Elisha Ben Abuyah (spelled variously, including Elisha ben Avuya) was a Jewish heretic born in Jerusalem sometime before 70. At one time the Rabbis were proud to recognize him as of their number; but later their opposition to him grew so intense that they even refrained from pronouncing his name, and referred to him in terms used to designate some vile object (dabar aher, literally "another thing"). The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1906) writes that "It is almost impossible to derive from rabbinical sources a clear picture of his personality, and modern historians have differed greatly in their estimate of him. According to Grätz, he was a Karpotian Gnostic; according to Siegfried, a follower of Philo; according to Dubsch, a Christian; according to Smolenskin and Weiss, a victim of the inquisitor Akiva."

In his recent book, The Sinner and the Amnesiac: The Rabbinic Invention of Elisha Ben Abuya and Eleazar Ben Arach, Alon Goshen-Gottstein argues that Rabbinic stories should be read as literature rather than as history:

They construct stories that are then integrated into larger ideologi­cally motivated literary units in such a way as to impart particular ideologi­cal messages. The sources do not necessarily relate the historical facts about the heroes but they do illustrate the cultural concerns that find expression in the stories told about them ... All this leads to the realization that the significant unit for presentation is not the life of the sage; it is the stories about sages. These stories are not formulated in an attempt to tell the life of the sage. They are told because the sage, as part of the collective culture, has some bearing on the common cultural concerns. Various anecdotes are coupled into a larger story cycle.

Rabbinic Judaism was based on vigorous and often contentious debates over the meaning of the Torah and other sacred texts. The challenge facing the Rabbis was to maintain the limits to which a sage could be wrong, without being considered a heretic. Elisha and Eleazar represent two extremes in attitudes towards the Torah; actual rabbis and their debates had to occur somewhere in between these two limits.

Youth and Activity

Little is known of Elisha's youth and of his activity as a teacher of Jewish Law. He was the son of an esteemed and rich citizen of Jerusalem, and was trained for the career of a scholar. The only saying of his recorded in the Mishnah is his praise of education: "Learning in youth is like writing upon new paper, but learning in old age is like writing upon paper which has already been used" (Pirkei Avoth 4:25). Elisha was a student of Greek; as the Talmud expresses it, "Aher's tongue was never tired of singing Greek songs" (Jerusalem Megillah 1:9), which, according to some, caused his apostasy (Hagigah 16b, below). Bacher remarks that the similes which Elisha is reported to have used (Avoth d'Rabbi Nathan 24.) show that he was a man of the world, acquainted with wine, horses, and architecture. He must have acquired a reputation as an authority in questions of religious practise, since in Mo'ed Katan 20a one of his halakic decisions is recorded: the only one in his name, though there may be others under the names of different teachers. The Babylonian Talmud asserts that Elisha, while a teacher in the bet ha-midrash, kept forbidden books (sifre minim) hidden in his clothes. This statement is not found in the Jerusalem Talmud, and if at all historical, may possibly mean that he also studied the writings of the Sadducees, who, owing to changes made by the censors, are sometimes called minim.

The Four Who Entered Paradise

The oldest and most striking reference to the views of Elisha is found in the following baraita (Hagigah 14b; Jerusalem Talmud 2:1):

"Four [sages] entered "pardes" —Ben 'Azzai , Ben Zoma , Aher , and Akiva. Ben 'Azzai gazed and died; Ben Zoma gazed and went insane; Aher entered and cut the root (became an apostate); Akiva entered, and exited in peace."

This baraita works through a pun. "Pardes," composed of the four consonents PRDS, is an acronym for the four rules for Biblical exegesis:

• "Peshat" = "simple;" the plain meaning of the text in its immediate context, understanding each word in terms of its common usage. According to Shabbat 63a, a verse never loses its simple meaning.
• "Remez" = "hint;" generalizing the meaning of a verse, so that it functions metaphorically or allegorically.
• "Drash" = "conceptual;" a more detailed exposition or interpretation of the peshat or remez (often by juxtaposing different verses to elicit new meanings), often to make a moral point.
• "Sud" = "hidden;" an esoteric or mystical reading of the text.

