My brother shared with me a memory of my father, obm/z'l. Our father taught:
In the Torah portion/parsha of Toldos there is a passuk/verse that is worded in a peculiar way. Rashi, who was known to be very succinct with every word, said that he did not know why the Torah was written that way.
"Why," asks my father, "did Rashi feel the need to speak out that he didn’t know something? Couldn’t he have just kept quiet?"
My father was an educator for over 57 years. All of us teach others. (Some teach us how to behave, while others...) My father believed that had Rashi kept quiet we would never have learned two things.
A) that it is proper, no matter your position or greatness, to admit to not knowing something,
B) Rashi, according to all scholars (and smart laymen) was smarter than all of us. He knew that not knowing an answer does not invalidate the immutable Truth of the Torah. Lest a scoffer point out this peculiarity and try to deny the Torah, Rashi points out that even he didn’t understand it but continued to accept what is written and taught from it.
If we internalize this lesson than the neshoma/soul of Avi Mori/ my father, my master, Chiya Kehos son of/ben Yaakov will be elevated in Shamayim/heaven. Yehi Zichro Baruch.
R’ Dovid Winiarz, z”l – Facebuker Rebbe
