Pt1 Power, Pedagogy, and Internal Rabbinic Politics: The Deposition of Rabban Gamliel, the Appointment of R' Elazar ben Azarya, and Eventual Reconciliation (Berakhot 27b-28a)
This is the first part of a two-part series. The outline for the series is below.
This sugya is one of the most vivid political dramas in the Talmud, set in early- to mid-2nd century Eretz Yisrael. It chronicles the temporary removal of Rabban Gamliel as head of the “yeshiva” and the rise of R' Elazar ben Azarya.1
See Hebrew Wikipedia, “הדחת רבן גמליאל דיבנה“, my translation:
The Dismissal of Rabban Gamliel of Yavne
“On that day” (בו ביום) is a phrase used by the Talmudic rabbis to refer to the day Rabban Gamliel was removed from his position as Nasi (נשיא הסנהדרין - president of the Sanhedrin), and R’ Elazar ben Azariah was appointed in his place.
On that day, the number of students increased dramatically, as permission was granted for everyone to enter the study hall.
Background
Rabban Gamliel and R’ Yehoshua had three major disputes on different topics.
Because Rabban Gamliel was deeply concerned with the dignity and authority of the Nasi and the newly reestablished court at Yavne, he consistently emphasized R’ Yehoshua’s subordination to the Nasi and to majority rule.
Our Sugya
What begins as a halakhic disagreement about the status of the evening prayer (Arvit) quickly escalates into a public power struggle, institutional upheaval, and ultimately a shared compromise in rabbinic governance.
The trigger is deceptively mundane: a student asks whether Arvit is obligatory. R' Yehoshua says it is optional; Rabban Gamliel says it is obligatory. But Rabban Gamliel’s handling of this disagreement—publicly forcing R' Yehoshua to admit his position—ignites simmering resentment. It becomes clear this is not an isolated incident: the crowd recalls prior humiliations, and momentum builds for Gamliel’s removal.
The rabbis, seeking a replacement, pass over both R' Yehoshua (too involved) and R' Akiva (lacking zekhut avot), ultimately appointing R' Elazar ben Azarya, a wealthy, well-connected 18-year-old known for his wisdom. His appointment triggers sweeping change. The restrictive entry policy for students is scrapped, the beit midrash overflows, and on that day (“bo bayom”), Tractate Eduyyot is reportedly taught in full. Even Gamliel’s dream reassurance that the new students are 'empty vessels' is immediately undercut by the Talmud itself.
The sugya doesn't end with a clean victory. Rabban Gamliel, seeing R' Yehoshua’s poverty, seeks reconciliation. A compromise is struck: Gamliel will teach three weeks, R' Elazar one. Leadership becomes rotational, and the Talmud preserves the memory of both power and humility. The Talmud’s final note goes all the way back to the beginning of the story and identifies the anonymous questioner as R' Shimon.
