Parshat Pekudei: But my rebbe said

Shortly before Thanksgiving, a video entitled “Yeshiva Guy Says Over a Vort” was posted on YouTube and made its rounds through many of our emails. In it, two animated bears discuss a Torah thought related to the traditional interpretation that the forefathers kept the commandments of the Torah before Sinaitic revelation. The darker bear begins the conversation saying, “Can I say over a vort that I heard by my rebbe’s house last shabbos?”

The listening bear asks several questions, raises important challenges to the premise of the original speaker, and seems to come out the victor in a mini-debate.

Some viewed the dialogue as a spoof, many took it as a joke, and others were offended by the video’s premise: that a person who listens to his rebbe and repeats thoughts without questioning anything is a fool.

There were several video responses, including “Yeshiva Guy Responds,” in which an attempt is made to say that in an argument of ideas one first has to respect the other’s right to an opinion. Then he must respect that the opinion has validity and argue with it. There are more rules of engagement when it comes to arguing, of course, but this is a summary of bear dialogues.

Bearing all this in mind (pardon the pun) and without passing judgment on these videos, per se, there is an ailment which plagues individuals in our communities in particular, a significant population of recent products of yeshiva and seminary education.

To illustrate, let us first read through the Midrash Yalkut Shimoni 415 on our parsha:

“Betzalel son of Uri son of Hur of the tribe of Judah did all that G-d commanded.” It does not say Moshe commanded. He did not neglect a single thing from all that G-d commended Moshe. It does not refer to all that Moshe commanded. It says, ‘All that G-d commanded Moshe.’ This includes even things Moshe did not personally tell him. Rabbi Huna said [quoting Malachi 2:6], ‘The Torah of truth was in his mouth’ – these are the things he heard from his rebbe.  ‘And no falsehood could be found on his lips’ – refers to things he did not hear from his rebbe.”