C

ommenting on a key verse 
from this week’s parshah, a 
Midrash tells a pointed story:
Once Rabbi Yannai was walking 
along the way when he met a man who 
was elegantly dressed. He said to him, 
“Will the master be my 
guest?” He replied, “As 
you please.”
Rabbi Yannai then took 
him home and questioned 
him on the Bible, but he 
knew nothing; on Talmud, 
but he knew nothing; on 
Aggadah, but he knew 
nothing. Finally, he asked him to say 
grace. The man, however, replied, “Let 

Yannai say grace in his house.”
Rabbi Yannai then said to him, “Can 
you repeat what I tell you?” The man 
answered, “Yes.” Rabbi Yannai then said: 
“Say a dog has eaten Yannai’s bread.”
The guest then rose up and seized 
Rabbi Yannai demanding, “Where is 
my inheritance that you have and are 
keeping from me?”
“What inheritance of yours do I have?”
He replied, “The children recite, 
‘Moses commanded us the Torah, an 
inheritance of the congregation of 
Jacob’ (Deuteronomy 33:5). It is not 
written, ‘congregation of Yannai,’ but 
‘congregation of Jacob.’” Vayikra Rabbah 
9
It’s a powerful story. Rabbi Yannai 
sees an elegantly dressed stranger and 
assumes that he must be well educated. 
He takes him home and discovers 
the man has had no Jewish education 
whatsoever. He knows nothing of the 
rabbinic literature. He can’t even say 
grace after meals.
Rabbi Yannai, a Torah scholar, looks 
down at the guest with contempt. But 
the stranger, with great dignity, says 
to him in effect: “The Torah is my 
inheritance as well as yours. Since you 
have much, and I have none, share a 
little of what you have with me. Instead 
of dismissing me, teach me.”
 
T0RAH KNOWLEDGE 
BELONGS TO US ALL 
Few ideas in the history of Judaism 
have greater power than this: the 
idea that Torah knowledge belongs to 
everyone; that everyone should have the 
chance to learn; that education should 
be universal; that everyone should be, if 
possible, literate in the laws, the history 
and the faith of Judaism; that education 
is the highest form of dignity, and it 
should be accessible to all.
This idea goes so far back and so 
deep in Judaism that we can easily 
forget how radical it is. Knowledge — 
in the famous phrase of Sir Francis 
Bacon — is power. Those who have 
it are usually reluctant to share it 
with others. Most societies have had 

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

44 | OCTOBER 3 • 2024 

The 
Inheritance 
that Belongs 
to Everyone