Outline
Intro
The Passage - Power, Pedagogy, and Internal Rabbinic Politics: The Deposition of Rabban Gamliel, the Appointment of R' Elazar ben Azarya, and Eventual Reconciliation (Berakhot 27b-28a)
Part 1: The Deposition of Rabban Gamliel and the Appointment of R' Elazar ben Azarya
Dispute Over ‘Arvit’ - Student asks if evening prayer is optional or obligatory; Contradictory Answers: R' Yehoshua vs. Rabban Gamliel
Public Confrontation - Rabban Gamliel forces R' Yehoshua to admit his position publicly in the Beit Midrash
Public Backlash - Crowd becomes angry over humiliation of R' Yehoshua; Rebellion Against Rabban Gamliel: Previous Offenses Recalled; Calls for Removal
Deliberating a Successor: Criteria and Candidates; Disqualifying R' Yehoshua and R' Akiva
They choose R' Elazar ben Azarya, as he’s wise, wealthy, and of distinguished lineage
R' Elazar ben Azarya consults his wife: A Risky Promotion; A Folk Saying
Miraculous Aging: White Hair Overnight
Institutional Reform - Guard removed from door of the Study Hall; 400 or 700 Benches Added
Rabban Gamliel’s Regret and His Subsequent Reassuring Dream
Legal Clarifications - Tractate Eduyyot taught, all halachic questions Resolved
Part 2: Reconciliation
Reconciliation - Rabban Gamliel visits R' Yehoshua, sees his poverty; R' Yehoshua’s rebuke
Rabban Gamliel begs R' Yehoshua for forgiveness, which is granted only for the sake of the honor of Rabban Gamliel’s father (=Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel)
R' Yehoshua sends a cryptic message to the Study Hall
R' Akiva urges that the doors of the Study Hall be locked so that Rabban Gamliel’s supporters cannot impose their will
R' Yehoshua makes another cryptic statement: “only someone from a lineage of those who purify via the red heifer ritual should perform purification”
R' Yehoshua affirms his change of heart
Resolution and Compromise - Leadership shared
Appendix - Ammonite Convert Case - Halakhic debate over convert's status (Berakhot 28a #4-8 = Mishnah Yadayim 4:4)
Can an Ammonite Convert marry into the Jewish community? Rabban Gamliel: no, R' Yehoshua: yes
(Deuteronomy 23:4; Isaiah 10:13)
Final Ruling: Ammonite Convert Permitted to Join the Community (Jeremiah 49:6; Amos 9:14)
The Passage
Part 1: The Deposition of Rabban Gamliel and the Appointment of R' Elazar ben Azarya
Dispute Over ‘Arvit’ - Student asks if evening prayer is optional or obligatory; Contradictory Answers: R' Yehoshua vs. Rabban Gamliel
A student asks both R' Yehoshua and Rabban Gamliel whether the evening prayer (Arvit) is obligatory (רשות) or optional (חובה).
R' Yehoshua says it is optional; Rabban Gamliel says obligatory.
When the student raises the fact that R' Yehoshua says it is optional, Rabban Gamliel ominously responds: “Wait until the ‘masters of the shields’ 2 enter the study hall”.
תנו רבנן:
מעשה בתלמיד אחד
שבא לפני רבי יהושע.
אמר לו: תפלת ערבית רשות או חובה?
אמר ליה: רשות.
בא לפני רבן גמליאל,
אמר לו: תפלת ערבית רשות או חובה?
אמר לו: חובה.
אמר לו: והלא רבי יהושע אמר לי רשות?!
אמר לו: המתן עד שיכנסו בעלי תריסין לבית המדרש.
A baraita states:
There was an incident involving a student,
who came before R' Yehoshua.
The student said to him: Is the evening prayer optional or obligatory?
R' Yehoshua said to him: Optional.
The same student came before Rabban Gamliel
and said to him: Is the evening prayer optional or obligatory?
Rabban Gamliel said to him: Obligatory.
The student said to Rabban Gamliel: But didn’t R' Yehoshua tell me that the evening prayer is optional?
Rabban Gamliel said to the student: Wait until the “masters of the shields,” a reference to the Torah scholars who battle in the war of Torah, enter the study hall, at which point we will discuss this issue.
Public Confrontation - Rabban Gamliel forces R' Yehoshua to admit his position publicly in the Beit Midrash
When the contradiction is exposed in public, Rabban Gamliel pressures R' Yehoshua into retracting.
R' Yehoshua stands and offers a qualified admission: since both he and the student are alive, he cannot deny the account.3
כשנכנסו בעלי תריסין,
עמד השואל ושאל: תפלת ערבית רשות או חובה?
אמר לו רבן גמליאל: חובה.
אמר להם רבן גמליאל לחכמים: כלום יש אדם שחולק בדבר זה?
אמר ליה רבי יהושע: לאו.
אמר לו: והלא משמך אמרו לי רשות!
אמר ליה:
יהושע!
עמוד על רגליך
ויעידו בך.
עמד רבי יהושע על רגליו
ואמר:
אלמלא אני חי, והוא מת —
יכול החי להכחיש את המת.
