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