One of the phrases most famous attributed to Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrkanos —preserved in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers 2:10)— is the following:

“Repent one day before your death.”
(Pirkei Avot 2:10)

Meaning:

Rabbi Eliezer taught that, as no one knows when it will come on the day of his death, the human being must live in constant teshuvah (return, reflection and moral correction). It is an invitation to the permanent awarenessto live with purpose, humility and spiritual responsibility every day.

Another phrase of his, also well-remembered, complements this teaching:

“Calientaos the fire of the sages, but beware of the coals.”

It is a warning about the relationship with the wise: seeking his light and learning, but I know prudent with their rigor, because wisdom can illuminate or burn depending on the attitude of someone who is about.

Identity and context

Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrkanos was one of the scholars tanaítas most cited in the Mishnah, a direct disciple of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, contemporary Rabban Gamliel II (whose sister, Imma Shalomwas his wife), and colleague Rabbi Yehoshua ben Jananiá. He is mentioned very frequently in the Mishnah and positioned in the generation of Yavne after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE).

Life and career

• Origins and formation. The traditions present him as a rich family; he left the rural work to study Torah in Jerusalem under Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, who described him as “tanker overturned that you don't lose a drop”, alluding to his memory and loyalty to the tradition.
• Personal method. He stated: “in my whole life, I didn't say nothing that I had not heard from my teacher” a formula that summarizes its conservatism halachic (b. Sukkah 28a).
• Yeshiva and headquarters. Established a yeshiva in Lod (Lydda) who won renown.
• Link with Rabbi Akiva. Classical tradition: Rabbi Akiva he studied with Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua.
• Wife and family. Imma Shalomfigure talmudic quoted by name, was the wife and sister of Rabban Gamliel II.
• Last years and death. Sources aggádicas describing their isolation after a dispute with the wise and scenes from his bed of death, with discussions about purity/impurity; it is associated with Lod and Caesarea in their last moments.

Work, authority, and disputes

• Authority halachic and “Tanur shel Ajnaí”. Your name is in the center of the famous case of the “Oven Ajnaí” (Bavá Metziá 59a–b), where, despite the wonders that support your position, the halachah follows the most (“Lo bashamayim hi”, ‘is not in the sky’). The episode is key to the doctrine of rabbinical authority front supernatural signs and finished with your excommunication (jerem).
• Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer (my Father). Although the medieval works was attributed to the consensus academic places centuries later (s. VIII–IX) and the considered seudoepigráfica; therefore, you must not be used as a direct source of his historical thinking.

Methodological features

1. Fidelity strictly to the tradition received: avoid innovate out-of-learning; its instruction is transmission more creation (b. Sukkah 28a). This impacts on their tendency to answers of “what I heard/not heard”.
2. Profile “Sinai”: memory encyclopedic and accurate textual, in contrast with the creativity of other scholars, as well described by classical sources.
3. School and rigor: your home study Lod designed a style rigorous and conservative.

Key lessons learned

a) Highest ethical Pirké Avot (2:10).
— “Let the honor of thy neighbour as dear to thee as thine; fret not yourself over easily; repent one day before your death; calientate the fire of the sages, but take care of your embers...”. These sentences sum up its ethical, interpersonal, self-control, and discipline of study.

(b) The authority of halachah and the decision-making process.
The case of the Oven Ajnaí set the standard is determined by the debate human and the most —no miracles or voices celestial; at the same time, shows the human cost of the conflict (his ostracism). This tension structure a good part of the theory rabbinic law.

c) Memory and transmission.
The statement “I never said nothing I have heard from my teachers” models a epistemology of tradition: primacy of the chain of transmission over the inference autonomous.

Impact and legacy

• Personal influences and school. Your severity methodological and its emphasis on the received tradition tagged disciples and colleagues; the fact that Rabbi Akiva go through your classroom underscores their centrality in the formation of the Mishnah.
• Doctrine of rabbinical authority. The legacy of the Tanur shel Ajnaí it is structural: it strengthens the autonomy of the process halachic and the legitimacy of the decision collegiate even in the face of portents. This principle became a pillar of the jewish practice later.
• Literary reception. The attribution medieval Father his figure shows its prestige symbolic; the textual criticism of modern resets the image by placing the work in time, without sacrificing your aura of authority in memory bean.