Yohanan ben Zakkai

A source critical analysis of Yohanan ben Zakkai’s escape from Jerusalem and resettlement at Yavneh

14^th November 2003

Peter Eyland

There were four different accounts of Yohanan ben Zakkai’s escape from Jerusalem and resettlement at Yavneh. There were two versions from ‘Aboth D’Rabbi Nathan (ARN), one from the tractate Gittin (b. Git), and one from the Midrash Rabbah on Lamentations (Lam. R) [1] . Qohelet Rabbati 7:12:1 has been considered to be a quotation from Lam. R [2] . These accounts are set out in four parallel columns as a synopsis and compared [3] (see below)

Briefly on these documents, Rabbi Nathan was a “Babylonian” and an associate of the patriarch Simon b. Gamaliel in the mid second century [4] . The tractate Gittin in the Babylonian Talmud (edited ca. 500 CE) dealt mostly with divorce documentation (get pitturin). Midrash was a hermeneutic technique for expanding interpretations of sacred Scripture (kitbe ha-qodesh) and the Midrash Rabbah (Great Midrash) was edited ca 500 CE (from material between 200 CE and 500 CE).

Neusner has pessimistic views on the date [5] and reliability [6] of all these documents. Goldin concluded that: “the composition of the contents of ARN cannot be much later than the third or following century, or at the utmost shortly thereafter” [7] . Thus ARN comes after Tannaitic traditions (ca.70 CE to early third century CE) and before Amoraic traditions.

Both ARNa and ARNb place Yohanan ben Zakkai in a context reminiscent of the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah predicted and lived through the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Yohanan ben Zakkai lived through the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Jeremiah was specifically mentioned and protected by Nebuchadnezzar [8] , because Babylonian agents in Jerusalem had heard Jeremiah’s prophecies. Yohanan ben Zakkai was likewise overheard by Roman agents, then reports were sent to Vespasian and he was recognised by Vespasian. A gatekeeper wrongly detained Jeremiah as a deserter [9] and others later called him a traitor [10]. Apparently learning from Jeremiah, Yohanan ben Zakkai took the gatekeepers seriously and evaded their scrutiny. How much of the Jeremiah parallel inspired an elaboration of the tales is difficult to assess, but the stories seem to be a theological justification of Yohanan ben Zakkai’s actions in leaving Jerusalem, and a way of laying the blame for the destruction of Jerusalem directly on the sins of the Zealots.

There are only five episodes that occur in all four traditions. They are the use of a ruse to escape, R. Eliezer and R. Joshua carrying Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, the reference to Isaiah 10:34 [11], the short verification period, and Vespasian offering a favour.

In ARNa the ruse of a coffin is attributed to Yohanan ben Zakkai: ‘ “My sons,” he said to them, “arise and take me out of here. Make a coffin for me that I might lie in it.”’ It is not immediately clear if this was intended to be some kind of prophetic enactment, but the timing (“as the sun set”) and the nondescript words of the disciples at the gate (“it’s a dead man”) seem to make it a real escape plan.

In ARNb, by the brevity of the request, it is implied that it was his disciples’ idea: ‘he said to his disciples: “Comrades, get me out of here at once”. They put him in a wooden coffin’. Inb. Git., (p.14, top of col. 3) Yohanan ben Zakkai asked Abba Sikara to devise the plan and he does so with elaborate detail. In Lam. R. the ruse is Yohanan ben Zakkai’s conclusion but as the result of essential information from Ben Battiah. From this it is clear that the origin of the idea differed in all four traditions, and this is evidence for imaginative elaboration. There is no indication that the two disciples left the city.

The way R. Eliezer and R. Joshua carried Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai only differs in b. Git. where they carry him “on one side and … on the other” instead of “head” and “foot”. This seems consistent across the four traditions.

