The journal o/jewish Thought and Philosophy, Vol. 7, pp. 139-225 © 1998 Reprints available directly from the publisher Photocopying permitted by licence only Elisha ben Abuya: Torah and the Sinful Sage 1 Jeffrey L. Rubenstein New York University The figure of Elisha ben Abuya or "Ab.er," the Other, has long fascinated the Jewish imagination. Elisha is variously considered an arch-heretic, atheist, gnostic or apostate, but always a sage whose abandonment of Torah so affected his rabbinic colleagues that they could no longer bear to mention his name. This unfavorable pic- ture of Elisha is a composite produced from interpretations of the tradition of the "Four who entered the pardes" (found in the Tosefta), the curious epithet "Ab.er," later traditions of Elisha from the two Talmuds and midrashic collections, and the tendency of the folk imagination (and scholarly imagination as well) to create ste- reotypical villains. 2 If the sources are considered independently, 1 I would like to thank Elliot Wolfson, Michael Satlow, Lawrence Schiffman, Baruch Levine and David Greenstein for their comments and bibliographical references. 2 Already B. Gurion, "'Erekh 'Aber," Ha-Goren 7 (1912), 81, realized that the rabbinic traditions are "an attempt to create a figure of religious opposition" and a "symbol" of heresy, apostasy and rejection. For the (re-)constructions of scholars see H. Graetz, Gnosticismus und judenthum (Krotoschin: B.1. Monasch, 1846), 62-71 and Geshichte der juden, ed. F. Rosenthal (Leipzig: Oskar Leiner, 1893),4:93-94, 158-161; Milton Steinberg, As a Driven Leaf (New York: Berman House, 1939); 1. Finkelstein, Akiba: Scholar, Saint and Martyr (Cleve- land and New York: Meridian, 1962), 163-164, 253-256. And see the interesting composite picture constructed by Aharon Hyman, Toledot Tannaim ve-'Amoraim <Jerusalem: Qirya Ne'amana, 1916), 155-157. For other references see the bibliography at the end of Ginzberg's article and the survey of Gurion, pp. 82-83, which reveals a tendency among maskilim to rehabilitate Elisha. For criticism of the distorted reconstructions of early scholars see already P. Smolenskin, "'Am 'Olam," Ha-Shakhar 3 (1876), 644-47, who recognized 139