What Rashi Doesn't Know And Why We Should Care - Toldos 5783

the Russia towards the end of our Parsha partial we know his replete is filled with the story of yaakov taking the bracha from his brother Asaf and the trickery and the treachery that is not what I'm going to speak about and I'm certainly not going to try to connect it to lawyers all for the good when you will understand the truth is truth and absolute value is truth a relative value is truth something which is objective is truth something which is serving a greater good than you are allowed to who determines what is actually uh the truth which is really part of the storyline of how Rifka emenu could be suggesting to her little yaakov who is the ish Ms to not be sharing what is the MS that is not what I'm going to speak about but at the end of the passion he sends them to padanarama it's like sends them too his father owns his brother-in-lawbone isov by the way in case you don't know the Torah is reporting the Rifka was the mother of yaakov and he's a very peculiar Posse not because it communicates anything particularly peculiar but because it tells us everything that we already know we expect the Torah to introduce new things and here the Torah doesn't introduce anything new Welcome to our president I have to acknowledge the president it doesn't introduce anything new but it simply reports what we already know Rifka is the mother Anya asev she is the sister of love and she is the daughter of basil and I'm not the one who's bothered by this none other than the great rashes bothered eyes of his mother I have no idea what the Torah is telling us what in the world is what in the world is uh the Torah telling us do we not know already that rivka is the mother of yaakov and Asaf what in the world is the Torah telling us so the question is asked on this Rashi several asked the question any odeya I have no idea what the Torah tells us this now I was taught that if you don't know what should you do if you don't know you don't you don't say anything so if Rashi doesn't know what the significance of the Posse is why comment at all what's the value of commenting any odia I don't know what this means I don't know why it's here if in fact Rashi doesn't know so leave it as is and don't say anything at all and this question was asked by the sips I have a very small print and I'm no longer a young man so I have to put on these glasses the super commentary on Rashi says what is Russian saying I don't know if you don't know don't say just leave it empty Russia doesn't comment on every single post look in the Torah of aparsha in tanach so let this be one of them that we will wonder what did Rashi think of it barashi turns out of nothing to say so he didn't say anything why say I don't know what it means Russia we know there are four interpretations there are at least four the truth is there are 17 interpretations Casella put States the plastic says just like a hammer smashes a rock into 70 pieces so too our Torah can be interpreted in at least 70 ways you take a possuk and the depth of the insights the breadth of the insights the variation diversity of the insights there's enormous monolithic you don't look at it or interpret it through one lens we have multiple legitimate multiple legitimate ways of seeing it so what was Rashi saying any odea says Russia is not saying I don't have a clue what it means if that were the case why say anything at all what is he saying what he's saying is I have many Clues what it means I know a clue based on shop based on remnants based on Josh bishan sod I don't know which one is most loyal to the simple meaning of the text and when I don't know which one is the most loyal to simple meaning of the text I say any odeya I say I'm not sure rashi's commitment is to push-up shot I don't know which is the MS so even though a person could have multiple lesson number one I think relevant to all of us lawyers and no matter what field you are in is that even when we have multiple approaches even we have multiple perspectives multiple suggestions multiple uh ways of approaching something but when it remains unclear to us which one is the MS if we don't feel which one is authoritative if we don't feel one is conclusive then perhaps we shouldn't Advance it as such we should say ayodea you know you can look at it this way you can look at it that way you can look at it the other way but any odea I can't tell you with any confidence I will not tell you with any surety which one is right that's lesson number one that is the answer of the Sif say gave a different answer and I love this answer again the question was plastic tells us something obvious that we all know Rashi says I don't know what the Torah is telling us that Rifka is the mother of Jacob and esev who doesn't know that already what is the Torah adding says well I know a lot of ways I just don't know which is the truest and that's why he says because they just said something else that's amazing he says when Rashi says I don't know that is a valuable contribution and commentary had he said nothing we would think to ourselves either it was obvious or he didn't know or we don't know but the very fact that Rashi has the Courage the very fact that Russia is the confidence the very fact that Rashi feels the sense of obligation to record for posteritya that too is part of Torah we have a misora we have a tradition of a capacity and ability a willingness to say I don't know we learn that as a person learns Torah as a person lives life we have to be able to say you know this I'm an expert this I'm well read this my life experience this I have a lot of sagacious advice to offer and this aniyodea I'm not really sure this I don't know that too is part of Torah so Rashi is not saying something that could be unsaid right the question was why is the end of your day I don't know just don't say anything if you don't know the answer is Rashi was teaching us he was modeling for us he was communicating to us that I don't know is also part of Amazon that is also part of our life everyone an article that's coming out I think this week