Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
One great way to learn about your family’s history, stories, and traditions is to ask questions to your parents and grandparents. Have you ever tried this? What have you learned? Or, what do you imagine you could learn?
In Ha’azinu, Benei Yisrael are told to consult their ancestors:
שְׁאַל אָבִיךָ וְיַגֵּדְךָ
זְקֵנֶיךָ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָךְ׃
Ask your father, he will inform you,
Your elders, they will tell you.
Here’s an interpretation of this pasuk that appears in the Gemara, as part of a conversation about Hanukkah!
מַאי מְבָרֵךְ? — מְבָרֵךְ: ״אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל חֲנֻכָּה.״ וְהֵיכָן צִוָּנוּ?
רַב אַוְיָא אָמַר: מִ״לֹא תָסוּר״ (דברים יז:יא).
רַב נְחֶמְיָה אָמַר: ״שְׁאַל אָבִיךָ וְיַגֵּדְךָ זְקֵנֶיךָ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָךְ״ (דברים לב:ז).
What berakhah (blessing) should you say for Hanukkah candles? You say: “Who sanctified us with the mitzvot, and commanded us to light Hanukkah candles.”
But where did God command this?! (We know Hanukkah is a holiday established by the Rabbis, way after the time of the Torah!)
R. Avya said: It’s part of “do not turn aside (from what the leaders say)” (Devarim 17:11).
R. Nehemiah said: It’s part of “Ask your father, he will inform you; Your elders, they will tell you” (Devarim 32:7).
Both R. Avya and R. Nehemiah quote pesukim that tell us to listen to our leaders. But the pasuk from our parashah, which R. Nehemiah quotes, might be saying a little more than that. Perhaps our pasuk means that there’s something extra powerful about asking questions and staying connected to the teachers that came before us. By doing that, we are able to apply our tradition to our own time. Then listening to our elders can actually link us all the way back to the Torah, and is really an extension of listening to God directly.
This idea is sometimes called שַׁלְשֶׁלֶת הַמְּסוֹרָה (shalshelet ha-mesorah, the chain of Torah transmission).
- Why is a chain a good description of what’s going on here?
- How do you make sure you’re part of this chain? What force or power could this chain give us today?
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