Yose ben Yoezer, the man of Yoezer and Yose ben Yochanan, the man of Yerushalaim received from (him) them. R. Yose said: Your house should be a house of meeting for the sages, and roll in the dust of their feet, and drink with thirst their words.
These tow early sages, R. Yose of Yoezer and R. Yose of Jerusalem initiated a new period in the life of the nation. Not only were they the first to serve as a pair, their appointment also ushered in the first sustained disagreement among the Sages (Chagiga 16). It arose over the question whether the laying of hands on the heads of the sacrificial animals is permitted on feast-days.
We do not know much about R. Yose but some facts about him have come down to us. He appears to have been unusually even handed in his positions. We know that he was considered lenient in his approach to halacha (Eduyos 7:4). On the other hand, to prevent Jews from settling beyond Palestine he declared all heathen countries "unclean" (Shab. 46a). He declared also glass utensils "unclean". Yose ben Joezer was distinguished for his piety, and is called "the pious of the priesthood" ("hasid shebi-kchunnah", Chagiga 18b). He was probably among the sixty pious men who, at the instigation of the high priest Alcimus, the son of his sister, were crucified by the Syrian general Bacchides (I Macc. vii. 16) in 161 BCE.
The Midrash reports the following dialog between this Alcimus and R. Yose ben Joezer while the latter was on the way to execution:
- Alcimus: "See the profit and honors that have fallen to my lot in consequence of what I have done, whilst thou, for thy obstinacy, hast the misfortune to die as a criminal."
- Yose, quietly: "if such is the lot of those who anger God, what shall be the lot of those who accomplish His will?"
- Alcimus: "Is there any one who accomplished His will more than thou?"
- Yose: "If this is the end of those who accomplish His will, what awaits those who anger Him?"
- On this Alcimus was seized with remorse and committed suicide and disobeyed his Greek masters, therefore dying as a martyr.
R. Yose ben Joezer left a son whom he had disinherited for bad conduct(B"B 133b).
The appellation "man of clusters" is quite unusual among Talmudic masters and might give some insight into R. Yose (or Yosef as other texts call him, Meiri in Shalsheles Hakabbolo). Although Rashi in Temura 16 b translates it s as, " ...in Torah, in the Fear of Heaven and acts of kindness", other interpretations surely suggest themselves. One, for example might focus on the structure of R. Yose's teaching. Whereas most (not all) other Sages left us tripartite statements, each of which parts constitutes an unrelated or only tenuously connected detail, both R. Yose ben Yoezer and R. Yochanan present three facets of the SAME teaching. We will discuss R. Yose ben Yoezer soon. For now it should suffice to point out that R. Yose ben Yochanan takes us programmatically through implementation and pitfalls of setting up a House of Cheesed. The poor are not always the most upstanding members of society and in a House of Chessed one cannot segregate by sex. There must be a policy on how to avoid mixing of genders and R. Yose man of Yerushalaim, in his three bullets, provides us with guidance on all the aspects of such a house.
Another approach. In the Middle Ages, especially in Italy, "man of clusters" referred to a man who combined Torah knowledge with familiarity with secular sciences and arts ( for an example of this usage see Shu"t"t Chacham Tsvi, 18). To bring all the facts about R. Yose ben Yoezer in alignment, we might conjecture that he was of the last generation that could rightfully delve into the Torah of Moshe and be familiar with the multifaceted achievement of the Hellenistic civilization. After Antiochus, this was no longer possible, much as after Hitler, German culture and Hirschian style Orthodoxy no longer mesh together. Can one now scarcely imagine a Shabbos afternoon spend in reading Hitler Imach Shemo to one's family as R.. Hilderschemier was wont to do?
When R. Yose ben Yoezer died by the hand of the Hellenists, men of "clusters" ceased. At that time they declared: 'Cursed be the one who teaches his son Greek wisdom' [Baba Kama 82b]".
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