It is one of the wonders of our Holy Torah, one of its
hidden secrets, something that stems from its inner essence,
that the interpretation of Rashi on a posuk that we
studied in the dawn of our youth accompanies us the rest of
our life, even though we may have meanwhile grown to be
Torah giants and have plumbed its hidden treasures. Its
understanding, nonetheless, does change and comes to fit
each time and age according to one's individual spiritual
world.
Many are familiar with Rashi's explanation on the first
posuk in parshas Korach, in which Yaakov
Ovinu's name is not mentioned: "Yaakov wanted his name not
to be mentioned in connection with the machlokes of
Korach -- `Let my soul not come into their secret'
(Bereishis 49:6)."
We must now advance into the field of analytic study. At the
doorway to its magnificent revelations we shall ask a simple
question: What difference does it make whether Yaakov
Ovinu's name is or is not mentioned concerning Korach's
machlokes? After all, every child knows that Levi,
the father of Kehos, who was the father of Yitzhar, who was
the father of Korach, was Yaakov's son. Furthermore,
Yaakov's name is anyway mentioned in Divrei HaYomim
as being the forefather of Korach in connection to this
machlokes -- as indicated by Rashi.
It should be pointed out that in the past Yaakov was also
involved in dissension, such as with Esav and with his
father-in-law Lovon. When one is permitted to dissent
forcefully from another person is dictated by distinct and
defined rules. Just as with putting on tefillin or
fulfilling the mitzvah of lulav clear halachic
guidelines exist, so it is with this matter and others like
it.
There is, though, a difference between the two matters:
concerning tefillin a novice in halocho would
never express an opinion, but concerning questions of waging
a machlokes every ordinary person has his
"authoritative" opinion. It is if he has scrutinized the
topic from all sides and angles, despite his not being at
all intellectually capable of doing so. There are many rules
with regard to what a machlokes is and when and under
what specific conditions it is allowed. Not every person
really has the right to voice his view about such
matters.
The root of this intricate and cryptic matter stems from
creation's genesis and its Divinely intended objective. "In
the beginning of the creation by Elokim of the heavens and
the earth" (Bereishis 1:1). Chazal teach us that the
world was created "for Yisroel who are called
reishis."
We must explain in which way Jews are called reishis.
I once heard the explanation that the concept reishis
means beginning, origin. Yisroel received from Hashem the
power to originate, the strength to start everything from
its very beginning, to change, to swim against the stream.
This is actually creation's aim: the ability to change and
transform things, to be able to stop events from proceeding
in their normal course.
A person who is tomei as a zov immerses
himself in a natural spring to be metaheir himself,
not in a mikveh. Only water flowing in its pristine
form can be metaheir him. Tumah's strength is
in its powerful gushing, catching people in the torrent of
life, unable to resist its pull. Eliminating tumah
can be done by attaching oneself to the origin, to one's
source. A Jew must always stand close to his starting point
since he will find spiritual stimulation by it.
The prerequisite for gaining Torah knowledge and fulfilling
His mitzvos is: "And it shall come to pass, if you hearken
diligently to My commandments which I command you this day"
(Devorim 11:13) -- "that they shall be new for you as
if you had heard them that same day" (Rashi, citing the
Sifrei). The world was not created for those who are
dislodged by every mild breeze from their chosen way, who
are jostled by any common wind back and forth like a sapling
tree.
As mentioned, this was alluded to at the beginning of
creation. This characteristic passed from the greatest
individuals in one generation to those in the next. It
reached Avrohom Ovinu, was conveyed to Yitzchok Ovinu, and
was finally transferred to Yaakov Ovinu. This is the
capability of having one's own distinctive opinion, to
detach oneself from others -- all of which is the root of
machlokes.
However, when to stand up against the tide, when to fight
back, is one of the hidden secrets transmitted from one
generation to the other by the gedolei hador. Moshe
Rabbenu went to Doson and Aviron in order not to further a
machlokes. Is it not amazing what Moshe did? They
dissented from him -- not he from them -- but still Moshe
was the one to approach the other side!
Zimri ben Solu, the nosi of the tribe of Shimon,
impudently confronts Moshe and disgracefully rebukes him:
"Who permitted you to marry the daughter of Yisro?" In this
incident the person who later initiated the machlokes
was Pinchas ben Elazar who, by standing up against Zimri's
sin of gilui aroyos and his challenge to Moshe, was
rewarded with the promise, "I hereby give him My covenant of
peace" (Bamidbar 25:12).
But is sholom the fitting reward for a baal
machlokes? The popular criticism against Pinchas ben
Elazar was that his mother's father worshiped avodoh
zorah, and that he had killed Zimri, the nosi of
a shevet. But did the nosi of sheivet
Shimon not sin by being mezaneh? Did he not talk
and act audaciously against Moshe Rabbenu, the leader of
Klal Yisroel? To understand this matter properly one
must deeply contemplate the real meaning of what
happened.
