Otiot de rabbi akiva biography

Rabbi Akiva was a leading contributor to the Mishnah and to Midrash halakha. He has also been described as a philosopher.

Mekhilta de rabbi ishmael

The first name of Akiva's wife is not provided in earlier sources, but a later version of the tradition gives it as Rachel. A different tradition [ 9 ] narrates that, at the age of 40, Akiva attended the academy of his native town, Lod , presided over by Eliezer ben Hurcanus. Hurcanus was a neighbour of Joseph, the father of Akiva.

The fact that Eliezer was his first teacher, and the only one whom Akiva later designates as "rabbi", is of importance in settling the date of Akiva's birth. These legends set the beginning of his years of study at about 75— Joshua ordained Akiva as his fellow-student, presumably with semikhah. Rabbi Tarfon was considered as one of Akiva's masters, [ 12 ] but the pupil outranked his teacher and he became one of Akiva's greatest admirers.

She offered to marry him if he would agree to begin studying Torah, as at the time he was 40 years old and illiterate. When her father found out she was secretly betrothed [ 19 ] to an unlearned man, he was furious.

Rabbi akiva stories

He drove his daughter out of his house, swearing that he would never help her while Akiva remained her husband. Akiva and his wife lived in such poverty that they used straw for their bed. The Talmud relates that once Elijah the prophet assumed the guise of a poor man and came to their door to beg for some straw for a bed for his wife [ 5 ] after she had given birth.

When Akiva and his wife saw that there were people even poorer than they, Rachel said to him, "Go, and become a scholar". By agreement with his wife, Akiva spent twelve years away from home, pursuing his studies. He would make a living by cutting wood from the forest, selling half for his wife's and children's wellbeing, and using the other half for keeping a fire burning at night to keep himself warm and to provide light thereby for his own studies.