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504 Bar Kappara Bar Kokba important of

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

scholars were Hoshayah, " the father (Ker. 8a), and Joshua b. Levi, the distinguished haggadist, who to a large extent transmitted the Haggadah of Bar Kappara (Shab. 75a). The greatest admirers of Rabbi and the best supof the

its

Mishnah

"

porters of the patriarchal house, Hanina b. Hama and Johanan b. Nappaha, could not refrain from acknowledging Bar Kappara's greatness (Niddah I.e.). It, is related of him that once while walking on the mole of Cassarea and seeing a Roman that had escaped from shipwreck in utter destitution, he took him to his house and provided him with clothing and all necessaries, including money. Later this castaway became proconsul of Ca;sarea, and occasion soon offered itself to show his gratitude to his rescuer, when Jews involved in a political disturbance were arrested, and he released

20a; 'Ab. Zarah

them on Bar Kappara's intervention (Eccl. R. xi. 1, on " Cast thy bread upon the waters "). Of more interest than his contemporaries' recogand a humani-

nition of his greatness as a halakist tarian, are the

many

characteristic utterances of his

mark him as a phenomenal personality in his Some examples may be given. He said " He who can calculate the solstices and movements of the that

day.



planets [that is, understands astronomy] and fails to pay attention to these things, to him may be applied the verse [Isa. v. 12] They regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands " (Shab. 75a). This statement about the duty of studying astronomy and physics gains in significance if placed in juxtaposition with Bar Kappara's totally different opinion in regard to the study of the Torah. According to him, if a Jew read only two portions from the Torah daily one in the morning His and one in the evening he fulfils the Liberalprecept to meditate in God's law by Minded- day and night (Ps. i. 2 Midr. Teh. ad ness. loc). Bar Kappara not only admired natural science, proscribed though it was by most Jews of the time, who considered it " Greek learning, " but he also appreciated the Hellenic love of the beautiful; and probably he was the sole Palestinian who judged the literary activity truly liberal of the Alexandrian Jews favorably. exposition of his on Gen. ix. 27 was: "The words of the Torah shall be recited in the speech of Japheth [Greek] in the tents of Shem " (in the synagogues and schools) (Gen. R. xxxvi. 8). Bar Kappara's respect for the exact sciences was equaled by his aversion for metaphysical speculation, which just at his time flourished in the form of Gnosis among Jews and Christians. Referring to Deut. iv. 32, "Ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee," Bar Kappara says, "Seek to know only of those days that followed the Creation but seek not to know what went before " (Gen. R. i. 10), meaning to say that the world and the history of man in the world provide sufficient matter for the mind's employment without subtle investigations into hidden mysteries. '

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A



Highly characteristic of Bar Kappara's conception and its ideals is his opinion concerning self-

of life

abnegation: '

The

"The

priest shall

Scriptures .

.

[Num.

vi.

11] say:

make an atonement

[the Nazarite] for that he sinned

for

him

"

[A.

by the soul

'

504

V. "dead"; Hebrew text, "nefesh," means also " soul By what soul did he sin ? He denied him"] self wine. Now, if the Nazarite who denied himself wine only is called a sinner, how much more is he a sinner who has denied himself everything?" (B. K. 916; Ta'anit 11a and parallels; compare Rab's similar saying in Yer. Kid., end; see Abba Arika). It required not a little courage and self-confidence to declare asceticism sinful at a time when fasting and abstemiousness of all kinds were held to be the great.

est virtues.

A

comparison of this view of Bar Kappara concerning abstinence with Rabbi's declaration before his death that he had not experienced The the slightest sensual gratification in Patriarchal his life (Ket. 104a), reveals the striking House. contrast in the conceptions of the two men. This difference was true no less in regard to the affairs of daily life than to matters of the intellect. No greater dissimilarity is possible than was presented by the majestic repose and princely grandeur of Rabbi, and the poetic abandon and gay address of Bar Kappara. Since Rabbi's mere presence sufficed to put a check upon Bar Kappara, it is possible that a breach between the two men might not have come to pass had their personal relations alone been concerned. But the members of the patriarch's family, especially Simon, his son, and Ben Elasah, his son-in-law, rich but unlettered (Ned. 51a), were frequently subjected to Bar Kappara's biting satire.

A somewhat irreverent remark

about Rabbi, which he

let slip in

Simon's presence,

was reported by Simon to Rabbi, who informed Bar Kappara of his firm resolve never to grant him ordination (M. K. 16a). According to the Yerushalmi, however, the final rupture was induced by the following incident: During a gathering at Rabbi's house Bar Kappara remarked to Rabbi's unlearned son-in-law that it

was conspicuous

in

him

to maintain

complete silence

others present were asking Rabbi for opinions on subjects of learning. Ben Elasah was at a

while

all

what question to put to his father-in-law, but Bar Kappara prompting him by whispers in his ear, he propounded to Rabbi the following riddle loss as to

" High from Heav'n her eye looks down Constant strife excites her frown Winged beings shun her sight; She puts youth to instant flight The aged, too, her aspect scout Oh oh the fugitive cries out. And by her snares whoe'er is lured Shall never more from sin be cured !

!

!

(Translation by A. Sekles, in "

The Poetry

of the

Talmud,"

New York, 1880.) When Rabbi turned round

pp. 87, 88,

after hearing the riddle of his son-in-law, he discovered Bar Kappara

smiling, and exclaimed: "I do not recognize you, old one " (meaning also, " I do not recognize you as an elder, a sage! "). Bar Kappara now understood that he would never receive ordination (Yer. M. !

K

iii.

81c).

What the riddle really signifies is not known, demany attempts to explain it. The most prob-

spite

is the one taken by AbrahamKrochmal that Bar Kappara intended it as a criticism of Rabbi's unrelenting severity toward young and old. The verse

able view