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Elazar Sent Zippori Leaders to the Fugitives

They asked on Shabbat whether to run from Rome. He would not say flee. He named Jacob, Moses, and David, and left them to hear it.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Edicts Reached Zippori on Shabbat
  2. He Would Not Say Flee
  3. Jacob, Moses, and David
  4. Bundles Tied While the Day Was Holy
  5. They Walked After the Blessing
Elazar Sent Zippori Leaders to the Fugitives Click for full size

Edicts Reached Zippori on Shabbat

Evil decrees from the empire reached the prominent men of Zippori on Shabbat. They went to Rabbi Elazar ben Parta with sweat under their cloaks and a question that could hang them.

"Rabbi, edicts have come. Shall we flee?"

He was afraid to say the word flee out loud. Walls have ears. Informers have cousins. A direct answer could be a death sentence for the answerer. So he turned their faces toward older fugitives.

He Would Not Say Flee

"Are you asking me? Go and ask Jacob, Moses, and David."

The sentence hung in the room like a rope thrown to drowning men who still had to climb it themselves. No scribe wrote flee. No signature could be shown to a Roman court. Only three names, already safe in scrolls the empire could not easily indict.

The leaders stood in the doorway and waited for more. Elazar gave them nothing else. He had almost said the plain word. He swallowed it. His mouth tasted of kiddush wine and fear together. If arrested, they could say they had consulted Scripture's fugitives, not a rebel cell. If they were wise, they would already be packing.

Jacob, Moses, and David

What is written of Jacob? Jacob fled (Hosea 12:13). What of Moses? Moses fled from Pharaoh (Exodus 2:15). What of David? David fled and escaped when Saul hunted him (1 Samuel 19:18). Some said David ran on Shabbat itself when life was the stake.

One of the leaders, a man with a shop and a daughter, heard the names and felt his knees unlock. A soul outweighs the day's rest when blood is the price of stillness. Elazar had not invented permission. He made them retrieve it from the patriarch, the lawgiver, and the king, so the ruling would sound like inheritance rather than one man's nerve under interrogation.

Isaiah's line sat behind the three names as well. "Go, my people, enter your chambers, and close your door behind you. Hide for a brief moment, until fury passes" (Isaiah 26:20). The fury had a Roman seal on it. The chambers would have to be somewhere else.

Bundles Tied While the Day Was Holy

The men of Zippori left the sage's doorway with three names and no written permit. Some packed in the twilight between Sabbaths. Some waited for three stars and then ran. Some stayed and paid.

A mother tying a bundle while the day was still holy did not feel like a philosopher. She felt like a thief of time. The day of blessing was not a light gift. Before Sinai, before the full Torah was in their hands, God had already made known His holy Sabbath (Nehemiah 9:14). Israel kept two Sabbaths on the road out of Egypt. Rest was a family jewel before the contract was signed.

She had heard the parable: a man with precious utensils will not leave them to anyone but his son. God had not left this day to the nations. He had left it to Israel. That is why her hands shook as she knotted the cloth. She was not casual about the day. She was trapped between jewel and sword. Only life could tip the scale.

They Walked After the Blessing

Night roads out of Zippori carried men who could still taste the kiddush wine and the fear together. A child on a father's back asked why they walked on the day of stopping. The father, who was not a sage, answered with the only midrash he needed.

"David ran. Moses ran. Jacob ran. We are not better than they are, and we are not required to die to prove we love the day."

Behind them the day of rest continued for those who could keep it without blood. Ahead of them the road was dark. The child on the father's back went quiet. Three older fugitives set the pace, and Zippori's lamps fell away behind a hill.

ElazarZipporiShabbatDavidMosesJacobFlight
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From the tradition

Sources

2 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Bamidbar Rabbah 23:1Bamidbar Rabbah

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022 · CC-BY

As we'll see, it's a feeling that resonates profoundly within Jewish tradition.

Our journey begins with the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar (במדבר), specifically (Numbers 33:1): "These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who departed from the land of Egypt according to their hosts, at the hand of Moses and Aaron.” Simple enough. But within those words lies a deeper question, a question of survival, a question of when – and how – to flee.

The Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings and interpretations on the Book of Numbers, explores this very question. It asks: what if you're being pursued, not by pharaoh's armies, but by gentiles or robbers? Are you allowed to break Shabbat, the holy day of rest, to save your life?

The answer, according to our Rabbis, is a resounding yes. Life takes precedence. Saving a life, pikuach nefesh (פיקוח נפש), trumps nearly every other commandment. The Bamidbar Rabbah illustrates this with the story of David, who, as the Etz Yosef notes, fled from Saul, who sought to kill him. He fled and escaped, even, according to some sources, on Shabbat itself.

But here's where the story takes an interesting turn. There's an incident involving Rabbi Elazar ben Parta and some prominent leaders from Tzippori. These leaders were faced with evil edicts from the empire, arriving even on Shabbat! They asked Rabbi Elazar if they should flee. Now, Rabbi Elazar was in a tricky spot. He couldn't directly tell them to flee on Shabbat, so he cleverly alluded to the examples of Jacob, Moses, and David, all figures who fled to save themselves. "Go and ask Jacob, Moses, and David," he suggests. "What is written regarding Jacob? ‘Jacob fled’ (Hosea 12:13); and likewise regarding Moses: ‘Moses fled’ (Exodus 2:15); and likewise regarding David: ‘David fled and escaped’ (I (Samuel 19:1)8)." Brilliant. He even quotes (Isaiah 26:20): “Go, my people, enter your chambers [and close your door behind you; hide for a brief moment, until fury passes].”

So, what’s the message here? It's not just about fleeing when danger arises. It's about understanding the context. The Bamidbar Rabbah then adds a crucial layer, a divine perspective. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: ‘All the prominent leaders of the world feared and fled from their enemies. All those forty years that you spent in the wilderness, I did not allow you to flee, but rather, I would topple your enemies before you by virtue of My accompanying you." For forty years, the Israelites didn't have to flee. God protected them, even in the face of serpents, fiery serpents, and scorpions, as (Deuteronomy 8:15) reminds us. God was their shield, their protector.

Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: ‘Write the journeys that Israel traveled in the wilderness, so that they will know what miracles I performed on their behalf.’ And this, the Midrash Rabbah tells us, is the significance behind the phrase "These are the journeys." It's a reminder of God's constant presence, of the miracles that sustained them.

So, what do we take away from all of this? It’s a complex interplay of self-preservation and trust in the divine. There are times when fleeing is necessary, even divinely sanctioned. And then there are times when we are called to trust in something larger than ourselves, to remember the miracles that have brought us this far.

Knowing when to run and when to stand firm. Knowing when to rely on our own strength and when to surrender to a higher power. Perhaps the journey itself, both physical and spiritual, is the most important lesson of all.

Full source
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 18:5Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, trans. Rabbi Gerald Friedlander, London (1916) · CC-BY

It’s a legacy.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text, offers a beautiful parable to explain why. Who would they entrust them to? Only their most beloved, their own child. That’s how God felt about the Sabbath.

In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, 18, the Holy One, blessed be He, had something incredibly precious: the day of blessing and holiness, the Shabbat (the Sabbath). And God, in God's infinite wisdom, didn't want to give it to just anyone. God chose Israel.

Here's the really interesting part. How do we know this is true?

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer urges us to "Come and see!" Consider the Exodus from Egypt. Even before the Torah was given at Sinai, before the full covenant was established, God gave the Shabbat to Israel. Even before they were fully committed to following all the mitzvot (commandments), God entrusted them with this sacred day. As it says in (Nehemiah 9:14), "And Thou madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath."

The text emphasizes that Israel kept two Sabbaths before receiving the Torah, evidence of their immediate commitment to this gift. Only after this demonstration of devotion did God then give them the Torah, with its commandments, statutes, and teachings, through Moses.

So, the Sabbath wasn't just another commandment thrown into the mix. It was the first gift, a sign of divine favor and a prelude to the entire Torah. It was the foundation upon which the rest of the covenant was built.

Maybe it means that the Sabbath is more than just a day of rest. It’s evidence of the trust that God placed in us, and a call to live up to that trust each and every week.

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