Hitting the Target With All Talmidim

The Gemara in Bava Basra (134a) relates that Hillel the Elder had 80 students. Thirty of them were of the stature that they should have merited the Divine Presence descend upon them as it did on Moshe Rabbeinu. Nevertheless, at that point in Jewish history, there was no longer any prophecy. The generation needed to be sufficiently righteous that there should be individuals with that level of Divine inspiration. Yet, according to Ben Ish Chai, these students were so excellent that had they lived at the same time as Moshe Rabbeinu, they may have achieved the same atmospheric level of prophecy.

Another group of 30 students was of such great stature that it was fitting that the sun should stand still (as it appears to us) for them as it did for Yehoshua Bin Nun. The remaining group of 20 students was somewhere in the middle of the first two groups.

The greatest of all Hillel’s students was Yonasan ben Uziel. When he studied Torah, birds flying overhead were immediately scorched. It is interesting to note that the Gemara implies that this phenomenon did not occur while Hillel himself was studying Torah. Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk explains that Hillel achieved a higher level of greatness than his student. The birds could have been scorched when he learned as well. However, he could conceal the incredible power that his Torah contained.

A visitor to Radin on Tishah B’Av once watched the Chofetz Chaim closely. He wanted to be inspired by the Chofetz Chaim’s recital of Kinnos. However, to his surprise and consternation, the great tzaddik recited Kinnos in the same manner as everyone else. Yet, later that evening, he passed by the Chofetz Chaim’s home and witnessed his uncontrollable sobs. The Chofetz Chaim didn’t want to demonstrate extra piety over anyone else in public.

If Yonasan ben Uziel was Hillel’s most outstanding student, who was on the other end of the spectrum? Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai. He was Hillel’s “worst” student. Yet we find that before Hillel passed away, his students had entered his residence to visit him. Rabban Yochanon Ben Zakai remained in the courtyard. Upon noticing Yochanan Ben Zakai’s absence, Hillel proclaimed, “Where is the most diminutive of you who is a father in wisdom and a spiritual father of all future generations.” Rav Chaim Kanievsky explained that, in truth, Rabban Yochanon ben Zakai was initially the most minor of students, but through super-human perseverance and determination, he excelled.

When Hillel became sick, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai assumed the office of Nasi, the leader of Klal Yisrael, at the time of the Churban. He had five outstanding disciples. Among them were Rebbe Yehoshua and Rabbi Eliezer. They, in turn, taught Rebbe Akiva. Rebbe Yehuda HaNasi, the redactor of the Mishnayos, studied under Rebbe Akiva’s students. The Talmud that we have today can be traced directly back to Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai. Yet we cannot even single out by name most of Hillel’s other students.

Rav Moshe Chait, zt”l, once remarked, “Can you imagine if Hillel had decided to focus only on his most outstanding students? Many times, a Rebbe might feel more satisfied by having a give-and-take with the smartest and brightest kids in his class.

“Conversely, can you imagine if Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai sat dejected in class? After all, there were 79 students better than him! Why should he even bother? What if he had decided to give up on his studies, then what would Torah look like today?”

But Hillel taught all his talmidim, from the strongest to the weakest. He did not ignore student number 80. Further, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai didn’t give up in the face of stronger talmidim. He persevered until he became the leader of all Klal Yisrael.

Steve Moss is a credit risk manager for a multinational financial services firm. During the summers, Steve coaches archery at a camp in New Hampshire. Understandably, most kids do not practice their archery skills during the year. The summer is usually the only time they have to learn and master these skills. Consequently, their archery performance significantly reflects the coach who has but a few short weeks to teach them these skills.

A highlight of his summer is the Robin Hood Invitational Tournament, where many camps compete in archery. Almost invariably, Steve’s camp wins the tournament. Steve explained that the tournament format is that the top six archery scores are counted in any age group. Other camps may have one or two superstars in each age group. Their coaches focus on the kids with the most latent talent. After the first- and second-ranked campers compete, there is a precipitous decline in the scores of the lower-ranked archers. However, Steve focuses on all the campers. In any given age group, his first- and second-ranked campers may score worse than similarly ranked archers from a different camp. Yet he always wins with “bench”: positions 3, 4, 5, and 6. Other coaches in the tournament tend not to focus on those campers who don’t seem to have the knack for archery. However, in Steve’s group, the lower-ranked members carry the team. This philosophy of focusing on the weaker students ensures his camp’s victory year after year.

(Years ago, as a vice-president with American Express/Shearson Lehman Hutton, Steve Moss directed a donation of a truckload of computers and accessories to be delivered to Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim. One of those computers had a full-height 10-megabyte hard drive!)