JHI Dvar Torah on Parshat Toldot

PARSHAT TOLDOT – HUMAN NEEDS


Rivkah (Rebecca) and Yitzchak (Isaac) were in a childless marriage for 20 years until finally, Rivkah became pregnant with twins. The pregnancy, however, was unusually difficult. Rivkah sought out prophetic explanation for what she was experiencing. Rivkah was told that she was carrying twins, Yaakov and Eisav, from whom two great nations would arise. The difficulty of the pregnancy was due to the fact that even in utero, they were already struggling with each other (Commentary of Ramban).

Quoting the Talmud (Berachot 57b), Rashi’s commentary adds that the prophecy also identified two extremely prominent members of those nations who would later coexist - Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi and Antoninus. R. Yehudah Hanasi (usually referred to as Rebbe) was a descendant of Yaakov and the compiler of the Mishnah; Antoninus, a descendant of Eisav, was a Roman ruler. Both individuals were extraordinarily wealthy. A sign of their wealth was the fact that their tables were always graced by out-of-season produce, a luxury then available to only the most affluent. This indicates that Rebbe spent a large amount of money on the meals served in his home.

The Talmud (Berachot 104a) writes of Rebbe that he did not partake of his wealth more than was absolutely necessary. When dying, he raised his fingers, stating that he did not have (any unnecessary) benefit from this world — even to the extent of the profit earned through working with one finger only. Several commentaries therefore ask, how could the Talmud write that Rebbe lived in great opulence? Did it not also write that Rebbe only partook of bare necessities?

The Commentary of the Taz (by Rabbi Dovid ben Shmuel Halevi, author of the Taz on Shulchan Aruch, d. 1667) on Rashi answers that both statements are true. Rebbe never indulged himself with even one extra penny’s worth of luxury. However, due to his great affluence, his opulent lifestyle was a necessity without which Rebbe could not function optimally. It was only relative to others that Rebbe lived immoderately. However, with regard to his own requirements, he partook of only the bare necessities.

Many are aware of the Talmudic dictum “He who has one hundred desires two hundred” (Midrash Rabbah, Koheles 1:13). Man can never achieve satisfaction from material possessions; whatever one obtains fosters the desire for twice that amount. Satisfying one’s desires in search of contentment is therefore pointless, for self-indulgence will only create the desire for yet greater indulgences (see chapter 14). Yet the Talmud’s treatment of Rebbe seems to sanction a most opulent lifestyle. This is evident from the fact that Rebbe’s “indulgences” were not criticized by the Talmud. How can this be understood?

In truth, it is a lust for ever more possessions which cannot be satisfied. However, each person has a threshold of personal need. Rebbe required this quality of lifestyle; due to his circumstances, he could not eat comfortably from a less lavish table. Rebbe, who descended from King David, was the ruling Prince of the Jews, whose immediate forefathers also held the same office. Rebbe was therefore likely raised in a very wealthy home. Although Rebbe’s expenditures were exorbitant relative to others, for him given the context of his life and his position, it was necessity rather than self-indulgence that inspired the consumption. His lifestyle was a result of a carefully analyzed conclusion based on his understanding of Torah guidelines and ethics rather than on his personal and unrestrained desires and needs. Hnce, it would have been wrong for Rebbe not to satisfy those needs; and fulfilling them did not create the need for more and more.

The words of the Taz also illustrate the enormous variance of human material needs. Rebbe’s lifestyle was indeed out of reach to all but the world’s most affluent. However, tit was what he personally required, due to his station and wealth. If his table were more modest, it would have been a deprivation of his appropriate needs. Rebbe partook of only what was necessary for him and not one iota more.

A given human indulgence cannot be unilaterally deemed as either a necessity or a luxury; what constitutes need is a highly subjective consideration. What is an outrageous extravagance to most of the world may in fact be a justifiable imperative to some. Rebbe (like Antoninus) expended as much on his own material consumption as perhaps anyone else alive at that time. To those who observed him from afar, he might have seemed like the archetype of wasteful consumption. Nevertheless, Rebbe became the Talmud’s model of one who subsisted for an entire lifetime on bare necessities.

This concept gives additional impetus to observe the Talmudic dictum (Avot 1:10) “Judge all people meritoriously [always give others the benefit of the doubt].” One type of being judgmental occurs when one points a finger at others, accusing them of extravagance. The Taz teaches that the enormous disparity between the needs of different individuals might be lost on these ‘finger pointers.’ Rebbe’s example demonstrates that one can be living in the world’s most sumptuous manner while at the same time being the Torah’s eternal paradigm of one who subsists on bare necessities alone.

The point should also be made that Rebbe never lost sight of the absolute definition of what his needs were and what they were not. Despite the outlay of tremendous sums to satisfy his needs, Rebbe scrupulously avoided even the slightest unwarranted expense. If, in modern denominations, three hundred dollars was needed for his every breakfast, he made certain that $301 was not spent. That extra dollar was an excess that Rebbe avoided throughout his lifetime.

In the ethical system of the Torah, it is accepted that major and ongoing expenditures of money might be required by some individuals to provide for their ‘needs’ – but only for needs and not for uncalled for indulgences. Furthermore, when it comes to unjustified spending, ideally, even overspending the smallest amounts should be avoided — as per Rebbe’s example. Notwithstanding his enormous affluence, Rebbe did not ever spend even a “small finger’s worth” more than necessary.


(This Dvar Torah was adapted from Rabbi Ganz’s volume on Sefer Bereishit, “Defining Humanity.”)


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