Two Minute Torah Podcast

Miketz 5773 by Rabbi Jack Moline

There are so many ways to acquire Torah, and one of them is through shimush chachamim, attending to sages.

It is easy to imagine young Joseph as a contestant on "The Apprentice." Before he was mugged and sold by his brothers, and before he was tossed into jail due to Mrs. Potiphar's accusations, Joseph seemed to be an ambitious and arrogant young man. His dreams of personal grandeur, combined with his tale-bearing about the other contestants, er, brothers, are the qualities that seem to help an unscrupulous person shimmy up the pole of success.

But it is not Joseph's ambition that advances him in Pharaoh's household. It is instead his deference and modesty before Pharaoh that allow his talents to shine and speak for themselves. Pharaoh himself recognizes in this young man the making of a navon and chacham, a genius and a sage. Pharaoh knew that by observing and supporting such a man, that is, by attending to a sage, he stood to gain from his wisdom.

Throughout our tradition we have illustrations of how our corps of teachers and leaders is renewed through the elevation of people who have attended to the needs of sages. Joshua was Moses's attendant. Hillel and Akiva and Rabbi Eliezer, Rashi's grandsons, the generations of Hassidic masters all learned their extraordinary skill by attending to their teachers of Torah and their teachers of life. Some of the great scholars of our own Conservative movement, such as Professor Fritz Rothschild, Rabbi Samuel Dresner and Rabbi Byron Sherwin were among the extraordinary assistants to the great Professor Abraham Joshua Heschel. A job, a series of simple tasks, can turn into a life-course in Torah when the master is someone whose own Torah is integrated into everything he or she does.

Maybe you will have an internship that will enable you to learn from a sage. But there are other ways to experience shimush chachamim. Spend a day with someone you admire helping him or her run errands or otherwise go about daily business. Especially if you are used to being the one in charge, return to a subservient role so that you can observe and learn. Or spend some time in a nursing home, where many of our sages are spending their later years. It will take very little to encourage many of them to share their stories; you can learn volumes by assisting them with the tasks they once considered second-nature.