Q&A: Several Questions
Several Questions
Question
Peace and blessings to the honor of my master and teacher, the great rabbi, may he live long: “Raise up many disciples” (Avot 1:1). In Bava Metzia (97a) it says that Rava’s students said to him: “Lend yourself to us, master” [our rabbi should be at our disposal for our work, to teach us Torah]. He became upset and said to them: “You want to strip me of my property rights. On the contrary, you are lent to me, because if I wish I can switch you from one tractate to another, whereas you cannot excuse yourselves from me.” End quote. And Rashi explains that when I wish to begin a different tractate, you cannot object. This requires examination in light of what we find in Avodah Zarah (19a): Rabbi said, “A person learns Torah only from the place his heart desires, as it says (Psalms 1:2), ‘but his delight is in the Torah of the Lord.'” And Rashi explains: “From the place his heart desires” means that his teacher should teach him only the tractate he requests from him, for if he teaches him a different tractate it will not endure, because his heart is set on what he desires. It is explicit that the rabbi is indeed at the student’s disposal, since he must teach him what the student’s heart desires.
Another point: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, and Joshua to the Elders,” etc. (Avot 1:1). In Eruvin (54b) it says: The Rabbis taught: What was the order of teaching the Mishnah? Moses learned from the mouth of the Almighty. Aaron entered and Moses taught him his chapter. Aaron withdrew and sat to Moses’ left. His sons entered and Moses taught them their chapter. His sons withdrew; Elazar sat to Moses’ right and Itamar to Aaron’s left, etc. The Elders entered and Moses taught them their chapter, etc. This requires examination, because in our mishnah here we learned: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, and Joshua to the Elders,” etc. But in the Talmudic passage of “What was the order of teaching the Mishnah,” Joshua is not mentioned at all; rather, Aaron and his sons, the Elders, and the people are mentioned. And it is explained in the Talmud that Moses transmitted to the Elders and not to Joshua.
It also requires examination, for it says in Megillah (21a): The Rabbis taught: From the days of Moses until Rabban Gamliel, they would study Torah only while standing. After Rabban Gamliel died, weakness descended to the world and they would study Torah while sitting. And this is what we learned: “When Rabban Gamliel died, the honor of Torah ceased.” End quote. But this is difficult from that passage in Eruvin cited above: The Rabbis taught: What was the order of teaching the Mishnah? Moses learned from the mouth of the Almighty. Aaron entered and Moses taught him his chapter. Aaron withdrew and sat to Moses’ left. His sons entered and Moses taught them their chapter. His sons withdrew; Elazar sat to Moses’ right and Itamar to Aaron’s left. Rabbi Yehuda says: Aaron always returned to Moses’ right. The Elders entered and Moses taught them their chapter. The Elders withdrew, all the people entered, and Moses taught them their chapter. Thus Aaron had it four times, his sons three times, the Elders twice, and all the people once. End quote. It is explicit that even in the days of Moses they studied Torah while sitting, and that does not accord with the baraita in Megillah.
Likewise, this requires examination in light of Rashi’s explanation on Exodus 17:9: “Choose for us” for me and for you; he made him equal to himself. From here they said: Let your student’s honor be as dear to you as your own. And your fellow’s honor should be like the reverence due your rabbi. From where? As it says (Numbers 12:11), “And Aaron said to Moses, ‘Please, my lord,'” even though Aaron was older than his brother, he treated his fellow as his rabbi. End quote. This is difficult, because Aaron was Moses’ student, since Moses taught him the entire Torah, for only Moses heard it from the Almighty and afterward taught Aaron, as explained in Eruvin there. How, then, did Rashi learn from the fact that Aaron treated Moses as his rabbi that your fellow’s honor should be like the reverence due your rabbi? Aaron really was Moses’ student.
Answer
1. No difficulty at all. The rabbi is not “lent” to the student. The instruction that a rabbi should teach his student in the area his heart desires is guidance to the rabbi as to how he ought to conduct himself. But the student has no right to demand this of him; the decision is the rabbi’s. Just as I have an obligation to give charity to a poor person, but the poor person cannot demand it from me in a religious court. Therefore charity belongs in Yoreh De’ah and not in Choshen Mishpat, and likewise the laws of rabbi and student are in the laws of Torah study and the honor due one’s rabbi in Yoreh De’ah.
2. Regarding the order of receiving the Torah, it may be that the description in the Talmud is about the order of instruction when Moses came down from Sinai and transmitted the Torah to Israel. But the mishnah in Avot deals with the regular pattern of study from rabbi to student, and that was from Moses to Joshua.
3. The same distinction as in the previous section. The regular study was done standing, but when transmitting the Torah after he came down from the mountain, it was done sitting. But the distinction still needs a bit more clarification.
4. And again we see that same distinction. Moses was not Aaron’s rabbi; rather, he transmitted the Torah to him when he came down from Sinai. But in the regular framework of study, Moses taught Joshua. Still, this needs a bit more clarification, since Moses was the rabbi of all Israel, the leading sage of the generation.