Today, the Third of Marcheshvan, marks eleven years since the passing of Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l.
The Torah states in Parashat Noach, which we just read this past Shabbat, “From any pure animal shall you take seven pairs, males and their mates; and from every animal which is not pure, two, a male and its mate.”
Our Sages (Pesachim 3a) pointed out that everywhere else in the Torah, the Torah delineates the difference between animals as pure and impure, such as with regards to the Mitzvah of redeeming the firstborn donkey, “And the firstborn of the impure animal shall you redeem.” Why then does the Torah refer to such animals here as “which is not pure”?
The Gemara answers: “Rabbi Yeshoshua ben Levi said: One should never utter anything vulgar from one’s mouth, for the Torah added eight extra letters as opposed to uttering vulgarity, as the verse states, ‘From any pure animal/ from any animal which is not pure.”
This means that while, in general, one should speak in a brief manner, here the Torah uncharacteristically elongated the term in order to teach us not to speak in a vulgar manner. Since in Noach’s time the Torah was not yet given and these animals were not officially impure, the Torah changed the phrase from “impure” to “not pure” so as not to needlessly use an uncouth word.
Maran zt”l had a phenomenal mastery of the entire Torah; indeed, for hundreds of years, there was no one as erudite as he in the breadth of Torah. One who studies his works will be left speechless at the nearly miraculous proficiency throughout the entire gamut of Torah knowledge. It is almost impossible to reach this level physically without a heavy dose of Heavenly assistance.
In order to merit acquiring the crown of Torah and reach lofty levels in all areas of service of Hashem, one must sanctify oneself by guarding one’s eyes, one’s speech, and one’s ear from seeing, speaking, or hearing inappropriate things. By doing so, one becomes holy and merits cleaving to Hashem’s holiness. Let us recount several incidents in this regard:
Once, Maran zt”l was writing about a certain topic in his books and as he was analyzing the subject, he happened upon the words of one of the Poskim on the matter and he wished to quote him in his Sefer. Eventually though, when the Sefer was printed, he did not quote him.
When asked by the Talmidim why he had not quoted this Posek’s novel idea, Maran responded, “I realized that this Rav had written disrespectfully towards the Rishon Le’Zion, Harav Ben Zion Meir Hai Uziel, and therefore, I decided not to quote him.”
Another time, when Maran zt”l was in his office studying Torah, some family members entered the room and recounted to him about how a well-respected man had gotten into a disagreement with a lonely widow and as a result, he threatened her livelihood by informing the authorities about some of her practices. When Maran zt”l heard this, he immediately picked up the phone and called this man and spoke quite harshly to him and then, he proceeded to call some community leaders to help find this widow another job. He also wrote a warm letter of recommendation to encourage people to aid this woman financially.
About a week and a half later, Maran zt”l called over his grandson, Hagaon Harav Yaakov Sasson Shlit”a, and told him: “Do you remember how, a few days ago, some family members accused so-and-so of acting inappropriately to a certain widow?” He replied that he did. Maran continued, “Do you believe what was said?” Rav Sasson once again responded in the affirmative. Maran zt”l proceeded to tell him: “Please, I am asking you to remove this matter from your heart; perhaps it was not true, and we needlessly accepted Lashon Hara! I honestly believe that this could not have happened. Please believe me that this never happened!”
Maran zt”l was especially careful that impure of forbidden things do not enter his ears; he recoiled from such things like one who recoils from fire. Once, after marrying one of Maran’s grandchildren, this woman taught in a school. The principal of the school overworked her, and the salary was extremely high paltry (approximately one-thousand Shekels per month).
One Thursday night, this grandson was sitting next to Maran and next to him was his wife. Maran began to ask her, “Where are you working now and how much do you get paid?” She replied that she worked in a specific school, and she was paid one-thousand Shekels per month. Maran zt”l was silent.
The next morning, Maran called his grandson and told his wife, “Please do not return to the school next week. The work is too hard, and the pay is ridiculous! A close confidant of mine who manages a government office just came to visit me and I asked him to find you a job in his office and he promised me he would!”
The couple was overjoyed that, as a result of Maran’s intervention, their financial state might take a turn for the better. Nevertheless, this grandson found out that in this particular government office, the laws of modesty between men and women were totally not adhered to and the couple realized that the wife would not be able to work there. The grandson did not tell Maran anything though.
A few days later, Maran called over his grandson and asked him whatever ended up happening with his wife’s job. The grandson replied, “Grandfather, we were truly looking forward to this job opportunity, especially since you looked out for us, however, I found out some disturbing stories about this office. For instance, there was a man who entered one of the rooms and there was…” Before the grandson could finish the sentence, Maran zt”l stuck his fingers into his ears (like the teaching of Rabbi Elazar in Ketubot 5b) and motioned for him not to continue. Maran cut his grandson short and told him to look for alternate means of employment, all because he could not bear to hear inappropriate things.
This is all besides Maran’s purity of thought and how firmly he guarded his eyes.
These things should inspire us, especially in our generation when almost everyone is exposed to non-Jewish technology and media, that thinking, seeing, hearing, or speaking any of these vulgarities very much negatively impacts one’s soul and distances us from Hashem’s Ultimate Holiness. We must remember that we have the tremendous merit of being sons and daughters of the King of all Kings, and it is not befitting for us to go in paths of those who did not merit that.
May the merit of Maran zt”l protect all the members of “Halacha Yomit,” a project that was so dear to Maran, along with the rest of the Jewish nation. May we all merit receiving all the blessings of the Torah, wealth, honor, sanctity, purity, health, and seeing Nahat from our children, Amen!
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