11. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa says: Anyone whose fear of sin takes precedence over his wisdom, his wisdom will endure; but anyone whose wisdom takes precedence over his fear of sin, his wisdom will not endure.
12. He used to say: Anyone whose good deeds exceed his wisdom, his wisdom will endure; but anyone whose wisdom exceeds his good deeds, his wisdom will not endure.
These two statements by Rabbi Chanina seem to be at odds with what we commonly observe. What do we remember about the great thinkers from Aristotle to Kant or our own Rambam and Rashi? We remember not their deeds, but their thoughts. Their deeds are but a prooftext for the wisdom that they passed down to us. Sometimes not even that - not all great thinkers were people of piety or good behavior. What endures is the depth and importance of their thought. It is for the sake of their wisdom alone that their legacy endures.
This is not to say that only thought can endure. Certainly, there are many figures whose legacy is assured not by the quality of their thought but by the importance of their deeds. Setting aside the many villians of history, whose deeds are remembered for the harm that they caused, there are many whose good deeds and fealty to their beliefs (stretching the phrase fear of sin) are the basis of their place in history. Those who can combine both transforming thought with exceptional deed are rare and important.
Few of us can rise to the level of great thinker or great actor. Most of us are well within the normal range of human intelligence and behavior, struggling to make a difference only within our small circle of influence. How are we, the regular persion, to understand Rabbi Chanina's statement, that it is one's piety and one's deeds that create the legacy of wisdom and not the wisdom itself?
We need to understand Rabbi Chaninah's admonition not as cautionary to those whose genius will overshadow whatever unappealing personal traits they may have had, but as a statement to the rest of of us. Few of us possess the kind of genius that transcends the example of our own lives. Rather, it is the way in which we live our lives that validates what we say. It is because we have engaged with others in ways that bring honor to G-d's name that what we say warrants attention. Otherwise, to those who would hear us, what we have said is empty.
We can look at the truly great teachers with reverence and awe, but for the rest of us, our legacy is assured not in what we teach, but in what we do. When we live our lives with dedication to performing good deeds in the spirit of honoring G-d's name, we create community and assure that what we have done with our lives will last. For the rest of us, it is how we live and not what we say, that will endure.
(As presented to CAI 3/24/2006)
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