Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

Welcome back, everybody. Way number 46. Way number 46 is hamachkim et rabot, educate the educators. So here's an amazing thing. When you teach, you learn more than you're actually teaching. That's again, my system of how I learn is when I teach, I learn it better. I retain the information better. I have greater clarity.
When you undertake the responsibility of being a teacher, you have to absorb the information better so that you can present it to others. But when one person teaches, two people learn. There's so much greater value. You duplicate the amount of wisdom in the world. To get the full meaning of any idea, you must ask questions. Ask questions. Inquire. Don't just take it because someone said it, oh, they have to be a wise person, and therefore they know what they're talking about. No, inquire.
Don't just take it because someone said it. If your rabbi in your synagogue tells you something, say, thank you, rabbi, that's brilliant. What's the source to it? How does this fit with something else that we've learned in Talmud or in the Mishnah? How does that fit? And by the way, it's an amazing thing. If you ever go to a yeshiva, you will see that there's always a contradiction that's being presented. The Talmud is faced with it constantly.
If you open up any page of Talmud and you look, there is the Rashi on the inside, and the outside is the Tosefot. And the Tosefot are our sages who are always presenting. How can you say that? That's a contradiction to something else that we learned. In Tractate K'tubot, it says something different, and you have to reconcile the differences. And you say, oh, there is a difference. They are similar, but there are differences in what you're saying.
And you get a greater clarity by asking and inquiring and investigating what is going on over here. So to get the full meaning of any idea, you must ask questions. We know this. We mentioned this previously. Lo habayishan lomed, someone who's shy will never learn. You can't be shy. Ask. Ask again. Ask again. Because you never know the wisdom that comes out many, many times. I've seen this in our classes here, where people will ask questions, and many times
they're questions I never thought of. And it helps me clarify the idea much better. The Mishnah also says another amazing idea. It says that a rabbi has to be very, very careful to ensure that the information is crystal clear. Because if not, someone can die from it. You know, if you teach something wrong, not only that people can later have an argument about it because they don't have clarity, they're going to argue, oh, my rabbi said this. No, no, no, your rabbi couldn't have said that.
And they can get into a whole fight. But also, someone can improperly hurt someone else by misunderstanding and not having clarity, which is why I always try to not only say something clearly, I try to repeat it from a different angle so that it makes sure that everybody understands the information properly. Give the teacher credit that he wouldn't say something ridiculous, usually, not always. Sometimes they say things that are ridiculous. But you have to understand that there's always, hopefully, a teacher has prepared themselves
that they thought through the topic clearly enough. Like for example, next week's Musser Masterclass has been brewing up in my brain for a while already. So even though I have notes from previous lectures that I've given and I'm going to still spend many, many, many hours preparing between last week's class and this coming week's class to formulate it and to put together ideas and craft it in a way that's hopefully palatable to everyone, understandable, simple, and something which is digestible to every person who hears it.
So there's a lot that goes into preparing a class and a lecture, and there's always more to learn. Even though you've prepared and you've spent a lot of time preparing, educate the educator. Ask questions because many times those questions come from a different angle that you never thought of, and don't hesitate to ask those questions. Appreciate that you're not perfect. Maybe in this case you're making a mistake, right? We can all have opinions, which is great. It's important. We should have different opinions.
But maybe I'm wrong. And consider that when you're teaching a class. Maybe your perspective is the wrong perspective. I know that's what you think, but maybe your thinking is flawed. Maybe you're motivated because of your own personal subjective leanings. Maybe. You know, I'll just get into something which is a little bit more practical today. So we've had a bunch of rulings brought down from the Supreme Court recently. Some made people irate, and some made people furious.
Some of them made people on both sides protest, and bring banners, and say things, and... Okay. I think it's a great example for us to consider the other perspective. Not that you have to agree with it, but maybe they're right. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I agree with the Supreme Court. Maybe I don't agree. But think of both sides objectively. We have our own personal prejudice. We have our own things that we have because maybe this is what our parents told us is right and wrong.
Maybe this is what my culture, my society, my friends, my environment, maybe this is what they have told me is the right or wrong thing to do. Why does it sit well with me? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I am wrong. Always consider that maybe the perspective that you have is the wrong perspective. It's just an intellectual exercise for us to just get a little bit uncomfortable, think of it in the other perspective.
