Those Who Refuse Torah: The Fall and Rise of Aher

§ The Sages taught: Four entered the pardes, and they are as follows: Ben Azzai; and ben Zoma; Aḥer, the other, and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva, said to them: When, you reach pure marble stones, do not say: Water, water, because it is stated: “He who speaks falsehood shall not be established before My eyes” (Psalms 101:7).

Ben Azzai glimpsed and died. And with regard to him the verse states: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His pious ones” (Psalms 116:15).

Ben Zoma glimpsed and was harmed, i.e., he lost his mind. And with regard to him the verse states: “Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, lest you become full from it and vomit it” (Proverbs 25:16).

Aḥer chopped down the shoots.

Rabbi Akiva came out safely.

§ Aḥer chopped down the shoots, and most say this means he became a heretic. With regard to him, the verse states: “Do not let your mouth bring your flesh into guilt” (Ecclesiastes 5:5). The Gemara poses a question: What was it that led him to heresy?

He saw the angel Metatron, who was granted permission to sit and write the merits of Israel.

He said: There is a tradition that in the world above there is no sitting; no competition; no turning one’s back before Him, i.e., all face the Divine Presence; and no lethargy. Seeing that someone other than God was sitting, he said: Perhaps, (heaven forbid the Gemarra adds), there are two authorities!

They removed Metatron from his place in heaven and smote him with sixty rods [pulsei] of fire. They said to the angel: What is the reason that when you saw the man you did not stand before him?

He was granted permission to erase the merits of Aḥer. A Divine Voice went forth saying: “Return, rebellious children” (Jeremiah 3:22), apart from Aḥer.

He said: Since that man, meaning himself, has been banished from that world, let him go out and enjoy this world. Aḥer went astray. He went and found a prostitute and solicited her. She said to him: And are you not Elisha ben Abuya? He uprooted a radish from a patch of radishes on Shabbat and gave it to her, to demonstrate that he no longer observed the laws of the Torah. She said: He is other than he was. He is Aḥer, other.

The daughter of Aḥer came before Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi and said to him: Rabbi, provide me with sustenance, as she was in need of food. He said to her: Whose daughter are you?

She said to him: I am the daughter of Aḥer. He said to her, angrily: Is there still of his seed remaining in the world? But isn’t it stated: “He shall have neither son nor grandson among his people or any remaining in his dwellings” (Job 18:19)?

She said to him: Remember his Torah, and do not remember his deeds. Immediately, fire descended and licked Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s bench.

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi wept and said: If God protects those who treat the Torah with contempt in such a manner, how much more so for those who treat it with honor...

Draw me, after you we will run (Songs 1:4)

Rabbi Meir was siting and expounding in the Beir Midrash of Tiberias. His teacher Elisha passed riding on a horse on Shabbat. They came and told him: Behold! Your teacher is outside! He stopped his expounding and went after him.

He said: What were you expounding today? He (Meir) answered: (Job 42:12) "So God blessed the latter end of Job [more than his beginning]" He asked: And what did did you open your expounding with? He said: "[And God returned the turn of events of Job, when he prayed for his friends] and God gave Job twice as much as he had before" (Job 42:10) - that God duplicated his possessions.

He said: Oy for those who are gone and can't be found anymore! Your teacher Akiva would not have expounded like this, rather, he would have said that "God blessed the end of Job because of the beginning" - on the merit of the mitzvot and good deeds that he had from the outset.

He asked: And what else have you been expounding? He said: "Better the end of something than its beginning" (Kohelet 7:8). He asked: And what did you open your expounding with? He answered: A man who had children in his young age, and they died, and in his old age he had more children that remained - this is "better the end than the beginning."

He said: Oy for those who are gone and are missed! Your teacher Akiva would not have expounded this! Rather, "better the end of something than its beginning" it is to be applied to something that is good from the beginning - so this happened to me: My father Abuyah was one of the notables of Jerusalem. On the day he came to circumcise me, he called all the notables in Jerusalem and sat them on one house; and Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua in another house.

