Message to Musmachim (1998)

/ Message to Musmachim (1998)

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July 29, 1998

Message to Musmachim (1998)

The Rabbinate

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Ten Commandments – some of which apply to all laymen, and some specifically to non-functioning Rabbis: 1. Respect your Rabbi’s authority. There is a decided difference between your היתר הוראה and his status as מורה הוראה; it is akin to the difference between taking out a marriage license and being married. He, not you, has the obligation and the authority to pasken. He is your רב, and neither your סברא nor your לימוד nor your appeal to higher authority (such as your Rosh Yeshiva) will outweigh his authority. Respect it – and him! The fact that you have המי כהן is no excuse to be מבטל מצות צדקה. That is especially so if you become an officer or otherwise attain prominence in the shul. You may be the shul president – yes, but how shall you behave? From מי שטר ארץ עד מי שטר גארג'י שטר אמערץ – מצוות מא תעשה. Don’t act disrespectfully towards your Rabbi. For instance, don’t walk out – especially not demonstratively – when he begins his דרשה. And don’t, please don’t, look into a מפרש while he’s speaking. It’s not only discourteous – it’s also arrogant. Always try to improve his financial status and security. Rabbis – unlike businessmen or other professionals – are always shy about discussing money with their congregants. So, do it for him. And if he’s making more than you are – so what? Who’s to say that his labors are worth less than yours? Remember what חז"ל said

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The address should consist of a kind of manifesto of Yeshiva University's philosophy of the rabbinate. It should include the primacy of Torah; Torah U'Madda; the ideal of service to the community; the combination of commitment and open mindedness, loyalty to Orthodoxy and Outreach to the non-Orthodox community, dedication to our own religious growth and the spiritual and well-being of others. Included in this, should be a statement on the combination of a sense of responsibility to Torah (and, hence, the careful consultation with Roshei Yeshivah and older colleagues on important questions) together with the assumption of one's own professional, spiritual, and halakhic responsibility. Speak about Rav Chaim Volozhener's teaching of intellectual independence, and how he learned this from the Gaon, and how he even used it in refusing to go along with the Gaon's fulminations against Hasadism. In this connection, two of my greatest recollections of Rabbi Soloveitchik are: when he scolded me in class (see my Introduction to the two volume Soloveitchik Festschrift) and when I asked him about the Manhattan eruv, he told me to go figure it out myself and do what I think is right.

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