פרשת פנחס
This week’s Parsha tells us how Yehoshua was chosen by God to be the replacement for Moshe as the leader of the Jewish people. The verse says that God commanded Moshe to place his hands on Yehoshua and give over the glory that he was given to Yehoshua. In order to understand what exactly it was that Yehoshua did which earned him the privilege and the honor to become the unequivocal head of the Jewish people, let us look toward the Midrash. The Midrash Rabbah (21:14) says that Moshe Rabenu requested from God that his own sons be allowed to lead the Jewish people in his stead when he was no longer able to. However, God responded, it was Yehoshua who took care of Moshe all these years. He was the one who gave Moshe great honor, and woke up every morning to prepare the Beis Midrash for the daily learning sessions. And because he gave all of his strength to serve Moshe, he is the one who should be leading the Jewish people. We must ask ourselves two questions. Firstly, what does the fact that Yehoshua was so diligent in his honor of Moshe have anything to do with his ability to lead the Jewish people? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to look for somebody with good leadership skills, and for somebody with the greatest Torah knowledge? Why would serving Moshe make a person fit to lead the Jewish people? And secondly, let us assume that Yehoshua was destined to be the leader of the Jewish people. That would mean that one could assume that he was a fairly important person. Why then was he the one who was in charge of setting up the Beis Midrash every morning? Shouldn’t such a menial task have been delegated to some underling, or someone of a much lower social class?
R’ Chazkal Levinstein, the famous Mashgiach is puzzled by these two difficulties, and he cites the Gemorah in Berachos (7b) to deal with them. The Gemorah learns out from a certain word which is used to describe the prophet Elisha, that one who services Talmedei Chachamim is greater than one who learns Torah. Although this puzzling statement would resolve our difficulty, it needs to be understood. We know that Torah study is the greatest of all the commandments. In fact every moment of Torah study, has the value of all the other commandments combined. It is clear in what esteem God holds Torah study to be. How then can the Gemorah boldly say that bringing a Torah scholar a cup of water is greater than this giant Mitzvah?
R’ Chazkal begins by quoting the Gemorah in Kidushin (40b) which says that the reason why Torah study is so great is because it leads a person to act better. This means that it is not enough to learn the Torah theoretically, but rather the Torah study that one does, must affect his actions, and must permeate every fiber of his being to the point that it is apparent to everybody that sees him that his actions are in line with the Torah and with God’s will. The Gemorah in Yuma (86a) says that when the verse says, “And you shall love God with all your heart”, it is actually teaching us that you must make the name of God beloved to all. Meaning that a Jew’s actions must be so refined, and his daily interactions must be so pleasant and well-mannered, that all who see him say, “Lucky is the man whose parents have taught him Torah.” The Mashgiach would deduce from all these Gemorahs that we have mentioned that it is imperative that the Torah which we learn should affect every aspect of our lives and indeed, anyone who has ever come in contact with a genuine Torah scholar, becomes aware almost immediately of this hallmark trait which they possess. However, it is important to note, only Torah wisdom can engender this kind of refinement in a human being. Man’s nature is so untamed, that all the philosophy and manners which a person may study, will not be strong enough to keep his passions and beastly nature at bay. It may help for a while, or on the surface, but will not endure. Only Torah study, which has in it the wisdom of God Himself, can fully penetrate a man’s soul and subdue his natural tendencies toward chaos.
With this explanation, we can now resolve the difficulty which we raised. Although Torah study is certainly great, it will not necessarily impact a person’s actions until he has mastered it. However, when one is in the company of a Torah scholar who has already amassed enough Torah knowledge to permeate all of their actions, and one has the opportunity to observe up close the refinement and perfection that a human being can reach through Torah study, one will advance even more than he perhaps would have if all he did was study. This is what Chazal mean when they say that servicing a Torah Scholar is greater than study, because it will accomplish what Torah study should ultimately accomplish – it will cause a person to learn from that Torah scholar how to perfect his actions by emulating his ways. R’ Chazkal would conclude by pointing out that the Midrash deliberately mentioned to us that Yehoshua would perform menial tasks such as spreading out the mats and setting up the tables to demonstrate to us that when one humbles himself by sacrificing his own personal honor for the sake of Torah, he inculcates the importance of Torah into every fiber of his being, and it will be forever inextricably linked into his consciousness. Indeed, the Mashgiach related that in Kelm, the Yeshiva’s administration voted to never hire any cleaning or maintenance staff, reasoning that it was integral to the students’ education to take responsibility for all those chores, and that by humbling themselves in order to perform them, they would drive home the importance of Torah to themselves.
The renowned Mashgiach, R’ Volbe used to explain a very puzzling Rambam. The Rambam in the laws of the Sanhedrin, (4:1) says “And Moshe rested his hands on Yehoshua and on the 70 elders, and God’s presence rested on them.” This last clause, which the Rambam adds to the verse, seems completely irrelevant to the subject being discussed. The Rambam was talking about the laws of “Smicha”, and about ordaining a Rabbi. Why would he add words on to the verse which don’t seem to belong here? The Mashgiach would explain that the Rambam is teaching us a very important lesson. The Rambam was trying convey that just as Moshe Rabenu received the Torah directly through God’s teaching, and by spending 40 days in God’s presence, and was not expected to merely look at the words to understand the truths of the Torah, similarly, the Rambam is ruling that every Smicha which is performed from then must mirror the prototype Smicha and be given only after a person has spent a great deal of time in his Rebbi’s presence and has had a chance to observe the Godliness of his Rebbi’s actions up close. One of the primary components of the Smicha that one receives from his Rebbi, which in turn allows him to go on to become a Rabbi himself, is the very fact that he received it from his Rabbi. Meaning, the Rambam is instructing us that studying alone would never suffice to allow a person to get the true intent or spirit of the Torah. Every student must have a Rabbi, to study up close, to drink their water, to breathe their air, so that they can absorb the true spirit of the Torah, and not merely the words. If this integral component of “Shimush” is absent, the Rambam is teaching us that no person can consider themselves a Rabbi and that is why he adds in the seemingly inappropriate clause specifically here in the laws of Smicha. For this reason, a person must dwell on every word that his Rabbi says, and ponder it thoroughly, and be present in his Rabbi’s company during a wide venue of circumstances to ensure that he has absorbed his Rabbi’s position on all topics. The Gemorah in Berachos, (62) teaches us that the students used to go after their Rebbi into the bathroom, and into his marital bedroom, to see how he conducted himself in these private areas of his life, and although they admitted that they were very embarrassed about doing so, they realized that this was the only way to truly acquire the Torah. R’ Volbe would conclude by quoting the Midrash in Vayikra Raba (83:7) which says that somebody who has studied the entire Torah, from beginning to end, but has not serviced Torah scholars, it is as if he has missed the whole inner workings of the Torah. This haunting Midrash makes perfect sense. If one studies the Torah, he has the shell, and the theoretical knowledge of what the Torah means to say, but if his has not heard it from his Rebbi, and seen how to apply everything practically, and has not mastered when certain principles need to be relaxed, and others overly strengthened, he will have missed the whole point. Let us not fall into that trap.
May we all merit to be in the presence of Torah scholars, and learn from their ways, and thereby inculcate the Torah into every fiber of our being!