ותענו אותי וגו׳ – חלטתם את הדבר להנאתכם. היה לכם להשיב: רבנו משה ממי נאה ללמוד, ממך או מתלמידך? לא ממך, שנצטערת עליה. אלא ידעתי מחשבותיכם, הייתם אומרים: עכשיו יתמנו עלינו דיינים הרבה, אם אינו מכירנו, אנו מביאין לו דורון, והוא נושא לנו פנים.
R' Chaim Elazary in his Darchei Chaim is medayeik that Rashi doesn't say that the people should have preferred to learn from Moshe because he was the biggest talmid chacham of the dor, that he had heard Torah directly from Hashem at Sinai and therefore no one could know it better than he could. What Rashi says is that the people should have preferred to learn from Moshe because "לא ממך, שנצטערת עליה" -- Moshe went through more trouble than anyone else, i.e. Moshe had more mesirus nefesh for Torah than anyone else.
A great rebbe is not necessarily the biggest genius, but rather it's the person who is most willing to suffer with and on behalf of his students.
litigants standing before "dayanim" conflated here with "students" standing before rebbes.
ReplyDeleteso how is a litigant like a talmid? he'll learn a psak din, and perhaps the halachic reasoning behind it.
and how is a talmid like a litigant? he might [variously] bribe his rebbe into giving him a better grade than deserved, like Moshe's fear about newly appointed judges (Rashi, Dev. 1:14a). the more "mesirus nefesh for Torah" of a judge or a teacher, the less likely he is (all else equal) to accept any manner of shochad (shortcut)...