Pirkei Avos really only has five chapters. The sixth chapter, called \u201cKinyan Torah\u201d (the Acquisition of Torah) or \u201cPerek d\u2019Rabbi Meir\u201d (the Chapter of Rabbi Meir), was appended because of the custom to study Pirkei Avos each Shabbos from Pesach to Shavuos. There are six Shabboses so we need six chapters but Avos chapter 6 is really something else. I mention this only because I chafe a little every time I have to refer to Avos chapter 6.<\/p>\n
That being said, we learn in Avos (not really) 6:6 that one who repeats something in the name of the person who originally stated it brings redemption to the world. This is derived from Esther 2:22 in which Esther told the king of the assassination plot in Mordechai\u2019s name. Because she credited Mordechai, Achashveirosh later remembered that he wanted to reward Mordechai, which was the beginning of the reversal that led to Haman\u2019s downfall. Esther giving Mordechai credit helped to save us all.<\/p>\n
Giving credit is important, so we cite the sources and teachers from whom we have acquired our Torah ideas. But I think there reaches a point where ideas become so firmly entrenched that we take them as axiomatic and no longer even think to cite a source. For example, if someone were to ask whether God has a physical body, I think most of us would simply reply, \u201cNo, of course not!\u201d rather than, \u201cWell, according to Maimonides in his commentary on the Mishna in Sanhedrin, the answer is no.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is an idea that I read recently, which was a chiddush<\/em> (novelty) to me, and I will fully credit the author when I get there. But my hope is for this idea to become so axiomatic that we don\u2019t even think that it needs to be sourced. But first, some background.<\/p>\n Recently, Sarah Rudolph wrote an essay for OU Life entitled Hashem is Where?<\/strong><\/a> in which she discussed our cultural discomfort with talking about God. Here\u2019s an excerpt:<\/p>\n \u201cIn the modern(ish), intellectually-oriented, halachically-observant circles in which I spent most of my formative years, there was often an odd discomfort with talking about Hashem. We believe in G-d, but we are afraid to encounter Him; even in discussions about meaningful spiritual experiences, I would rarely hear \u2018Hashem\u2019 mentioned explicitly.\u201d<\/p>\n That we have such discomfort is not in and of itself a great revelation. I made similar observations four years ago in an article entitled Why Are We So Scared of God?<\/strong><\/a> Again, an excerpt:<\/p>\n \u201c(T)here is a way in which we excel when it comes to fearing God, even though we shouldn\u2019t. For some reason, Jews are afraid to talk about Him. It\u2019s true. We can go through yeshiva for pre-school, grade school, junior high, high school and college, yet never have a single class talking about God.\u201d<\/p>\n Mrs. Rudolph is well aware that others have trod this territory before. In her essay, she referred to having read two very different articles on this subject. She provided me with their web addresses in case I wanted to link to them. I didn\u2019t end up doing so because, while I liked one of them very much, we deemed the other inappropriate for us to link to. But the one I liked very much had an idea that I was eager to share. And here it is.<\/p>\n Techiya Levine wrote a blog post on Times of Israel entitled Knock, knock, knock! Is God there?<\/strong><\/a> She includes observations similar to Mrs. Rudolph\u2019s and my own, such as:<\/p>\n \u201cI found 8 websites for a variety of high schools, both \u2018in\u2019 and \u2018out\u2019 of town. … They cited lofty and valuable goals like \u2018inspiring girls to excellence in personal growth, middos and Torah Values\u2019 or \u2018encouraging them to become active members of their communities.\u2019 \u2018Seeking excellence in Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol\u2019 \u2018Loving Torah and Eretz Yisrael.\u2019 But after the first three, it occurred to me that I hadn\u2019t seen anything like \u2018developing a relationship with Hashem\u2019 on any of them. Actually, none had mentioned G-d. At all.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, unlike Mrs. Rudolph and me, Mrs. Levine doesn\u2019t just identify the problem, she is melamed z\u2019chus<\/em> on the practice (meaning that she explains our shortcoming favorably). Mrs. Levine continues:<\/p>\n \u201cNow, there was one word that was present on each and every site, either in the mission statement itself, or in the \u2018about us\u2019 paragraphs. That word was Torah. \u2026 And then it hit me! Often, great Rabbis are often referred to as the name of the most preeminent book! \u2026 Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, A.K.A. \u2018the Chofetz Chaim.\u2019 Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, A.K.A. \u2018the Chazon Ish.\u2019 And\u2026 Hashem, A.K.A. \u2018the Torah!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It would be dishonest for me to suggest that this is Mrs. Levine\u2019s final point. She goes on to state unequivocally that Torah is not<\/em> the same God, nor should the words be used interchangeably. She does have an action plan, so go read her article<\/strong><\/a> to see what it is. That\u2019s not what I want to focus on. I want to continue being melamed z\u2019chus<\/em> that when we talk about Torah, we really mean God.<\/p>\n If I say, \u201cThe Chofetz Chaim owned a shop in Radin,\u201d you know I don\u2019t mean the book. A book can\u2019t own a store. Clearly, I am referring to the author, who is known by the title of his magnum opus.<\/p>\n Similarly, if I say \u201cThe Torah wants us to be good to one another,\u201d I can\u2019t mean the book. That\u2019s what the Torah is: a book. It has 187 chapters, some 5,800 verses (the exact number depending on how you break them up), 79,847 words and 304,805 letters. It can\u2019t want us to keep Shabbos, to give charity or to honor our parents. If we say that the Torah wants something, we should understand that all the Torah can do is reflect the will of its Author.<\/p>\n I think the first step to overcoming our fear of talking about God is to realize that we\u2019re already<\/em> talking about Him. When we hear \u201cThe Chofetz Chaim,\u201d we know when it means the book and when it means Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan. We should be equally aware that when we talk about Torah, what we really mean is very often God. This may not be the end of the process but I think it\u2019s a very good first step.<\/p>\n This idea was new to me. I credit Mrs. Levine for making the initial observation and Mrs. Rudolph for bringing it to my attention. My hope, however, is that the idea that \u201c\u2018The Torah wants\u2026\u2019 means God\u201d becomes so ingrained that we don\u2019t even question it. We should say, \u201cOf course!\u201d rather than \u201cThat\u2019s a nice thought; who said it?\u201d Once we get past that first hump, I think we\u2019ll be on our way to overcoming our collective case of glossotheophobia<\/em>.<\/p>\n Rabbi Jack Abramowitz is Torah Content Editor at the Orthodox Union. He is the author of six books, including\u00a0The Tzniyus Book<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The Taryag Companion<\/a>. His latest work,\u00a0The God Book<\/a>, is available from\u00a0OU Press<\/a>\u00a0as well as on\u00a0Amazon<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pirkei Avos really only has five chapters. The sixth chapter, called \u201cKinyan Torah\u201d (the Acquisition of Torah) or \u201cPerek d\u2019Rabbi Meir\u201d (the Chapter of Rabbi Meir), was appended because of the custom to study Pirkei Avos each Shabbos from Pesach to Shavuos. There are six Shabboses so we need six chapters but Avos chapter 6<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":59572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n
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