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NEWS
Agreement Between Heart and Intellect: Na'aseh and Nishma

by HaRav Shaul Rubin


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This article was originally published in 1995, 26 years ago.

A] "And Hashem said to Moshe: speak to the Cohanim, the children of Aharon, and say to them . . .." (Vayikra 21:1). The Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 26:5) explains why Hashem said both "speak to the Cohanim" and also "say to them": "For those who live in the Heavens and have no yetzer hora, one time is enough . . . but for those who live in the lowly earth and have a yetzer hora, would that two `sayings' were sufficient!"

The idea behind repeated "saying" requires explanation. Could repeating a command actually have an effect on the listener? Even the Midrash, which concludes "would that two `sayings' were sufficient," appears skeptical about any benefit. In addition, is the fact that mal'ochim require to be told only once, while we need twice, the only difference between mortals and the Heavenly host?

B] "When Yisroel put "na'aseh" (we will do) before "nishma" (we will hear), six hundred thousand ministering angels came, one to each Jew, and tied two crowns on them: one symbolizing na'aseh and the other nishma. When Yisroel sinned with the golden calf one million two hundred thousand destroying angels descended from Heaven and removed [the crowns]" (Shabbos 88a).

This Midrash appears to contradict a pivotal principle expounded in the gemora (Sotah 11a), namely, "the [Divine] attribute of doing good is five hundred times greater than that of punishment." Good is awarded by the Ribono Shel Olam willingly and in great abundance, while punishment is meted out by Him only when absolutely necessary and on a strictly limited scale. It would seem, therefore, that the larger number of mal'ochim should have been sent to tie the crowns on the Jews in the first place — one mal'ach for each crown, two mal'ochim for each Jew — while only half that amount should have been sent to remove them — one mal'ach for two crowns.

C] "R' Elazar said: What is the meaning of the verse `He does not withdraw His eyes from the tzaddik' (Iyov 36:7) ["Hashem observes the acts of the tzadikim to reward them `measure for measure' even after much time" — Rashi, ibid.]? The reward for the tsnius of Rochel was that Shaul would be her descendant. . .. The reward for the tsnius of Shaul was that Esther would be his descendant. Esther's tsnius was that `Esther still would not reveal her nativity or her people' (Esther 2:20)" (Megilla 13a — see Bach).


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This Chazal is simply amazing! The reason why Esther did not reveal her native origin and her people is explicitly emphasized in the posuk. It was for a different reason altogether: ". . . as Mordechai had commanded her; and Esther did as Mordechai said, just as when she was reared by him" (ibid.). Her silence was the result of a direct command by Mordechai; no mention is made of tsnius!

D] "On that day [when eighteen gezeiros were promulgated] Hillel was subordinate to Shamai and sat before him like a talmid. That day was as adverse for Yisroel as the day on which the eigel was made (Shabbos 17a).

Rashi (ibid., s.v. kosheh) explains that it was an adverse day because Hillel was the nosi and a humble person. It is obvious that if Hillel was the nosi and yet had to sit like a common talmid before Shamai, this was a great adversity for Yisroel. Rashi, however, emphasizes that Hillel's humility further aggravated the situation. We, on the contrary, would think the opposite should be true: his general humility and easygoing nature should have mollified the gravity of the matter.

E] "R' Elazar ben Azarya said: `I am as if seventy years old and I have never merited that yetzias Mitzrayim should be mentioned at night'" (Brochos 12b). The gemora (ibid., 28a) explains that when the Sages requested his appointment as nosi R' Elazar was only eighteen years old. He consulted his wife, who argued that since he lacked gray hair he would not be respected. A miracle occurred and eighteen locks of his hair suddenly turned gray. The gemora concludes that this is what R' Elazar ben Azarya meant "I am as if seventy years old" — but not really aged seventy.

The Rambam, in his commentary on Mishnayos (1:8), writes: "But R' Elazar ben Azarya's statement, `I am as if seventy years old,' not that he was [actually] aged seventy, was due to the fact that he was [indeed] not seventy years old but was young. He would learn, review, read, and study day and night until he lost his strength and suddenly became elderly as if he were an old person of seventy years' age. The beginning of his transformation to old age was of his own wish, as explained in the gemora (28a). And R' Elazar wondered, `Even though I labored and befriended the wise, I still did not merit understanding how the posuk alludes to the obligation of reading the parsha of tzitzis at night until Ben Zoma expounded it.'"

It is surprising that after the gemora explicitly mentions that the reason for his appearing elderly was to gain respect the Rambam was not satisfied, and gave a new reason (i.e., his astounding hasmodoh in Torah) for this phenomenal occurrence.