The reference to Vespasian’s “kingship” in terms of Isaiah 10:34, occurs in all four traditions. Vespasian, after having marched from Antioch, had easily reconquered Galilee by 67 CE. By spring 68 CE (April to June), all Peraea and Judaea, including Yavneh, were reconquered [12] . The exceptions were Jerusalem and the three Herodian forts [13] . The campaign was halted by the news (presumably received in Judaea by late June) of Nero’s death [14] on the9^th June 68 CE. The Roman army in Judaea remained inactive during the time of Galba, Otho and Vitellius, until Vespasian’s acclamation [15] . Vespasian seems to have been proclaimed Emperor first by his troops at Caesarea [16] and later officially in Egypt on the 1^st July 69 CE [17] . This is more than a year after Nero died. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai might have had his interview with Vespasian [18] in the spring of 68 CE, while the siege was still active, and after Yavneh had been captured. However any prediction about Vespasian immediately assuming power was not fulfilled and so it was likely that Vespasian granted no significant favours in the year when his future was uncertain. In fact ANRb and Lam R. both indicate that Yohanan ben Zakkai was not recognised by Vespasian and that he was imprisoned rather than being given carte blanche at Yavneh.

Josephus also claimed to have predicted the future rise of Vespasian when he was captured after Jotapata fell [19] and wrote that the sacred scriptures predicted the rise of Vespasian [20] . Tacitus [21] and Suetonius [22] also mention similar prophecies. As Neusner wrote: “Yohanan certainly was not the first such holy man to bring him good news, nor the last” [23] , so his prophecy may not have been regarded highly.

Thus the common elements are not consistent. They show signs of theological influence and imaginative development rather than historical accuracy.

Comparing ARNa and ARNb down to “the gates” episode, it is apparent that ARNb is shorter. At “the gates” episode ARNa is uneventful and the cortège passed quietly through the gates, but ARNb has added in line with b. Git. a great deal of tension in a dispute with the gatekeepers about stabbing the body, a loyal address to Vespasian, and moved the prediction and verification to before the granting of a favour. ARNb also does not have the Eli parallel of ARNa. This may be because, although the Eli parallel identified Yohanan ben Zakkai with great sorrow over the destruction, it may have also have been interpreted to imply some criticism of Yohanan ben Zakkai’s successors - that they were like Eli’s evil sons. Taking these things under consideration, it would seem that ARNa was not an expansion of ARNb, but ARNb was a condensed version of ARNa that was corrected and added to from the b. Git. tradition.

The b.Git. tradition has represented Yohanan ben Zakkai sending for Abba Sikara. His name (which can be translated as “Father of the Sicarii” [24] ) may be a construct for the purposes of the story. Unlike the rest of the rebels who opposed “the Rabbis” and burnt the food stores to force the people to fight, Abba Sikara needed to be identified as a nephew of Yohanan ben Zakkai. He was then obliged to help his uncle. Abba Sikara devised an exit strategy for Yohanan ben Zakkai to approach the Romans about the famine inside Jerusalem. Yohanan ben Zakkai’s justification for leaving the city was that there was a faint chance that the situation might be rescued from disaster. A comment at the end of the story that was attributed either to R. ‘Aqiva or R. Joseph showed that this was puzzling, because Yohanan ben Zakkai did not do anything about the famine.

The b.Git. tradition is an elaboration on a theme with more direct speech added. An authority figure (as implied by Abba Sikara’s name) was probably needed to make things plausible. At some time during the war it would have been likely that the gatekeepers routinely stabbed bodies. Accordingly the gatekeepers would have needed to be confronted by a higher authority before they would have been dissuaded from their practice. Thus ARNb made events more tense than b.Git., because it did not have an authority figure and this added an unpredictable outcome to the gate scene. The lack of any real correlation between b.Git and ARNa indicates that it was probably a tradition that was circulated independently of ARNa

A comment that was attributed to R. ‘Aqiva or R. Joseph, in response to the parable of the honey jug (i.e. Jerusalem) and the snake (i.e. Israel) was inserted into b.Git. to explain Yohanan ben Zakkai’s silence and apparent reluctance to defend the Temple. When there is a clear insertion of material like this, it is evidence that the underlying tradition is earlier [25] . Taking R.Joseph as the later and more likely setting, the story underlying b.Git. was probably current in the mid fourth century CE.

The Lam. R. tradition gave even more names and direct speech. Yohanan ben Zakkai’s nephew was now Ben Battiah. Ben Battiah was in charge of the food stores and he burnt them all so that the people would be forced to go out and fight for food outside [26] .

