Sunday, March 10, 2013

Parshas Vayikra - The Art of Listening

Thoughts on The Parsha
Parshas Vayikra



The Art of Listening
By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיִּקְרָא אֶל משֶׁה וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֵלָיו מֵאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֵאמֹר: דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם אָדָם כִּי יַקְרִיב מִכֶּם קָרְבָּן לַה' מִן הַבְּהֵמָה מִן הַבָּקָר וּמִן הַצֹּאן תַּקְרִיבוּ אֶת קָרְבַּנְכֶם

He [Hashem] called to Moshe and Hashem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying: Speak to the B'nei Yisroel and say to them: When a person from among you will bring an offering to Hashem: from the animals – from the cattle and from the flocks you shall bring your offering.”
-Vayikra 1:1-2

Rashi1 on this passuk (verse) describes that throughout the Torah there are many breaks.2 The purpose of these breaks was to give Moshe time to digest and understand what he had been taught by Hashem. Rashi then ends by saying a kal v'chomer: If Moshe, who learned from Hashem, needed breaks for contemplation, then certainly ordinary people such as ourselves who learn from ordinary people must stop to take breaks in order to properly understand what the other is teaching.

The Sifsei Chachomim3 explains that the kal v'chomer that Rashi is saying is quite clear: If Moshe, an incredible student, was learning from Hashem, Who is certainly the best teacher available, still required breaks in order to try to understand what was being taught. How much more so must we take many breaks to digest what is being taught to us from ordinary people.

Let us zoom out a little in order to appreciate what is being said here. There are two main reasons why a person would need to take breaks during a learning session. One is because it is hard for some people to sit for long periods of time. It is therefore wise and healthy to take breaks and recesses to clear one's mind to be able to be more productive. The other reason a person may need a break is because one might simply not understand the material being taught, and therefore require extra time in order for him to think about what is being said. It sounds from Rashi and the Sifsei Chachomim that this latter type of break is what is being referred to. For some reason, Moshe actually needed breaks in order to understand what Hashem was teaching him.

The Nachalas Yaakov4 is very bothered by this Rashi and asks the following two questions. First of all, surely there is no better teacher than Hashem. The Creator, with infinite wisdom and Who knows His creations the best, certainly has the ability to convey any message or teaching to man in the clearest of ways. If so, how could it be that Moshe needed breaks in order to understand what was being taught to him? Why did Moshe experience confusion if he had the best teacher possible?

Second of all, what is the kal v'chomer that Rashi is trying to present? It would make sense if Moshe really was able to understand it himself but Hashem gave him the breaks to teach him not to rely on his sharpness, so then there would be a kal v'chomer to us that certainly we should not rely on our own sharpness. However, it seems from Rashi that Moshe really did need the breaks; but if so, why is a kal v'chomer necessary? Even without a kal v'chomer it should be obvious that we need breaks to understand things when learning from ordinary people, simply because we would not understand it otherwise!

The Nachalas Yaakov ends without an answer to his problems with this Rashi. However, perhaps the explanation is as follows. If one stops to think about the process that everyone goes through when communicating, one will realize how complicated simple-communication really is. When two people are having a conversation, what is being said is really going through a five step process. The idea trying to be conveyed begins its journey in one person's head. The person decides what he wants, or more precisely, what he means to say. Then, he must choose the words he will use to express his idea. This is followed by the time and space the words travel between the ones having the conversation. Then, the listener hears what is being said to him, followed by the last step in the process which is digesting the information and interpreting what he heard.

This last step in the process is the hardest of them all. It is easy to hear what someone else has said and it is also generally easy to interpret what one has heard, but that is not enough. In order to fully understand and appreciate a message trying to be conveyed, one must remove the built-in filter which shapes the way one hears things and instead focus on what the communicator was trying to relate.
The Mishna in Pirkei Avos5 says that Antignos from Socho used to teach, “Do not be like servants who serve their master on the condition of receiving a reward; instead be like servants who serve their master not on the condition of receiving a reward; and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.” Antignos was teaching that although the reward in Olam Habbah (the World to Come) which awaits those who follow the ways of Hashem are endless and greater than anything imaginable, when we serve Hashem it should be out of complete love and fear of Him, and not just because we will receive reward for doing the right thing.

The Rashbam in Bava Basra6 brings from the Avos D'rebbe Nosson7 that Tzadok and Beisus were talmidim (students) of Antignos. One time they were teaching this mantra of their rebbe, Antignos, but their students confused what they said and took the message of to not be like workers who work in order to get paid, to mean that people who do mitzvos and work for Hashem do not get rewarded.

The students of Tzadok and Beisus did not take the time to listen to the message that their rabbeim were trying to convey. They simply allowed their default hearing skills to kick in. Tzadok and Beisus knew what they themselves wanted to say, they said it, it reached the ears of their talmidim, but the talmidim just did not stop to think what their rabbeim meant, rather they merely depended on what they thought they heard – or perhaps what they wanted to hear.

With this in mind, perhaps we could now answer the questions of the Nachalas Yaakov and better understand the Rashi in this week's parsha. Of course Hashem is the best teacher of the world and could convey any message as clear as crystal. However, even as great of a talmid as Moshe rabbeinu needs time to understand the underlying reasoning and message of what is trying to be conveyed.

We say in Shema, Im shamoa tishm'u” - you shall surely listen. The Gemara in Berachos8 makes a drasha from here: If you listen, then you will listen. But if you will not listen, then you will not understand. Only if one listens to what the Torah and the chochamim (sages) are trying to tell us, will one gain a true understanding of what was said.

Many misunderstandings and arguments stem not from disagreement, but rather from mis-communication. It is not easy to pause our own thoughts and opinions in order to realize the idea that someone else is trying to convey. Unless we consciously decide to listen the right way, we will not even notice that what we are hearing is going through our own heads without taking account what was meant to be said.
This is exactly what Rashi is teaching us. Even Moshe Rabbeinu needed to take breaks to put himself in Hashem's head – so to speak – in order to comprehend what was being taught to him. So certainly we, who are normal people learning from ordinary people, must take breaks in order to be able to put ourselves in others' minds. Only then will the communication process be complete and allow for the possibility of im shamoa tishm'u. This is the real art of listening.

1Vayikra 1:1
2These breaks in the Torah could take one of two forms – either pesucha (literally: open) or s'tumah (literally closed). Pesucha is when the spaces go to the end of the line,
whereas s'tumah is when the space is a break in a line                                 but the text continues further on in the same line.
3Vayikra 1:1
4Ibid.
5Avos 1:3
6Bava Basra 115b
7Avos D'rebbe Nosson 5:2
8Berachos 40a
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