The First Journey

Eliezer’s Family (Part II)

Pirkei De Rebbe Eliezer, Perek 2

The other sons of Hyrcanus said to their father, "See what your son Eliezer did to you -- he left you in your old age and went off to Jerusalem. Go there and disinherit him." So Hyrcanus went up to Jerusalem to disinherit Eliezer. That day Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai held a feast attended by all the notables of the city. Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai set his gaze upon R. Eliezer and said, "Begin your discourse." R. Eliezer at first refused to speak in front of his teacher. Rabbi Yohanan pressed him, and the disciples pressed him. So he arose and delivered a discourse on things that no ear had ever heard before. R. Eliezer's face was as radiant as the light of the sun; rays came forth from him like the rays that came forth from Moses, so that no one could tell whether it was day or night.

Then Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai stood up, kissed him on his head, and said, "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, happy are you that such a son has issued from your loins." Hyrcanus asked, "To whom is he saying this?" When told, "To your son, Eliezer," he said, "Rabbi Yohanan should not have spoken thus. He should have told me to say, 'How happy am I that such a one has issued from my loins'."

Then Hyrcanus climbed up on a bench and declared in the presence of the people of Jerusalem, "Masters, I came here for no other purpose than to disinherit my son Eliezer. But now all my possessions will be given to my son Eliezer, while his brothers are to have no portion whatever of them." Eliezer said: "Had I sought landed properties, the Holy One would have given them to me, for 'the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof [Psalms 24:1]. Had I sought silver or gold, He would have given them to me, for "Mine is the silver, and Mine the gold, with the Lord of hosts' [Haggai 2:8], I sought from the Holy One nothing other than Torah."

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One who loves Torah is never satisfied with Torah. -Midrash, Devarim Rabbah 2,3

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