The Ripple Effect Of Honoring Torah

Avot 4:6

Rabbi Yose said: Whoever honors the Torah is himself honored by others, and whoever dishonors the Torah is himself dishonored by others.

The fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot opened with Ben Zoma teaching that honor is gained from giving it to others. In this mishna, Rabbi Yose similarly teaches that honor is gained by giving it externally, but his focus is not on honoring people, but on honoring Torah.

Kavod, translated here as honor, may be more aptly understood as reverence. Amy Ai and her research collaborators study reverence from a psychological perspective. They define it as “capacity of feeling deep respect, love, and humility for something sacred or transcendent.” When we revere something, we merge our sense of self with that object, and the sacred object’s essence is injected within our identity. A sense of union and interconnectedness is created between subject and object.

Rabbi Yosef Yavetz argues that the Torah’s honor is immutable. Whether we treat Torah with the reverence and respect it deserves has no actual bearing on the Torah’s status. We are the ones who are transformed, both personally and socially, through our reverential treatment of Torah. As Rabbi Dr. Reuven Bulka writes, “Paradoxically, the individual who honors the Torah, who shows how vital and meaningful it is, and who thus alerts and excites others to the fulfillment available, will so enrich society that society, in its gratitude, cannot help but honor that individual.”

We honor Torah, suggest the commentaries, by learning Torah and by performing the commandments, as well as by showing proper respect for both holy books as well as sages. Respecting sages, though, writes Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, is not honoring the person per se, but the Torah represented by that person. That is why there is no phrase in the Talmud of “kavod chachamim,” honoring sages, but rather “kavod haTorah,” honoring Torah. Alternatively, Rabbi Moses Feinstein assumes that the respect due to a sage is not for the depersonalized Torah, but for the infusion of self with the Torah.  This conceptualization overlaps nicely with Ai’s definition of reverence where the object and the subject, Torah and the individual, respectively, are merged. Our sages demonstrates reverence of Torah through learning it, and we are called on to demonstrate reverence to the sages for their internalization of the Torah.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe has a unique explanation of this mishna. First, he connects the mishna to another statement regarding Rabbi Yose. A midrash relates that Rabbi Yose would converse often with a Roman noblewoman who would ask him theological and philosophical questions. Rabbi Yose would spend time providing insightful answers that demonstrated the value and meaning of important Torah concepts. The Rebbe suggests that this mishna is teaching about the importance of honoring Torah by explaining its precepts and concepts to non-Jews. This is why the word used in the Hebrew for “others” is b’riyot, which is a broader term used to encapsulate all of humanity.

We see this from experience, continues the Rebbe. When a Jew stands firm in his beliefs and doesn’t detour from its principles, others honor and respect that commitment. This looking outward is emblematic of the Rebbe’s global vision. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who was personally transformed by the Rebbe’s personal guidance and teachings, remarked in Radical Then, Radical Now, “Non-Jews respect Jews who respect Judaism, and they are embarrassed by Jews who are embarrassed by Judaism.” We honor Torah by proudly living and promoting its values to the world.