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Apparently, the Rambam found it difficult to reconcile R' Elazar's amazement, "I am as if seventy years old, yet never merited . . .." with the gemora's explanation that the changing of R' Elazar's hair was entirely a miracle. In that case, why should he be amazed at all at his lack of understanding? If a young person's hair suddenly turned gray, would he be amazed that his opinion was still not accepted? After all was said and done, R' Elazar was still younger than all the sages, and what right would he have to merit winning in a difference of opinion with the most prominent and eldest of the Torah scholars, who were both far older and wiser than he? The Rambam, therefore, understood that there must be another reason altogether for the amazement of R' Elazar, a reason that made him feel fitting to prevail in the differences of opinions among the chachomim. Nevertheless, the Rambam naturally does not disagree with the gemora's explanation that it was a miracle that took place.

We encounter many young men whose beards gray prematurely, yet nobody will mistakenly think they are elderly; their young countenance clearly shows their youthful age. There is, also, an opposite case: due to great exertion and exhausting life experiences, some men look as weary as elderly people; however their black hair does not allow people to be mistaken with regard to their young age.

R' Elazar ben Azarya indefatigably exerted himself in Torah learning, and therefore merited the crown of the Torah — to be chosen as nosi above all the eminent elder sages in that generation of Torah giants. His wife, however, complained that although he was fitting to be nosi because of his diligent Torah learning, still his black hair, typical of an eighteen-year-old man, would keep him from making the necessary respectable impression. Only in such a way — by resembling a seventy-year-old — would he be able to rule effectively as nosi.

There were two reasons why R' Elazar looked like a man of seventy when he was really young. First there was an internal reason: because of his constant, round-the-clock exertion in Torah studies his countenance appeared as wearied as that of an old person. Secondly, an external reason: a miracle occurred and his hairs grayed overnight; he woke up in the morning with a respect inspiring, old man's beard. It was the combination of these two factors that made him look like a man of seventy years old.

R' Elazar's amazement at being like one seventy years old, yet still never having merited . . . cannot be understood only on the basis of the miracle that happened to him, since he was really young. After all, how could a young man, less knowledgeable in Torah, hope to persuade the elder talmidei chachomim? However, because of his tremendous exertion in Torah learning, laboring in a few years to attain what others needed seventy years to attain, his amazement over not meriting to persuade the sages of the generation to accept his opinion can be well-understood. This is, be'ezras Hashem, the Rambam's intent in his additional reason for R' Elazar's hairs graying.

Now, the Rambam only explains the amazement of R' Elazar as cited in the Mishnah. The gemora, however, correctly infers from, "I am as if I am seventy years old," and not, "I am seventy years old" that a miracle occurred, too. Despite all his labor in Torah which caused his countenance to change, he still needed to appear like a seventy-year-old person with a white beard, which he attained through a miracle.

Vashti, King Achashverosh's first queen, was of royal descent. She was the daughter of Belshazzar and the granddaughter of the rosho, the great king Nevuchadnezzar. We cannot imagine the enormous shame Achashverosh suffered by marrying a woman in place of Vashti who would not disclose her homeland or nation. He most certainly felt totally humiliated. The gemora (Megilla 16a) relates to us that he was so embarrassed that he would not even talk directly to her; he would use an interpreter.

He tried all sorts of schemes — immense expenditures and costly parties — with the intent of convincing Esther to divulge her nationality. One might have thought that he and his kingdom were not bothered by anything else other than discovering the secret behind Esther's background. No one could possibly have been able to withstand such tremendous pressure to reveal her secret, without even unintentionally revealing some clue, if the only thing keeping her back was an external command, important as it might be. Such restraint was only possible through the power of an internal tsnius that was profoundly grounded in her character. She inherited this strong-willed trait of tsnius from her forefather Shaul Hamelech, who in turn inherited it from the matriarch Rachel.

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The Torah writes "You shall follow a majority" (Shemos 23:2). We may rule even against the head of Sanhedrin and its most scholarly member when the majority view disagrees. This is not, cholila, a humiliation of Torah wisdom. On the contrary, it is the Torah's honor that all should humble themselves before its commands. Happy is the generation whose most distinguished members are prepared to humble themselves and accept the ruling of those inferior to them.

This is equally true concerning the machlokes between Shamai and Hillel. There was no reason that a humiliation of the Torah or of the position of nosi should be caused by a normal machlokes lesheim Shomayim between gedolei Yisroel, when the majority ruled like Shamai and his talmidim. This is the way of the Torah, and it would not have caused Hillel to appear like a mere common talmid. The combination of the assertiveness of Shamai and the internal humility of Hillel, whose practice was anyway to always consider himself an ordinary talmid, is what caused this outward appearance. This became a humiliation of the Torah and the position of nosi, and was as adverse as the day the eigel was made. This is why Rashi emphasizes Hillel's humility.

