There is an interesting Ohr HaChaim haKadosh in Parshas Yisro. Parshas Yisro contains the narration of the giving of the Aseres Hadibros (Ten Commandments) on Har Sinai, which is the most fundamental event in the history of the Jewish people, even more fundamental than Yetzias Mitzrayim (the exodus from Egypt). And yet, the first part of the parsha (and the source of the its name) is about Yisro and the method he proposes to Moshe Rabbeinu for streamlining the process by which the people resolved disputes and received answers to their questions.
The Ohr HaChaim asks: Why does the setting up the judicial system suggested by Yisro precede Kabalas HaTorah?
The Ohr HaChaim answers that the Ribono shel Olam wanted to relay a message to that generation and every subsequent generation. Hashem is informing us that there are plenty of smart people in the non-Jewish world and it behooves us to take advantage of their wisdom and expertise.
We should not think that Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish people because they were so smart. We might have chauvinistically claimed that others are not worthy of receiving and dealing with the Divine Wisdom contained in the Torah. The Ohr HaChaim points out that there are many very smart—even brilliant—non-Jews in the world.
The last time I checked, Bill Gates is not Jewish. Warren Buffet is not Jewish either. You can go through history and find brilliant non-Jews in every generation. Michelangelo was not Jewish. Neither was Aristotle. There are plenty of great people in the world who are not Jewish. Some are very, very smart.
The Ohr HaChaim says that it is instructive that a story of a non-Jew who takes stock of the situation, and proclaims, “You are doing this all wrong!” precedes Kabbalas Hatorah (the Revelation at Sinai). This demonstrates that we were not chosen for our brains. The Ribono shel Olam chose us to be His people as part of a Divine Kindness, and because of His love for our patriarchs. We were chosen for our yichus (lineage). We are the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov whom the Ribono shel Olam loved.
There is another lesson here, beside the fact that brain power was not the reason why we merited Torah:
There is a parallel parsha to Parshas Yisro, and that is Parshas Devorim. At the beginning of Sefer Devorim, the Torah recounts this whole story. Moshe complains that he is overburdened with his duties of leadership: “How can I alone carry your contentiousness, your burdens, and your quarrels?” (Devorim 1:12). This is then followed by the solution to his challenge: “Provide for yourselves distinguished men, who are wise, understanding, and well known to your tribes and I shall appoint them as your heads.” (Devorim 1:13). To which the people respond positively: “The thing that you have proposed to do is good” (Devorim 1:14).
Rashi there (Pasuk 14) sheds a somewhat negative light on the people’s acceptance of the plan: The people’s response should not have been “Great idea!” Their response should have been “Moshe Rabbeinu, we want you!” “We are willing to wait in line for four hours, if necessary, because we want to learn Torah from you!” Moshe was suspicious, Rashi adds, that perhaps the people were so enthused about the proposal because they thought they would be able to bribe or otherwise gain the favor of these “district judges” who they felt would perhaps not be as incorruptible as Moshe Rabbeinu.
So, perhaps this parsha, which seems so positive in Parshas Yisro (everyone was happy; great idea!), was not such a slam-dunk best policy solution. Even if at the end of the day, Moshe would have had to convince the people “No. This is a good idea.” – at least their initial response should have been “We do not like the idea because, Moshe Rabbeinu—we want you!”
I saw a very interesting insight into this comment of Rashi in the sefer Yad HaTorah. The reason that Rashi provides why they should have said that they prefer to learn Torah from Moshe was “Because you pained yourself for this” (nitzta’arta aleha). You were on that mountain for forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. Therefore, your Torah is superior because you suffered over it. It was not brain power that made Moshe’s Torah superior to that of his students. It was his shvitzing over it.
It was not brain power in Parshas Yisro which caused Hashem to choose us and it was not brain power in Rashi in Parshas Devorim which should have caused them to prefer Moshe’s Torah over that of his disciples.
This is a key lesson. The way a person acquires Torah is not through brain power. It is not necessarily acquired by the smartest kid in the class. It is be acquired by the person who shvitzes, who works the hardest.
The Ponnevezer Rav said a fantastic thing. Why were there people in Europe who, compared to today (with rare exceptions), were such great gedolim? We do not have someone like Rav Chaim Ozer. We do not have a Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk or a Rav Chaim Soleveitchik of Brisk. This is not to knock anyone, but is this because they were so much smarter in pre-war Europe? The Ponnevezer Rav answered that the reason they were so much bigger was because they shvitzed for it. They were moser nefesh for it.
Today, we sit in air-conditioned Batei Midrash. We have everything at our fingertips. It is beautiful. I am not belittling it. The amount of Torah today exceeds what existed in Europe. Europe was not utopia. But the gedolim emerged as a result of their shvitzing.
Rav Shach—before he arrived to Eretz Yisroel—owned one shirt. He washed the shirt on Erev Shabbos so he would have something clean to wear for Shabbos. He slept on a bench in the Beis Medrash. There were days when he literally starved for lack of food. That does not exist today. The key to Torah acquisition is not brain power, but rather the pain and effort that a person endures in the acquisition of Torah.
