Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus Disinherited Then Blessed in Jerusalem

There is a story about Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, who was a child of the palace; and his father was attached to the government and to the affairs of the army commanders. In time, Rabbi Eliezer's father went to another place. When he sensed that they were coming, he said to his sons: Let us arise and flee from before them. At once he called his witnesses and his servants. He said: Bring me the cattle and the camels. They loaded the goods upon the cattle, and Hyrcanus and his sons fled. But Rabbi Eliezer did not go with his father; rather he fled to Jerusalem. And he took in his hand neither a loaf nor a coin nor anything at all, but entered Jerusalem like a poor man. And he saw Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai sitting and teaching Torah, with the students sitting before him at the lesson. When they finished the lesson, he would tell them haggadah, and afterward he would say mishnah. He entered and sat beside Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. He spent two or three weeks before him, and he came to speak before the students, and they would smell the foul odor of his mouth, and they would conceal it and say nothing. Again he came to speak, and they would conceal it and say nothing. Again he came to speak, and they would conceal it and say nothing. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai knew that the odor of his mouth did not speak of something bad that was within his mouth, but rather came from hunger, for he was not eating anything. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to the students: By your lives, examine the matter and find out what is the affair of this student—whether he is hungry, and what he eats. And they went about all Jerusalem and asked the innkeepers: Is there a haver lodging here? They said to them: No. They came to a certain woman. They said to her: Is there a haver lodging here? She said to them: Yes. Does he have anything here? She said to them: He has one sack. They said to her: Show it to us. At once she brought it before them. They opened it and found in it dust, for he would put his head into it and suck as upon a wineskin. They went and told Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, and he was amazed at the matter, and he saw the righteousness that was in the hand of Rabbi Eliezer, that he did not demand of any man, saying, Give me something. At that hour he set aside much money for him, so that he might eat good foods, as he had been accustomed to in his father's house, where he would eat and drink well, until the odor of his mouth was healed. He spent before Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai one, two, and three years, until Rabbi Eliezer's father returned to his place. When he came to his place and remained there a month and two months and Rabbi Eliezer his son did not come, it grieved him to say that he had abandoned him and gone off to Jerusalem. And the brothers of Rabbi Eliezer said to their father: See what Eliezer your son has done—he abandoned you and went off to Jerusalem to eat fattened delicacies, while you carried yourself away from your house and went after him. Were it a bad matter, he would not leap to take an inheritance. And how great is the difference between us and your son! We gave our lives for you and did not abandon you, but he did not come to see your distress; and now, if he hears that some matter has befallen you, he is destined to come to us and share with us. At that hour he said to them: In such-and-such a manner he shall inherit nothing from me. They said to him: When you die, you remove him. He said to them: Call me a tablet. They said to him: It will be of no use. There is in Jerusalem a certain nasi, and his name is Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, and he supports him; and when you die, he will surely come, and he will say, Who says that his father removed him? And we shall bring out the writing, and he will say, It is a forgery—you made it, and I do not believe it—until we come to a court of law. He said to them: Since you have said this before me, even though Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai praises him, I will remove him. At that hour his sons mounted him upon a carriage, and he entered Jerusalem on the eve of the Sabbath. He said: I will not remove him except on the Sabbath in the house of study, when? At the hour when all the congregation assembles. He entered to sit in the house of study, and all Israel entered according to their custom to hear the homily that Rabbi Eliezer was expounding before the multitude upon the chair, with the hazzan standing before him. His father saw him wrapped in his prayer-shawl with tefillin upon his head. At once he saw—for he had supposed that he had gone off to evil ways. When he saw him sitting upon his chair and expounding, Hyrcanus stood upon the bench and said before the people of Jerusalem: I did not come up to Jerusalem except to excommunicate you, Eliezer my son, and also to remove you from the inheritance; now behold, I give you two portions more than your brothers. And upon what matter was Rabbi Eliezer expounding at that hour? Our Rabbis said: On this matter (Genesis 14:1), "And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel." Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus opened: This is as Scripture says (Psalms 37:15), "Their sword shall enter into their own heart"—all that matter which is at the head of the parashah.