Thus, this baraita could be read to mean that these four sages together sought to achieve and absolute, perfect understanding of the Torah in all its complexity, on all its levels. Some kabbalists see these four methods a stages through which a mystic can use Biblical interpretation to fathom the depths of reality until one has a direct encounter with the divine truth.

"Pardes" is also the Hebrew word for paradise. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia the journey of "the four," like the ascension of Enoch (in the pre-Christian books of Enoch) and of so many other pious men, is to be taken literally and not allegorically. "Entered the Garden of Eden" (another term for paradise) was a common expression (Derek Erez Zuta i.; Avoth d'Rabbi Nathan 25.) designating moment of ecstasy in which the sage beholds the interior of heaven. In the case of Elisha ben Abuya, however, the consequence of this experience was that he destroyed the plants of the heavenly garden.

The Talmud gives two different interpretations of this last phrase. The Babylonian Talmud says:

"What is the meaning of 'Aher cut the root'? Scripture refers to him (Ecclesiastes 5:5, Avodah Zarah 6) when it says: "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin." What does this signify? In heaven Aher saw Metatron seated while he wrote down the merits of Israel. Whereupon Aher said: 'We have been taught to believe that no one sits in heaven, . . . or are there perhaps two supreme powers?' Then a heavenly voice was heard: 'Turn, O backsliding children (Jeremiah 3:14), with the exception of Aher.'"

According to R. Tsadok HaKohen of Lublin, ben Abuya became a heretic because after having had a direct encounter with God, he believed he no longer needed to obey the law (this story may thus be a rebuke to Christian claims that grace relieves one of the obligation to obey the law).

The Talmudic Explanation

The dualism with which the Talmud charges him has led some scholars to see here Persian, Gnostic, or even Philonian dualism. The Jewish Encyclopedia says that "They forget that the reference here to Metatron—a specifically Babylonian idea, which would probably be unknown to Palestinian rabbis even five hundred years after Elisha—robs the passage of all historical worth. The story is of late origin, as is seen from the introductory words, which stand in no connection with the context, as they do in the parallel passage in the Jerusalem Talmud."

This latter makes no mention of Elisha's dualism; but it relates that in the critical period following the rebellion of Bar Kokba, Elisha visited the schools and attempted to entice the students from the study of the Torah, in order to direct their energies to some more practical occupation; and it is to him, therefore, that the verse "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin" (Ecclesiastes 5:5) is to be applied. In connection with this the Biblical quotation is quite intelligible, as according to another haggadah (Shabbat 34b; Ecclesiates Rabbah 5:5) "flesh" here means children—spiritual children, pupils—whom Elisha killed with his mouth by luring them from the study of the Torah. The Babylonian amoraim must have known this story, from which they took the concluding part and attached it to another legend.

The Jerusalem Talmud is also the authority for the statement that Elisha played the part of an informer during the Hadrianic persecutions, when the Jews were ordered to violate the laws of the Torah. As evidence of this it is related that when the Jews were ordered to do work on the Sabbath, they tried to perform it in a way which could be considered as not profaning the Sabbath. But Elisha betrayed the Pharisees to the Roman authorities. Thus, writes the Jewish Encyclopedia, it is probable that the antipathy of Elisha was not directed against Judaism in general, but only against Pharisaism. The reason given for his apostasy is also characteristic. He saw how one man had lost his life while fulfilling a law for the observance of which the Torah promised a long life (Deuteronomy 22:7), whereas another man who broke the same law was not hurt in the least. This practical demonstration, as well as the frightful sufferings of the martyrs during the Hadrianic persecutions, strengthened his conviction that there was no reward for virtue in this life or the next. These statements of the Jerusalem Talmud are no doubt based on reliable tradition, as they are also confirmed by the Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 39b). Bearing in mind what is said about Elisha, there can be little doubt that he was a Sadducee.

