The Weeping Teacher, Purity at Sinai, and the Sin of Achan

Once I was traveling through the exile in Babylonia, and I entered a great city of Israel where there were no idolaters at all. I found there a teacher of young children, and two hundred boys sat before him, most of them eighteen and twenty years old. The following year I returned and found the students, but their teacher was no longer among them, only a single child remained, who was his great-grandson. For because of the corrupt deeds of those boys, their teacher died, and his wife died, and his son died, and all the boys who were eighteen and twenty died, and only the little ones were left. I was weeping and sighing over them until an angel came to me from heaven and said: Why are you weeping and sighing? I said to him: Shall I not weep and sigh over these who had come to Scripture and Mishnah and now have gone and are as though they never were? He said to me: You did not do well to weep and mourn and sigh over them. I said: Why? He said: Because they were doing ugly things, things that are not fitting, corrupting themselves, and they were spilling seed in vain, and they did not know that death was overtaking them on account of it. As for what the Sages taught in the Mishnah, that one man may not be secluded with two women, but one woman may be secluded with two men, that is not the law. For if one of them comes upon her in transgression there is no complete testimony. But one woman may be secluded with three men, for if one of them rises and comes upon her in transgression, here there is complete testimony. This is the difference between two and three. And even what we learned, that one woman may be secluded with three men, we learned only of three men who are disciples of the wise and great men, but with licentious men, even with a hundred men one woman may not be secluded. The Sages further taught: An unmarried man shall not herd cattle, and two unmarried men shall not sleep under one cloak. And this is the established rule in Israel: anyone whose work is with women shall not be secluded with women, such as goldsmiths, carders, embroiderers, weavers, tailors, peddlers, barbers, and launderers. If you wish to learn and desire words of Torah, go and learn from the beginning of the matter, the start of all deeds. When our fathers stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, told Moses to tell Israel to sanctify themselves two days, as it is said, "and sanctify them today and tomorrow" (Exodus 19:10). Moses came and told them to prepare themselves three days, as it is said, "Be ready for the third day; do not approach a woman" (Exodus 19:15). And not only Moses told Israel to separate themselves from transgression and robbery and from every ugly thing so that they would be pure when they stood at Mount Sinai; Joshua too told Israel to separate from transgression and robbery and every ugly thing, and to be in holiness and purity when they crossed the Jordan, as it is said, "And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders in your midst" (Joshua 3:5), and it says, "Prepare provisions for yourselves, for in three days you are crossing this Jordan to come in to possess the land" (Joshua 1:11). But did Israel need provisions there? They were eating only the manna, which they would gather in the morning and leave until evening, and at evening they would eat it at once. Rather, what does "Prepare provisions for yourselves" teach? So he said to them: Repent, so that you may enter the land that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to your fathers, and eat of its produce, as it is said, "And they ate of the produce of the land of Canaan in that year" (Joshua 5:12). What is written after it? "And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold a man stood opposite him... and he said, No, but I am captain of the host of the LORD; now I have come... And the captain of the host of the LORD said to Joshua, Remove your sandal from your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." Therefore I would say: Happy is the man who increases sitting and labors in study and reduces his commerce and sits and meditates on words of Torah every single day. So it is set out through David, king of Israel, as it is said, "One thing I ask of the LORD, that I seek: that I dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to visit His sanctuary" (Psalms 27:4). When they went out to wage war at Ai, thirty-six righteous men fell from among them, as it is said, "And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men" (Joshua 7:5). Joshua and the elders came and fell on their faces to the ground before the ark of the LORD. Joshua said: Alas, Lord GOD, why did You bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorite to destroy us?... For what shall I say after Israel has turned its back before its enemies? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: What is this, Joshua? Was it not I who said to your teacher Moses at the start, "Now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh" (Exodus 3:10), and he said before Me, "Send, please, by the hand of whom You will send" (Exodus 4:13), and further said, "Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name he has done evil to this people, and You have not delivered" (Exodus 5:23)? Rather, Israel sinned, as it is said, "And the LORD said to Joshua, Arise; why do you fall on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them, and they have also taken of the devoted thing, and they have also stolen, and also deceived, and also put it among their own vessels." At once Joshua said before Him: Master of the universe, tell me who is the man who did this deed. