The students of Rabi Elazar ben Shamua HaKohen once asked him, “What must a person do to be spared the pangs of Mashiach?” He replied, “Let him engage in Torah study and acts of kindness” (Sanhedrin 98b).
Rabi Elazar is one of the Ten Martyrs that we recall during Mussaf of Yom Kippur, when we read the moving piyyut Eleh Ezkerah. He lived after the Beit HaMikdash had been destroyed, at a time when Yerushalayim was desolate and when the Hadrianic decrees against learning and teaching Torah were in full force. Yet rather than be crushed by the harsh times in which he lived, his entire life was dedicated to Torah and he became a pivotal figure in the transmittal of the Oral Torah to the next generation.
Rabi Elazar was one of the five talmidim whom Rabi Akiva taught after the death of his 24,000 students, along with Rabi Meir, Rabi Yehudah ben Illai, Rabi Yossi ben Halafta, and Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. Although these five outstanding scholars were being trained to become the future leaders of klal Yisrael, the times were so dangerous that they couldn’t receive semicha. When Rabi Yehudah ben Bava finally ordained them, he was immediately arrested by the Romans and killed for his “crime.”
According to Shabbat 19b, whenever the name “Rabi Elazar” is mentioned in the Mishnah and Beraisot, it refers to Rabi Elazar ben Shamua. He was a very respected and popular teacher – Rabi Yehudah HaNasi, Rebbe, was one of his talmidim – and students would crowd into the study hall to hear him speak. Indeed, Rebbe once commented that the study hall was so packed that six students would crowd into the space of one cubit, or approximately eighteen inches.
Perhaps one secret to his success as a teacher can be found in Pirkei Avot 4:15: “Rabi Elazar ben Shamua said: Let the honor of your student be as dear to you as your own; and the honor of your colleague as the reverence of your master; and the reverence of your master as the reverence for Heaven.”
Rabi Elazar also had great compassion for every human being. Kohelet Rabbah 11:2 recounts the story of a Roman who was shipwrecked and washed up on shore with nothing more than his life. When he begged for help from some Jews who were passing by, they laughed at his naked state and refused to help. Why should they assist a member of the nation that had caused so much trouble and sorrow for the Jewish People? However, when the man pleaded with Rabi Elazar for help, in the name of human dignity, Rabi Elazar gave him food, clothing and money, and accompanied the man 14 parsangs to his home.
Later, this shipwrecked man became the emperor of Rome, and he enacted several harsh decrees against the Jews. The Jews of Eretz Yisrael entreated with Rabi Elazar to go to the emperor and offer him 4,000 dinars, hoping to convince the emperor to change his mind. When the emperor saw who had come to plead for the Jews, he annulled the decrees and showered Rabi Elazar with many gifts.
Although Rabi Elazar would do practically anything to learn Torah, Sifrei Devarim (Re’eh 80) relates an incident where he reached his limit. He and Rabi Yochanan HaSandlar decided to learn Torah with Rabi Yehudah ben Beteirah, who was living in Babylonia. The two scholars got as far as Tzarda when thoughts of Eretz Yisrael overwhelmed them. They began to cry and rent their garments quoting the pasuk from Devarim 11:31, “And you shall inherit [the land] and dwell in it, and you shall keep and observe all the laws.” They said, “Living in Eretz Yisrael is equivalent to all the mitzvot of the Torah,” and returned home.