"Pinchas is Eliyahu" (Midrash Shochar Tov). Eliyahu
continued the way of initiating a machlokes just as
Pinchas did: Eliyahu swore that rain would not fall (I
Melochim 17:1), and when Achav later met Eliyahu he
called him "the troubler of Yisroel" (ibid., 18:17)
and claimed that because of him -- his being over zealous
and creating a machlokes -- all of the sheep and
cattle had died and Klal Yisroel were hungry for
bread.
Eliyahu's answer was resolute: "Not I have troubled Yisroel,
but rather you and your father's house, by forsaking the
mitzvos of Hashem!" (v. 19). We had thought that Eliyahu was
a mild, soft-natured person, a good-hearted and
compassionate man. What happened to his good-heartedness and
temperate character? Look at the way he answered Achav
back!
In addition, why does the posuk herald, "Behold, I am
sending you Eliyahu the novi before the coming of the
great and awesome day of Hashem" (Mal'achi 3:23)? Why
was Eliyahu the one chosen to be the shaliach who
announces to us the imminent redemption?
After studying this matter more profoundly our confusion
grows. The Torah indicates that Pinchas was the "son of
Elozor ben Aharon" -- a descendant of Aharon Hacohen --
because the shevotim were demeaning him owing to his
maternal grandfather having been a priest of avodoh zorah
(Rashi, Bamidbar 25:11). The posuk tells
us that his zealous act stemmed from his inherited nature
derived from Aharon. What has Aharon to do with the
attribute of zealousness and the power of making a
machlokes, which Pinchas obviously possessed? The way
of Pinchas was apparently the diametric opposite of Aharon's
way of being a "person who pursues peace and loves peace"
(Pirkei DeR' Eliezer 17:1).
Another related saying of Chazal's (Brochos 64a) is
that "Talmidei chachomim increase peace in the world,
as it is said: `And all your children will be students of
Hashem, and your children will have great peace'
(Yeshaya 54:13) -- do not read bonoyich (your
children) but bonayich (your builders). Where do we
see that Torah scholars increase peace? On the contrary, the
entire gemora is full of machlokos between the
tannaim, the amoraim, and later between the
rishonim, acharonim, and poskim. A seemingly
total lack of harmony exists among them.
To disperse the analytical haze encompassing
this matter and to contrive the necessary definitions for
this weighty subject, it is necessary to start from the last
difficulty rather than the first. "And all your children
will be students of Hashem" -- being the "students of
Hashem" is an indispensable condition for emerging from
shallowness and common, superficial understanding. Every new
subject studied by the "students of Hashem" smashes part of
the disgraceful foundations of man's soul. Wisdom removes a
person from the superficiality in which his soul is
enslaved.
Doing so is like constructing a new creation -- a primal
entity. The primordial intelligence depends upon its
accompanying imagination. To a person something appears in a
certain way, but his imagination makes it appear
differently. Refining one's intelligence and sharpening it
by way of intensive Torah study forces him to sever himself
from imagination, from shallow comprehension and seeing
things in only a skin-deep fashion.
Incidentally, I once heard in the name of an astute man that
studying a daf of gemora is actually an exact
science: if a person is mistaken in understanding the
beginning of a topic, later on, in another line or two, he
is forced to stop, since he cannot explain the
continuation.
The world does not exist for those -- although they are the
majority -- who let their intelligence and spiritual talents
remain in their basic state, as Hashem granted them at
birth. The world was created and intended for those who
utilize and develop their talents. It was definitely not
made for those whose intelligence functions at the age of
forty, fifty, sixty and above, until late in old age, in the
same way as when they abandoned its development at the ripe
age of fourteen, twenty or twenty-one. They afterwards
stored away their intelligence in moth-balls, letting it
remain as is.
When a Jew ascends to values of kedushah, when he has
studied Torah in depth, he must become different from his
environment. He himself must change and become different
from what he was beforehand. And behold, what are the
results?
He has become a baal machlokes with his nearby
surroundings and still more with his faraway surroundings.
In fact, the common people continually become farther from
him as he advances in studying the Holy Torah of Hashem.
A person's untiring effort to reach his internal point of
truth and reveal his soul's innermost layers, puts him in a
real battle with himself and his surroundings using all
rules of warfare in this internal and external war. The aim:
that the point of truth will triumph and steer him to the
coveted objective -- resigning himself to the real truth and
recognizing it. It is in this way that the "children" have
become "builders." "And your children will have great peace"
refers to those who consistently build themselves. They
destroy, break down, and win over the remains of shallowness
and their primordial condition. They build for themselves
the special level fitting those privileged to become Torah
scholars.
Each part of the Torah, each bit of knowledge, is broken up
into levels that must be dislodged from their initial state
until they attain their necessary splendor. Each part and
detail necessitates an internal battle with the aim of
advancing from this initial stage and reforming ourselves
according to what our contemplation of the holy Torah
instructs us to do. The person who is perfecting himself in
Torah knowledge, the talmid chochom, faces an
internal and external battle.
