(me: a new paragraph without an empty line underneath means it belongs to same long paragraph; i broke it up for easier reading)
Pirkei d'Rebi Eliezer – Yitro
וַיִּקַּח יִתְרוֹ חֹתֵן מֹשֶׁה אֶת צִפֹּרָה אֵשֶׁת מֹשֶׁה אַחַר שִׁלּוּחֶיהָ. וְאֵת שְׁנֵי בָנֶיהָ אֲשֶׁר שֵׁם הָאֶחָד גֵּרְשֹׁם כִּי אָמַר גֵּר הָיִיתִי בְּאֶרֶץ נָכְרִיָּה. וְשֵׁם הָאֶחָד אֱלִיעֶזֶר כִּי אֱ-לֹקֵי אָבִי בְּעֶזְרִי וַיַּצִּלֵנִי מֵחֶרֶב פַּרְעֹה (שמות יח, ב-ד)
The Midrash (תנחומא, פרשת חקת, אות ח) tells a very interesting story about Matan Torah. "R' Acha in the name of R' Yosi the son of Chanina says: When Moshe ascended to receive the Torah, he heard the voice of HKB"H sitting and learning the parsha of Parah Adumah, saying the halacha in the name of the one who was posek it.
'Eliezer my son says – The calf for an עֶגְלָה עֲרוּפָה is one-year-old and the cow for a פָּרָה אֲדֻמָּה is two-years-old'. Moshe was very surprised and said to HKB"H 'Ribono Shel Olam, the Heavens and the earth are Yours and You are quoting a halacha in the name of a man?!'
HKB"H replied 'In the future, there will be a tzaddik in My world and he will open with Parah Adumah, as it says [Mishna, Para 1:1] רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר עֶגְלָה בַּת שְׁנָתָהּ, וּפָרָה בַּת שְׁתֵּים. Moshe was so impressed, he said ' יְהִי רָצוֹן that this Eliezer should be descended from me'. HKB"H replied 'So it will be', as it says וְשֵׁם הָאֶחָד אֱלִיעֶזֶר".
The Midrash is addressing a question regarding the syntax of passuk 4 above. "Yitro brought with him Tzipporah the wife of Moshe and her two sons. The name of the one was Gershon …. And the name of the one was Eliezer ….". The correct syntax should be "The name of the one was Gershon … and the name of the other/second was Eliezer!" The Tanchuma above explains the reason for the strange syntax וְשֵׁם הָאֶחָד אֱלִיעֶזֶר is because it is referring to the one, R' Eliezer.
There are a number of questions on this Midrash.
Firstly, if we assume that use of the word הָאֶחָד indicates "something special", note that the psukkim use that word both with Gershom and Eliezer, not just Eliezer. So why does the Midrash focus only on Eliezer?
Secondly, although the Mishna above indeed opens with R' Eliezer's opinion, the halacha lema'aseh is not according to R' Eliezer in the Mishna, but rather according to the chachamim! So, if HKB"H was learning that halacha, why was He learning the opinion of R' Eliezer davka and not the opinion of the chachamim?
Thirdly, if the subject matter stated in the Midrash is Parah Adumah, why does R' Eliezer not begin the Mishna by saying פָרָה בַּת שְׁתֵּים and after that complete the sentence with Eglah Arufah וְעֶגְלָה בַּת שְׁנָתָהּ? Why does he davka begin the first Mishna in masechet Parah with Eglah Arufah? Alternatively, why does the Midrash not rather say that Moshe heard HKB"H learning the halachot of Eglah Arufah, with which that Mishna begins?
In this shiur, I would like to explore the character that was R' Eliezer ben Horkenos, also known as R' Eliezer haGadol, firstly because I have a special fondness for that name, but more importantly because of the important lessons R' Eliezer ben Horkenos teaches us about Matan Torah, the focus of this week's parsha.
Avot de'Rebi Natan (6, 3) tells us the story of R' Eliezer ben Horkenos, but I prefer to share with you the "embellished" form of Avot de'Rebi Natan, as told by R' Baruch Rosenblum שליט"א, as his version is more entertaining (with a few further "embellishments" of my own).
Horkenos, who lived in the time of the destruction of the 2nd Beit Hamikdash, was an extremely wealthy man. He is mentioned in the same breath as Kalba Savua, Ben Tzitzit haKesat and Nakdimon ben Gurion, which gives us an idea what a "heavy hitter" he was. Horkenos made his fortune from real estate and owned vast tracts of land. His sons, including Eliezer, were all part of the family business.
