Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya was a leading tanna the first half-century following the destruction the Temple in year 70 CE he is the seventh most frequently mentioned sage Mishnah. A heretic picked a fight with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya.
“With regard to bundles of thorns used
to seal a breach, the Gemara cites a related incident: A certain heretic
once said to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya: Man of thorns! For it says about
you: “The best of them is as a brier” (Micah 7:4), which indicates that even Israel’s best
are merely thorns. He said to him: Fool, go down to the end of the verse:
“The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge,” a derogatory expression
meant as praise. Rather, what is the meaning of the best of them is
as a brier? It means that just as these thorns protect a breach, so the
best among us protect us.”
(Sefaria.org translation) Without a moment’s hesitation, Rabbi
Yehoshua ben Ḥananya turned the tables, put the heretic in his place, and won the
argument. The heretic would’ve been smarter not to start a fight with him.
If I can paraphrase Jim Croce’s song “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”
You don't tug on superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger
And you don't mess around with Reb Yehoshua.
Joe Biden has decisively beaten Pres. Trump by the largest number of
votes cast in an American election. 14 days later the president and his minions
are still fighting a fight they can’t win. All experts, both Republicans and
Democrats, declare that there was no widespread fraud to overturn the election
results. Courts have ruled against all but one motion of the Trump campaign
lawyers, but they continue to fight a fight they’re not going to win. What we
need is a modern-day Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya who will tell them to concede
the election and allow the country to move on in a peaceful transfer of power
with all that it entails.
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