ginal and the most talented of all the great
galaxy of ancient Rabbis. In him was typified the great ideal of a
Jewish Rabbi--a man of heart, of hand, and of head. But Akiba is still
more remarkable for the charm and romance of his life. He is indeed
the one Rabbi with a great romance. The story of his life, stripped of
all exaggeration or literary artifice, reads more like a tale of
"knight and lady" than like the simple facts of a scholar's life. His
great love, his sudden rise from the humblest obscurity, his brilliant
intellectual and spiritual achievements, and his glorious death, make
up the successive scenes of one of the most inspiring chapters in
Jewish history.

_His Youth and Romantic Marriage_

AKIBA was born about the year 50, at a time when the Roman Empire at
its height was about to turn all its mighty forces against his people,
the little state of Judea; and he died a martyr to his faith, in about
the year 132, on the eve of the last great rebellion against Roman
domination. His origin and early years are shrouded in darkness. We
know that he was an unlettered shepherd in his youth and mistrustful
of Rabbis and their learning. His master, Kalba Sabua--so the story
goes--was one of the richest men in Jerusalem, one of the three
wealthy philanthropists who offered to prevent the famine occasioned
by the last great siege of Jerusalem.

While in the service of Kalba Sabua, young Akiba made the acquaintance
of his daughter Rachel. They were immediately drawn to one another, he
attracted by her great beauty, and she by his innate refinement and
superiority. A deep attachment soon sprang up between them. Akiba was
still an illiterate man, however, and Rachel made him promise that if
she were betrothed unto him he would go to the Beth Hamidrash to
study. In those days this was equivalent to acquiring education and
culture. To this Akiba assented and there followed a secret marriage.
When her father learned of what she had done, he became furious. He
disinherited her, and cast her off, leaving her without a roof over
her head and absolutely penniless, and he swore that as long as Akiba
remained her husband she would receive no help from her father. Then
set in a period of bitter poverty for the young pair. Akiba's heart
was rent with pain to see his young wife, who had been accustomed from
earliest youth to a home of luxury, pass her days in a miserable
hovel, with the barest necessities and sometimes even l