Nasi

And there were other incredible experiences here.

It tells us of the feats and the acrobatic accomplishments of the Nasi, of the president of the nation, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel.

He knew how to juggle.

And he would take eight torches of fire and would juggle them in the air that none of them dropped and none of them touched.

Last Mishnah, the previous Mishnah was Rabbi Judah the Prince, alternative called just Rabbi.

When he passed away, he gathered his sons together and he nominated his eldest son, Rabbi Gamliel, as the new Nasi.

And his other son, Rabbi Shimon, became what's called the Chacham.

And then a third rabbi became the president of the Sanhedrin.

Now, there's an amazing description of Rabbi Judah the Prince on his deathbed in the Talmud in the book of Chesubos on page 103 and 104.

And he gathers in his children and gives a whole list of directives to them.

And it's interesting that, like we said, he appoints his eldest son, Ramlil, to be his successor as Nasi, which is the highest office.

But then the next son, or one of the subsequent sons, is Rabban Shimon, and he appoints him as the Chacham, as the wise man, as the elder, but not quite the Nasi.

We're speaking about that in the Sukhoth of Ari, that you and I are able to sit here in Eretz Yisrael, celebrate our holidays, celebrate Torah, celebrate Yiddishkeit, call all our brothers and sisters to come home, in that tz'chut of that day, the question is, how am I upping my mesirut nefesh on today, on the Yodzeit? During Sukkot, when we have the inyanim of Simchat Beit HaShoeva, we all know, and we spoke about this a lot during Sukkot, the Simchat Beit HaShoeva was, there was a she'iva of ruach nevua, people would draw out the prophecy from the Simcha that happened.

There was prophecy drawn out from the water, and there was a Simcha of the Nevim, and of course Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, the Nasi of the Sanhedrin, and the Gemara explains this, the Simcha, that was taking place, it wasn't just the simcha of but because of simcha, people got a sense of what they're capable of doing in this world.

So they drew from that, the simcha of Sukkot, was that I realize now, after I go through the purification of Yom Kippur, what I'm capable of doing as a clean yid, as a So here we are the day after Sukkot, the day after Shmina Yatzeret and Simchat Torah.

And it's a day of, and since, for the last 18 years, we've asked ourselves, well, what today, what am I drawing into my life today that will up my Mesilut Nefesh game? And in the S'chut of the Neshamah of Ari, who went up like a Malach Hashem Tzavakos, that is actually more attainable today For those of us that are mitkashering, that are choosing to connect to what happened.

This whole question was his conversion, so to speak.

Was it valid? But at that time, there was a decision made that we're going to assure that at all points in time in future history – indeed, it lasted for hundreds of years – one of the leadership positions of the nation is going to be the Nasi, the president or the prince.

And they're going to be a direct descendant of King David because that is the line of monarchy there.

in our people, and therefore it's going to be like a counterweight.

And that's, of course, also a very challenging time in Jewish history when the Sennacherib had to disband and Jewish community in Israel was very scattered and very… threadbare because of the conditions in the time.

And that's why Torah and Jewish communities flourished in Babylon as they depreciated in the land of Israel.

But these Nasi, the Nasi was always in the land of Israel and always at the helm of the Jewish leadership, which was in the Sanhedrin, in the high court.

Once the temple's destroyed, once there's no monarchy, the power and the leadership goes there.

There was so much like fertile Jewish blood and really terrible.

Under these conditions, our author of our Mishra, Rebbe Shomko Amlil, becomes the Nasi of the Jewish people.

He was one of the few survivors of the family of the Nasi when the Roman revenge for the Bar Kokhba revolt happened.

And therefore, his father, Rabbi Gamliel, was the Nasi.

And he wasn't even – I don't know if he was even slated to become the Nasi.

He had many brothers, but they were all killed out.

And he was like the last remaining – the remaining survivor of this family, and he was hidden.

This is like the family of monarchy of the Jewish people.

Now, we're going back now to the middle of the first century of the Common Era.

This individual, Rabban Shimon, the son of Rabban Gamliel, is a direct descendant of Hillel, and he is the Nasi, the president of the Jewish people, at a very volatile time in Jewish history.

He becomes the Nasi at the year 52 of the Common Era.

At the time, Israel is controlled by the Romans.

And the Romans, of course, have been very brutal to us in our history, but they're about, like they're only 20 years or so, 20 years or so before this tremendous conflagration that's going to consume all of Judea and amongst it, the destruction of the temple.

And this Rabban Shimon, in fact, is going to be one of the people who the Romans select to, to assassinate because he's like the leader of the Jewish people.

But at the time that he's appointed to become the Nasi, to take over for his father, it's 18 years before the destruction and the temple is still standing and there still is a Sanhedrin, still is a Supreme Court of the Jewish nation in Israel.

Now, it's not in the temple anymore.

Yeah.

Because after Hillel in 358 AD, there were a number of other leaders, but they were not what they call the Nasi or the president of the Sanhedrin.

Mm-hmm.

Right.