Living with Torah
David Jay DerovanJerusalem 5760It is a tale with a sad ending. It begins with sunshine and light but it ends with darknessand despair. It begins with clarity of vision but it ends in muddy confusion. The original tale istold in
Baba Metzi’a
, on
Daf
84,
Amud Alef
. Here is my version.On a warm, clear day, Rabbi Yochanan went swimming in the Jordan River. “And justwho was this Rabbi Yochanan?” you ask. Rabbi Yochanan was a pre-eminent Rabbinic scholarfrom the Galilee town of Tzippori. He was on his way to becoming the greatest sage of his time.He was responsible for the
Talmud Yerushalmi
. And he was a most handsome fellow!So, where were we? Oh, yes, Rabbi Yochanan was swimming in the river. All of asudden, in jumps a striking fellow named Shimon. Rabbi Yochanan immediately recognizedthis second bather for what he was, namely a Jewish bandit. Recognizing a strong, muscularfellow when he sees one, Rabbi Yochanan called out to him, “Your strength was meant forTorah!”“And your beauty was meant for women!” replied the robber.“Do
Teshuva
, return to the Torah of your youth and you can marry my sister, who is evenmore beautiful than me!” countered Rabbi Yochanan.To make a short story even shorter, the bandit agreed. Funny, though, after acceptingRabbi Yochanan’s challenge to study Torah seriously and to become a
Ba’al Teshuva
, Shimonthe bandit could not manage to jump back onto the riverbank. My
Chavruta
, Rashi¸ explainsthat after placing the yoke to Torah and
Mitzvot
on his shoulders, Shimon lacked the strength forhis usual acrobatics.Thus began a lifelong friendship and partnership between two outstanding personalities.The
Gemara
reports that Rabbi Yochanan taught his new disciple, Shimon ben Lakish, Bibleand
Mishnah
and made out of him a great man. Rabbi Yochanan lived to be almost 100 yearsold. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish – fondly known as Raish Lakish – was about 10 years his junior.The first half of our tale must have taken place when both men were relatively young. Thus, wecan safely assume that they studied together for close to seventy years! Is it any wonder that attimes Rabbi Yochanan calls Raish Lakish, “my right hand”? Aside from being brothers-in-law –yes, Raish Lakish did marry Rabbi Yochanan’s beautiful sister – they were inseparable, likebrothers. To the untrained eye, it would seem that they were formidable adversaries, for theyseem to argue with each other on almost every page of the Talmud and Midrash. Yes, theyargued vehemently about every major halachic and aggadic issue. However, it was a true laborof love between two scholars, between a life-long mentor and a life long disciple. Step into any
Bayt Midrash
and you can hear the Rabbi Yochanan’s and Raish Lakish’s of today arguing atthe top of their lungs, but you can see in their eyes, in their gestures that they are also the best of friends.For almost seventy years Rabbi Yochanan and Raish Lakish were a successful
Chavruta
,learning pair. Until one day, when the discussion in the
Bayt Midrash
was turned to swords andknives. When can a sword or a knife or a long knife or a spear or a hand sickle or a sickle forharvesting become ritually unclean,
Tamay
? Everyone agreed that these items can becomeritually unclean,
Tamay
when the smithy is finished making them. So when is themanufacturing process complete? For an authoritative answer, all eyes and ears were turned tothe two elder rabbinic statesmen who were present. Sure enough, an argument ensued. RabbiYochanan said, “They can become ritually unclean,
Tamay
, from the time they are shaped byfire in the furnace.”Raish Lakish disagreed. “They can become ritually unclean,
Tamay
, only after they havebeen polished with water.”Let’s take a moment to reflect. My other
Chavruta
, Tosafot, raised an interestingquestion. Here, we have two of the greatest, if not the greatest sages of their time making afundamental error. The
Mishnah
in
Kaylim
, which deals with these issues, states exactly whenthe manufacturing process is considered completed for each kind of knife or bladed object. Theonly problem is that neither Rabbi Yochanan’s nor Raish Lakish’s answers agree with the
Living with Torah - 2
statements found in the
Mishnah
. That these two gentlemen should not remember or know a
Mishnah
