Learning from the Mistake of Rabbi Akiva’s Students

 One of the reasons why the Sefira period is experienced with some mourning practices is based on the tradition that it was during this time of year that 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died in a plague. The Talmud states that Rabbi Akiva’s students died as punishment for “not showing respect towards one another.”

This Talmudic explanation has always perplexed me. One of Rabbi Akiva’s famous teachings is his comment on the verse “Va’Ahavta L’Reiacha Kamocha” “Love your neighbor as yourself” on which he stated that this verse is a most fundamental concept in the Torah.

If these 24,000 students were truly disciples of R’ Akiva, then how could they have not known their Rebbe’s teaching on loving a fellow Jew? I’d like to suggest two possible ways to understand the mistake of Rabbi Akiva’s students.

First, it could be that there was disconnect between what the students learned and how they acted. They might have knew Rabbi Akiva’s lesson by-heart but they did not take this lesson to heart.

Learning Torah and Living a Torah-oriented lifestyle should not only make us holier people, but it should also make us better, nicer, more compassionate and considerate people. If this is not happening, then we are learning something wrong.    

Second, it could be that the students took their teacher’s lesson a bit too literally. The verse in the Torah is “Ve’Ahavta Lereiacha Kamocha” which means “love your neighbor as yourself”. There is much discussion as to what the word “Kamocha” means in this context. Perhaps the students of Rabbi Akiva took it to mean that you must get along with people that are Kamocha: ie with whom you are similar; ie with people whom you share values and interests. But the students did not feel a need to show love and respect to those whom they did not consider to be like-minded.

It’s easy to like people that are similar to us; people that share our worldview, our values, and our priorities. But how do we treat people with whom we disagree? How do we treat those with whom we normally agree but strongly disagree on a particular topic that is very important to us? This is when “Love your neighbor” becomes harder and much more important.  

During this Sefira period, let us contemplate the strengths and opportunities that emerge from living in a diverse synagogue community like ours.  On any given Shabbat you are more likely than not to sit next to, share a row, or wish Shabbat Shalom to someone with whom you disagree with on one or many issues that you feel passionate about. How does that make you feel? What does that that say about our community?

Let us appreciate the importance of loving even those who are different that we are, and even those with whom we disagree. It is through interactions with those whom we are dissimilar that we extend ourselves and in the process grow from that interaction.