Like b.Git.,Lam. R. did not mention ARN’s episode of the spies and Yohanan ben Zakkai’s words to surrender. Instead, Yohanan ben Zakkai has been portrayed as lying to escape from death at his nephew’s hand. Yohanan ben Zakkai disclaimed his word of condemnation and substituted a similar sounding word of approval (“woe” to “wah”), and this was portrayed as the wisdom of the Scriptures. The impression is that Yohanan ben Zakkai recognised personal danger and the onset of famine and decided to leave. He demanded help from Ben Battiah. A footnote in Lam R. [27] politely infers that this was done with a view to “establishing a school at Jabneh which would become a religious centre after Jerusalem was destroyed” but there is no evidence of this in the text because there is no mention of Yavneh and the favours that are specifically asked were to spare Jerusalem, to allow free passage for a time from the Western gate, and to recover R. Zadok.

There was considerable expansion in Lam. R over b.Git. in the encounter with Vespasian at Gophna. Also the “honey and snake” parable in b.Git. became a series of probing questions by Pangar, who Neusner called an Arab General [28] and assigned the tradition to Islamic times. Neusner wrote, Pangar “claims to be a friend and to mean well, but does the greatest harm of all” [29] and related this to a hostile view of Arab involvement with the destruction of Jerusalem. There is clearly minimal overlap with any of the other traditions and this points to it being independent of them.

Yavneh (Jabneh, Jamnia or Iamneia) was mentioned by Philo [30] as “one of the most populous cities of Judaea” and “inhabited by a mixture of people, the majority being Jews”. It was there that a pagan altar was erected of “clay moulded into bricks”. After being torn down by Jews, Capito petitioned Gaius who then proposed to build a statue of himself in Jerusalem.

Alon contradicted Philo by asserting “for at least a generation before the Destruction, the majority of its people had been non-Jews” [31] . Schwartz has asserted that Yavneh was an Imperial estate with a Procurator in charge [32] . Taking Schwartz in account and allowing for a little exaggeration on Philo’s part, (because he argued that the customs of Yavneh should be the customs of the older, hence, majority population), it can be reckoned that before the war, Yavneh was a Romanised town with a normal minority of Jews.

Vespasian seems to have made Lydda, Yavneh [33] , and Azotus [34] (Ashdod) Jewish detention centres in 68 CE. Titus also used Gophna as protective custody for those who surrendered from Jerusalem [35] . Accordingly since, as mentioned before, Yohanan ben Zakkai was probably not recognised by Vespasian and his alleged prophecy was not fulfilled in a few days. It is more likely that Alon [36] was correct in writing that Yohanan ben Zakkai “did not choose Yavneh: he was directed there by the Romans.”

There is evidence that Yohanan ben Zakkai had opposition to his leadership role at Yavneh [37] (70 CE- 80/5 CE) and that he later moved to Beror-Hayyil [38] .

In conclusion, there were four different accounts of Yohanan ben Zakkai’s escape from Jerusalem and resettlement at Yavneh. All of the material is late, shows elaboration and cannot be relied on to give historical data. ARNa could be the earliest. ARNb shows dependence on ARNa and b. Git. Both b. Git. and Lam. R. seem to have circulated independently. All that can be said of Yohanan ben Zakkai from these four accounts is that he was in Jerusalem before its capture and when he surrendered to the Romans they re-settled him at Yavneh. Yavneh was used as a detention centre but they allowed Yohanan ben Zakkai to teach and exercise some form of authority.

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Bibliography

Primary Sources

Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, trans. Whiston, W., Nelson, Nashville, 1998

Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations, ed. Cohen, A., Soncino Press, New York, 1983

Philo, De legatione ad Gaium trans. Colson, F.H., Loeb, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1960, Vol 10

Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, cited by Feldman & Reinhold p.268

Tacitus, The Histories, ed. Hutchins, R.M., Great Books of the Western World, vol. 15, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, 1952

Talmud Tractate, Gittin, trans. Simon, M., ed. Cohen, A., Soncino Press, New York, 1963

Talmud Minor Tractate, ‘Aboth D’Rabbi Nathan, ed. Cohen, A., Soncino Press, New York, 1984, pp.20a (1),(2).