From an early age, it was clear to Horkenos that Eliezer was not the sharpest quill in the ink jar (psychologists today may be able to give it some fancy label, like ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, etc.) so, unlike his other sons who helped run the business, Horkenos sent Eliezer to do physical labor, working the land.
One day, when Eliezer was 22-years-old, Horkenos went to visit him out in the field, only to find Eliezer sitting on a knoll, bitterly crying his eyes out. Horkenos, who was very fond of Eliezer, was shaken by this strapping, grown man weeping. "Eliezer, why are you crying?"
Horkenos asked. "I want to study Torah!" Eliezer sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Torah? You?" replied Horkenos smilingly, "You know that since age 3 we have been trying to teach you the simple aleph bet, but it is like chiseling on a diamond with a wooden peg. It goes in one ear and out the other!"
Horkenos tried to read between the lines and figure out what was "really" bothering his son. "Perhaps he finds working in the field too difficult", thought Horkenos, so he instead assigned him to supervise the counting of the sheaves of wheat in the granary. After a month of this light work, Horkenos again paid a visit to his son. Eliezer was sitting on a bale of straw, weeping incessantly.
"Eliezer my son, what is wrong? Is this work not easier than being out in the field?" Horkenos asked. "I want to study Torah!" was the reply, the tears starting to form a rivulet at Eliezer's feet. "You know that is impossible" said Horkenos.
A few weeks later Eliezer ran away from home and journeyed to the big city of Jerusalem. He stopped a passer-by on the street and asked "Where do I go to study Torah?"
Picture the scene. A Kibbutznik with a ponytail halfway down his back, tattoos on both forearms and a guitar lazily slung over his shoulder – stops a Charedi walking in Rebi Akiva street in Bnei Brak and asks "Where do I go to study Torah?" The Charedi sizes him up in an instant and says "Take a taxi to 6 Giborei Yisrael Street, that's Yeshivat Sha'arei Teshuva which specializes in Ba'alei Teshuva, they will be able to help you".
What the Charedi most certainly will not say is " Turn left at the next street and walk two blocks to R' Aba Grossbard Street number 7, Yeshivat Ponevez. If you want to study Torah – that is the place for you!"
Eliezer stops a passerby and the passerby takes one look at this country bumpkin farmer boy, with a stick of wheat tucked behind his left ear and says "If you want to study Torah? There is only one place – the yeshiva of R' Yochanan ben Zakai, the Gadol haDor!" פֶּלֶא פְּלָאִים.
Eliezer arrives at the yeshiva and heads directly for the office of the great R' Yochanan Ben Zakai and asks to speak to the Gadol haDor himself! The secretary takes one look at him and refuses point blank. Eliezer sits down on the bench in the waiting room of the office and starts to wail.
The sounds of his sobbing are so heart wrenching (and loud) that R' Yochanan ben Zakai exits his office to see what the furor is all about. "He refuses to leave", says the secretary "Says he wants to speak to you". R' Yochanan beckons to Eliezer to come into his office.
"What can I do for you, my son?" he asks. "I want to study Torah" sobs Eliezer. "Wonderful" replies R' Yochanan, "What is your name?" "Eliezer", with a sniffle. "Have you ever studied Torah before Eliezer?" "No, I can't even read and write", wiping the tears from his cheek.
Immediately R' Yochanan ben Zakai realizes that this is a special project and takes it upon himself to teach Eliezer. "I will begin teaching you one line at a time. You must repeat that line over and over again, until it sinks in. Now repeat after me 'Shma Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad'".
Eliezer tries to repeat the sentence, but the words muddle. "Shma" goes in his left ear and evaporates midway. "Yisrael" goes in his right ear and straight out his left ear and then also dissipates into thin air. R' Yochanan ben Zakai sees that the only way to make progress is to assign a chavruta to Eliezer, to keep repeating the sentence over and over again to him. He sends Eliezer and his "tutor" off and tells Eliezer "When you have remembered that sentence, return and we will continue".
Three weeks go by and Eliezer returns. R' Yochanan asks him to repeat the sentence. Eliezer replies "'Shma Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad'". He got it right, but R' Yochanan is repulsed by a foul smell coming from Eliezer's mouth and he steps back. From a safe distance, R' Yochanan gives Eliezer the next line to learn.