next week it's coming out soon magazine about this trend of overconfidence overconfidence is Daniel Kahneman the great Nobel Prize winner Economist when asked what is if you had a magic wand what is one thing that you would erase that is the most dangerous he said overconfidence people who are overconfident who think they have all the answers who think they know everything who display overconfidence and he goes on in his book he has several books that allude to this topic but he talks about how the sinking of the Titanic and the Chernobyl disaster and countless business implosions the the um certain recessions of the collapse of markets all came from overconfidence people who presented as if they knew something they didn't and that's not our masora that's not our masoda we are willing to say when we don't know kimono broccoli says teacher tell him to say I don't know Lester become entangled in a web of Deceit if you always feel the pressure you feel like you have to always have all the answers if you're trying to fake it till you make it you won't make it you're going to implode if you say things that aren't true and aren't correct and aren't good advice it's going to come back to bite you so instead of being overly confident don't necessarily have confidence where it doesn't belong at all and that too is one of the messages of our pasture that is the message of this of this rash I didn't write this in the article but I had the Shabbos at Boca Raton Synagogue you're all invited unless you need housing but this shop is a book it's on synagogue we have the privilege of welcoming and I stand this year for many years continue to listen to his Europe now reflect a share when you sit there you get I describe you get goosebumps when he was nothing open in front of him starts to quote from the width and breath of Torah and he starts to put on display the genius of his mind of his memory of his encyclopedic knowledge of Torah you just get goosebumps it's unbelievable it's unbelievable I was spiritually moved inspired I felt contact with the Divine when you're with somebody who knows so much Torah it was unbelievable but the highlights for me of sheer we're not wonder if she would start to Rattle off obscure sources when someone would raise their hand and ask a question would say in his inimitable Style don't know I don't know not sure now sometimes objectives don't know was you're a nud Nick leave me alone I don't really think this is worth pursuing but most often objectives don't know was that's a good question I'm not really sure and too many people today in every profession and field try to live a life and try to display a overconfidence that we have all the answers and we answer with such confidence I know exactly what the policy should be on this that and the other thing for the country for the city for the Shula for my kid's school for my firm in this case and we would do well to follow the model of rashi rashi Is Not Afraid in our partial and several other places where he could have just said nothing if he didn't know but rather than say nothing says also Torah saying I don't know is also communicating a type of Torah the Torah of the humility when we need to say I don't know said says I tried to become wise but you know what I thought I could be overly confident I thought I could have access to all the truth and know it he will come him and it's beyond me and most of the portion of assume this means it's talking about the paraduma it's talking about the paradigmatic Hulk this paradoxical Mitzvah where the person who sprinkles it who was pure becomes impure while the one sprinkled upon who was impure becomes pure makes no sense it's illogical but others others say no sholomation he says about what about the entire Torah was displaying tremendous humility and saying I thought I could understand with confidence and overconfidence I thought I could understand and represent and communicate and be a spokesperson for all of Torah but you know what many I don't have the answers to everything I don't know why sometimes Hashem runs the world this way I don't know why and I can't explain this law I don't know every obscure unusual law or question that could come up and an interesting Shayla to ask and the way that it falls out I don't know I just paid a shivaquoise at someone's house a young woman wants to get a new shape though she doesn't just want the shato to get a new shape though she wants to shaytel because she wants to upgrade how much of her hair she covers because it's a way to honor her mother she just lost it's a beautiful thing so the question was normally you can't get a new shethel in your year of Avalos something you'd make a brock of significance but here maybe it's not just a new dress a new new clothing but it you know to keep up with the style or to have something new there's a Mitzvah component so she wanted to know so I said you know I don't know let me find out and get back to you and and where where is it okay maybe they're gonna fire me as a rabbi what do you mean Rabbi you don't know you don't know if you forgot to say and it's the 29th day and should you assume you said it which day do we start for saying for going to Israel what do you mean you don't know you don't know what time shabba's candle lighting is in 17 years from now what do you mean you don't know many people feel if I say I don't know I have to get back to I have to look it up they're going to fire me but what my Remy taught me and what Rashi is teaching all of us is there is a Torah of any odea there's a Torah that is an answer I don't know is not not having an answer I don't know is a legitimate answer it's not a legitimate answer which is an excuse to cop out from trying to find out and looking for more but it should drive us such an engine that moves us to try to find out more so we should always uh Mr shouldn't be successful in all of our endeavors in law and in every other profession we should have confidence for our clients but never overconfidence at the expense of our clients because with all that we do thank you for this opportunity I mean