For many years Rabbi Akiva did not engage in Torah study at all. Once he was drawn to Torah study, he studied with great diligence despite his extreme poverty, and eventually became one of the most prominent Sages of all time. None of this would have been possible without the support and dedication of his wife. This chapter recounts Rabbi Akiva’s story as it appears in two rabbinic sources, which present the episode from different perspectives.

Rabbi Akiva was the shepherd of ben Kalba Savua [one of the wealthiest men in late first-century Jerusalem]. The daughter of ben Kalba Savua saw that he was humble and refined, and she said to him: If I agree to be betrothed to you, will you go study Torah in the study hall? He said to her: Yes. She was discreetly betrothed to him, and she sent him to study. Her father heard and expelled her from his house, and he vowed that deriving any benefit from his property would be forbidden to her forever.

Rabbi Akiva went and sat and studied for twelve years in the study hall. When he came home, twelve thousand students accompanied him. As Rabbi Akiva approached his house, he heard an elderly man saying to his [Rabbi Akiva’s] wife: How long will you live like a widow [even though your husband is alive]? She said to him: If my husband listened to me, he would sit and study another twelve years. Rabbi Akiva said: I am studying away from home with permission. He went and sat for another twelve years in the study hall. When he returned, twenty-four thousand students accompanied him. His wife heard, and she went out to greet him. Her neighbors said to her: Borrow a fine garment and wear it. She said to them: “The righteous knows the nature of his animal” (Proverbs 12:10) [meaning: We are close, and he will identify me and will appreciate me as I am].

When she reached him she fell on her face and kissed his feet. His attendants [who did not know who she was] were pushing her away. He said to them: Let her be, as my Torah studies and yours are actually hers; they are thanks to her.

Her father heard that a great man had come to the town. He said to himself: I will go to him; perhaps he will nullify my vow [thus allowing me to support my daughter]. He approached Rabbi Akiva, who said to him [to help him find a justification for nullifying the vow]: Would you have vowed had you known that your daughter had married a great man? Ben Kalba Savua said to him: Had I known that he would know even one chapter of the Bible or even one halakha I would not have vowed. Rabbi Akiva said to him: I am he. Ben Kalba Savua fell on his face and kissed his feet and gave him half of his possessions.

What was Rabbi Akiva’s beginning? The Sages said: He was forty years old and had not learned anything. Once he was standing at the mouth of a well, and he said: Who carved this stone [of the well]? They explained to him: It was the water that regularly falls on it each day. They said to him: Akiva, haven’t you read: “Stones are worn away by water” (Job 14:19)?

Immediately Rabbi Akiva applied a logical a fortiori inference to himself: If a soft substance [water] carved the hard substance [a stone], then matters of Torah, which are as hard as iron, all the more so will they be etched onto my heart, which is [soft] flesh-and-blood. He immediately returned and began to study Torah.

He and his young son went and sat with a teacher of children. Rabbi Akiva said to him: Rabbi, teach me Torah. Rabbi Akiva held one end of the board and his son one end of the board, and the teacher wrote for him alef bet, and he learned it. He wrote alef through tav [the whole alphabet], and he learned it. He taught him the Book of Priests, Leviticus, and he learned it. He continued studying in this manner until he had studied the entire Torah.

He went and sat before Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua. He said to them: My rabbis, teach me how to learn Mishna. After they taught him one halakha, he went and sat by himself and said: Why was this alef written? Why was this bet written? Why was this matter stated? He returned to the Sages and asked them, and thereby caused them to clarify their statements….

At the age of forty Rabbi Akiva went to study Torah; thirteen years later he taught Torah in public. The Sages said: He did not pass from the world until he possessed tables of silver and gold, and until he climbed into his bed on golden ladders. His wife would go out wearing shoes and a beautiful golden ornament known as “city of gold.” His students said to him: Rabbi, you have shamed us by what you have done for her [as we are unable to purchase such jewelry for our wives]. He said to them: She deserves it, as she underwent much suffering with me for the Torah. (Shir HaShirim Rabba 1)