In or around 1997, Loring Justice (my great friend and brother in Elvis) took a class on Jewish Law at Yale Law School. The professor was a brilliant and inspired Rabbi, Michael Whitman, who hailed from Memphis – of course, the home of Graceland. We learned a great deal, Loring solidified his status as an honorary Jew, and then moved on with our lives.
I do much of my Torah study during the hour I spend every morning on the treadmill – where I listen to Torah commentary and take notes on the Ipad in front of the screen. As I do this every day, I am always looking for more sources of English language, pshat (highly textual) commentary.
A few months ago, I found a great one: “Mining the Riches of the Parsha.” The commentator, a Rabbi in Canada, mentioned that he had taught at Yale Law School in the 90s. I realized then that it was Michael Whitman – a generation later!
I was listening to Rabbi Whitman this morning – and he delivered a characteristically fascinating teaching, which he credited to the Shalah HaKodosh (the 16th century sage). It is Genesis 31, and Jacob has been used and manipulated by Laban (the father of his wives Leah and Rachel) for two decades. Jacob managed to do very well in spite of his malevolent boss, and his envious brothers-in-law were accusing him of arrogating the family wealth for himself.
God comes to Jacob and tells him that it is time to leave Labanland – and to “go back to the land of your fathers…”
Jacob calls for Rachel and Leah to tell them the news. The interesting fact: It takes Jacob ten verses to deliver the simple news. He reminds his wives that he worked hard for many years, Laban changed his wages ten times and that he acquired his wealth honestly. Only after all of that does Jacob tell his wives that God told him to leave.
(‘Jacob Flees Laban’ by Gerhard Hoet, 1728)
This leads the reader to wonder: God told him to leave; isn’t that enough? Why does he start – and continue for a long time – with an explanation that has nothing to do with the dispositive divine command?
Jacob is teaching us a profound lesson. An authority figure may have the right to compel — but should also explain so clearly and comprehensively that the subject of the rule would want to comply even in its absence.
This is a lesson for each of us. A parent can require her child to wear formal clothes to church or synagogue — but should also clearly explain that doing so helps to dignify the place, the occasion and the child. A teacher can force a student to suffer through detention — but should also carefully explain how the precipitating behavior prevents the student from reaching his potential or makes it impossible for his classmates to reach theirs.
What happens in the absence of Jacob’s philosophy? We saw five years ago, during Covid — a time when governments either actually or effectively exerted enormous amounts of power over the citizenry in the name of public health. One of the astonishing aspects of this time was how little explaining accompanied the rules.
Masks were not helpful until they were required — with no explanation of what logic or data informed the change. The famous rule mandating six feet of distance between people? Anthony Fauci later said at a Congressional hearing that the rule “sort of just appeared” and “wasn’t based on data.” No one explained why people who had natural immunity were effectively required to receive the Covid vaccine. Attempts to seek explanation and discussion were castigated by authorities and banned from social media. Why? Dr. Fauci said: “I represent science.” With science itself speaking, who needs an explanation?
(Director of NIAID Dr. Anthony S. Fauci gives a coronavirus briefing, 4/22/20)
The result of this lack of explanation — this repudiation of what the biblical Jacob taught us — was not only the suboptimal policies that emerged in the absence of free and open debate. They lasted longer than Covid. Before 2020, approximately 95% of children received vaccinations for diseases such as measles, mumps, diphtheria and polio. That number has now fallen — resulting in more than 280,000 American kindergartners not being vaccinated against measles (and presumably the other diseases as well).
The reason for this tragic and dangerous fact is clear, and predicted in Genesis. Appeals from authority alone risk being distrusted, disregarded, and corroding trust in authority itself. When an appeal to authority is combined with logic, reason and evidence, it opens the door for discussion and debate. While this might seem to challenge authority, such open dialogue actually strengthens and sustains it in any period but the very short term.
It is no wonder, then, that Jacob – intent on starting the Jewish journey with a strong family under the authority of God – does not just order the move on the basis of God's command…but explains it in entirely logical and rational terms.
I too have had 2 Rabbi's that have influenced in my life; I'll list them in chronological order, not necessarily in order of importance.
At the Harttwick Seminary Summer Institute of Theology (Oneonta), was Rabbi Donald Roberts of Righteous Memory; who taught all the courses at the Institute dealing with Paul (Saul).
More recently, by reading a book of his correspondence and counseling, The Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Rabbi Roberts taught me that there is a tight boundary between Christians and Jews, and to try and mix the two, causes in his own words, "confusion".
The Rebbe taught me the power of being positive about virtually everything, and that to puposefully hurt people, or even repeat their gossip, takes people away from The Torah.
Beautiful, thoughtful piece; I'll take inspiration from the message into Shabbat.