The Death of 24K is a Chinuch Wakeup Call

As we enter the season of the year for the great mitzvah of counting the Omer, our attention is distracted from the beauty of this profound command. Instead of being solely focused on the count down toward the Yomtov of Shavuot and the spiritual greatness of Lag BaOmer, our spiritual bandwidth is shared with the tragic death of Rebbe Akiva’s 24,000 students.

As a result of this great tragedy, the Omer period has become a season of partial mourning, where people have the customs not to cut their hair or be entertained through music. Never was there a generation so rich in Torah wisdom and good deeds as the generation of Rebbe Akiva.  Let’s look at the Talmudic account of the tragedy to try and make sense of it.

… They said, Rebbe Akiva had 12,000 pairs of students, from Gevat to Antipatros, and all of them died in the same period because they did not show proper respect for each other…they died between Pesach and Shavuot…all of them died a most painful death, ascara.

There are several questions that come to mind upon reflection on this Talmudic passage. Why is the number of students expressed as 12,000 pairs and not 24,000? What is the significance of knowing that all of them resided throughout the country between two distant cities? What is the significance of knowing they all died within a relatively short time frame, between Pesach and Shavuot? Why did they all die such a painful death?

There is actually one other question, perhaps the most important one. How is it possible that every one of Rebbe Akiva’s students died because they lacked proper respect for each other? Was their Rebbe in some way influencing them, which caused all of them to transgress the same sin? The answer is a resounding no. Rebbe Akiva was a paragon for the mitzva of Ahavat Yisrael. In fact, the term paragon may not be a strong enough adjective to describe his connection to loving one’s fellow Jew.

To truly appreciate his greatness in this area, we need to look more closely at the source of this mitzva. The famous verse in the Torah is, Love your friend like yourself. Rebbe Akiva said about this verse, this is a great principle of the Torah. This comment was based upon a response by the great sage Hillel to a righteous convert who wanted to learn the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel said, “Love your friend like yourself, and everything else in the Torah is commentary.” Therefore, Rebbe Akiva called this Mitzva, a great principle because it contains the entire Torah.

One of the masters of mussar explained Rebbe Akiva’s statement to mean that as a general principle no item that is included in the principle can be external to it. Therefore, he said, every one of the 613 mitzvot must be included in the principle of Ahavat Yisrael, and Ahavat Yisrael must be an integral part of each mitzva. If one performs a mitzva but has not thereby improved the quality of his Ahavat Yisrael, the mitzva is not complete. Now we can understand why Rebbe Akiva was so strongly connected to this mitzva and we can conclude that his students were in no way influenced by him to disrespect each other.

Our initial reflection, that the death of Rebbe Akiva’s students has negatively impacted us in our yearly preparation for Shavuot is not accurate. The ultimate true perspective is, nothing in life is by chance. The death of 24,000 students serves as an enhancement to the spiritual growth of Am Israel not a detraction. This idea answers one of the questions posed on the Gemara’s account of the tragedy. Why did they all die within the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot?  The answer is, the juxtaposition between Matan Torah and a powerful reminder of the importance of Ahavat Yisrael, binds together these two pillars of service to Hashem. Torah achievement is significantly compromised when those who pursue mastery lack in their relationships with others.

Let’s go back to the remaining questions and see what we can learn from them. Why did the Gemara refer to Rebbe Akiva’s students as 12,000 pairs and not 24,000 individuals? It indicates that their Rebbe invested himself in trying to improve their relationships. We can only imagine the pain the Rebbe had from seeing the lack of respect for each other. What is the significance that all the students grew up between two distant cities, Gevat and Antipatros? It showed that his students, who did not live near each other, lacked tolerance for people who were not just like themselves.  Why were the students subjected to such a painful death? The answer is it reflected on the seriousness of their weak connection to Ahavat Yisrael. When it says, never was there a generation so rich in Torah wisdom and good deeds as the generation of Rebbe Akiva, it was a reference to the time after his students died and Rebbe Akiva went and recruited five new students, who guaranteed the eternity of Torah for all future generations.

Perhaps one key takeaway for parents and school personnel is the question, where did the parents and teachers of those 24,000 go wrong, to raise children so committed to Torah scholarship but weak in middot? The annual review of this tragedy and the mourning customs during the Omer is meant to be a wakeup call. We should be reminded:

Middot education for children is imperative. At first glance this statement is troubling. Mitzvot education for children is also imperative. Why single out middot?

“The answer is, the education of our children in all areas of Torah and essential aspects of life is vital, but middot training is ranked as the highest priority, even before mitzvot and Torah learning. We recall the words of Rabbi Chaim Vital, z”l, as to why middot are not included in Taryag Mitzvot. He said, good character is a prerequisite to the Torah and not a specific mitzvah of the Torah. An individual’s relationship to Torah and mitzvot depend on the purity and spiritual refinement of his character.

There is a second factor that is an even greater reason for why middot training for even the youngest children is a necessity beyond anything else. The baalei musar, masters of ethical teachings, said it’s easier for a person to acquire the entire Talmud with all its commentaries than it is to uproot one bad midda planted in the heart of a person. If children are left without the guided training in their formative years, they will acquire middot on their own. Character development is natural, it happens with or without parental and teacher input. Invariably, an unguided child will be attracted to middot that are inappropriate, which will affect his lifelong relationship to Torah, unless he can uproot them. Hence, middot training in childhood is as necessary as eating and sleeping.

I encourage parents and teachers to read my eBook, Development of Character, Middot Education for Children. It will guide you in this most important task.