The Story of

רבי עקיבא

Long ago lived a great man.

His name was.רבי עקיבא

When רבי עקיבא was young, he was a shepherd.

The young עקיבא did not know the and he could א-בnot read Hebrew.

When he was older he married .לח.ל They lived in .רa small, simple home.

אב א ביקבי thought he עwas too old to start learning ב. . א-

אר לח ל disagreed and said, “You are not too old. I am sure you will be able to learn אר.ה .תרו .”

One day, אב א ביקבי עtook his sheep to drink from a stream. He saw a big rock in the stream that had a hole in it.

Above the hole he saw water dripping onto the rock.

Slowly, after many years, the constant drip of water on the rock had worn a hole.

אב א ביקבי thought to עhimself:“Even something that is as soft as water can change something as hard as rock if it never stops dripping!

If I try really hard and put a lot of effort in, if I never give up maybe I will be able to learn how to read Hebrew and then I can learn אר.ה .תרו !”

When he was 40 years old, אב א ביקבי עwent to school to learn how to read Hebrew.

He learned how to read א' - ב ', how to say אל ה ביפבי and how תto learn the אר ה .תרו

He studied day and night.

He learned so much אר ה that תרוhe became a wise scholar, a אחאכ.ם בימביד .תל

After 12 years he came back home. As he was approaching his house he overheard his wife saying: “If אב א ביקבי ביבבי ע רwould come home, I would tell him to go and learn אר ה for תרוanother 12 years. I am so happy when he is learning אר ה .תרו

אב א ביקבי ביבבי ע went רback to learn אר ה תרוfor another 12 years. He became a great teacher and a famous Rabbi.

אב א ביקבי ביבבי ע had רthousands of students who learned אר ה תרוwith him.

After the second 12 years אב א ביקבי קע ביבבי קר went back home with many students.

His wife אר לח ל came out to greet him.

אב א ביקבי קע ביבבי קר ‘s students did not want to let אר לח ל greet him because they did not know who she was.

אב א ביקבי קע ביבבי קר told his students, “ You must treat her with respect. All of the אר ה that תרוwe know is because of אר לח ל .”