[Avodah] Rabbi Akiva, his students, and lessons learned

[Alan Krinsky]

According to tradition, Rabbi Akiva's 12,000 pairs of students died 
in a plague during the Omer period because they did not show each 
other proper respect. We are meant, it would appear, to learn a 
lesson from this devastating failure in interpersonal behavior. And 
the downfall of the students is all the more striking given Rabbi 
Akiva's emphasis on treating each other well. In hearing the story 
again this past Shabbos, I wondered why the focus and the lesson were 
on the students. What about Rabbi Akiva? He emerges to educate a new 
generation of scholars, but what about his role in his students' 
failings? I of course do not mean myself to offer a critique of Rabbi 
Akiva. But my question is whether or not any traditional sources do 
offer a critique? First of all, does anyone suggest that Rabbi Akiva 
bore some responsibility for the sins of his students? After all, in 
our times, when a child does not thrive in school we no longer assume 
the problem must be with the child--there are different styles of 
learning, and not all teaching methods draw out the potential of all 
students. And secondly, even if Rabbi Akiva was not at fault in any 
way in terms of his teaching or educating or supervision of his 
students, should he not have realized what was going on and stopped 
it well before the situation reached its tragic end? Again, I do not 
wish to present this as a critique--rather, I wish to know if anyone 
has come across any sources discussing such issues?

Alan Krinsky
adkrinsky at netzero.net