Grave

Eliezer ben Hurcanus

Eliezer ben Hurcanus Rabbi Eliezer was a Kohen by descent. Little is known of his early years except from legends; He was a young man who, against his father's wishes, went to Jerusalem to devote himself to study. In Jerusalem he entered the academy of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai and studied diligently despite great privation. It was said that days sometimes passed during which he ate nothing at all. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai, recognizing Eliezer's receptive mind, called him "a plastered cistern that does not lose a drop, indeed a pitch-lined barrel that preserves its wine." His intellect was so highly developed that in his later years he could declare, "I have never taught anything that I did not learn from my teachers." Meanwhile, his father decided to disinherit him, and for this purpose he went to Jerusalem to read his will before Yochanan ben Zakai. Ben Zakai, learning of Hurcanus's arrival and the purpose of his visit, arranged for the guest to be seated among the city's elite and appointed Eliezer as the day's lecturer. At first Eliezer hesitated to take ben Zakai's place, but under his teacher's insistence he delivered a discourse, gradually revealing his vast knowledge. Recognizing his own son as the lecturer, and hearing the praise Ben Zakai heaped upon him, Hurcanus wished to leave his entire estate to Eliezer. Overjoyed at the reconciliation, Eliezer declined to take his brothers' shares and asked only for his own portion. He continued attending Ben Zakai's academy almost until the end of the siege of Jerusalem, when he and Yehoshua ben Chananya helped secretly smuggle their teacher out of the city to the Roman camp. Afterward, Eliezer went to Yavne, where he later became a member of the Sanhedrin under the presidency of Rabbi Gamliel II, though he also founded and, for many years afterward, led his own academy in Lod. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai himself declared that Eliezer was an unrivaled expositor of the law. Many students, among them Rabbi Akiva, joined his school. Eliezer became known as "Eliezer HaGadol" (the Great), though in the texts he is often referred to simply as Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Eliezer was very strict and somewhat domineering toward his students and colleagues, which sometimes led to unpleasant clashes. The chief characteristic of his teaching was strict adherence to tradition: he objected to Midrashim being regarded as authoritative in religious practice. Nevertheless, he was a disciple of Yochanan ben Zakai, one of the most prominent students of Hillel the Elder. Eliezer's conservatism brought him into conflict with colleagues and contemporaries, who understood that such conservatism could be detrimental to the proper development of the Oral Torah. May the merit of this tzadik protect Am Yisrael!