Part II
In the first part, which appeared two weeks ago in the
issue of parshas Bolok, Rabbi Grossman discussed at
length the major innovation in Torah education that was
attempted by HaRav Y. Y. Reiness almost 150 years ago, and
how it was unanimously opposed by all the gedolim at
the time. HaRav Reiness argued that the times demanded a new
style and learning and the learning of new subjects, and if
these are not introduced it will spell tragedy for Klal
Yisroel. The gedolim rejected his innovations and
insisted that the yeshivos kedoshos continue as they
had for thousands of years.
The commentators write that one of the reasons
we study Pirkei Ovos from Pesach to Rosh Hashanah is
to prepare ourselves properly for receiving the Torah since
this maseches teaches us that the process of receiving
the Torah continues to this very day.
Pirkei Ovos begins with, "Moshe received the Torah
from Sinai and transmitted it to Yehoshua; Yehoshua to the
Elders." This mishnah teaches us that the Torah will
never be changed. The Chossid Yaavetz explains: "This shows
that the entire Torah is eternal and the time when we
received it until now was never changed and never will be
changed. For this reason the Torah writes `that which you
shall command your children' since you should not think that
it is only relevant to the generation in which you are
living. It is eternal since it was created before man." He
explains that the mishnah continues "the Elders [gave
Torah] to the nevi'im" since "we can discern from this
the value of the Torah in its entirety, without change, since
the nevi'im, whose spiritual level was tremendous,
also needed to receive it from others. Concerning this
principle the Sages say that a wise man is preferable to a
novi. The Sifrei writes: `These are the
mitzvos'--no novi is from now on allowed to innovate
anything."
The Chossid Yaavetz adds that because of the need to follow
the principle of transmitting the Torah that the Anshei
Knesses Hagedola received from the nevi'im, they
emphasized three points: "Be composed when judging, raise
many talmidim, and erect a fence around the Torah"
(Ovos 1:1). We learn of the need to erect a fence
around the Torah from the way Rabbenu Yonah explains the
posuk, "Remove not the ancient landmark, which your
fathers have set" (Mishlei 22:28) that "you should not
change from the minhagim that your fathers have
introduced."
We should erect a fence that will prevent mistakes in
transmission of the Torah, and therefore "these gedolei
olom put all their effort to ensure that the
kabolo to the world would be with the same impetus as
it was given to them, with the maximum perfection possible.
They therefore commanded this wonderful testament for those
born later, so the Torah would persist as it was given on
Mount Sinai."
He explains that man's intelligence is liable to make
mistakes since physical entities are qualified by
circumstances and changes. A person is obligated to discern
every matter in depth, to be "composed when judging" and
"raise many talmidim" so he will be under a mutual and
constant criticism "since people themselves cannot sense the
quality of their progress. Only one person for the other,
each one can discern for the other, each according to his
character--and the truth will be according to them all.
`Who is a wise man, the one who learns from each person'
(Ovos 4:1). Even if a person through his pilpul
attempts to forbid the permitted or permit the forbidden, he
will not be able to do so because of his many
talmidim. They will build, and they also destroy
anything perverted until justice will shine through, and he
will not be able to differ from the truth." (He adds:
"Perhaps because of both reasons together -- their
persistence and many talmidim -- Anshei Knesses
Hagedola merited to return the crown of Torah to its former
glory).
The aim of this method of Torah study bequeathed to us by our
Sages is to follow the Torah as it was given and transmitted
to us from one generation to the other without any changes.
Rabbenu Yonah in his explanation of this mishnah
emphasizes that the Torah was transmitted by Anshei Knesses
Hagedola from one generation to the other, from one sage to
the next. Even after the Talmud was sealed it was
passed over to the geonim and "there was a
kabolo from one gaon to the other, from one rav
to the other, until this very day."
HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz infers from what Rabbenu Yonah
writes that even in these generations when the whole Oral
Torah is written and arranged and each person can apparently
claim he can study it alone, independently, however the way
of receiving the Torah is only in the way of a talmid
from a rav "until this very day." (See his introduction to
Chidushei R' Shlomoh of HaRav Shlomoh Heiman
zt'l.)
I myself heard from reliable sources that when the
cheder Tashbar in Bnei Brak was established people
came to Maran HaRav Yitzchok Zeev Soloveitchik zt'l,
the Brisker Rov, to ask advice on how to organize it and how
they should study, and if there is a need to improve the
method of studying. Maran answered resolutely that we must
cling to the way to which we have been accustomed to study
and adopt as an example the old chadorim that have
functioned for many years: "Do exactly as in the Talmud Torah
Eitz Chaim. No less and no better. Neither subtract nor add.
Do exactly as in Eitz Chaim!"
Maran HaRav Chaim Shmuelevitz zt'l, the
Mirrer rosh yeshiva, wrote at length in his
shmuessim on this subject (see his discourses
Shimush Talmidei Chachomim, 5732, 5733 and Moreh
Halocho Bifnei Rabbo, 5732). The principle he wants to
convey is based on the introduction to the Yad
HaChazokoh where the Rambam describes the order that the
Torah was transmitted: "From Rav Ashi to Rabbenu were forty
generations, and they are: Rav Ashi from Rovo . . . and
therefore they all received from Hashem the Elokim of
Yisroel."
