“ומשה עלה אל האלקים ויקרא אליו ה’ מן ההר לאמר כה תאמר לבית יעקב ותגיד לבני ישראל”
(שמות י”ט ג)
רש”י: ותגיד לבני ישראל – עונשין ודקדוקין פירש לזכרים. דברים הקשין כגידין
Rashi: “And say to Bnei Yisroel – Explain to the men the punishments and their details; things that are hard like ‘gidin’.”
Shlomo Hamelech’s directive to “educate the youth according to his way” entails a great deal of flexibility. A teacher or parent who draws up a list of rigid demands without first giving thought to a student’s individual qualities and circumstances could hardly be considered an educator at all. The same holds true for one who seeks to educate himself; flexibility is key to personal growth. But there is such a thing as being too flexible. And this too will hamper growth.
Several translations are offered for the word ‘gidin’ referred to in the Rashi above (based on the Talmud Shabbas 87a). Rashi himself (ibid.) explains that it is a bitter vegetable. Another possibility is a sinew or tendon. According to this opinion, Chazal are not referring to an unpleasant taste but rather to the rigidness inherent in the Torah’s system of punishments.
Muscle is flexible; we move our limbs by contacting and relaxing our muscles. But movement is also made possible by the inflexibility of our tendons. The tendons attach the muscles to the bones. If they were flexible, then the tendons would stretch and the bones would not move. Thus, the inflexibility of the tendons enables movement and adds stability.
Likewise in Avodas Hashem, if everything was flexible, nothing would move; we would not grow. If you are not in the mood, you can keep skip a minyan, or if you have a juicy piece of lashon hara to share, you can indulge yourself, assured that Hashem will “understand”. We are forced to grow when we are faced with inflexible demands. As we wrote above, flexibility is important, but it is also important that there be aspects of Avodah that are rigid, unmoving.
On a similar note, one might explain the word “gidin” in the context of the Talmudic statement that “אין בגידין נותן טעם” – sinews do not give taste. (Chullin 99b) We are surrounded by a society that places the upmost value in “feeling good”, and this affects how we approach our Ruchniyas as well. People are constantly searching out a “geshmak” – a geshmak in Torah, a geshmak in Tefillah, a geshmak in bein adom l’chaveiro. But feelings come and go; sometimes the learning will be more geshmak, sometimes less. Of course, it is our goal that the Torah should be pleasant and fitting, but sometimes that takes work. We will only grow if we are willing to work without a geshmak as well.
