There\u2019s a story in the Babylonian Talmud, in Tractate Yevamot 96b, that cut close to home when I studied it. It\u2019s a brief episode but it addresses modern interpersonal issues. It features Rabbi Elazar, who goes to the beit midrash (study hall) and quotes halachah (Jewish law). However, Elazar makes a big mistake \u2013 he doesn\u2019t attribute this teaching to Rabbi Yohanan, who taught it. This news gets back to Yohanan. And it doesn\u2019t sit well.<\/p>\n
Now, the backstory. Rabbi Yohanan, according to Rabbi Dan Ornstein\u2019s My Jewish Learning summary online, is seen as \u201cdangerously oversensitive\u201d and quick to anger. Yohanan also apparently had (at least) 10 sons and they all died. He is so sad that, in Tractate Berakhot 9b, he is carrying around a tooth (or a bone?) from his youngest child who died.<\/p>\n
Back to the current story: rabbis Ami and Asi, Yohanan\u2019s students, try to calm him. They say anger isn\u2019t good and offer a story about Elazar and Rabbi Yosei, who get so angry with each other that they tear a Torah. Yohanan becomes angrier, because they are comparing Yohanan and Yosei (teachers) with a student (Elazar).<\/p>\n
Along comes Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi, who takes a different approach. He explains that everyone knows that all of Elazar\u2019s teachings come from Rabbi Yohanan, who is, in their time, \u201cour iteration of Moses.\u201d In fact, \u201cEveryone knows Elazar is quoting you, even when he doesn\u2019t quote you by name. You have nothing to fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
This diplomacy soothes Yohanan, who then corrects Ami and Asi, pointing out this was a great way to manage the situation.<\/p>\n
There was so much in this story that affected me. First, there\u2019s the matter of, in modern terms, \u201ccopyright.\u201d\u00a0 Everybody deserves credit for their work. It\u2019s not right to just claim somebody else\u2019s ideas, images or innovations as your own.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also the issue of context. Rabbi Yohanan had great personal tragedy and loss. People with this much trauma might be sensitive or angry \u2013 and that\u2019s entirely understandable.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also awful to try and \u201cteach\u201d your instructor through the example of one of their poorly behaved students. It disregards Yohanan\u2019s wisdom and authority. Recognizing this trauma and honouring elders means treating them with respect instead of talking down to them, as rabbis Ami and Asi did.<\/p>\n
The talmudic story continues: the teachings of a great person speak to us from beyond the grave. Yohanan\u2019s legacy is his teaching of Jewish law and Torah. It\u2019s erased if Elazar fails to acknowledge where it came from. When a person loses their children and hopes that his students will help his name live on? It\u2019s demoralizing and infuriating when his students \u201cerase\u201d him instead.<\/p>\n
OK, yes, but this is just an old story, why did it matter to me?<\/p>\n
As an author, I care about copyright issues. Most authors don\u2019t earn more than, at most, a dollar when each book is sold. Most writers (myself included) cannot make a living on their books or other writing. So, seeing bootlegged downloads of my books on the internet is infuriating \u2013 it\u2019s just another way to \u201cerase\u201d a person\u2019s value and intellectual property.<\/p>\n
Then, there\u2019s the issue of our personal story and how it affects our work. We\u2019ve all known people who\u2019ve suffered losses or struggled. Rabbi Yohanan is a good example. Perhaps some learn from this suffering and gain wisdom. Yet Yohanan\u2019s students condescend to him and belittle his anger because \u201che might tear a Torah\u201d like one of his students? This is not consolation. It\u2019s demeaning.<\/p>\n
Rabbi Ornstein uses the word \u201cflattery\u201d to describe what Yaakov bar Idi did, saying that everyone knew Elazar got everything he knew from Yohanan. I think that\u2019s the wrong take. In trying to soothe Yohanan, Yaakov bar Idi gives him respect and credit. This shows how much our work means to us. As a good teacher, when calm, Yohanan made the experience a lesson for his other students. In other words, everything is Torah \u2013 we can learn how to be better people from any situation, no matter how upsetting or demeaning.<\/p>\n
Occasionally, work situations pop up that \u201cput us in our place\u201d or give us context about what we do. Recently, I opened up my work email to discover I\u2019d lost seven-plus months of emails from my inbox. Now, of course, an organized person would have addressed every issue, filed every email, and had an empty inbox. I hang on to things, I don\u2019t spend enough time on tidying, and I keep things so I can think about them. Mea culpa.<\/p>\n
After trying every technical solution available, it became clear that those emails were gone forever. No idea what happened. I had to let go of the panic and the upsetting situation. I hope my work has value, and that people will get in touch if they want to work with me.<\/p>\n
Losing my emails this way felt like being erased. Middle-aged women, who are also caregivers, often earn less for the hours we work. We earn nothing for the hours of household labour we do to take care of those around us. It\u2019s natural to feel angry about this. Rabbi Yohanan\u2019s anger reminds that we all want to be acknowledged, have our work valued and respected. It\u2019s not hypersensitive or unreasonable to want to leave a legacy to others. Taking on someone else\u2019s teaching without attribution, as Elazar did, is the erasure that happens to many of us, and Rabbi Yohanan shows us that anger is a human response. Yaakov ben Idi suggests that acknowledging his teacher with respect is the compassionate way forward.<\/p>\n
In a perfect world, my inbox would magically repopulate. I\u2019d get offers from new clients showing my value as a writer and editor. My elementary school twins would suddenly acknowledge and thank me for all those meals and chauffeur moments. In reality, we all have to remind ourselves to reach out, acknowledge others, and treat them with respect. It doesn\u2019t always happen automatically. Yohanan\u2019s students valued his wisdom but they had to learn to acknowledge his work and recognize that his feelings mattered, too.<\/p>\n
In this way, Rabbi Yohanan\u2019s wisdom teaches us from beyond the grave. We must not erase others\u2019 contributions. An erasure or even an empty inbox doesn\u2019t make anybody\u2019s life fulfilling. We must validate and value each other.<\/p>\n
Joanne Seiff<\/strong> has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including <\/em>From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner<\/a> or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s a story in the Babylonian Talmud, in Tractate Yevamot 96b, that cut close to home when I studied it. It\u2019s a brief episode but it addresses modern interpersonal issues. It features Rabbi Elazar, who goes to the beit midrash (study hall) and quotes halachah (Jewish law). However, Elazar makes a big mistake \u2013 he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[21625,218,8302,2231],"class_list":["post-39076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-copyright","tag-judaism","tag-lifestyle","tag-talmud"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}