Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Moreshet Shaul
There are few and weak connections and mutual relationships that can develop between a talmid chacham and an am ha’aretz. Their "meeting area" is small because of the lack of overlap in their spiritual lives, which is the main part of a person’s life. They are two distinct types of people, with disparate spiritual approaches and aspirations. Therefore, one will not understand the other or be sensitive to questions that agitate the other’s heart.
The am ha’aretz recognizes that the talmid chacham is different from him. He feels the talmid chacham’s superiority and the grandeur that surrounds his spiritual greatness and is attacked by a feeling of deficiency in his surroundings. However, when external circumstances put the two into ongoing connections, and he starts to view all of the specific elements of the talmid chacham’s life as an individual, the am ha’aretz loses his perspective. Since the am ha’aretz appreciates natural phenomena that everyone who lives under the sun experiences, he becomes very aware of the mundane elements of everyone’s lives, including great people.
As this happens, the am ha’aretz loses sight of the special characteristics of people of lofty spirit because he lacks the necessary spiritual connection and sensitivity. The elements of the talmid chacham’s persona that he grasps are those that are shared by all. The am ha’aretz then concludes that only from a distance does the talmid chacham seems like a giant, and that he was in awe of him by mistake, as the great person is really like everyone else. If along with this psychological process, the am ha’artez also gives benefit to the talmid chacham from his resources, he will see his own "greatness," and the talmid chacham will be downgraded to the level of a "flask of pottery," which is useless after being broken.
The am ha’aretz does not realize that it his blindness that prevents him from seeing the greatness of the man in his midst. Actually, the greater a person is, the more he develops the "strings" that tie him to every person with a spirit within him. The truly great person draws from the storehouse of his counterpart’s spirit, including the "wellsprings" of one who is unaware he possesses them. About such a person, the Rabbis said, "Who is wise? He who learns from every person" (Avot 4:1).
When we refer to a talmid chacham, we mean the talmid (student) of a chacham (scholar); the talmid chacham’s teacher is the true scholar. Who is the teacher of the chacham? Everyone! Just like a student is intellectually sustained by his teacher, the teacher draws life inspiration from his students, as the Rabbis said: "… and [I learned] more from my students than from anyone else" (Ta’anit 7).
A person’s greatness enables him to draw more "life-giving water from an abandoned, muddy wellspring." This is the secret tool of wisdom.
Moreshet Shaul (52)
Various Rabbis
16 - Moreshet Shaul: Members of the Nation Who Are in The Fields
17 - Moreshet Shaul: Connection between Talmid Chacham and Am Ha’aretz
18 - Moreshet Shaul: Connection between Talmid Chacham and Am Ha’aretz
Load More
Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: A Crown and its Scepter – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 294-5
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: Returning Torah to its Central Standing – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 312
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: Returning Torah to its Central Standing – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 312
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: Addresses to Students at Kfar Haroeh (1942, 1944)
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 238
Moreshet Shaul Moreshet Shaul: Introduction to Midrash Rabba – part II
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 121-124
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
