But My Rebbe Said

Parshat Fekudei

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Shortly before Thanksgiving, a video entitled "Yeshiva Guy Says Over a Vort" was posted on youtube and made its rounds through many of our emails. In it, two animated bears discuss a Torah thought related to the traditional interpretation that the forefathers kept the commandments of the Torah before Sinaitic revelation. The darker bear begins the conversation saying, "Can I say over a vort that I heard by my rebbe's house last shabbos?"

The listening bear asks several questions, raises important challenges to the premise of the original speaker, and seems to come out the victor in a mini-debate.

Some viewed the dialogue as a spoof, many took it as a joke, and others were offended by the video's premise: that a person who listens to his rebbe and repeats thoughts without questioning anything is a fool.

There were several video responses, including "Yeshiva Guy Responds," in which an attempt is made to say that in an argument of ideas one first has to respect the other's right to an opinion. Then respect that the opinion has validity, then argue with it. There are more rules of engagement when it comes to arguing, of course, but this is a summary of bear dialogues.

Bearing all this in mind (pardon the pun), and without passing judgment on these videos per se, there is an ailment which plagues individuals in our communities, in particular a significant population of recent products of yeshiva and seminary education.

To illustrate, let us first read through the Midrash Yalkut Shimoni 415 on our parsha:

"'Betzalel son of Uri son of Hur of the tribe of Judah did all that God commanded.' It does not say 'that Moshe commanded'; it says 'that God commanded.' Even things he did not hear from his teacher (his 'rebbe'), his understanding followed that which was told to Moshe at Sinai. Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Benayahu, 'As God commanded Moshe, so did Moshe command Yehoshua, and so did Yehoshua do. He did not neglect a single thing from all that God commended Moshe.' It does not refer to 'all that Moshe commanded.' It says, 'All that God commanded Moshe.' This includes even things Moshe did not personally tell him. Rabbi Huna said [quoting Malachi 2:6], 'The Torah of truth was in his mouth' – these are the things he heard from his rebbe. 'And no falsehood could be found on his lips' – refers to things he did not hear from his rebbe."

Betzalel was in charge of creating every item for the Mishkan. And he relied heavily on the instructions Moshe gave him. But while Moshe may have known every detail himself, he may not have given Betzalel adequate instructions for each item. This caused Betzalel to find the answers himself, answers which the Torah tells us were exactly what God had commanded.

I believe it extremely important for every person to have a "rebbe" or mentor or guide to help a person find answers to important questions or to give a "Torah perspective" on issues which arise in our lives.

But we have to remember that we cannot guide our lives by "My Rebbe said" as much as we have to live our lives based on "What God commanded."

Firstly, we must all become thinking individuals in our own right.

Secondly, we must challenge our teachers to show us the sources for different things they say, or prove to us how the Torah supports their opinions.

Thirdly, we must not become complacent in our own search for truth. One rebbe's or teacher's opinion is always a great start. Seek out two, three, four opinions. And open the books they open and read the texts for yourself.

Finally, we must strive to reach the levels of Betzalel and Yehoshua insofar as how their relationship with their master-teacher developed. If we can become completely in tune to the teachings of our mentors, we too will be able to do God's bidding exactly right, even when we have not been given complete instructions, and all the details, from our teachers.

Because we'll have found the answers for ourselves.

Tamim = A Complete Education

This also appears in the Jewish Star

Parshat Shoftim
by Rabbi Avi Billet

I’ve always marveled at the notion that Jewish men or women do not need to get any education beyond a Torah education. The thought that we might close off our brains or deprive ourselves of G-d’s gifts to this world is anathema to my existence, especially when we live in a time when knowledge is so readily accessible.

However, one need not leave the walls of the Beis Medrash to discover that people like Maimonides, Nachmanides, the Gaon of Vilna and others were heavily steeped in sciences and non-Torah subject matters — in addition to their being top-notch Torah scholars.

In Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s responsa on electric matters, he often spends dozens of pages describing the mechanics and technical matters of scientific realities before entering the realm of halakhic discourse.

The Talmud (Shabbat 75a) and the Sifrei (170) say that while one may not learn the ways of the other nations of Canaan in order to practice their ways, “One is permitted to learn about the things they do, to understand and to teach” a proper path. Of course, “their practices” refer to activities which are specifically polytheistic, pagan, or ritualistic — outside the pale of Judaism. But if the knowledge one will gain will make a person more well-rounded, the Talmud seems to be giving the learner its blessing.

The Talmud Shabbat takes this idea a step further and says that a person who does not learn about the seasons and constellations is not fulfilling a mitzvah of Devarim 4:6.
Amazingly, one of the criteria for a person to be appointed to the Sanhedrin is that he have an understanding of witchcraft and magic (Sanhedrin 17a, bottom), (Menachot 65a, top).

The common denominator of these bullet points is the allowance, the acceptance, and the necessity of having a general education beyond one’s Torah education.

This discussion stems from a fundamental interpretation of Devarim 18:9-13. “When you come to the land G-d gives you, do not learn to do the abominable acts of those nations. [Here the Torah lists kinds of necromancy, sorcery and magic.] Anyone who does these is perverting an abomination against G-d. It is these activities that are causing the nations to be chased out of the land. Be ‘tamim’ with Hashem your G-d.”

On “Do not learn to do the… acts” Rashi quotes the Talmud cited above to suggest we are in need of an education to know what is out there, so we can act accordingly and know how G-d wants us to behave, as well as the behaviors G-d abhors.

Therefore I would like to suggest that “Tamim Tihyeh Im Hashem Elokekha” means “Be complete with Hashem your G-d” in the sense of having as well-rounded an education one can have. Being complete means we have a life-long task of educating ourselves about not only Torah, but anything which can be defined as a G-d-given science.

Whether it is astrology, philosophy, political science, rules of governance, understanding the stars and the zodiac (Ramban has a lengthy commentary on this section of the parsha in which he intimates that these magic “sciences” are real and were put on earth for a purpose – just not a Jewish purpose), mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, medicine, health – all of these are available to us to study and to understand, so we can have a complete knowledge of G-d and His world.

How will we know what to do with it all? The next verses in the parsha say we are to be guided by a prophet, just like Moshe.

In our days there are no prophets for us to follow. We have, on the other hand, a legacy of right and wrong, of the proper path versus the improper path, of what is pleasing to G-d versus what is not pleasing to G-d.

What is unacceptable, however, is to write off knowledge of the world as “goyish,” and to claim that pursuit of ideas which do not smack of Torah is to be avoided because it is something a Jew “doesn’t do.”

Not everyone needs to be a professor or scholar, but to avoid intellectual pursuits using Torah as an excuse is, at least according to one passage from the Talmud, the equivalent of not fulfilling of a mitzvah.

Remember the slogan of the United Negro College Fund since 1972: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”