ועכשיו שאני חי, והוא חי —
היאך יכול החי להכחיש את החי?!
When the masters of the shields entered,
the questioner stood before everyone present and asked: Is the evening prayer optional or obligatory?
Rabban Gamliel said to him: Obligatory.
In order to ascertain whether or not R' Yehoshua still maintained his opinion, Rabban Gamliel said to the rabbis: Is there any person who disputes this matter?
R' Yehoshua said to him: No, no one disagrees. In deference to the Nasi, he did not wish to argue with him publicly (Tziyyun LeNefesh Ḥayya).
Rabban Gamliel said to R' Yehoshua: But was it not in your name that they told me that the evening prayer is optional?.
Rabban Gamliel said to R' Yehoshua:
Yehoshua!
stand on your feet and they will testify against you.
R' Yehoshua stood on his feet
and said:
If I were alive and the student were dead --
the living can contradict the dead, and I could deny issuing that ruling.
Now that I am alive and he is alive --
how can the living contradict the living?! I have no choice but to admit that I said it.
Public Backlash - Crowd becomes angry over humiliation of R' Yehoshua; Rebellion Against Rabban Gamliel: Previous Offenses Recalled; Calls for Removal
Rabban Gamliel forces R' Yehoshua to remain standing as a form of humiliation.
This provokes public outrage: “Everyone (כל העם) was murmuring (רננו) and said to Ḥutzpit the Disseminator:4 Stop”.
They recall two previous humiliations inflicted by Rabban Gamliel:
The crowd pushes for his removal.
היה רבן גמליאל יושב ודורש
ורבי יהושע עומד על רגליו,
עד שרננו כל העם ואמרו לחוצפית התורגמן: עמוד!
ועמד.
אמרי:
עד כמה נצעריה וניזיל?!
בראש השנה אשתקד --
צעריה.
בבכורות במעשה דרבי צדוק --
צעריה.
הכא נמי --
צעריה,
תא ונעבריה!
In the meantime, Rabban Gamliel, as the Nasi, was sitting and lecturing,
and R' Yehoshua all the while was standing on his feet, because Rabban Gamliel did not instruct him to sit. He remained standing in deference to the Nasi.
This continued for some time, until it aroused great resentment against Rabban Gamliel, and all of the people assembled began murmuring and said to Ḥutzpit the disseminator: Stop conveying Rabban Gamliel’s lecture.
And he stopped.
The Talmud relates that in their murmuring they said:
How long will Rabban Gamliel continue afflicting him?!
Last year on Rosh HaShana --
he afflicted him; Rabban Gamliel ordered R' Yehoshua to come to him carrying his staff and bag, on the day on which Yom Kippur occurred, according to R' Yehoshua’s calculations.
Regarding the firstborn, in the incident involving the question of R' Tzadok --
he afflicted him just as he did now, and forced him to remain standing as punishment for his failure to defend his differing opinion.
Here too --
he is afflicting him.
Let us remove him from his position as Nasi.
Deliberating a Successor: Criteria and Candidates; Disqualifying R' Yehoshua and R' Akiva
Several candidates are rejected: R' Yehoshua is involved in the incident (בעל מעשה); R' Akiva lacks ancestral merit.7
מאן נוקים ליה?
נוקמיה לרבי יהושע?
בעל מעשה הוא.
נוקמיה לרבי עקיבא?
דילמא עניש ליה, דלית ליה זכות אבות.
It was so agreed, but the question arose: Whom shall we establish in his place?
Shall we establish R' Yehoshua in his place?
The rabbis rejected that option because R' Yehoshua was party to the incident for which Rabban Gamliel was deposed. Appointing him would be extremely upsetting for Rabban Gamliel.
Shall we establish R' Akiva in his place?
The rabbis rejected that option because R' Akiva, who descended from a family of converts, would be vulnerable. Perhaps due to Rabban Gamliel’s resentment he would cause him to be divinely punished as he lacks the merit of his ancestors to protect him.