Secondary Sources

Alon, G., The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age, trans. Levi, G., Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1984

Feldman, L.H., & Reinhold, M., Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans, T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1996

Goldin, J., The Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1955

Millar, F.E., The Roman Near East 31 BC - AD 337, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2000 (1993)

Neusner, J., Development of a Legend, Studies on the Traditions concerning Yohanan ben Zakkai, Brill, Leiden, 1970

__________ First Century Judaism in Crisis, Yohanan ben Zakkai and the renaissance of Torah, Abingdon, Nashville, 1975

Schiffman, L.H., Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism, Ktav, Hoboken, 1998

Schwartz, S., Josephus and Judean Politics, Brill, Leiden, 1990

[1] Neusner, J., Development of a Legend, Studies on the Traditions concerning Yohanan ben Zakkai, Brill, Leiden, 1970, p. 228

[2] Neusner, J., Development of a Legend, p. 233

[3] The text of ARNa came from Goldin, J., The Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1955, pp.34-37, cross checked with Talmud Minor Tractate, ‘Aboth D’Rabbi Nathan, ed. Cohen, A., Soncino Press, New York, 1984, pp.20a (1), (2).

The text of ARNb came from Saldarini, A.J. The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan (Abot de Rabbi Nathan) Version B: A Translation and Commentary, Brill Archive, 1975, pp. 60-63.

The text of b. Git. came from Schiffman, L.H., Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism, Ktav, Hoboken, 1998, pp.157-76, cross checked with Talmud tractate, Gittin, trans Simon, M., ed. Cohen, A., Soncino Press, New York, 1963, pp. 56a, 56b. Also found in Feldman, L.H., & Reinhold, M., Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans, T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1996, p.275

The text of Lam.R. came from Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations, ed. Cohen, A., Soncino Press, New York, 1983, pp. I.4-6 §§31,32.

[4] Schwartz, S., Josephus and Judean Politics, Brill, Leiden, 1990, p.165

[5] Neusner, J., Development of a Legend, p. 228 “It is obvious that all are very late stories”

[6] Neusner, J., Development of a Legend, p. 3 “it is rarely possible to know just what, if anything, originally was said or happened”

[7] Goldin, J., op cit, p. xxi, cited in Neusner, op cit, p. 113

[11] The text in boxes on page 16 has been added from later locations for comparison purposes

[12] Neusner, J., First Century Judaism in Crisis, Yohanan ben Zakkai and the renaissance of Torah, Abingdon, Nashville, 1975, p. 145

[13] i.e. Herodium, Masada and Machaerus. See Millar, F.E., The Roman Near East 31 BC- AD 337, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2000 (1993), p. 73

[14] Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 4.9.2 §498

[15] Schwartz, S., op cit, p. 5

[16] Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 4.10.4 §601

[17] Tacitus, The Histories, II, 79,1. See also Millar, F.E., op cit, p. 73,

[18] or maybe Titus according to Alon, G., The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age, trans Levi., G., Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1984, p.96

[19] Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 3.8.9 §401-7

[20] Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 6.5.4 §312-3. Feldman & Reinhold, op cit, p.267 n.1 wrote that this probably referred to Daniel 2:44-5

[21] Tacitus, The Histories, V, 13,1-2, also cited in Feldman & Reinhold, op cit, p.267

[22] Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, 4.5, cited in Feldman & Reinhold, op cit, p.268

[23] Neusner, J., First Century Judaism in Crisis, p.143

[24] Feldman & Reinhold, op cit, p.275, n.12

[25] Neusner, J., Development of a Legend, p. 4

[26] Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations, p. 101, n.5

[27] Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations, p. 102, n.1

[28] Neusner, J., Development of a Legend, p. 232

[29] Neusner, J., Development of a Legend, p. 232

[30] Philo, Embassy to Gaius, 30.199-203, cited in Feldman & Reinhold, op cit, p.328

[31] Alon, op cit, p. 96

[32] Schwartz, S., op cit, p. 201

[33] Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 4.8.1 §444, cited by Alon, op cit, p. 97

[34] Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 4.3.2 §130, cited by Alon, op cit, p. 97

[35] Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 6.2.2 §115, cited by Alon, op cit, p. 97

