GATES OF WISDOM

Rabbi Barber offers the latest volume in a series concerning the life and teachings of an 18th-century rabbi.

The author follows up Sparks of Wisdom (2022) with this third installment in a series devoted to the life and work of Reb Yehonatan Eybeshitz, who was born in Poland in 1696. He was a famous Kabbalist and scholar in his time, and this work covers various stories about him, many of which are from The Wise Jew by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gerlitz. The stories are often accompanied by explanations and clarifications for modern reader. A few also feature simple black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations, often of the people in a particular story under discussion. The stories show that the future rabbi was a precocious youngster who mastered the Hebrew alphabet at age 3 and could outsmart many of his teachers by the time he was 5. In his adult years, he often used his wisdom and patience to fluster antisemitic enemies. Many a tale shows him wittily upholding his faith and the rules of Jewish life; when a minister of Vienna who was “no friend of the Jews” challenges him on kosher dietary laws, Reb Yehonatan is ready with an illustrative argument. Many anecdotes come with humor; when a king asks him why he will not take off his hat when passing a large statue, Reb Yehonatan replies. “I only greet those who will greet me in turn.” Some tales are no longer than a paragraph or two, such as an account of Reb Yehonatan’s students finding him so engrossed in thought while outside that he became covered in snow.

The work sheds light on a religious figure’s wide-ranging life, as well as on how that person’s life is remembered today. Perhaps one of its most remarkable aspects is how it reveals that wit from centuries ago is just as effective today. For instance, when a bigoted neighbor asks Reb Yehonatan, “What is the difference between a Jew and a pig?” he answers, “Right now, the difference between a Jew and a pig is this fence separating me from you.” In another instance, he humorously points out that rabbis bring peace to the world by “causing enemies to come together in their common goal of causing strife to their rabbi.” Overall, the book offers a portrayal of Reb Yehonatan that has almost a mystical glow, as his teachings never fail. In one particularly notable example, in order to prove that “as smart as we are, we can never change the nature of the world,” the rabbi argues that, despite the powers of the human mind, man is limited in what he can accomplish. In response, his adversaries go so far as to train a cat to behave like a human waiter. Reb Yehonatan, in turn, releases a mouse to prove that the cat, trained as it may be, is still a cat. All these stories grapple with philosophical questions that would have engaged thinkers of the time, and they’re sure to do the same for modern readers.

A serious-minded but often humorous compilation that paints an offbeat portrait of a leading religious figure.