Let us, therefore, contemplate the extreme severity of a dishonor caused to the gedolei Yisroel and leaders of the generation. It is no less than a humiliation of the Torah's honor. In the eighteen gezeiros of Beis Shamai significant regulations were enacted which were the secret behind the existence and purity of the Jews throughout the generations and in all exiles. Nevertheless, since on the day they were enacted there was a great insult to the kovod HaTorah and the nesi'us of Hillel the elder, who was the nosi and a humble person, therefore "it was as adverse as the day the eigel was made" — as bad as the worst day in Jewish history.

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It once happened that a truly pious public activist, who worked lesheim Shomayim without any personal interests, was misled by unscrupulous people into doing something which Maran HaRav Yaakov Kanievsky, the Steipler Rav zt'l, opposed. Afterward he went to apologize before Maran the Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav Elazar Shach, and said that he had been fooled into believing that what he did would save Bnei Brak, the city of Torah. Maran answered: "The kovod HaTorah of the Steipler is more important than ten Bnei Braks."

How much can we learn from this! We can discover how to straighten and correct our ways and to achieve a firm belief in, "Woe to the people for the humiliation of the Torah" (Avos 6:2). Even a city of Torah, of eminent Torah scholars, and even ten cities similar to it, would have been better not to have existed, if it prevented denigration and insult to kovod HaTorah, the honor of a godol beTorah. May the Creator merit that we soon see the elevating of the Torah's honor and those who hold its flag on high.

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R' Elazar said that when Yisroel put na'aseh before nishma a bas kol descended and said: `Who revealed to my sons this secret, that the ministering angels use?' as it is written, `Bless Hashem, His angels, the mighty who do His commandments, listening to the voice of His word' (Tehillim 103:20). First the posuk mentions who `do His will' and only later is the `listening' mentioned" (Shabbos 88a).

But how can angels be those "who do His commandments" first, and only then "listening to the voice of His Word" — when they cannot do anything without a prior command from Hashem?

Among mortals there is a definite distinction between reason and the heart's desire. Not everything that reasoning finds proper is the heart prepared to do. For instance, a sick person, for whom smoking is both forbidden and dangerous, understands with his intellect that he should refrain from smoking. Habit, however, has become second nature, and drives him to smoke. Every Divine command that a person agrees to and understands that he must do, still must go through a fatiguing internal war until man is completely ready to actually do it.

Mal'ochim are, however, different. They lack a yetzer hora, so there is no internal hindrance to their doing right. They are always ready to do the will of their Creator even before being commanded. It is therefore proper to consider them, even before being commanded, as those "who do His commandments, listening to the voice of His word."

At the receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai the Jews were completely purified, and the zuhama of the Original Snake that tempted Chavah ceased from them. The Jews accepted upon themselves to nullify their personal will completely, and to subjugate themselves entirely to the will of their Creator, like true mal'ochim. This is what they meant by "We will do and we will hear": even before hearing the commandments we are prepared to do anything He commands us.

After klal Yisroel transformed their intellectual understanding and personal will into one entity, then each single mal'ach could crown each Jew with two crowns, since both crowns — the na'aseh and the nishma — were in truth only one.

However, after their hearts strayed from Hashem and Bnei Yisroel made the eigel against Hashem's will, the na'aseh and the nishma again became two separate entities. It was therefore impossible to send one angel to remove two different crowns; it was necessary to send double the amount of angels, since each angel could only remove one crown.

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Now, with Hashem's help, we can understand what the Midrash wrote: ". . . for those who live in the high Heavens and have no yetzer hora, one `saying' is enough . . . but for those who live in the lowly earth and have a yetzer hora, would that two `sayings' were sufficient." The Midrash is not referring to the number of "sayings"; it is referring to the type of "sayings."

For the angels who lack any yetzer hora, one intellectual "saying" is sufficient — a Divine command alone. For mortals who possess a yetzer hora, such an intellectual "saying" — a Divine command alone — is insufficient. They need an additional type of "saying" altogether: in the "language of the heart" which may need countless repetition and in various different ways until the heart agrees.

"And you shall know today" (what you clearly grasp intellectually today) — "and you shall bring it home to your hearts" (so that you may fix it in your heart as a part of your rejuvenated entity) — "that Hashem is the Lord in the heaven above and on the earth below; there is none other" (Devorim 4:39).

 

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