They choose R' Elazar ben Azarya, as he’s wise, wealthy, and of distinguished lineage
They choose R' Elazar ben Azarya, who is:
Wise—able to respond to halakhic challenges8
Wealthy—able to represent the community to the Romans9
Of distinguished lineage—10th generation from Ezra10
אלא נוקמיה לרבי אלעזר בן עזריה, ד:
הוא חכם,
והוא עשיר,
והוא עשירי לעזרא.
הוא חכם —
דאי מקשי ליה,
מפרק ליה.
והוא עשיר —
דאי אית ליה לפלוחי לבי קיסר,
אף הוא אזל ופלח.
והוא עשירי לעזרא —
דאית ליה זכות אבות,
ולא מצי עניש ליה.
Rather, suggested the rabbis, let us establish R' Elazar ben Azarya in his place, his outstanding characteristics set him apart from the other candidates:
He is wise,
rich,
and a tenth generation descendant of Ezra.
The Talmud explains:
He is wise --
so if Rabban Gamliel raises a challenge in matters of Torah,
he will answer it and not be embarrassed.
And he is rich --
so if the need arises to pay homage to the Caesar’s court and serve as a representative of Israel to lobby and negotiate, he has sufficient wealth to cover the costs of the long journeys, taxes, and gifts,
so he too is able to go and pay homage.
And he is a 10th generation descendant of Ezra --
so he has the merit of his ancestors,
and Rabban Gamliel will be unable to cause him to be punished.
R' Elazar ben Azarya consults his wife: A Risky Promotion; A Folk Saying
He hesitates but accepts after consulting his wife.
אתו ואמרו ליה: ניחא ליה למר דליהוי ריש מתיבתא?
אמר להו: איזיל ואימליך באינשי ביתי.
אזל ואמליך בדביתהו.
אמרה ליה: דלמא מעברין לך.
אמר לה:
לשתמש אינש יומא חדא בכסא דמוקרא,
ולמחר ליתבר.
They came and said to him: Would the Master consent to being the Head of the Yeshiva ( ריש מתיבתא)?
He said to them: I will go and consult with my household.
He went and consulted with his wife.
She said to him: There is room for concern. Perhaps they will remove you from office just as they removed Rabban Gamliel.
He said to her, based on the folk saying:
Let a person use an expensive (מוקרא) goblet one day
and let it break tomorrow.
In other words, one should take advantage of an opportunity that presents itself and he need not concern himself whether or not it will last.
Miraculous Aging: White Hair Overnight
R' Elazar ben Azarya was quite young at the time; only 18 years old.
A miracle causes him to develop white hair, to appear aged (“I am as/like (כ) one who is 70 years old”).
אמרה ליה: לית לך חיורתא.
ההוא יומא בר תמני סרי שני הוה,
אתרחיש ליה ניסא
ואהדרו ליה תמני סרי דרי חיורתא.
היינו דקאמר רבי אלעזר בן עזריה:
הרי אני כבן שבעים שנה.
ולא ״בן שבעים שנה״.
She said to him: You have no white hair, and it is inappropriate for one so young to head the rabbis.
The Talmud relates: That day, he was 18 years old,
a miracle transpired for him
and 18 rows of hair turned white.
The Talmud comments: That explains that which R' Elazar ben Azarya said:
I am “as” one who is 70 years old
and he did not say: I am 70 years old, because he looked older than he actually was.
Institutional Reform - Guard removed from door of the Study Hall; 400 or 700 Benches Added
Under R' Elazar's leadership, the guard (שומר הפתח) barring "unworthy" students are removed. Rabban Gamliel had required students to be internally and externally consistent.11
Hundreds of new benches12 are added. The number given varies: either 400 or 700 new benches were added.
תנא:
אותו היום,
סלקוהו לשומר הפתח
ונתנה להם רשות לתלמידים ליכנס.
שהיה רבן גמליאל מכריז ואומר:
כל תלמיד שאין תוכו כברו,
לא יכנס לבית המדרש.
