Rav Soloveitchik on ‘Who is fit to lead the Jewish People’

Author: Esther Ehrman, Iyar 5775/May 2015

A nation needs a leader. Given that G-d is the supreme king of the Jewish people, is there any need for a king of flesh and blood? Commentators debate whether the Bible sees the appointment of a king is a command or a concession - both seem to have backing in the texts. Is there an alternative to a king? Rav Soloveitchik suggests that there is.

When the Israelites ask Samuel for a king, Samuel is displeased, as is G-d, but He tells Samuel to listen to the people. (Samuel 1 ch 8) A king is sanctioned, the Rav explains, because the reality of wars demand it, but his role is bound by a number of conditions: not too much wealth, not too many wives; no stranger may be king, he must write and study a Sefer Torah; above all, G-d will decide who is to be appointed. Kings are given assignments, writes the Rav: ‘Saul was anointed to repulse Philistine attacks; David’s role was to unify the loosely federated tribes into a single nation and to complete the conquest of the Holy Land; Solomon’s mission was to build the Temple’. Kings did not always rise to their missions, the Rav adds. All of this would seem to point to the appointment of a king as a concession. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 20b) takes this view, but also records the view that it is a Mitzva - the view taken by Maimonides. The Gemara lists three commandments to be fulfilled once the Israelites are in the Holy Land: to appoint a king, to destroy the descendants of Amalek and to build the Temple (ibid.), as the Rav notes.

Rav Soloveitchik next discusses briefly why Judges are not an alternative to kings. Again, judgment belongs to G-d. As humans, judges are fallible and when they were the leaders, chaos ruled. The Book of Judges ends with the sentence: ‘In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes’.

The Rav then makes his own suggestion as to who should lead the Jewish people, namely the scholar/teacher/Rebbe. The teacher-student/disciple relationship has always been encouraged; Moses is called Moshe Rabbenu - not Moshe Malkenu. People like the Baal Shem Tov and the Vilna Gaon have influenced millions on account of their wisdom and Torah scholarship, unlike the king, who inhibit and coerce their subjects, the Torah teacher develops and brings out the best in his students; these will follow their teachers willingly, since they love and admire them.

The Rav cites Maimonides: ‘And if a king will arise from the Davidic dynasty, studying Torah and occupying himself with Mitzvot like David his ancestor, in accordance with both the Written and Oral law and oblige [lit. bend] all Israel to follow him, and fight the wars of the Lord - him we may presume [i.e. there is a hazakah] to be the Messiah (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:4). Such a person would have a kingship that enables the wars of the Lord to be fought and the Torah to be followed.

We might see similarities here with Plato who, in his work, The Republic, suggests that a philosopher-king, seeking and loving wisdom and the truth, can alone be entrusted to be the guardian of the laws of the State. An essential difference is that Rav Soloveitchik sees the Torah scholar as a teacher who inspires love and implementation of the Torah.

Rav Kook: chapter from Musar Avicha

Author: Esther Ehrman, Tishri 5776/October 2015

In this section of Musar Avicha, Rav Kook discusses G-d’s attribute of Truth. It is, says Rav Kook, His hallmark in our world, His recognisable stamp. Our relationship with the Divine depends on the conduit - our Service, our prayers - conforming to this, speaking, as it were, His language of truth, acting in accordance with His, evidently ‘true’, values.

To this end, we need our intelligence and knowledge, which will, in turn, inform our will (ratzon). Nothing can take place unless we will it. However, since the language is the language of truth, our Service must ensure that what it expresses - our will - is ‘true’.

The concept of ‘will’ was the subject of philosophical discussions in Rav Kook’s day. Two German philosophers, Schopenhauer (first half of 19th century) and Nietzsche (second half of 19th century) had seen man’s will power as a basic drive of human activity. Schopenhauer considered it the will to life; Nietzsche wrote about the will to might/power, a notion that, in a somewhat distorted form, was to be adopted by Nazi ideology. Human action depends on the will that will enable a desire, plan, idea to become reality. If society is to improve, that will needs strength, as it does for the individual to achieve.

Rav Kook looks at the will of the individual in its relationship to the will of G-d; the nature of the will is necessarily determined by the attribute of truth in G-d’s will. Truth is not instinctive, but it is inherent in man’s will, a Divine ingredient in man. It is there, to be uncovered and made manifest, so that the communication can be possible. This does not entail denying or overcoming one’s personal will, but ensuring that it is one’s ‘true’ will. That is the subject of this section.

