Our Gemara on Amud Aleph, speaking from a strongly judgmental standpoint, reflects upon the possible implications of somebody who dies without having an heir, and what type of spiritual lacunae brought this situation about:

“God shall hear, and humble them, even He that is enthroned of old, Selah; those that have no exchange, and fear not God” (Psalms 55:20), Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi each interpret the verse in a different manner. One says that this is a reference to anyone who does not leave behind a son to inherit from him, as he does not leave anyone to serve in exchange, i.e., as a replacement, for him; and one says that this is a reference to anyone who does not leave behind a student to serve in exchange for him.

Rabbenu Gershom notes: In point of fact, Rabbi Yochanan did not leave any surviving sons (all 10 died, see Berachos 5b). Rabbenu Gershom suggests that Rabbi Yochanan must be the opinion who stated that this deficiency is regarding one who does not leave behind students, as opposed to one who does not leave behind a son, because after all, he did not succeed in leaving behind a son. His exact words are, “Rabbi Yochanan would not have called himself wicked.“

If we take what Rabbenu Gershom says at face value, this is odd. We hold our sages to a high standard of integrity. If indeed, Rabbi Yochanan believed the dictum applied to one who did not have a son, he would not edit the statement and refigure it as applying to one who did not leave behind students. And, if for whatever reason, he believed the dictum applied to one who did not leave behind students, it would not be influenced by his own personal circumstances. However, this is not really a question because that is not what  Rabbenu Gershom  meant. What he meant was, if indeed Rabbi Yochanan had believed that he had this deficiency, he would not have resigned himself to it. Rather, he would have repented and done something to correct the situation. The fact that he did not take action other than mourn and grieve the loss of these children, shows that for whatever reason, and divine justice these losses represented to him, he did not necessarily believe that it involved the problem of being wicked or deficient. Therefore, we must deduce that he could only understand it as relating to a person who is deceased without leaving behind students.

This brings us to another fascinating fact about Rabbi Yochanan. When his prized talmid and study partner, Reish Lakish died, Rabbi Yochanan was so disconsolate that he went insane from grief (Bava Metzia 84a). I heard in the name of Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz that we see from here Rabbi Yochanan’s great love for Torah, and an inability to live without it. Despite the fact that he lost and robustly grieved for his sons (as described in Gemara Berachos 5b), it was only the loss of his study partner that drove him to the point of insanity.

I have a different thought regarding this same observation about the life of Rabbi Yochanan. It is well known in clinical studies of trauma, that repeated exposure to similar trauma makes a person more susceptible to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (See Breslau, Naomi & Chilcoat, Howard & Kessler, Ronald & Davis, Glenn. (1999). Previous Exposure to Trauma and PTSD Effects of Subsequent Trauma: Results From the Detroit Area Survey of Trauma. The American journal of psychiatry. 156. 902-7. 10.1176/ajp.156.6.902.)  Therefore, we might say it is not so much that Torah was more important to Rabbi Yochanan than his own children. Rather, it was the succession of repetitive severe losses that finally drove from over the edge.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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