And that’s why we have a principle called shimusha shel Torah – to be meshamesh, to serve talmidei chachomim. That’s why, when the Sefer Melachim (II 3:11) wants to introduce Elisha Hanavi and tell us who he is, what his yichus is, so it says, טָפָׁ ̆ ןּ∆ב עָׁ ̆יƒל¡‡ הֹּפ – Here is Elisha Hanavi, ַ̃ˆָי רׁ∆ ֲ̆‡ּהוָּיƒל≈‡ י≈„¿י לַﬠ םƒיַמ – who used to pour water on Eliyahu’s hands.
Now, some say it’s only a mashal – they go off into fanciful explanations; they want to say that shimush means learning more deeply – that it means he was a talmid of Eliyahu and that he learnt intensely with Eliyahu, but that’s not the truth. The Gemara (Berachos 7b) explains: רַמ¡‡∆נ ‡ֹל „ַמָל – It doesn’t say he learned from him, ַ̃ˆָי ‡ָּל∆‡ – it says only that he poured water over his hands. It means that he was present when Eliyahu had to wash his hands, so Elisha took the can of water and poured it on his rebbe’s hands. And that’s our introduction to Elisha – he was the one who washed his rebbe’s hands.