You don't have to agree, but at least see it in the eyes of someone else. Because they're not completely crazy either. We have to find a way to present our ideas in an effective way. But I think that there's always a way for us... Again, it's a personal exercise for us to be able to allow in a perspective that's different. Again, you don't need to agree with them. But at least conceptualize how is it that a... Let's say you are pro-life. Do you understand someone who's pro-choice?
At least understand, okay, I don't agree with it, but I understand where they're coming from. At least be able to think outside of yourself, your own personal prejudice, your own personal opinion and at least take in that someone can have a perspective that I don't necessarily agree with. But I understand their perspective. I understand where you're coming from. I don't agree with it. That's a very healthy exercise. Uncomfortable ideas are our greatest opportunity to grow.
You don't have to only listen to your radio station and your television that you agree with. It's okay if you listen to someone else's opinion and you hear their way of thinking. Again, you don't need to agree. Bais Shammai and Bais Hillel didn't agree on almost anything. But Bais Hillel said, Bais Shammai, I want to hear your opinion first. Let me hear your opinion. And they thought about it and they deliberated and they said, you know what?
We don't agree with you and here's why we don't agree with you. And they brought their own opinion. But today we're not even willing to listen. And that's, I think, the most important thing is let's at least listen. Don't be afraid of being persuaded. Be afraid of not listening and opening up your mind to other ideas. Torah is all about listening and opening up your heart, opening up your mind to ideas that you may not have been exposed to till now.
In Jewish consciousness, learning lasts a lifetime. It is not something which like, now I'm a student and now I'm a teacher and now I don't need to, no, you always need to continue learning. There's no such thing as not being, and you should just know that many of the rabbis, when they would meet their students, you know what the question, how they would go about their learning? What are you learning about now? What's on your mind now? Say something, right?
I've had this many times where I've been by rabbis and a Jew should always be contemplating something. You should always be thinking. And it doesn't mean that you have to be delving in the depths of Talmud and idea about this week's Parsha. You know, this week's Parsha is Parsha Skorach, and I don't understand how is it possible for someone who is a relative with Moshe, how he can become so corrupt and how he can do something like, think about it, talk about it.
But a person should always have something on their mind. Jewish consciousness is never dead. We have to always be alive and awake and processing and thinking and trying to get ourselves to a higher level. The smarter a teacher becomes, the smarter the students become. So the more we educate ourselves, the more we educate our students. How to be a student? Number one, we need to have respect. We have to respect wisdom. We have to respect the people we're learning from.
We have to cherish their words like we learned previously in the 48 ways. Go to someone wise. Learn from them. My grandfather's rabbi was 15 years younger than him. Yes. This is when my grandfather was in his 80s. His rabbi was in his 60s. And I remember I asked my grandfather, he's a little kid. What do you mean? You're like, you know, he said, what do you mean? I learned my Aleph base from him. I learned my Aleph base from him.
Referring to Kabbalistic ideas, right? But because it's all based on Kabbalah, it's all based on the letters of the Aleph Bet. He said that's where he learned his Aleph Bet from. Don't give up. Push and don't hesitate to ask. Don't say, well, okay, I'm not going to ask anymore. No, no, no. Ask again and ask again. I remember when I was a 15 year old boy, 14, 15 years old, I was in ninth grade. And there was a rabbi who was a brilliant, brilliant Torah scholar.
His name was Rabbi Shmuel Birnbaum. He had a student who didn't give him a break. This student would come to him and ask him questions. He would wait for him outside his house and he would ask him and ask him and ask him and ask him. And he would walk him all the way to the yeshiva. And in the yeshiva, he wouldn't let up and he wouldn't let up and he wouldn't let up and he wouldn't let up.
And all day he would ask him and ask him and ask him. He became a very, very tremendous Torah scholar, this young man. Didn't let up. And the rabbi would get up from his seat, he would attack him and walk him all the way back to his house. And it was like, it was not, you couldn't see the rabbi. For those, that year that I learned in New York, every time I saw the rabbi, the head of the yeshiva, I saw that student next to him.
He was with him and arguing and discussing and fighting over these ideas. Because if you desire wisdom, you never stop. You never stop. My grandfather was on the other perspective. He said, he said, I don't have any students. He was never pleased with his efforts of outreach. He was never pleased with his efforts as a rabbi, as a teacher. He said, I don't have any students. I never was able to influence anyone. And he was always pushing himself to do more, to do more.
