Today’s daf features a short but powerful passage describing the death of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the editor of the Mishnah and one of the most significant personalities of the early rabbinic period. The story is often cited in the context of discussions about the ethics of end-of-life care, for reasons that will become obvious. It begins with this:
On the day that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi died, the sages decreed a fast, and begged for mercy. And they said: Anyone who says that Rabbi has died will be stabbed with a sword.
Distraught by the impending death of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the sages do what many of us do when faced with the loss of a loved one: They pray as a means to stay the hand of God and keep their teacher alive. They even go so far as threatening anyone who dares to say that Rabbi Yehuda has passed on.
Initially, the rabbi’s maidservant joins the rabbis in trying to keep him alive. Here’s how the Gemara describes her prayer:
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Yehudah HaNasi (Judah the Prince)
Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi was the editor of the Mishnah in its final form. He is referred to as “Rebbi,” Teacher par excellence, and as “Rabbeinu HaKadosh,” our Holy Rabbi.
He was the son of Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel II, and was born eighty years after the destruction of the Second Temple. At the time of his birth, a Roman edict was in place forbidding the practice of “Brit Milah,” Circumcision. However, his mother was on good terms with the Roman governor’s wife, and they agreed to perpetrate a deception upon the Roman authorities.
Yehudah, who had been circumcised, was given temporarily to the wife of the governor, while the Roman child, who of course was uncircumcised, was held by the Jewish mother, completely fooling the authorities, including the governor himself. Later, when that Roman child grew up to become Marcus Aurelius, an enlightened and compassionate ruler, he and Rebbi became close friends, which redounded to the benefit of the Jewish People.
As a child, Yehudah studied Torah under the tutelage of his father, in Usha, and under Rabbi Yehudah ben Ilai of Usha and Rabbi Yaakov ben Kurshai. Later, h
Yehuda haNasi (Judah the Prince) and Antoninus
משנה אבות ו׳:ח׳
רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יְהוּדָה מִשּׁוּם רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יוֹחַאי אוֹמֵר, הַנּוֹי וְהַכֹּחַ וְהָעֹשֶׁר וְהַכָּבוֹד וְהַחָכְמָה וְהַזִּקְנָה וְהַשֵּׂיבָה וְהַבָּנִים, נָאֶה לַצַּדִּיקִים וְנָאֶה לָעוֹלָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שם טז) עֲטֶרֶת תִּפְאֶרֶת שֵׂיבָה בְּדֶרֶךְ צְדָקָה תִּמָּצֵא. וְאוֹמֵר (שם כ) תִּפְאֶרֶת בַּחוּרִים כֹּחָם וַהֲדַר זְקֵנִים שֵׂיבָה. וְאוֹמֵר (שם יד) עֲטֶרֶת חֲכָמִים עָשְׁרָם. וְאוֹמֵר (שם יז) עֲטֶרֶת זְקֵנִים בְּנֵי בָנִים וְתִפְאֶרֶת בָּנִים אֲבוֹתָם. וְאוֹמֵר (ישעיה כד) וְחָפְרָה הַלְּבָנָה וּבוֹשָׁה הַחַמָּה, כִּי מָלַךְ ה' צְבָאוֹת בְּהַר צִיּוֹן וּבִירוּשָׁלַיִם וְנֶגֶד זְקֵנָיו כָּבוֹד. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן מְנַסְיָא אוֹמֵר, אֵלּוּ שֶׁבַע מִדּוֹת שֶׁמָּנוּ חֲכָמִים לַצַּדִּיקִים, כֻּלָּם נִתְקַיְּמוּ בְרַבִּי וּבְבָנָיו:
Pirkei Avot
Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai: Beauty, strength, riches, honor, wisdom, [old age], gray hair, and children are becoming to the righteous, and becoming to the world, As it is said: “Gray hair is a crown of glory (beauty); it is attained by way of righteousness” (Proverbs ), And it says: “The ornament of the wise i
rabbisylviarothschild
The narrative opens with the verse “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years.”
Immediately we are plunged into an end of life narrative but for the first time we have an extended view as we see Jacob begin to put his family affairs in order and to secure the succession, as a number of different conversations and scenes are recorded.
“And the time drew near that Israel must die; and he called his son Joseph, and said to him: &#;If now I have found favour in thy sight, put, I pray you, your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray you, in Egypt .But when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place.&#; And he said: &#;I will do as you have said.&#; And he said: &#;Swear to me.&#; And he swore to him.”
When Jacob’s father Isaac had died, the narrative was short and to the point. We are told that: “Jacob came to Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiriat-arba&#;the same is Hebron&#;where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. And the days of Isaac were a hundred and fourscore years. And Is
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