[36] Alon, op cit, p. 97

[37] see Alon, op cit, p. 101-5

[38] see Alon, op cit, p. 106

Title Long	Author	Date
Life of Yohanan ben Zakkai, ca.1-80 C.E.	Neusner, Jacob, 1932-	1970	BM755.J7 .N4/1970
First century Judaism in crisis : Yohanan ben Zakkai and the renaissance of Torah.	Neusner, Jacob, 1932-	1975	BM755.J7 .N42
History of the Mishnaic law of purities / by Jacob Neusner ; illustrated by Suzanne Richter Neusner.	Neusner, Jacob, 1932-	1974	BM40 .S78/VOL 6
From politics to piety : the emergence of Pharisaic Judaism / Jacob Neusner.	Neusner, Jacob, 1932-	1979	BM175.P4 .N44/1979
Early Rabbinic Judaism : historical studies in religion, literature and art / by Jacob Neusner.	Neusner, Jacob, 1932-	1975	BM40 .S78/VOL 13
Blackwell reader in Judaism	edited by Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck.	2001	BM43 .B542/2001
Blackwell companion to Judaism	edited by Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck.	2000	BM42 .B54/2000
Hyping the Holocaust : scholars answer Goldhagen	Franklin H. Littell, editor.	1997	D804.3.G6483 .H97/1997
Judaism in the New Testament : practices and beliefs	Bruce Chilton and Jacob Neusner.	1995	BT93 .C48/1995
Talmud of the land of Israel : a preliminary translation and explanation	translated by Jacob Neusner.	1900	BM498.5 .E5/1982

