07 Jun THE HONOR OF TORAH

How is it possible for
a mortal human being to
cling to Hashem? The
Rambam answers that
by cleaving to talmidei
chochomim, you are
fulfilling this posuk. Why
is that? Because a talmid chochom has Torah
in him. He is a living Torah scroll because,
as we explained, Hashem and Torah are
the same. Therefore, when you cling to a
talmid chochom, you are indeed clinging to
Hashem.
The Gemora tells us of Shimon Ha-Amsoni.
Shimon Ha-Amsoni would explain all the
words ‘es’ (the often non-translated word
spelled simply aleph-sav) wherever they
occur the Torah. He would expound on the
specific meaning of this mysterious word,
explaining what it added to the meaning
of the sentence, every time it appeared in
the Torah. Then, he came to the posuk, Es
Hashem Elokecha tira – You should fear your
G-d.” What could that ‘es’ possibly come
to tell us? What could it possibly include?
What could be put on the same par as fear of
Hashem? As a result of being confounded by
this posuk, Reb Shimon wanted to discard
all his work and to conclude that all the
‘eses’ in the Torah do not come to teach us
anything. Until, that is, along came Rabbi
Akiva and explained, “Es Hashem Elokecha
tira: L’rabos talmid chochom – The ‘es’ is
coming to include a talmid chochom.” You
must fear a talmid chochom like you fear
Hashem.
How could Rabbi Akiva equate fear of a
talmid chochom with fear of G-d? Because,
as we’ve explained, the Torah of the talmid
chochom is a chelek of Hashem. When you
show fear of a talmid chochom, you aren’t
fearing the man. You are fearing the Torah
he has within him. And this was the fatal
mistake the students of Rabbi Akiva made.
They felt that each one had exactly the same
as the next, so why should they honor one
another?
Now, if the point was to honor the person,
they could have had a valid argument.
However, it’s not the person that has to be
respected, but the knowledge of Torah that
he possesses. So even though they all had
the same amount of learning and the same
amount of Torah in them, each and every one
of them, nevertheless, contained a chelek of
Hashem. And, therefore, they should have
honored one another. This was indeed such
a grievous mistake that they deserved to die
a horrible death.
Again, we can see our concept in the
posuk, “Mipnei seiva tokum, v’hadarta
p’nei zakein, v’yareisa m’Elokecha – Stand
up for an elderly person, and stand up for a

zakein, and fear your G-d.” Isn’t a zakein an
old person? Isn’t the posuk being more than
a bit redundant? The Gemora answers that
zakein, refers to, “Zeh sh’konoh chochma
– One who has acquired wisdom.” In other
words, regarding a talmid chochom, it isn’t a
matter of age, young or old.
Why should we stand for a talmid
chochom? Because, the posuk continues,
you should fear your G-d. When you stand
up for a talmid chochom, you are illustrating
your fear of Hashem. A talmid chochom has
Torah, and Torah is a part of Hashem. So
when you stand up for a talmid chochom,
and when you fear him, you are showing that
you fear the Torah that is within him, and
you are showing your fear of Hashem.
Koheles [perek ches, posuk yud-gimel],

says “V’tov lo yehiyeh l’rasha. V’ Lo ya-
arich yamin asher einenu yarei mipnei

Elokim – It will not be good for the wicked
man. He won’t have a length of days, because
he does not have the fear of G-d in him.”
What exactly is Shlomo HaMelech referring
to when he says that the rasha will not live
long because he does not fear Hashem?
The Gemora in Kiddushin states (by
principle of substitution) that the rasha will
not live long because he does not stand up
for a talmid chochom. Because, in the posuk
of ‘V’hadarta p’nei zakein,’ as in this posuk,
the idea of fearing Hashem is mentioned.
So now, we can read the posuk again and
translate it in another way. “It will not be
good for the wicked man. He will not have
a length of days, because he does not stand
up for talmid chochom.” He does not show
them the proper respect.
So here it is clearly spelled out for us.
A posuk with the wisdom of Shlomo
HaMelech foretold the fate of the disciples
of Rabbi Akiva. Because they did not honor
one another, because they did not stand up
for each other, they did not live long lives.
They all died young.
We can all learn a very important lesson
from this incident. When it comes to
honoring a person, a kollel man or even a
talmid chochom has to show proper respect
for someone who learns Torah. It makes no
difference if that person didn’t learn as many
mesechtas or if that person learns ‘only’
Chumash. We are not honoring the person’s
prowess in learning. Rather, we are honoring
the fact that the person is learning and, as a
consequence, he contains a part of Hashem.
The Derech Chaim, the Sanzer Rav, Zt”l,
would always honor people who knew far
less in Torah than he. Rav Moshe Feinstein,
Zt”l, would even partially stand up for people
who were much younger and certainly not as
great as he in Torah. These two tzadikim did