Deeds have a true value, which does not depend on the benefit accrued. Rav Kook illustrates this with two examples: one is the person who, in saving himself from danger, also saves a fly in the process. Should he see the saving of the fly - the other - as more valuable than saving his own life? That would surely be misguided, since human life is more valuable. In the second example a person saves many people and gets a large reward. He is happier about the reward than about his act of saving others. This, too, is misguided.

Rav Kook explains that while such evaluations are part of the process of finding truth, they are not the essential part. However, he warns that self interest in evaluating any deed can mislead and cloud our judgment and may thus prevent us from getting to our true will. We always need the guidelines of the Torah, of course, in this process. Otherwise, we might think we are doing what is good, like being concerned with others (chesed) when that is not so, as, for instance, when Saul saved the life of the wicked Amalek.

To reach the goal of a connection with G-d, we need to have humility (anava) and the ability to acknowledge the good in the world (hakarat ha tov) that G-d has blessed us with. Armed with both of these and using our intelligence, it will be possible to discern the true will and pray for things that accord with it. We will then be in a position to ask for things that accord with the Divine will (e.g. perhaps, ask for the ability to help others?).

Existence, life, is a supreme good, clearly so from G-d’s point of view, since He created it. Our aim must therefore be, to have ‘true’ life. There is nothing egoistic about that aim; it enables us to make G-d’s will a reality. This is exemplified in the last lines of this section, where G-d asks the Messiah, Rav Kook tells us, what he would like to be given. The Messiah answers: life. That is the model for a human will that conforms to G-d’s truth, the hallmark of His will to benefit humanity.

Shass Syum

Author: Esther Ehrman, Heshvan 5776/October 2015

Your kosher cruise has been shipwrecked. You are now on a desert island; with your family and a couple of other Jewish families. You all have children, young teen agers mostly. You managed to salvage a complete Shass, and now you need to take on the education of your children. How will they fare?

Your primary concern, naturally, is Jewish education and here, of course, the Shass will serve you well. The whole Shass is required; you might think that Seder Zeraim is about the sanctity of the produce you grow - but then what is Messechet Berakhot doing there? You might think that Seder Neziqin is about the laws of property, but then it has the essentially ethical Messechet Avot etc. After one round of seven plus years of a daf a day, the children are obviously not going to master the details of complex halachic discussions. What will they have learnt?

The youngsters will certainly come away with a fascinating awareness of their ancestors’ lives focussed on the Beit haMiqdash and the corollary concepts of kedusha and chol, tuma and tahara, which somehow find their way into every Messechet The question arises, is such knowledge just the material of history, a cultural, social history? Of course not. It is of great historical interest, but that is secondary.

Knowledge of the relationship of the Jewish people to the Beit haMiqdash provides the groundwork for our relationship to H’. An awareness of kedusha and tahara, tuma and chol, define our Jewish life, whether in contracting marriages, kashrut,having children, building a Sukka, keeping Shabbat, Jewish agriculture with its emphasis on ethics, or doing business (try selling a Shul building..) Your children will come away with all the essentials of Judaism and its values.

Will the youngsters get a secular education from the Shass? They say that there is no such thing as Jewish physics. Perhaps. But there is such a thing as learning everything in a Jewish context. We have already mentioned Jewish history and social history. Clearly, there is Jewish legal thinking, a structuring of courts of law and their conduct (Sanhedrin, Makkot). Jewish agriculture, as already said. Some (Jewish?) maths will be required if, like R.Yochanan, you need to fit 24 people into a round Sukka - a notion of Pi is required here, as it is in the measurements in Eruvin. Geography? Not that much (those people in the Galil come up periodically, with their different practices...). Literature? Well, aggadeta are legion. Since that is my field, I’d like to remind you of one, short sample, on Qiddushin 31a:

‘They asked Rabbi Eliezer: how far does one take ‘honour [your] father and mother’? He said to them: Come, see what was done by a Gentile in Ashkelon. His name was Dama ben Netinah. The Sages asked him for jewels for the Ephod [of the Cohen Gadol], worth sixty thousand - according to Rav Kahana Mattenei, worth eighty thousand. Now, the key [to the box of jewels] was lying under his father’s head. He did not disturb him. In another year H’ rewarded him and a red heifer was born in his flock. Israel’s Sages (elders) came to his house. He said to them: I know that if I ask for all the money in the world, you will give it to me, but I shall only ask you for the amount that I lost on account of ‘honour [your] father’ (the original sum). Suspense, characterisation, the - Jewish - message are all there.

One should not, of course, forget about linguistics, endless words are analysed, logic, how to present arguments and more.

Clearly, with just one round of seven and a half years of learning Talmud, your children seem to be equipped to contribute to society. You can now build a boat and return to the mainland.