אברהם רבקש Avraham Rivkas

Torah Honor Inflation

Plenty of talk in Yeshiva (and Yeshiva Circles) concerns the exaggerated accolades presently given to just about everybody. This, of course, devalues the praises, just like any good found in excessive supply. I call it “Honor Inflation“.

Empty titles are even better than ‘No-Show Jobs’! The problem, though, is that sooner or later we all suffer from decreased scholarship. As humans, we toil in part to gain respect and admiration from others.

Like academic grade inflation in government education, this widespread counterfeiting of honorifics doubtless has some effect on weakening study and erudition as well. See here and here for further analysis.

You may have heard of Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna’s Trend Forecast. Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, dean of Knesset Yisrael – Chevron (Geulah) predicted things would eventually get so bad, eventually one will refer to another as a ‘Gaon’ only to be met by the insulted retort of “Me, a Ga’on? You are a Ga’on! (Take that!)”…

I recently found the same idea expressed as early as Rabbi Nosson of Plotzk, see Mishna Sotah, end –

בעקבות משיחא חצפא יסגא ויקר יאמיר הגפן תתן פריה והיין ביקר והמלכות תהפך למינות ואין תוכחה בית ועד יהיה לזנות והגליל יחרב והגבלן ישום ואנשי הגבול יסובבו מעיר לעיר ולא יחוננו וחכמת סופרים תסרח ויראי חטא ימאסו והאמת תהא נעדרת נערים פני זקנים ילבינו זקנים יעמדו מפני קטנים בן מנבל אב בת קמה באמה כלה בחמתה אויבי איש אנשי ביתו פני הדור כפני הכלב הבן אינו מתביש מאביו ועל מי יש לנו להשען על אבינו שבשמים

During the time preceding the coming of Mashiach, insolence will increase and honor will soar. The vine will yield its fruit but the wine will be costly (for everyone will be partying); and the government will turn to heresy and there will be no rebuke. The meeting house for the sages will be used for immorality and the Galilee will be destroyed and Gavlan will be desolate, and the people living on the border will wander about from city to city and will not be comforted. The wisdom of the scholars will degenerate, and those who fear sin will be despised, and truth will be absent. Young men will shame elders, and elders will rise before youngsters. A son will scorn his father; a daughter will rise against her mother; a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog, a son will not be ashamed before his father. Upon whom can we rely? Only upon our Father in Heaven!

Mishnah Translation: DafNotes (modified slightly).

Tosafos Yom Tov explains the highlighted words above –

 (ויוקר יאמיר), וכן הגירסא בבבלי וירושלמי. ורש”י לא פירש כלום ואולי גירסתו כגירסת בעל עין יעקב דגריס ויוקר יהא. וכן מצאנו במדרש רבה שיר השירים בפסוק התאנה חנטה. ויוקר הוה. ובפרק חלק דף צ”ז גרסינן והיוקר יעוות ופירש”י היוקר יעוות. שלא יכבדו זה את זה. יקר כבוד. ל”א היקר יעוות מכובד שבהן יהא עותן ורמאי. מ”ר ע”כ.

והר”ר נתן פלאצקע”ר אמר כי יאמיר מענין גבהות כמו שפירש הר”ב על אמרכל במשנה ב’ פ”ה דשקלים. וכיוצא בזה פירש הרד”ק בראש אמיר דישעיה י”ז שהוא הסעיף העליון ויהיה ענינו בכאן שהיוקר יגדל עד למעלה כאדם האומר יש יקרות שאין למעלה הימנו.

עוד יש לפרש מלשון את ה’ האמרת היום (דברים כ”ו) שפירש”י מל’ אהבה ויוקר כפירוש ראשון שכתב רש”י בפרק חלק. שענינו כבוד. והמכוון שהכבוד יהיה נאהב מאד לרדף אחריו. והרי זה דוגמת וחוצפא יסגא ומענינו והיין ביוקר.

In other words, according to Tosafos Yom Tov, “Yoker” is not high prices (as it is commonly translated), but honor. Joining Rabbi Nosson of Plotzk’s bit on “Ya’amir”, with this definition of Yoker, we presumably arrive at an interpretation of honor becoming extreme and exaggerated.

It sounds like he refers to Torah Honor Inflation (E.g. “Harav Rabenu Nosson of Plock, Poland”…!).

Note: I am emphatically not presuming we are presently in the grip of “Moshiach’s Footsteps”. Eschatology is not my strong point. I am simply demonstrating how this social malady was anticipated before the trend became as established as it is today.

