The Wise Will Keep Silent

Those aware of the raging machlokes over the leadership of the Torah community in Eretz Yisrael might be realizing the irreparable spiritual damage being inflicted on our society in its wake. There is no need to rehash the details of a conflagration that has pitted bochur against bochur but suffice to say that machlokes is not an exclusively Israeli phenomenon and even an insular split all too easily spreads across continents. So permit me to share with my overseas readers a story that vividly illustrates the tragic and devastating consequences of machlokes – a story I heard in my own youth and makes me shiver to this day.

The story was told by the Aderes (Rav Eliyahu Dovid Rabinowitz-Teumim) to his son-in-law Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook ztz”l as a cautionary tale yet its message is timeless.

It is well-known that in the eighteenth century there was a deep rift between two Torah giants Rav Yaakov Emden also known as Yaavetz and Rav Yehonason Eibeschitz. Rav Yehudah Leib Maimon author of Sarei Hamei’ah described the bitter poisonous fruits of that machlokes. He writes that he was once honored with a visit by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook who wished to avail himself of Rav Maimon’s extensive library. As he passed over the shelves of sifrei halachah he saw that two volumes Kereti Upeleti by Rav Yehonason and Mor U’Ketzia by Yaavetz stood side by side. His face lit up and turning to Rav Maimon exclaimed “If this machlokes had been confined only to the inner circle of followers of these two giants of our nation who were crowned with the glory of the holy and pure then surely these two geonim would have made peace in their lifetime. But unfortunately the Satan succeeded in getting the rank and file involved people of lesser caliber whose only intention was to provoke a fight and these people injected poison into the disagreement and expanded the rift.”

Then Rav Kook with an air of heartbreak told Rav Maimon the following: “I heard this story from my father-in-law the tzaddik Rav Eliyahu Dovid Rabinowitz-Teumim the Rav of Yerushalayim about the sad end of one of those who dishonored Rav Yehonason.” Rav Kook told his host. “It is a chilling story that underscores the warning of our Sages: Be careful of their glowing coals lest you be burned for their bite is the bite of a fox their sting is the sting of a scorpion and their hiss is the hiss of a venomous snake…