Tanna

Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair

רבי פנחס בן יאיר

Saintly Tanna and son-in-law of Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai, famed for his miracles, his scrupulous honesty and his ladder of virtues from Torah to holiness.

YahrzeitNot recorded

Lifetime2nd century CE (second half)

KeverTzfasKever of Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair (traditional site), old cemetery of Tzfas, Eretz Yisroel

Biography

Early Life

Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair zy"a was one of the last Tannaim, the sages of the Mishnah, and lived in Eretz Yisroel in the second half of the second century. He lived in the hard generations that followed the destruction of the Second Beis HaMikdash, when Roman rule weighed heavily on the Jewish people. Of his father, Yair, nothing is recorded beyond his name. His home seems to have been in Lod, in the south of the country.

Even as a young man, Rav Pinchas showed the trait that would define his whole life: he would not take anything that was not truly his. The Gemara relates that he never once made a brachah over bread that belonged to someone else, and from the day he reached maturity he would not even eat at his own father's table. He sowed and harvested grain with his own hands.

He became known above all for his piety rather than for halachic rulings; hardly any ruling in his name appears in the Mishnah. What the sages remembered were his holiness, his honesty and his love for every Jew, and the wonders that Hashem performed for him.

With Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai

Rav Pinchas was the son-in-law of the great Tanna Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai, and the bond between the two men was one of deep love and shared Torah. When the Romans condemned Rebbi Shimon to death, he fled with his son, Rebbi Elazar, and hid in a cave. Twelve years and a further twelve months passed before he came out.

When Rav Pinchas heard that his father-in-law had emerged, he went out to greet him and brought him to the bathhouse to tend to him. Years of sitting buried in sand had left Rebbi Shimon's skin full of cracks. As Rav Pinchas cared for him he wept, and his tears stung the wounds. Woe is me that I see you like this, he cried. Rebbi Shimon answered that he was fortunate to see him so, for without those years he would not have found in him the greatness he now found.

The Gemara explains what Rebbi Shimon meant. Before the cave, whenever Rebbi Shimon raised a difficulty, Rav Pinchas could offer twelve answers. After the cave, whenever Rav Pinchas raised a difficulty, Rebbi Shimon answered it in twenty-four ways.

The Zohar also pictures the two together. It describes Rebbi Shimon, Rebbi Elazar and their companions gathered in Rav Pinchas's home, where he asked Rebbi Shimon to say something new on the parsha of the red heifer. It relates, too, that on the day Rebbi Shimon left the world he announced that Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair had come, and asked that a place be prepared for him.

A Life of Holiness and Kindness

Rav Pinchas gave himself to pidyon shevuyim (the redemption of captives), one of the greatest mitzvos of the Torah, at a time when so many Jews were in chains. It was on one such journey that the river Ginai split before him, a miracle the Gemara compares to the splitting of the Yam Suf. It is also told that once, when he was on his way to the gathering of the sages, the same river split for him. His talmidim asked whether they might cross after him, and he told them that anyone who knew he had never slighted a fellow Jew could cross without harm.

He was exceptionally careful with maaser (tithes), and the Gemara teaches that Hashem guarded even his animals from wrongdoing. It is told that in one town mice were devouring the grain, and the farmers begged him for help. He asked whether they separated their tithes properly, and when they promised to do so, the mice left and were not seen again. In another town, whose spring did not give enough water, the same promise brought blessing to the water.

He felt the pain of others deeply. It is told that a pious man who dug wells and water channels for travelers lost his daughter, swept away as she crossed a river. The whole town came to comfort him, but he could not be consoled. Rav Pinchas declared that it was impossible: a man who honored his Creator with water could not be struck by water. Soon word spread through the town that the girl had been saved and had come home.

He held to his own standards even before the greatest men of his time. When Rebbi Yehuda HaNasi, the editor of the Mishnah, considered easing the laws of shemittah because of the hardship of the poor, Rav Pinchas showed in a few quiet words that he did not agree, and Rebbi understood. Rebbi later invited him to a meal, and to Rebbi's great joy he accepted. But when Rav Pinchas arrived and saw dangerous white mules standing at the entrance, he would not enter. Rebbi offered one way after another to be rid of the mules, and Rav Pinchas showed that each would cause some other wrong. In the end Rebbi wept and said that the righteous are great in their lifetime, and greater still after their passing.

His Enduring Legacy

Rav Pinchas left only a handful of sayings, but they have shaped Jewish life ever since. In the Mishnah at the end of Maseches Sotah he mourned how far the generation had fallen since the churban, and concluded that there is no one to lean on except our Father in Heaven. He also set out a ladder of virtues by which a person can rise, step by step, from Torah study to ruach hakodesh (the holy spirit). Some fifteen centuries later the Ramchal, Rebbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, built his classic sefer Mesillas Yesharim on this teaching, devoting its chapters to the rungs of the ladder in turn. A small midrash called Tadshe also bears his name, because it opens with his teaching on the words Tadshe ha'aretz (Bereishis 1:11).

