Rabbi Akivah's Top Disciple

The perfection of this conduct (respect for a fellow) was achieved by Rashbi. He was one of the five greatest students of Rabbi Akivah [who were unaffected by the plague]. In fact, Rashbi was the greatest of them all; he instructed his students to “study my character traits, for they are terumos miterumos midosov shel Rabbi Akivah, a percentage of a percentage of the traits of Rabbi Akivah.”