I saw this in Rav Yeruchem Olshin's Yarei'ach L"moadim. It speaks for itself.
ושמעתי מעשה נפלא על הג״ר משה פיינשטיין זצ״ל בעל האגרות משה שכיבד פעם רב אחד לדרוש בישיבתו וישב שם הגר״ם זצ״ל מרוכז באזנים מקשיבות לכל מילה ומילה היוצאת מפי הדורש. אחר הדרשה ניגש אליו אחד מתלמידיו [הג״ר שמחה בונם קאהן שליט״א - רב דקהל עטרת ישעיה ליקוואוד] ושאלו, הרי הדורש דרש בשפת אנגלית, והרי אין כת״ר מבין שפת אנגלית.
להפתעתו השיב לו הגר״מ זצ״ל שאכן לא הבין אפילו מילה אחת
א"כ, שאלו התלמיד, מה זה שישב שם כת"ר והקשיב כאילו הוא מבין ומאזין לכל דברי הדורש?
השיב לו הגר"ם זצ"ל, הרי אחר הדרשה אני חוזר לביתי ומשיב צשובות לשואלים בהלכה, והרי אמרו חז"ל (מגילה כ"ז:) דרך ארץ קדמה לתורה, ובלי דרך ארץ לא אזכה לסייעתא דשמיא. ולשבת אצל דרשה ולא להקשיב אינו דרך ארץ, לכן עשיתי כל מה שביכלתי להתנהג בדרך ארץ כלפי הדורש, אע״פ שלא הבנתי מילה, ע״כ.
Unlike so many popular stories these days, that actually inspired me. Aside from the obvious derech eretz aspect (which is kim'at unparalleled in itself) , there are at least three subtleties in the way Rav Moshe answered that are so revealing of his general outlook, and are just perfect specimens of Torah greatness. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteתן לחכם ויחכם עוד.
DeleteI didn't want to dilute the roshem of the story in the post, but when we discussed this at the Kiddush, someone pointed out that this is far from universally followed. It would seem that some must hold that kadma latorah, or the 48 things שהתורה נקנית בהם, are like a threshold. You pass over it and go somewhere else.
It is true that his definition of this Chazal seems novel, but what I noticed was that
ReplyDeleteA) his emunas chachomim was so pure that a ma'amar Chazal that can easily be taken as a general lesson also carried the weight of a practical din that had a direct impact on his Torah in every instance, B) that unlike the way many portray this ma'amar (i.e. derech eretz is the ikkar; everyone please just be polite) Rav Moshe in his upteitch clearly focused on the goal of quality Torah (like a true litvishe gadol), and that
C) his ultimate kavannah was ever on his achrayus to the Klal, as he did not merely say it would help him learn properly, rather he pointed out that he must write teshuvos for people.
In short, everything about the calculation that "me taking pains to show someone respect" = "I will have the ability to better answer halachic sheilos" is truly amazing to me!
I was thinking along the same lines, and I have a safek. It could be that Reb Moshe's mehalach was that Chazal were not saying that it's an external prerequisite. They were saying that the way you pasken depends on what is important to you. Nobody goes out of his way to asser an agunah. The same way that Kal vachomer and robe inform your psak, derech eretz should too. Like the din of darkei Noam tells us how to darshen when yibum applies.
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