Grave
Rachel
wife of Rabbi Akiva
Grave of Rachel - wife of Rabbi Akiva
Burial place - Tiberias;
Segula for All Yeshuot - prayer at the Grave of Rabbi Akiva
In his youth, Rabbi Akiva worked as a shepherd for the famous wealthy man Kalba Savua.
Kalba Savua's daughter, Rachel, watching the poor shepherd and seeing in him an honest and worthy young man, fell in love with him.
"Akiva," she said to him one day, "if I agree to become your wife, will you go to study, to devote yourself to Torah learning?"
"Yes," answered Akiva.
They became betrothed in secret. When Kalba Savua found out about this, he threw his daughter out of the house and declared that she would be disinherited.
The young couple married. They lived so poorly that in winter they were forced to seek shelter in a hay barn. Once, Akiva was sitting and picking straw out of Rachel's hair, and he said:
"If I had money, I would give you a 'Jerusalem of Gold.'"
At that moment, Eliyahu HaNavi appeared at the door of the barn in the guise of a beggar and began to plead:
"Please give me an armful of straw - my wife has given birth and is lying on the bare ground."
"You see," Akiva said to his wife, "this poor man doesn't even have straw. Compared to him, we are wealthy."
"I do not dream of wealth," Rachel replied. "My only wish is for you to go and study."
It was hard for Rabbi Akiva to accept the idea that at the age of 40 he would have to go study together with small children.
Akiva doubted his own ability to begin learning Torah, since he could neither read nor write.
The Spring of Water at the Grave of Rachel
One day he saw a stone slab by a well with a groove worn precisely into it, and he asked:
"Who made this so well?"
"Don't you know, Akiva," they answered him, "what is said: 'a drop wears away a stone.' Drop by drop it fell, day after day wearing away this stone."
And Rabbi Akiva thought: "Drops of water are liquid and weak, yet they managed to wear away stone - all the more so, the words of Torah, hard as steel, will surely not be too late to carve out my living heart."
Incidentally, according to legend, it is this very stone that is located at the grave of Rachel, wife of Rabbi Akiva, and people draw water from that same spring which wore away this stone all these years, hoping for miracles.
Akiva enrolled in the school of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua.
After 12 years he became a master of Torah with 12,000 students.
And then he decided it was time to return to his wife.
Approaching the door of the small house where Rachel lived alone, he heard one of the neighbors reproaching his wife:
"Say what you will, your father was quite right. First of all, a poor shepherd was never a match for you; and besides, just think - leaving you for so many years in the state of a widow with a living husband!"
To which Rachel replied:
"If Akiva listened to me, he would stay at the academy for another 12 years."
Hearing these words, Rabbi Akiva turned back to the academy without even stopping at home.
Another 12 years passed.
Rabbi Akiva returned to his hometown as the teacher of 24,000 students.
The whole town came out to greet the famous scholar. Rachel went too.
"You should at least borrow something nicer to wear from someone," the neighbors said to her.
"It doesn't matter," Rachel answered. "The righteous one knows what is in my heart."
Here Rachel is quoting a verse from Mishlei (12:10) - "A righteous man knows the soul of his animal."
On one hand, by comparing herself to the "animal of the righteous," Rachel views herself simply as a helper, an assistant in his advancement.
But on the other hand, she knows that for a righteous person, the outer shell - the "behemiut", the animal aspect - has no significance; he knows the inner essence. And she knows that a great tzadik is distinguished precisely by his ability to understand another - not only a person, but even an animal, and even plants.
Approaching Akiva, she bowed down to the ground and began kissing his feet. Seeing an unfamiliar woman, the students rushed to drive her away.
"Let her come to me," Rabbi Akiva stopped them, "all of my knowledge and yours belongs to this woman."
Old Kalba Savua heard about the arrival of some famous scholar and, [having repented of his harsh treatment of his daughter], thought:
"I will go to him - perhaps he will release me from my vow regarding my daughter."
[He came to Rabbi Akiva and told him his matter.]
Rabbi Akiva asked:
"And if you had known that the shepherd would become a famous scholar, would you have made such a vow?"
"By no means," answered Kalba Savua, "even if he had undertaken to learn just a single halacha."
"If so," said Rabbi Akiva, "then know that I am your daughter's husband."
Old Kalba Savua bowed to the ground, kissed Rabbi Akiva's feet, and declared that he was giving him and his daughter half of his fortune.
May the merit of this tzadik protect our people!
(Ketubot, 62; Nedarim, 50, Machanaim.org)
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