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Being a Man by Rav Moshe Weinberger
Parshas Shemos Being a Man, Doing for Others
By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
The Torah (Shemos 2:11) tells us what it means to be great. It tells us, “And it was in those days that Moshe grew up and went out to his brothers, and he saw their suffering.” The Ramban on this pasuk explains what it means that Moshe grew up: “And Moshe grew up [lit., ‘became great’],” meaning that he grew up and became a man. At the beginning, it says (ibid., at 10), “And the child grew up,” meaning that he grew up to the point that she did not need to wean him [i.e., he weaned himself]… And afterward, he grew up and became a man of intelligence. And the reason the pasuk says he “went out to his brothers” is because they told him that he was a
Jew and he wanted to see them because they were his brothers. And when he gazed upon their suffering and toil, he could not tolerate it and therefore he killed the Egyptian…
The Torah is teaching us what it means to be a man, a person of intelligence and responsibility. When someone transitions from being a child to being an adult, what does that mean? When Moshe heard that he was a Jew, what was the first thing he did? He went out to his brothers to see their suffering. That is what defines a Jew.
Rav Yitzchak Volozhiner, in his introduction to Nefesh Hachaim, quotes his father Rav Chaim Volozhiner, zt”l, as teaching that “this is the entirety of man. He was not created for his own sake. Rather, [he was created] to benefit others.” That is what it means to be a great person, to truly be a Jew. That is the essence of maturity. A child is wrapped up in his own world, living only for himself, for his own enjoyment and benefit. The most important aspect of maturity is “to benefit others.”
When the Torah begins listing the generations from Adam to Noach, it begins (Bereishis 5:1), “This is the book of the generations of Man.” The Alshich points out that the word “book” in this pasuk seems superfluous. Every other time the Torah lists out someone’s descendants, it usually says, “these are the generations of…,” without the word “book.” In addition, if the word “book” refers to the Torah, is the pasuk saying that the whole Torah is there to recount the generations of Man? Is the Torah just a genealogy book? Rather, the Alshich answers that the pasuk must be teaching us that a person’s main offspring, the “generations of Man,” is the Torah that he learns and teaches and the mitzvos that he does. The Alshich explains: The primary offspring of tzaddikim are the good deeds and the Torah he learns, as the Zohar says, that [the brother of] a Torah scholar who dies technically should not have to have a levirate marriage with [the
Torah scholar’s] wife because the
Torah thoughts he has learned are his descendants, like Ben Azai who [never married but] “gave birth” and multiplied light. Man’s “book” is the Torah [he has learned]. That is the [true, inner] offspring of Man.
The Bnei Yissaschar (Derech Pikudecha, M”A 1:26), expresses this beautifully when he writes about the mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply as follows: It is possible to fulfill this mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply at all times and at every stage in life by “giving birth” to new concepts in Torah as the mekubalim wrote about… This is a person’s primary fulfillment of the mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply, but Hashem commanded us to also fulfill it on a physical level as well. In this way, [Torah] concepts will increase exceedingly because every person who is born will have an intellect to grasp new concepts…
One might have thought that when a person is too old or too young to have children, or if he is unable to have children, that he cannot fulfill the mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply. But the Bnei Yissaschar teaches us that this is not true. A person’s main offspring is the Torah he has learned, the novel Torah thoughts he has brought into the world, and the mitzvos that he has done. In addition, the Ben Ish Chai, zt”l, explains that the connection between the first mitzvah in the Torah (to be fruitful and multiply) and last mitzvha in the Torah (the mitzvah to write a sefer Torah) is that through the first mitzvah in the Torah, we bring more Jews into the world who will fulfill the last mitzvah, the mitzvah to learn Torah.
Every person is therefore like a Sefer Torah. That is why the pasuk calls the Torah, “the book of the generations of Man.” His descendants themselves are the “book,” the Sefer Torah. This is because a person’s mitzvos and Torah are his main progeny in this world.
The sefer Taam V’daas (Bereishis) relates the following story from which we can see how tzaddikim in recent times viewed their mitzvos as their true “book” they wished to bequeath to the world: It once happened that Rav Chaim Ozer, zt”l, visited Rav Elya Chaim Meisels, zt”l, in Lodz. As a gift, Rav Chaim Ozer gave a copy of his sefer, Achiezer, to Rav Meisels, who was very happy to receive it and immediately began perusing it to enjoy Rav Ozer’s novel Torah insights. Rav Ozer then asked Rav
Meisels, “When will we merit that his honor will also author a book?” Rav Elya Chaim answered him, “I already have a book.” Rav Chaim Ozer asked if he could see it, so Rav Elya Chaim brought him to a closet and brought out a large accounting book full of receipts, documents, and records of others’ debts he had paid on behalf of Torah scholars, orphans, and widows.
Rav Elya Chaim told Rav Chaim Ozer, “For the time being, this is my book. It is called ‘The Book of the generations of Man.’ For now, I do not have time to write a book as his honor has.” He did not answer Rav Elya, but it is related that some time later, just before Rav Chaim Ozer’s passage into the Next World, he told the great Rav Yosef Mishkovski, zt”l, “Now I understand what Rav Meisels was saying. The primary book one writes in life which he brings with him into the eternal world is the good things that he has done.” Although Rav Chaim Ozer certainly valued his Torah beyond measure and helped poor people as well, he understood the depth of mitzvos and chessed as man’s progeny in the world on a much deeper level through Rav Elya Meisels’s example.
A person’s primary progeny, the main book he is expected to write, and the defining greatness of a person is the good that he has done. It is what comes from “doing for others” and going out to see his brother’s suffering in order to do something about it. The main point of each mitzvah that a person does, ev-
The Gemara (Yuma 86a) teaches this beautifully: It was taught [in a Braisa]: “And you shall love Hashem your G-d,” [meaning that] the name of Heaven should become beloved through you; that you should read, review, and study under Torah sages and your
ery word of davening he says, and every word of Torah he learns is not just to think about how he himself benefits from it. Rather, he should do it in order to “benefit others,” either directly or indirectly through the merit of his Torah and mitzvos. discussions and dealings with every person should be refined. What will people say about him? “Fortunate is the father who taught him Torah! Fortunate is the rav who taught him Torah! Woe is to people who have not studied Torah! So-and-so who has studied Torah, see how beautiful his ways are, how proper are his actions!” Regarding such a person the pasuk (Yeshaya 49:3) says, “And
He said to me, ‘You are my servant,
Israel in whom I am glorified!’”
When a Jew is a mensch, when everyone can see that he is not just living for himself but is living for others, his entire life sanctifies G-d’s name. His Torah and mitzvos and what he has done for others becomes more important that any sefer he could write. That is Moshe Rebbeinu’s book, called “And Moshe grew up and went out to his brothers.”
With Hashem’s help, may we merit to truly “grow up,” to become great people by thinking about what we can benefit others and by living for the Torah and mitzvos we can bring into the world.
Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.
