Parashat Vayigash (5761)

With God's help, on the eve of the holy Sabbath, Parashat Vayigash, 5761

The Priests' Inheritance, Torah Study, and Freedom of the Press

Our portion concludes with a description of the fact that all the land of Egypt was transferred to Pharaoh in exchange for food, and only

the land of the priests was not transferred to Pharaoh. The Torah notes that the law in Egypt to this day is that one gives

a fifth to Pharaoh.

Among the people of Israel the situation is the opposite. The priests and Levites are the only ones who do not possess an inheritance in the land. Every

tribe and every family received its own holding, and only the priests and Levites remained without a holding. In addition

to this, in place of the fifth that the Egyptians give to Pharaoh, there is the tithe that we give to the priests

and to the Levites, and from this they live. The Levites and priests are the poor among the people, unlike the priests

in Egypt.

Some may view the lives of the Levites and priests, who live off the gifts they receive from

the people, as a parasitic existence, but it is worth paying attention to the Egyptian alternative. The alternative is

that the economic status of the priests be guaranteed by law, and that they be counted among the wealthy class of the people,

the class that does not suffer from the economic decrees of the rulers.

Maimonides, at the end of Hilkhot Shemitah ve-Yovel, writes that those who study Torah are comparable to the tribe of Levi, and in these days

their status is the subject of public discussion in the State of Israel. Parallel to what was said above, among us too there are

those who see the lives of Torah scholars as lives of parasitism at the expense of others. There are two

alternatives to this situation: either the abolition of the existence of a "priestly" class of Torah scholars, that is,

people who devote the main part of their lives, their talent, and their energy, to involvement in Torah and spiritual pursuits. Alternatively,

there is the Egyptian option, that is, guaranteeing their status by law, establishing for them fixed and lasting assets.

Today, when there is social recognition of the necessity of a "priestly" stratum that engages in matters such as

art or academic research, there is no reason why we should not agree that Torah study is no less vital than

these to the healthy existence of our society. If indeed abolishing priestly status is not relevant in a healthy society,

then only the Egyptian alternative remains. It seems there is no need to say that if this is

the alternative, then the Jewish model is certainly preferable.

There are even some who go so far as to claim that Torah scholars are greedy, or that "all that interests

them is money alone." About ten years ago, in a student newspaper at Tel Aviv University, there was someone

who made such a claim with regard to yeshiva students, and brought as a contrasting example law students

who pay tuition and work very hard in order to finance their studies. The editor of that newspaper

approached me in order to receive a balancing response.

I was very impressed by the journalistic integrity, and I sent my response. I pointed to the fact that the

main aim of many of those "altruistic" law students is to exploit

their clients for the rest of their lives, and to earn as much money as possible in return for their "noble" service,

except that in order to do so they must obtain a lawyer's license. This is the main reason

they work so hard (?) and are also willing to pay large sums of money (which of course fall far short of covering the full cost of their studies).

By contrast, the "greedy" yeshiva students receive no compensation for their labor, no certificate

that helps them earn a living; on the contrary: most of them are destined to subsist on a tiny monthly study stipend

throughout their lives. There you have greed versus a life of the spirit in a nutshell!

One may perhaps argue about the degree of necessity of Torah scholars in general, or about the fact that there are too

many of them, but classifying them as greedy is an intellectual absurdity, since they choose a path

that scarcely enables them to live. Is this "greed"? How far can hatred and prejudice go?

Needless to say, my above response was cut down to a fifth of its original length; it was presented as a collection

of sentences with no apparent connection between them, and I myself had difficulty recognizing that these were

remnants of the article I had written. I asked the editor why he had done so, and he explained to me

that the writer (a university student) was younger than I, and therefore this was not a fair contest.

In other words, if my response had been published, his claims would have looked ridiculous (as they

indeed were). The course chosen by the editor, following the way of press editors in Israel (except for that of

"Atid," of course), is to present a ludicrous caricature of a response, and thus preserve the "rationality,"

"enlightenment," and "tolerance" for which our student body, the "generation of the future" (incidentally,

that newspaper called itself by the modest, but highly revealing, name "Intellect"), is so renowned.

Such, too, is the "intellectual" worldview one gets from watching, reading, or listening,

to the various media in this country, whatever they may be.

The sacred balance between Right and Left in our press is expressed in the fact that the editor of "Popolitika" (as Dan Margalit quotes him in his book)

declares that on his program no one with a right-wing worldview (and certainly not a religious one) will come out on top. Do not

worry; he chooses them accordingly as well. A similar process also occurs at the informational level.

Information that might, "heaven forbid," cause some tilt to the right (politically, or religiously)

will often not be brought to the public's attention at all. Freedom of the press, which is usually an

important value, is used today mainly to distort, gut, incite, garble, and above all to stupefy. The press

in Israel is not exactly the recommended source from which to draw reliable information, and therefore before

forming a view on any subject, it is highly advisable to become acquainted with it firsthand.

It would benefit us greatly to have a "priestly" class that truly and sincerely engages in matters of the

spirit, and not merely in "hot air."

Have a peaceful Sabbath

This may be deposited for respectful disposal in any synagogue or yeshiva. Comments and responses are welcome.

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