Eliezer begins crying all over again "I want to study Torah!" he sobs "But this is Torah I am teaching you", replies R' Yochanan. "No, I want to study real Torah, like the other students in the yeshiva" sobs Eliezer. "You will" replies R' Yochanan, "Keep doing what I tell you and you will".
After he sends Eliezer on his way, R' Yochanan calls to the chavruta and asks him "What was going on in the three weeks since I last saw you?" The chavruta sighs "For the first two days he couldn't even remember one word. I kept repeating the same word over and over from morning till late at night, until on the third day it finally sank in.
Then the next word … and the next, until now, three weeks later, he remembered that one sentence!" "And what is that horrible smell on his breath?" asked R' Yochanan. "He told me that ran away from home and that he is penniless and has no money to buy food.
He was sucking on cow dung to alleviate his hunger". R' Yochanan made an arrangement with the owner of the inn where Eliezer was staying, to bring him food to eat.
And so it continued, week after week, year after year.
Fifteen years later, R' Yochanan was presiding over a fundraiser, attended by all the wealthy donors of the yeshiva. R' Yochanan ben Zakai said to his pupil Eliezer "I want you to give the drasha". Eliezer replied "How can I דּוֹרֵשׁ in front of my teacher" and refused. R' Yochanan insisted and said that he would step out momentarily during the drasha, so that Eliezer will not be דּוֹרֵשׁ לִפְנֵי רַבּוֹ.
One of the guests of honor at the event was none other than the millionaire Horkenos. Just a few weeks prior, Horkenos' other sons approached their father demanding that he erase Eliezer from his will. "He rejected our family and our business. He ran away from home and we do not know what has become of him" they claimed. After the function at the yeshiva, Horkenos intended to visit his lawyer and remove Eliezer's name from the will.
Eliezer got up to speak and his drasha was so sublime and uplifting that מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת descended from Heaven to listen to the incredible chidushim that Eliezer expounded. R' Yochanan ben Zakai, his teacher, was listening in the doorway and after the drasha was over he came up to Eliezer and kissed him on the forehead and proclaimed "R' Eliezer my teacher, you have taught me!"
Horkenos was also blown away and asked who was the prodigy who had delivered such an incredible drasha. He did not recognize his son, now Rebi Eliezer. When he discovered that it was his own son, Horkenos embraced Eliezer and said "I came here to remove you from my will, but instead I am removing the other brothers and making you sole heir and leaving all my assets to the yeshiva".
When R' Yochanan ben Zakai learned that Horkenos was R' Eliezer's father he was dumbfounded "Why did you not tell me that Horkenos the millionaire was your father?" he exclaimed. They all sat together at the table of honor and celebrated in the Torah of R' Eliezer ben Horkenos, R' Eliezer haGadol.
That is the story told in Avot de'Rebi Natan.
In Pirkei Avot (2, 8) it lists the talmidim of R' Yochanan ben Zakai and this is how it describes R' Eliezer ben Horkenos - בּוֹר סוּד שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְאַבֵּד טִפָּה. If you have never read the true story as told above, and relied purely on Pirkei Avot, you might think that R' Eliezer ben Horkenos was naturally gifted and born with a photographic memory. However, we have seen that this was not the case. R' Eliezer was born with something – an insatiable thirst to study Torah, but every drop in that בּוֹר סוּד was acquired through sweat, suffering and sheer power of will.
Another insight into the extraordinary character of R' Eliezer ben Horkenos is from an episode in the Gemara (בבא מציעא נט, ב) which discusses something called a Tanur Achnai. R' Eliezer was sitting with his contemporaries, R' Yehoshua ben Chananya and the other chachamim in the Beit Midrash debating the halacha regarding a clay oven which had become טָמֵא, but was subsequently cut up into ring-shaped segments and the pieces stuck back together with mortar, resembling a "snake" (Achnai in Aramaic).
According to R' Eliezer use of such an oven is permissible and he brought every logical proof to support his opinion. Despite his erudite reasoning, the other chachamim, led by R' Yehoshua, held a different view. They took a vote and the majority decision was that this kind of oven is not permissible for use.
R' Eliezer was not going to leave it at that. He knew he was right and the halacha was like him, so he said "If I am right, that carob tree outside the Beit Midrash will uproot itself and move 50 meters away". Indeed, the carob tree uprooted itself and moved 50 meters to the left (some say 200m).
