‫בס"ד‬

‫פרשת כי תשא תש"ע‬ ‫שיחות רב עוזר‬

Insights into Torah and Halacha from Rav Ozer Glickman ‫שליט"א‬
‫ר"ם בישיבת רבנו יצחק אלחנן‬
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On Becoming a Rabbi
ְ ‫ּת ֙וֹ לְדַ ּ֤ ֵבר אִתּ ֙וֹ ְב ַ ּ֣הר סִי ַ֔ני‬6‫שׁה ְכּ ַכ‬
‫הִ ֽים׃‬6ֱ‫ש ֵׁנ֖י ל ֻ֣ח ֹת הָ ֽע ֻ ֵ֑דת ל ֻ֣ח ֹת ֶ֔אבֶן ְכּתֻ ִ ֖בים ְבּ ֶא ְצ ּ֥ ַבע א‬ ֶ ֗ ֹ ‫ַוי ִ ּ֣תֵ ּן אֶל־מ‬
On the occasion of the Quadrennial Chag ha-Semikha of our yeshiva, a message to beloved talmidim with whom I
hope to celebrate:
A few years ago, I invited a distinguished legal scholar from another university
to a seminar at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. I seated him in the front of the
seminar room while I went to get him a cup of coffee. When I entered the lecture hall,
all the students rose. This is not unusual to anyone who has been in a ‫ מקום תורה‬but the
professor was quite taken with it. He also noted that many of the students referred to
me in the third person. Although I still find this disconcerting given my realistic sense
of who I am, it is standard practice in our world and how I address the men I acknowl-
edge as my own rebbeim on the RIETS faculty.
In his pamphlet ‫עץ הדר‬, written to promote wider support for impoverished
Torah scholars, ‫מרן רבנו יצחק אלחנן ספקטור זצ"ל‬, the late great Chief Rabbi of Kovno for
whom our ‫ ישיבה‬is named and whose yahrzeit we commemorate tomorrow, the 21st of
Adar, reminds us that Torah scholars differ from the secular scholars of the Gentile
world:
...‫מחולקים חכמי אומות העולם עם חכמי ישראל בשלשה דברים והיינו דיבור ומעשה ומחשבה‬
Scholars from other peoples are distinguished from Jewish ones in three ways, i.e., speech, action, and thought...
Jewish tradition does not look to the secular academic world for its models of
scholastic behavior. It chooses far more challenging models. In ‫פרשת תרומה‬, for instance,
the Torah mandates the construction of the ‫ ארון‬that held the ‫לוחות העדות‬. After delineat-
ing its measurements, ‫ הקב"ה‬commands ‫ משה רבנו‬to overlay the surface with pure gold:
ִ ֧ ‫ּית א ֹת ֙וֹ ז ָ ָ֣הב ט ָ֔הוֹר ִמ ּ֥ ַבי ִת וּמ ִ֖חוּץ תְ ּ ַצ ֑ ֶפּנּוּ ְו ָע‬
‫שׂיתָ עָלָ ֛יו ֵז ֥ר ז ָ ָ֖הב סָבִ ֽיב׃‬ ֤ ָ ‫ְו ִצ ִפ‬
Because the overlay is both on the outside surface of the ‫ ארון‬and on its interior as well,
‫ רבא‬derives a lesson for the Torah scholar. In ‫גמרא יומא‬:
.‫ כל תלמיד חכם שאין תוכו כברו אינו תלמיד חכם‬:‫ אמר רבא‬-"‫"מבית ומחוץ תצפנו‬
"Inside and out you shall overlay it"- Rava said: Any scholar who is not the same inside as out is not a scholar.
A Torah scholar who projects a face to the world that is inconsistent with his private life
is disqualified as a scholar. As a physical container for Torah, the scholar must imitate
the consistency of the ‫ארון‬. This is a requirement that has proven difficult for many.
