Pirkei Avos - 082 Erev Rav In The Soul

Now That We Are After The Sin, We Need A Rav\Teacher

The Mishnah (in Avos) says: “Make for yourself a rav (a teacher).” We have explained in the past[1], according to the approach of the Maharal, that this means that you on your own must decide who is your rav.

To “make” for yourself a teacher is the concept of asiyah, to make, to do action. The Vilna Gaon and others explain that asiyah is a concept that came after the sin of Adam. Before the sin, there was no concept of asiyah. All asiyah came from the sin. After the sin, Adam was cursed with having to work, which really meant that the world of action all came after the sin. Had Adam remained in Gan Eden, there would have been no need for action.

The “world of action”, asiyah, is what we are in. Since we are found after the sin, we must mainly act. But before the sin, there was no concept of action. The mitzvos take effect on us because we are in a world of action. When the soul returns to the Heaven where it came from, there is no action, so we see that action is not the intended state of mankind.

Thus, to “make for yourself a rav” implies that had there been no sin, there would be no need to make for yourself a rav.

Each Person Has His Own Rav

Therefore, the Mishnah needs understanding: What exactly is the concept of a rav?

Also, what does it mean to make “for yourself” a rav? (Obviously, the rav of Klal Yisrael, who is Moshe Rabbeinu, is not what the Mishnah is telling us about. The Mishnah is speaking about each person’s private Rav. Everyone has their own Rav, because each person makes their own Rav for themselves.)

We explained in the past that the Maharal says that you make for yourself a rav by learning from each person’s chochmah (wisdom). You see different chochmah in each person, and each person sees different chochmah. Thus, when you make for yourself a rav, it is not the same rav as your friend - even if your friend has the very same rav. Why? Because your friend sees different understandings in the rav. So each person has his own rav, because each person learns different chochmah from his rav.

The Kidneys of Avraham Avinu: The Concept of The “Inner Teacher”

Even more so, to “make for yourself a rav” is as follows.

Adam had no rav. The angels taught him the Torah, but that was only after the sin. Before the sin, there was no rav, because G-dliness was revealed to him; all was known to him.

The root of Klal Yisrael began with Avraham Avinu. Who was his rav? It seems that Shem and Ever were his teachers, as we know that he learned by them. But Chazal say that “Avraham learned Torah from within himself”.[2] Chazal elsewhere say that he learned Torah from his kidneys, and that his kidneys advised him like two teachers of advice. This is another way of describing how he learned Torah from within himself.

The root of Klal Yisrael, Avraham Avinu, did not have a rav; he did not have the simple kind of rav that we need to have, which the Mishnah tells us to make for ourselves. Why? It is because the entire concept of rav came after the sin, for rav is made through asiyah, and asiyah was introduced only after the sin. Adam HaRishon didn’t need a rav, because he was above sin.

Making for yourself a rav, according to the Maharal, means to learn chochmah from all people. Adam knew all the chochmah, because his soul included all souls. We, however, need a rav from the outside, because we need to learn chochmah from others [as none of our souls are all-inclusive like Adam’s].

The concept of a rav is entirely about learning chochmah from outside of ourselves. This is hinted to from the word rav, which has the words rav bar, and bar means “outside”. Adam, who contained all chochmah, didn’t need to learn anything from others. Only after the sin did there become a need for a rav, a need to learn chochmah from others; before the sin, Adam had all the chochmah inside himself, for his soul included every soul.

Avraham Avinu was the one who began to fix the sin of Adam. There became a need for a teacher after the sin, so he made for himself an outer teacher, therefore, he went to Shem and Ever. But he also had an inner teacher, just like Adam had: his two kidneys advised him.

The deeper understanding is that even before the sin there was also a concept of rav, but the rav came from within man. Adam, before the sin, really did have a rav: his very soul.

After the sin, the level of his soul changed; his soul became disparate. Avraham Avinu came to fix the sin of Adam – what did he fix? He fixed the fact that the sin caused the need for an outer teacher. He still had an outer teacher, of course, but along with this, he also had an inner teacher: he learned Torah from within himself.

Avraham stands for “av bar” – av means father, meaning, he was
“above” the level of bar\outside teacher, and thus he reached the point that is above the level of “rav”. So at the same time that he learned Torah from Shem, he also made sure to have Torah from within himself.

“Outer” Teacher and “Inner” Teacher

What does it mean that the kidneys were like two teachers to Avraham Avinu? One understanding, the simple understanding, is to use the other statement of Chazal in order to understand this: that “Avraham learned Torah from within himself”.

