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Find
Out What He Does And Do The Opposite
By Rabbi Levi Yitzchok
Ginsberg
The mashpia, Reb Mendel Futerfas, a’h, would
relate the following:
This story
took place when the gaon and Chassid R’ Peretz Chein was
growing old in years. In his youth, R’ Peretz had been
considered one of the great gaonim, and many rabbanim
corresponded with him on halachic matters.
R’ Peretz
excelled in charifus and svara yeshara (sharpness
and straight thinking). In the approbation the Tzemach Tzedek gave
him, it says that he could pasken from Shas and Poskim,
and present his own logical reasoning. R’ Peretz himself,
however, did not consider his fluency and memory of exact quotes
to be among his strong points. Although he was exceptionally
fluent in Shas and Poskim, he might forget certain details
of a Tosafos or the like, especially in his older years.
He admitted
his weakness and did not rely on his memory; thus, he always
looked up the relevant passages in the sifrei poskim. In
his final years, he could no longer see, so he was unable to
reference the sfarim as he would have wished. His grandson,
however, who was a great lamdan in his own right, would sit
and learn with him, reading aloud the questions his grandfather
received and looking up the relevant sfarim according to
R’ Peretz’s instructions. Then he would record the answers as
R’ Peretz’s dictated.
R’ Peretz
was once sent a particularly complicated question involving an aguna.
The question had been sent to two of the greatest gaonim of
that time, one in Mala, Russia and one in Lithuania. The
Lithuanian gaon, a Misnaged, knew of R’ Peretz’s
genius and wanted his opinion on the matter. The rav
related his opinion, supplying proofs and svaros
(reasoning), and asked R’ Peretz to comment on the matter.
The grandson
read the letter to his grandfather, who began to rip the logic to
shreds. He explained how every svara was incorrect. He
easily explained how, from each quoted source, one could, in fact,
prove the opposite.
The
foundation of the gaon’s opinion was a paragraph of the Kesef
Mishna on the Rambam in Hilchos Ishus. It fit
exactly with what the gaon said. Hearing this proof,
R’ Peretz exclaimed, “It can’t be! There is no such Kesef
Mishna! The Kesef Mishna didn’t write
that!”
The grandson
was taken aback, for he knew that his grandfather did not rely on
his own proficiency in texts. He usually checked the sources
inside. Why, all of a sudden, was his grandfather so sure that no
such Kesef Mishna existed?
The grandson
looked up the source and found it exactly as the rav had
quoted it. He told his grandfather, who exclaimed, “It can’t
be! Look in the Kesef Mishna in Hilchos Treifos,
and perhaps you will find something pertinent.”
Amazed, for
his grandfather was not usually stubborn, the grandson opened the Kesef
Mishna to Hilchos Treifos, and lo and behold, he
found the relevant information. The Kesef Mishna in Hilchos
Treifos explains that what he said in Hilchos Ishus was
applicable only in a certain way and under specific circumstances.
Thus, R’ Peretz was indeed correct that the gaon had been
mistaken!
The grandson
was greatly impressed by his grandfather, but he couldn’t
refrain from asking: “I don’t understand, Grandfather. I have
always heard you say that you do not rely on yourself for
proficiency in texts and that you always have to check the source.
So why is it that in this case, when the source was ostensibly
contrary to your opinion, you were 100% certain that you were
right? How could you have been so sure?”
R’ Peretz
explained, “My certainty stemmed not from remembering exactly
what was written, but because I was sure that the Kesef Mishna
knew how to learn, whereas the rav, the Misnaged,
does not know how to learn. He is indeed a great gaon, but
his svaros are generally the opposite of what they should
be. That is why I was sure that his svara could not
possibly be the opinion of the Kesef Mishna.”
*
* *
On Chai Elul
5711, the Rebbe MH”M shlita said (Toras Menachem,
p. 201, Sichos Kodesh, new edition, p. 156):
During
the war, there was a group of Anash who did not know what
to do about traveling. Should they travel or not? They decided to
follow the rule of asking an olam’sher [i.e., a Misnaged]
and doing the opposite. In this way, they succeeded in saving
their lives. Indeed, they are here today.
This
approach is most surprising. Why should one do the opposite of
what an olam’sher says? We are not speaking of someone
who has a twisted way of thinking or a heretic, ch’v. We
are speaking about a solid, well-grounded individual who simply
knows the ways of the world. Why is it a rule that if he thinks
one way, one should do the opposite?
The
following quote from the S’ma (the gaon Rabbi Yehoshua
Falk of Lvov, niftar 5374-1614, called the S’ma after his
seifer, Seifer Me’iros Einayim) on
Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat, siman 3, se’if
113, in the name of HaMahariv (the gaon Rabbi
Yaakov Vayil, niftar 5216-1556), is mentioned many times by
the Rebbe:
In the responsa
of Mahariv, Siman 147, he wrote the following to the
Maharash, z’l: If you listen to my advice, you will not
sit with the public in any judgment, for you know that the piskei
ha’baalei batim [halachic decisions of those involved
in worldly affairs] and the piskei ha’lomdim [halachic
decisions of the scholars] are two opposites.”
The Rebbe
stresses that this is not referring to baalei batim who do
not know how to learn; there is no need for the S’ma to warn
someone not to sit with people like that in judgment, because that
is obvious. In numerous places in the works of the Poskim,
they rule that one may not sit in judgment with someone who does
not know how to learn and how to pasken. This statement
refers, rather, to those who do know how to learn and have
the ability to pasken, but are baalei batim. Because
they are baalei batim, one should not sit with them
in judgment, for “the opinion of baalei batim is the
opposite of daas Torah.”
