Perhaps no development in the history of Judaism was more important than the rise of Rabbinic leadership. In its earliest incarnations, Judaism was just another ancient faith centering around rigid geographical boundaries and the practice of animal sacrifice. But by the first century CE there came a trend toward a combination of communal study and social services. People began to seek the counsel of men made wise through dedicated learning instead of relying on priests who wielded power in old rituals and claims of holy lineage. These sages were the first Rabbis, the religious leaders who served the communities in which they lived. It wasn't until the destruction of the Second Temple and the diaspora that followed that the Rabbis became spiritual leaders as well.
The model for the modern Rabbi is often thought to be based on one very influential man. His name was Akibah ben Yosef, but we know him today as Rav Akiva. He is so revered in circles of Jewish sages that even the great Talmudic scholars referred to him with the honorific "The Head of All Sages".
Akiva was born in the mid first century CE near the destroyed Jerusalem. Unlike many ancient scholars, he did not have a particularly cerebral job. Whereas many sages made their money as doctors, lawyers and as other learning-intensive professionals, Akiva was a mere shepherd. He was the son of a convert and he spent the better part of his life outside of the halls of Toritic knowledge. He came to study Torah at the age of 40.
Like many of the ancient sages, there are many possibly apocryphal stories about Akiva. It has been said that while he himself was one of the poorest men around, he married the daughter of the wealthiest man in town. As for what drove him to study Torah, the legend goes that Akiva found a rock through which a constant drip of water had worn a hole. He took it as a symbol of the possibilities granted to the patient, so he began his studies though he was already old by his society's standards.
Regardless of whether or not these stories are true, what is indisputable is that Akiva quickly became one of the most revered scholars of his time. His greatest contribution is his approach to biblical exegesis. He was one of the primary authors of the Mishnah, the oral tradition of Torah study concerned with the organization and codification of those laws and morals found in the Tanakh. Akiva was primarily concerned with systematizing those laws, but he did so with an ingenious invention, the Midrash.
A Midrash is a sort of fable created to further explain an event or law found in the Tanakh, the texts of the Torah. Midrashim are not meant to be taken as equal in authority to the words of the Tanakh, but merely as a way for non-scholars to approach the law in a way they can understand. Many of the Midrashim are so pervasive that they have come to be mistaken for stories directly from the bible. A great example comes from a moment in Exodus we read a few weeks ago. There is a Midrash that says the Israelites sang and danced when the Red Sea came crashing down on the Egyptian army, and that God chastised them for doing so. The lesson here is meant to reinforce the sanctity of all life. The Midrash is there so that people won't misinterpret the sentiment behind the song composed by Moses in that scene in the bible as being a way to gloat over the deaths of his enemies.
Rav Akiva lived in a tumultuous time. When the Roman Empire sought to rebuild Jerusalem as a city dedicated to the god Jupiter, a group of Jews led by a man named Bar Kochbah rebelled. Akiva was a deeply political man and he decided to serve as the spiritual leader of the rebels. The Bar Kochbah Rebellion failed and most of its participants were killed. Akiva himself was taken prisoner by the Romans, tortured, then executed.
Akiva left behind many great scholars in his students. Among them are the highly revered Talmudic sages Rav Shammai and Rav Nehemiah. To this day, Akiva's organization of the traditions of Khalakha and his Midrashim aid both scholars and lay people in accessing the Torah. His dedication to learning and to the good of his community served as a model for all Rabbis through the generations and into the modern day.
