Eleazar ben Arach

Teachings

Described as first among the disciples of Yohanan ben Zakkai, it was said, "If all the sages of Israel were placed in one scale, and Eleazar ben Arach in the other, he would outweigh them all". Yochanan described him as a "gushing stream" or "ever-flowing spring". They continue by noting he represented a symbol of a particular kind of rabbinical learning, one that not only repeated existing wisdom from the scripture but also innovated, providing new lessons for new circumstance as a spring or a well provides fresh (new) water.

Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach is known for saying: "If there was no Torah, there would be no [decorum (derekh eretz)."

Tomb

Crusader-period Jewish sources identify Eleazar ben Arach's tomb at the Upper Galilee town of Alma. Benjamin of Tudela mentions his tomb in a "large cemetery of the Israelites" at Alma, which also houses the tombs of Eleazar ben Azariah, Honi HaMe'agel, Simeon ben Gamliel and Jose the Galilean. An anonymous Hebrew manuscript of the same period states that the Jews and Muslims of Alma light candles on Eleazar ben Arach's tomb on Shabbat Eve, and mention a nearby miracle-working tree.

References

Sources

: :The Jewish Encyclopedia cites the following bibliography:

• Wilhelm Bacher, Die Agada der Tannaïten, i. 74 et seq.
• Jakob Brüll, Mebo ha-Mishnah, i. 87.
• Zecharias Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 91.
• Jacob Hamburger, Real-Enzyklopädie für Bibel und Talmud, ii. 155.
• Jehiel ben Solomon Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ii. s.v.
• Isaac Hirsch Weiss, Dor Dor we-Dorshaw, ii. 80.
• Abraham Zacuto, Sefer Hayuhasin. Filipowski edition, p. 35b.

References

1. ''[[Pirkei Avot. Avot]]'' 2:8; ''[[Avot of Rabbi Natan]]'' 14:3
2. ''Pirkei Avot'' 2:8; ''Avot of Rabbi Natan'' 14:4
3. (2000). "The Sinner and the Amnesiac: The Rabbinic Invention of Elisha ben Abuya and Eleazar ben Arach". Stanford University Press.
4. (2000). "The Sinner and the Amnesiac: The Rabbinic Invention of Elisha ben Abuya and Eleazar ben Arach". Stanford University Press.
5. (1976). "[[Avot de-Rabbi Nathan]]". Masoret.
6. 978-0-486-42871-0. p. 89.
7. Kedar, Benjamin Z.. (2005). "Holy Men in a Holy Land: Christian, Muslim and Jewish Religiosity in the Near East at the Time of the Crusades". Royal Holloway, University of London.