The Rosh Yeshiva explains that the Rambam is teaching us that
kabolas HaTorah was not only for the generation of the
desert. Every generation receives the Torah from the Almighty
through studying from their teachers and their teachers from
their teachers all the way to Moshe Rabbenu who received the
Torah on Sinai, and in that way they all received the Torah
from Hashem the Elokim of Yisroel. "We therefore learn
that the tradition from rav to talmid is in the manner
of receiving Torah from the Almighty."
R' Eliezer therefore proclaimed, "I never said anything that
I never heard from my rav." Although the gemora says
that no one ever heard before what he had spoken, R' Eliezer
meant that he would not say anything unless entirely sure of
its fitting the opinion of his rav.
This is the way the Torah is transmitted from one generation
to the next--without any changes. We have a "direct
connection" with the Torah given at Sinai. The rav is the
conduit by which the Torah is transmitted from Sinai. No
other way exists. It is impossible to "pick up" the Torah
independently. "This is the matter of semichah that
each person must be ordained from another ordained person
back to Moshe Rabbenu. Even if someone is worthy of being
ordained, it is not done alone. He needs someone previously
ordained in a straight chain from Moshe Rabbenu to ordain
him. The hashpo'oh passes from the rav to the
talmid, from one person to the other, and no one can
take it by himself."
Maran the Mashgiach HaRav Yeruchom Lebowitz
zt'l mentioned concerning this that R' Yochonon ben
Zackai also declared he never said anything he did not hear
from his Rav (Sukkah 28a). This is astounding! R'
Yochonon who studied the whole Torah, said that even if all
the oceans were ink they would not be enough to record the
wisdom he studied from his rav (Sofrim 16:8)! He had
received everything from his rav and studied nothing himself!
We only have an inheritance from our forefathers, and without
them we have nothing. Anything which is not inherited from
our forefathers is worthless, and that which we did not
receive directly from our rav has doubtful value.
"My Rebbe z'l would always point out the following:
`R' Meir said I could be metaheir the sheretz
with a hundred and fifty reasons' (see Eruvin 13b).
Who can grasp the `Torah' of R' Meir on one reason, let alone
a hundred and fifty reasons -- but the sheretz anyway
remains a sheretz! It remains tomei. This shows
that only a tradition, an inheritance from our forefathers,
has any worth, and nothing else."
The Mashgiach cites the Chovos HaLevovos
(Sha'ar Yechud HaMa'aseh ch. 5): "All wisdom when
properly used cures every ailment, but deviation from the
correct path causes the wisdom itself to become an incurable
malady."
The Torah was therefore compared to fire, when properly used
it lights up our way, but if improperly used it burns with
its flames. "You should beware neither to stray from the way
of your forefathers nor from the ways of those proceeding you
who contribute to your well-being. Do not rely on your
intelligence alone nor on your own advice and reasoning. Do
not suspect your fathers in what they have transmitted to you
for your benefit. Do not shatter their advice or
instructions. Whatever plan you have thought of they have
also thought of and have weighed the good and bad in it.
Perhaps you have understood what is beneficial at the outset
but have overlooked the eventual disadvantages. You, with
your limited powers of deliberation, see what is good in it
but miss its mistakes and losses. The chochom
(Mishlei 22:28) said: "Remove not the ancient
landmark." He also said (ibid., 1:8) "My son, hear the
instruction of your father.' "
The Chovos HaLevovos warns us, explains R' Yeruchom,
against "relying on your intelligence alone, or on your own
advice and reasoning" since by thinking independently a
person creates "his own Torah." We must realize that our
fathers did not leave us lacking in any way. "What you do not
have from them, what they did not build, you will not attain,
and it is impossible for you to attain. Whatever you have
acquired, comes from them and they are the ones who built it.
They transmitted it to you and you inherited it from them. It
is imperative that you grasp firmly the inheritance of our
fathers" (Daas Chochmah Umussar, discourse Yerushas
Ovos).
Maranan Verabonon zt'l and ylct'a in their acts
for the klal and the prat have always kept
this principle in mind. The foundation of the Torah was
transmitted from one generation to the other without any
changes. Only when we continue to relay the Torah as it is,
will we be an additional link in the chain of generations of,
"Moshe received Torah from Sinai and passed it to
Yehoshua."
Maran the Rosh Yeshiva shlita, some twenty years ago
(at the opening of the Agudath Yisroel International
Executive Committee meeting, in the year 5740) said that we
must realize that Torah is not like the wisdom of the
nations. The wisdom of the nations develops with each passing
year. Each generation is superior than the previous one in
its wisdom and achievements. This is because the new
generation finds a prepared area of wisdom that the previous
generation invented. It is only left for them to add on to it
and learn from it.
