When Rabbi Eleazar Broaches a Profound Topic Teach Me Something About

It once happened with Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, who was traveling along the road riding upon a donkey, and Rabbi Eleazar ben Arakh was walking after him. He said to him: Rabbi, teach me one chapter in the Account of the Chariot. He said to him: Have the Sages not taught thus? "And not the Chariot," unless one is wise and understands of his own knowledge. He said to him: Rabbi, permit me to say before you a matter. He said to him: Speak. As soon as Rabbi Eleazar ben Arakh began the Account of the Chariot, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai got down from the donkey. He said: It is not fitting that I should hear the glory of my Maker while I am riding upon the donkey. They went and sat down beneath a certain tree, and fire came down from heaven and surrounded them, and the ministering angels were leaping before them like members of a wedding party rejoicing before a bridegroom. One angel answered from within the fire and said: According to your words, Eleazar ben Arakh, so is the Account of the Chariot. Immediately all the trees opened their mouths and uttered song: "Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy" (1 Chronicles 16:33). As soon as Rabbi Eleazar ben Arakh finished the Account of the Chariot, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai stood up and kissed him upon his head and said: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who has given to Abraham our father a wise son who knows how to expound on the glory of our Father who is in heaven.