That is true, but there is a deeper understanding, and it lays in understanding the difference between Esav and Yaakov. “Esav” is from the word asu\asiyah, because Esav represents this outside world, the world of action. Yaakov, though, is represented by the kol Yaakov, the “voice of Yaakov”.   

When one learns Torah only from an outside teacher represents the level of Esav, who is all about asiyah, then he knows how to make for himself a teacher, but he is entirely living on this external world; for he has no inner world of his own. This resembles the mentality of Esav, who lives for this world of asiyah, who has no “kol” (voice) inside himself. Yaakov, though, is all about the “voice” of Yaakov – a voice within; an inner teacher.

These are two totally different concepts of “rav”.

Who is the teacher of a person? The Gemara (in the second chapter of Tractate Bava Metzia) says that it is “one whom you learn “rov chochmaso” (most of your wisdom) from”. That is one kind of rav. But the Mishnah in Avos here describes a different kind of rav: to learn chochmah from all people, as the Maharal explained; it refers to the inner teacher, to the kidneys which advise.

So there is a concept of “rav” who is rov (one whom you learn most of your wisdom from), and there is also a different concept of rav: one who is kol, to learn from “all people”; and kol also can mean “voice”, the “voice of Yaakov”.

Adam before the sin had a rav in himself, which is the kind of rav that is kol: it contained all chochmah, and it was a kol\voice from within. After the sin, there became a need for a rav. Avraham began to fix this with by having both an outer rav as well as his inner rav; he began to access the rav that is kol, which refers to the internal kind of rov.

“Outer Teacher” Is For Removing Yourself From Doubt

What is the concept of “rav” that is rov (a rav that you learn most of your wisdom from) and what is “rav” of kol (the inner teacher)?

The kind of rav which you learn rov chochmaso (most of your wisdom) from has two facets to this.

Firstly, we need to ask: why is a rav called a “rav”? Simply speaking, it is because one does not know things, so he needs a rav to teach him.

But the inner definition is as follows: Chazal say to “make for yourself a rav and remove yourself from doubt”. A doubt, safek, is decided when there is a rov, a majority, which tells you how to approach the doubt. A doubt means that you have two options, and a rov (majority) can come and tell you how to decide [as we know from Halacha]. A safek\doubt is only a “doubt” when there is rov\majority to help you decide what to do; the rov decides how to take care of the doubt.

So when you make for yourself a rav, it is because you have doubt, and the rav removes the doubt. That is one kind of rav: you have a doubt, and the doubt is removed through having and consulting a rav.

“Outer Teacher” Is Necessary In Order To Have Fear of Heaven

Another reason why you need to have an outer teacher is because as the Mishnah elsewhere says, “The fear of your teacher should be to you like fear of Heaven.” In order to receive morah (awe of Heaven), you need a rav as an example. In order to get to Yiras Shomayim\fear of Heaven, you need to have yirah from your rav, so that you can understand that you need to fear Hashem; this reflects the concept of “From my flesh I see G-d.” Fear of your rav reminds you to fear Hashem.

The outer kind of teacher a person needs to have, “rav” from the word “rov” (majority), is also from the word ribuy (many), and it is also from the word riv (argument). This implies that when there is doubt, you have two sides, which creates a riv (argument). It is well-known that Amalek is the source of safek (doubt) and riv (argument). A doubt means you have two sides that oppose each other. As we know from Halacha, a doubt is decided through following the rov, the majority.

Fearing your teacher is to fear him like how you fear Heaven; why indeed must you fear your teacher like this? Adam, before the sin, didn’t need fear of a teacher in order to fear Hashem. After the sin, he grew afraid, and he didn’t want to come out of hiding when Hashem was calling his name. After the sin, we needed fear of a teacher, because there became a need to fear Hashem now that Adam sinned; and in order to fear Hashem we need fear of a teacher. We are missing revelation of the Shechinah, therefore, our body requires fear of Hashem.

Rov is majority, and it can help you decide when you have doubt, but it is not yet the higher level. Kol is the higher level. Kol reflects the Mishnah that says “Who is wise? One who learns from all people.” That is the inner teacher, the kidneys, the kelayos, from the word kol.

When one learns Torah from his rav, the rav has more chochmah than the student; when he wants to teach the Talmid, he narrows down his chochmah onto a level that the talmid will understand. This is written about in many places.  So when a talmid is hearing Torah from his Rav, he is being taught not from the general chochmah of the Rav - rather, he is receiving chochmah on a level that is tailored to what he can understand. He is hearing the pratim (details) of chochmah from his rav; he is not learning the klal (general wisdom) of his rav.

