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92NY’s Goldman Center for Children and Family provides an exceptional array of programs designed to support children at every stage of their development.
at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
Oct 13, 1983
Why was he silent? Undergoing martyrdom, why didn’t Rabbi Ishmael cry out a third time and thereby return the world to primordial chaos? One of the great teachers and expositors of Torah in the era following the destruction of Jerusalem, Rabbi Ishmael’s approach differed from that of his close associate, Rabbi Akiva, in almost every respect. This was true of their martyrdom as well: Rabbi Akiva laughed, while Rabbi Ishmael cried. And then chose to remain silent rather than destroy the world with his final cry. He thus teaches us that to be a Jew is “to have all the reasons in the world to destroy but not to destroy.”
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