Rashbi Redux: Getting Beyond False Dilemma

Before this year's Lag B'Omer, I sought some answers I had on the story of R' Shimon bar Yochai, so I went back to the original source and backed up to the very start of the story here
https://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/05/why-bar-and-why-carob-this-years.html

Rashbi had to flee for his life because he dared to speak out against the government, clarifying that what they do is for their own ends and not truly for the benefit of the people. Obviously, they didn't like that, and they were sure to reward the one who praised him and to exile the one who remained silent. They also attempted to kill Rashbi himself, which is why he had to stay in the cave so long.

As we know, when he first came out after 12 years, ,he was zapping people because he could not believe they were wasting their time on earth with earthly matters rather than pursuing spiritual gains. G-d didn't like that, so he was ordered back to the cave for another 12 months. There's a clear lesson here about empathy being extended to those whose situations are quite different from your own.


All one or the other doesn't work
But why the lack of empathy to begin with? Let's consider other statements attributed to Rashbi:

One of them is one I looked at inhttps://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2018/03/thoughts-on-r-yishmael-and-r-shimon-bar.html:

The dispute betweeteen R' Shimon and R' Yishmael in Brachos 35b.


אמר אביי הרבה עשו כרבי ישמעאל ועלתה בידן כר' שמעון בן יוחי ולא עלתה בידן

Summing up this dispute, Abaye said: Although there is room for both opinions, many have acted in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael, and combined working for a living and learning Torah, and although they engaged in activities other than the study of Torah, were successful in their Torah study. Many have acted in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai and were not successful in their Torah study. They were ultimately forced to abandon their Torah study altogether.

What that indicates is that Rashbi was adopting the all or nothing approach. If you are truly all about Torah, that is all you do, and no time at all should be taken from that to tend to your field. That is exaction the presumption we see as he emerged from the cave and was enraged at people going about their business rather than learning Torah.  

In contrast, R' Yishmael understood that one's approach to life need not be reduced the false dilemma of  either/or but  can be both. Abaye clarified that for most people that is the only sustainable direction. Demanding that they sacrifice all their normal pursuits of making a living -- even for something as enduring and lofty as Torah itself -- is bound to fail for the majority. 

Amazing how many people forget this point in insisting on a lifestyle that is not sustainable despite having access to the wisdom of great sages who warn us not to take things too far. Unfortunately, a great many people are incapable of seeing beyond the goal of the choice and so fail to take into account the unintended consequences that Abaye had observed.  They seem to only be capable of seeing the world in black and white terms, reducing everything to either this or that,  the logical fallacy known as the false dilemma.

 But now let's look at one other account of either/or that showed  Rashbi's own recognition of how he had looked at things in the past and how he has come to realize that would not have worked.

Why two mouths are worse than one

Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai said, “Had I been standing on Har Sinai at the time the Torah was given to Yisroel I would have asked Hashem to create man with two mouths, one to learn Torah and the other to take care of all his other needs. Then I retracted and said, if with one mouth a person cannot control himself from speaking lashon hara, if he had two mouth it would be far worse.” (Yerushalmi Brachos 1:2)

I've been thinking about the Karen phenomenon and how people justify their lashon hara, as I recounted here: https://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/04/like-nega-cause-cure-of-social.html, and I believe there's a glimmer of an explanation in Rashbi's own epiphany. The idea of the two mouths is very much in line with his all kodesh or all chol approach (see https://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2016/05/hadassim-for-shabbos-thoughts-for-lag.html). He only was able to emerge from the cave when he could see how they could come together on the eve of Shabbos.  What he came to recognize is that insisting on this false dilemma is what causes one to judge others because they are not living up to your standard, and that itself could lead to a lot more lashon hara. Better to have one mouth -- to learn to have kodesha & chol coexist and so be more tolerant in the views of others.

Now Rashbi proved his greatness not just in terms of Torah learning but in willing to change his mind in light of what he learned. It takes greatness to be that humble and that wise. Ultimately, we have to acknowledge Hashem really did know what He was doing, and our attempts to come up with a better design prove destructive.

Like and follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KallahMagazine/