The Jewish Nation, however, lives with the knowledge that
every generation is inferior to the previous generation.
Every previous generation is greater than the coming one, the
nevi'im, the elders, the tanoim, the
amoraim, the geonim, the rishonim, the
acharonim, up to the present. If the rishonim
were like mal'ochim, we are like people, and if the
rishonim were like people we are like mules. Why is
this so? "This is because our wisdom is the Torah that was
passed down to Moshe on Sinai and is a Torah from
Shomayim. Those who stood on Mount Sinai and heard
from the Almighty have a clearer understanding. Whoever is
closer to that generation has more clarity. Moshe who
received the Torah from Hashem had flawless Torah wisdom. He
made no additions or innovations at all and received
everything from HaKodosh Boruch Hu, from Whom there is
no higher wisdom. This is not true about the following
generations. For them the Torah was passed down in tradition
one person to the other. It must be that the generations
decline and decrease from one generation to the other, and if
the rishonim were like mal'ochim we are like
people."
Maran shlita explained the first Mishnah in
Ovos: "Moshe received the Torah from Sinai and
transmitted it to Yehoshua; Yehoshua to the Elders . . . and
the nevi'im transmitted it to the Anshei Knesses
Hagedola." The Mishnah indicates that Moshe received
but Yehoshua transmitted it without writing that Yehoshua
received it from Moshe. "If the tanna had written
Yehoshua `received' we could have mistakenly thought that
Yehoshua did not receive the correct tradition since he
received it from Moshe and not from Hashem. Perhaps, chas
vesholom, something was added or detracted from the Torah
he received.
"Moshe received the whole Torah from HaKodosh Boruch
Hu, all the wisdom of the Torah that was possible to
receive, and undoubtedly he received it complete. To avoid
this mistake the tanna writes of Yehoshua that it was
transmitted to him. The Torah given to Yehoshua was exactly
the same that Moshe received from Hashem. This same Torah,
Yehoshua transmitted to the Elders without any change or
innovations. No detail whatsoever in the tradition is missing
to this very day.
"We too must maintain the tradition as it is without any
innovations since chodosh is forbidden by the Torah.
This is the uniqueness of Toras Yisroel that nothing
was innovated ever since Moshe received it on Mount Sinai.
Although the wisdom of other nations changes over and again
according to the spirit of the time, Am Yisroel must
remain with its same standing and uniqueness, and in this we
are distinct from other nations."
In one of his letters (from Isru Chag Pesach, 5740)
Maran shlita mentioned that this is the main answer to
every argument and question about why he does not cooperate
with the new ideas that the National Religious Movement has
bequeathed to us. In that letter he answers someone who cited
at length reasoning and "proofs" of the correctness of the
National Religious. After he refutes these "proofs" the Rosh
Yeshiva explains the mistake of joining the Zionist ideology.
"And in general I do not understand what he means. Does he
think that he and his colleagues from the Mizrachi Zionist
Party are more particular in fulfilling mitzvos than the
Chofetz Chaim zt'l and other geonim and
kedoshim? If they distanced themselves and opposed
this idea, we can be sure they would not disdain an explicit
mitzvah that Eretz Yisroel was promised to us from the
beginning of the world's creation. For sure the way to rule
halochos and to fulfill mitzvos was known by the
geonim and tzaddikim no less than by him and
his colleagues, and we are obligated to follow these
geonim and tzaddikim.
"When I am asked in the beis din of Shomayim
why I did not adopt the Zionist ideology I will
wholeheartedly accuse the Chofetz Chaim and all the
gedolim who lived before me- -and they will know what
to answer. I am telling you to discontinue these thoughts
since anyone who questions what his rav has done is as if he
questions what the Shechina does. It is preferable to
contemplate in the tradition that we have received from our
mentors and elders. "Ask your father and he will recount it
to you; your elders and they will tell you" (Devorim
32:7) and then you will understand by yourself all that I
have written."
We should not try to be wiser than those who have lived
before us. We must remember what the Chovos HaLevovos
wrote: "Do not suspect your fathers in what they have
transmitted to you for your benefit. Do not shatter their
advice in what they have instructed you. Whatever plan you
have thought of they have also thought of and weighed what is
good and bad in it. Perhaps you have understood what is
beneficial in its outset to do but have overlooked the loss
and the eventual disadvantages. You, with your limited powers
of deliberation, see what is good in it but miss its mistakes
and losses."
That plan for the "revised yeshiva" has sunk
into oblivion. Thirty-five years ago (Digleinu, Sivan,
5725) R' Moshe Sheinfeld published an article entitled "The
Mother of the Yeshivot Tichoniyot." In that article he
quoted what was published at that time and showed what were
the results of that "yeshiva" established by the father of
Mizrachi. We intend only to delve into the vital lesson to be
learned from that attempt and not into its historical
aspects. This vital lesson we must regularly review.
Any attempt to change the way the Torah is transmitted brings
both immediate and future tragedy for all following
generations. Those who follow the Mizrachi ideology have not
learned the lesson and therefore are declining spiritually
from bad to worse.
