Background
He was born in 70 AD. Nowhere in the Mishnah or Talmud does the title of Rabbi precede Elisha’s name; rather than implying that he never received ordination, this may point to its withdrawal by the sages once he turned heretic.
He was born in 70 AD. Nowhere in the Mishnah or Talmud does the title of Rabbi precede Elisha’s name; rather than implying that he never received ordination, this may point to its withdrawal by the sages once he turned heretic.
Most of the biographical data available in rabbinic sources emphasize Elisha’s loss of faith and its causes and effects. The process began with his involvement in mystical speculation: together with three fellow sages (Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, and Rabbi Akiva), he “entered the pardes [orchard of mysteries] where he destroyed the shoots,” that is, suffered a crisis of belief that led him to reject traditional norms.
This experience may have coincided with the anti-Jewish persecutions instigated by the Emperor Hadrian, which gave rise to the ill-fated Bar Kokhba revolt against Rome (132-135).
According to the Talmud, Elisha ben Avuyah reacted to the suffering of innocent Jews by mocking the notion of Divine Providence and denying the concept of reward and punishment. Various traditions maintain that his negation of Torah precepts served to justify a wholesale attack on the Jewish heritage. Apart from belittling teachers and students, he publicly flouted Sabbath laws, compelled others to do so, and gave himself up to sensual pleasures. Abhorred as a Roman collaborator, Elisha was dubbed Aher (other person), whose name should be suppressed.
With astonishing broad-mindedness, Meir honored and stood by his old teacher. Meir’s endeavor to make him repent evidently succeeded when Elisha was on his deathbed. It was probably thanks to his eminent disciple that some of Elisha ben Avuyah’s sayings are preserved.
Quotes from others about the person
The medieval philosopher Judah Halevi attributed the fate of Elisha to his repudiation of religious observance: “These actions [he said] are merely instruments for attaining spiritual rank. That rank I have attained and so I have no need of religious ceremonies.” Enlightenment writers of the 19th century, drawn to the figure of Aher, often made him an ancient Jewish prototype of Faust. Modern scholars have occasionally sought an explanation for his abandonment of Judaism in Gnostic and other alien beliefs. Elisha ben Avuyah’s life formed the subject of Milton Steinberg’s novel As a Driven Leaf (1939).