My grandfather in his nineties would go every single week to teach in multiple locations to teach Torah. Maybe one day he'll get a student. And it's, the irony of that is that I was just, my daughter has a friend who's here visiting from, from New York for a couple of days. And she said she hasn't had a lecture throughout high school or post high school that didn't quote my grandfather. And here my grandfather would be sitting saying, no, I haven't done anything with my life.
I haven't accomplished anything with my life. I don't have any students and not every, right. And here you don't have a book on marriage that doesn't quote him. You don't have a book on education that doesn't quote him. You don't have a book on Jewish philosophy that doesn't quote him. It's unbelievable what he's accomplished, but he still felt a, a, a, a never ending thirst to do more, to, to, to accomplish more, to be more wise, to prepare more, to influence more.
There was, whenever he had an opportunity to go teach and to influence, he went ahead and did it. He always had a rabbi and persistence is the key to being a good student. Persistence is the key. I remember someone once approached me and said to me, you know, it's not fair. It's not fair. You have rabbis, you have rabbis that you're close to and that's why you're able to do what you do. And someone came to me, he said, it's not fair.
I don't have a rabbi. If I had a rabbi, then I would, I would be able to, uh, you know, influence and I'd be able to do good things. I said, do you want a rabbi? He said, yeah. I said, no problem. Who do you want to, who do you want to be your rabbi to learn from? So I said, I'll, I'll arrange the meeting between you and that rabbi. So indeed, he told me who, who it was.
And I went over to that rabbi myself on one of my trips to Israel. I said, you know, I know someone who really wants to connect with you. I know someone who wants to, you know, learn. He said, no problem. Every Friday at 11 o'clock to 1130, I have a walk that I take that I don't have a study partner during that walk. He would walk from one of his lectures, he would walk to his home.
It was a half hour, 30 minutes free time that if the student wants, he can meet him there and walk with him, 30 minute walk. And he has me for those 30 minutes. So I called up this individual and I said, you know, here's this rabbi. You told me you really have a desire to connect with him and to learn from him. I said, here's your opportunity, 11 o'clock every Friday morning to 1130. He's yours.
You can meet him at this location and you can go with him to his home and you can have him for 30 minutes, which is a lot of time to sit with a big Torah scholar. How many times do you think he went to go meet with the rabbi? 0.0. 0.0. So it's not about having access. It's about being persistent. And my rabbi, may he live and be well, all of my rabbis, every single rabbi I've ever learned with.
I didn't let them breathe until they gave me time. And I remember my rabbi, my present rabbi, Rabbi Yitzchak Berkowitz was a very busy man. I would sit outside his office and when he'd open up the door, I was like, does the rabbi have a few minutes now? He'd be like, oh, I'm about, I could sit for a few minutes. Okay. I'll go in and ask him a few questions. And then eventually I got a half hour a week to learn with him.
And then it became a half hour twice a week. And then it became a half hour three times a week. And then it became more and more. And I had steady time to the point when I left Israel, I had many students in the, in the yeshiva who would try to buy that time, not financially buy it, but can I get your Monday afternoon time with the rabbi? Can I get your Tuesday afternoon time with the rabbi?
And it was up to me who I was going to give that inheritance to, to the students. And everyone was asking me, how did you get the time? It's like unbelievable. Nobody has time with the rabbi. How do you have the time? I'm like, you have to be relentless. You have to be relentless. The rabbi is not going to call you and say, come, come into my office. I have some time. Let's talk. No, no, no. You sit there and don't let him go.
He's like, I'm about to eat lunch. Okay. I'll talk over lunch. I don't care. It's like, I, if you want that time. And I had another rabbi who I wanted to learn from and he said to me, I don't really don't have time. Like every minute is like, he says, Shabbos afternoon, Shabbos afternoon, not convenient because I need my Shabbos afternoon sleep. So Shabbos afternoon, he goes to the early Mincha at this, in this location, which was a mile away from a house in Jerusalem.
He says, I have an hour after Mincha. So if you come to Dav and Mincha with me, the afternoon service, I can learn with you for an hour. And guess what? Every single Shabbos, I'd go to Dav and Mincha there for an hour, learn with him for an hour, go to Mincha, Shabbos afternoon, go learn with him for an hour because that's the only time I had. If you want, you have to pursue it. You have to be persistent. It's not going to come to you.