is inconceivable! Tosafot suggested an answer. However, it raises more questions thanit answers. So, back to our tale, but don’t forget this question. It is a crucial one.Here is the rest of the tale, ‘till the bitter end.“Well, a bandit surely knows banditry!” exclaims Rabbi Yochanan, in response to RaishLakish’s answer, implying that Raish Lakish certainly would know all there is to know aboutswords and knives.“What good have you done for me?” asks Raish Lakish. “Before, they – my fellowrobbers -- called me, Rebbe, and here – in the Yeshiva -- they call me, Rebbe.”“The good I have done for you,” replied Rabbi Yochanan, “is that I have brought youunder the wings of the
Shechinah
.”Rabbi Yochanan became so upset that he could not think straight, while Raish Lakishbecame sick, literally sick, deathly sick from this argument.While Raish Lakish lay dying in his bed, his wife came running to her brother. With tearspouring down her cheeks she pleaded with her brother to pray for his friend Raish Lakish. RabbiYochanan refused.“Do it for his children,” she cried, “so they will not become orphans.”Rabbi Yochanan answered by quoting the prophet,
Yirmiyahu
(49:11), “She has leftorphans, I will support them.”“Do it so I will not become a widow!” she screamed at him.Again her brother replied with a quote, the remainder of the verse from
Yirmi’yahu
,“Your widows will trust in me.”Raish Lakish died.Afterwards, Rabbi Yochanan was very sorry. His colleagues asked, “Who can we send tostudy with him so he will return to his former self?” They finally sent the sharpest studentamong them, Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat. He went and sat with Rabbi Yochanan. Every time RabbiYochanan would say something, Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat would quote a bit of Mishnaic materialto support the statement.Finally, Rabbi Yochanan could not stand it any longer. He said to Rabbi Elazar, “Do youreally consider yourself to be like ben Lakish? Whenever I said something, Raish Lakish wouldpepper me with 24 questions and I’d fire back 24 answers. That is how our Torah grew. And allyou can say is that the
Baraita
supports my opinion. Don’t you think I know that already?!”Rabbi Yochanan turned away and began to cry. “Where is ben Lakish? Where is ben Lakish?”He asked over and over again, each time raising his voice louder and louder, until he becametotally confused.The Rabbis prayed that God have mercy and compassion for their colleague, RabbiYochanan. As a result, he, too, died.What happened here? For almost 70 years these two men were as close as brothers. Thegive and take between them has immeasurably enriched the great tapestry of Torah and the veryfabric of our lives. How many hundreds on laws are based on their opinions! And in the endthey upset and insult each other to the point that they die! This is tragedy bordering onabsurdity.The answer to these questions is built on two assumptions. The first is that the
Gemara
isnot a history book. The purpose of the tale is not to be found in the historical facts per se.Rather, the Rabbi of the Talmud and Midrash tell us these stories to teach us something. Andthat something is supposed to affect our lives, here, today.The second assumption is the question raised by our friends the authors of the Tosafot.Why would Rabbi Yochanan and Raish Lakish argue about a well-known
Mishnah
text?They aren’t. A quick look back at the exchange of words that follows their expressedopinions will show that this is not a simple halachic disagreement. Rather, something else,something much deeper is going on here.What started as a halachic question in the
Bayt Midrash
became a sharp argument about
Teshuva
. The question was when can a knife theoretically become ritually impure? The oppositeof ritual impurity is
Taharah
, ritual purity. Only something that is pure, holy, and whole runsthe risk of becoming impure, profaned, and deficient. So when does a
Ba’al Teshuva
finish the
Living with Torah - 3
process of
Teshuva
? When does a
Ba’al Teshuva
become pure and holy to the point that he orshe is at risk of becoming impure?Rabbi Yochanan answers that the process of
Teshuva
ends when the fire has burned awaythe individual’s former life, thereby fashioning a new life, a new person.Raish Lakish, the
Ba’al Teshuva
, replies that the process is finished when the individualhas been polished by water. Water is the metaphor for Torah. When the individual has totallyimmerses himself in Torah, when the