A talmid does not hear from his teacher the kol\klal of the chochmah; rather, he hears a ribuy (a lot) of peratim (details), or rov (most) of his wisdom. He hears much details, but he does not get the klal of chochmah of his rav. A talmid must fear his teacher; the fear creates some distance, therefore, the talmid can only receive details, but he can’t receive the klal of chochmah from his rav.

But the kind of rav in which one learns wisdom from others is a different concept of rav. When one learns chochmah from all people, this includes to learn even from people who are not as wise as you, as the Maharal says; here there is no concept of fearing the rav, because you do not fear one who is lower than your level. Since there is no fear here, you are able to receive the klal of chochmah from each person you learn from.

Thus, there is a need to learn from all people, besides for learning from your rav. From your rav you get many, many details of wisdom, but the wisdom has been diluted for you so that you can understand it. But from learning from all people you receive undiluted wisdom.

This is the deep difference between outer teacher and inner teacher.

Each of the Avos had a kol – they each said that they have kol. The Gemara says that Avraham was blessed with “bakol”, “with everything”; Yitzchok was blessed with “mikol”, with everything; and Yaakov said, “Yeish li kol,” I have everything.” In other words, they had the chochmah of kol (all-inclusive wisdom). Avraham learned the klal of chochmah from his two kelayos\kidneys. He received details of knowledge from Shem and Ever; but as we know, Shem and Ever are not part of the Jewish people. He received his “outer teacher” from them. But the Jewish people are built on the kol inside the Avos - the klal of chochmah that came from inside the Avos; and not from Shem and Ever.

This is the meaning of “klal gadol b’Torah” (“the great rule of the Torah”) - the kelal of chochmah in Yisrael, which is the chochmah of Yisrael which was around before creation, for Yisrael is called “Raishis Chochmasa”, the beginning of all wisdom.

Avraham is called av hamon b’goyim (father of the nations) – he is the kelal of chochmah, which is kol. Adam before the sin had this.

When a person learns everything from an “outside” rav and he has no “inner” rav, even if he learned everything from one specific rav, he only gets pratim\details of chochmah, not the klal of chochmah.

An Even More Inner Teacher

Until now we explained the two levels of rav: rav\rov (which is the external level of rav) and rav of kol\kelal\kelayos (the inner level of rav).

There is also a third level of rav, and it is the concept of how “Avraham learned Torah from himself.” He learned Torah from his etzem, from his very self. This is a higher level than even the kidneys, which were the inner advisors of Avraham. 

There is a kelal to chochmah (all-inclusive wisdom) and there is perat in chochmah (details in wisdom). A rav in the simple sense is one who you learn peratim of chochmah from (as it was explained above). A rav of kelayos\kelal is referring to one whom you learn the kelal of chochmah from, which is when you learn from “all” people, (as the Maharal explains our Mishnah).

Higher than this, though, is the kind of chochmah which the possuk in Iyov describes: “Wisdom, from where is it found?” The possuk is telling us that all chochmah\wisdom is rooted in the point of ayin, “nothingness”, the point that is above wisdom, which is its source: ayin. So to learn Torah from within oneself (from his etzem\essence) is to learn from a point above chochmah.

When a person learns Torah from his rebbi\teacher, usually, he is learning chochmah. But the true understanding doesn’t come from chochmah! Chochmah gives over chochmah – but from where does the chochmah come from? It comes from a source. This is the point of learning Torah from within oneself, a place where the chochmah is drawn from.

We learn Torah with our seichel, our intellect; the word seichel is from the word histaklus, to “see” the words of the Torah. In other words, when we learn Torah with our chochmah\seichel, we are attempting to “see” the Torah. But this perception is limited, because we can only “see” the external layer of the Torah.

The inner understanding of Torah is when we learn it through our etzem, our essence, which is above our seichel\chochmah. The word “etzem” is from the word atzimah, which means to “close”, hinting to the concept of “closing” the eyes - and on a deeper level, to “close off” your own analytical thoughts.

Chochmah contains in it kelal and perat; all kelalim and peratim were said at Har Sinai. But learning Torah from within oneself refers to the point of peshitus (the inner simplicity) in the soul; ayin (“nothingness”), which is the source of one’s chochmah, is known as the makom hapashut (simple point) in the soul, which is above the point of chochmah.

This is the depth of what it means to “make for yourself a teacher”.

Summary Of The Three Sources of Wisdom

There is an outer teacher one needs; a person learns from his teacher the details of chochmah he needs to know.