not look at the person’s accomplishments.
They respected people for the Torah that
they knew, no matter that it was so much
less than what they themselves knew, for
they understood that that person contained a
chelek of Hashem.
In Masechtas Megilah [27b], the Gemora
tells us Rebbe Elazar Ben Shamua enjoyed
an extremely long life. When his students
asked him why he merited such a long life
span, he replied, “Mi’yamei lo pasati al
roshei am kodesh – In all my days, I never
walked over the heads of people that belong
to a holy nation.” What does this mean?
In those days, the talmidim would sit on the
floor around the Rebbe. Rabbi Elazar had a
great many talmidim and, if he would come
late, he would have to step over his students
in order to get to his place in the front. Rabbi
Elazar always made sure to be there early,
before his students arrived, so that he would
not have to subject them to that.
So here we see how a Rebbe went out of
his way not to dishonor his talmidim. Rabbi
Elazar respected his students, not for what
they knew, for he was their teacher and thus,
knew much more than they. He honored them
because they learned Hashem’s Torah. They
were living Sifrei Torah, each containing a
piece of Hashem.
That is the reason Rabbi Elazar merited
such along life. He was mechabed (one who
honors) the Torah. We can see from here
that, not only will one who does not respect
the Torah not live long, but the reverse is
also true.
Indeed, this was the derech of Rabbi
Elazar’s life. In Pirkei Avos [perek daled,
Mishna yud-gimmel], it says that Rabbi
Elazar used to say: Yehi kavod talmidcha
chaviv alecha k’shelach – Let the honor of
your student be as dear to you as your own
honor. Here he is espousing the principle
that you should honor your talmid. Why?
Because of the Torah he is learning.
We know now that if we don’t show the
proper respect, it is deadly. The talmidim of
Rabbi Akiva reasoned logically that there
was no need for one to honor the other. One
has just as much as the other. However, they
should have realized that they had to honor
the Torah inside the person, the chelek of
Hashem that is contained within him.
This is why, during this time of year, we
observe a national mourning to engrave
this lesson upon our hearts and minds.
During these days of sefira, these days of
hachana (preparation) for Kabalas HaTorah,
preparation for receiving the Torah anew,
we have to ask ourselves: Do we practice
this very important concept? Do we give

honor to all those who learn Torah? Or do
we honor only those who are outstanding
in Torah? And of course, if we do find fault
with ourselves in this aspect, now is the time
to correct it, during these days of mourning.
The Rambam in Hilchos Talmud Torah
[perek vav, halacha yud-alef], states, “Kol
hamevazeh talmid chochom, ein lo chelek
Olom HaBah – One who embarrasses a
talmid chochom does not have a share in
the World to Come.” That’s a pretty final
punishment: To lose forever. To lose eternity.
But now we can understand why. The
person who embarrasses a talmid chochom
is not only embarrassing the flesh and blood,
he is embarrassing a part of Hashem. And
that deserves the most severe punishment.
We have to realize that Hashem went to
great lengths to teach us this concept. “Yakor
b’einei Hashem, ha’mafsa hachasidov – It
is very hard on Hashem, the death of his
righteous ones.” And Hashem had to part
with, not only one tzadik, but twenty-four
thousand tzadikim. And the world was left
devoid of Torah.
But Hashem did this in order to impart to
us this very crucial lesson. Let us take it to
heart and pass this all important message on
to our children. And in the merit of the honor
we give to Hashem, our Kavod HaTorah
and His Torah scholars, may we be blessed
with may we be blessed with long life, good
health, and everything wonderful.