Acher By Rabbi Fohrman (Hebrew Edition - Not Available in English)

.This book is only available in Hebrew

Hidden in the midrashim of Chazal is a story about one of the greatest of the Tannaim — a man never mentioned by name. His original name was Elisha ben Avuya, but he became known by a nickname: Acher — the Other, the different one, the one who crossed the line. He was among the greatest of the sages, a man who climbed to the very highest peaks of Torah learning, and then — in a way that shook the entire world of the sages — one day, suddenly, he left it all behind and abandoned the faith. He became a symbol, an archetype: the greatest man in Israel, who knew everything, and became a heretic.

What makes his story so compelling is not only his dramatic fall, but above all the extraordinary relationship that endured between him and his illustrious student, Rabbi Meir. Even after his teacher Elisha ben Avuya lost his faith and went astray, even after he rejected everything he himself had once taught and believed, Rabbi Meir continued to regard him as his teacher and to maintain a close bond with him. And while the other sages — Rabbi Akiva, Ben Azzai and Ben Zoma — withdrew from Elisha once he left the faith, Rabbi Meir did not. He went on learning Torah with him, and even tried to bring him back. It is this relationship, between Elisha ben Avuya and his student Rabbi Meir, that we will set out to explore in this work.