There is also an inner teacher one needs - the “kidneys”, which is to learning the kelal (inclusive) level of chochmah [which the concept of the Maharal that a person learns chochmah from all people).

But the more inner level of rav\teacher is that one receives chochmah not from his kidneys\inner advice – rather, he can receive it from the innermost place in the soul. The inner source of chochmah is the very essence of the makom hapashut (simple point) in the soul.

So there are three levels of acquiring chochmah: 1) Your rav you learn from, whom you receive chochmah from; 2) The deeper kind of chochmah, which is called the “kidneys” – your inner chochmah (which you receive by learning chochmah from all people), and 3) Etzem – your innermost point; the very source of your chochmah, which is called ayin (nothingness), or makom hapashut (the “simple point” in the soul) or peshitus (inner simplicity).

This is the depth of “making for yourself a rav” – the Mishnah says to make “for yourself”, lecha, which has the same letters as the word “kol”. It hints to the following: When it comes to your outer rav, you have to go to him; lecha is from the word “leich”, “go to him.” You have to go to your rav to go learn from him, in the simple sense. The inner level of “rav” is [that in addition to having a simple rav, you also] when is when you learn from chochmah from all people. But the innermost level of making for yourself a teacher is when your soul is drawing its chochmah from the makom hapashut (the simple point in the soul).

Now, to make this practical in your life. Your soul has sections it in, and everything is in your soul. To “Make for yourself a teacher” has three levels to it as we explained, and it is inside each person. By some people, etzem is more revealed, and with others, kelayos is more dominant; and by others, they only have an outer rav, and they have no revelation of kelayos or etzem. But all of these three levels are in your soul, because your soul has all in it. So we can all access these levels.

Even more so, the kelayos can get their advice from the etzem. This is a concept of having many rabbonim in oneself. The kelayos can receive from the etzem, and the rav in the soul can receive from the kelayos. This is how a person can have a “rav” within himself!

There is a sharp statement of Reb Pinchos of Koritz, a student of the Baal Shem Tov, who was asked: “Who is your rav?” He responded, “My neshamah is my rav.” Without getting into this deep statement, the point is that a rav is one who is above you. Since the soul has layers to it, each layer can receive from the layer above it, and in this way, the entire spectrum of the soul can become like a rav to the person.

Erev Rav In The Soul

When a person has no inner order going on in his soul, what happens? Each part of himself will seek many ‘rabbonim’ for all different kinds of areas. He will seek one rebbi when it comes to halachah; one rebbi in Agadta matters; one rebbi to learn good middos from; one rebbi to learn hanhagah (conduct) from…This is all because his soul is scattered inside, and therefore he needs a different rav for each specific area.

But when the parts in the soul are unified together, each part of the soul will properly receive from another part in the soul. This is the depth behind the concept of eiruv, to mix, for holy purposes. The holy use of the concept of eiruv is expressed in the concepts of eiruv techumin and eiruv parshiyos. It represents the concept that each part of the soul can be a rav for a different part of the soul. It is the opposite concept of Erev Rav, who rebelled against Moshe, the Rav of Klal Yisrael.

This is how we use the force of “Erev Rav” for holiness: when the parts in our soul are each receiving from different parts of our soul, so that each part of our soul is a rav for a different part of our soul.

The Erev Rav, who opposed Moshe, represents the concept of opposing the entire idea of “making for yourself a rav”. Erev Rav means that they are causing eiruv (mixture) to the concept of rav. They made the Golden Calf because they claimed that Moshe wasn’t around anymore; in other words, they were attempting to blame Moshe for making the Golden Calf, which was a way of trying to mix in Moshe with the Golden Calf. That is the simple definition of Erev Rav. Moshe was the Rav, and the Erev Rav said Moshe is not here anymore; they wanted a different Rav.

But the deeper understanding is as follows. Each part of our soul can receive from a different part of our soul, as we explained. This is the “holy” kind of Erev Rav. There is “Moshe Rabbeinu within” that is in every soul, and in every generation, as the Rambam says. (There is also a degree of each of the Avos are also in our soul). That is the “rav” in our soul.

One who is wise learns from all people, as the Mishnah teaches – meaning, one who learns from all the parts in the soul. When they are mixed together and teach each other, this is called the holy use of “Erev Rav”. It is a way to mix the soul together and cause it to become unified and connected, as opposed to being a random mixture. The evil kind of Erev Rav is exactly the opposite: to mix around and confuse things.

Summary

So there are three levels to rav: “rav” (outer teacher – learning from a rav), kelayos (inner teacher – learning from all people), and etzem (source of wisdom).