On the one hand he must fight against those who see life as
one- dimensional, imagining that we must derive from life
all the pleasures and personal benefits we can; and on the
other he must fight against those whose secular life is not
gleaned from daas Torah, and are left deficient by
their limited understanding of what life really is. They
have left their life in its coarse, limited form. They have
allowed the crude and unfinished elements to lead their
life. "And Yaakov lifted up his feet" (Bereishis
29:1). There are those who explain that Yaakov lifted up his
feet and did not let his feet lift him up. He governed
himself and did not let lowly elements control him.
Now we can understand what Rashi wrote (cited above): that
the Torah traced Pinchas's lineage after people criticized
him because his maternal grandfather worshiped idols. The
foundation of a baal machlokes is from Aharon
Hacohen, who was a lover and pursuer of peace. It stems from
the attribute of "Seek peace and pursue it" (Tehillim
34:15). This is mandatory for the genuine zealous person,
for a baal machlokes who is zealous lesheim
shomayim. His foundation must be in making peace.
But the true peace maker is not someone who is ready to
reconcile himself to everyone. There is a machlokes
that is entirely ingrained in the pursuit of peace, in
drawing others close. "And He shall turn the heart of the
fathers to the children" (Mal'achi 3:24) refers to
someone who is capable of holding a spear. There is a war
that is peace, and there is peace that is entirely war,
separation, alienation and fragmenting. An external
conglomeration of interests and calculation of benefits is
like the loading of a bomb that will lead to a more intense
and internal confrontation.
Pinchas is Eliyahu, who stood up and waved his spear against
Achav. Because of his abundant ahavas Yisroel he was
ready to battle for peace. This is all done in order to
bring Yisroel nearer to their Father in Heaven: "And Eliyahu
the Tishbi, who was of the inhabitants of Gilad, said to
Achav, `As Hashem the Elokim of Yisroel lives, before whom I
stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years, but
according to my word' " (I Melochim 17:1). After
three years of terrible famine that devastated the basis for
life in Eretz Yisroel, out of sheer despair Achav commanded
Ovadia, who was his major-domo, to find Eliyahu and to force
him to stop the famine. When they eventually met (after
Eliyahu initiated the meeting) Achav scowled at Eliyahu: "Is
it you, you troubler of Yisroel?" Eliyahu's response was
that the real troubler of Yisroel was Achav.
The right to announce to Klal Yisroel "How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good
tidings, that announces peace; that brings good tidings of
good, that announces salvation; that says to Tzion, your
Elokim reigns!" (Yeshaya 22:7) belongs exclusively to
Eliyahu. He is ready for war, prepared for a battle with
Am Yisroel, since at the End of Days it will be shown
that what seemed to be a war only brought the Redemption
closer.
"And Yaakov was a tomim, dwelling in tents"
(Bereishis 25:27). He was the one who faced Esav,
"the cunning hunter" in order to save the exploited one from
the exploiter. The bechorah, the continuation of
Avrohom and Yitzchok, was about to be possessed by someone
whose whole life was untamed and reckless, traits that
characterize the field -- "a man of the field."
Yaakov had to save the bechorah from him. The
tomim uses ways of cunning, antagonism and
machlokes, to obtain the sublime aim that he has
identified. In the same way Yaakov, the tomim, acted
in order to gain Yitzchok's brocho. Yitzchok
afterwards conceded to Yaakov's receiving the brocho:
"Moreover he shall be blessed" (Bereishis 27:33) --
i.e., the brocho arrived at the right place. If
Yaakov had left the bechorah and the brocho
with Esav, would this have been the real sholom,
sholom meaning sheleimus and unity?
Yaakov Ovinu, however, knew what machlokes is
permitted and what not. He analyzed the nature of Korach's
machlokes and diagnosed it according to its blend of
converse personalities: Korach with Doson and Avirom, On Ben
Peles with bnei Reuven. What connection did one have
with the other? These were not the qualities of "opposing,"
of machlokes, and of "separating" that Yaakov
bequeathed to the subsequent generations, qualities that
fulfilled Creation's inner goal. "Let my soul not come into
their secret" -- this was not the "secret" of
machlokes that he endowed them with.
This secret is transmitted through tradition by the elders
of the gedolei hador. They understand the Creation's
aim through what the Torah teaches them. They have gained
this knowledge both through their persistent efforts to
study the Torah and comprehend it deeply and through its
secrets being transmitted to them by earlier
chachomim -- "Serving the Torah (i.e., helping Torah
sages and thus becoming close to them) is greater than
studying it" (Brochos 7b).
In the opinion of those who are pulled hither and yon by the
forceful current of superficiality, Torah scholars will
always be considered dissenters, those who always go against
what is accepted, who do not engage in constructive
activities. However, the refinement of the truth, the
melting of the primordial, will only be where materialistic
life is melted into a spiritual one, where mundane life is
uplifted. This is the Creation's initial intent and
objective: "Bereishis -- for Yisroel who are called
reishis."
HaRav Yehoshua Rosenberg is a rosh yeshiva in
Yeshivas Me'or Yisroel in Netanyah.
