The King

In memory of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv who died today, 28 Tammuz, at the age of 102 years old and my impressions of him from when I was a bachur.

I met a King today.  This was not the type of King that is recognized through a panoply of pomp and excercise.  In fact, nothing external hinted at the fact that he was a King.  His dress conformed to the norm of his people and while he did have a cane, there was no way to confuse it with a scepter.  The only possible sign of Kingship was the enclosed golf cart that took him the short distance from his apartment to his castle, the House of Study, but even that could be explained away by necessity as he is 96 years old.  Despite the lack of obvious evidence, the Rabbi who arranged the meeting explained that this was immaterial as his Kingship did not hinge on any external factors.  In fact, his Kingship did not even extend beyond his own body.  He is described as a King for a simple reason, he rules over that which is most difficult, himself.  He has mastered his free will to such an extent that he has taken his place among the righteous and has become the most knowledgeable soul on the planet when it comes to the wisdom of the Talmud.   His name is Rabbi Elyashiv, and he is consider to be a Gadol Hador, or the leader of the generation. 

The Rabbi who took us to see him was brimming with childlike excitement as he explained the magnititude of who we were about to meet.  He had attended his class many times, and explained that each time he is overwhelmed by awe.  I can understand this turgid admiration as all the great people I have met this year, albeit one of my Rabbis or a family, is actually more impressive under the microscope of time. Up to this year, the rule of life had always been that the more time you spent with someone the more you are exposed to their limitations.  Here, the more time I have the privelege to spend with certain people, the more that their depth and completeness is revealed.  While I may be under the influence of rose-tinted glasses, I am fairly certain that these observations are accurate.  After all, there is almost a tendency to seek out failure, because to see such great human beings summons ones own deficiencies to consciousness.  

What is amazing about Rabbi Elyashiv, is that many years beyond most people's retirement, he is in the prime of his career.  At the age of 96 years old, he has entered the summer of his life and the peak of his influence.  He has taken the reigns of what is a pure meritocracy.  His influence is directly correlated to the extent of his knowledge.  Wisdom equals power!  The mere statement is refreshing.  Socrates' dream of a philosopher King has come to fruition within small circles here in Jerusalem.  The word for old in Hebrew is 'zakan', which can stand for 'this has been acquired'.  What is 'this' referring too? Wisdom, the only thing that is truly ours in life.  Everything else in life ebbs and flows with time; wisdom only increases.  And here he is, the richest man in the world, by this definition, giving a cogent lecture at the age of 96 years old! 

 After his lecture in Yiddish, people stormed to the front of the fragile man and asked difficult and pointed questions. (That is another big difference between typical leadership, and the leadership you find here.  The great respect accorded to him makes him a leader, but the respect is not one of quiet acquiescence.  Rather, it is a respect of a worthy intellectual opponent.  You are free to challenge him and investigate the depths of his intellect.  There is no such thing as classified information.  The information is free and available to everyone, and whoever has the best and most logical argument is credited.)   We could not hear the responses, but people seemed satisfied.  We waited to the side for him to walk by so that we could shake his hand and get a brief blessing. Eventually, the crowd of questioners parted and he stood up.  His gait was remarkably agile, and his posture showed that daedal blend of dignity and humility that very few people can master.  He shook my hand for a moment and then it was over.   It was a great experience and a fitting part of my last week here.  

What it takes to lead

Just when it looks like humanity is at its homogeneous peak we remind ourselves that this is not the case.  What am I referring to? A great gathering of people and the blessing a person makes when seeing them: ‘Blessed are you the wise knower of secrets’.   Why did the Rabbis institute this blessing?

 Probably the largest mass of people I’ve ever witnessed was at a funeral for the great Rosh Yeshiva of the MIrrer and fellow Chicagoan, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel.  Not only were there people for as far as the eye could see, but the vast majority wore black hats and suits.  Mixed with the awe that there are so many human beings in this world, there is a feeling that no one is special, yourself included- and those hats only exacerbate the problem.  But we make a blessing that reminds us that, yes, we are unique.   Each person contains a deep secret that must be revealed- what looks the same is nothing but that-looks.   Just as we each have a different face, so too we have a different inside.  Not surprisingly, the word for face, פנים, is the same as the words for internality.  Just as we all look different we all churn differently.  In a crowd, however, faces are lost and we forget. 

                While obvious that everyone is different (how often do we get caught in giant crowds?) that does not translate that we will treat people according to their natures.  More likely, we set a standard for how people should be and when that does not happen, we judge and get inpatient.  For that reason, most of us would not make ideal leaders.  When Moses is about to pass on and he prays that a worthy successor be placed in his stead, what does he ask for?  The midrash says that Moses asked for the following: ‘ May the next leader be patient towards each person according to their temperament…’.  That is the ideal of leadership.  The person who deserves the crown is one who sees each strange person, a זר , and realizes that really the person is a זר (different vowels), a crown- just as special and unique as he is. Therefore,he should be treated on his own terms, not yours. 

                

Better with age

 

                This morning, I sat at the park and tried to learn while my daughter walked around.  She cooed at the cats and demonstrated her latest trick- climbing ladders.  But, for a moment I was engrossed in my learning and didn’t notice when she ran up and started to claw at my legs desperate to get up.  I hadn’t seen anyone else in the park so I was a bit confused.  My daughter tends to be audacious, running up to dogs and meowing at cats.  What scared her? A few second later, the source of the terror appeared.   A mentally ill twenty four year old was walking around with a volunteer caretaker.  The caretaker mused that a girl less than two years old can sense when something is a bit off. 

                We are built with sensitive radars that detect when things are off kilter.  And while they are not meant to be used towards benevolent mentally ill people, they are meant to be used around people who claim to be spiritually uplifted.  How do we know if it is real?

                Well, since we are not always in tune with our internal radars as we are when we are kids, we have to rely on the mind.  One of the hints to a person’s real intentions is to deeply listen to their world views and how they prioritize.  Subconscious tendencies will tell us a lot about where a person is at spiritually.      

                This is the lesson of the rogue seer Bilaam.  He had tremendous spiritual gifts, some of them prophet like.  Despite this, there are several hints that his spiritual prowess was rooted in lowliness.  This is hinted at the difference between how Isaac organized his blessing versus how Bilaam ordered his blessing for Israel. [1] It says in Genesis that Isaac tells Yakov, ‘those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed’.  Rashi comments that by Bilaam it was the opposite.  He tells Israel, ‘those who bless you be blessed, those who curse you be cursed.’  The righteous, their outset is suffering and their end is tranquility…the wicked, their outset is tranquility and their end is suffering.

                This slight nuance depicts a deep difference in world view, and consequently, a testimony on their character. A person rooted in lowliness sees life where the best years are the early years, the now.  When a person is physically strong and capable life is at its peak.  Therefore, his later years are ones of suffering and debilitation.  A person rooted in spirituality realizes that the present is hard work and difficulty.  The best life is the growing life and he will reap the rewards later.   It is no surprise that in Hebrew a reference to youth is חרפה, which means shame or winter, and that old age is קץ, which means summer.  That is also why wine plays an integral role in Jewish life- it gets better with age.  

                This trick can also be used on ourselves to know the true intentions of our hearts.  How do we speak about things and how do we prioritize?  We may subconsciously reveal what is in our hearts.

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[1] Mictav Me’Eliyahu volume five