Amora

Reish Lakish

ריש לקיש

The great Amora of Eretz Yisroel who turned from leading a band of robbers to Torah, and became the beloved study partner and brother-in-law of Rebbi Yochanan.

YahrzeitNot recorded

Lifetimec. 200 – c. 275 CE

KeverKatzion (Horvat Kasyon), Upper GalileeTraditional kever of Reish Lakish at Katzion (Horvat Kasyon), Upper Galilee, Eretz Yisroel

Biography

Early Life

Rebbi Shimon ben Lakish zy"a, known throughout the Gemara as Reish Lakish, was born around the year 200 CE, in the generation after Rebbi Yehuda HaNasi completed the Mishnah. Of his father, Lakish, nothing is recorded beyond his name. Nothing is recorded of his mother, and little is known of his childhood.

He knew the Galilee. He once told how he had seen with his own eyes the land flowing with milk and honey around Tzippori, a stretch of rich fields sixteen mil by sixteen mil. He was a man of enormous physical strength, and as a young man he put that strength to the worst possible use. The Gemara relates that he became the leader of a band of robbers.

Everything changed in a single moment at the Jordan River, when he met the sage Rebbi Yochanan. The robber chief accepted upon himself the yoke of Torah, and the same fierce energy he had spent on banditry was now poured into the beis medrash.

His Teacher, Rebbi Yochanan

Rebbi Yochanan took the new talmid under his wing. He taught him Chumash, he taught him Mishnah, and he made him into a great man. He also gave him his sister as a wife, as he had promised at the river, and the two sages became brothers-in-law as well as teacher and student. Reish Lakish and his wife raised a family together.

Before long the former robber stood among the leading sages of his generation. The Amora Ulla described what it was like to watch him learn: anyone who saw Reish Lakish in the beis medrash felt as though he were uprooting mountains and grinding them against one another. In his discussions with Rebbi Yochanan he would raise twenty-four challenges to every statement, and Rebbi Yochanan would answer with twenty-four answers, until the halacha stood clear.

For all his sharpness, he never lost his reverence for those who came before him. When a ruling in the name of Rebbi Meir seemed strange to him, he would not simply reject it. Would a holy mouth such as his say this, he asked, and he looked instead for a way to read the Mishnah that would fit Rebbi Meir's words. The Gemara points to this as an example of how much the sages loved and honored one another even in debate.

He also took his teacher's words to heart in the way he lived. Rebbi Yochanan taught, in the name of Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai, that as long as the Jewish people are in galus, a person may not fill his mouth with laughter. It is told that from the day Reish Lakish heard this from his rebbi, he never again laughed with a full mouth for the rest of his life.

Sage of Eretz Yisroel

Reish Lakish taught in Teveria in the second half of the third century, alongside Rebbi Yochanan, and their discussions fill page after page of Shas. He loved Eretz Yisroel with all his heart. When a sage from Bavel once offered him a hand as he swam in the Jordan, Reish Lakish rebuked the Jews of Bavel for not coming up together, like a solid wall, in the days of Ezra, and so leaving the Second Beis HaMikdash without the full glory of the Shechinah.

He was sparing with his words and his friendships. He kept close company only with people of proven honesty, to the point that if Reish Lakish was seen speaking with someone in the marketplace, people would lend that man money without witnesses.

He honored every person who learned Torah. When a young scholar who used to sit in the twenty-fourth row of the beis medrash passed away, Reish Lakish eulogized him himself and cried out that Eretz Yisroel had lost a great man. He taught that Torah stays only with one who is ready to give his life for it, that a person who teaches Torah to another man's son is considered as if he had formed that child, and that the six orders of the Mishnah are hinted at in a single verse of Yeshayahu.

He lived with very little and did not worry about tomorrow. It is told that he once sold himself to the gladiators, taking with him only a stone in a bag, and that his great strength brought him out alive. Afterwards he sat at home eating and drinking without a care for his parnassah. When his daughter asked whether he did not want something to lie on, he told her that his belly was pillow enough. When he passed away, all he left was a kav (a small measure) of saffron, and even over that he applied to himself the verse about those who leave their wealth to others.

His Enduring Legacy

Once the sages of the beis medrash were debating at what point a sword or a knife is considered finished, so that it can become tamei. Rebbi Yochanan gave one answer, Reish Lakish another, and Rebbi Yochanan remarked that a bandit knows his own trade. Reish Lakish was stung, and answered that among the robbers he had been called chief, and here too he was called chief. Rebbi Yochanan replied that he had brought him close to Hashem, under the wings of the Shechinah. Rebbi Yochanan was deeply pained by the exchange, and soon afterwards Reish Lakish fell ill and passed away, around the year 275 CE. The day of his passing was not recorded, so there is no fixed yahrzeit.