After they ate and drunk, they sang, and clapped their hands and danced. Rabbi Eliezer said to Rabbi Yehoshua: Since they are occupied with what is theirs, let's occupy ourselves with what is ours. And they sat and occupied themselves with words of Torah. From Torah to Prophets. And from Prophets to Writings. And a fire came from heaven, and enveloped them.

Abuyah said to them: My teachers, why have you came to burn my house down on me? They said to him: Chas veshalom! Rather, we were sitting and going over words of Torah, and from Torah to Prophets and from Prophets to Writings and the words were as joyful as when they were given on Sinai, and the fire was consuming them as they were consumed in Sinai, and the core of their (the Mitzvoth) being given in Sinai was solely [being given] on fire "And the mountain was on fire up to the heart of heaven" (Deut. 4:11)"

My father Abuya said to them: My teachers, if the power of Torah is such - if this child remains alive for me, I will dedicate him to Torah. Since his intention was not for Heaven, Torah did not remain alive in that man.

He said to him: What other expounding did you give? He said to him: "Gold and glass cannot equal it (Job 28:17)" He asked him: And what did you open it with? He said: Words of Torah are difficult to acquire like vessels of gold, and are easy to loose like vessels of glass. And just like vessels of gold and glass can be broken and remade as vessels, so too a disciple of the sages that forgot his learning can return and relearn as in the beginning.

He said to him: Stop here, Meir...

Up to here is the Shabbat limit.

He said: And how do you know? He said: I have been counting the paces of my horse, and here is a thousand amot.

He said to him: All this wisdom you have in you, and you won't return?

He said to him: I can not.

He asked him: Why?

He answered him: Because once I was passing in front of the House of the Holy of Holies, riding my horse, and I heard a bat-kol (divine voice) that came out of the House of the Holy of Holies and she said "Return children! With the exception of Elisha Ben Abuya, who knew my power and rebelled against me." And from where came such a decree?

Once he was sitting and repeating [teachings] near the brooks of Ginoser, and he saw a man go up to the top of a palm tree, and he took the mother bird with her young and came down in peace.

On the next morning he saw a different man, who also went up the palm tree, but he shooed away the mother bird before taking the young. He came down and was bitten by a snake and died.

He said: It is written "You shall surely send away the mother bird so that it will be good for you and your days will be lengthened!" (Devarim 22:7) - Where are the long days of this one?!

He didn't know that Rabi Yaakov had expounded before him "it will be good for you" in the Next World, which is All Good; "and days lenghtened" in the Future that is All Long.

And there are those who say that this came about because he saw the tongue of Rabbi Yehudah the Baker, spilling blood out, given to a dog. He said: Is this his Torah, and this is his reward? This is the tongue that gave out Torah, this is the tongue that touched Torah all its days, is this Torah and is this the reward?! It seems that there is no reward and no resurrection.

And there are those who say that when his mother was pregnant with him she passed in front of a house of idolaters and smelled their offerings, and that that smell infiltrated in his body like the poison of an enormous serpent.

After a few days Elisha got sick. They came and told Rabi Meir: Your teacher is sick! He went to visit him and found him very sick. He went to visit him and said: Repent! Elisha asked: Having gone so far, will I be accepted? Rabbi Meir replied: Is it not written,“You allow a person to return,up to their being crushed” (Tehillim 90:3), up to the time that life is being crushed out of them? In that instant, Elisha ben Abuyah began to weep, and departed, and died.

Rabbi Meir rejoiced, saying: My master, it would appear, departed in a state of repentance.

However, after he was buried, fire came forth from heaven to burn his grave. They went and told Rabbi Meir: The grave of your master is on fire! Rabbi Meir went out, spread his cloak over the grave, and said to him: “Stay this night” (Ruth 3:13) – in this world which is wholly night -- “and it shall be in the morning” (Ruth 3:13)—the world-to-come, all of which is morning -- “if the 'One who is good' will redeem you”(Ruth 3:13)—that is, the Holy One, who is good, of whom it is said, “The Lord is good to all and God's mercies are on all God's works” (Tehillim 145:9).

But if God is not willing to redeem you, then I, Meir, will redeem you. “As the Lord lives, lie down until morning”(Ruth 3:13). The fire was then extinguished.