At the end of Parashat Emor, we read the disturbing story of the מקלל – a man who went out into the middle of Beneh Yisrael’s camp and blasphemed Hashem.
What motivated him to do such a thing? Beneh Yisrael were in the desert, at Mount Sinai, where they had seen Hashem’s revelation and witnessed miracles every day. What led him to publicly disrespect Hashem?
One opinion is that this man was “turned off” by a law that had just been taught, the mitzvah of the לחם הפנים. This was special bread which was baked each week in the Mishkan, and left on the shulhan (table) all week long. At the end of the week, the kohanim ate the bread, and new bread was baked and placed on the table. The מקלל thought this was outrageous – that in Hashem’s “home,” bread should be left out all week. Surely, he thought, it would be far more appropriate to have fresh bread baked every day. It made no sense to him that stale bread was placed on the table in the Mishkan, and so he went out and blasphemed G-d.
As a number of commentators pointed out, the bread on the shulhan was actually never stale. The Gemara tells us that one of the miracles which took place in the Bet Ha’mikdash was that the bread remained fresh all week long. This man, apparently, was unaware of this. He didn’t have the complete picture, and so he went out and did what he did.
There is a growing trend in today’s world of people speaking about important subjects about which they know very little. Years ago, only people with years of training and experience would broadcast on television and radio. But today, with technology, everyone and anyone goes out “into the camp” and says what he feels about any topic he wishes to speak about, even without knowing virtually anything about the subject.
This has created a difficult challenge for us. How do we know whom to listen to? To whom should we be giving our time and attention?
The Maggid of Duvna once asked the Vilna Gaon for advice how to influence and inspire people. The Vilna Gaon answered by giving an analogy of a pitcher with small cups positioned all around it. When the pitcher is filled, and then more is poured into it, the liquid overflows and fills the cups underneath. The same is true of wisdom and knowledge. The way someone can influence and impact people is by “filling” himself until he “overflows,” by learning, growing and developing until his knowledge and wisdom pours forth to the people around him.
The Gemara (Berachot 55a) teaches, אין הקדוש ברוך הוא נותן חכמה אלא למי שיש בו חכמה – “The Almighty gives wisdom only to one who has wisdom within him.” At first glance, this seems inherently illogical – if somebody already has wisdom, then how and why does Hashem give him wisdom? The commentaries explain that Hashem gives wisdom only to those who are wise enough to realize that they lack wisdom, that they have more to learn. Nobody will be smart unless he is first smart enough to recognize that he needs to know more to be truly smart.
Whom should we be listening to? To people שיש בו חכמה, people who have put in the time and effort to learn and understand what they are talking about. Rabbis devote years and years of intensive study to understand halachah and to clarify how the Torah wants us to live. There are wonderful lay leaders who have years and years of experience dealing with various issues facing the community. These people are very much worth listening to. They bring with them a great deal of knowledge and experience that we can gain from. But if people are writing or speaking about a topic they know very little about, but which just happens to be on their minds, then we need to ask ourselves why we should be listening to them.
We are blessed to have so many wise people among us from whom to learn, and to have advanced technology that makes learning from them easier than ever. Let us take advantage of the truly wise people among us to learn, to grow, to become better, and to continue elevating our community to ever greater heights.