An Ignorant Kohen Gadol?

The Chofetz Chaim answered that the man was not interested in having a yeshiva established in his city. He just wanted to have the honor of having such a great rabbi living in his community. If the rich man would have asked Rebbi Yose ben Kisma to build a yeshiva, then certainly Rebbi Yose ben Kisma would have acquiesced.

The Maharal offers another answer. He says that not every area is an auspicious location to establish a makom Torah. Rebbi Yose ben Kisma knew through Divine Inspiration that a yeshiva in the rich man’s neighborhood would not be successful. Consequently, he couldn’t establish the city as a makom Torah. HaGaon Rav Henoch Leibowitz, zt”l, remarked “The Maharal’s dictum only applies to a Yeshiva Gedola. However, every location is, in fact, auspicious to establish a Torah Day School.”

Rav Leibowitz based his comment on a passage of Gemara in Bava Basra (21a). “Rav Yehuda says in the name of Rav: Truly, that man is remembered for the good, and his name is Yehoshua ben Gamla. If not for him, the Torah would have been forgotten from the Jewish people. Yehoshua ben Gamla instituted an ordinance that teachers of children should be established in each and every province and in each and every town, and they would bring the children in to learn at the age of six and at the age of seven.”

The practice of having an elementary school in every community was established by Yehoshua ben Gamla. Rav Leibowitz reasoned that if it is a rabbinic institution that every community should have a day school, it is not possible that any given locale would not be an auspicious place to have one.

Yehoshua ben Gamla is also remembered favorably for something else as well. The Kohen Gadol used to draw lots on Yom Kippur to decide what service each of the two goats placed in front of him would be used for. Those lots used to be placed in a wooden box until Yehoshua ben Gamla replaced it with a golden one. (Yoma 37a)

It seems that Yehoshua Ben Gamla was a tzaddik, after all, he is mentioned twice by the Gemara that he should be remembered for good. Yet there is another Gemara which paints less than a rosy picture of the man.

The Mishna in Yoma (18a) says that the elders would speak to the Kohen Gadol before Yom Kippur and encourage him to read the passages of the Torah that deal with the Yom Kippur service. They reasoned, “Perhaps you forgot these verses, or perhaps you never learned them.”

Whereupon the Gemara asks incredulously, “Would we ever appoint a Kohen Gadol who never in his life learned a basic part of Chumash?!” The Gemara answers, “True, during the First Beis Hamikdash that never would have happened. Unfortunately, during the Second Beis Hamikdash that did occur.” Whereupon the Gemara proves this point by stating: “Rav Asi said: ‘The wealthy Marta, daughter of Baitos, brought a half-se’a of dinars to King Yannai for Yehoshua ben Gamla to be appointed as Kohen Gadol.’”

The implication of the Gemara is that Yehoshua ben Gamla was unlearned and unworthy of being Kohen Gadol, rather his position was bought with money. The Gemara in Yevamos (61a) likewise casts aspersions on Yehoshua ben Gamla’s appointment as Kohen Gadol. It further notes, that at the time, Marta was only his fiancée, and they married later.

The Gemara in Bava Basra and Yoma (37) imply that Yehoshua ben Gamla was a tzaddik. However, the Gemara in Yevamos implies that Yehoshua ben Gamla was not fitting to be a kohen gadol. Worse still, the Gemara in Yoma (18) implies he was an ignoramus! The Maharsha suggests that, in truth, Yehoshua Ben Gamla was a tzaddik. The Gemara in Yoma (18) is just demonstrating that in the Second Beis HaMikdosh even a tzaddik like Yehoshua ben Gamla was only appointed to be a kohen gadol with payment of a significant bribe. The implication is that surely there were other kohanim gedolim who were indeed ignoramuses and were appointed to the position with payment of a bribe. Perhaps, the Gemara in Yevamos is to be understood that there were greater individuals than Yehoshua ben Gamla who deserved to be Kohen Gadol. Therefore, although he was a tzaddik, Yehoshua ben Gamla shouldn’t have accepted the appointment.

Tosfos in Bava Basra finds the contradictory passages in the various Gemaras to be so difficult that he suggests that there must have been two people with the same name. One Yehoshua ben Gamla is praised and credited with establishing yeshivos, and the other Yehoshua ben Gamla was an ignoramus and was appointed as a kohen gadol.

Perhaps the most intriguing explanation of the various passages is that of the Ritva. All the Gemaras are, in fact, talking about the same person. The simple understanding of the Gemara in Yoma is correct. Yehoshua ben Gamla was indeed an ignoramus who never learned the pesukim about the Avoda on Yom Kippur. He did not deserve to be a kohen gadol. Perhaps, his fiancée saw something in him that he wasn’t even aware of. But after being appointed Kohen Gadol he, in fact, became a tzaddik. He grew into his position! Likely, his fiancée should not have offered the bribe to appoint her ignoramus groom as a kohen gadol. But he became so inspired, perhaps due to the encouragement of his fiancée, that he transformed himself into a different person. Moreover, the ignoramus who never learned basic Chumash in his youth made sure that all future generations of Jewish children would have a solid education.

The lesson from the Ritva is unbelievably powerful. Yehoshua ben Gamla could have remained an ignoramus his entire life. However, he found someone who believed in him. Moreover, the individual who started out as an ignoramus is singled out for changing Torah education for prosperity. If Yehoshua ben Gamla didn’t rise to the occasion, the Gemara states that Torah would have been forgotten, chas v’shalom. We should never overlook the potential in every individual, no matter who they are. Yehoshua ben Gamla the Ignoramus permanently changed the course of Jewish history for the better.