As they entered his room, Rabbi Eliezer attempted to sit up but was too weak. His friends lifted him and placed him on a pillow. The Sages then asked him if he had made peace with his Maker before his imminent death. Rabbi Eliezer replied, âI am confident that I have made peace.â
They continued, âHave you made peace with your friends?â
He answered, âDo you think I was like one who makes peace with his friends? I made peace even with those who excommunicated me.â
His colleagues were moved by his response and began to weep. They exclaimed, âYou were even greater than us, as you were able to make peace with those who excommunicated you.â
Rabbi Eliezer then asked them to carry him to the roof, where he could pour out his soul to his Creator. As they did so, he began to cry and plead, âMaster of the Universe, You know that I did not act for my own honor, nor for the honor of my fatherâs house. I acted only to honor You, so that arguments should not multiply in Israel.â
At that moment, a Divine Voice rang out from Heaven, proclaiming, âReturn, Rabbi Eliezer, for you have been accepted.â
Rabbi Eliezer then turned to his friends and said, âThe heavenly courts have testified that I am righteous.â
His colleagues were amazed. They asked, âHow do you know this?â
He answered, âBecause the verse states, âFor Hashem will not cast off His peopleâ (Tehillim 94:14), and the term âHis peopleâ is spelled with the letter âvavâ missing, implying that even if one Jew is missing from the community, the Shechinah will not depart.â
At that moment, his soul departed from his body, and a Heavenly Voice declared, âRabbi Eliezer has been accepted into the World to Come.â
This touching scene demonstrates the power of reconciliation and forgiveness, even in the face of deep disagreements and hurt. Rabbi Eliezerâs ability to make peace with those who excommunicated him ultimately led to his acceptance by Heaven. It serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of humility, forgiveness, and unity within the Jewish community.
May we all strive to emulate Rabbi Eliezerâs example and seek reconciliation and peace with those who may have wronged us, for the sake of Heaven and the unity of our people.
Regenerate
So, in veiled language, they addressed their grievances, mostly through poetic allusion, using various halachic discussions and questions as their language of expression and thought.
There is a final discussion that we will study in depth:
They asked him further: âWhat is the halacha regarding a newly formed shoe that is on a shoe tree? Is it considered a complete vessel, which needs no further preparation, and is therefore susceptible to impurity?â Rabbi Eliezer said to them: âIt is pure,â and with this word, his soul left him in purity. Rabbi Yehoshua stood on his feet and said: âThe vow is permitted; the vow is permittedâ â meaning that the ostracism placed upon Rabbi Eliezer was now removed.
These were not people of many words, and their words were chosen with precision, especially during the final moments of life. Although it is meaningful that Rabbi Eliezer should leave this world with a pronouncement of âpure,â surely there could have been other mystical meditations; why discuss a shoe-tree? I believe the answer is that this was, in fact, a mystical discussion. The mystics often refrain from discussing esoteric matters openly for fear that the less educated would misinterpret, misunderstand, or be unworthy of the teachings. They often communicated through allusions and hints, sharing only on a âneed-to-knowâ basis (see Chagigah 14b). To better understand the above dialogue, I will provide some introduction:
Clothing serves as a metaphor for how a human is cloaked. Just as clothes cover the body, the body itself is a kind of cloak for the soul. Moshe is told to âremove his shoes [enclosures], for he is standing on holy groundâ (Shemos 3:5). But is that all? Perhaps Moshe was also being instructed to shed his physicality â his clothes, his enclosures â so that he could experience G-d in the fullest way. Megillas Rus documents (4:7) the removal and transfer of an article of clothing, ânaâalo,â which some translate as shoe, but literally means enclosure. This transfer is a way to convey ownership. But what else was being transferred here? This was a quasi-yibum ceremony in which Boaz, a relative of Avimelech, could redeem his soul by marrying Rus and continuing his family line. Perhaps he even served as a form of reincarnation for Elimelech or his sons.
The use of an enclosure or shoe to marry Rus, and even its presence in the chalitzah ceremony (Devarim 25:9), is not lost on the Zohar. The Zohar, at the beginning of Parashas Chukas, compares kinyan sudar (a method to acquire ownership), levirate marriage, Boazâs actions to assume the rights of the closest relative in order to marry Rus and redeem the fields of Avimelechâs estate, and the transmigration of the soul (reincarnation).
One more point: The state of excommunication often involves assuming a certain state of mourning, which can include not wearing shoes (Shulchan Aruch YD 334:2). So the question about the shoes on the mold was also a question about the status of Rabbi Eliezerâs excommunication. Additionally, the particular shoe in question was in a liminal state, that is, almost complete, but not yet released from the mold. That is similar to Rabbi Eliezerâs body and soul, which had almost finished their mission. I believe that when Rabbi Eliezer determined that the shoe in the mold was not yet fully complete and therefore not susceptible to impurity, he was, in a veiled way, admitting that his âbodyâ was not yet complete. He still needed to repent. This, in itself, was his admission and repentance, which his colleagues accepted. That is why the âshoeâ was declared pure, and with it, he died. In other words, in a respectful and sophisticated manner he communicated his repentance and acceptance to his colleagues, and they understood exactly what he was referring to, without needing to make it more embarrassing or obvious. His body was purified, his mission was complete, and his soul was now free to ascend.