ARNa	ARNb	b.Gittin	Lam.R.
Now, when Vespasian came to destroy Jerusalem	Now, when Vespasian came and besieged Jerusalem,		For three and a half years Vespasian surrounded Jerusalem, having four generals with him: the general of Arabia, of Africa, of Alexandria, and of Palestine. With regard to the general of Arabia two teachers differ as to his name, one declaring that it was Killus and the other Pangar. In Jerusalem there were four councillors, viz. Ben Zizit, Ben Gorion, Ben Nakdimon, and Ben Kalba-Shabua'. Each of them was capable of supplying food for the city for ten years.
He [Vespasian] said to the inhabitants: "Fools why do you seek to destroy this city and why do you seek to burn the Temple? For what do I ask of you but that you send me one bow or one arrow, and I shall go off from you?"	He [Vespasian] took up a position against the wall of Jerusalem and said to the citizens of Jerusalem: "Send from Jerusalem one bow and arrow and I will leave you in peace."
	He [Vespasian] said this to them once and then a second time, but they did not accept.
	Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai said to the men of Jerusalem: You will be the cause of this city being destroyed and this Temple being burned.
They said to him [Vespasian]: "Even as we went forth against the first two who were here before you and slew them, so shall we go forth against you and slay you."	They said to him [RJbZ] : As we sallied forth against the previous commanders and slaughtered them, so will we sally forth against this one and kill him.
When Rabban Johanan be Zakkai heard this, he sent for the men of Jerusalem and said to them: "My children why do you destroy this city and why do you seek to burn the Temple? For what is it that he asks of you? Truly he asks nothing of you save one bow or one arrow, and he will go off from you." They said to him: "Even as we went forth against the two before him and slew them, so shall we go forth against him and slay him."
Vespasian had men stationed inside the walls of Jerusalem. Every word which they overheard they would write down, attach (the message) to an arrow, and shoot it over the wall, saying that Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai was one of the Emperor's friends.	Everything that Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai said to the men of Jerusalem, they (Roman agents) wrote into documents; these they attached to arrows and shot outside the wall, reporting: Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai is a friend of the emperor.
			There was also there Ben Battiah, the nephew of R.Johanan b.Zakkai, who was appointed in charge of the stores, all of which he burnt. When R.Johanan b.Zakkai heard of this he exclaimed, 'Woe!' It was reported to Ben Battiah, 'Your uncle exclaimed "woe!"' He sent and had him brought before him and asked, 'Why did you exclaim "woe!"?' He replied, 'I did not exclaim "woe!" but "wah!"'. He said to him, "You exclaimed "wah!"? Why did you make that exclamation?' He answered, 'Because you burnt all the stores, and I thought that so long as the stores were intact the people would not expose themselves to the dangers of battle.' Through the difference between 'woe' and 'wah' R. Johanan b. Zakkai escaped death; and the verse was applied to him, The excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth the life of him that hath it (Eccl. vii, 12). Three days later R. Johanan b. Zakkai went out to walk in the market-place and saw how people seethed straw land drank its water; and he said (to himself], 'Can men who seethe straw and drink its water withstand the armies of Vespasian?' He added, 'I have come to the conclusion that I must get out of here.'
Now, after Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai had spoken to them one day, two, and three days, and they still would not attend to him, he sent for his disciples, for Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua . "My sons," he said to them, "arise and take me out of here. Make a coffin for me that I might lie in it.	When Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai saw that the people were not willing to listen to him, he said to his disciples: "Comrades, get me out of here at once." They put him in a wooden coffin.	Abba Sikara, the head of the rebels of Jerusalem, was the nephew of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. He [RJbZ] sent for him [saying,] "Come secretly to me." He [Abba Sikara] came [to RJbZ] who said to him, "Until when will you do this, killing everybody with famine?" He [Abba Sikara] said to him: "What should I do? For if I say anything to them, they will kill me." He [RJbZ] said to him, "Devise a plan for me that I may go out; maybe there could at least be a small [chance for] salvation." [Abba Sikara] said to him: "Let it be known that you are deathly ill and everybody will come to ask about you. Take a stinking object and keep it by you, so that they will say that you have died. Let your students bear you, and let no other man bear you so that none may sense how light you are, for they [the rebels] know that a live man is lighter than a dead one." He [RJbZ] did so.	He [RJbZ] sent a message to Ben Battiah, 'Get me out of here'. He replied, 'We have made an agreement among ourselves that nobody shall leave the city except the dead.' He [RJbZ] said, 'Carry me out in the guise of a corpse.'
Rabbi Eliezer took hold of the head end of it, Rabbi Joshua took hold of the foot; and they began carrying him as the sun set, until they reached the gates of Jerusalem.	Rabbi Eliezer took the head and Rabbi Joshua the foot. They kept making their way until they reached the city's gateway.	Rabbi Eleazar carried him on one side and Rabbi Joshua on the other side.	R. Eliezer carried him by the head, R. Joshua by the feet, and Ben Battiah walked in front.
