Lesson #87: The Contest
A Rebbe in a yeshiva once decided to incentivize the boys to devote more time and effort to their learning, by running a contest. The students were invited to prepare a series of creative questions and answers on the content of the page of Gemara which they were studying at that time. The Rabbis of the yeshiva would judge the papers, and the boy with the most creative list of questions and answers would receive a special prize. The boys excitedly jump right into this challenge, and spend hours analyzing the page of Gemara and delving into it in an effort come up with the best list of questions answers.
By lunchtime, all the papers are handed in.
Later in the day, a boy approaches his classmate, Reuven, whose father is among the Rabbis in the yeshiva who evaluated the papers.
“Can you do me a favor?” the boy asks. “Can you go into your father’s office and get me some ‘inside information’ about what he and the other Rabbis thought about my paper?”
“No way,” Reuven says. “I know my father. He would never share with me this kind of private information.”
Indeed, Halacha forbids divulging information that had been shared with him in privacy. Hence, it would be strictly forbidden for Reuven’s father to divulge to his son private information about what he and his colleagues thought about the other boy’s paper.
Moreover, if Reuven was in his father’s office, and happened to see his classmate’s paper on the desk, with a note saying it was rejected and explaining why, he would not be permitted to inform his classmate about what the Rabbis thought about his paper. This would constitute Rechilut – the prohibition against telling a person about something that another person said about or did to him, which would arouse within him hostile feelings towards that other individual. In this case, sharing the information with the student would trigger hard feelings toward the Rabbis, this violating an especially severe form of Rechilut, as the information would arouse hostile feelings toward Torah scholars. Rechilut is, of course, always forbidden, but it is an especially severe violation when it evokes resentment towards a Talmid Hacham.
It is difficult enough for a Rebbe to inspire and reach the hearts of his students, to inspire them to devote themselves to Torah learning and observance. If we share with a student something which will arouse the student’s resentment toward the Rabbi, we undermine the special Rebbe-Talmid relationship, thereby making the Rebbe’s job so much more difficult. We should be doing what we can to endear a Rebbe to his students, so he can succeed in his sacred mission to inspire within them a genuine love for Torah and for Hashem.