‫מרן ר' יעקב בן אשר זצ"ל‬, known most familiarly as ‫ בעל הטורים‬for the halakhic com-
pendium he authored, the ‫ארבעה הטורים‬, finds another essential characteristic of the ‫ארון‬
with implications for anyone who aspires to be a repository of Torah:
‫ ללמד שכל מי שלומד‬,‫ כל מידותיו היו שבורות בחצאי אמות‬-"‫"אמתים וחצי ארכו ואמה וחצי רחבו ואמה וחצי קומתו‬
.‫תורה צריך לשבר ולהשפיל עצמו‬
"its length 2½ cubits, its width 1½ cubits, and its height 1½ cubits"- all its measures are fraction-
al, to teach that everyone who studies Torah must break himself down and lower himself."
Torah cannot abide arrogance. You must remember that the respect you are accorded is
by virtue of your position and not an assessment of you as an individual. Such respect
needs to be earned over decades. A rav who confuses his office with himself loses the
fractional qualities of the ‫ ארון‬and is no longer fit to serve as a bearer of Torah.
‫ חז"ל‬find the greatest rabbinic role model, however, in ‫ הקב"ה‬Himself. The Torah's
description of the exchanges between ‫ משה רבנו‬and ‫ הקב"ה‬on ‫ הר סיני‬in this week's ‫ פרשה‬are
parsed for what they can teach us about the proper conduct of the ‫ רב‬with his ‫תלמיד‬. The
‫ לוחות העדות‬are handed over to ‫ משה‬only after ‫ הקב"ה‬finished speaking not to him (‫ )לו‬but
along with him (‫)אתו‬:
‫ עד שלא למדו היה הרב‬,‫ אדם שלמדו רבו את התורה‬:‫ אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש‬-"‫"ויתן אל משה ככלתו לדבר אתו‬
.(‫לומד ותלמידו עונה אחריו; משלמדו אומר לו רבו נאמר אני ואתה )תנחומא פרשה ט"ז‬
"And He presented to Moshe when He finished speaking with him"- R. Shimon ben Lakish said:
when a rav teaches a man Torah he first learns himself and his student answers after him; once
he has taught him, his rav says to him: let us say it together, you and I.
Teaching Torah is not an exercise in demonstrating your own erudition. At the end of a
‫שיעור‬, the listener's first observation should not be how much you know but how much
the listener learned. Do not lecture at your audience but learn together with them. This
is a lesson I have attempted to teach you all by example. Do not substitute the recitation
of ‫ דעות ושיטות‬for the ‫שקלא וטריא‬, the dialectic of Torah students thinking together that ani-
mates, elevates, and inspires students to take up the enterprise of Torah themselves.
The ‫ תנחומא‬offers a rav practical advice in the same passage. Describing the point
at which ‫ הקב"ה‬confers the ‫ לוחות העדות‬on ‫משה רבנו‬, the Torah uses the word "‫"ככלתו‬
meaning "as He finished." The verb "‫ "כלה‬denotes a final end and is used to describe the
completion of ‫ מעשה בראשית‬on the sixth day of Creation during ‫בין השמשות‬:
ֽ ָ ‫שׁר ע‬
‫ָשׂה׃‬ ְ ‫שׁב ֹּ ֙ת ַ ּביּ֣וֹם ַה‬
ֶ ֥ ‫שּׁבִי ִ֔עי ִמ ָכּל־ ְמלַאכ ְ֖תּוֹ ֲא‬ ְ ִ ‫שה ַו ּי‬
ׂ ָ ֑ ‫שׁר ָע‬ ְ ‫הִים֙ ַבּיּ֣וֹם ַה‬6ֱ‫ַוי ְַכ֤ל א‬
ֶ ֣ ‫שּׁבִי ִ֔עי ְמלַאכ ְ֖תּוֹ ֲא‬
And the Lord completed on the seventh day the labor He had performed and He rested on the
seventh day from all His labor which He had performed.
