Good Tidings Fatten the Bone and the Saving of Yavneh

"The light of the eyes gladdens the heart" (Proverbs 15:30) - these are the masters of Torah, who light up a person's eyes and gladden his heart, as it is said (Psalms 19:9): "The commandment of the LORD is clear, lighting up the eyes." A good report too gladdens a person's heart, as it is said: "a good report fattens the bone" (Proverbs 15:30). There was an incident with the emperor Vespasian, who came to destroy Jerusalem in the days of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. He said to the people of Jerusalem: "Send out to me a single bow or a single arrow, and I will go away from you." He said this to them a first time and a second time, and they would not accept it. At that hour Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to them: "You are causing this city to be destroyed and this House to be burned!" They said to him: "Just as we went out against the earlier officers and killed them, so will we go out against this one and kill him." Every single thing that Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to them, there were pious and worthy men there who would write them on documents, and wrap them around arrows, and shoot them outside the wall, saying "Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai is a lover of the king." When Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai saw that they would not accept his words, he said to his disciples: "Rise and take me out of here." They placed him in a coffin and carried him, Rabbi Eliezer at his head and Rabbi Joshua at his feet, and they went on attending to him until they reached the gate of the city. When they reached the gate of the city the gatekeepers said to them: "Halt!" They said: "Open for us so that we may go out and bury him." The gatekeepers said to them: "We will not open until we first stab him, to know whether he is alive or dead." They said to them: "You are causing a bad name to go out upon your city, for people will say, 'They even stabbed the master.'" In the end they rose and opened for them. When Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai saw that he had gone outside the gate of the city, he went and inquired after the welfare of Vespasian in the manner one inquires after the welfare of royalty. Rabbah said: "[he greeted him as] 'My lord, king of the kingdom.'" He said to him: "Are you Ben Zakkai?" He said to him: "Yes." He said to him: "You have killed me!" He said to him: "Do not fear, for it is written in our possession that this House will not be destroyed by the hand of a commoner, but by the hand of the king," as it is said (Isaiah 10:34): "And the Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one." He handed him over to two officials. After three days letters came to him from Rome. They said to him: "Nero the king has died, and the men of Rome have made you king." At that hour, when the letters came to him from Rome, he was sitting in the bathhouse. He came to put on his shoes; he put on the first, he came to put on the second and it would not go on. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai was standing there. He said to him: "What is the meaning of this?" He said to him: "Because of the good report that you have heard, your flesh has swelled upon you; but if you have an enemy, pass him before you, and at once your flesh will relax and the shoe will go on." He did so and it went on. He said to him: "Ben Zakkai, from where comes all this wisdom?" He said to him: "From the wisdom of Solomon, for so he explains in his wisdom and says, 'a good report fattens the bone.'" He said to him: "Ask a request for yourself." He said to him: "I ask of you Yavneh, that I may study Torah there, and make ritual fringes there, and fulfill all the commandments of the Torah there." He said to him: "Behold, it is given to you as a gift."