Rabbi Yosi Hagalili said, “The word ‘zaken’ (in the verse) refers to one who has acquired Torah wisdom.”
The Torah states in Vayikra 19:32, “You shall rise before an elderly person and you shall respect the ‘zaken,’ and you shall fear your Hashem. I am the L-rd.” We see in this verse that there is a mitzvah, a positive command, to show honor by standing up for a zaken. Whom does the Torah refer to with the word zaken?
According to the explanation of the gemara, Rabbi Yosi Hagalili states that the Torah mitzvah to rise before a “zaken” applies not only to rising for an elderly Torah scholar, but even for a young Torah scholar. This is because even a young Torah scholar is called a zaken (although it is usually translated to mean “elderly”), since zaken in the verse refers to “one who has acquired Torah wisdom,” regardless of his age. Rashi explains that Rabbi Yosi’s Hagalili understands the word “zaken” in the verse as an acronym for three Hebrew words: “Zeh kana chochma,” meaning “this person acquired (Torah) wisdom.” The halacha is according to the ruling of Rabbi Yosi Hagalili and is cited in Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De’ah 240:1.
A famous question is asked on this explanation. True, I can “see” the words “zeh” and “kana” in the word “zaken”, but where is the hint to the key word for “chochma”, Torah wisdom, in the word “zaken”?
What is the one and only true possession that a person acquires? The wisdom of the Torah. A person who “acquires Torah” turns it into part of his being and owns it for eternity. All other possessions can come and go, and are not truly part of a person’s essence. Therefore, although the word “zaken” appears to contain only the words for “this person acquired”, it obviously means that he has acquired Torah wisdom. “Chochma,” Torah wisdom, is understood to be that which he acquired, since Torah is the only acquisition that is a true and lasting acquisition. (Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, zatzal — “the Steipler Rav”)
Kiddushin 32b
