The Man Who Changed His Life at 40 (Rabbi Akiva)

Okay, now it's time to have fun with my personal algorithm. I don't know what the algorithms deeper intentions were, but I'm going to show you a video that popped up in my feed today and tell you why it has deep significance for me and hopefully for you. Here we go. 10 years not much happens. A little dent. 25 years you get more of a valley. 50 years goes by and the fruits of your labors are seen. Stay at it. Things take time. Okay, there you go. So, I'm going to tell you a story. A story about one of the great rabbis of all time, Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva lived during the time of the Roman domination over the Holy Land. In fact, he lived after the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans and he ultimately was executed by the Romans for teaching Torah. But, he was not always a Torah teacher. In fact, he was not even literate. For 40 years, he was a simple shepherd. He was not a student of the Torah. He was uh we'll just say it as it is, rough and uncouth. He was you know, your typical shepherd. You know what you know what shepherds are like or at least in those days, you know, shepherds. And uh here's the story of how his whole life changed in a moment. The story is contained in a rabbinic text called Avot deRabbi Natan. And it describes how Rabbi Akiva was at the mouth of a well, like a natural well, wellspring. And uh I guess there was sort of like a stone uh like a rock formation where the where the water was coming out into it into a stream. And Rabbi Akiva asked, "Who carved that rock?" And cuz I guess it was it looked like it was carved very well. It looked like it was admirable craftsmanship. And they said to Rabbi Akiva, "What do you mean, who carved it? The water itself carved it." And they cited I don't know who the the the they is. These were literate people, I guess. They cited the verse from Iyov. Iyov is in Hebrew and uh in English they call him Job. You know, Job suffered. He had a tough life. But, Job is also a book full of poetry. There are many lyrical verses, lyrical and uh philosophical verses in the book of Job. So, they cited the verse Job chapter 14 verse 19 that says, "Water wears away stone and torrents crush away earth." Avonim shochaku mayim tishtof sfi'achah afar aretz. So, they told Rabbi Akiva, "The water itself carved that stone." And it wasn't like uh a huge amount of water. It was like a little trickle coming out of a out of a wellspring from the ground. So, Rabbi Akiva then at that moment, he had like this epiphany. And he saw how the trickle of water carved stone. And he said, "Wow! If trickles of water can cut through the rock then the Torah can make an impression in my in my brain." And he became a scholar, but not overnight. He was 40 years old. He had to actually go to a literal kindergarten and learn aleph-bet. Yet, that he was illiterate. He had to learn what the little kids learn. And uh eventually after 40 years he became one of the greatest teachers among the Jewish people. And he taught for another 40 years and he lived in total 120 years. Like, who else lived 120 years? That's right. Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses lived 120 years. So, 40 years as an illiterate shepherd, 40 years studying until he became one of the greatest rabbis and then 40 years as a leader, a teacher among his people. So, I'll tell you a cute Hasidic story. And uh I don't know the source of this story, but it's one of those things that I heard a few times at a farbrengen. You know what a farbrengen is? When we get together and sort of like an informal it's not like a frontal teaching classroom setting. It's more like what usually sitting at a table and there's there's food and there's drinks and singing and it's kind of social. But, there's usually somebody who's leading it. Somebody who's like the teacher, but it's again, it's not like it's not didactic in like the formal sense. It's more like uh experiential. So, sometimes they tell stories, sometimes uh we just you know, sing a lot. But, here's a story I heard at a farbrengen a few different times and I don't know the original source of it. But, I heard a few different few different people say this story. Story's like this, Hasidic story. That once upon a time there was a guy who um had a horse. And he had to go inside, I guess to the to the inn to to eat, to sleep, whatever it is. So, he ties up his horse out in front of the inn. And when he comes out, he notices that the horse is tied up uh like you know, near the I guess the the building has like an overhang. And there's water dripping from the overhang from the from the like the downspout, the gutter. And uh it's dripping on the horse's back. So, the guy looks at it and he says, "Hmm, this is very curious. Rabbi Akiva saw how water cuts through stone. Now, a horse is a lot softer than stone. Now, the water is dripping on the horse's back all this time and I don't see that it's made a dent in the horse's back. There's no impression there. What why not?" And he thought about it and he said, "Ah, I know. Because the stone stays in one spot and the water keeps hitting it over and over again the same spot. But, the horse every time the trickle touches his back, he shakes it off." Now, that's the story as it's told at farbrengens. What's the explanation? They don't say the explanation at the farbrengen. At the farbrengen, you're supposed to be immersed enough that the meaning of the story is