Education is The Foundation of Judaism

What is Rabbinic Authority, Exactly?

(Reworking and expanding upon an essay from my great-great-uncle)

Where do Rabbis get their authority from?

It used to be that Rabbis got their authority from Semikha, not the semikha that we talk about today where you pass a test and they give you a nice certificate, but a chain of transmission of teachers and students stretching back to Moshe Rabbeinu. As a result of this unbroken chain of transmission, anyone with Real Semikha is assumed to have similar (but not identical) authority as Moshe Rabbeinu, in that their legitimacy stems from their connection to Moshe. This is a very high level of authority, which affords the Tannaim certain powers of interpretation and exegesis that later generations do not have.

But Semikha dies out (and in some cases it appears that the decision was deliberate), and we don’t assume that Rabbis have that level of authority. So what is the source of rabbinic authority?

One thing that sort of sneaks up on you when you learn the literature of Chazal is how much importance is put on respecting specifically one’s teacher. The rabbinic idiom for failure to absorb one’s education is “didn’t serve his teachers”, the rabbinic idiom for disrespect is “deciding halakha in front of one’s teacher”. There are lots more examples I’ll add in later. There’s a heavy emphasis on a sort of ritualized respect for one’s teachers, that is consistent throughout Rabbinic Judaism. So much so that there are rabbinic rules that I follow about how you disagree with your teacher that I was never actually taught explicitly, I just sort of absorbed as a result of the culture of rabbinic Judaism.

The basis of that seems to be not any sort of power grab, but more just a genuine thankfulness for someone teaching you something that you didn’t know before. Take a look at this mishnah from Pirkei Avot.

הַלּוֹמֵד מֵחֲבֵרוֹ פֶּרֶק אֶחָד אוֹ הֲלָכָה אַחַת אוֹ פָסוּק אֶחָד אוֹ דִבּוּר אֶחָד אוֹ אֲפִלּוּ אוֹת אַחַת, צָרִיךְ לִנְהוֹג בּוֹ כָבוֹד, שֶׁכֵּן מָצִינוּ בְדָוִד מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל, שֶׁלֹּא לָמַד מֵאֲחִיתֹפֶל אֶלָּא שְׁנֵי דְבָרִים בִּלְבָד, קְרָאוֹ רַבּוֹ אַלּוּפוֹ וּמְיֻדָּעוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים נה) וְאַתָּה אֱנוֹשׁ כְּעֶרְכִּי אַלּוּפִי וּמְיֻדָּעִי. וַהֲלֹא דְבָרִים קַל וָחֹמֶר, וּמַה דָּוִד מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל, שֶׁלֹּא לָמַד מֵאֲחִיתֹפֶל אֶלָּא שְׁנֵי דְבָרִים בִּלְבַד קְרָאוֹ רַבּוֹ אַלּוּפוֹ וּמְיֻדָּעוֹ, הַלּוֹמֵד מֵחֲבֵרוֹ פֶּרֶק אֶחָד אוֹ הֲלָכָה אַחַת אוֹ פָסוּק אֶחָד אוֹ דִבּוּר אֶחָד אוֹ אֲפִלּוּ אוֹת אַחַת, עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה שֶׁצָּרִיךְ לִנְהוֹג בּוֹ כָבוֹד. וְאֵין כָּבוֹד אֶלָּא תוֹרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי ג) כָּבוֹד חֲכָמִים יִנְחָלוּ, (משלי כח) וּתְמִימִים יִנְחֲלוּ טוֹב, וְאֵין טוֹב אֶלָּא תוֹרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי ד) כִּי לֶקַח טוֹב נָתַתִּי לָכֶם תּוֹרָתִי אַל תַּעֲזֹבוּ:

One who learns from his fellow one chapter, or one halakhah, or one verse, or one word, or even one letter, is obligated to treat him with honor; for so we find with David, king of Israel, who learned from Ahitophel no more than two things, yet called him his master, his guide and his beloved friend, as it is said, “But it was you, a man mine equal, my guide and my beloved friend” (Psalms 55:14). Is this not [an instance of the argument] “from the less to the greater” (kal vehomer)? If David, king of Israel who learned from Ahitophel no more than two things, nevertheless called him his master, his guide and his beloved friend; then in the case of one who learns from his fellow one chapter, or one halakhah, or one verse, or one word, or even one letter, all the more so he is under obligation to treat him with honor. And “honor’” means nothing but Torah, as it is said, “It is honor that sages inherit” (Proverbs 3:35). “And the perfect shall inherit good” (Proverbs 28:10), and “good” means nothing but Torah, as it is said, “For I give you good instruction; do not forsake my Torah” (Proverbs 4:2).

There’s something so pure and admirable about this mishnah that I’ve always loved. That embedded in rabbinic culture is this love of learning and genuine thankfulness to those who helped you learn even the tiniest bit of information that you didn’t know previously.

So what I’d like to suggest, based on my great-great-uncle’s essay, is that the true basis of all rabbinic authority is education. More specifically, rabbinic authority is based on the gratitude you ought to feel to someone who helped you access more knowledge than you otherwise would have. And I think understanding education, the ability of an individual to convey knowledge to others, as the key driver of authority in rabbinic Judaism unlocks a deeper understanding of Jewish history.

By way of example, let’s talk about early Ashkenaz. Rashi was (and is!) super authoritative, to the point that many unoriginal people on the internet wonder why his commentary on the Torah is preferred. Where did he get such authority? The barrel of a gun? Political maneuvering? Wealth? Yichus? None of that. He became authoritative because he was really really really good at teaching, especially in writing as a commentator (he might be the best to ever do it), but undoubtedly in person as well. Dr. Haym Soloveitchik¹ points out that we actually do have the commentaries of Rashi’s teachers, and content wise, they’re extremely similar to Rashi, but Rashi’s just….better. He’s both clearer and more concise, which is a difficult trick to pull off. He further points out that literally no one after Rashi has ever attempted to do the same thing (a line by line commentary on the Gemara), and all attempts prior to Rashi are now lost or inconsequential². Rashi was just really really good at explaining complex things in a clear and concise way, and people learned things from him, and as a result of that, there were a lot of people who listened to him.

Then you have Rashi’s students, starting with his grandchildren, Rashbam, Rabbeinu Tam, Rivan. Surely they benefited from the likely fact that the commentary of Rashi, which unlocked the Gemara for so many centuries of Jews, was authored by their grandfather, both from his in person tutelage and having early access to his written commentary. In time, Rabbeinu Tam becomes the most authoritative of the three, possibly the most powerful single rabbi in history. Was it just because he had an iron will and the willingness to wield it? Was it just because he was unkillable, surviving a pogrom where he was stabbed in the face multiple times? Was it just because of the fact he was the head of a beit din?

No. It was because he was an outstanding and innovative teacher, who pioneered a dialectic method of interpreting Gemara, who promising students from all over Ashkenaz flocked to when their local rabbis had already taught them everything they knew. A dialectic method which was in no small part enabled by his access to one of the greatest teachers in Jewish history. And Rabbeinu Tam's students went back to their communities, became leaders of those communities³, and founded their own academies, and got their own reputations, drew their own crowds of students, and soon enough you have a school of dialectic talmudic interpretation that dominates Ashkenaz⁴. Not achieved through force, or political maneuvering, or wealth, or even Rabbeinu Tam being a scary dude, but through education, through one guy being really good at explaining things, attracting gifted students, who are able to achieve previously unknown greatness as a result of his tutelage, who in turn have their own students, and so on and so forth.