In a darker context, the prophet ‫ ישעיהו‬uses the verb to mean a complete end in the sense
of total extermination:
‫שׂה ְב ֶ ּ֥ק ֶרב ָכּל־הָאָ ֶֽרץ׃‬ֶ ֖ ֹ ‫ּ֥ ִכי כ ָָל֖ה וְנֶ ֽח ֱָר ָ ֑צה אֲד ָֹנ֤י י ְהוִה֙ ְצב ָ֔אוֹת ע‬
For a complete and utter extermination shall the Lord God of Hosts make in the midst of all the
land.
There is finality in the word "‫ "כלה‬as if this marks the end of ‫'השם‬s communication with
‫משה‬. This leads the ‫ דרשן‬to plumb the verse for other hypertextual meanings:
‫ וכי כל התורה למד משה? והלא כתיב "ארכה מארץ מדה"? אלא כללים כללים למדה הקדוש ברוך הוא‬-"‫"ככלתו‬
.‫ שנאמר ככלתו‬,‫למשה‬
"when He finished"- now did Mosheh learn the entire Torah? Is it not written "it is longer than
the dimensions of the land"? Rather it means the Holy One Blessed be He taught Mosheh princi-
ples upon principles, as it is said "‫"ככלתו‬.
The rav must teach principles rather than details. In the same passage, ‫ רבי אבהו‬de-
scribes the forty days of Mosheh's revelatory experience as a constant process of
learning and forgetting. ‫ תלמוד תורה‬is not memorization but understanding. We fail to
imitate the Teacher of Teachers when we present Jewish law as a series of decisions to
be committed to memory rather than understood. Dialectic without a firm decision is
also wrong. Torah should not confound but enlighten. From the same passage in the
‫תנחומא‬:
‫ אסור לתלמיד חכם להורות הלכה בצבור עד שיהו דברי תורה ערבין‬:‫ אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש‬.‫ ככלתו כתיב‬-"‫"ככלתו‬
.‫ ככלה הזו שהיא ערבה על בעלה ומתאוה להיות שומע את דבריה‬,‫על שומעיהם‬
"‫"ככלתו‬- note its spelling. R. Shimon b. Lakish said: A scholar may not teach halakhah publicly
until his words of Torah will delight those who hear them, like the bride who delights her hus-
band so that he desperately wants to hear her words.
View every engagement with your public as an opportunity to make the Torah a delight
to them. We are granted a limited engagement on this planet. A poorly constructed
d'var Torah is a squandered opportunity.
Above all, keep in mind that you are a decisor of Jewish law, a link in an unbro-
ken chain of ‫ תלמיד ורב‬that begins with ‫ הקב"ה‬and ‫משה רבנו‬. Resist the model of those who
would recast the rav as pastor. The role of the rav is primarily as a decisor and inter-
preter of Jewish law, not a social worker or charismatic group leader. Be caring but be
consistent. The fundamental nature of the rabbinate has often been misinterpreted.
Your authority flows from the unbroken chain of ‫מסורה‬, not from academic appoint-
ments. When you decide Jewish law for your ‫קהילה‬, remember that you do so as a mem-
ber of the global Jewish community. Do not generalize from the idiosyncratic nature of
your own individual context, especially in matters of personal status that affect ‫עם ישראל‬.
Exercise your conscience disciplined by your sense of responsibility to ‫כלל ישראל‬.
Finally, remember that your teachers love you. The bond of Torah between ‫תלמיד‬
and ‫ רב‬cannot be torn by distance in time or place. I delight in your achievements and
hope they offset in some small measure my own frailities and failures.
!‫לא כחל ולא שרק ולא פירכוס ויעלת חן‬
‫שבת שלום‬
These sichos are published by students of Rav Ozer Glickman shlit"a. We can be reached at ravglickmanshiur@gmail.com
Rav Glickman can be reached directly at ozer.glickman@yu.edu

TO BRING RAV GLICKMAN TO YOUR COMMUNITY, KINDLY CONTACT:

Ms. Rebecca Goldberg
YU Center for the Jewish Future
rebecca.goldberg@yu.edu
212-960-5400 ext.6350