4 min read

Rabbi Akiva Kept Teaching and the Fish Would Not Leave the Water

Rome banned Torah and Rabbi Akiva gathered students in public anyway. When Pappos warned him, Akiva answered with fish who knew that dry land was death.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Pappos Sees the Students
  2. The Fox at the Shore
  3. Two Men in One Prison
  4. The Word One
  5. Carried Out of Rome's Reach

Pappos Sees the Students

After the Bar Kokhba revolt collapsed in 135 CE, Hadrian banned Torah study. Anyone caught learning, teaching, or gathering around a text risked execution. Rabbi Akiva kept gathering crowds in public and kept teaching.

Pappos ben Yehuda found him at it and could not keep quiet. Are you not afraid of the government? The question was not cowardice. Rome had soldiers, prisons, informers, and a record of public executions they used as deterrents. The math was simple. Akiva was making himself visible in exactly the way the decree required him not to be.

Akiva answered with a story about fish.

The Fox at the Shore

A fox was walking along the water's edge. He saw fish darting frantically from one spot to another, fleeing something under the surface, nets, hooks, lines. The fox called down to them. Come up to dry land. There are no nets here. Live with me in the clefts of the rocks. I will keep you safe.

The fish answered together. You are supposed to be the cleverest animal. But you are thinking like a fool. If we are afraid here in the water, where we live and breathe and move, how much more sure are we to die on dry land?

The parable landed hard on Pappos. Akiva said: we are those fish. Torah is the water. If we are at risk while learning, and we are, how much more at risk are we if we stop? What happens to a fish pulled onto dry land is not survival. It is a different kind of death, faster and more complete than anything the net can do in the water.

Two Men in One Prison

Shortly afterward, the tradition says, both Pappos and Akiva were arrested. They sat in the same prison. Pappos told Akiva he was fortunate, Akiva had been arrested for something worth dying for. Pappos had been arrested for something empty. The two warnings had reversed. The man who once feared the water now envied the one who had refused to leave it, and the cell that held them both made the difference between their crimes plain.

The Word One

Akiva died in the prison of the Romans, his flesh raked with iron combs. This was the execution method. The sources do not soften it. The hour for the morning Shema arrived as the iron tore at him, and he began to recite it, accepting the yoke of heaven while they worked. He drew out the word echad, One, holding it, stretching the final syllable until his breath ran out on it. His students asked how he could bear it. All his life he had wondered when he would be able to fulfill the command to love God with his whole soul, even if that soul were taken from him, and now the chance had come. The moment his soul left, a voice from heaven spoke: blessed is Akiva, whose soul departed on the word One.

Carried Out of Rome's Reach

The coda to Akiva's death belongs to Elijah the Prophet and to a man named Rabbi Yehoshua HaGarsi, Akiva's devoted attendant. After Akiva died in the prison, Elijah appeared to Yehoshua and led him to the place where the body lay. They wrapped it. They lifted it onto their shoulders and carried it through the night, moving through the streets while the city slept, until they came to a ruin with a couch in it. Yehoshua looked down at the couch and found it ready, as if someone had prepared it. They laid Akiva down on it. This is how the man who would not leave the water was carried out of Rome's reach at last.

AkivaRomeMartyrdomTorahPersecutionPrayer
← All myths

From the tradition

Sources

6 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Exempla of the Rabbis, No. 20Exempla of the Rabbis (Gaster, 1924)

The Jews being prevented by decree from studying, Pappos met R. Akiba who had defied that decree. Rebuked by Pappos Akiba replied: “A fox on the shore of the sea saw some fish hiding from the nets and hooks. He asked them to come to the dry land to dwell with him. They replied: “Art thou the clever, cunning animal? If in this place where we live we are not safe, how much more are we sure to die on dryland. So with us. If we give up the study of the law we are sure to die.” Shortly afterwards both met

- 57 ~

in prison and Pappos said: "Happy art thou that thou art imprisoned for the sake of the study of the law.” The Rabbi was then led to execution at the time of morning prayer. They combed his flesh with iron combs and he expired with the words, "The Lord is one.”

21. The daughter of the Emperor was once found murdered and the Romans accused the Jews of the murder. Two brothers from Ludikia sacrificed themselves in order to save the rest of the Jews. They were tortured the whole day, having their limbs cut off until their souls departed. Those are the two martyrs of Lud, who sit in the highest place in heaven.

