The Ramban had a disciple, whose name was Reb Avner. He became a proselyte (a mumar, in Hebrew) and was a wealthy and powerful man. After many years, he called for his former teacher, the Ramban, to come before him on Yom Kippur. The Ramban indeed came before him and right in front of his rabbi, he killed a pig, cooked it, and ate it—all on the holy fast day.
After he ate, he asked the Ramban how many excommunications at the hands of Heaven he deserved for the transgressions that he had just committed. The Ramban said that he deserved four and Avner said five. Avner wanted to argue with his rabbi, but he saw that the Ramban was angry, and he was silenced, for he still had a small measure of respect and fear of his former teacher.
The Ramban asked Avner what caused him to convert and Avner replied that once he had heard the Ramban say that all the mitzvot, all the Torah’s commandments and that is in the world are alluded in the Torah portion of Ha’azinu. [Indeed, we saw a similar statement in the Ramban’s commentary quoted earlier.] Avner thought that this was ludicrous and therefore impossible. He lost faith in the Torah and ended up transformed into a different person.
Surprisingly, the Ramban stood his ground and said, “I still say that everything is included in Ha’azinu. To illustrate this, ask me to find whatever you like.”
“Then show me,” Avner said in surprise and with a great measure of doubt, “where my name is written in Ha’azinu.”
“As you wish,” said the Ramban and immediately went to a corner to pray. The verse from Haazinu that came into his mind was: “I said in My anger I will make destroy them, I will eliminate their memory from humanity” (...). The Ramban perceived that the third letter of each word spells out “R’ Avner” (...), where the letter reish (ר) stands for Rabbi (...), a title of scholarly honor indicating that its bearer is a teacher of Torah.
When Avner heard this miraculous finding, he fell on his face and asked his rabbi if there could be a remedy for all his transgressions.
“You heard the words of the verse,” the Ramban answered and left.
Avner immediately took a boat without a crew nor oars and went out to sea, to wherever the wind would take him. And he was never heard from again.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Reflection
The Lubavitcher Rebbe related that he first heard this story from his teacher in the cheider (elementary Torah school) when he taught them the Torah portion of Ha’azinu, to demonstrate the all-inclusiveness of this portion. The Rebbe then continued to specify:
In this story we see something wondrous and frightening regarding the general matter of teshuvah (return to God).... It is emphasized that the name of the Ramban’s disciple was Rabbi Avner (as is alluded to in the verse). This means that because he returned to God... by means of this, he attained the status and condition in which the Torah calls him Rabbi Avner.... In doing so, the story follows with the teaching of the sages regarding Rabbi Elazar Ben Dordaya [who was extremely sinful and ultimately did teshuva and cried so much that his soul departed while he was sobbing, and when Rebbe, Rabbi Yehudah HaNassi heard this], “Rebbe cried and said, there are some people who acquire their world [i.e., the meaning of their life] in a single hour, [for he was called Rabbi Elazar Ben Dordaya and merited to enter the World to Come].”