self-understood. Okay, but this is YouTube, so I'm not expecting you to be in farbrengen mode. I'll just tell you the explanation. The explanation is like this. >> [gasps] >> Uh the truth will permeate but only if you allow it to. Rabbi Akiva emulated the stone, meaning he subjected himself to Torah and he allowed it to break through his mind and do what it does. But, somebody else might hear that same truth and deflect it. You know, they start to rationalize. You know what it means to rationalize? Rational lies. It's when you use your intellect to explain why, "Oh yeah, that's true, but here's why it's different in my case." And all such things. So, that's like the horse shaking it off, refusing to internalize it. So, yeah, water can make a hole in stone, but precisely because the stone lets it. But, if you don't let it, then it won't make the hole. Now, I'll tell you something else fascinating about Rabbi Akiva, >> [snorts] >> which is >> [sighs and gasps] >> obviously, he had a very lofty soul. Obviously, from the fact that he was able to achieve such greatness. That came from his lofty soul. In fact, we're even told that Moshe Rabbeinu, who we compared Rabbi Akiva to, they both lived 120 years and they were leaders of their people. Um Moshe Rabbeinu actually prophetically saw Rabbi Akiva even though they lived over a thousand years apart. Um Moshe Rabbeinu saw Rabbi Akiva and was so impressed with Rabbi Akiva's depth that Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses, says to Hashem "Hashem, why are you giving the Torah through me? Give it through Akiva ben Yosef. And uh was it was it was a there was like this prophetic experience where Moshe Rabbeinu was actually in the classroom of Rabbi Akiva and couldn't follow the lesson that Rabbi Akiva was teaching. And then somebody asked Rabbi Akiva, "Well, where do you know this from?" And Rabbi Akiva said, "Oh, we got this as a tradition from from Moshe Rabbeinu. Moses received this at Mount Sinai." And then Moshe Rabbeinu realized, yes, maybe on the conscious level what Rabbi Akiva was capable of unpacking was more depth than even what Moshe Rabbeinu was aware of, again, on a conscious level. But the download, the original code, was all there in what Hashem gave to Moshe Rabbeinu. So, Moshe Rabbeinu was the one who was able to take the download at Mount Sinai and get all the information that is in the Torah. And then there was a process over generations of unpacking it, decoding it. In fact, it says that Rabbi Akiva was so adept at decoding that not only was he able to figure out the meaning from every letter of the Torah, but even the calligraphy. If you look at an actual Sefer Torah, the way the letters are written, there are little crowns. They're just orna- Well, I shouldn't say they're just ornamentation. They appear just like ornamentation, but uh Rabbi Akiva was able to deduce halakhic ramifications, meaning outcomes that affect practical Torah law based on the calligraphy. Uh so, that that's the greatness of Rabbi Akiva. And and then So, the question is like this. Clearly, Rabbi Akiva was this awesome, powerful, mighty soul. If so, how's it even possible that for 40 years he was a simple, illiterate shepherd? Like it doesn't even make sense that that's the same person. You know, you go from good to great. That makes sense. But to go from absolutely no awareness of Torah, being an uncouth shepherd, and then not just becoming a scholar, but like the scholar par excellence. It's kind of funny. So, I'll tell you what the Kabbalah explains. The Kabbalah says that it's important what intentions parents have when they conceive their child. And it says that that affects the lavush, the garment. The garment means the interface that the soul will have when it's in its embodiment. And that interface will affect and throttle and service the filter through which all of the heavenly energy will enter from on high into the body, as well as act as a filter for all the spiritual output that the person in their body is going to contribute to the world. So, that garment, which is created according to the parents' intention. When when the parents conceive the child, if their intention is pure and holy, if they are in other words, not just lustfully seeking physical gratification, but if they have a holy intent in their union, then their child will receive a an interface that will be more refined, and then this child will have an easier time being sensitive to spirituality. Rabbi Akiva's parents were simple people. They didn't have that lofty intent. And therefore, Rabbi Akiva inherited a very uh gunky filter, so to speak. And so much so that it served as a pretty serious impediment to his spirituality for 40 years. However, it's only the filter. It's only the the interface. It's not the soul itself. The soul itself was very, very, very lofty. So, eventually, like they say, the cream rises to the top. But it took 40 years. So, imagine that. You have this incredible, lofty soul that's sort of frustrated because it's trapped behind this really uh coarse interface. Huh. But eventually, it expressed itself. And Rabbi Akiva became the Rabbi Akiva that we all know and revere to this day. Anyway, folks, we can all make a change if we allow the truth to penetrate and we don't shake it off. Maybe we're not meant to be Rabbi Akiva. Only Rabbi Akiva was meant to be Rabbi Akiva. But each one of us has a potential to fulfill. And if we allow the truth to affect us, we will be able to reach that fullest potential.