Shabbat Parashat Vayeishev 5786

Moreshet Shaul: Using Science in the Correct Way

[This piece is from a letter or address related to an organization that deals with Torah and science.]

This is a refreshing phenomenon that has arisen during these dreary days. On the one hand, it is a very usual thing. There are ever more yeshivot and kollelim. But this is a very unique institution, as it is connected to an organization whose purpose is to prepare its students for positions in the world of science. This is a purpose that is ostensibly unconnected to the [parent] institution.    

It is from the perspective of troubling situations that we can learn that an institution that guides students of science is critical, so that the knowledge will be applied properly. How powerfully did we see how people took advantage of science to kill hundreds of thousands through the “improvement” of means of destruction! Even in times of peace, we are liable to read about scientific achievement about which it is proper to say: “[There are cases of] riches that bring bad to their possessors” (Kohelet 5:12).

Apparently, this was the intention of this institution’s founders. It was not to add another institution of higher learning, but to harness existing knowledge to create a healthy mix between Torah knowledge and science, involving people with a connection to Torah even when they are not “Torah professionals.”

The best example of abused talent can be found in the Torah’s description of Bilam. The Torah says: “No prophet arose in Israel like Moshe” (Devarim 34:10). The Rabbis commented on this: “There was none among Israel, but there was one among the nations – Bilam” (Sifrei, Devarim 357). Bilam had tremendous talent, with incredible spiritual power, and had great influence. For what did he use his talents and knowledge? To pursue the lowest animalistic desires, fill his pockets with gold and silver, and involve himself in a lowly effort to destroy a nation, one that had just merited to be extricated from centuries of slavery.

Despite Bilam’s ability to haughtily stress his greatness, we see that he felt powerless, in that he knew that he would be destroyed and end in purgatory, yet he was unable to change his ways. “The wicked know that that their path leads to death” (Shabbat 31b), and Bilam said: “May my spirit die the death of an upright person, and may my end be like him” (Bamidbar 23:10). But he was wrong, because you cannot have a good end without a good approach in the beginning. Bilam gave expression to the approach of the Nation of Israel: “How good are your tents, Yaakov, your dwelling places, Israel” (ibid. 24:5). This is the saying with which open our daily prayers.

We should look into the content of this blessing, which was said by the enemy of Israel, the ideolog of Jew hatred. The gemara (Sanhedrin 105a) points out that Bilam figured out the secret of Israel, which gave it strength and prevented Bilam from cursing them. He also revealed the secret vulnerability through which one can infect the nation’s source of uniqueness as a nation.

   “Any city that has roofs that are higher than the synagogue will be destroyed” (Shabbat 11a). We would like the study hall to be great not only from the perspective of breadth but also that it be the highest – the crown jewel. It is not just for the sake of the study that occurs therein, but mainly due to the element of fear of Hashem that preserves that which is valuable throughout (see Shabbat 31a).

In general, fear of Hashem is the greatest asset, along the lines of Rabbi Akiva, who said that, included in “Revere Hashem, your G-d” (Devarim 10:20), is reverence for Torah scholars (Pesachim 22b). We must revere and show honor to early Torah scholars, who had great depth to their heart. We should not think that we have uncovered some scholarly finding or that we now know more than the great scholars of previous generations, who collectively toiled over the Torah for so many years.

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