Rabbi Kessin gives over the not-well-known history about the Eisav and Yaakov descendants, “the elder will serve the younger” prophecy, surrounding the twins that Rivka went to Shaim to consult.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors, and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD. Wikipedia
Wikipedia: Judah the Prince was born in 135 CE [became patriarch at the age of 30, and died at the age of about 85] to Simeon ben Gamliel II. According to the Talmud he was of the Davidic line. He is said to have been born on the same day that Rabbi Akiva died as a martyr.The Talmud suggests that this was a result of Divine Providence: God had granted the Jewish people another leader of great stature to succeed Rabbi Akiva. His place of birth is unknown.
Judah spent his youth in the city of Usha. His father presumably gave him the same education that he himself had received, including the Greek language. This knowledge of Greek enabled him to become the Jews' intermediary with the Roman authorities. He favoured Greek as the language of the country over Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. In Judah's house, only the Hebrew language was spoken, and the maids of the house became known for their use of obscure Hebrew terminology.
Judah devoted himself to the study of the oral and the written law. He studied under some of R' Akiva's most eminent students. As their student and through converse with other prominent men who gathered about his father, he laid a strong foundation of scholarship for his life's work: the editing of the Mishnah.
Rabbi Kessin explained that he gathered all the individual scholars and their understanding of each Mishna (which is our Oral Laws) and then mostly held by Rebbe Meir, the foremost talmid of Rabbi Akiva, when compiling the Mishnah.
A fascinating historical story that is held to be true. More fascinating reading at Judah HaNasi
3 comments:
I didn't get a chance to listen to Rabbi Kessin's video yet. But, I don't know if he mentioned that the mother of Rebbi was friendly with a Roman woman (think a neighbor). They both gave birth at about the same time and both had sons. When the Romans found out that his mother had given birth to a boy and was going to circumcize him because his father, Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, had said he would definitely circumcize his son (as it had been outlawed by the Romans), the Rebbi's mother's friend said I will 'lend' you my son and you will 'lend' me your son so when the Romans come to pick up and bring him to the Caeser, they will see an uncircumcised boy. That is what they made up to do and they remained the best of friends and while at the short time the Roman woman's baby was in the care of the Rebbi's mother, she also nursed him. The end of the story is that this Roman child was Antoninus who eventually became Emperor of the Roman Empire. The Rebbi and Antoninun remained the best of friends throughout their lives and eventually Antoninus converted to Judaism. He loved the Rebbi and also learned from him and with him, and thus had the highest respect for the Rebbi. Chazal tell us the Rebbi's mother nursing him for a short time is what gave him the warm feelings towards the Jewish people. Beautiful story.
If u had listened you would have heard the Rabbi explain all that and more.
I first got to listen to the audio after writing my above comment. I had learned that the two women were friends (neighbors) and when her friend was told by Rabbi Gamliel's wife about the danger Rabbi Gamliel and the baby were in, she right away suggested to the mother of the Rebbe that she would swap the babies so that the Emperor would see an uncircumcized child. And so
it was.
Yosef
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