Rebbi Yochanan never recovered from the loss of his talmid and brother-in-law, and he followed him to the next world soon after. A tradition going back some eight centuries places the kever of Reish Lakish at Katzion in the Upper Galilee.

His teachings live on throughout the Gemara and the Midrash. He taught that Hashem made the whole of creation conditional on the Jewish people accepting the Torah at Sinai, that Hashem prepares the cure before He sends the blow, and that great is teshuvah, for when a person returns out of love, even his sins become merits.

To this day Jews turn to Reish Lakish as the living proof of his own teaching. A man who began as the chief of a band of robbers became one of the pillars of the Oral Torah, and showed every Jew that no one is too far away to come home.

Stories

The Meeting at the Jordan

A robber chief leaped into the Jordan after a young sage and came out of the water committed to a life of Torah.

It is told that one day Rebbi Yochanan was bathing in the Jordan River. Nearby stood the leader of a band of robbers, a man of tremendous strength named Shimon ben Lakish. He caught sight of Rebbi Yochanan, and with one great leap he jumped into the river after him.

Rebbi Yochanan looked at the powerful man in the water beside him. Your strength, he told him, is fit for Torah.

The robber had a quick tongue. Your beauty, he answered, is fit for women.

Rebbi Yochanan made him an offer. If you return and give yourself to Torah, he said, I will give you my sister as a wife, and she is more beautiful than I am.

Reish Lakish accepted. Right there in the river, the robber chief took upon himself the yoke of Torah. Then he turned to leap back to the bank to fetch his clothes, as he had leaped in a moment before. But he could not. The moment he accepted the Torah, his wild strength left him, and he had to make his way out of the water like any other man.

Rebbi Yochanan kept his word. He taught him Chumash and Mishnah, gave him his sister in marriage, and made him into one of the greatest sages of the generation. The strength that had once served the robbers now went entirely into the beis medrash, where it was said that Reish Lakish learned as if he were uprooting mountains.

Source: Gemara, Bava Metzia 84a (Talmud Bavli); English: The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz translation), Bava Metzia 84a. Ulla's description of his learning: Sanhedrin 24a.

Practical lessonPoint someone's strength toward good

Rebbi Yochanan did not lecture the robber about his past. He looked at his strength and told him what it was really for. This week, think of one person you find difficult, perhaps a stubborn child, a loud coworker or a restless student. Find the quality behind the behavior, such as energy, determination or a sharp mind, and tell them sincerely how much good that quality could do. Sometimes one sentence of belief is what lets a person leap in a new direction.

Throw Me into the Water

When a stranger who knew four orders of Mishnah carried Reish Lakish across a deep puddle, the sage protested that a man of Torah should not be carrying him.

It is told that Reish Lakish was once walking along the road when he came to a deep pool of water that blocked his way. A man came along, lifted the sage onto his shoulders, and began to carry him across.

As they went, Reish Lakish asked him a question. Have you learned Chumash? Yes, the man said, I have. And have you learned Mishnah? I have learned four orders of the Mishnah, the man answered.

Reish Lakish was alarmed. You have hewn out these four mountains of Torah, he said, and you are carrying the son of Lakish on your shoulders? Throw the son of Lakish into the water.

But the man did not want to put him down. It gives me pleasure to serve the master, he said.

Reish Lakish found a way to let him keep his mitzvah without slighting his Torah. If so, he told him, learn this halacha from me, which Rebbi Zeira taught. And he taught him the ruling. Now the man was his talmid, and it was fitting for a talmid to serve his rebbi.

The same Reish Lakish who had once been the strongest man among the robbers could not bear to be carried by a stranger, because the stranger knew Mishnah. In his eyes, the honor of Torah belonged to every person who learned it, whether he sat in the first row of the beis medrash or met him by chance on the road.

Source: Gemara, Megillah 28b (Talmud Bavli); English: The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz translation), Megillah 28b.

Practical lessonHonor the Torah in others

Reish Lakish noticed the Torah hidden inside an ordinary traveler. This week, when someone does you a service, such as a driver, a waiter, a neighbor or a younger family member, take a moment to learn something about them. Ask what they are learning or what they care about, and let them see that you value it. Then try to give something back, even a short dvar Torah or a word of real thanks, so the kindness flows in both directions.

Where Are You, Son of Lakish

After Reish Lakish passed away, Rebbi Yochanan learned how much he had treasured the student who challenged everything he said.

It is told that after Reish Lakish passed away, Rebbi Yochanan was overcome with grief for his talmid and brother-in-law. The sages asked one another who could go and comfort him and settle his mind.

They chose Rebbi Elazar ben Pedas, a brilliant sage whose words were sharp and clear. Surely, they thought, a mind like his could take the place of the one Rebbi Yochanan had lost.