Why is this
so? Because baalei batim consider themselves a metzius,
and they are not battul to daas Torah. The hanachos
ha’olam (worldly assumptions) hold sway with them — olam
meaning hidden. A baal ha’bayis is a yeish and
a metzius and is ignorant of the fact that all of reality
is nothing but G-dliness, ignorant of the fact that “I was not
created except to serve my Maker.” He imagines and perceives
that he is a metzius, that he is worth something, and,
therefore, he does not have absolute bittul to daas
Torah, the bittul necessary for a correct psak.
When your premises are worldly ones, the results will be
commensurably worldly, which is the opposite of daas Torah.
In order to know exactly what the Torah says, one must first
nullify himself, to set aside “I think,” and “I believe,”
and “I feel,” and be prepared to accept what the Torah says
– what Hashem says – without arguing.
How does the
Rambam begin the work we recently started to relearn for the 18th
time? “Yesod ha’yesodos v’amud ha’chochmos,” the
foundation upon which rests the entire Torah; not only a
foundation which precedes the structure, but the foundation upon
which the entire edifice always rests. At every moment, in all
matters, we must remember and build everything upon that
foundation and pillar, the knowledge that “yeish shom matzui
rishon” (there is a first existence). Hashem is the first matzui
(existence). “V’chol ha’nimtzaim...lo nimtze’u ela
mei’amitas hi’matz’oh” (everything exists in virtue of
His existence). There is no independent existence other than
Hashem Himself.
That is the
true foundation, the foundation that leads us to conclude that the
purpose of everything, as the Rambam concludes his work, is the
true and complete Redemption, which comes about through a flesh
and blood human being, namely, Melech HaMoshiach. This bittul
can exist within our metzius here in a physical body in
virtue of our absolute devotion and nullification to Moshe
Rabbeinu, the nasi ha’dor, who is the Moshiach of the
generation, and “the first redeemer is the final redeemer.”
The bottom
line is that it is not enough to just have bittul and hiskashrus
to Hashem, because then everything remains “Above,”
divested of physical man, who lives in this lowly world. Only
Moshe Rabbeinu, as a soul in a body within this physical world,
can, as a part of this world, instill utter bittul within
the metzius of the world on its own terms.
Therefore,
“there must be a ‘Moshe’ in every single generation in whom
Moshe’s soul is invested...and whose spiritual life remains
eternal in this physical world by means of being invested within
the body of the nasi ha’dor of every single
generation.” (Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 26, p. 7)
As the Rebbe
says in the sicha of Chai Elul 5711, mentioned earlier:
In order
to be saved from the “go’eil ha’dam” —
“the Satan, the yetzer ha’ra, the Angel of
Death” — it is not enough to resolve to act according to
Torah. For the yetzer ha’ra, who is called “the
clever one,” can pervert a man’s mind (through the will that
is below intellect) to the extent that he believes he is behaving
according to Torah. The Ramban writes that man can be a naval
b’reshus ha’Torah [a glutton within the parameters of that
which is permissible by Torah law].
The advice
for this is “and this is the Torah that Moshe placed…” That
is, behavior according to Torah must be specifically according to
Moshe’s instructions, and the extension of Moshe in every
generation, the Moshe of our generation. One must act in
accordance with the instructions of Moshe in all matters...and by
fulfilling Moshe’s instructions, one succeeds in traversing the
desert and is saved from the “snake, serpent, and scorpion.”
Melech
HaMoshiach is a human being, a soul in a body. Moshiach must exist
in the physical world in order to instill the world with the
absolute oneness of G-d. In this way, everyone will be utterly
nullified to G-dliness. The Rambam concludes, “And the earth
will be full of knowledge of G-d as waters cover the sea.” Just
as water completely covers everything in the sea, so too Moshiach,
since he is a physical being in a physical world, will usher in a
world entirely filled and “covered” with G-dliness, until it
will be apparent that that is all of existence, matzui rishon.
*
* *
We have
begun the sixty days of the Adar months, whose mazal is
strong. We increase in joy, which has the power to “nullify in
sixty” all undesirable things, as the Rebbe said repeatedly in
5752.
The
highlight of Adar is Purim and the victory over Haman HaRasha and
everything he represents. This victory came about solely because
of Mordechai HaYehudi and what he represents. For vanquishing
Haman is impossible without hiskashrus and utter bittul to
the Mordechai and Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation, who is present
in a body in this physical world. Moshe’s eternal quality is
drawn down and invested within the body of the nasi ha’dor.
As we quoted earlier, the Rebbe says “it must be” in every
generation in a physical body in this world.
Haman is a
descendent of Amalek, the one “who knows his master yet
intentionally rebels against Him.” Indeed, the more “he knows
his master,” the more “he intentionally rebels against him.”
More knowledge and awareness of Hashem does not help him, because
the more he knows, the more of a metzius yeish he becomes,
and the greater the rebellion.
There is
only one way of vanquishing this “Amalek.” That is through
staunch hiskashrus and complete bittul to Mordechai,
the nasi ha’dor. Chazal tell us that Haman fell
because he didn’t know that Moshe Rabbeinu was also born in the
month of Adar. Haman only knew of Moshe’s death in this month,
and he convinced himself that, as great as the concept of histalkus
is, it still signifies a decrease in the physical presence of
the deceased in this world, for then the neshama leaves the
body.
What Haman,
and all Hamans don’t know, is that a birthday can nullify the
effects of the day of death. Thus, Moshe Rabbeinu remains alive
eternally in this physical world, invested in the body of the nasi
ha’dor in each generation.
If one
remains doubtful about this (for Amalek is numerically equivalent
to “doubt”), let him ask an olam’sher for his
opinion. He will know that the opposite of whatever the olam’sher
says is correct, and he will no longer have any doubts! |
