Aquila the Convert, Hadrian's Nephew, Desired to Be Converted to

"And these are the judgments" (Exodus 21:1). This is what Scripture says: "He declares his words to Jacob" and so forth; "he has not done so" and so forth (Psalms 147:19-20). Aquilas the convert, the son of the sister of Hadrian, sought to convert, but he was afraid of Hadrian his uncle. He said to him: I wish to engage in trade. He said to him: Perhaps you lack silver and gold; behold, my treasuries are before you. He said to him: I wish to engage in trade, to go abroad to learn the disposition of people, and I wish to take counsel of you how to do so. He said to him: Any merchandise that you see lowly and cast down upon the ground, go deal in it, for in the end it will rise up and you will profit. He came to the Land of Israel and learned Torah. After a time Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua found him; they saw that his face had changed. They said to one another: Aquilas is learning Torah. When he came to them, he began to ask them many questions, and they answered him. He went up to Hadrian his uncle, who said to him: And why has your face changed? I suppose that your merchandise has lost value, or perhaps some man has distressed you? He said to him: No. He said to him: You are a relative of mine, and a man distresses you? He said to him: And why has your face changed? He said to him: Because I have learned Torah, and not only that, but I have circumcised myself. He said to him: And who told you to do so? He said to him: I took counsel of you. He said to him: When? He said to him: When I said to you, I wish to engage in trade, and you said to me, Any merchandise that you see lowly and cast down upon the ground, go and deal in it, for in the end it will rise up. I went around among all the nations and I saw no nation lowly and cast down upon the ground like Israel, and in the end it will rise up. For so said Isaiah: "Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to the despised of soul, to the abhorred of the nation, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall bow down, for the sake of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, and he has chosen you" (Isaiah 49:7). His counselor said to him: Are these things you have said going to come to pass, that kings will stand up before them, as it is said, "Kings shall see and arise"? Hadrian struck him on his cheeks and said to him: One places a bandage only over the wound. Now, if they see one cripple, they do not stand up before him, yet you were saying that kings see them and stand up before them. His counselor said to him: If so, what will you do? Hide him; since he has converted, kill him. He said to him: Aquilas my sister's son, even while he was in his mother's womb, was fit to convert. What did his counselor do? He went up to the roof and fell and died, and the holy spirit cries out, "So may all your enemies perish, O LORD" (Judges 5:31). Hadrian said to him: Behold, the counselor is dead; will you not tell me on what account you did this thing? He said to him: Because I sought to learn Torah. He said to him: You should have learned Torah and not circumcised yourself. Aquilas said to him: You do not give a soldier his provisions unless he has taken up his weapon. So it is always: if a person is not circumcised, he cannot learn Torah, as it is said, "He declares his words to Jacob" (Psalms 147:19), to the one who is circumcised like Jacob; "he has not done so for any nation" (Psalms 147:20), because they are uncircumcised. "His statutes," this is Torah. "And his judgments," these are the laws, as it is said, "There he set for him a statute and a judgment" (Exodus 15:25). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: I have given them the Torah; go and give them the judgments. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: If you wish to endure in the world, keep the judgments, for they make the world endure, as it is said, "And these are the judgments which you shall set before them." The generation of the flood did not perish from the world except because they transgressed against the judgments. Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat said: What is written concerning them? "From morning to evening they are crushed without anyone setting his heart" (Job 4:20). Thus, "And these are the judgments which you shall set." Another interpretation: the generation of the flood, because they did not carry out judgment, it is written concerning them, "My spirit shall not judge in man forever" (Genesis 6:3). Rabbi Eliezer says: If there is judgment below, there is no judgment above; and if there is no judgment below, there is judgment above. How so? If those below carry out judgment below, judgment is not carried out from above. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Keep the judgment, that you do not cause me to carry out judgment from above, as it is said, "And these are the judgments." The Holy One, blessed be He, said: All that I do, I do with judgment. For if I sought even once to overstep judgment, the world could not endure. Isaiah said: "Fury is not in me; would that I had thorns and briers in the battle, I would march against it, I would set it on fire together" (Isaiah 27:4). One step I would step and overstep judgment; "I would set it on fire together," immediately the world is burned. Why? "Or let him take hold of my stronghold" (Isaiah 27:5). Because my hand is held to my stronghold, my hand is held to judgment, as it is said, "And my hand takes hold of judgment" (Deuteronomy 32:41). "Let him make peace with me" (Isaiah 27:5), between me and judgment, "peace let him make with me" (Isaiah 27:5). "If I whet the lightning of my sword" (Deuteronomy 32:41). If I alter the judgment, one lightning bolt goes out and destroys the world. And what do I do? "And my hand takes hold of judgment" (Deuteronomy 32:41). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I am called the Master of Judgment, and I wish to stretch out my hand against Esau and I cannot, until I have paid him the reward of a light commandment that he performed before me in this world. Rabbi Pinchas the priest bar Hama said in the name of Rabbi Hilkiah in the name of Rabbi Simon: See what is written, "And it shall come to pass on that day, I will seek to destroy" and so forth (Zechariah 12:9). Israel said: Master of the world, who can stay your hand, that you say "I will seek"? He said to them: When I seek merit for them and do not find it, at that hour I will destroy, and so forth. Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: See what is written, "I beheld until thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days sat; his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool" (Daniel 7:9). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: When I clear myself of the nations of the world, of the light commandments they performed before me, at that hour, "until thrones were set." Up to now the vineyard is unripe; once it ripens and the vineyard becomes wine, I tread it and you sing to me, "On that day a vineyard of wine, sing of it" (Isaiah 27:2). Rabbi Yudan said in the name of Aybo, it is written: "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no man was with me" and so forth (Isaiah 63:3). And does the Holy One, blessed be He, need their help? Rather, thus said the Holy One, blessed be He: When I examine their ledgers and no merit is found for them before me, at that hour, "and I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my fury" and so forth (Isaiah 63:3). And at that hour I will redeem you, and you will no longer be enslaved, as it is said, "And I will afflict you no more" (Nahum 1:12).