Lashon Hara Against the Dead?

Sitting around the Shabbat table a few weeks ago, I posed the following question to my family. The story of how a leading Tanna named Elisha ben Avuya sank from Talmudic superstar to abject apostasy is a most riveting episode that the Daf Yomi (Chagiga 15) recently reviewed. However, the halacha (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 606:3) strictly forbids speaking ill of the dead. The Tanach and Talmud recount negative portrayals of specific individuals only because of the vital lessons. What critical points may we extract from the dramatic rise and fall of Elisha ben Avuyah (referred to as Acher—the Other—after his terrible tumble)?

Three Vital Lessons

My son Hillel answered that Elisha ben Avuya teaches the sober lesson that no one is immune from a steep spiritual fall. Even a great rabbi who is a colleague of the unparalleled Rabi Akiva has the potential to descend to the abyss. Therefore, one must continually develop, cultivate and enhance one’s relationship with Hashem to ward off spiritual calamity.

I suggested that the Elisha ben Avuyah episode communicates the breathtaking extent to which Hashem empowers human beings. His story includes depictions of Rabi Akiva reaching the highest levels of divine encounter, Hashem citing the teachings of the various sages, and the great chachamim impacting the fate of their colleagues in the next world.

My wife Malca set forth a vitally important explanation. She is fond of noting that one’s connection with Hashem and His Torah cannot be limited to intellectual experience. She insists that a relationship with Hashem must also include an emotional component.

The Gemara’s unforgettable descriptions of Greek music unendingly emerging from the mouth of Elisha ben Avuya and heretical books unfailingly falling from his lap in the beit midrash demonstrate that Elisha ben Avuya’s relationship with Hashem was solely intellectually based. Acher was an intellectual Torah titan but lacked emotional ballast. No wonder the Gemara describes his apostasy as cutting his roots. His roots were undeveloped and sparse, making them easy prey for competing cultural forces.

Without an emotional connection to the Creator, a Jew is not grounded and stabilized. One unanswered question can bring down someone whose relationship to Hashem is weak. Thus, we are hardly surprised that when Acher encounters a challenging situation, he loses his faith.

Hillel adds that Acher was not really in the beit midrash even before losing his faith. While his body was present in the halls of Torah, his heart lay elsewhere. His emotional commitment was to Greek culture, as Greek music constantly emanated from his mouth, and their books were wrapped in his lap. Such poorly rooted faith, not surprisingly, succumbed to one challenge.

An analogy to marriage is helpful. A couple whose relationship lacks a deep emotional connection will have a harder time withstanding life’s many challenges and pitfalls. Conversely, a healthy marital link balances both an intellectual and emotional bond. The same applies no less to our relationship to Hashem and His beautiful Torah.

Conclusion

The Gemara (Megillah 32a) strongly condemns those who study Torah without song. Indeed, communal Torah reading serves as a powerful model for Torah accompanied by music. Jewish music is not a luxury. It is an absolute necessity, today more than ever. Challenges to Torah abound, and surrounding our family with Jewish music helps fortify our neshamot and strengthen them to prevail against powerful foreign forces.

Torah study can vault us to grand and dizzying heights. However, as high as we may fly, there is a corresponding risk for a terrible fall. Jewish music helps stabilize high towers by furthering our emotional connection to Hashem and His Torah. Blessed are those families whose homes are permeated with Jewish music so that Torah lyrics unceasingly emerge from the mouths of its members. Recounting the Elisha ben Avuya narrative is a sober reminder of the grim risks facing those who repeat his fatal errors.

Bursting with overflowing joy, Purim is a prime opportunity to further our emotional connection to Hashem, Torah, and Am Yisrael. May our Simchat Purim reignite our deep Torah links in a manner that positively impacts our entire year.

Rabbi Haim Jachter is the spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck. He also serves as a rebbe at Torah Academy of Bergen County and a dayan on the Beth Din of Elizabeth.