R' Yehoshua said "That's a nice party trick, but we do not formulate halacha using a carob tree on steroids!" R' Eliezer, undaunted, said "If I am right, the stream flowing next to the Beit Midrash will change its direction of flow". Indeed, the stream reversed its direction, much to the consternation of the fish swimming in it, who had to recalibrate their GPS (guppy positioning system).
Again, R' Yehoshua complimented R' Eliezer on a dazzling display, but retorted "We do not formulate halacha based on a stream with a personality disorder!" Not to be outdone, R' Eliezer then said "If I am right, the walls of the Beit Midrash will prove it!" The walls of the Beit Midrash began to tilt and were just about to fall when R' Yehoshua got up and angrily said to the walls "Stop where you are! Talmidei chachamim are debating a halachic issue, why do you interfere?"
The walls stopped tilting and remained bent half way, like the leaning tower of Pisa, they didn't completely straighten in honor of R' Eliezer and didn't completely fall in honor of R' Yehoshua. As a last-ditch effort, R' Eliezer decided to resort to the "big guns" and declared "If I am right, Heaven will prove it!"
A Bat Kol resounded from Heaven and declared "Why do you argue with R' Eliezer? The halacha is like him in every instance!" You can't beat Heaven, right? … Wrong!
R' Yehoshua indignantly stood up on his hind legs and said "The passuk says לֹא בַשָּׁמַיִם הִוא (דברים ל, יב), ever since Har Sinai we do not formulate halacha according to a Bat Kol. The Torah was written on Har Sinai and given to Moshe Rabbeinu and the Torah says אַחֲרֵי רַבִּים לְהַטֹּת (שמות כג, ב), the halacha is according to the majority decision. We listened to R' Eliezer's arguments and then we took a vote and the majority decision was to not follow R' Eliezer's opinion!"
Why did R' Eliezer bring proofs from a carob tree and the stream? They were hints to R' Yehoshua. "Do you think that you suffered the עֹל תּוֹרָה more than me? Just like a carob tree is the most basic form of food, when I left home to study Torah, I had no food to eat, I was sucking on cow dung!
Do you think you suffered the עֹל תּוֹרָה more than me? HKB"H created me with a serious package deal, a combination of ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, and a few other ABCD's that haven't even been discovered yet. Every drop of Torah that I struggled to learn was like water flowing upstream!"
R' Yehoshua could not match such claims, that he knew to be true. All he could counter was "We do not use such methods to prove halacha!". However, when R' Eliezer tried to use the walls of the Beit Midrash to prove his claim "It is well known that I, R' Eliezer, am always the first to arrive at the Beit Midrash before everyone else every day!"
R' Yehoshua reprimanded the walls! He didn't reprimand the carob tree or the stream, why the walls of the Beit Midrash? R' Yehoshua said to R' Eliezer "I cannot better you with the proofs of the carob tree and the stream, but do not try bring a proof to say that you are before me in the Beit Midrash.
You may arrive at the Beit Midrash first every morning, however, you only first entered a Beit Midrash when you were 22 years old. Do you know when I first entered a Beit Midrash? When I was 22 hours old! My mother took me straight from the maternity ward in a basket to sit in my first shiur!" Pirkei Avot's (2, 8) description of R' Yehoshua is אַשְׁרֵי יוֹלַדְתּוֹ.
Unlike the other students, the Mishna does not list some remarkable ability of R' Yehoshua, except that he was born! That was his unique strength, he was exposed to and began soaking up Torah from age zero!
It is actually ironic, because R' Eliezer himself attests to the fact that all his Torah was learned from his Rebi, Yochanan ben Zakai (פרקי דרבי אליעזר, פרק ב). However, davka in this case of Tanur Achnai only, R' Eliezer based his opinion on a סְבָרָא, a deduction and because of that R' Yehoshua and the chachamim rejected it, because in this specific case they had a source and therefore did not rely on logic (חידושי הרמב"ן, בבא מציעא, נט, ב).
What further proof does one require than HKB"H Himself sending down a Bat Kol to declare that R' Eliezer was right? And the Mefarshim say he was right! In a perfect world, like Beit Shamai, the halacha would be according to him. However, in an imperfect world, our world, the halacha is like R' Yehoshua and the chachamim, like Beit Hillel. The halacha may not be absolutely right, but it is the best we can do under the circumstances with the tools HKB"H puts at our disposal.
