Aggadot from Hamivtar

by
Rabbi Yitzchak Blau

Breadth, Depth and Choosing a Rosh Yeshivah

Rav Yosef was referred to as Sinai (someone with great breadth of knowledge) while Rabbah was said to be an oker harim, uprooter of mountains (excellent in analytical reasoning). The time came that one of them was needed (to become the Rosh Yeshivah). They sent a message to the Rabbis there: “ A Sinai and an uprooter of mountains. Which one of them takes precedence?” They (the Rabbis) sent back: “Sinai takes precedence for all need the master of the wheat (the one who has gathered all the talmudic teachings). Nevertheless, Rav Yosef did not accept the position. Rabbah ruled (as Rosh Yeshiva) for twenty-two years and then Rav Yosef ruled for two and a half years. All the years that Rabbah ruled, Rav Yosef did not even call a bloodletter to his house. (Berakhot 64a, Horayot 14a)

This story beings with an important educational question and then ends with a note of ethical excellence on the part of Rav Yosef. According to Rashi, the bloodletter made house calls as a sign of respect for distinguished people. Rav Yosef refused to accept that honor so as not to set himself up as a challenger to Rabbah. Let us turn to the educational question. The first point that should be made is that we are not talking about two extremes. If the uprooter of mountains knows nothing about halakha, then he has nothing to analyze. If the fellow who has learned it all shows little understanding of the material, he also cannot function productively in the beit medrash. Meiri explains the Sinai as someone who can make analogies and extrapolations but lacks the creative reasoning of the oker harim. Presumably the uprooter of mountains also has learned a good deal of material. The gemara’s question refers to Rabbis with different emphases and diverse strengths.

It seems that the Rabbis prefer that the scholar with vast knowledge assume the mantle of leadership. Rav Shelomo Kluger argues that this was only true in the times of the Talmud before the entire oral law was committed to writing. Then, the most crucial issue was finding someone who could report all the traditional material needed for discussion. Now that the oral law can be easily found in writing, the uprooter of mountains would take precedence. Rav Ovadia Yosef, in his introduction to Yabia Omer, cites many authorities that, contra R. Kluger, still maintain that a Sinai takes precedence. This debate has a certain poetic appropriateness in that Rav Kluger offers an innovative and reasonable argument for the oker harim and R. Yosef shows his great knowledge to support the Sinai.

One might conclude that every educational institution needs both types of scholars. Indeed, Neziv (Meromei Sadeh on Horayot) argues that Rav Yosef was able to step aside only because he remained in the yeshiva and provided his knowledge. The yeshiva was able to draw on the knowledge of Rav Yosef even as it was led by the sharp reasoning of Rabbah.

Rav Kook (Ein Ayah on Berakhot) frames the question differently. He suggests that the Sinai is able to teach the masses but the oker harim cannot. The common Jews find his abstract reasoning incomprehensible. Nevertheless, both impact on the entire population. The Sinai is able to impact directly by teaching the masses. The oker harim teaches the learned and the scholarly who then in turn succeed in giving over some of his teaching to the broader populace. When the Rabbis decided that “ALL need the master of the wheat,” they were preferring the teacher with the ability to speak to the common Jew without the help of an intermediary.

As Josh Young pointed out, the opposite can be true as well. Sometimes, breadth of knowledge makes things difficult for the average reader. One of the difficulties with reading as essay by Isaiah Berlin or George Steiner is simply keeping up with their massive amount of references. Perhaps, Rav Kook presents a challenge to the leading scholar, be he a Sinai or an oker harim. While there is tremendous value to influencing the community through an intellectual trickle down effect, a leader ultimately has to find a way to teach the broader community in a direct fashion.