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Elisha Ben Abuyah (spelled variously, including Elisha ben Avuya) was a Jewish heretic born in Jerusalem sometime before 70. At one time, the Rabbis were proud to recognize him as of their number, but later, when he adopted a heretical worldview, their opposition to him grew so intense that they even refrained from relating teachings in his name, and referred to him as "The Other One" (acher) (according to the practice to refrain from relating teachings in the name of a wicked person; see Yoma 38b). The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1906) writes that "It is almost impossible to derive from rabbinical sources a clear picture of his personality, and modern historians have differed greatly in their estimate of him. According to Grätz, he was a Karpotian Gnostic; according to Siegfried, a follower of Philo; according to Dubsch, a Christian; according to Smolenskin and Weiss, a victim of the inquisitor Akiva."

In his recent book, The Sinner and the Amnesiac: The Rabbinic Invention of Elisha Ben Abuya and Eleazar Ben Arach, Alon Goshen-Gottstein argues that Rabbinic stories should be read as literature rather than as history: :They construct stories that are then integrated into larger ideologically motivated literary units in such a way as to impart particular ideological messages. The sources do not necessarily relate the historical facts about the heroes but they do illustrate the cultural concerns that find expression in the stories told about them ... All this leads to the realization that the significant unit for presentation is not the life of the sage; it is the stories about sages. These stories are not formulated in an attempt to tell the life of the sage. They are told because the sage, as part of the collective culture, has some bearing on the common cultural concerns. Various anecdotes are coupled into a larger story cycle. Rabbinic Judaism was based on vigorous and often contentious debates over the meaning of the Torah and other sacred texts. The challenge facing the Rabbis was to maintain the limits to which a sage could be wrong, without being considered a heretic. Elisha and Eleazar represent two extremes in attitudes towards the Torah; actual rabbis and their debates had to occur somewhere in between these two limits.

Youth and Activity

Little is known of Elisha's youth and of his activity as a teacher of Jewish Law. He was the son of an esteemed and rich citizen of Jerusalem, and was trained for the career of a scholar. The only saying of his recorded in the Mishnah is his praise of education: "Learning in youth is like writing upon new paper, but learning in old age is like writing upon paper which has already been used" (Pirkei Avoth 4:25). Elisha was a student of Greek; as the Talmud expresses it, "Aher's tongue was never tired of singing Greek songs" (Jerusalem Megillah 1:9), which, according to some, caused his apostasy (Hagigah 16b, below). Bacher remarks that the similes which Elisha is reported to have used (Avoth d'Rabbi Nathan 24.) show that he was a man of the world, acquainted with wine, horses, and architecture. He must have acquired a reputation as an authority in questions of religious practise, since in Mo'ed Katan 20a one of his halakic decisions is recorded: the only one in his name, though there may be others under the names of different teachers. The Babylonian Talmud asserts that Elisha, while a teacher in the bet ha-midrash, kept heretical books (sifre minim) hidden in his clothes. This statement is not found in the Jerusalem Talmud, and if at all historical, may possibly mean that he also studied the writings of the Sadducees, who, owing to changes made by the censors, are sometimes called minim.

The Four Who Entered Paradise

The oldest and most striking reference to the views of Elisha is found in the following baraita (Hagigah 14b; Jerusalem Talmud 2:1):

"Four entered "pardes" —Ben 'Azzai, Ben Zoma, Aher, and Akiva. Ben 'Azzai gazed and died; Ben Zoma gazed and went insane; Aher entered and cut the root (became an apostate); Akiva entered, and exited in peace."

This baraita works through a pun. "Pardes," composed of the four consonants PRDS, is an acronym for the four rules for Biblical exegesis:

"Peshat" = "simple;" the plain meaning of the text in its immediate context, understanding each word in terms of its common usage. According to Shabbat 63a, a verse never loses its simple meaning.
"Remez" = "hint;" generalizing the meaning of a verse, so that it functions metaphorically or allegorically.
"Drash" = "conceptual;" a more detailed exposition or interpretation of the peshat or remez (often by juxtaposing different verses to elicit new meanings), often to make a moral point.
"Sud" = "hidden;" an esoteric or mystical reading of the text.

Thus, this baraita could be read to mean that these four sages together sought to achieve an absolute, perfect understanding of the Torah in all its complexity, on all its levels. Some kabbalists see these four methods as stages through which a mystic can use Biblical interpretation to fathom the depths of reality until one has a direct encounter with the divine truth.

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