R' Eliezer refused to back down and continued to pasken halacha on this issue, to anyone who asked him, according to his shita. Rabban Gamliel, the נָשִׂיא, and the chachamim had no choice but to put R' Eliezer in חֵרֶם, in which he remained until he died.
As we see, R' Eliezer was not a simple human, he was an extremely spiritually elevated individual, that even HKB"H Himself was studying his piskei halacha. R' Eliezer could perform supernatural miracles at the drop of a hat and elicit Bat Kol's. When they put him in חֵרֶם the aftermath was devastating on world agriculture.
Rabban Gamliel, who put him in חֵרֶם, was on a ship at the time and the ship almost was overturned by a tsunami and would have been if Rabban Gamliel hadn't begged HKB"H to save him. According to one opinion (סנהדרין סח, א) the עֲשָׂרָה הֲרוּגֵי מַלְכוּת died because they put R' Eliezer in חֵרֶם.
According to the Zohar HaChadash (איכה יג), R' Eliezer was a gilgul of Reuven, and was therefore spared death at the hands of the Romans, because Reuven was not complicit in the selling of Yosef, only in throwing him into the pit. Moshe called his son Eliezer in thanks to HKB"H for saving him from the sword of Pharaoh. Similarly, R' Eliezer was spared the Roman sword.
After all the sacrifices he had made to acquire Torah, the pain of not being able to teach his Torah must have been unbearable for R' Eliezer and perhaps that was atonement for Reuven's role in the sin of the brothers against Yosef. It appears to me that this is the reason R' Eliezer begins the first Mishna in Parah, with Eglah Arufah, a direct reference to Yosef (who was studying that sugya with Yaakov before they were parted).
Our Midrash above references HKB"H as studying the Parah Adumah part of that Mishna, not the Eglah Arufah part, perhaps implying that HKB"H wants R' Eliezer to be immortalized in a positive light, the purity caused by the Parah Adumah and not the shame of a case of an Eglah Arufah.
When the psukkim in our parsha refer to both Gershom and to Eliezer as הָאֶחָד, this may be understood in two different ways. Gershom was certainly הָאֶחָד as he was the firstborn. If, however, R' Eliezer is a gilgul of Reuven, who was also a firstborn, then he too is הָאֶחָד.
The second has to do with Teshuva. The Midrash (מכילתא דרבי ישמעאל, פרשת יתרו, א) says that when Moshe married Tzipporah, Yitro's condition for the marriage was that Moshe's firstborn would become a priest for avoda zara. This is why Gershom did not have brit milah until Moshe was returning to Egypt. Although Gershom never actually became a priest for avoda zara, according to the Ba'al HaTurim (שמות ב, טז), his son Yehonatan did, with פֶּסֶל מִיכָה.
To atone for this took many generations until שְׁבֻאֵל בֶּן גֵּרְשׁוֹם בֶּן מֹשֶׁה (דברי הימים א', כו, כד), a descendant of Gershom, an official in the Beit HaMikdash. He is named שְׁבֻאֵל because he did Teshuva. So, Gershom and his descendants are associated with a process of Teshuva, as is Eliezer and his descendants. R' Eliezer's suffering of the חֵרֶם was Teshuva for Reuven, of whom he was a gilgul.
In answer to our question above why HKB"H was davka studying the opinion of R' Eliezer and not that of the chachamim, it is now clear, from the story above with the Tanur Achnai. Although in both cases the halacha is like the chachamim and not R' Eliezer – that is down here in this world. In Heaven, in עוֹלַם הָאֱמֶת, where HKB"H "studies" Torah, the halacha is like R' Eliezer - like Shamai and not like Hillel.
It is not incidental that the story of R' Eliezer ben Horkenos is closely connected davka to the parsha of Matan Torah because it gives us great insight into what Matan Torah actually is. From the word "Matan", we might mistakenly think that Torah is a free gift, acquired without effort.
A person can only truly acquire Torah through עָמָל and the degree of greatness we achieve in Torah is directly proportional to our עָמָל. The story of R' Eliezer is inspirational, because it proves that anyone can become a talmid chacham, regardless of what starting statistics you have.
The only "statistic" essential to acquiring Torah is an insatiable thirst to acquire it. If we have that, no other obstacle can stand in our way.
Although R' Eliezer's testament to Torah in this world is not in halacha, we are blessed with a great work based on his writings called Pirkei d'Rebi Eliezer, a collection of Midrashim on the Torah that was only published many centuries after his death.
Shabbat Shalom
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
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