The Missing Statement of Rabbi Akiva of Receiving Reproof [Talmud Tuesday]

by Drew Kaplan · Published March 31, 2015 · Updated March 30, 2015

Thank God we are not stuck with simply printed editions of the Talmud and that we have manuscripts, as well, otherwise, we would be missing a statement of Rabbi Akiva‘s. Found on bArakhin 16b, there is a beraita about the difficulty of employing the commandment to reprove (Lev. 19:17), yet the printed editions omit the following line found in some of the manuscripts:

אמר לו רבי עקיבא: תמיהני אם יש בדור הזה שמקבל תוכחה

Rabbi Akiva said to him, “I would be surprised if there was someone in this generation who received reproof!”

Synoptic presentation of the tannaitic text from bArakhin 16b of manuscripts and printed editions

To this, some people would point to the printed edition and say, “Wait, doesn’t Rabbi Tarfon say that at the outset of the beraita?” Yes, that’s true, that this aforementioned statement is attributed to him in the printed editions; however, in some of the manuscripts, it seems that he actually stated something else:

אמר רבי טרפון: תמה אני אם יש אדם בדור הזה שיכול להוכיח. אם אמר לו: טול קיסם מבין עיניך, והוא אומר לו: טול קורה מבין עיניך.

Rabbi Tarfon said: “I would be surprised if there would be someone in this generation who would be able to reprove. If someone said to him, ‘Remove the chip of wood from between your eyes’, he would tell him: ‘Remove the beam from between your eyes’!”

Now, instead of missing Rabbi Akiva’s statement altogether, we are able to understand not only that he would be surprised if someone could accept reproof in his day, but also that Rabbi Tarfon expresses concern about the ability for people to dispense reproof to their fellow, rather than Rabbi Akiva’s concern about accepting it.

Here is a re-worked version of this beraita, based primarily off of MS Munich 95:

תניא:
אמר רבי טרפון: תמה אני אם יש אדם בדור הזה שיכול להוכיח. אם אמר לו: טול קיסם מבין עיניך, והוא אומר לו: טול קורה מבין עיניך.
אמר רבי אלעזר בן עזריה: תמיהני אם יש בדור הזה שיודע להוכיח.
אמר לו רבי עקיבא: תמיהני אם יש בדור הזה שמקבל תוכחה
ואמר רבי יוחנן בן נורי: מעיד אני עלי שמים וארץ שהרבה פעמים לקה עקיבא על ידי שהייתי קובל עליו לפני רבן גמליאל
וכל שכן שהוספתי בו אהבה לקיים מה שנאמר ‘אל תוכח לץ פן ישנאך הוכח לחכם ויאהבך’.

It was taught:
Rabbi Tarfon said: “I would be surprised if there would be someone in this generation who would be able to reprove. If someone said to him, ‘Remove the chip of wood from between your eyes’, he would tell him: ‘Remove the beam from between your eyes’!”
Rabbi Elazar, son Azariah, said: “I would be surprised if there would be someone in this generation who knows how to reprove!”
Rabbi Akiva said to him, “I would be surprised if there was someone in this generation who received reproof!”
Rabbi Yohanan, son of Nuri, said: “May heaven and earth testify upon me that many times, Akiva was punished because of me because I used to complain against him before Rabban Gamaliel.
And all the more, he showered love upon me, to make true what has been said: ‘Do not reprove a scorner, lest he hate you; reprove a wise man and he will love you’ (Prov. 9.8).”

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