Rabbis are less influential than regular people. People, generally speaking, say, “The rabbi should tell them; the rabbi should say it; the rabbi should convince them.” I believe it’s exactly the opposite.
I have a friend who passed away last week. He was 84 years old, a great individual. He started discovering Torah very, very late, in his 70s. One day I told him, “You know, now that you’re so much in love with Shabbat—because that was his passion; he loved Shabbat, he fell in love with the concept, and slowly, slowly, he came to understand the halacha (Jewish law) aspect of it too—I want to tell you that you are so influential. You could do things that I cannot do. If I go to someone and say, ‘You have to observe Shabbat, come to shul (synagogue), do the meals, respect it, don’t go in the car, don’t answer the phone,’ many times people are going to think, ‘Of course he’s the rabbi. He’s on another platform, at another level. Therefore, what speaks to him is not for us.’ Many times people think that way. But if a regular guy tells them about Shabbat, they can say, ‘Oh, why do even regular people keep Shabbat?’ Now imagine a person who is not religious at all comes to them and says, ‘You have to respect Shabbat.’ Whoa, what’s going on here? That means that the less observant, the less religious, the more powerful and influential a person could be. I know it’s the opposite of what one would think, but think about it.”
Imagine a rabbi tells someone, “Come to a class, come to listen to the Torah.” Of course, that’s what the rabbi does for a living; he’s teaching Torah the whole time. Imagine someone who never goes to a shiur (class) says to his friend, “You have to listen to this rabbi because he’s unbelievable. I love him. Come with me to a class.” That’s influence. That’s more influential than somebody who is at a higher level.
There’s a Rambam who tells us that Avraham Avinu discovered religion at the age of 40. He also says that Avraham was basically the most influential human being when it came to monotheism. It sounds like he discovered that Kadosh Baruch Hu was the only one who did that. Many people believe that Abraham was the first monotheist. The Ra’avad, who has a commentary on the Rambam, asks two questions. Number one, we know from Ma’amarei Chazal (sayings of the Sages) that Abraham was three years old when he discovered God, not 40. He also asks: There were many people before Abraham who were God-fearing, like Chanoch, Shem, Ever, Noach, and Adam. There were a lot of people who were monotheists too. Why are we talking specifically about Abraham being the first monotheist?
I believe the answer comes down to this. It’s true that Avraham Avinu was 40 when he discovered God, but he used his experience from 3 to 40. Three is the very bare minimum: a baby becomes—I wouldn’t say an adult, of course, but a child who starts discovering things. Abraham was not always yirei shamayim (God-fearing people). Abraham was not always a monotheist. He grew up in a family where Avodah Zarah and idolatry were rampant. That’s what he knew. Let’s assume that from the age of 3 to the age of 40, he was Oved Avodah Zarah (worshipped idols). At the age of 40, he made the transition. At that moment, he became the most influential, or the only influential, person regarding monotheism. Why? Because from the age of 3 to 40, he was Oved Avodah Zarah. Therefore, at the age of 40, when he started his monotheism, he could talk to people as someone who knew both worlds, who came from a world of idolatry and told people, “This is Shtuyot (nonsense). You should look at something that is really meaningful: there’s one God that you cannot see, you cannot hear, but who runs the world.” Coming from Abraham, who knew both worlds, it’s really saying that he started his career of Kiruv (outreach) when he was 3, when he was not following the Torah, because all that would be the basis for him to be able to convince people later and say, “Look, I know both worlds. And therefore, I’m telling you, the real one is a Kadosh Baruch Hu. It’s not idolatry.”
That means people who were once non-observant and became observant have much more influence than those who were always Tzadikim (righteous people). I’m not pushing anybody to try both worlds. If someone was lower and is getting to a higher level, his or her word is much stronger, much more influential than the words of those who have been religious their whole life, for example. And therefore, I was saying to this man, “You’re just starting your journey in Shabbat and religion. Talk to people; tell them about Shabbat, because your word is much stronger than mine.”
I’m happy to share with you that I found a source for that in this week’s Parashah. This week’s Parashat Tzav talks about Korbanot (sacrifices); it’s very technical. One of the Korbanot is called Korban Mincha. It’s a Korban (sacrifice) composed of flour and oil, sometimes flour and water and oil, that they used to bring in the Beit HaMikdash. It’s part of the category called Kodshei Kodashim (the holy of the holies). There are several levels of Korbanot. One is called Kodashim Kalim; one is called Kodshei Kodashim. Kodashim Kalim is the lighter level of Kodashim, of holiness. And then you have Kodshei Kodashim, the holy of the holies, like Kodesh Kodashim (most holy), Kodshei Kodashim. This Mincha is part of Kodshei Kodashim. There are three other Korbanot in Kodshei Kodashim. One is called Asham (guilt offering), one is called Chatat (sin offering), and one is called Olah (burnt offering). A person brings the Asham and the Chatat for different sins, and the Olah, also Onah. But the Olah is different from the other Korbanot, because the Korban Olah is completely burnt. It’s called Kulo Kalil LaShem (entirely burned for Hashem); we eat nothing from it. The other two, the Chatat and the Asham, are partially burnt and eaten too.
The Chachamim (Sages) like to compare these Korbanot, saying that the Olah represents a person who really never sins. He’s a person who is Kulo Kalil, Kulo LaShem; he’s completely burnt for Hashem, which means he’s like a person who is Kulo LaShem, he’s all with God, he never sinned, he’s FFB, frum (religiously observant) from birth. He never did anything wrong in his life. That’s the Korban Olah. And then you have the Chatat and the Asham, which represent those who made mistakes. The Korban Chatat is somebody who made a mistake and comes close to God. He says, “Sorry,” and brings a Korban.
Here, in the description of the Korban Mincha, it says, “Kodesh Kodashim hi (It is most holy),” so the Korban Mincha is Kodesh Kodashim, like the Korban Chatat and the Korban Asham. This is just a description of the definition of the Korban Mincha, or a portion of it. And the pasuk (verse) says that the example we give for Kodesh Kodashim is not the Olah; it is the Chatat and the Asham. Although I would have thought the Olah is the holiest of them all. Nobody—no human being—is going to eat anything from that Korban. It’s Kulo LaShem. It’s all for God. That’s the highest level of Kodesh Kodashim. Yet when it comes to describing what is Kodesh Kodashim, it’s a Chatat and Asham. Perhaps these two Korbanot are even higher in category than the Olah. You know why? Because there is a hint of sin inside. You’re only bringing this Korban because there was a sin. The elevation comes because of a sin. That means that covering the sin and the Teshuvah (repentance) altogether is much bigger than just the Mitzvah (commandment). And therefore, who is the reason for your sin? You need to do the right thing.
You have to be open-minded. This is important. Not to be just being in fact, not to be in fact, to be in fact. I don’t want you to create a template. I want you to create a template for yourself. So this is really good. This is really important. You need to put it in here. Because if you go down, I don’t want you to—I don’t want you to be so wrong. I’m going to tell you one thing: if you are wrong, you are wrong. I’m going to tell you, this is very true. There is no other way you can put it in here. Our Dios, our God, is what we call a complete, complete person. The Creator is what We are. And the Creator has no authority over us. Influential—it’s actually the opposite. Those who think that they’re not influential because they come from a background that is not religious or because they don’t have that level of knowledge, etc., it’s actually the opposite. The amount of influence you could have on others is tremendous, much more than what I could do or many other rabbis could do.