Full source
Exempla of the Rabbis, No. 20Exempla of the Rabbis (Gaster, 1924)

When the Romans made it a capital offense to study Torah, Rabbi Akiba continued to teach openly, gathering great assemblies of students in public. Pappos ben Yehuda found him and was horrified.

"Akiba, are you not afraid of the government?" Pappos demanded. The Romans were executing anyone caught studying Torah. Why was Rabbi Akiba courting death?

Rabbi Akiba answered with the parable of the fox and the fish, preserved in the Talmud (Berakhot 61b). "A fox was walking along a riverbank and saw fish darting back and forth in the water, fleeing from something. 'What are you running from?' asked the fox. 'From the nets that humans cast for us,' the fish replied."

"The fox said: 'Come up onto dry land, and we will live together as my ancestors lived with your ancestors.' But the fish answered: 'Are you the one they call the cleverest of animals? You are not clever, you are a fool. If we are in danger in the water, which is our element and our life, how much more so on dry land, which is our death?'"

Rabbi Akiba turned to Pappos. "We are like those fish. Torah is the water in which we live. Yes, we are in danger while we study it. But if we abandon Torah, we are surely dead, not merely in body, but in soul. If we must choose between danger with Torah and safety without it, the choice is clear."

Pappos understood. And when Rabbi Akiba was later arrested and executed by the Romans, he died with the words of the Shema on his lips, still swimming in the waters of Torah.

Full source
Berakhot 61b; Gaster, Exempla No. 20The Exempla of the Rabbis (1924)

The Roman Empire had outlawed Torah study. Jews who gathered to learn risked execution. Pappos ben Yehudah, a cautious man, saw Rabbi Akiva publicly teaching Torah in open defiance of the decree. Are you not afraid, he asked. Why provoke Rome? Is the risk not madness?

Akiva answered with a fable.

A fox was walking along the shore of the sea, he said. He saw fish dashing frantically from one spot to another in the shallows. What are you doing, he asked. The fish answered, We are fleeing the nets and hooks of the fishermen. The fox put on his most sympathetic voice. Come up on dry land, he said. Come live with me. There are no nets here. We will be neighbors.

The fish burst out laughing. Are you the clever one, the cunning animal they talk about? If even here, in the water, which is our life, we are not safe, how much more certainly will we die on dry land, where we cannot even breathe?

So it is with us, said Akiva. Torah is to the Jew what water is to the fish. It is written (Deuteronomy 30:20): For it is your life, and the length of your days. If we are in danger while studying Torah, how much greater the danger if we abandon it? Without water we are finished in a minute.

Not long after, both men were arrested. Pappos was imprisoned by the Romans for another offense entirely. When he was thrown into the same cell as Akiva, he said: Happy are you, Akiva, for you are imprisoned for the sake of Torah. I am imprisoned for nothing.

Akiva was soon led out to execution during the morning prayer, around 135 CE under the Hadrianic persecution. The Romans combed his flesh with iron combs. As they tore at him, he recited the Shema. He lingered on the final word, Echad, One, and with that word on his lips he died.

This story from tractate Berakhot 61b, preserved in The Exempla of the Rabbis (Gaster, 1924), is the moment that made Rabbi Akiva the pattern of Jewish martyrdom. The fox still offers the deal. The fish still refuse.

Full source
Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Ki Tavo 4:2Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Ki Tavo

"With all your heart" (Deuteronomy 26:16), Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says: The text comes to warn Israel concerning something else. "And with all your soul" (ibid.), even if He takes your soul.

Once they decreed a persecution that they should not occupy themselves with the Torah. Rabbi Akiva went and sat and occupied himself with the Torah. Pappus ben Judah came and found him. He said to him: Rabbi, are you not endangering yourself, for you are transgressing the decree of the king? Rabbi Akiva said to him: I will tell you a parable. To what is the matter comparable? To a fox that was walking along the bank of a river. He saw fish there. He said to them: Come to me, and I will hide you in the clefts of the rocks, and do not be afraid. They said to him: Are you the cleverest of the animals? You are nothing but a fool! All our life is only in the water, and you tell us to go onto the dry land! So too, all the life of Israel is only in the Torah, as it is written, "For it is your life and the length of your days" (Deuteronomy 30:20); and you say, "You are endangering yourself."

