ave home, and he
would probably have remained in his little village for the rest of his
life, an obscure and unknown man, if it were not for his wife. It was
her noble self-sacrifice that enabled him to become the greatest Rabbi
of his time and perhaps of all time. Unknown to him, she stole out
into the market-place and sold all that beautiful hair of hers, so
that he might continue his studies. Indeed no sacrifice, no
self-abnegation, was too great for her. She sent Akiba away and for
twelve long years dwelt alone in sorrow and in want, a "living widow,"
and at the end of that period she crowned it with a renewal of the
same great sacrifice. As Akiba was crossing the threshold, home again
after twelve years of study, he overheard Rachel talking with a
neighbor. "It served thee right," said the neighbor, "for marrying a
man so far beneath thee. Now he has gone off and forsaken thee." "If
he hearkened to me," was Rachel's reply, "he would stay away another
twelve years." At these words Akiba exclaimed: "Since she gives me
permission, I will go back to my studies,"--and he went and stayed
away another twelve years. Such was the noble renunciation of Rachel,
wife of Rabbi Akiba, for his sake and for the sake of the Torah.

_Akiba's Rise to Recognition and Fame_

AKIBA studied assiduously at the schools of R. Nahum of Geniso and of
R. Eliezer and R. Joshua, both renowned teachers, who in their youth
had been favorite pupils of Rabbi Jochanan ben Zakkai. It is
illuminating to consider Akiba's general method of study. He had the
habit, the Talmud tells us, of going alone to meditate over every
Halakah (law) that he learned. After this bit of hard thinking, as we
would call it, he usually came back with some very difficult
questions. Only when these questions were answered did he feel
satisfied that he knew the Halakah. That this thorough method of study
bore fruitful results Akiba's subsequent achievements showed. At
first, however, his genius was not evident and R. Eliezer paid no
attention to him. But one day Akiba gave him his first answer and R.
Eliezer was astounded at its profundity. Said R. Joshua then to R.
Eliezer, in a slightly modified Scriptural phrase, "Is not this he
whom thou hast despised? Go thou now and contend with him." From that
time on Akiba was acknowledged a master of Rabbinic law.

All that confused mass of traditional rules, precepts, laws,
discussions and opinions which composed the Oral Law, a