Even a Lamdan Can Learn Chumash

In last month’s column we learned how Rabi Akiva survived a shipwreck by grasping a plank and lowering his head, allowing the waves to pass over him. We discussed how this method can help yeshivah bochurim survive the pressure to excel. Now I would like to approach this issue using the same Gemara, but from a different angle.

The Gemara says that Rabi Akiva’s method of staying afloat is the one we must use when evil forces menace us. The intent isn’t just physical enemies of the Torah and its adherents. The world is full of spiritual forces, no less powerful than the physical ones, that try to lure us away from a Torah-faithful life. Some of them are explicitly heretical, but others are more subtle, and therefore more dangerous.

We don’t need to look too far. If we listen carefully to the voices of society, we will hear compelling messages and attractive outlooks on life that in fact contradict the Torah. Some of them manage to penetrate even the most insular frum communities. For example: American culture today is obsessed with achievement. All around, inspiring slogans encourage us to seek excellence: “Choose to be remarkable; let others be mediocre!” The result is that countless people are afflicted with perfectionism and are terrified by the prospect of making a mistake. Many think that their whole life has to be picture-perfect, every moment worthy of a chapter in an ArtScroll biography. Sounds like a noble goal? It’s not! Not only does it produce dangerous stress that has literally cost people their lives, it goes against the Torah! Shlomo Hamelech teaches us: “A righteous person falls seven times and rises….” (Mishlei 24:16). Rav Hutner explains that he rises not in spite of his failures but because of them. Hashem wants us to stumble here and there, because it’s through our mistakes that we grow and rise to our true potential.

The danger of these messages is that we’re often not even aware of their falsehood. They’re so enticing and pleasant to our ears that we follow them innocently as they lead us astray, like children spelled by the pied piper.