Likewise1This passage links up with the dictum in Aboth 2:11 (Sonc. ed., II, 8, p. 18) where Rabban Joḥanan b. Zakkai recounts the distinctive qualifications of his five foremost disciples. R. Judah the Prince used to recount the praises of the following Sages: R. Ṭarfon, R. ‘Aḳiba, R. Eleazar b. Azariah, R. Joḥanan b. Nuri and R. Jose the Galilean.R. Ṭarfon he described as a heap of stones (another version: a heap of nuts). When a man removes one, they all topple and fall over each other. So it was with R. Ṭarfon; whenever a disciple came to him and said, ‘Teach me’, he would produce for him [instruction in] Scripture, Mishnah, Midrash, halakoth and ’aggadoth. When that disciple departed, he left laden with blessing and [intellectual] wealth.R. ‘Aḳiba he described as a treasury with compartments.2The translation follows the view of Rashi, given in Giṭ. 67a (Sonc. ed., p. 317), where he explains בלום as ‘divided into several compartments’. Jastrow, s.v. בלם, defines it ‘a packed treasury’ (of knowledge), but explains the variant, בלוס (s.v. בלס) as ‘a mind full of knowledge’. [Bacher, Ag. d. pal. Amoräer, II, p. 65, n. 6, gives בלום as the correct reading which he understands as ‘locked up’ or ‘packed’.] To what may [25b] R. ‘Aḳiba be compared? To a pedlar who takes his sack and goes into a field. When he finds wheat he drops it in the sack; similarly when he finds barley, spelt, beans and lentils he drops them all in the sack. On returning home he sorts them all out, putting the wheat apart, the barley apart, the spelt, the beans, the lentils all apart. Such was the practice of R. ‘Aḳiba: he sorted all the Torah [he amassed] into its various compartments.3The text varies between ṭaba‘oth, ‘rings’ and maṭbe‘oth, ‘coins’. Rashi, loc. cit., adopts the latter according to which the meaning is: As coins are put into a box according to their various denominations, so did R. ‘Aḳiba systematize the whole of the oral tradition. [Bacher, Ag. d. Tannaiten I, p. 267, n. 1, accepts the former reading, and explains that R. ‘Aḳiba sorted out the heterogeneous material and arranged it like ‘a chain of connected links’.]R. Eleazar b. Azariah he described as a perfumer’s chest. To what may R. Eleazar be compared? To a perfumer who takes his chest with him and enters a city. The townsfolk come out and enquire, ‘Have you fine oil? Have you spikenard oil? Have you balsam oil?’ and find that he has everything [they require]. So it was with R. Eleazar b. Azariah. When a disciple came to him and enquired about Scripture he enlightened him, about Mishnah he enlightened him, about Midrash or halakoth or ’aggadoth he enlightened him. When the disciple departed he left laden with [intellectual] wealth and blessing.
When R. Joshua was an old man, his disciples came to visit him.4Cf. Ḥag. 3a (Sonc. ed., pp. 8f). This passage is inserted as an example of the skill of R. Eleazar b. ‘Azariah in ‘aggadoth. He said to them, ‘My sons, what new interpretation was there at the House of Study to-day?’ They replied, ‘We are your disciples and drink your waters’.5We cannot possibly have anything to teach you. He said to them, ‘Heaven forfend! No generation is orphaned of its Sages.6He deprecated the suggestion that there were no other great teachers. Whose Sabbath7Rabban Gamaliel, the President of the College, had been deposed because of his high-handed treatment and humiliation of R. Joshua, and R. Eleazar b. ‘Azariah had been elected in his place. When Rabban Gamaliel had been reinstated it was arranged that he should give the discourse three Sabbaths in the month and R. Eleazar b. ‘Azariah one Sabbath (cf. Ber. 27b, 28a; Sonc. ed., pp. 166ff). This explains the question asked by R. Joshua. was it?’ They replied, ‘It was the Sabbath of R. Eleazar b. Azariah’. He asked, ‘And what was the theme of his discourse to-day?’ They answered, ‘It was the section [beginning], Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones’.8Deut. 31, 12. He further asked, ‘What exposition did he give in connection with it?’ They said, ‘His comment was as follows: The men came to learn, the women to listen, but why had the little ones to come? In order to grant a good reward to those who brought them’. He said to them, ‘You had such a precious pearl in your possession and sought to withhold it from me! Had you visited me only for the purpose of imparting this to me, it would have been sufficient’. They said to him, ‘He also gave this exposition: The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails well fastened are the words of masters of assemblies:9Eccl. 12, 11. E.V., … fastened are those that are composed in collections. as the goad guides the heifer along its furrows, so do the words of the Torah guide a man along the paths of life. But [should you contend,] As the goad is movable so the words of the Torah are likewise movable,10i.e. not of permanent authority. the text adds, And as nails well fastened: As nails well fastened cannot be pulled out, so the words of the Torah cannot be dislodged. Masters of assemblies: these are the disciples of the wise who enter [the House of Study] and sit in several groups; some declare a thing forbidden others declaring it permitted, some pronounce a thing unclean others pronouncing it clean, some rule a thing unfit others ruling it fit. Now lest a man say to you, “I will sit idle and not study”, the text continues, They were given from one shepherd, i.e. one God created them,11[Cf. what ‘a heavenly voice’ declared of the controversies between the Schools of Hillel and Shammai, ‘They both speak the words of the Living God’ (‘Erub. 13b, Sonc. ed., pp. 85f). one leader12i.e. Moses. gave them, the Lord of all creation uttered them. Therefore make your ear like a funnel and allow to enter therein the words of those who forbid and those who permit, the words of those who pronounce unclean and of those who pronounce clean, the words of those who rule it unfit and of those who rule it fit’.
R. Joḥanan b. Nuri he described as a chest [filled with] halakoth.R. Jose the Galilean he described as a collector of the finest, devoid of arrogance; because he held fast to the rule of the Sages13That a man should be humble. derived from Mount Sinai, and diligently taught all the wise men of Israel.
Issi b. Judah used to describe certain Sages in these terms:14Cf. Giṭ. 67a (Sonc. ed., pp. 317f.) from which the following annotations are quoted. R. Meir was a wise man and a scribe;15That was his profession. R. Judah was a wise man when he desired to be such;16i.e. when he was not too hasty, he could be even wiser than R. Meir. the Mishnah of R. Eliezer b. Jacob was little and good;17lit. ‘a ḳab (little in quantity) but fine (well-sifted)’. So that whenever he gives an opinion, the halakah follows him. R. Jose always had his reasons; R. Joḥanan b. Nuri was a chest [filled with] halakoth; R. Jose the Galilean was a collector of the very finest, devoid of arrogance; R. Simeon b. Gamaliel was a shop stocked with the best purple; R. Simeon studied much and forgot little. Later when R. Simeon met Issi b. Judah he said to him, ‘Why do you prate about me before the Sages?’ He replied, ‘I merely said that you study much and forget little, and the little you do forget is but the bran of your learning’.18i.e. those statements which were not followed by the halakah.