Last week, as I was learning daf yomi, I came across the following anecdote which grabbed my attention:
מָר זוּטְרָא חֲסִידָא, כִּי הֲווֹ מְכַתְּפִי לֵיהּ בְּשַׁבְּתָא דְרִיגְלָא, אָמַר הָכִי: ״כִּי לֹא לְעוֹלָם חֹסֶן וְאִם נֵזֶר לְדוֹר וָדוֹר״. (סנהדרין ז:)
This Gemara tells us that when the elderly Mar Zutra Hasida would give a public lecture, he would be carried to the front of the crowd on his students’ shoulders, so that the audience would not have to wait for him to slowly make his way through the crowd (Rashi). On such occasions, he would quote the following Biblical verse: “For strength does not last forever, and does the crown [endure] for all generations?” (Proverbs 27:24).
When I learned this, I wondered what Mar Zutra Hasida meant by quoting this particular verse in this context.
Here’s an idea I came up with: If you think about it objectively, there are two different ways that one might react to the sight of the elderly sage being carried through the crowd to his podium. One possibility, which might be particularly likely for the young, healthy people in the audience, would be to pity Mar Zutra Hasida, thinking: “It’s so sad that he can no longer walk by himself, unlike us who are young and strong.” Alternatively, one could have a completely different reaction – to marvel at how important this man must be, being that everyone was standing in his honor (again, see Rashi) as he was carried high above their heads, like a king. Perhaps one might even expect Mar Zutra Hasida himself to view it this way.
With this in mind, we can perhaps understand Mar Zutra Hasida’s quoting of the verse in Proverbs as a simultaneous rejection of both these reactions – to those young people who may have pitied him while rejoicing about their own physical strength, the verse admonishes them to contemplate the fact that one day (perhaps sooner than they imagine), they will be like him, as “strength does not last forever.” And conversely, for anyone jealous of the honor Mar Zutra Hasida received (and perhaps for himself as well), the second half of the verse reminds us that “the crown [of honor or glory] does not endure”.
In other words, Mar Zutra Hasida’s message may be to remind us that nothing in this temporal world – neither physical power nor honor – has any lasting value. What does last forever, though, is the Torah they were gathered there to learn, which is eternal.
We can see a similar set of priorities reflected by the Hashmonaim who fought bravely to bring about the miracle we celebrate this week. The Hellenistic culture that sought to supplant Torah was very focused on this world, on the temporal and the temporary. It’s for this reason, perhaps, that Antiochus felt threatened by the Jews’ observance of mitzvot and worship in the Bet Hamikdash, which he tried to stamp out.
Looked at this way, one important national message of Chanukah is what Mar Zutra Hasida tried to convey on an individual level in that short Gemara: remember what is important in life, and what is not.
Over the past 14-1/2 months, our heroic soldiers have, time and again, shown that they understand this message, and know how to prioritize the truly significant, eternal matters over the more petty concerns that often dominate our lives. It’s our obligation to learn from them and follow their example.
Below you will find links to two audio shiurim that you may find interesting – the first is a shiur for Chanukah that I gave to my students in MTVA last week (and a bonus link to an old blog post with a similar theme), and the second is a shiur that I had the exciting opportunity to give around a month ago in Stern College, on the little-studied book of Divrei HaYamim! Enjoy!
Chanukah Sameach
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