After a few days they seized them both. He said to him: It is better for you that you were seized over words of Torah. Woe to Pappus, who was seized over idle matters! Later, when they took Rabbi Akiva out to be killed, it was the time for the recitation of the Shema, and they were combing his flesh, and he was reciting the Shema. Concerning them David said, "From men by Your hand, O Lord" (Psalms 17:14). Rabbi Hanina bar Pappa said: Do not read "from men" (mimtim), but "those who put to death" (memitim), for they put themselves to death over the Torah, which was given for this. For people who see them say to one another: They have sins in their hands, that is why they are killed, and they do not know that their portion is in the life of the world to come, and that all good is stored up for them, as it is said, "And You fill their belly with Your treasure" (ibid.). And not only this, but they merit it for their children after them.

And because Israel give over their lives for the Torah and for the sanctity of the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, makes for them a blessing in the world, as it is said, "You have affirmed the Lord this day" (Deuteronomy 26:17). And just as Israel make the Holy One, blessed be He, a unique distinction, so the Holy One, blessed be He, makes them a unique distinction, as it is said, "And the Lord has affirmed you this day" (ibid. 18). Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: Just as the upper story crushes, so Israel are destined to crush four kingdoms, as it is said, "And to set you on high above all the nations that He has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor" (Deuteronomy 26:19).

Full source
Exempla of the Rabbis, No. 245Exempla of the Rabbis (Gaster, 1924)

The death of Rabbi Akiba in a Roman prison was one of the most sacred and terrible events in all of Jewish history. The greatest sage of his generation, the man who had laughed on the Temple Mount, was executed for the crime of teaching Torah.

The story does not end with his death. The prophet Elijah, who moves through the world unseen, appearing only when heaven demands it, came to the prison. He found Rabbi Yehoshua HaGarsi, Rabbi Akiba's devoted attendant, and led him to the place where the sage's body lay.

Together, Elijah and Rabbi Yehoshua carried the body through the night. They brought it to a cavern that had been prepared by heaven itself. Inside the cave, they found a bed, a table, and a lit candle, as though an unseen host had arranged a room for an honored guest. They laid Rabbi Akiba's body on the bed and departed.

The sages taught that this miraculous burial proved that God honors His righteous ones even in death. No Roman prison could desecrate Rabbi Akiba's remains. No executioner's sword could prevent him from receiving the burial his holiness deserved. Elijah himself served as pallbearer, and heaven itself prepared the tomb.

Connected to this tale is the story of Solomon after his fall from power. When the rich treated him to lavish meals, he was miserable, their hospitality reminded him of everything he had lost. But when the poor shared their meager food with him, he was comforted, because their simple kindness asked nothing of him and reminded him of nothing. Sometimes the greatest comfort comes from those who have the least to give.

Full source
Gaster, Exempla of the Rabbis No. 245 (1924); cf. Berakhot 61bThe Exempla of the Rabbis (1924)

The Roman Emperor Hadrian outlawed the teaching of Torah after the failure of the Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE. Rabbi Akiva refused to stop. He gathered students in public and taught, knowing the cost. He was arrested, imprisoned, and eventually executed, his flesh raked with iron combs, according to Berakhot 61b, while he recited the Shema aloud until his soul left on the word echad, One.

Gaster's Exempla (No. 245, 1924) preserves a quieter coda. After Akiva died in prison, it was Elijah the Prophet, the eternal wanderer of Jewish tradition, who appears at every circumcision and every seder, who came to the jail. Elijah found Rabbi Yehoshua HaGarsi, Akiva's devoted disciple, and brought him to the cell.

Together they carried Akiva's body out. Elijah led the way to a hidden cavern. Inside the cavern, waiting as if prepared by unseen hands, were a bed, a table, and a candle. They laid him down. The candle burned.

The scene is small and utterly Jewish. No triumphalism. No chariots of fire. Just the greatest teacher of the second century laid to rest by the oldest prophet of the Bible, in a quiet room lit by a single flame, the same flame, the mystics say, that still lights every page of Torah he taught.

Full source