Elisha an "Epicurean"

The harsh treatment he received from the Pharisees was due to his having deserted their ranks at such a critical time. Quite in harmony with this supposition are the other sins laid to his charge; namely, that he rode in an ostentatious manner through the streets of Jerusalem on a Day of Atonement which fell upon a Sabbath, and that he was bold enough to overstep the "tehum " (the limits of the Sabbath-day journey). Both the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmuds agree here, and cite this as proof that Elisha turned from Pharisaism to heresy. It was just such non-observance of customs that excited the anger of Akiva (Sotah 27b). The Jewish Encyclopedia writes that the mention of the "Holy of Holies" in this passage is not an anachronism, as Grätz thinks, for while it is true that Eliezer and Joshua were present as the geonim par excellence at Elisha's circumcision—which must, therefore, have occurred after the death of Johanan ben Zakkai (80)—it is also true that the "Holy of Holies" is likewise mentioned in connection with Rabbi Akiva (Makkot, end); indeed, the use of this expression is due to the fact that the Rabbis held holiness to be inherent in the place, not in the building (Yevamot 6b).

The same passage from the Jerusalem Talmud refers to Elisha as being alive when his pupil Rabbi Meir had become a renowned teacher. According to the assumption made above, he must have reached his seventieth year at that time. If Elisha were a Sadducee, the friendship constantly shown him by Rabbi Meïr could be understood. This friendship would have been impossible had Elisha been an apostate or a man of loose morals, as has been asserted. Sadducees and Pharisees, however, lived in friendly intercourse with one another (for example, Rabban Gamaliel with Sadducees; Eruvin 77b).

For legends concerning Elisha see Johanan ben Nappaha ; Rabbi Meir ; compare also Gnosticism.

Jacob Gordin play

Jacob Gordin wrote a Yiddish play, Elisha Ben Abuyah; it was played unsuccessfully in New York City during Gordin's lifetime, and more successfully in numerous productions after his death; the title role was written for Jacob Adler, the only actor ever to play it. In the 1911 production after Gordin's death, the fallen woman Beata was played by Adler's wife Sara, Ben Abuyah's faithful friend Toivye Avyoini was played by Sigmund Mogulesko, and his daughter (who, in the play, runs away with a Roman soldier) by the Adlers' daughter Frances ; in some of the last performances of the play, toward the end of Jacob Adler's career, the daughter was played by Frances younger, and eventually more famous, sister Stella.

Gordin's Ben Abuyah is clearly a surrogate for Gordin himself, and to some extent for Adler: an unbeliever, but one who thinks of himself, unalterably, as a Jew, and who rejects Christianity even more firmly than Judaism, a man who behaves ethically and who dies haunted by a vision of "terrible Jewish suffering", condemned by the rabbis generally, but lauded as a great Jew by his disciple Rabbi Meir. [Adler, 1999, 254-255 (commentary)]

References

• • Ginzberg, Louis, "Elisha Ben Abuyah", Jewish Encyclopedia. That, in turn gives the following bibliography:
    • Grätz, Gnosticismus und Judenthum, pp. 56-71
    • P. Smolenski, Sämmtliche Werke, ii. 267-278
    • A. Jellinek, Elischa b. Abuja, Leipzig, 1847
    • I. H. Weiss, Dor, ii. 140-143
    • M. Dubsch, in He-Haluz, v. 66-72
    • Siegfried, Philo von Alexandrien, pp. 285-287
    • Bacher, Ag. Tan. i. 432-436
    • Hoffmann, Toledot Elischa b. Abuja, Vienna, 1880
    • S. Rubin, Yalk., Shelomoh, pp. 17-28, Krakow, 1896
    • M. Friedländer, Vorchristlich. Jüd. Gnosticismus, 1898, pp. 100 et seq.
    • Bäck, Elischa b. Abuja-Acher, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1891. Compare also M. Letteris' Hebrew drama Ben Abuja, an adaptation of Goethe's Faust, Vienna, 1865;
    • B. Kaplan, in Open Court, Aug., 1902
• Adler, Jacob, A Life on the Stage: A Memoir, translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, ISBN 067941351. 254-255 (commentary).