Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was one of the students of Hillel and Shammai. He escaped the besieged city of Jerusalem immediately before its destruction (in the year 70 CE) and asked Vespasian, the commander of Roman forces in Judea, to "Give me Yavneh and its wise men." (Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 26). In Yavneh, ben Zakkai served as the president of the Sanhedrin. He wrote various religious rulings memorializing the Holy Temple, and helped lift the Jewish people's depressed spirit following the Temple's destruction., And when Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai fell ill, his students came to visit him. When he saw them, he wept. His students said to him: "Light of Israel, right-hand pillar, mighty hammer, why are you crying?" He answered: "If I were brought before a human king, who is here today and in the grave tomorrow, if he'd become angry with me, his anger would not last; if he'd imprison me, it would not be an eternal imprisonment; if he'd kill me, it would not be a permanent death. And I could appease him with words or bribe him with money. But despite all this, I would still cry, and now, when I am brought before the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, who is eternal, if He becomes angry with me, it is an eternal anger; if He imprisons me, it is an eternal imprisonment; when He kills me it is a permanent death, and I cannot appease Him with words or bribe Him with money. And whatsmore, I have two roads before me: one to Heaven and one to Hell, and I do not know on which road they will take me, so should I not cry?!" And his students responded, "Rabbi, bless us!" He said to them, "May fear of the Lord be upon you as much as fear of mortal men." , (Babylonian Talmud, Brachot 28), (Hebrew text not transcribed)