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: What is this, Joshua? Am I to speak slander to you today? Rather, you stand up the twelve tribes and cast lots over them and bring out the one who did this deed, as it is said, "Arise, sanctify the people... and you shall draw near in the morning by your tribes... and he who is caught with the devoted thing shall be burned with fire." At once Joshua went and divided Israel into twelve tribes and cast lots over them and brought out Achan, as it is said, "And Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near by its tribes, and the tribe of Judah was caught... and Achan son of Carmi was caught." At that moment Achan wept a great weeping and said: Woe is me, for the devoted thing that my fellows took from the Midianites my fellows gave to Moses, and I did not give it to him, and therefore this great shame and disgrace has come upon me. Then Achan said to Joshua: What is this, Joshua? You come against me by lot? Cast lots over Eleazar and over Ithamar; will the lot not fall on one of them too? At once Joshua said to him: My son, why do you say this? Do not cast aspersion on the lot, because the land of Israel is destined to be divided by lot. Rather, repent and give confession so that you may come to the world to come, as it is said, "And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give glory now to the LORD God of Israel and give Him confession." At once Achan answered Joshua and said, "Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus I have done. I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonian garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a tongue of gold... and I coveted them." At once the people ran and brought them and placed them into Joshua's hand, and Joshua threw them to the ground and said: For these, thirty-six righteous men, most of the Great Sanhedrin, fell, and he flung them down before Him, as it is said, "And they took them from the midst of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel and laid them out before the LORD." At once the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: What have you done, Joshua? I said I would refine My son and My servant so that they would know that I discern the heart of each one, and you cast his vessels before My children. You did not act properly. And Joshua kept mourning over himself until in the end he spoke slander against the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions and your sins, if you forsake the LORD" (Joshua 24:19). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: What is this, Joshua, that you again spoke slander before Me? Was it not I who said before your teacher Moses at the start, "Now leave Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and I may consume them, and I will make you into a great nation" (Exodus 32:10)? And when he stood before Me in prayer and mentioned the names of their fathers, I at once heard his prayer, as it is said, "And Moses entreated the face of the LORD his God and said, Why, O LORD, should Your anger burn against Your people... Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel Your servants... And the LORD relented of the evil." Was it not I who said to your teacher Moses, "I will strike them with pestilence and dispossess them and make you into a great nation" (Numbers 14:12)? When a great matter came upon Israel through the spies and Moses stood before Me in prayer to mention the names of their fathers, I at once heard his prayer, and when he said before Me, "Forgive, please, the iniquity of this people," I forgave, as it is said, "And the LORD said, I have forgiven according to your word" (Numbers 14:19-20). Was it not I who wrote for the generations that come after you, "Who is a God like You, bearing iniquity and passing over transgression... He delights in mercy; He will again have compassion on us; He will subdue our iniquities" (Micah 7:18)? Joshua answered before the Holy One, blessed be He: I did not say this to Israel except to put fear in them, so that they would be in awe of You and not sin, but would serve You with a whole heart. At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, was embracing and kissing the hands of Joshua for his wisdom and his understanding. At once Joshua said to Israel: This is my reward from you, because I speak with you every single hour to fear the LORD and to serve Him with a whole heart. And of them it is said, "A rebuke enters deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool" (Proverbs 17:10), and it says, "Let your foot be rare in your neighbor's house, lest he be sated with you and hate you" (Proverbs 25:17). Surely a person should know before whom he stands and what word he speaks before one greater than himself. And the Sages taught in the Mishnah: Do not appease your fellow in the moment of his anger. But one should seek mercy for householders, that on account of the worldly occupation they have they may busy themselves with it, and all the more so that he should seek mercy for the householders who have Torah in them, that they may busy themselves with it, and seek mercy for those who occupy themselves with the community, that they may serve you for the sake of Heaven, for the Holy One, blessed be He, pays them reward in this world while the principal endures for the world to come, and likewise for those who occupy themselves faithfully with worldly labor. For householders are not uprooted from the world and brought down to the earth except on account of the arrogant. When? When Israel eat and drink and kick out of plenty and do not occupy themselves with worldly labor and words of Torah. Of them Scripture says, "Under three things the earth quakes... under a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with bread" (Proverbs 30:21-22). All these things come only on account of the arrogant. Hear me, my brothers and my people, that you not come to arrogance, but let a person look at himself and know that after death he will be maggot and worm and dust, and let him lift his eyes to the heavens and say: Who created these, sun and moon, stars and constellations, and the four winds of heaven, and all the work of creation, which the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His wisdom and His understanding, and each one of them hangs upon the word of His lips, as it is said, "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host... Let all the earth fear the LORD... for He spoke and it was, He commanded and it stood" (Psalms 33:6-9). And let a person look at the works of the Holy One, blessed be He, in man and beast and bird of the heavens and fish of the sea, whose sustenance is each in His hand and whose breath is each delivered into His hand, as it is said, "Thus says the God, the LORD, who created the heavens... who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk on it" (Isaiah 42:5). Therefore I would say: A person is obligated to praise and bless and exalt and magnify and sanctify the name of Him who spoke and the world came to be, blessed be He, for the soul and spirit and breath He places in the evening with the keeper of the deposit and in the morning returns it to him, as it is said, "In whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the spirit of all human flesh" (Job 12:10), and it says, "Into Your hand I entrust my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth" (Psalms 31:6).