And that's the way, the way it's like when I was in Israel just now, in, in the beginning of March, I went with my wife to go visit my children and I went with the dream. I said, yeah, I'm going to go visit with my rabbi. I'm going to sit with him. I say, and I met with him about five or six times over the six days I was there. I just kept on finding, I needed an opportunity before I went, I scheduled it and then I was
able to get other time and drive him here and drive him there. I was able to find other times to, to spend time with my rabbi. But there was a rabbi that I started learning his, his books recently. And I was like, I want the opportunity to meet him. It would be a dream for me to meet him. And I asked when I got to Israel, I was like, anybody know like how I can get ahold of him? I've been learning his books.
I don't, I don't even know where his synagogue is or where his, where his study hall is. I have no idea. So what do you do when you, when you want something, you ask Hashem, I would love the opportunity to meet with this great rabbi. And it was the night before I left Israel. I left the Kotel at 2.30 in the morning and I see a group of Hasidic students hitching a ride at 2.30 from the Kotel from the Western wall.
And I said, it was cold at night. I said, I said, guys, let's go. And I asked them, where are you going? And they told me they're going to some, to some study hall to continue to have a, I said, who's teaching now at 2.30 in the morning? Who's teaching now? And they tell me the name of the rabbi. I'm like, oh my goodness, you got to be kidding me. That's the rabbi I've been trying to get.
I said, do you think there's a chance I can get in? They said, what do you, how do you even know the rabbi? I said, what do you mean? I learned his, I learned his books every single week. I learned his books and I've been wanting to meet with him. They said, if you take us right now to his study hall, he's there teaching class right now. You can grab him right after class so you can talk to him for a few minutes.
And sure enough, I get there, the class was over, but he was still there. And they said, we're going to try to get you in. And they got me right in. And I had a chance to meet with the rabbi and to schmooze with him. It was funny because one of the things he asked me, he says, what do you do? I said, I'm a rabbi. I teach Torah. He says, what type of Torah do you teach?
Because there's many different types of, you can teach Hasidic Torah, you can teach Moser Torah, you can teach many different, Halachic, you can teach many things. I said, I teach Hashem's Torah. He says, yeah, but what type? I said, what do you mean? I said, he teaches, he's a Hasidic rabbi. I said, you think your teachings isn't Moser? And you think my grandfather's teaching isn't Hasidic? I said, come on, give me a break. It's all Hashem's Torah. I said, it's the same Torah.
It's the same Torah. It's just different angles, different perspectives to getting the same message, the same ideas. But it was a thrill to be able to actually have the opportunity. I learned this great man's Torah every time. I have a special study partner I learned it with. But I teach his, I learn his Torah, and it influences what I teach here in these classes many times. It really is, it was an honor to meet this great man. But you have to be persistent.
And if you're persistent, Hashem will succeed your way. You don't have to be in your face, but you have to be unyielding. And don't stop pursuing, don't stop pursuing, with respect, correct? You have to push, push, push. You know what? And just because they say, I don't have time, doesn't mean that you're not going to get time. I've had plenty of people tell me, I'm sorry, I just like, I don't have a minute. I'm like, I respect that. But still, when do you have time?
And they say, okay, fine, you're not going to let go. You know, come to me. And I've had that so many times. So you know who are the best fundraisers? The best fundraisers on planet Earth. Children. When was the last time you told a child, can I have a candy? And they're like, no. Okay. When was the last time a child did that? What do you mean? They come back a second later, can I have a candy now? How about now?
Can I have a candy now? How about now? I told you no 50 times. Okay, so can I have it now? And they don't stop. They don't stop until they get what they want. And we need to learn from children. We need to learn to be persistent and never yielding to, oh, they said no. It means no. No, you keep on trying and you keep pushing forward. That's what it means.
And that's what we need to do, learning in this way, way number 46, to educate the educators. Look at the students. The students are never yielding to gaining wisdom, to knowledge, to understanding, to clarity. We ourselves, as the parents, as the educators, we need to be never yielding as well. Never letting up. Yes. My dear friends, we have two more ways to go. We'll do that on Tuesday, and then maybe we'll make a party for concluding the 48 ways of wisdom.
I thank you all for making my learning so enlightening. Thank you so much.