COMMUNITY MAGAZINE May 2008

18 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE D uring the first thirty-two days of the omer period, a dev- astating epidemic took the lives of twenty-four thousand outstanding scholars – the disciples of Rabbi Akiva – who were punished for failing to show proper respect to one another. What exactly happened to these students? How it is possible that they mistreated one another? Their mentor, Rabbi Akiva, was one of the greatest men who ever lived. Commenting on the verse, “No prophet ever arose in Israel like Moshe” (Devarim 34:10), the Yalkut Reuveni writes that although no one ever equaled Moshe’s prophecy, there was a man equal to Moshe in other respects: Rabbi Akiva. How could it be that Rabbi Akiva, a teacher and leader of equal stature to Moshe, failed to train his students to show respect? How could such great people exhibit callous disregard towards their peers? The Challenge of Greatness Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian (1872-1970) suggested that Rabbi Akiva’s students failed to respect each other specifically because of their great stature and accomplishments. In any field, expertise results in low tolerance for amateurship. A world-class conductor like Leonard Bernstein would likely cringe upon hearing a musical piece played even one eighth of a note higher or lower than the composer intended. For an artist on the level of Marc Chagall, any slight misalignment or improper coloration undermines the appearance of an entire painting and makes it repulsive. An experienced, trained connoisseur would likely choke upon sipping wine that ordinary people would enjoy and relish. The more refined and nuanced a person’s taste, the less tolerance he has for imperfection. Rabbi Akiva’s students were “connoisseurs” in the area of spiritual greatness. Under the tutelage of their legendary teacher, they amassed vast knowledge and achieved near-perfection in their religious devotion. However, like the virtuoso who cannot bear the sound of a missed note, they showed little tolerance for the flaws they detected in one another. After exerting such immense efforts to grow and achieve, they looked askance at people who had yet to realize the same goals. They did not treat each other respectfully because they could not bear the sight of flaws that they had labored to overcome; they were repulsed by the human frailties of which they had long ago been purged. The famed Hassidic master Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk (1717- 1787) composed a beautiful prayer in which he beseeched Gd to help him see the qualities of others, rather than their shortcomings. Reb Elimelech was an accomplished Ssadik (righteous man) and recognized the natural tendency to assess other people’s achieve- ments by one’s own lofty standards. Perched on his towering spiritual heights, he appealed for divine assistance to avoid looking upon others with contempt and dismiss them as spiritual failures. But Rabbi Akiva’s students succumbed to this tendency. Due to their keen spiritual sensitivity, they could not tolerate their col- leagues’ foibles; they imposed their own rigorous standards upon their peers, and had no tolerance for anything less. In memory of Mrs. Rae Semah v"g  The passing of an outstanding Torah scholar (Gd forbid), shakes the very fabric of our lives. The emotional levaya (funeral ceremony) and the feeling of loss that comes with it, leaves a deep, everlasting impression in our hearts. But imagine if in a single day, not one, but no less than 750 of the top Torah scholars passed away? Then, imagine if the same tragic occurrence took place for 32 consecutive days! The magnitude of such a catastrophe is difficult to fathom – yet such was the reality in the days of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students… and they all perished in one period, because they did not treat each other respectfully… They died between Pesah and Shavuot. (Masechet Yevamot 62b) Intolerance OVERCOMING RABBI ELI MANSOUR