ההוא יומא אתוספו כמה ספסלי.
אמר רבי יוחנן:
פליגי בה
אבא יוסף בן דוסתאי
ורבנן.
חד אמר: אתוספו ארבע מאה ספסלי.
וחד אמר: שבע מאה ספסלי.
It was taught:
On that day that they removed Rabban Gamliel from his position and appointed R' Elazar ben Azarya in his place,
there was also a fundamental change in the general approach of the study hall as they dismissed the guard at the door and permission was granted to the students to enter.
Instead of Rabban Gamliel’s selective approach that asserted that the students must be screened before accepting them into the study hall, the new approach asserted that anyone who seeks to study should be given opportunity to do so.
As Rabban Gamliel would proclaim and say:
Any student whose inside, his thoughts and feelings, are not like his outside, i.e., his conduct and his character traits are lacking,
will not enter the study hall.
The Talmud relates: On that day several benches were added to the study hall to accommodate the numerous students.
R' Yoḥanan said:
Abba Yosef ben Dostai
and the Rabbis
disputed this matter.
One said: 400 benches were added to the study hall.
And one said: 700 benches were added to the study hall.
Rabban Gamliel’s Regret and His Subsequent Reassuring Dream
Rabban Gamliel becomes distressed, fearing he hindered Torah study.
A dream reassures him that the new students are unworthy—but the Talmud immediately rejects this interpretation as a psychological palliative.
הוה קא חלשה דעתיה דרבן גמליאל,
אמר: דלמא חס ושלום מנעתי תורה מישראל?!
אחזו ליה בחלמיה:
חצבי חיורי
דמליין קטמא.
ולא היא:
ההיא ליתובי דעתיה, הוא דאחזו ליה.
When he saw the tremendous growth in the number of students, Rabban Gamliel was disheartened.
He said: Perhaps, Heaven forbid, I prevented Israel from engaging in Torah study.
They showed him in his dream:
white jugs
filled with ashes
alluding to the fact that the additional students were worthless idlers.
The Talmud comments: That is not the case:
but that dream was shown to him to ease his mind so that he would not feel bad.
Legal Clarifications - Tractate Eduyyot taught, all halachic questions Resolved
On this same day (בו ביום), they resolve every outstanding legal issue in the study hall.
Tractate Eduyyot is said to have been taught that day.
תנא:
עדיות בו ביום נשנית.
וכל היכא דאמרינן ״בו ביום״ --
ההוא יומא הוה.
ולא היתה הלכה שהיתה תלויה בבית המדרש שלא פירשוה.
[...]
It was taught:
There is a tradition that tractate Eduyyot was taught that day.
And everywhere in the Mishnah or in a baraita that they say: “On that day” (בו ביום) --
it is referring to that day.
There was no halakha whose ruling was pending in the study hall that they did not explain and arrive at a practical halakhic conclusion.
[...]
On this foundational occurrence in early rabbinic history, see my note in my recent piece: “‘Sacred and Defile the Hands’: The Canonical Status of the Biblical Books of Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs (Mishnah Yadayim 3:5)”.
בעלי תריסין - a military metaphor.
On military metaphors in the Talmud, see my piece on stories of deception in the Talmud on this story (mentioned also in the next footnote), in a footnote.
See my piece on stories of deception in the Talmud, where I discuss this line of R’ Yehoshua’s: “A Preliminary analysis of stories of deception in the Talmud“, p. 29 (unnumbered).
Ḥutzpit is famous for being one of the “Ten Martyrs” of the early-2nd century CE Hadrianic persecutions. See my piece here, in “Appendix - Aḥer’s Heresy: A Literary, Historical, Linguistic, and Comparative Analysis“:
The Talmud and Midrash recount the martyrdom of sages like R' Akiva, R' Ḥutzpit, and others during this period.
Elisha/Aḥer is said to have witnessed these horrors – for example, seeing the tongue of R. Ḥutzpit the Interpreter, who had taught Torah eloquently, being dragged through the dirt by a pig.
