A Soulful Journey

Akiba himself did not long resist the contagion of messianism.  When he saw Roman legions yield to untrained Judean youths, new hope blossomed in his heart.  "Yet once, it will be a little while," he quoted from Haggai (2:6), "and I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ."  He went so far as to encourage the popular delusion concerning the miraculous role to be played by the new leader and applied to him the verse (Numbers 24:1), "The star hath trodden forth out of Jacob."  Once he even said outright, "this is the messianic king." The dismal response of one of his friends, "Akiba, grass will grow out of your jaw and the messiah will not yet have come!" shows that some of the sages were till sane enough to realize the hopeless inequality of the struggle.  -Rabbi Louis Finkelstein In many generations when disaster confronted our people we have prayed and loved for the redeemer to be dispatched and deliver...

Rabbi Akiba said: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) is a fundamental principal of the Torah. You should not say that inasmuch as I am despised, let my fellow human being be despised with me, [or] inasmuch as I am cursed, let my fellow human being be cursed with me. Rabbi Tanhuma said: If you act in this manner, know Who it is you despise, for “God made the human being in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27; 9:6). -Beresheit Rabbah 24:7 Pain can consume us. Yet we are not permitted to afflict others as we have experienced pain.  Our God-mandated task to protect one another.  Just because you have been hurt does not give you permission to hurt someone else.   Can you imagine repercussions of passing pain on?  The world would roil with pain!

Rabbi Akiva teaches: Note that the Torah does not say, “Since I was humiliated, let it be just the same for my neighbor, or “Since I was insulted, let my neighbor be insulted as well.”  Rabbi Tanhuma says, “If you choose to behave in such a manner, know well whom you are actually insulting, for “God created humankind in the divine image.” (Genesis 5:1)  – Talmud

A fox was once walking alongside a river and observed fishes swarming. He said to them, “From what are you fleeing?” They answered, “From the nets cast for us by men.” The fox said to them, “Come up on dry land so that you and I can live together in the way that our ancestors lived with each other.” They replied, “And you are called the most clever of all animals??  You are foolish. If we are afraid in the element in which we live, how much more so in a foreign place. This was Rabbi Akiva’s response to a colleague when he placed himself in danger for teaching Torah.   -berachot 61b Torah is our "water," our element, our home.

A sectarian once came to Rabbi Akiba and asked him, “Who created this world?”   Akiba replied, “The Holy One, blessed be He.”   The sectarian then said, “Show me proof.”   Rabbi Akiba answered, “Come back to me tomorrow.” The next day the sectarian returned and Akiba asked him, “What are you wearing?”   “A garment.” “Who made the garment?” Akiba asked. “A weaver.” Akiba responded, “I do not believe you. Show me proof.” The sectarian answered, “What can I show you?   Don’t you realize that a weaver must have made this?” Akiba answered, “And don’t you know that the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world?” When the sectarian left, Rabbi Akiba’s students asked him “What is the clear proof?” “My sons, just as a house indicates there is a builder, a garment indicates that there is a weaver, a door indicates that there is a carpenter- so the world indicates there is a creator, the Holy One, blessed be He.”   - Midrash Tanhuma 2:583 ...