Mr.

Know-It-All This is the meaning of the

The Making of an Apikores
By Rav Moshe Shternbuch
The fol-
lowing was
written by
Rabbi Dan-
iel Yaakov
Travis based
on a drasha
given by
Rav Moshe
Shternbuch, Rosh Av Beis
Din of the Eidah Hachareidis
of Yerushalayim.
•••••
ANSWERING THE
UNANSWERABLE
“Let us make man in our
i m age a n d f o r m … A n d H e
created man in His image”
(Bereishis 1:26-27).
“Even though Hashem did
not receive any assistance in the
creation of man, and the plural
wording of this verse leaves
room for heretics to back up their
mistaken ideologies, the Torah
wrote this verse in the plural
to teach us proper behavior
and humility, that even a great
person should take counsel from
a smaller person. If the Torah
would have written, ‘I will make
man,’ we would not have learned
that Hashem consulted with His
Heavenly court before creating
man. The answer to the heretics
is actually found in the continu-
ation of the verse which states,
‘…and He created man,’ and it
does not say we created man”
(Rashi, Bereishis 1:26).
Rashi’s words are nothing
short of astonishing. The Torah
takes the risk of fueling hereti-
cal philosophies just to teach us
hear how Rav Chaim would
answer them.
Rav Chaim replied that he
was ready to answer questions,
but he was certain that the man
did not really have any. Rather,
this man had already formulated
answers to his so-called ques-
tions and was just looking for an
excuse for a confrontation with
Rav Chaim.
Rav Chaim understood that
when a person thinks that he
already has all the answers,
they are not open to hearing
anything else.
TO KNOW AND TO
BELIEVE
There are many fundamental
philosophical questions one can
ask about the Torah: Who is
Hashem? Why did He create the
world six thousand years ago and
not earlier? Why did He create
man as He did? The list goes
on and on, and the person who
feels that he must understand
every mystery in the universe
with his intellect will certainly
be frustrated.
In actuality, all of these ques-
tions can be resolved with one
simple principle. Hashem cre-
ated malachim who have very
high levels of perception. They
have a much clearer understand-
ing of Hashem’s ways and are
not plagued by the questions that
we may have.
However, Hashem also de-
sired to create man as a being
with limited understanding. Due
to his limitations, man’s Divine
service must be based on faith
and trust. This is the mitzvah of
emunah, belief in Hashem. If we
Mishnah which states, “The dif-
ference between the students of
Avrohom Avinu and the students
of Bilaam was that the talmidim
of Avrohom were humble, while
those of Bilam were arrogant.”
At first glance, these words are
incomprehensible. Surely the
primary difference is that Avro-
hom’s students were righteous
while Bilaam’s were evil!
But this Mishnah teaches
us that the difference between
these two schools was rooted
in the character trait of humil-
ity. Avrohom’s talmidim were
humble and accepted that they
did not have to know everything,
and did not demand answers to
sublime philosophical questions
that were beyond their powers
of comprehension. On the other
The apikores believes that he must be
able to answer all questions.
hand, Bilaam’s students’ arro-
gant assumption that they were
entitled to know everything led
them to eventually deny Hashem
and His Torah.
A DROP IN THE BUCKET
Rav Shternbuch once at-
tended a gathering of scientists.
When he was asked if he believes
in the Theory of Evolution, he re-
plied, “It is complete nonsense,
with no basis whatsoever. If you
want, you can believe that your
grandfather was an ape, but I
am a descendant of Avrohom,
Yitzchok and Yaakov.”
Later, one of the scientists
approached Rav Shternbuch with
a challenge: “Rabbi, they have
found bones in Madgascar that
have been proven to be millions
of years old.” Rav Sternbuch
replied that this insignificant
evidence proves nothing about
creation. Due to the flood of
Noach, the entire world appears
much older than it really is.
All of the scientists at that
gathering were intelligent people
who were highly educated. How
can an otherwise rational person
come to believe a completely
unfounded and illogical theory
such as evolution? Based on
what we have explained so far,
we can answer this question.
The apikores believes that
he must be able to answer all
questions. If he cannot find a
logical one, he will develop
one that is not intellectually
sound. They can even suggest
that man originally descended
from apes, even in the absence
of any evidence. No matter how
far-fetched his answer may be,
the arrogant apikores will do
anything to avoid admitting that
the ways of creation are beyond
his comprehension.
Torah-true Jews understand
that man is not the descendant of
apes, but was formed by Hashem
from the dust of the ground and
will return to this source at the
end of his life. We accept that our
understanding of the universe is
limited. We try and understand
what we can and leave the rest
to emunah.
The Vilna Gaon explains
that the word bereishis can
be read as bara reishis, cre-
ated the beginning, and that it
refers to the creation of time.
We cannot possibly grasp
what this means, yet before
its creation, the world existed
without time. So, too, many
aspects of creation are beyond
our comprehension yet we
accept that Hashem, in His
infinite wisdom, fashioned
everything with great precision
and purposely hid their deeper
meaning from us.
In Sifri Detzinusah, the
Vilna Gaon writes that Parshas
Bereishis hints to everything
that will transpire throughout
history until the coming of
Moshiach. Even if we do not
understand what is happening
around us, we have emunah
that it is all directed by the
wisdom of the Creator of
the universe.
There is much in this world
that we cannot understand and
we all experience the limits of
our perception on a daily basis.
Emunah is the path of humility,
the path to the next world, the
path of the faithful Jew as he
faces each and every challenge
and question in his life.
•••••
Rav Shternbuch’s shiu -
rim on the parsha are being
prepared to be published by
Feldheim Publishers as a sefer
entitled “Small Prophecies.”
For information about dedi-
cation opportunities, contact
dytravis@actcom.com.
•••••
Rabbi Travis is a rosh kollel
of Kollel Toras Chaim in Ye-
rushalayim, and is the author
of Shaylos U’Teshuvos Toras
Chaim and “Praying With Joy
- A Daily Tefilla Companion,”
a practical daily guide to im-
proving one’s prayers, avail-
able from Feldheim Publishers.
For more information about
his work, contact dytravis@
actcom.com.