On the role of the turgeman (תורגמן), see my note here: “Pt1 Mourning Rituals and Communal Practices: Blessings, Wine, and Rabban Gamliel’s Burial Reform (Ketubot 8b)“, on section “Reish Lakish’s Delayed Condolence Visit“.
See Mishnah_Rosh_Hashanah.2.8b-9, which I cite in my “Mishnah Tractate Rosh Hashanah“, section “The Story of Rabban Gamliel and R' Yehoshua: A Dramatic Dispute Over the New Moon and Yom Kippur“ (p. 21-24).
And see also my extended note in my “Sanctifying the Moon: Tales of Rabban Gamliel’s Ancestral Traditions, Dirt-Throwing, and a Message About the Enduring King David (Rosh Hashanah 25a)”, on section “Rabban Gamliel's Lunar Tradition: Explaining Variations in the Moon's Visibility”.
זכות אבות.
For an extended Talmudic discussion of this concept, see my piece “Divine Symbols and Historical Shifts: The Significance of the Tav Mark in Ezekiel and the Precise Moment of the Patriarchs' Merit's End (Shabbat 55a)“.
There’s some ambiguity as to whether avot (אבות - literally: “fathers”, but often having the sense—such as here—of “forefathers, ancestors”) in this term is best translated generically as “merit of ancestors”, or as “merit of Patriarchs”, referring specifically to the biblical Patriarchs. In the sugya there, the latter is clearly implied.
אי מקשי ליה, מפרק ליה -
“if he [=Rabban Gamliel] asks [halachic questions], he [=R' Elazar ben Azarya] will [be able to] answer”.
עשירי לעזרא.
This is mentioned also elsewhere, see my piece “Four Riddle-like Aggadic Statements and Their Interpretations By R’ Ezra, Grandson of R’ Eutolus (Menachot 53a-b)“:
אמרי ליה רבנן לרבי פרידא:
רבי עזרא בר בריה דרבי אבטולס,
דהוא עשירי לר' אלעזר בן עזריה,
דהוא עשירי לעזרא,
קאי אבבא
The Sages said to R’ Perida:
The Sage R’ Ezra, who is of especially fine lineage, a grandson of R’ Avtolus,
who in turn is a 10th-generation descendant of R’ Elazar ben Azarya,
who is a 10th-generation descendant of Ezra the Scribe,
is standing and waiting at the gate of the house and seeks entry.
And see there that R’ Perida is highly skeptical of this introduction; I summarize ibid.:
In this Talmudic story, R’ Ezra, who is from a distinguished lineage, seeks entry at R’ Perida's house.
R’ Perida initially questions the emphasis on R’ Ezra's ancestry, arguing that a man's worth should be based on his Torah scholarship, not his lineage.
He states that if R’ Ezra is learned in Torah, he deserves entry; if he has both Torah knowledge and lineage, he still deserves entry; but if he has only lineage without Torah scholarship, “let fire devour him” (אישא תיכליה).
Upon learning that R’ Ezra is indeed a scholar of Torah, R’ Perida invites him in.
תוכו כברו - literally: “his inside like his outside”.
On this Talmudic idiom, see Hebrew Wikipedia, “אין תוכו כברו“, my translation:
Ein tocho ke-varo (אֵין תּוֹכוֹ כְּבָרוֹ) is a phrase from the Talmud meaning: his inner self does not match his outer appearance.
The word bar in Aramaic means 'outside'.
The phrase refers to someone who is not honest or sincere — a hypocrite or someone two-faced, who says one thing but means another.
Compare the similar Talmudic idiom “One in the mouth and one in the heart" (אחד בפה ואחד בלב), see these pieces where I discuss it, under the relevant entries:
In the context of our sugya, this likely means that Rabban Gamliel excluded people he believed weren’t there with sincere intent to learn, but were motivated instead by status, power, or some other selfish or utilitarian motivation.
ספסלי - from Latin.