[Be-Ahavah U-Be-Emunah – Miketz
5774 – translated by R. Blumberg]
Every
person is obligated to be humble (Rambam, Hilchot De’ot 1-2. Mesillat Yesharim 11). All the more so a Rabbi must be humble. He
must be humble vis-à vis the Rabbis of previous generations, and humble
vis-à-vis the Rabbis of his own generation.
First, he
must be humble vis-à-vis the Torah giants of previous generations. He must
realize that compared to them, he is nothing. As Maharal said in the
introduction to his work, “Be’er Ha-Golah”: “A man’s perfection…consists of
appraising oneself properly and not foolishly… The fool compares himself to
those of previous generations and says, ‘I, too, have a brain. Those days of
old were not as good as our own.’ The Sages of the Talmud were humble, and they
said: ‘Our predecessors’ intelligence was as expansive as the entranceway to
the Temple Hall [Ulam] and that of the more recent Sages was as small as the
entranceway to the Temple palace [Heichal]. As for myself, I am like a
minuscule needle hole’ (Eiruvin 53a). The earlier sages were total
intelligence…whoever likens himself to the earlier sages is doubly a fool. He does
not recognize the worth of those sages and he does not know his own worth” (Introduction
to Be’er Ha- Golah, pp. 9-10).
Humility
vis-à-vis the Rabbis of his own generation: He must realize that he does not
possess all the truth, justice, integrity, Torah or wisdom. He must not seize
honor at his fellow’s expense, saying, “I am the real Jewish People, whereas
those others are extremists.”
Certainly
not! The Jewish People means the entire Jewish People.
The humble
Rabbi shoulders the yoke with his fellow Rabbis (from the forty-eight means by
which the Torah is acquired – Avot 6). He does not agree with his colleague on every
point, but he cooperates with him. He does not say, “It’s me or nothing.” He
does not suffer over the fact that he has no monopoly on a connection to the
Jewish People, and no monopoly on popularity.
How humble
were Beit Hillel, who would not only quote the opinions of the competing Beit Shammai,
but would quote them before their own opinions.
The humble
Rabbi knows that he cannot, alone, solve all the problems of the Jewish People.
Rather, he must devotedly engage in his own G-d-given share in the Torah. He certainly
must not discount any Rabbi who is unlike himself.
The Maggid
from Moznitz expounded regarding the verse, “This is the Torah of the Guilt
Offering – it is holy of holies” (Vayikra 7:1): What makes a person cast blame
on his fellow man? The thought that he, himself, is holy of holies, a total
saint.
Our
watchword must be to “dwell within our people” (Melachim 2 4:13). The Zohar explains
several times that one who goes it alone places himself in danger. By contrast,
one who goes along together with the entire nation is protected by the divine
light that rests over us all.