about a good character trait?
This can be compared to invest-
ing a million dollars for a pos-
sible return of a few cents. How
can this serious risk be justified
by this doubtful gain?
The truth is that apikorsim
will continue believing in their
warped ideologies regardless of
what the Torah says. They are
motivated by their drive for an
easy, pleasurable life and all oth-
er factors are irrelevant to them.
There was no reason for Hashem
to take them into account when
writing the Torah. He was more
concerned with teaching those
who want to learn, and this posuk
presented a valuable opportunity
to teach humility, one of the most
important character traits.
Rav Chaim Brisker was once
visited by a former member of
his community who had since
abandoned mitzvah observance.
Rav Chaim was told that this
man had returned to Brisk with
a mission. He had gathered
many perplexing questions about
Judaism and the Torah since
he had left and he wanted to
accept the fundamental concept
that our intellect is limited, then
all doubts about any other part
of the Torah or Hashem’s actions
fall away.
The Rambam writes that
there is a mitzvah “to know and
to believe” that G-d exists, cre-
ated the world and continuously
manages it. Knowing and believ-
ing are seemingly contradictory
concepts. Knowing stems from
proofs and intellectual under-
standing, while belief is a matter
of accepting something that one
does not comprehend.
Rav Chaim Brisker explained
that one must use one’s mind to
achieve the highest possible level
of intellectual clarity regarding
Hashem’s existence. However,
each person will reach a point
where he cannot understand the
mysteries of the universe. From
that point on, every Jew must
trustingly accept those principles
of faith which he is unable to
grasp intellectually. It is impos-
sible to understand everything,
and the desire to do so stems
from arrogance.
WILL
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