Ba’al Teshuva
has totally adopted a life of Torah and
Mitzvot
, then the process is finished, even if he retains certain elements of his former life.“After all these years, you still remember your knives?” asked Rabbi Yochanan indismay. In the most derogatory and demeaning manner, Rabbi Yochanan accuses Raish Lakishof not having given up his former life as a bandit.Raish Lakish replies, “According to you, I am no better off here, as the head of theYeshiva, than I was as head of my gang of robbers.”“What are you talking about?” screams Rabbi Yochanan. “I brought you back to God!Don’t you see the difference between a life of banditry and a life of Torah after all these years?”In the course of their seventy years together, they never raised the issue. And if RabbiYochanan had his doubts about his lifelong friend, he never expressed them out loud, until now.Raish Lakish turned away broken hearted. He went home, to bed, to die.Rabbi Yochanan and Raish Lakish represent two different models of living a life of Torah. Rabbi Yochanan is the model of “Torah is life.” There is no life outside of Torah. Hismotto comes from
Pirkay Avot
(5:22), “Turn it (the Torah) over again and again, for everythingis in it.” The swirling world around, outside of Torah is at least irrelevant, if not downrightdangerous. You run the risk of becoming unclean,
Tamay
, when you encounter it. If you stillremember all there is to know about knives, then you are still a bandit!Raish Lakish is the model of “life with Torah.” Through the eyes of Torah, we look at theworld around us. With the ethics of Torah to guide us, we live in the wide world. Optimally, webecome living, breathing, bipedal
Sifray
Torah living in a world teeming with both the good andthe bad, with beauty and ugliness. For a
Ba’al Teshuva
to remember his former life and tocontinue to be involved in the valuable and good parts of that life is positive thing, for that iswhat a life with Torah is all about anyway. Torah teaches us the correct way for living in theworld. Becoming a
Ba’al Teshuva
does not require one to give up art, literature and music,because the observant Jew should also be enjoying the same art, literature and music. To stillknow all there is to know about knives does not mean you are still a bandit!Rabbi Yochanan’s bull-headed and foolish stubbornness does not allow him to see hiserror until it is too late. Ignoring the pleas of his sister, he allows Raish Lakish to die of abroken heart.Poor Reb Elazar ben Pedat meant well. He tried his best. But how can you argue with asage so wise that everything he says is true. It wasn’t Reb Elazar’s own, personal, subjectiveopinion. Rather, every word Rabbi Yochanan uttered could be substantiated by proofs fromother sources. And poor Rabbi Yochanan! He discovers his loss when it is too late. RaishLakish is gone. Only when Raish Lakish is gone forever does Rabbi Yochanan finally see thevalue in Raish Lakish’s knives. Contact and involvement with the world outside of Torahcreates the challenge, the questions that enrich the Torah itself. The twenty-four questions andanswers are equal to the unimpeachable, unchangeable 24 books of the Bible. Nevertheless, thequestions and the answers are the essence of the Oral, Rabbinic tradition. They make theinanimate words scripted on the parchment come alive!“Oh, Raish Lakish! Oh, Raish Lakish! Where are you now?!” wails Rabbi Yochanan.“Where are you? Come back to me so I can tell you I was wrong. You were right. I apologize! Iam, so, so sorry.” Realizing his error, deeply regretting the loss of his best friend, his finestdisciple, Rabbi Yochanan descended into an irreversible depression. With sublime sensitivity,his colleagues pray that God relieve Rabbi Yochanan’s misery. God responds by reunitingRabbi Yochanan with his dear Raish Lakish in the world that is all good.This final clash of Torah titans was a tournament with no victors. The tragic deaths of Rabbi Yochanan and Raish Lakish are the bitter end to an otherwise glorious tale of the laborand love of Torah. As we peruse page after page of Talmud, encountering time and again thesetwo wise men, we must remember the final lesson they taught us, the expensive lesson that cost
of 00
Rabbi Yochanan and Raish Lakish
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