By the way, is Rabbi Chatzkel’s prediction a ‘Self-Negating Prophesy’? Unfortunately, it is probably not…

A Parsha Sheet In Farsi…

Here is a curio Parsha sheet I discovered a while back. Almost the whole thing is written in Arabic characters. I assume the language is Farsi because the top right-hand corner refers to the publishers being –

מיראס – מורשת יהדות אירן לתודעה היהודית

Miras – “Bringing Iranian Jewry’s Heritage to Jewish Awareness”

I would love to hear more about this from our readers. Have any of you ever seen anything like it? Can you read it? Assuming you can, what Torah level is it written on? How many religious Iranian Jews are living in Israel anyway?

And how do they expect to reach other Jews while writing in Arab script?

I attached two PDF versions of it here:

Download (PDF, 1.66MB)

Download (PDF, 1.81MB)

Defining Our Terms

Many of us have heard the adage about words being the “building blocks” of language, but not everyone believes it. Many assume they can decipher our sages’ (Chazal) intention without ever knowing the precise translation of their words.

I am not claiming one should start off learning Gemara at age ten with an open dictionary next to the Gemara. Clarity arrives naturally through serious study and familiarity with the body of Chazal’s works. A dictionary is not very useful without an intuitive grasp of Chazal’s literature in its entirety.

But at whatever age one decides to get serious clarity, a good dictionary is a great place to start (the works of Prof. Benjamin De Vries, Gedalya Alon, and Ezra Tzion Melamed, for instance). Learning Gemara — and the Rishonim bring this point out even more powerfully; it is obvious each word was chosen with care because of its specific connotations. Of course, this is true of all texts originating in Chazal.

I recommend trying out the following instructive experiment (yes, at home):

What is “Anavah”, and how does it differ from “Shiflus”?

You probably answered that Anavah means “Religious Humility”, while “Shiflus” is neutral, or a Defeatist lack of confidence and \ or self-esteem?

Fine, but how do you explain the term “Anavah shelo Lishmah” (Erchin 16b, cf. Rashi, Tosafos, and the rest)?

OK, I can hear you say, Anavah usually means “Religious Humility”. It is only when the sages are discussing the nonreligious type that they use the term “Anavah Lishmah” and “Anavah shelo Lishmah”.

But we aren’t out of the woods yet. If Anavah means humility, what is “Anvesanus”?

Rashi Gittin 56a says it means patience, but Rabbi Tzevi Chajes (ad. loc.) says the word is synonymous with Anavah.

(Since when are two synonymous words used by Chazal in different contexts? I’ll leave that one for you.)

Don’t tell me it means “false-religious-humility”, because the term is used for Moses as well. Besides, Rabbi Zecharya ben Avkulas is brought down in Shabbos 143a as well – meaning he is a bona fide member of Chazal.

And then there is the word “Anivus”. I know I know, it sounds like a later “Yiddishism”, or mongrel dialect (like “Haftorah”), unrelated to Chazal. But no, it appears in Yalkut Shimoni Tehillim 9:643 (and perhaps other places) —

ויהי ה’ משגב לדך, אמר ר’ יוחנן כל מקום שנאמר דל, דך, מך, עני ואביון, בישראל הכתוב מדבר שאין עניוות זזה מהם משחרב בית המקדש.

So what is the difference between Anivus and Shiflus? Or is it just about the money?

Theories alone do not suffice to decide these questions. Everything must be confirmed by a study of the various sources of Chazal’s usage, not guessed.

I don’t need to tell you that one must examine the words of the Achronim in order to understand Chazal and the Rishonim. Still, one must also take into account that most Achronim are less careful with their own terminology…

Humility itself is notoriously amorphous. How then can you hope to achieve the Anavah Chazal refer to if you don’t even know what it is?!

So don’t be humble; tell us what these words actually mean! This post on humility is just a quick stab at it, and you can probably come up with much better examples than this one.

“Patach Eliyahu” is a short and sweet passage of Zohar on the greatness and unity of G-d.  Some are accustomed to recite it before every prayer. Although most of us can’t understand these ideas in full, the religious impression is intense, giving us at least a taste of the “Knowledge that we don’t know”.

Here’s a beautiful interlinear rendering of this Kabbalistic text in inspiring English, by a new institute aiming to translate the entire Zohar into English. The English is okay, and the translators are actually religious. Q: How common is that? A: It is not! [Disclosure: I know some of the people involved.]

Read and/or download and enjoy.

Download (PDF, 3.71MB)

Check out the rest of their website here.