The day and year of his passing are not recorded. A tradition handed down in the name of the Arizal places his kever at the foot of the old cemetery of Tzfas, where for generations it was marked only by a simple heap of stones.

Visitors to his kever often walk around it seven times while saying Ana B'choach. They come to daven at the resting place of the tzaddik before whom rivers parted and whose donkey would not eat untithed grain, and who taught that every Jew can climb, rung by rung, toward holiness.

Stories

The River That Parted Three Times

On his way to redeem captives, Rav Pinchas commanded the river Ginai to part, and it opened not only for him but for two fellow travelers as well.

It is told that Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair once set out to redeem Jewish captives. Along the way his road was blocked by the river Ginai, running deep and fast.

Rav Pinchas spoke to the river. Ginai, he said, divide your waters and let me pass through you. The river answered him: You are going to do the will of your Maker, and I am going to do the will of my Maker. Whether you will succeed in your mission is uncertain, but I am sure to succeed in mine. Rav Pinchas replied that if it did not divide, he would decree that no water would ever flow through it again. The waters parted, and he crossed.

Nearby stood a man carrying wheat to bake matzos for Pesach. Rav Pinchas turned to the river once more and asked it to part for this man too, since he was busy with a mitzvah. Again the waters opened. Traveling with them was an Arab who had kept them company on the road. Rav Pinchas asked the river to part for him as well, so that no one could say that this is how a Jew treats someone who has accompanied him. The river parted a third time, and the stranger crossed safely.

Generations later the Amora Rav Yosef marvelled at the scene. The sea split once for Moshe Rabbeinu and the six hundred thousand who left Mitzrayim, he said, and here a river split three times. The sages concluded that in this moment Rav Pinchas was as great as Moshe and all of Israel together.

Source: Talmud Bavli, Chullin 7a (another version of the crossing appears in Talmud Yerushalmi, Demai 1:3)

Practical lessonThink of the one beside you

Rav Pinchas could have crossed and walked on. Instead he stopped twice for people who simply happened to be on the road with him, including a stranger. This week, when something good comes your way, such as a lift, a shortcut, an invitation or an opening at work, look at the person standing next to you and ask how they can share in it. Hold the door, offer the seat, add one more name to the list. Let no one who walks beside you be left on the other bank.

The Donkey That Would Not Eat

A stolen donkey refused all food for three days, came home, and still would not eat until its barley had been tithed.

It is told that one night thieves stole the donkey of Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair and hid it in their cave. For three days the animal stood among them and would not touch anything they gave it. At last the thieves grew worried. If it dies here, they said to one another, it will rot and foul our cave. Better to send it back to its master. They turned it loose.

The donkey made its way home and stood at Rav Pinchas's gate, braying. He knew its voice at once. Open the gate for the poor creature, he told his household, for it has not tasted anything for three days. They let it in and set barley before it, but the donkey would not eat.

They came back puzzled and told him it refused the food. Rav Pinchas asked whether they had cleaned the grain, and they said they had. Then he asked whether they had separated the tithes of demai (produce whose tithing is in doubt). No, they answered; had he not taught them himself that grain bought for an animal is exempt? Rav Pinchas sighed. What can we do for this poor creature, he said, if it is strict with itself? They separated the tithes, and the donkey ate.

The sages never forgot this animal. Generations later, lamenting how far they had fallen from the giants who came before them, they said that they were not even comparable to the donkey of Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair.

Source: Talmud Yerushalmi, Demai 1:3; Midrash Bereishis Rabbah 60:8 (a similar episode at an inn is told in Talmud Bavli, Chullin 7a–7b)

Practical lessonAdd one step of care

The halacha did not require tithing the donkey's barley, yet in Rav Pinchas's home even the animal reached past the minimum. Pick one mitzvah you already keep, such as a brachah, netilas yadayim or checking a hechsher, and add one small step of care to it this week. Say the brachah slowly enough to hear every word, or read the label you would usually skip. When care becomes the habit of a home, it reaches everything in it.

Seven Harvests for Two Strangers

Two poor men forgot a little barley in Rav Pinchas's care; he planted it every year and returned it to them as whole storehouses of grain.

It is told that Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair once lived in a town in the south, where people came from elsewhere to earn a living. Two poor men who had come there for work left two se'ah (a dry measure) of barley with him for safekeeping. Then they moved on and forgot all about it.