We all have this full spectrum in our soul, and all of our souls can all receive from different parts in the soul. This is the depth of the Mishnah’s words that you should “Make for yourself a teacher.” This is not just saying that you should go find a rav. It means that your entire soul can be a rav to the different parts of your soul!

The simple understanding of the Mishnah is that you need to go find Rabbonim in the simple sense. But the deep understanding is to make “yourself” into a teacher. When the Torah says to make “for yourself” a sukkah, it means that you, yourself, should go make a sukkah. So too, making a rav for yourself doesn’t simply mean to make another into a rav over yourself, but to make yourself into a rav for yourself.

The way you make a rav prominent is by believing in him, as we said earlier (in Pirkei  Avos #081). Through emunah in him, you elevate his status, and you cause the Shechinah to come through him.

But the deeper meaning, as we have explained now, is that you can from the level to the level of “rav” to the higher level, which is “kol”: If a Rav to you is just someone whom you learn “rov”, of your chochmah from (and indeed, this is what makes him your rav), then this is really a rav of “riv” (strife), and with such a rav, there can be resulting riv\strife. Therefore, you need to view your rav as someone who is giving you the kol of your chochmah, as opposed to someone who is giving you rov of your chochmah.

Korach’s Mistake

The people involved in Korach’s argument against Moshe has the lower perspective of “rav” and thus they were able to oppose him; they needed to be reminded by Hashem that Moshe is trustworthy. But when a rav is viewed as “kol”, and nor rov, then he cannot be opposed.

Why is there ever opposition towards a rav? It comes from riv, as we said previously. How do we repair the riv aspect in rav? Not through rov, but through kol.

The depth of Korach’s argument that he was was saying that there is already a kol aspect of chochmah in Klal Yisrael, so he was saying that we don’t need Moshe as a rav. Korach said that “The entire nation is holy”, therefore, he came to deny the halachos of the rights of Priesthood. The depth of his argument was that Korach wanted to deny the level of “rav” of kol; he was saying, either there is a rav, or there is kelayos\kol but there cannot be both. He was trying to take away the kelal of the Torah by saying how the mitzvos don’t make sense.

Why was he wrong? Because he didn’t realize that a rav is about kol. He thought Moshe was the rav who is not a rav of kol. He thought kol is an independent concept of rav. Korach was wrong because Moshe is not just the rav – he is the kelal where he drew his “rav” from. He is the rav who comes from the kelal; he had the rav on the level of kelayos. Korach didn’t understand this perspective about rav; he was aware of the concept of kol, but he couldn’t connect it with the concept of rav, therefore, he didn’t see Moshe as the rav who contains kol.

In Conclusion

So the deep way to understand rav is to realize that rav is kol; and kol is the rav of the rav, and etzem is the rav of the kol.

Thus, to “Make for yourself a teacher” means that the “kol” is the very “rav” of the rav.

All of Creation is really a rav to something else in Creation. the word for Creation, beriah, contains the letters beis and reish, which is rav, because everything in Creation can be a rav to something else.

Thus, when a Talmid learns from his Rav, he should not just view this relationship as learning peratim (details) of chochmah. To “make for yourself a teacher”, is to realize that everything (kol) is in your rav!

Without knowing what rav means, a person only knows how to learn details, here and there, and he will come to seek a rav elsewhere…

But when one attains inner unity in his soul, he has a rav in his soul, and when one learns from all people, each part of himself learns from different people, which brings connection in Creation, and this is how creation becomes your teacher.

Adam’s soul, before the sin, contained everything; he had all the kelalim and peratim. After the sin, there became a need for an outer rav. “Make for yourself a teacher” means that you need to view rav as the kelal of your chochmah - not merely as one who teaches you many various peratim of chochmah.

Moshe’s soul led the people; he connected all of them together. Moshe’s soul is the root of all souls. But in addition to this fact, he also connected all souls together. How? It is because with Moshe’s soul, each part of his soul was able to learn from a different part of his soul, so his soul was the rav; this enabled others to receive from him.

What is “rav” [in the soul]? It is when each part in the soul is receiving from all the many parts in the soul.

One who is like this can also cause others to be able to receive from him. But when doesn’t have unity inside his own soul, if he doesn’t know how to receive from the parts of his own soul, he has no way of enabling others to receive from him.

“Make for yourself a teacher” means to make your own soul into a rav; to connect it all together, so that each part of your soul will be receiving and learning from a different part in the soul.[3] And if one can achieve that with his own soul, he will be able to do the same with others.

May you merit that your entire spectrum of the soul should become one entity of “rav”.