Divrei Pinchas
True Pride
The Gemara in Gittin
(58a) brings the famous tragedy of the son and daughter of Rabbi Ishmael, Kohen
Gadol, who were captured and enslaved to two different masters. Neither had any
idea of the other’s fate. Their owners met and decided to pair them, in order to
breed more slaves. They thrust them into a darkened room. All night, he sat in
one corner and debated with himself: “I, a kohen and the son of kohanim gadolim,
should marry a slave-woman?” She sat in the opposite corner, also pondering, “I,
a kohaness and the daughter of kohanim gadolim, should be married to a slave?”
Thus passed the entire night. When the early morning began to light up the room,
each recognized the other. They embraced, weeping, until both died. Yirmiyahu
had prophesied about them, saying, “About these, I weep; my eye, my eye, pours
water. (Eichah 1:16)”
Asks the Ben Ish Chai (in Sefer Ben Yehoyada): What killed them? From their owners’ praises of them, both were in good health. Both had just been miraculously saved from a terrible mistake. From their embrace, both obviously rejoiced at their min-hashamayim reunion. We would have preferred this ending: they cleverly pretend to live as slave-husband and slave-wife. Before their masters figure out the truth, they find a means to escape, rejoin Jewish society, and live happily ever after. What killed them?
Shock was not the culprit. If so, they would have died instantly. Rather, says the Ben Ish Chai, at the moment the son of Rabbi Ishmael was embracing his sister, a thought entered his mind, “I had the notion that my sister, the daughter of Rabbi Ishmael and a kohaness, was a slave?!?” She also realized, “I actually thought that my brother, the son of Rabbi Ishmael and a kohen, was a slave?!?” The resulting pain brought them such emotional agony that they literally died from it.
Such a happening may seem far from us today. After two thousand years of galus, being forced to live among the edifices and accomplishments of the nations (as well as their endemic anti-Semitism), a simple pride in being Jewish has become difficult to keep, much less acquire. This phenomenon is recent; our ancestors understood their worth.
Even those gentiles who could not comprehend the greatness of an am kadosh, nor even our intellectual accomplishments, were impressed by the Jews’ sheer physical presence. According to HaRav Avigdor Miller, zt”l, ancient writings from the nations indicate that our ancestors were a tall, strong, war-like race. Two Hasmonean brothers – Hyrcanus and Aristobolus – fought a civil war for their deceased father’s throne. At one point, the Romans captured Aristobolus and displayed him in a cage. Onlookers gawked in amazement at this magnificent specimen, wondering how anyone could capture such a hulk (in fulfillment of the verse, “And you will become an object of astonishment . . . among all the nations.” (Devarim 28:37)) When Herod, who ruled Judea a generation later, needed to mount an anti-crime campaign, he did not go to his Roman patrons and bring in a few legions. That was too chancy; instead, he hired Jewish warriors from Bavel who could accurately fire arrows while galloping on horseback. Law and order soon returned.