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672 Ben Azzai Ben Chauanja

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

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As a writer, Ben-Avigdor is original and has considerable power of description and expression. Some of his longer stories e.g., "Leah Mokeret haDagim " and " Menahem ha-Sofer " attracted much attention. Other stories of his and some articles gave occasion for interesting polemics. He was attacked not only for his ideas as a Nationalist, but also for his style, which he modeled after the so-called "new direction," caring more for being understood than for the purity of Biblical Hebrew. Some of his stories were published in the Ahiasaf annuals. Bibliography Ha-Meliz, 1889, Nos. 82-86 Ha-Asif, 1894, pp. 213-324 (review of liis two works); Lippe, Biblingra-

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phischcs Lexikon,

new

series,

Vienna, 1899, p. 32; private

sources.

H. H.

BEN

P.

'AZZAI:

Wl.

A

distinguished tanna of the first third of the second century. His full name was Simon b. 'Azzai, to which sometimes the title " Rabbi " is prefixed. But, in spite of his great learning, this title did not rightfully belong to him for he remained all his life in the ranks of the "talmidim " or " talmide hakamim " (pupils or disciples of the wise). Ben 'Azzai and Ben Zoma were considered in the tannaitic school-tradition as the highest representatives of this degree in the hierarchy of learning (Tosef., Kid. iii. 9; Bab. Kid. 496;Ber. Kid. 576; Yer. Ma'as. Sh. ii. 53d; Bab. Sanh. 17*). Ben 'Azzai is especially named as an eminent example of a " pupil who is worthy of the hora'ah," of the right of independent judgment in questions of religious law (Hor. 26). Ben 'Azzai stood in close relation to the leaders of the school of Jabneh. He handed down, " from the mouth of two-and-seventy elders," who were present on the occasion, a halakic decision, which was accepted in Jabneh on the day when Eleazar b. Azariah was elected presiConnection dent in the place of Gamaliel II. (Yad. with. iv. 2 Zeb. i. 3) also another resoluthe Canon, tion of the same day, declaring the books Kohelet and Shir ha-Shirim to be as sacred as the other Scriptures, whereby the collection of the Biblical writings, or the canon, was officially closed (Yad. iii. 5). Chief among Ben 'Azzai's teachers was Joshua b. Hananiah, whose opinions he expounded (Parah i. 1), proved to be correct (Yeb. iv. 13), or defended against Akiba (Yoma ii. 3; Ta'anit iv. 4; Tosef., Sheb. ii. 13). Akiba himself was not really Ben 'Azzai's teacher, although the latter occasionally calls him so, and once even regrets that he did not stand in closer relation as pupil to Akiba (Ned. 746) and he expressed the same regret in regard to Ishmael b. Elisha (Hul. 71a). In his halakic opinions and Biblical exegesis, as well as in other sayings, Ben 'Azzai follows Akiba; and, from Relations the tone in which he speaks of Akiba with. in the discourses that have been Akiba. handed down, the Amoraim concluded that his relations with Akiba were both those of pupil and of colleague (Yer. B. B. ix. 176; Bab. ib. 1586; Yer. Shek. iii. 476; Yer. R. H.



i.



56(f).

'Azzai's most prominent characteristic was the extraordinary assiduity with which he pursued his studies.

" (Sotah ix. 15). A later tradition (Midr. Hallel) says of the zealous studies of Ben 'Azzai and Akiba by way of reference to Ps. cxiv. 8 that in their perceptive faculty both had been as hard as rock but, because they exerted themselves so greatly in their studies, God opened for the man entrance into the Torah, so that Ben 'Azzai could explain even those things in the Halakah that the schools of Shammai and Hillel had not understood. His love of study induced Ben 'Azzai to remain unmarried, although he himself preached against His Piety celibacy, and even was betrothed to and Akiba's daughter, who waited for Devotion to years for him to marry her, as her

away

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mother had waited for Akiba (Ket. When Eleazar b. Azariah reproved him for this contradiction between his life and his teachings, he replied: "What shall I do? My soul clings lovingly to the Torah; let others

Study.

63a).

contribute to the preservation of the race " (Tos. Yeb. viii. 4; Bab. ib. 636; Gen. R. xxxiv. compare

Sotah

It

was

said of

death of Ben 'Azzai the

him afterward,

last industrious

"

At the

man

passed

46).

Another characteristic of Ben 'Azzai was his great

He who has seen Ben 'Azzai himself on the way to piety (Ber. Thanks to this piety he could, without injury 576). to his soul, devote himself to theosophic speculations, when he, like Ben Zoma, Elisha b. Abuyah, and Akiba, entered, as tradition has it, into the garden (" pardes ") of the esoteric doctrine. Tradition (Hag- 146) says of him " He beheld the mysteries of the garden and died God granted him the death of His saints " (Ps. cxvi. 15). With reference to this verse, Ben 'Azzai himself had taught that God shows to the pious, near the hour of their death, the rewards awaiting them (Gen. R. lxii.). Other sayings of his concerning the hour of death have been handed down (Ab. R. N. xxv.). According to a tradition not entirely trustworthy, Ben 'Azzai was among the first victims of the persecupiety.

in his

It

was

dreams

said, "

is

''





tions

on a

under Hadrian

his name, therefore, is found of the " ten martyrs " (Lam. R. ii. 2). 'Azzai's posthumous fame was extraordinary.

list

Ben The greatest amora of greatest

Palestine, Johanan, and the amora of Babylonia, Rab,

His Repu- each

said, in order to mark their authority as teachers of the Law " Here I am a Ben 'Azzai" (Yer. Bik. ii. 65a; Yer. Peah vi. 19c). The name of Ben 'Azzai is applied in the same sense by the great Babylonian

tation.



amora Abaye (Sotah 45«; Kid. 20a; 'Ar. 306) and Raba ('Er. 29a). A haggadic legend of Palestine

him the following: "Once, as Ben 'Azzai was expounding the Scriptures, flames blazed up around him, and being asked whether he was a sturelates of

dent of the mysteries of the 'Chariot of God,' he replied I string together, like pearls, the words of the Torah with those of the Prophets, and those of the Prophets with those of the Hagiographers

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and therefore the words of the Torah rejoice as on the day when they were revealed in the flames of Sinai

Ben

672

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(Lev. R. xvi.; Cant. R. i. 10). 'Azzai's name, traditional literature has preserved many sentences, with and without Biblical foundation. Two of these have been taken over into the sayings of the Fathers (Ab. iv. 2, 3). '

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