An Avot mishnah for Shabbat: Perek 5 (parashat Bechukotai)
Continuing our series of erev Shabbat posts on the perek of the week, we now turn to Perek 5.
We all know how long an argument can last—particularly when
both sides are determined to have the last word. Our rabbis of old knew a lot about arguing
too, since their quest for truth and their unquenchable desire to discover the
fullest and deepest meanings of the Torah often involved lengthy verbal
conflict. A mishnah in Avot (5:20) deals
with this very topic:
כָּל מַחֲלֽוֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַֽיִם, סוֹפָהּ
לְהִתְקַיֵּם, וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַֽיִם, אֵין סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם. אֵיזוֹ הִיא
מַחֲלֽוֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַֽיִם, זוֹ מַחֲלֽוֹקֶת הִלֵּל וְשַׁמַּאי. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ
לְשֵׁם שָׁמַֽיִם, זוֹ מַחֲלֽוֹקֶת קֹֽרַח וְכָל עֲדָתוֹ
Any dispute that is for the sake
of Heaven will ultimately endure; one that is not for the sake of Heaven will
not ultimately endure. Which dispute is for the sake of Heaven? The dispute
between Hillel and Shammai. Which dispute is not for the sake of Heaven? The
dispute of Korach and all his company.
Taken literally, this mishnah can be read in one of two
ways. First, we can learn from the examples it gives. Hillel and Shammai disputed
points of Jewish law in order to serve God better by doing exactly want He
wants: their arguments are closely studied even today, two thousand years
later, by students of the Talmud all over the world. Korach’s dispute with
Moses and Aaron, in contrast, was a power struggle disguised as a Torah
dispute: it had no merit then and is now only viewed as a historical curiosity.
A second, more cynical meaning is that a dispute in which
the disputants cling to the belief that they are arguing God’s cause is one
that will last forever because they will never agree to resolve it. As Rabbi Israel
Salanter is quoted as saying:
“In any controversy, people may
come to some mutual understanding and solve the matter. However, when the
participants mistakenly convince themselves that they are fighting God’s
battle, then instead of coming to a common understanding through give and take
they will insist that they are absolutely right, that they are upholding God’s
view. In such a case they will never yield. As a result, the controversy will
endure and continue on and on” (from Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Sage Advice).
The upshot of this teaching is that, however important it is
to work out what a Torah verse means, or how a particular law applies, there is
a higher value: the value of peace, which is achieved when any disagreement is
resolved. Respect for this higher value may mean seeking a compromise that finds
some merit in both sides of an argument, for example by agreeing that each of
two opposing views applies to a different set of facts.
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