Rav Pinchas did not leave their barley to sit in a sack and spoil. When the season came, he sowed it, harvested the crop, and stored it for its owners. The next year he planted it again, and the year after that. For seven years each harvest was sown once more, and the small deposit grew and grew.

At the end of seven years the two men came back to the town to ask for their barley. Rav Pinchas recognized them at once. He did not hand them a sack. Come, he told them, take your storehouses. Bring camels and donkeys to carry away your grain.

The sages tell this story to explain why Moshe Rabbeinu called Hashem "the faithful G-d." If a man of flesh and blood can guard a deposit so faithfully that it returns many times over, how much more faithfully does Hashem guard everything we entrust to Him.

Source: Midrash Devarim Rabbah 3:3; Talmud Yerushalmi, Demai 1:3

Practical lessonGuard what is not yours

Rav Pinchas cared for two strangers' forgotten barley as if its owners were watching. Think of something in your keeping that belongs to someone else: a borrowed sefer, a tool, a neighbor's dish. This week, return one item that has stayed with you too long, and give it back in better shape than you received it, cleaned, refilled or with a short note of thanks. Each time you do, you reflect in a small way the faithfulness with which Hashem guards what we place in His hands.

Teachings

The Ladder of Holiness

Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair teaches that holiness is not reached in a single leap. It is a ladder, and each rung brings a person to the next. Torah study leads to watchfulness, the care not to stumble. Watchfulness leads to zeal in doing mitzvos. Zeal leads to cleanliness from sin, and cleanliness to separation from what is unworthy. Separation leads to purity, purity to chassidus (piety beyond the letter of the law), chassidus to humility, humility to fear of sin, and fear of sin to holiness. Holiness brings a person to ruach hakodesh, and ruach hakodesh to the resurrection of the dead. Of all these, he adds, chassidus is the greatest. The first rung is Torah, and every Jew can stand on it today. Centuries later the Ramchal made this ladder the plan of Mesillas Yesharim, guiding countless Jews up its steps.

Gemara Avodah Zarah 20b (also Mishnah Sotah 9:15)

Practical lessonClimb one rung

Start with the first rung, Torah, and give it a fixed place in your day. Set aside ten minutes this week, at the same time each day, to learn something: a mishnah, a few pesukim of Chumash with Rashi, or a page of Mesillas Yesharim, which is built on this very teaching. Then reach for the next rung, watchfulness: before one ordinary action, such as answering a message or walking into a room, pause and ask whether it is the right thing. Holiness is built from steps that small.

Lean on Our Father in Heaven

In the closing Mishnah of Maseches Sotah, Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair describes the world after the churban. The learned and the noble are put to shame and cover their heads, people of good deeds grow few, and the strong-armed and the smooth-tongued gain the upper hand. No one searches, no one asks, no one cares about the fear of Heaven. Then he asks the question that every Jew in galus has felt, and answers it: "On whom can we lean? Only on our Father in Heaven." Rav Pinchas does not hide how hard things are, yet he does not despair. When every human support seems to give way, the bond between a child and a loving Father remains, and that is where a Jew can rest his full weight.

Mishnah Sotah 9:15

Practical lessonSay it when you worry

The next time a worry presses on you, about parnassah, health, a child or the news, pause before reaching for your phone. Say quietly, in any language, that you are leaning on your Father in Heaven, and then take the next practical step you can. Tie the habit to a fixed moment, such as the brachah of Shema Koleinu in Shemoneh Esrei, so that it is already there when you need it most.

The Jewish People Are Holy

Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair was known for never eating at another person's table, so when he accepted Rebbi Yehuda HaNasi's invitation, Rebbi's face lit up. Rav Pinchas explained that he had not been avoiding the hospitality of other Jews as if he had vowed against it. On the contrary, he said, the Jewish people are holy. There is one who wishes to host a guest but cannot afford it, and Rav Pinchas would not let a poor man strain himself on his account. And there is one who can afford it but does not truly want to, and of such a host Shlomo HaMelech warns that he says eat and drink, but his heart is not with you. Rebbi, who both wished to host and had the means, was the rare exception. True hospitality, in Rav Pinchas's eyes, is measured by the host's heart and the guest's care for him.

Gemara Chullin 7b (on Mishlei 23:6–7)

Practical lessonBe a guest who cares

When someone invites you, think about what the invitation costs them. If a friend is stretched, offer to bring part of the meal, or invite them to you instead. And when you are the host, let your heart be in it: meet your guests at the door, use their names, and let them see you are glad they came. A meal given and received with care for the other person becomes, as Rav Pinchas saw it, a meeting of holy people.

Seforim

Midrash Tadshe (Baraisa deRabbi Pinchas ben Yair): A small later midrash attributed to him because it opens with his explanation of Bereishis 1:11 ("Tadshe ha'aretz").

Historical sources