Week 7 - May 18 -24, 2015 - Chapter 6

Joel - Week 7 - Chapter 6

Mishnah 6:9 Rabbi Yose ben Kisma said, “Once I was travelling and a man met me and greeted me. When I returned his greeting, he said to me, ‘Rabbi, where do you come from?’ I replied, ‘From a great city of sages and scholars.’ He then said, ‘Rabbi, would you be willing to live with us in our place? [If you would] I would give you a million golden dinars along with precious stones and pearls!’ I said to him, ‘Were you to give me all the silver and gold and precious stones and pearls in the world, I would live only in a place of Torah!’”

So there’s the story of this mishnah, and then there’s what it means to me.

You need to understand Rabbi Yose ben Kisma’s biography. He lives at the time of the lead up to what became known as the Bar Kochba revolt. At a time of great internal upheaval in Judea, this was a rebellion by Jews of Judea, led by Simon bar Kochba, against Rome in the years 132-136.

There were Jews who looked upon Simon bar Kochba as the Messiah, and for a time it seemed he might be one. For a time, this revolt was almost miraculously successful; the rebels were able to establish an independent State of Israel for two years in parts of Judea until 6 Roman legions came along and crushed the rebellion.

But not all Jews were in favor of this rebellion. Rabbi Yose ben Kisma was a student of history; he knew that it was a rebellion much like this one in 60 years earlier that eventually resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple by Rome, and so he counselled against this revolt. Because he took this stand, he remained undisturbed during the massive Roman persecutions that followed after the rebellion itself was brutally put down.

In Rabbi Yose ben Kisma’s story is a cautionary tale. As we pick the battles we will fight in the world, we need to pick them carefully. I’m honestly not sure which side I’d have been on-- ben Kisma, or bar Kochba. I know that I would have wanted the Jews to be free to live in a place of Torah, as ben Kisma teaches in this Mishnah. And I also know that it was likely futile at that time to rebel against Rome. So in a time of great challenge, do you preserve the sages and compromise on freedom? Or do you risk your life for the value of freedom and risk your very life?

It’s not an easy question to answer. I don’t envy the choices that Jews in Judea had to make at that time, nor the choices that Jews in so many generations since have had to make.

What I do know is this: being Jewish means living in community with other Jews. It means being in a congregation like ours that gives us the chance to study together. I am firmly share the opinion of Rabbi Yose ben Kisma: for all the silver and gold and precious stones and pearls, I would never want to live in a place without Jewish community.

This experience of writing has reminded me of how blessed I am, how blessed we are, in this way. Thanks to Beth for making this possible, and thanks to you for studying along with us!