Commentaire de citation sur Ézéchiel 32:29

Bahya writes. Antoninus was a great king of Esau and studied Torah from Rabbi [Judah the Prince] secretly, and was very afraid that his servants and ministers should not learn about this. The Talmud in [tractate] Avodah Zarah¹³B. Avodah Zarah, 10b. says that there was a large cave under the earth. King Antoninus could easily go from his castle to the house of Rabbi [Judah] through that cave. Every day the king went to study Torah with Rabbi [Judah] through that cave under the earth and took along two servants. The king placed one at the door of his house, and the other one he put at the door of Rabbi [Judah’s] house. He did this every day. He told them that no person should come to Rabbi [Judah] when he would come. Once the king came to Rabbi [Judah] and found Rabbi Haninah sitting before Rabbi [Judah]. The king said: I asked you that no person should be here when I came. Rabbi [Judah] responded: this is not a person. The king said: if this is not a person, let him go and call in the one who is sleeping at the door. Rabbi Haninah went and found that the one at the door had been killed. Rabbi Haninah thought; what should I do? Should I tell him that he had been killed? One does not tell bad news easily. If I will go away, then it is degrading to the king that I would not answer him. He prayed and brought him back to life and sent him to the king. The king said: I know well that every Israelite can bring someone back to life. Nonetheless, I ask you, let no person be with you when I come to you. The king served Rabbi [Judah]; he poured his cup and stood before him like a servant. When Rabbi [Judah] wanted to sleep in his bed, the king bowed down to the earth before the bed so that Rabbi [Judah] would step on him, to more easily let him get into his bed. Rabbi [Judah] said: you are a king and it is not just that a king should do this. The king responded: I wish that I would be the bed under you in the next world. He asked Rabbi [Judah]: will I come to the World to Come? Rabbi [Judah] answered him: you will come. The king said: the verse says, “no survivor shall be left of the House of Esau” [Obadiah 1:18]. Rabbi [Judah] responded: whoever does the deeds of Esau. He asked: the verse says, “Edom is there, her kings and all her chieftains” [Ezekiel 32:29]. There in Gehenna is Edom, the king and his ministers. Rabbi [Judah] answered: except for Antoninus and Ketia the son of Shalom, who will not come to Gehenna.¹⁴Bahya, Genesis, 25:22.

A Midrashic opinion (Avodah Zarah 11) draws attention to the unusual spelling of the words גיים in our verse. The correct spelling should have been גוים. This prompted Rabbi Yehudah to see a hint that there would be two individuals belonging to these two nations, i.e. Emperor Antoninus and Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi, whose wealth would be such that all manner of vegetables which were not in season would nonetheless be served on their tables all year. At first glance such a statement is difficult to reconcile with the statement made by the same Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi on his deathbed (compare Ketuvot 104), that he had never permitted himself to use his wealth to indulge himself or to otherwise enjoy the pleasures of life on earth, but had made do with absolute necessities only. We need to understand the Midrash in Bereshit Rabbah as describing what Rabbi Yehudah served his guests, not what he himself partook of. Antoninus was a descendant of Esau, of course. He had studied Torah secretly with Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi so that his servants and other members of his Empire would not become aware of this. According to tradition (also quoted in Avodah Zarah 10), Antoninus, (while governor of Palestine) had a subterranean room which was linked by a passage to the home of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi. He would take two slaves with him every day. He would kill the first one at the entrance to the house of Rabbi Yehudah, and the second one at the entrance to his own palace so that there would not be any surviving witnesses to his visits at the home of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi. He requested of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi that at the pre-arranged times when he would visit, Rabbi Yehudah should not have anyone else present at the house. It happened that on one occasion Rabbi Chanina bar Chama happened to be at the house of Rabbi Yehudah when Antoninus arrived. He became very agitated and complained: “did I not tell you not to have anyone present when I come?” Rabbi Yehudah replied that the apparition in the guise of Rabbi Chanina was not a human being. Thereupon Antoninus said to Rabbi Yehudah: “tell this man to get me the slave who stands on guard at the entrance.” Rabbi Chanina, aware that this slave was going to be killed, deliberated what to do. When he came to the place from where he was supposed to get the slave he found that the slave was already dead. He meditated on what to do, saying to himself that if he told Antoninus that the slave was already dead, he would accuse him of having murdered him. At the same time there is a rule that one need not return to the sender in order to bring bad news. On the other hand, he reasoned, if he were simply to leave the dead man and not go back to the house of Rabbi Yehudah at all, this would be a disgrace, and an insult to the Roman Empire. So he decided to pray. As a result of his prayer the dead guard came to life again and he sent him to his master. Thereupon Antoninus said to Rabbi Yehudah: “I am aware that even relatively insignificant Jews possess the power to bring the dead back to life. Nonetheless, I wish that when I come here no other living soul shall be present.” Antoninus used to provide Rabbi Yehudah with a variety of personal services as well as feed him if necessary on a daily basis. He even expressed a wish to be able to serve Rabbi Yehudah in the hereafter as his mattress. One day he asked Rabbi Yehudah if he could expect to be granted life in the hereafter. Rabbi Yehudah answered in the affirmative. Antoninus questioned this, quoting Ovadiah 18 “there will not be anyone remaining of the house of Esau.” Rabbi Yehudah replied that this verse speaks only of people who live in accordance with the principles of Esau. Thereupon Antoninus quoted another verse, this time from Ezekiel 32,29: “There are Edom, her kings and her princes” [The entire passage deals with the descent to Gehinom of all these Gentile people. Ed.] Rabbi Yehudah replied that the verse referred to “her kings,” but not to “all her kings.” He added that Ezekiel had specifically excluded Antoninus as well as a certain Ketiah bar Shalom from his prediction.