Torah
Tale
• --
A story for Shavuot.
c ts
P 1 8 • M AY
2010
•JN platinurn
Somewhere in the north of Israel sometime in the second cen-
tury, two men met on a narrow bridge that crossed a rushing
stream. One was named Simon. Simon was an orphan, born of
a Jewish family but kidnapped by the Romans and raised to be a
gladiator, a fighter in the Roman arena. Simon was a mountain
of a man. He was stronger, fiercer and more feared than any
other champion in the Roman Empire. No one could withstand
his might and his rage.
Simon was in a hurry to get to his next contest. Across the
bridge he rushed, wearing the armor and weapons of a gladiator.
At the center of the bridge, his way was blocked by another man,
a different kind of champion.
Rabbi Yochanan was a small man with fine features and gentle
eyes. The leader of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel,
he was renowned for his deep learning and love of Torah. The
rabbi wore no armor and carried no weapons. He carried only a
scroll of ancient wisdom.
The two men met at the center of the bridge. Simon was in
a terrible hurry, so he demanded that the rabbi move aside and
let him pass. But the rabbi would not budge. Simon shouted a
command: "Move aside!" But still the rabbi would not move. So
Simon bellowed and stomped. He reached for his sharpest sword
and threatened the rabbi: "If you will not move on your own, I
will feed you to the fish of the stream!" But the rabbi held his
place.
The gladiator raised his sword. But just as he was about to
bring it down on the rabbi, the men's eyes met. And something
amazing happened. Simon, the greatest gladiator in all the arenas
of the Roman Empire, was accustomed to seeing fear in the eyes
of his adversaries. He was accustomed to seeing terror in the
faces of his rivals, the kind of paralyzing terror that alone enabled
him to defeat his foes. But not this day. Not this time. Simon
saw something in the eyes of the rabbi he had never seen before.
He saw absolutely no fear.
Instead he saw in the eyes of the rabbi a man who knew
exactly where he fit in God's world, a man who knew exactly
what he was sent into the world to do. He saw in the rabbi's eyes
a strength and a power he had never seen in all his opponents in
all the battles in all the arenas of Rome. The power of the rabbi's
eyes shook Simon to his soul. He stood for a long time staring,
and then he dropped his sword and let go of all his rage. He was
absorbed by the gentle face of the great rabbi.
For his part, the rabbi saw something remarkable in the eyes
of the gladiator. There was much more to this gladiator than
his fury Beyond all the bluster and rage and violence, the rabbi
saw in the gladiator's eyes a ferocious power to love and a deep
longing to be loved. Behind the armor was a heart, a soft human
heart.
The rabbi spoke softly to the gladiator. He said: "My brother,
continued on page P20