Abstract
This chapter introduces the great love story between Akiva, a common ignoramus shepherd and Rachel, the high-born daughter of a wealthy man. The story is more about her than about him: He is the beloved and she is the one who discovers, loves, enables and initiates. Rachel identifies the great potential hidden within the ignorant shepherd and offers to marry him on condition that he go to the house of study. At the heart of the chapter is an extensive, independent discussion of the relationship between intellectual and spiritual growth on the one hand, and marriage and love on the other. His marriage to Rachel and her determination made Rabbi Akiva what he was: one of the greatest sages of all time.
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Rothenberg, N. (2017). From Her Love. In: Rabbi Akiva's Philosophy of Love. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58142-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58142-2_2
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58141-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58142-2
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