Avos 1:16

בס״ד

אבות א:טז

רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עֲשֵׂה לְךָ רַב, וְהִסְתַּלֵּק מִן הַסָּפֵק, וְאַל תַּרְבֶּה לְעַשֵּׂר אֹמָדוֹת:

:Rabban Gamliel says ;Make for yourself a teacher ;Avoid doubt .And don’t pay your holy offerings by guesswork

        

        Rabban Gamliel the Elder — Hillel’s grandson — repeats the advice of Yehoshua ben Perahya (1:6), with a new twist.  What is the relationship between finding a teacher and avoiding doubt?  Some meforshim follow Rashi and Rambam.  They explain that, in times when tradition is disrupted, it’s important to follow a single authoritative teacher without question.  This is the likely peshat.  But there is another possibility suggested by the Midrash Shmuel.

        He wonders: “Perhaps this Master saw that, from this time onward, the Pairs would cease, disputes would grow and doubts would increase.  For this reason he taught that a person must use his own initiative and become his own teacher, to teach himself to overcome his own doubts — make yourself into a Master!”  Few of us can follow this advice, for who of us has truly learned enough to become our own Rabbi?   Yet there is an important lesson here: the cure for doubt in Yiddishkeit is not retreat from study and learning, but deeper immersion in Torah.  If you cannot guide yourself in study, then make sure to make someone teach you!

        Now what sort of doubts did Rabban Gamliel have in mind?  These days, we tend to think of “big picture” doubts — is the Torah REALLY from Sinai?  Is the world REALLY under HaShem’s loving guidance?  Rabban Gamliel’s last teaching points us in a different direction.  The doubts he has in mind concern our halakhic obligations, particularly for supporting the poor.  According to the Torah, holy offerings from Eretz Yisroel’s agricultural produce have to be carefully calculated in specific percentages (the details are found in the Mishnah’s tractates Terumos and Maaseros) and offered to those who have no share in the wealth of the Land — Kohanim, Leviim, and the poor.   To avoid the possibility of being in doubt, it’s best to tithe with a careful measure rather than by guessing.  We can extend this rule to all kinds of tzedakah.  We have to return to the community the full measure of the blessings we have received from HaShem.

        We can summarize this mishnah’s point very simply.  The way to overcome “big picture” doubts is to renew our commitment to halakhic standards of behavior.  By resolving the “halakhic doubt” we reinforce our ability to feel our connections to HaShem through His Torah and through His Creation.

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