Rebbi Elazar went and sat before Rebbi Yochanan and they began to learn. Every time Rebbi Yochanan said something, Rebbi Elazar answered: There is a baraisa that supports you.

Rebbi Yochanan turned to him in pain. Are you like the son of Lakish? he asked. When I said something before the son of Lakish, he would raise twenty-four difficulties against me, and I would give him twenty-four answers, and through this the halacha became broad and clear on its own. And you tell me that there is a baraisa that supports me. Do I not know myself that what I say is right?

Rebbi Yochanan went about, tearing his clothes and weeping. Where are you, son of Lakish? he cried. Where are you, son of Lakish? His grief was so great that the sages davened for mercy on him, and soon afterwards he too left the world.

The greatest sage of his generation did not miss a student who agreed with him. He missed the one who never let him rest, whose questions had made his Torah complete.

Source: Gemara, Bava Metzia 84a (Talmud Bavli); English: The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz translation), Bava Metzia 84a.

Practical lessonThank the one who challenges you

Think of a person who pushes back on your ideas: a chavrusa, a spouse, a colleague or a friend who asks hard questions. This week, instead of defending yourself, tell them that their questions make your thinking better. When you learn with someone, try asking one honest question you would normally keep to yourself. Real growth, in Torah and in life, often comes from the person who does not simply agree.

Teachings

Sins That Become Merits

Reish Lakish teaches: Great is teshuvah. When a person returns to Hashem out of fear, his deliberate sins are counted only as mistakes, as the navi Hoshea says that Israel has stumbled in its sin. But when a person returns out of love, his deliberate sins are counted as merits, for the navi Yechezkel says that when the wicked man turns from his wickedness and does what is right, he shall live through them. A person who comes home out of love takes everything he once did wrong and makes it part of his return. The distance he travelled, the lessons he learned and the strength he discovered all become the fuel of his avodah. No one embodied this more than Reish Lakish himself, whose fierce strength as a robber became the fire of his Torah.

Gemara Yoma 86b (on Hoshea 14:2 and Yechezkel 33:19)

Practical lessonTurn a weakness into a strength

Choose one trait you are not proud of, such as a sharp tongue, impatience or stubbornness. This week, look for one way to use that same trait for good: a sharp tongue can defend someone being mocked, impatience can push a stalled mitzvah project forward, stubbornness can keep a daily learning seder going. In the brachah of Hashiveinu in Shemoneh Esrei, ask Hashem to help you return out of love, with everything you are.

Stir Up the Good Inclination

Reish Lakish teaches that a person should always stir up his yetzer tov (good inclination) against his yetzer hara (evil inclination), as the verse in Tehillim says: Tremble, and do not sin. If he overcomes it, good. If not, he should learn Torah, for the verse continues: Speak in your heart. If he overcomes it, good. If not, he should say Krias Shema, as the verse continues: Upon your bed. If he still has not overcome it, he should remind himself of the day of death, as the verse ends: And be still. Reish Lakish, who knew from his own life how strong the pull of the yetzer can be, does not offer a single weapon but a ladder of them. When one step does not work, a person does not give up; he reaches for the next.

Gemara Berachos 5a (on Tehillim 4:5)

Practical lessonHave a plan before the test

Think of one struggle that comes back again and again, such as anger in the evening, wasted time on your phone or a word of lashon hara. Write down three steps to take when it arrives: first, pause and remind yourself who you want to be; second, open a sefer or a Torah recording for five minutes; third, say the first pasuk of Shema slowly. Keep the list where you will see it.

Help for the One Who Wants to Be Pure

Reish Lakish explains the verse in Mishlei: To the scornful He scorns, but to the humble He gives grace. If a person sets out to make himself impure, Heaven opens the way for him and lets him choose. But if a person sets out to purify himself, Heaven helps him. The school of Rebbi Yishmael compared this to a shop that sells both foul-smelling naphtha and fragrant balsam. To the customer who wants naphtha, the shopkeeper says, measure it out yourself. To the customer who wants balsam, he says, wait, let me measure it with you, so that we can both enjoy its fragrance. A person who chooses good is never left to walk alone. The first step is his, and the help that follows comes from Above, as Reish Lakish learned on the day he leaped into the Jordan.

Gemara Yoma 38b (on Mishlei 3:34)

Practical lessonTake the first step

Pick one small spiritual goal you have been putting off, such as davening Minchah with a minyan, learning two halachos a day or calling a parent more often. Do not wait until you feel ready. Take the first concrete step today, even a very small one, and ask Hashem in your own words to help you with the rest. Then notice, over the coming week, how the next steps become easier than you expected.

Family & talmidim

Teachers: Rebbi Yochanan (bar Nafcha)

Children: Sons and daughters (their names are not recorded)

Historical sources