In the mid-1850s, there was a boy named Dovid who, although a conscientious student, didn’t see much success in his learning. His father hired a private melamed to devote all his kochos to help his beloved child shine.
One day, the boy’s father informed the melamed that he’d be traveling with his son to Reb Yitzchok Meir Alter, otherwise known as the Chiddushei HaRim. “Please do whatever it takes to get my son up to par.”
Over the next few weeks, Dovid’s melamed made additional effort to bring him up to speed, but to no avail. Aside for his learning difficulties, the travel itself only made the learning so much harder, as Dovid’s mind was racing with all the details of the upcoming trip. The melamed feared the worst — losing his sole source of income if Dovid didn’t live up to his father’s expectations.
Weeks later, when Dovid and his father returned, their faces were glowing. “The Rebbe said that Dovid had done wonderfully!” the father exclaimed, electrified from the Rebbe’s report.
The melamed, though, was shocked. He knew that Dovid hadn’t known the material, and the Chiddushei HaRim was a marvelous talmid chacham who knew how to discern. (Already at the young age of 17 he compiled two Serafim, and from that time on he was known as the Illui of Varsha. When Reb Akiva Eiger met him he testified that he has the potentials of Reb Yonason Eibeshitz.)
More surprising was that the Rebbe didn’t sugarcoat things — if a talmid was doing well, he affirmed him, and if not, he told him that, too. The Chiddushei HaRim had a true ayin tova (which he’d developed over many years), yet he didn’t throw around compliments like a box of tissues. If he was complimenting Dovid, then he must’ve been impressed.
Down to the Bottom of It
Nonetheless, the melamed was delighted, but when the chance came a few weeks later, the melamed paid a visit to the Chiddushei HaRim. There, he introduced himself as the melamed of Dovid and told the Rebbe that he’d enjoyed hearing the “nachas report.” He then asked the Chiddushei HaRim, “What did the Rebbe mean when he said that my student had done well? I know that he didn’t know the material; did something change?”
“I’ll explain,” said the Chiddushei HaRim. “Were the Torah something with a limit, it would then make sense to say that someone who knows the entire Torah is a full talmid chacham, and that one who knows half of it is only half a talmid chacham. But since the Torah has no limit, the Torah is rechava minei yam – the Torah has no limits, the mark of a talmid chacham must not be how much he knows. Instead, what’s the mark? Effort. The mark to grade someone is based on the effort he puts in: The more toil, the greater he is and the less toil, the smaller he is.
“If so, now you can understand why I gave him such compliments. You and I know the effort Dovid puts in; do you then believe that he’s not fitting for those compliments?”
The melamed assured the Rebbe that he understood that what the Rebbe was saying, and from then on he’d change his attitude. The melamed left the Rebbe’s room blown away. He returned to his hometown with a new view on the “tzaddik” he was learning with, and from then on, he approached his student with the new mindset.
(Sheiris Yosef)
