The Churban's Aftermath (2) We try to picture the thoughts that went through the mind of R. Yochanan and his associates at that very somber hour when they first surveyed the wreckage of the lost war. Perhaps a holocaust survivor who returned to Warsaw or Vilna or to the sites of thousands of other destroyed Jewish communities can succeed. The number of Sages was greatly reduced; many had been killed; others had fled the country and had not returned; the Jewish masses were decimated and demoralized. (Actually use of the word decimate is inappropriate. When a Roman legion showed cowardice in the face of the enemy, as a punishment, one man in the disgraced legion in ten was selected by lot and put to death. Unfortunately, vastly more than 10% of the Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael found their deaths in the bloody war that culminated in the Churban.) We all know the familiar Talmudic story of how R. Yochanan was smuggled out of doomed Jerusalem. Foreseeing the imminent destruction of the city, he was determined to salvage what he could. "Devise a plan for me to escape," R. Yochanan approached Abba Sikra, his nephew and the Sicari leader who conducted the defense of Jerusalem, "Perhaps I shall be able to save a little." Abba Sikra advised R. Yochanan to "play dead" and have his disciples carry him out of the beleaguered city. Having little choice, R. Yochanan accepted his advice. Wrapped in Tachrichim (shrouds), lying in a coffin, R. Yochanan, rehearsed in his mind what he would say to the Roman commander Vespasian if and when he would manage to meet with him. How would he be able attract the Roman commander's attention so he would even listen to him? How would he manage to wheedle concessions from him? In the end R. Yochanan, by prophesying imperial honors for Vespasian, did succeed in putting himself in the Roman general's good graces. After a messenger arrived from Rome substantiating R. Yochanan's prediction, Vespasian said, "I am now going (to assume my new position)Ö make a request of me and I shall grant it." Today we see that R. Yochanan's seemingly modest petition to be permitted "to teach his disciples and observe the Mitzvot of the Torah" (Avot D'Rabbi Natan 20a) or "Yavneh and its Sages, the dynasty of R. Gamliel (the family of the Nasi - the Patriarch - descended from Hillel) and physicians to heal R. Tzadok" (Gittin 56b) as a turning point in Jewish history. Today everyone understands that R. Yochanan was instrumental in the creation of a Yahadut, which while certainly "incomplete", could develop and even flourish without the Beit Hamikdash and without Eretz Yisrael. R. Yochanan has been rightly referred to as "this redeeming angel sent to us from the heavens in the form of a manÖ" (Toldot Hatana'im) It was said of R. Yochanan that he "never spoke an idle word; he never walked four Amot without Torah and without Tefillin, no one ever proceeded him in entering the Beit Midrash, he never dozed in the Beit Midrash, Öand he was always the last to leave it, nor did anyone ever find him sitting in silence, but only sitting and learningÖ" (Sukka 28a). Before the Churban, he used to give public lectures in the "very shadow of the Beit Hamikdash" (Pesachim 26b). Any available lecture hall was simply too small to accommodate the crowds who wanted to hear him. According to the Mishna (Sota 9:9), in the last days of the Mikdash, he was held in such respect, that he had the authority to "bring to an end" even such an ancient venerable Torah rite as the "Bitter Waters" (Bamidbar 5:11-31). Nevertheless, it is a historical fact that many Chachamim who were colleagues of R. Yochanan before the Destruction, and later on would be closely associated with Rabban Gamliel after he became Nasi, were conspicuous by their absence in R. Yochanan's Yavneh. Those "missing" included some of the leading Kohanim, great sages in their own right, who survived the debacle, such as R. Tzadok, his son R. Eleazar, R. Shimon son of the deputy Kohein Gadol, R. Tarfon and R. Yosi Hakohein. Perhaps these Kohanim thought that they should have been given the reins of leadership. Our Mekorot make no mention of Chachamim such as R. Nechunya ben Hakana, a disciple of R. Yochanan, R. Dosa Ben Hyrcanus, R. Nahum Hamadi, and Rabbi Yehuda ben Baba later celebrated for giving Semicha to five students of R. Akiva and giving his life in the process, as being active in the Yavneh of Yochanan ben Zakkai. After helping carry R. Yochanan out of Jerusalem, even R. Eleazar ben Arach, his favorite student (Avot 2:11,14), did not follow his master to Yavneh. However, despite the reluctance of many Sages to join R.Yochanan, the positive verdict of history on his contribution to the survival of Yahadut cannot be disputed. By permitting R. Yochanan to organize, albeit at first in a modest scale, a new Torah center for the disheartened defeated people, the Romans in effect threw away the the fruits of their victory. Defeated Am Yisrael survived and the triumphant Roman Empire, "eternal and divine", vanished from history. From R. Yochanan's small seed grew a mighty tree and in the next generation Torah institutions sprouted throughout Eretz Yisrael: Lod, Peki'in, Bnei Brak, Tzipori etc. Later, when conditions improved, though we do not know the exact circumstances, Rabban Gamliel of the family of Hillel was able to assume the office of Nasi, which was his by hereditary right. Most of the Sages who eschewed R. Yochanan's leadership came to Yavneh and put their talents and learning at Rabban Gamliel's deposal. R.Yochanan spent the last years of his life in Bror Chayil, a small town not far from Yavneh. The great Tanna, R.Yochanan, had succeeding in laying "the foundations for what was to become the structure of central leadership for the entire Jewish people for centuries to come." As time went on, the Jewish courts slowly revived and it did not take long until the Roman authorities came to recognize them, first de facto and eventually de jure. The Mishna relates how R. Gamliel, the Hillelite successor to R. Yochanan, "went to (Antioch to) have authority given to him by the (Roman) governor in Syria." The Mekorot report how the Nasi started to make tours of inspection all through the land and led official Jewish delegations to Rome. Judicial autonomy had been restored to Jewish Eretz Yisrael. The importance of this milestone cannot be over estimated. But much of the land had passed from Jewish ownership; title passing "by right of conquest" to the Roman Empire, with the Roman Emperor having the right to dispose of the land as he saw fit. Much of the land was distributed to "friends of Rome" such as Josephus, who received an estate "for services rendered". Many farmers were forced to become tenants on land they had once owned. However, Chazal scorned to recognize the "new owners" and, as much as possible in post-destruction Eretz Yisrael, defended the rights of the dispossessed. And sometimes despite the very unfavorable conditions, the Sages were successful in upholding the rights of the former owners. It was an uphill battle but gradually land was put back into cultivation and uprooted orchards were replanted; agriculture, the economic base of Jewish Eretz Yisrael slowly recovered. -to be continued- [The
Parshat Eikev Homepage] |
