Moshe and Akiva in TB Menachot 29b

    What reward awaits the one who makes Torah, the words of Holy Writ, the foundation of her life? Judaism has a realistic view of the matter. The reward of a chasid or faithful one is the privilege of living and dying for the sake of the truth embraced. Below the fold, text and translation of a famous passage which makes the point and turns away all questions as to why it is so.

Rav Yehuda said Rav said:	אמר רב יהודה אמר רב
When [in the hour that] Moshe ascended on high	בשעה שעלה משה למרום
the Holy One was found [they found] sitting and tying crowns to letters.	מצאו להקב"ה שיושב וקושר כתרים לאותיות

   At death, Moses ascends into heaven and finds God hard at work. Some letters written in Torah scrolls are distinguished from others by crowns on their tips. God, the author of every detail of Torah, is fastening appropriate crowns to letters of Torah.

He said in his presence,	אמר לפניו
“Master of the World! Who detains your hand?“	רבש"ע מי מעכב על ידך
He said to him,	אמר לו
“There is a certain man who is yet to come,	אדם אחד יש שעתיד להיות
at the end of many generations,	בסוף כמה דורות
his name is Akiva ben Yosef;	ועקיבא בן יוסף שמו
he will one day seek on each and every tip	שעתיד לדרוש על כל קוץ וקוץ
mounds and mounds of halachot.	תילין תילין של הלכות

    God is detained from attending to other tasks. He must prepare the way for Akiva, a renowned rabbinic exegete of the first centuries of this era (ca. 50–135 CE), who will draw out, from the jots and tittles of Torah, “tells” and “tells” of law for the good order of every facet of life.

He said in his presence,	אמר לפניו
“Master of the World! Show me!”	רבש"ע הראהו לי
He said to him,	אמר לו
“Return to where you were!”	חזור לאחורך
He went and sat at the end of eight rows,	הלך וישב בסוף שמונה שורות
but he could not understand what they were saying.	ולא היה יודע מה הן אומרים
His strength was deflated.	תשש כחו
When he arrived at a particular exposition,	כיון שהגיע לדבר אחד
his students asked him,	אמרו לו תלמידיו
“Master! Where are you getting this?”	רבי מנין לך
He said to them,	אמר להן
“It is halacha given to Moses on Sinai!”	הלכה למשה מסיני
His mind was put at ease.	נתיישבה דעתו

    In the Talmudic academies of Sura and Pumbeditha, the regular students were arranged in order of   excellence in the first seven rows. Moses sits behind them, “at the end of eight rows.” He doesn’t understand the lesson, but he acquiesces when he hears that it is law given to him on Sinai which Akiva expounds.

He returned and entered the presence of the Holy One.	חזר ובא לפני הקב"ה
He said in his presence,	אמר לפניו
“Master of the World!	רבונו של עולם
You have a man like this	יש לך אדם כזה
and you give the Torah through me?”	ואתה נותן תורה על ידי
He said to him,	אמר לו
“Silence! That is how it came to me in thought.”	שתוק כך עלה במחשבה לפני
He said in his presence,	אמר לפניו
“Master of the World!	רבונו של עולם
You showed me his Torah.	הראיתני תורתו
Show me his reward!”	הראני שכרו
He said to him,	אמר לו
“Return!”	חזור
He returned to where he was.	חזר לאחוריו
He saw his flesh being weighed out in a meat market.	ראה ששוקלין בשרו במקולין

    Moshe returns to earth to witness Akiva’s reward. Akiva died as a martyr at the hands of the Romans. Under torture, he refuses to recant his faith. According to this passage, his body was drawn and quartered and his flesh sold as meat in a butcher shop.

He said in his presence,	אמר לפניו
Master of the World, this is Torah and this is its reward?	רבש"ע זו תורה וזו שכרה
He said to him,	א"ל
“Silence! That is how it came to me in thought.”	שתוק כך עלה במחשבה לפני

Other translations and online discussion of this passage:

“Such is My Will”: Musings on the Torah and its ‘Reward’ (Simon Holloway)
This is Torah and This is its Reward? (the Adderabbi)
Moshe and Rabbi Akiva as Givers of Torah (the Adderabbi)
Menachot 29b: Moshe in Rabbi Akiva’s Beit Midrash and the Authority of the Oral Torah (Dov Linzer)
Additional Thoughts (Dov Linzer)

Comments

[Mitchell Powell]

If there's ever a text that self-consciously goes about dealing with how Moses the historical person would have viewed Moses the transpersonal person, this is it. Excerpts like this make it hard to believe that the Talmudic traditions are only Jewish fables to which we should pay no heed. They also make it easier to imagine why so many people tried to destroy the Talmud over the years.

[Simon Holloway]

A very interesting translation! I really like your understanding of the clause ששוקלין בשרו במקולין. I took ש.ק.ל. as cognate with נ.ט.ל. in this instance, and מקולין as the plural of מקל, "stick". Thinking about it again now, I'm not sure that I didn't gloss over that waw when I did so...

Perhaps I was expecting to see something that would have aligned with other descriptions of his martyrdom, but the image of his being sold in a slaughterhouse is also quite provocative. Traditions concerning Akiva's death are certainly stark!