The Gemara [Sanhedrin 68] relates that the disciples of Rabbi Eliezer Hagadol were
gathered around his deathbed and each, in turn,
asked the nature and circumstances of his own
death. When Rabbi Akiva's turn came Rabbi
Eliezer said to him, "Your end will be the most
severe because if you had studied under me properly, you would have learned much more
Torah." And so it was. Rabbi Akiva was tortured
to death, his flesh torn from his body with iron
combs.
"Let's pause for a moment," Reb Chaim Shmuelevitz would
say, "and consider to whom this happened. To
Rabbi Akiva, one of the greatest of the Tannaim
... Rabbi Akiva about whom his contemporaries
said, 'You are fortunate, Rabbi Akiva, your fame
has spread from one end of the world to the other'
(Yevamos 16). Rabbi Akiva about whom Moshe
Rabbeinu declared 'If such a man will exist, why
do You find it necessary to give the Torah to Israel
through me?' (Menachos 30).
"And from whom was Rabbi Akiva supposed
to have learned? - from Rabbi Eliezer, who was
excommunicated by his contemporaries until his
death. Nonetheless, he died a horrible death because he had failed to learn as much as he could
have from Rabbi Eliezer. And we, who know so
much less than Rabbi Akiva - how much more is
it incumbent upon us to learn from whomever we
can.
