Avos 5:15

בס׳ד

אבות ה:טו

Four are the traits among those who sit among the Sages: the Sponge; the Funnel; the Strainer; and the Sieve. The Sponge - absorbs everything; The Funnel - in one ear, out the other; The Strainer - lets wine go and keeps the pits; The Sieve - lets the coarse flour go and keeps the fine flour.

אַרְבַּע מִדּוֹת בְּיוֹשְׁבִים לִפְנֵי חֲכָמִים. סְפוֹג, וּמַשְׁפֵּךְ, מְשַׁמֶּרֶת, וְנָפָה. סְפוֹג, שֶׁהוּא סוֹפֵג אֶת הַכֹּל. מַשְׁפֵּךְ, שֶׁמַּכְנִיס בְּזוֹ וּמוֹצִיא בְזוֹ. מְשַׁמֶּרֶת, שֶׁמּוֹצִיאָה אֶת הַיַּיִן וְקוֹלֶטֶת אֶת הַשְּׁמָרִים. וְנָפָה, שֶׁמּוֹצִיאָה אֶת הַקֶּמַח וְקוֹלֶטֶת אֶת הַסֹּלֶת:

        In the two centuries since Jews entered the main flow of Western life, we have seen a massive rejection of the authority of the Rabbis and a wholesale neglect of Torah.  For most Jews alive today, even grandparents and great-grandparents had already severed the chain of tradition.  One of the miracles of the last generation is that so many Jews have attempted to overturn the tendency of the recent past in order to reconnect to the life of Torah.  It is truly beautiful to see so many observant Jews who are the first in many generations to be keeping Shabbos, observing kashrus, and in general trying to be the kind of people the Torah enables them to become.  But our return to the traditions of Torah and the authority of Rabbinic teachers has had one effect which is not so laudable.  In our desire to be obedient to the authorities who represent Torah, there is a tendency to celebrate an uncritical, unreflective acceptance of whatever a learned person may teach.  The present mishnah reminds us that uncritical acceptance of authority is not an absolute value for the Sages.  It reminds us that our critical intelligence must be cultivated even in relation to authority.

        How so?  The mishnah presents us with four types of disciples and describes how they use their intelligence.  The Sponge may absorb and remember everything, but he has no sekhel - no ability to distinguish the useful from the useless.  This is the kind of person who absorbs every khumrah in the book without using any discrimination whatever, and will then criticize others for their lack of seriousness. The Funnel is the kind of person who sits and nods and seems very attentive, but whatever he hears makes no lasting impression.  The Strainer, on the other hand, has poor judgement.  The truly wise teachings he forgets, but he’ll remember odd details out of context and base elaborate theories upon them without real understanding.  The truly laudable student is the final one, the Sieve.  He uses his discriminating intelligence to let go of ideas and teachings that have no real merit, but he retains and makes use of that which is truly nourishing.

        The mishnah doesn’t raise the critical question: When does critical thought pass imperceptibly into impertinence and disrespect?  I don’t have an answer for this question.  But I do treasure the wisdom of the Sages who, in the present mishnah, acknowledge that sometimes, at least, a Sage’s teachings will include pits and chaff.  I suspect that the main thing we need to look for in our teachers is the quality of humility about the limits of their knowledge and, most importantly, the ability to live in accordance with their own teachings.

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