"Who is this?" the gatekeepers demanded. "It's a dead man," they replied. "Do you not know that the dead may not be held overnight in Jerusalem?" "If it's a dead man," the gatekeepers said to them, "take him out."	When they reached the city's gateway, they said (to the guards); Open up for us at once so that we can go out and bury him. (The gate keepers) said to them: We will not open (the gate) without first stabbing the body with a sword. The disciples replied: You will be responsible for the spreading of an evil report about your city; tomorrow people will say: They even stabbed Rabban Johanan. Finally the guards got up and opened the gates for them.	When they came to the city entrance, [the rebel guards] wanted to pierce the [body to ensure that he was dead]. [Abba Sikara] said to them, "[The Romans] will say that [the rebels even] pierced their [own] rabbi!" They wanted to push him [to see if he would cry out]. [Abba Sikara] said to them, "[The Romans] will say that they pushed their [own] rabbi!" [The guards] opened the gate and they went out.	When they reached [the city gates, the guards] wanted to stab him. Ben Battiah said to them, 'Do you wish people to say that when our teacher died his body was stabbed!' On his speaking to them in this manner, they allowed him to pass. After going through the gates, they carried him to a cemetery and left him there and returned to the city.
So they took him out and continued carrying him until they reached Vespasian. They opened the coffin and Rabban Johanan stood up before him. "Are you Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai?"	As soon as Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai got outside the gate of Jerusalem, He went and greeted Vespasian the way a sovereign is greeted. He said to him : Long live (my) lord, the emperor. Vespasian asked him. So you are ben Zakkai? He answered: Yes.	When he [RJbZ] arrived [at the Roman camp], he said, "Peace unto you, King; Peace unto you, King."	R.Johanan b.Zakkai came out and went among the soldiers of Vespasian. He said to them,"Where. is the king?" They went and told Vespasian, "A Jew is asking for you." He said to them, "Let him come." On his arrival he exclaimed,"Vive domine Imperator!"
	Vespasian said : "You have cornered me. " Johanan answered: "Do not be afraid. Our Scripture says that this Temple will be destroyed only by a king, as Scripture says : 'And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one (Is.10:34).' "	[Vespasian] said to him, "You are twice guilty of a capital crime. Once, because I am not a king and you called me king. And further, because if I am a king, why did you not come to me until now?" He [RJbZ] said to [Vespasian], "That which you have said, 'I am not the king,' certainly you are a king! If you were not a king, Jerusalem would not have been given into your hands. For it is written, 'And Lebanon by a mighty one will fall' (Is. 10:34). 'A mighty one' is none other than a king, for it is written, 'their mighty one shall be of themselves [and its ruler shall go out from its midst]' (Jer. 30:21). And Lebanon is none other than the Temple, for it is said, 'This good mountain and the Lebanon' (Deut. 3:25). And as to what you have said, 'If I am a king why did you not come to me until now?' Until now, the rebels among us would not permit it."	Vespasian remarked, 'You give me a royal greeting but I am not king; and. should the king hear of it he will put me to death.' He said to him, 'If you are not the king you will be eventually, because the Temple will only be destroyed by a king's hand'; as- it is said, And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one (Isa. X,34).
	Johanan was put in the custody of two jailers.		They took and placed him in the innermost of seven chambers and asked him what hour of the night it was and he told them. They subsequently asked him what hour of the day it was and he told them. How did R. Johanan b. Zakkai know it? From his study.
	In three days letters came to Vespasian from Rome, saying : Nero the emperor is dead and the Romans have made you emperor.;		Three days later Vespasian went to take a bath at Gophna. After he had bathed and put on one of his shoes, a message arrived and it was announced to him that Nero had died and the Romans had proclaimed him king. He wished to put on the other shoe but it would not go on his foot. He sent for R.Johanan and asked, 'Will you not explain to me why all these days I wore two shoes which fitted me, but now one fits and the other does not?' He answered, 'You have been informed of good news,' because it is written, A good report maketh the bones fat (Prov. xv, 30). He inquired, 'What must I do to get it on? ' He replied, 'Is there anybody whom you hate or who has done you wrong? Let him pass in front of you and your flesh will shrink,' because it is written, A broken spirit drieth the bones (ib. XVII, 22).
		[Vespasian] said to him [RJbZ], "If there is a jug of honey and a serpent is coiled upon it, "do they not break the jug in order to kill the snake?" He [RJbZ]] was silent. Rabbi Joseph, and some say Rabbi Akiva, applied this verse to him: "He sends sages backward and confuses their minds" (Is. 44:25). He [RJbZ] should have said, "We take tongs and grip the snake and kill it, and the jug we may retain for ourselves."	Then they began to speak to him in parables. 'If a snake nested in a cask, what is to be done with it?' He answered, 'Bring a charmer and charm the snake, and leave the cask intact.' Pangar said, 'Kill the snake and break the cask.' [Then they asked,] "If a snake nested in a tower, what is to be done with it?' He answered, 'Bring a charmer and charm the snake, and leave the tower intact.' Pangar said, 'Kill the snake and burn the tower.' R. Johanan said to Pangar, "All neighbours who do harm, do it to their neighbours instead of putting in a plea for the defence you argue for the prosecution against us!' He replied, 'I seek your welfare; so long as the Temple exists, the heathen kingdoms will attack you, but if it is destroyed they will not attack you. R. Johanan said to him, 'The heart knows whether it is for 'akkel or 'akalkaloth.'
