Mishpatim

.This text is related (to Ps. 147:19–20): HE DECLARES HIS WORDS TO JACOB, <HIS STATUTES AND ORDINANCES TO ISRAEL>. HE HAS NOT DONE SO FOR ANY NATION; <AND, AS FOR HIS ORDINANCES, THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THEM>.

Aquila the son of Hadrian's sister wanted to convert to Judaism, but he was afraid of his uncle Hadrian.

He said to him: I want to engage in a business.

He said to him: Do you perhaps lack silver or gold? Here, you have the treasury before you.

He said to him: I want to engage in a business in order to gain knowledge of humanity, and I want to consult you on how to do it.

He said to him: Go and engage in any business that you see established on earth, since in the end it will increase (hit'allah) <in value >.

Now he intended to convert to Judaism.

He came to the land of Israel and studied the Torah.

When R. Eliezer and R. Joshua came to him after some time, they found him and saw his face transformed.

They said to each other: Aquila has been studying the Torah.

When they came to him, he began to ask them questions, and they would answer him.

He went up to Hadrian.

He said to him: Why is your face transformed? Has your business failed, or is someone troubling you?

He told him: No.

Then why has your face been transformed?

He said to him: Because I have been studying Torah. And not only that, but I have been circumcised.

He said to him: And who told you <to do so>?

He said to him: I consulted with you.

He said to him: When?

He said to him: When I told you I wanted to engage in a business, you told me: Engage in any business that you see established on earth, since in the end it will increase (hit'allah) <in value>. So I went back over all the peoples and did not find <any> people established on earth like Israel. Now in the end they will be exalted (hit'allah), just as Isaiah has said (in Is. 49:7): THUS SAYS THE LORD, THE REDEEMER OF ISRAEL, HIS HOLY ONE, TO {ONE WHO DESPISES ONE's} [A DESPICABLE] SOUL, TO AN ABHORRENT NATION, TO A SLAVE OF RULERS ...

Hadrian said to Aquila: Why did you do this?

He said to him: Because I wanted to learn Torah.

He said to him: You could have learned it without becoming circumcised.

He said to him: Without circumcising, one could not learn it, as stated (in Ps. 147:19): HE DECLARES HIS WORDS TO JACOB, To whoever from Jacob practices circumcision. HIS STATUTES: This means Torah. AND ORDINANCES: These are the laws. [Thus it is stated] (in Exod. 15:25): THERE HE ESTABLISHED FOR THEM [A STATUTE AND AN ORDINANCE (mishpat)]. The Holy One said to Moses: I have given them the Torah; you give them the ordinances (mishpatim). The Holy One said to them: If you desire to survive in this world, observe the ordinances (mishpatim), for {one} [a world] cannot survive without justice (mishpat)...

Rabbi Akiva says: From where do we derive that a person is obligated to teach his student until he learns the material and understands it? As it says: “Now therefore write this song for you and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel” (Deut. 31:19). This verse indicates that one must teach Torah to others. And from where do we derive that one must teach his students until the material is organized in their mouths? As it is stated: “Put it in their mouths,” so that they should be capable of teaching it to others. And from where do we derive that a teacher must show his students the reasons for the teachings? As it is stated: “Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them” (Ex. 21:1), which indicates that the lesson must be set out in logical fashion for the students.

Remove the adversary from before us and from behind us, and shelter us in the shadow of Your wings.