By Rabbi Dovid Markel
When the wayward sage, Elisha ben Abuyah, desired to sin with a harlot, the Talmud (Chagiga 15a) recounts that she questioned him: “Aren’t you Elisha ben Abuya?”
His response was to pluck a radish on Shabbat and then give it to her.
Having witnessed his action, she stated, “He is another – acher ” and the name Acher stuck with him.
Later in life, when asked why he does not repent, he replied, “I have already heard from behind the [Heavenly] Veil Return my wayward children — except Acher.”
He, however, made a simple mistake:
Just as when he sinned, he expressed to the woman that he was not Elisha but another (Acher), he should have done the same when he heard the Heavenly voice.
He should have told G-d:
“No, I am not another, Acher, who is separate from you, but your beloved child. Elisha ben Abuyah!”[1]
The lesson is clear: this too is the announcement with which we come before the Almighty. We tell G-d: “We are not the sinner that you think us to be, but we are another, your precious children.”[2]
[1] See however, the version in Jerusalem Talmud.
[2] See Rambam, Laws of Teshuva 2:2.
