The Day After...

(1) The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD: (2) Stand at the gate of the House of the LORD, and there proclaim this word: Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD! (3) Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Mend your ways and your actions, and I will let you dwell^-a in this place. (4) Don’t put your trust in illusions and say, “The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD are these [buildings].” (5) No, if you really mend your ways and your actions; if you execute justice between one man and another; (6) if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place; if you do not follow other gods, to your own hurt— (7) then only will I let you dwell^-a in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers for all time. (8) See, you are relying on illusions that are of no avail. (9) Will you steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely, and sacrifice to Baal, and follow other gods whom you have not experienced, (10) and then come and stand before Me in this House which bears My name and say, “We are safe”?—[Safe] to do all these abhorrent things! (11) Do you consider this House, which bears My name, to be a den of thieves? As for Me, I have been watching—declares the LORD.

.Abaye said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because people desecrated the Shabbat in it, as it is stated: “And from My Shabbatot they averted their eyes, and I was profaned among them” (Ezekiel 22:26).

Rabbi Abbahu said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because its citizens intentionally omitted recitation of Shema morning and evening, as it is stated: “Woe to those who rise early in the morning and pursue the drink and are aflame from wine until late in the evening” (Isaiah 5:11). And it is written in that passage: “Therefore My nation is being exiled for its ignorance; its honor will die of hunger and its multitudes will be parched with thirst” (Isaiah 5:13).

Rav Hamnuna said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because schoolchildren there were kept from studying Torah, as it is stated: “And I am filled with the wrath of God, I cannot contain it, pour it onto the infants in the street ...” (Jeremiah 6:11). Rav Hamnuna explains: What is the reason that the wrath is poured? It is because infants are outside in the streets and are not studying Torah.

Ulla said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because people had no shame before each other, as it is stated: “They acted shamefully; they have performed abominations, yet they neither were ashamed ...(Jeremiah 6:15).

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because its small and the great citizens were equated. They did not properly value the prominent leaders of their generation, as it is stated: “And the common people were like the priest... (Isaiah 24:2).

Rabbi Ḥanina said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because the people did not rebuke one another, as it is stated: “Her ministers were like stags that found no pasture... (Lamentations 1:6). The Jewish people in that generation lowered their faces to the ground and did not rebuke one another.

Rabbi Yehuda said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they disparaged the Torah scholars in it, as it is stated: “And they mocked the messengers of God and disdained His words and taunted His prophets, until the wrath of God arose against His people, until it could not be healed” (II Chronicles 36:16).

Rav Yitzḥak bar Shmuel said in the name of Rav: The night consists of three watches, and over each and every watch the Holy One, Blessed be He sits and roars like a lion, and says: “Woe to Me, that because of their sins, I destroyed My house, burned My Temple and exiled them among the nations of the world.”

The Sages taught: One time, the evil empire of Rome decreed that Israel may not engage in Torah. Pappos ben Yehuda came and found Rabbi Akiva, who was convening assemblies in public and engaging in Torah study. Pappos said to him: Akiva, are you not afraid of the empire? Rabbi Akiva answered him: I will relate a parable. To what can this be compared? It is like a fox walking along a riverbank when he sees fish gathering and fleeing from place to place. The fox said to them: From what are you fleeing?
They said to him: We are fleeing from the nets that people cast upon us. He said to them: Do you wish to come up onto dry land, and we will reside together just as my ancestors resided with your ancestors?
The fish said to him: You are the one of whom they say, he is the cleverest of animals? You are not clever; you are a fool. If we are afraid in the water, our natural habitat which gives us life, then in a habitat that causes our death, all the more so.
So too, we Jews, now that we sit and engage in Torah study, about which it is written: “For that is your life, and the length of your days” (Deuteronomy 30:20), we fear; if we give up Torah, all the more so!

Not a few days passed until they seized Rabbi Akiva and incarcerated him in prison, and seized Pappos ben Yehuda and incarcerated him alongside him. Rabbi Akiva said to him: Pappos, who brought you here? Pappos replied: Happy are you, Rabbi Akiva, for you were arrested for engaging in Torah study. Woe unto Pappos who was seized for trivial matters.

When they took Rabbi Akiva out to be executed, it was time for the recitation of Shema. As they were raking his flesh with iron combs, he was reciting Shema, thereby accepting upon himself the yoke of Heaven. His students said to him: Our teacher, even now?! He said to them: All my days I have been troubled by the verse: "With all your soul," which I took to mean: Even if God takes your soul. I said to myself: When will I have the opportunity to fulfill this verse? Now that it has been afforded me, shall I not fulfill it?

He prolonged his uttering of the word: Echad, One, until his soul left his body. A voice descended from heaven and said: Happy are you, Rabbi Akiva, that your soul left your body as you uttered: One.

The ministering angels said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: This is Torah and this its reward?! As it is stated: “Rise, O Lord, go forth! Rescue me from the wicked with your sword. From death, by Your hand, O Lord, from death of the world” (Psalms 17:14); God said to the angels: Their portion is in this life.” And then a Divine Voice emerged and said: Happy are you, Rabbi Akiva, as you are destined for life in the World-to-Come.

When Rabbi Akiva died, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was born.

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon were sitting, and Yehuda, son of converts, sat with them. Rabbi Yehuda opened and said: How pleasant are the actions of this nation, the Romans, as they build marketplaces, bridges, and bath-houses. Rabbi Yosei was silent. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai responded and said: Everything that they build, they build only for their own purposes. They build marketplaces, to fill with prostitutes; bathhouses, to pamper themselves; and bridges, to collect tolls from. Yehuda, son of converts, went and told of their statements until they were heard by the authorities. They decreed: Yehuda, who elevated us, shall be elevated. Yosei, who remained silent, shall be exiled to Tzippori. Shimon, who denounced us, shall be killed.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai and his son, Rabbi Elazar, went and hid in the beit midrash. Every day his wife brought them bread and a jug of water and they would eat. When the pressure intensified, Rabbi Shimon said to his son: Women are vulnerable, if the authorities torture her and she might reveal our whereabouts. They went and they hid in a cave. A miracle occurred and a carob tree was created for them as well as a spring of water.

They would remove their clothes and sit covered in sand up to their necks. They would study Torah all day. At the time of prayer, they would dress, cover themselves, and pray, and they would again remove their clothes so that they would not wear out. They stayed in the cave for twelve years until Elijah came and stood at the entrance to the cave and said: Who will inform bar Yoḥai that the emperor has died and his decree has been abrogated?

They emerged from the cave, and saw people plowing and sowing. Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai said: These people abandon eternal life and engage in temporal life Every place they directed their eyes was immediately burned up. A Divine Voice came and said to them: Did you emerge from your cave to destroy My world? Return to your cave! They again went and sat there for twelve months. They said: The judgment of the wicked in Gehenna lasts for twelve months. A Divine Voice emerged and said to them: Emerge from your cave.

They emerged. Everywhere that Rabbi Elazar would destroy, Rabbi Shimon would heal. Rabbi Shimon said to Rabbi Elazar: My son, you and I suffice for the entire world.

As the sun was setting on Shabbat eve, they saw an elderly man who was holding two bundles of myrtle branches and running at twilight. They said to him: Why do you have these? He said to them: In honor of Shabbat. They said to him: One should suffice. He answered them: One is for: “Remember the Shabbat day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8), and one is for: “Observe the Shabbat day, to keep it holy” (Deuteronomy 5:12). Rabbi Shimon said to his son: See how beloved the mitzvot are to Israel. Their minds were put at ease.