Va'eschanan: 5784 - Before his passing, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai wept and said to his students, "I do not know by which path they are leading me." A fascinating explanation by the Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Yosef…

00:02 Speaker 1 The Gemara tells us that when Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai fell ill, before he passed away, his students came to visit him. They saw that he was crying. They asked him, “Our teacher, pillar of strength, mighty hammer”—they praised him with many titles—“why are you crying?” He told them, “If I were being brought before a king of flesh and blood, who is here today and in the grave tomorrow, I would be afraid. Now that I am coming before the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, how could I not be afraid?” And he also told them, “There are two paths before me, and I do not know which one they will lead me down. There is the path to Gan Eden and the path to Gehinnom. I—I do not know which one they will lead me down.” But Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was one of the great sages of his generation. The Gemara tells us so much in praise of his greatness. He was worthy before the King, so how could he say, “I do not know which path they will lead me down”? Was it humility? We’ve learned that humility is not falsehood. So when he says, “I do not know which path they will lead me down,” he means it. There are many answers to this. The Rebbe gives an answer: Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was occupied his entire life with his mission of studying Torah and spreading Torah. He never thought about what was happening with himself; he never stopped to consider where he stood. So when the time came for him to leave this world, he said, “I do not know,” because he had never thought about himself. That is how the Rebbe explains it. There is a very beautiful explanation from a rabbi in Jerusalem. He said: The Gemara in Gittin, in its discussion of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, tells how Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was taken outside the city wall. He came to Vespasian and spoke with him, trying to do whatever he could to help, to save what he could. He found favor in Vespasian’s eyes. The Gemara tells the story at length, and then Vespasian asked him,

02:05 Speaker 1 “Ask me for something, and I will give it to you.” He asked for three things. What did he ask for? “Yavneh and its sages”—the Sanhedrin. He asked for the line of Rabban Gamliel—the royal line. The third thing he asked for was that Rabbi Tzadok be healed. Rabbi Tzadok had fasted for forty years so that the Beis Hamikdash would not be destroyed, and by then he could no longer eat. So Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai asked that Vespasian’s doctors heal Rabbi Tzadok, and Vespasian granted his request. The Gemara says there: Rabbi Yosef said, and some say Rabbi Akiva, “He turns the wise backward and makes their knowledge foolish.” Why didn’t he ask Vespasian to leave Jerusalem—to lift the siege of Jerusalem and not destroy the Beis Hamikdash? “He turns the wise backward.” What was Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s answer? He said: If I had asked for Jerusalem and the Beis Hamikdash, I would have received nothing. I asked for a little, so to speak, and he gave it to me. But if I had asked for Jerusalem, I would have received nothing. Rabban Yochanan lived his whole life with that dilemma, with that uncertainty. Perhaps, after all, he should have asked for Jerusalem. And that is why he said, “I do not know which path they will lead me down.” Perhaps I should have asked for Jerusalem, for the Beis Hamikdash. That is why he said, “I do not know which path they will lead me down.” May it be Hashem’s will that we soon merit the Beis Hamikdash and Jerusalem.

03:26 Speaker 2 Amen.