Rebbi Akiva zt"l
הרב עקיבא בן יוסף זצ"ל
Tishrei 10 , 3884
Stories of Rebbi Akiva zt"l
By: Nissan Mindel
Published and copyrighted by Kehot Publication Society
A shepherd was tending his flock in the hills of Yehuda. He became thirsty and went to his favorite brook in the hills to take a drink. As he was drawing the crystal clear water in his palm and putting it to his mouth, something caught his eye. He saw drops of water falling on a huge stone – drip, drop – and directly where the drops were falling there was a deep hole in the stone. The shepherd was fascinated. He gazed at the drops and at the stone.
“What mighty power there is in a drop of water,” thought the shepherd. “Could my heart of stone ever be softened up that way?”
“Hello, Akiva! What are you gazing at?” It was Rochel, his master’s daughter. She was wise and kind and fair.
“Look what the little drops of water did to the rock!” Akiva exclaimed. “Do you think there is hope for me? Suppose I began to study the Torah, little by little, drop by drop. Do you think my heart of stone would soften up?”
“Oh yes, Akiva. If you persevere, if you keep it up like these drops of water.”
But I am forty years old! Is it not too late to start?”
“Oh no, Akiva. It is never too late. If you promise to learn our holy Torah, I know you will not be ignorant for long.”
The shepherd gazed at the drops of water for a long time, and then his mind was made up.
And this is how Akiva the shepherd became the great Rebbe Akiva, the greatest and wisest scholar and teacher of his day, who had 24,000 talmidim! He often told them that it was a drop of water that changed his life.
When Hadrian issued his terrible decrees outlawing the practice of Yiddishkeit, and in particular making it illegal to teach Torah on pain of death, it was Rav Akiva who boldly stood up in a public square and began teaching Torah. The Romans, indeed, arrested him and put him in prison. In the same prison was his friend Papus, who was caught for selling goods on the black market. “Happy are you, Rav Akiva,” Papus told him, “that you were arrested for teaching Torah. Woe to Papus, who was arrested for trying to make a few dollars.”
Rav Akiva was executed by the Romans in the city of Caesarea where even today one can see the ruins of the Hippodrome, the arena where the Romans executed people publicly. Even as they tortured him to death he recited the final words of a Jew, the great proclamation of faith in Hashem and His oneness: “Hear, O Yisrael, Hashem is our G-d; Hashem is one.”
His talmidim, who stood nearby as the Romans were flaying his flesh with iron combs, asked, “Even till now?” Are you still thinking about your obligations to Hashem even at this horrific, tragic moment?
“All my life,” he said to them, “I waited for the opportunity to show how much I love Hashem, and now that I have the opportunity, should I waste it?”
Then, he died with the word ‘One’ on his lips, the Talmud says (Berochos 61b).
According to legend, Eliyohu HaNovi came together with his talmidim and took his remains from the field of execution to a cave outside the city of Teverya, which is today the traditional place that we mark as the burial place of Rav Akiva. However, Rav Akiva is not dead. Rav Akiva is alive within each and every one of us. Every hero and martyr that the Jewish people have had since is Rav Akiva. Every moment of love is Rav Akiva. Every piece of Torah is Rav Akiva.
That is why the Jewish world treasures him. That is why he is the hero of heroes. He possessed all the great human traits that the Jewish people possess: love, compassion, warmth, humor. He became every Jew at his best even under the darkest circumstances. He became the person who whose humanity is victorious in the end despite unparalleled suffering. He became the water that wears down stone.
[My Rebbe was onced asked why there aren’t so many people flocking to Rav Akiva like they do to Rav Shimon bar Yochai? He replied: “Rav Akiva elevated himself to such a high plane in Heaven that he has nothing to do with this world]. May Rav Akiva always intercede on our behalf.
By: Nissan Mindel ~ Published and copyrighted by Kehot Publication Society