Honoring Hashem By Revering Talmidei Chachamim

By R’ Mordechai Young

One the Mashgiach at Ponevezh Yeshiva asked a bachur to stand near the Rosh Yeshiva in the morning. Rav Shach, zt’l, was always thinking in learning, and there was a concern that after putting on the tefillin shel yad, he might think of, for example, an answer to a question he had on Rambam. So, the bachur would stand there to make sure of no interruptions. The bachur politely declined. The Mashgiach asked him for a reason why he didn’t want to do it and he said he was afraid and maybe the Mashgiach should do it. The Mashgiachanswered the talmid: “You don’t know the Rosh Yeshiva as well as I do to have such an awe of him like I do.” Such a beautiful ma’aseh.

Many times, people have a person they look up to like, lehavdil, an athlete. Then, if they see the athlete for an extended period of time, their value of the athlete doesn’t go up, but down when viewing their character. In the case of the Mashgiach, the more time he spent with the Rosh Yeshiva, the more respect and awe he had for him.

In this week’s parashah, Beshalach (14:31): “And the nation feared Hashem and they believed in Hashem and Moshe his servant.” When mentioning fear, only Hashem is mentioned. With belief, both Hashem and Moshe Rabbeinu are mentioned. The Gemara in Pesachim 22b states Shimon HaAmmassoni, and some say that it was Nechemia HaAmmassoni, would interpret all occurrences of the word “es” (aleph sof) in the Torah, deriving additional halachot with regard to the particular subject matter. Once he reached the verse: “You shall be in fear of [es] Hashem; you shall serve Him; and to Him you shall cleave, and by His name you shall swear” (Devarim 10:20), when he reached “fear of Hashem,” he stopped writing his explanations. His students asked him: “Rebbi, what will be with all the “esim” that you interpreted until now? He said to them: “Just as I received reward for the interpretation, so I shall receive reward for my withdrawal from using this method of exposition.” The word es in this verse was not explained until Rabbi Akiva came and expounded: “You shall be in awe of [es] Hashem”: The word “es” comes to include Torah scholars, and one is commanded to fear them just as one should fear Hashem. In any case, Shimon HaAmmassoni no longer derived additional halakhot from the word es.

So, we see that besides fearing Hashem, we need to fear talmidei chachamim. So why didn’t the Torah in the pasuk above mention fearing Hashem and Moshe?

I was thinking it could be the obligation to fear talmidei chachamim started at Matan Torah. When a ravwould start teaching Torah, in extension, as a messenger of Hashem, then we must fear him. This pasuk was before Matan Torah, so doesn’t mention fearing Moshe. A possible proof to this answer is in the Maharsha’s explanation of Rabbi Akiva. How did Rabbi Akiva come to explain “es Hashem” comes to include fearing a talmid chacham? He learned it from Shimon HaAmmassoni himself, by his reluctance to explain the pasuk. He had such a fear of Hashem that he was willing to abandon his whole sefer, all his hard work. Since he feared Hashem so much, Rabbi Akiva thought that showing reverence to a talmid chacham was a way to revere Hashem. Why was he motivated to revere the talmid chacham? It’s only because of his fear of Hashem, so the Rebbi who expounds Hashem’s teachings deserves to be revered as well. So, according to the Maharsha, the fear should start after Matan Torah, and that explains why the Torah only mentions fearing Hashem in this week’s parashah. As a prelude to getting to revere Moshe Rabbeinu, Hashem had the nation believe in Moshe. Once they saw he was there to do Hashem’s work, they believed in him. Later, they could get to the next level, having fear of him. Why didn’t the Torah teach straight out to fear the Torah scholar? Maybe this gave Shimon HaAmmassoni the chance to shine. To sacrifice his hard work and lose out on honor so as not to affect Hashem’s honor. This was a great example for Rabbi Akiva and brought the lesson to life.

We should learn to have reverence for the talmidei chachamim and remember it’s an honor for Hashem as well! Have a great Shabbos! 

R’ Mordechai Young is available as a remedial rebbe and tutor. He can be reached for comments at [email protected].