The legendary Akiva ben Yosef has fascinated Jews for centuries. Arguably the most important of the Tannaim, or early Jewish sages, Akiva lived during a crucial era in the development of Judaism as we know it today, and his theology played a major part in the development of Rabbinic Judaism. Reuven Hammer details Akiva’s life as it led to a martyr’s death and he delves into the rich legacy Akiva left us. That legacy played an extraordinarily important role in helping the Jewish people survive difficult challenges to forge a vibrant religious life anew, and it continues to influence Jewish law, ethics, and theology even today. Akiva’s contribution to the development of Oral Torah cannot be overestimated, and in this first book written in English about the sage since 1936 Hammer reassesses Akiva’s role from the period before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE until the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE. He also assesses new findings about the growth of early Judaism, the reasons why Akiva was so outspoken about “Christian Jews,” the influence of Hellenism, the Septuagint, and the canonization of the Hebrew Bible. Ultimately Hammer shows that Judaism without Akiva would be a very different religion.   "Hammer performs a delicate balancing act—not only between deciding between fact and legend, but in showing the struggles within the rabbinic community. Readers looking to learn more about Akiva and the growth of rabbinic Judaism will find his work has much to offer."—Rabbi Rachel Esserman, Reporter Group "Hammer is to be heartily congratulated for producing yet another book to be added to his list of prodigious publications."—Shalom M. Paul,  Jerusalem Report Published On: 2018-04-02 "With this new work, readers will be able to move past the coarse legends and refine their understanding of Akiva's true characteristics, which turned this seemingly simple man into a rabbinical giant, and make his achievements still relevant to this day."—Benjamin Glatt, Jerusalem Post Magazine Published On: 2016-03-23 “Reuven Hammer’s Akiva is a bold and sophisticated engagement with one of the best documented but nevertheless elusive figures in early Rabbinic Judaism. By judiciously weighing Akiva’s complex literary legacy, Rabbi Reuven Hammer encourages readers to explore how we know the past and what it can teach us in the present.”—Ivan G. Marcus, Frederick P. Rose Professor of Jewish History at Yale University   Published On: 2015-03-04 Rabbi Reuven Hammer is the former director and dean of the Jerusalem branch of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), where he served as a professor of Rabbinic literature. He holds a Doctor of Humane Letters from JTS and a PhD from Northwestern University and was also the founding director of the Seminary of Jewish Studies. He is the author or editor of many books, including Entering the High Holy Days: A Complete Guide to the History, Prayers, and Themes (JPS, 2005) and Sifre: A Taanaitic Commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy , both of which are National Jewish Book Award winners.   Akiva Life, Legend, Legacy By Reuven Hammer UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS Copyright © 2015 Reuven Hammer All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8276-1215-0 Contents Author's Note, Preface, Abbreviations, Timeline, 1. Akiva's Early Life, 2. Becoming a Sage, 3. The New Sage and Public Figure, 4. The Mystical Interpreter of Torah, 5. The Organizer of Torah, 6. Akiva and the Song of Songs, 7. Aspects of Akiva's Theology, 8. Akiva — Resistance, Imprisonment, and Death, Epilogue: The Man and His Legacy, Notes, Bibliography, Index to Classical Sources, General Index, CHAPTER 1 Akiva's Early Life Akiva ben Yosef may be the most well-known and beloved of the early Rabbinic Sages, the Tannaim, but his life is largely a mystery and will probably always remain so. As the Talmud scholar Louis Ginzberg famously wrote, "A full history of Akiva, based upon authentic sources, will probably never be written, although he, to a degree beyond any other, deserves to be called the father of Rabbinical Judaism." Akiva ben Yosef was "the man who marked out a path for Rabbinical Judaism for almost two thousand years." His contribution to Rabbinic Judaism was so great that tradition designated him as one of the two "Fathers of the world," the other being his contemporary rival, Rabbi Ishmael. In an early midrash Akiva was termed one of three without whom "the Torah would have been forgotten in his time." The others were Shaphan, the scribe who brought the newly discovered book of Deuteronomy to King Josiah in the sixth century BCE (2 Kings 22:14), and Ezra, the scribe who returned from the Babylonian exile and held a public ceremony affirming the divinity and authority of the Torah in the fifth century BCE (Nehemiah 8–9). When the Talmud wanted to prove the importance of Rabbi Judah the Prince, who was said to have been the greatest sage since Moses himself, it stated