be made to draw them closer together than before. He pondered also the nature of that bond. The Bible could never again fill the place alone; for the Christians also regarded it as a divine revelation. Still less could dogma serve the purpose, for dogmas were always repellent to rabbinical Judaism, whose very essence is development and the susceptibility to development. Mention has already been made of the fact that Akiva was the creator of a rabbinical Bible version elaborated with the aid of his pupil, Aquila (though this is traditionally debated), and designed to become the common property of all Jews.[4]

But this was not sufficient to obviate all threatening danger. It was to be feared that the Jews, by their facility in accommodating themselves to surrounding —even then a marked characteristic—might become entangled in the net of Grecian philosophy, and even in that of Gnosticism. The example of his colleagues and friends, Elisha ben Abuyah, Ben Azzai, and Ben Zoma strengthened him still more in his conviction of the necessity of providing some counterpoise to the intellectual influence of the non-Jewish world.[4]

carrying a heavy load of wood and running with the speed of a horse. Akiva stopped him and inquired: "My son, why do you work so hard? If you are a slave and have a harsh master, I will buy you from him. If it be out of poverty that you do this, I will take care of your needs." "It is for neither of these," the man replied; "I am dead and am compelled because of my great sins to build my funeral pyre every day. In life, I was a tax-gatherer and oppressed the poor. Let me go at once, lest the demon tortures me for my delay." "Is there no help for you?" asked Akiva. "Almost none," replied the deceased; "for I understand that my sufferings will end only when I have a pious son. When I died, my wife was pregnant; but I have little hope that she will give my child proper training." Akiva inquired about the man's name and that of his wife and her dwelling place. When, in the course of his travels, he reached the place, Akiva sought information concerning the man's family. The neighbours very freely expressed their opinion that the deceased and his wife deserved to inhabit the infernal regions for all time—the latter because she had not even performed brit milah for the child. Akiva, however, was not to be turned from his purpose; he sought the son of the tax-gatherer and laboured long and assiduously in teaching him the word of God. After fasting for 40 days and praying to God to bless his efforts, he heard a heavenly voice (bat kol) asking, "Why do you go to so much trouble on behalf of this person?" "Because he is just the kind to work for," was the prompt answer. Akiva persevered until his pupil was able to officiate as a reader in the synagogue; and when there for the first time he recited the prayer, "Bless the Lord!" the father suddenly appeared to Akiva and overwhelmed him with thanks for his deliverance from the pains of hell through the merit of his son.[4][97] This legend has been somewhat elaborately treated in Yiddish.[98] Another version of this story exists in which Johanan ben Zakkai's name is given in place of Akiva.[99
Who were the 5 students of Rabbi Akiva?

Akiva s Students

Akiva taught thousands of students: on one occasion, twenty-four thousand students of his died in a plague. His five main students were Judah bar Ilai, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Eleazar ben Shammua, Jose ben Halafta and Shimon bar Yochai.

The gemara in Yevamos 62b says:

They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all died in one period of time, because they did not treat each other with respect. And the world was desolate of Torah until Rabbi Akiva came to our Rabbis in the South and taught his Torah to them. This second group of disciples consisted of Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua. And these are the very ones who upheld the study of Torah at that time. Although Rabbi Akiva’s earlier students did not survive, his later disciples were able to transmit the Torah to future generations.

I have heard people suggest that Rabbi Akiva essentially rebuilt or preserved Judaism through his five students. Is that correct? What is the proper understanding of this gemara? Were there not other Torah teachers who would have carried the torch? Is it saying that Judaism has a bottleneck in (at least parts of) the Oral Law?

What happened to Rabbi Akiva's Wealth?

The Gemara in Nedarim (50a) lists six sources of wealth from which Rabbi Akiva became exceedingly wealthy, including half of Ben Kalba Savua's money (Kesuvos, 63a). Rashi on Bechoros (58a) maintains that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha was Rabbi Akiva's son (though Rabbeinu Tam and the Ran disagree). The Gemara in Shabbos (152a) relates that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha was walking without shoes (and one can infer from the context that he had no shoes). The Gemara in Shabbos (129a) states that a person should even sell beams from his house to purchase shoes to wear: אמר רב יהודה אמר רב לעולם ימכור אדם קורות ביתו ויקח מנעלים לרגליו . It would seem that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha was quite poor.

If Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha was Rabbi Akiva's son, what happened to Rabbi Akiva's wealth?

Could it be that the Roman authorities confiscated Rabbi Akiva's estate when they executed him (B'rachos, 61b), leaving his son with no wealth?
The estate of Nakdimon ben Gurion, who was one of the wealthiest men of Jerusalem (Gittin, 56a; Ta'anis 19b), fell to ruin and his daughter became impoverished (Kesuvos, 66b), either because he sometimes gave charity with extravagant flair for his own honor or that his great wealth obligated him to give even more charity than he did (ibid, 67a). Rabbi Akiva's humility and his tremendous efforts for charity seem to discount the possibility that he lost his fortune for any such reason. However:
There is a concept that a person should not give a massive, unsustainable portion of one's wealth to charity and thereby bankrupt oneself. Did Rabbi Akiva do this? Could the needs of the time have been so imperative that this guideline was suspended?
Might Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha merely have refused to accept any money from Rabbi Akiva?
Sources would be appreciated.

Edit: It's likely that no sources explicitly address this question. Unsourced suggestions are fine as answers, too, but please justify them if possible. For example, if you suggest that R' Akiva's money was confiscated by the Romans, you might support this with a Jewish or historical source that the Romans of that era would sometimes/typically confiscate the estates of people they would execute.