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    CURING THE “EVERYONE DISEASE”

    The Gemara in Masechet

    Kiddushin (32ha-b) brings

    Rav Yosef’s ruling that a

    Rabbi is allowed to forego

    on the honor owed to him

    by virtue of his Torah

    scholarship. Rav Yosef reached this

    conclusion on the basis of the fact that

    Hashem Himself waived His honor when He

    led and guided the Jewish People when they

    left Egypt. If G-d Himself could forego on

    His honor, Rav Yosef reasoned, then

    certainly a Rabbi can waive the honor owed

    to Him.

    Rava challenged this line of reasoning. He

    said that G-d owns everything, and so He

    has the authority to forego on His honor.

    But a Rabbi represents the Torah – and the

    Torah is not his that he can waive the honor

    owed to the Torah. We are required to show

    honor to Rabbis because they represent the

    Torah – and no Rabbi has the authority to

    forego on the honor that we must give to the

    Torah.

    But then Rava changed his mind, and

    :conceded to Rav Yosef’s ruling. He said

    Indeed, the Torah is”†–†אי≠ן¨†תו≠רה†די≠לי≠ה

    his.” When a person learns and becomes a

    scholar, he “acquires” the Torah. It becomes

    his. Rav proves this from the second pasuk

    in Tehillim which says about a Torah

    he –†בת≠ור≠תו†יה≠גה†יו≠מם†ול≠יל≠ה†¨scholar

    delves into “his Torah” day and night. A

    scholar is considered to “own” the Torah he

    learned. And so a Rabbi does, in fact, have

    the right to waive the honor owed to him

    This is a critically important statement, one

    which encapsulates one of the main

    objectives of the holiday of Shavuot. It is

    about making a commitment to “own” the

    Torah, to build a very personal connection

    with the Torah. Accepting the Torah means

    that we do not merely flow with the tide,

    doing what everybody else does. It means

    that we make the decision to take the Torah

    and make it part of our essence, part of our

    very being.

    Our community has so much to be proud of

    in regard to religious observance. I feel,

    however, that many of us suffer from what

    we might call “the everyone disease.” We

    are too affected by what everyone else is

    doing. We are too conscious of how people

    are living their lives, and this can sometimes

    pull us to act in a way which isn’t right for

    us, and pull us away from acting the way

    which is right for us.

    Shavuot is the time to establish that תו≠רה

    די≠די≠ה†הי≠א†– to make the Torah our own. It

    is a time to make a personal commitment

    that does not depend on anybody else but

    ourselves, a commitment to be who we’re

    supposed to be without considering what

    other people are doing, or what other people

    are going to think of us. It’s often a lot easier

    to just be like everyone else. It’s easier to

    just ride along the current, to go along with

    the flow. But this is not

    how we are going to achieve. In order to

    achieve, we need to work hard. And part of

    that hard work is developing our own

    selves, being who we should be even if that

    means being different than the people

    around us. Let us try to

    cure the “everyone disease,” and make the

    commitment to “own” the Torah, to build a

    deep, personal connection to the Torah,

    without worrying about what other people

    are doing or saying.