			(This is an expression from V. Sanh. 26a - Sonc. ed., p.151. The root of both words is "bend" or "twist", i.e. either woven or crooked. The meaning is: your heart knows what your real intention is.)
		Meanwhile, a messenger came to him [Vespasian] from Rome. He said to him, "Rise, because Caesar has died and the prominent men of Rome have decided to seat you at their head [as the new Caesar]....";
		[Vespasian] said to him, "And now that you are so smart, why did you not come to see me until now?" He [RJbZ] said to him, "Did I not tell you?" [Vespasian] said to him, "I also answered you." [Vespasian] said, "I will go and send someone to take my place.
Vespasian inquired; "tell me, what may I giveyou?" "I ask nothing of you," Rabban Johanan replied, "save Jamnia, where I might go and teach my disciples and there establish a prayer [house] and perform all the commandments." "Go," Vespasian said to him, "and whatever you wish to do, do."	He [Vespasian] summoned Rabban Johanan and said : "Ask a favour of me." Johanan replied: "I ask of you Jamnia where I may study Torah and carry out the law of fringes and keep all the other commandments." He said to him : Here it is; it's yours, a gift.	But ask something of me that I may grant it to you." He [RJbZ] said to him, "Give me Yavneh and its sages, the chain of Rabban Gamliel, and doctors to cure Rabbi Zadok." Rabbi Joseph, and some say Rabbi Akiva, applied this verse to him: "He sends sages backward and confuses their minds" (Is. 44:25). He should have asked that [Jerusalem] be left alone this once. But [RJbZ must have] thought, "Lest all this not be granted and then there may not be even a small [chance for] salvation...."	Vespasian said to [RJbZ], 'Make a request of me and I will grant it.' He answered, 'I beg that you abandon this city of Jerusalem and depart.' He said to him, "Did the Romans proclaim me king that I should abandon this city? Make another request of me and I will grant it.' He [RJbZ] answered, 'I beg that you leave the western gate which leads to Lydda,1 and everyone who departs up to the fourth hour shall be spared."
Said Rabban Johanan to him, "By thy leave, may I say something to thee?" "Speak," Vespasian said to him. Said Rabban Johanan to him: "You are about to be appointed king." "How do you know this?" Vespasian asked. Rabban Johanan replied: "This has been handed down to us, that the Temple will not be surrendered to a commoner, but to a King; as it is said, And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one" (Isa. 10:34). It was said: No more than a day, or two or three days, passed before messengers reached him from his city (announcing) that the emperor was dead and that he had been elected to succeed as king.
A catapult was brought to him, drawn up against the wall of Jerusalem. Boards of cedar were brought to him which he set into the catapult, and with these he struck against the wall until he made a breach in it. A swine's head was brought and set in to the catapult, and this he hurled toward the (sacrificial) limbs which were on the altar.
It was then that Jerusalem was captured.			After Vespasian had conquered the city he asked him, 'Have you any friend or relative there? Send and bring him out before the troops enter.' He sent R.Eliezer and R.Joshua to bring out R Zadok. They went and found him in the city gate. When he arrived R.Johanan stood up before him. Vespasian asked, 'You stand up before this emaciated old man?' He answered, 'By your life, if there had been [in Jerusalem] one more like him, though you had double your army, you would have been unable to conquer it.' He asked, 'What is his power?' He replied, 'He eats one fig and on the strength of it teaches at one hundred sessions in the academy.' 'Why is he so lean?' he inquired. He answered, 'On account of his numerous abstinences and fasts.' Vespasian sent and brought physicians who fed him on small portions of food and doses of liquid until his physical powers returned to him. His son Eleazar said to him, 'Father, give them their reward in this world so that they should have no merit with respect to you in the world to come'. He gave them "calculation by fingers" and scales for weighing. When Vespasian had subdued the city, he assigned the destruction of the four ramparts to the four generals, and the western gate was allotted to Pangar. Now it had been decreed by Heaven that this should never be destroyed because the Shechinah abode in the west.5 The others demolished their sections but he did not demolish his. Vespasian sent for him. and asked, 'Why did you not destroy your section? "He replied, 'By your life, I acted so for the honour of the kingdom; for if I had demolished it, nobody would [in time to come] know what it was you destroyed 1; but when people look [at the western wall], they will exclaim, "Perceive the might of Vespasian from what he destroyed" '. He said to him, 'Enough, you have spoken well, but since you disobeyed my command, you shall ascend to the roof and throw yourself down. If you live, you will live; and if you die, you will die.' He ascended, threw himself down and died.
Meanwhile Rabban Johanan be Zakkai sat and waited trembling, the way Eli had sat and waited; as it is said, :Lo, Eli sat upon his seat by the wayside watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God (1Sam. 4:13). When Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai heard that Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple was up in flames, he tore his clothing, and they wept, crying aloud and mourning			Thus the curse of R. Johanan b. Zakkai alighted upon him.