Rabbi Judah the Prince Prepares for his Death

Our rabbis taught: At the time of Rabbi’s death, he requested his children [to be there]. His children came in to him, and he said to them, “Be careful about your mother’s honor, let there be a lamplight beside me, let a table be set beside me, let a bed be made beside me. Joseph Ḥofni [and] Simeon Efrati served me in my life and they will serve me in my death.”

“Be careful about your mother’s honor”: [but] this is a biblical commandment! As it is written: Honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12). [So why did Rabbi need to teach it?] She was [their] father’s wife [but not their birth mother]. But [honoring] a father’s wife is also a biblical commandment. [ . . . ] This is while [the father] is alive but not after he is deceased; [therefore, Rabbi needed to warn them to honor his wife]. “Let there be a lamp light beside me, let a table be set beside me, let a bed be made beside me”: What is the reason [Rabbi said this]? Every evening [Rabbi] would return home. One evening, a neighbor came and called to him at the gate. [Rabbi’s] servant said, “Be quiet, Rabbi is resting.” When he heard this, he stopped returning [home], so as not to spread bad rumors about the early righteous ones. [ . . . ] Rabbi said, “I need the sages of Israel,” the sages of Israel entered, and he said to them, “Do not eulogize me in the cities. Reestablish the academy thirty days after my death; Simeon my son will be a sage, Gamaliel my son will be patriarch, and Ḥanina bar Ḥama will sit at the head.”