At the end of the Second Temple era, with Jerusalem besieged by the Roman army, the wealthy of the city donated all the food in their warehouses to the public. In doing so, they hoped the Jews of the city would have what they needed to survive the siege.
The Jewish zealots had other plans, and they set fire to the stocks of food. Comfort and convenience do not maintain the spark of rebellion, and so they needed to be snuffed out. The rebels were seeking hunger, anger, rage. These are the things that nourish rebellion.
As hunger began to increase, Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai, a leader of the moderate camp, summoned the leader of the zealots, Abba Sikra, to try and find a solution. The Gemara explains that this happened privately. No-one knew about the meeting but the two of them.
Abba Sikra (or Sikkara) is the name the Jewish sages attached to one of the leaders of the rebellion, who was named Ben Batich (or Batiach). This mysterious person was likely linked to the sect known as the Sicarii. The Gemara tells of his large and exceptionally imposing figure and how his fist was the size of an average man’s head.
The Sicarii were a sect of zealots who fought the Romans and who are primarily famous for their role in the last stand of Jewish rebels at the desert fortress of Masada, where many of them eventually committed suicide.
But Abba Sikra was also a blood relative of Yochanan Ben Zakkai – he was the son of the Rabbi’s sister. Thus did two members of the same family find themselves leading opposite sides in the bitter divide which had torn the Jewish People apart during an existential war. Now they came together in a desperate attempt to salvage what was possible.
“Why do you act in such a manner? Will you kill us by famine?” Ben Zakkai asked Abba Sikra in their secret meeting (Gittin 56a). The rebel leader suddenly didn’t seem so tough. He shrugged his shoulders and replied “What shall I do? If I tell them anything of the kind, they will slay me.”
The rebel leader admitted to his uncle that he had little sway over his soldiers, who were so caught up in the fight that even he couldn’t get them to think of doing otherwise.
With the hope of saving Jerusalem gone, Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai understood that he had no choice but to leave the city. Consulting his nephew, the rebel leader, he asked him to think of some solution, some way to get him out. The only way out, Abba Sikra explained, was death.
And this is exactly what Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai did. He disguised himself as a shrouded corpse, asking his two faithful students – Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Eliezer – to take him outside the walls, ostensibly to bury him there. Once out, he met with the Roman general and future emperor Vespasian, who was besieging the city. Ben Zakkai asked the general to give him the town of Yavneh and its sages, guaranteeing the survival of a remnant of a glorious nation whose world had been destroyed.
There, at Yavneh, Yochanan Ben Zakkai created the Jewish world as it would continue to exist for the next two thousand years. He rebuilt Judaism after the destruction. Some say the Jewish People still exists thanks to him.
But some judge him more harshly, and Ben Zakkai’s actions have been the subject of much criticism over the generations. Should he not have fought harder for Jerusalem and the Holy Temple? Maybe he shouldn’t have given up, instead working to convince the Roman general to not destroy his city? For all the criticism, though, there was widespread recognition among the Jewish sages that Judaism was still alive and kicking thanks to him.
Generations of Israelis have been raised on the story of Masada, which tells of how the rebels resisted to the last drop of blood, and preferred to take their own lives rather than surrender. But even as these zealots and extremists were taking drastic action which would be mythologized for centuries, Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai and his students were sitting in Yavneh and studying. They chose a different option, one which exalts moderation and the ability to find solutions, even in the midst of an existential conflict.
What can we learn from Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai? He teaches us that even if reality is complex and difficult, one can always find a solution, regardless of what side you’re on.
The 9th of Av (Tisha B’Av), the day of the Hebrew calendar on which the Holy Temple was destroyed, is an appropriate day for placing faith in the Jewish People, who survived the destruction and pogroms and always managed to continue marching forward.
