Five Things Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai Expounded

Five things Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai used to expound like a homiletic gem. Why were Israel exiled to Babylonia more than to all other lands? Because the house of Abraham came from there. They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a woman who acted unfaithfully toward her husband; where does he send her? To her father's house. Regarding the first tablets, "and the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God" (Exodus 32:16). They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who betrothed a woman; he went and brought the scribe, the ink, the pen, the marriage contract, and the witnesses. When she acted unfaithfully, she must supply all of it herself; it is enough for her that the king gave her his writing and the token of his hand. It says, "when a leader sins" (Leviticus 4:22). Happy is the generation whose leader brings a sin offering for his inadvertent transgression. And it says, "and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl." Why did the ear deserve to be pierced more than all the other limbs? Because it heard at Mount Sinai, "for to Me the children of Israel are servants, they are My servants" (Leviticus 25:55), yet he cast off the yoke of Heaven and took upon himself the yoke of flesh and blood. Therefore Scripture said, let the ear come and be pierced, for it did not keep what it heard. As people say: he who did not wish to be a servant to His sons, let him come and be a servant to his daughters. And it says, "an altar of stones... you shall not lift iron over them" (Deuteronomy 27:5). Why was iron deemed unfit more than all other metals? Because from iron one makes a sword, a sign of punishment, while the altar is a sign of atonement; one removes the sign of punishment from before the sign of atonement. And this is a matter of inference from minor to major: if of stones, which neither see nor hear nor speak, because they bring atonement between Israel and their Father in Heaven Scripture said "you shall not lift iron over them," then disciples of Torah, who are atonement for the world, how much more must no destructive thing touch them. It says, "whole stones you shall build" (Deuteronomy 27:6): stones that bring peace between Israel and their Father in Heaven, the Holy One, blessed be He, said let them be whole forever; how much more should Israel be whole before the Omnipresent. "And he shall serve him forever" (this is written in remez 470).