We read in Parashat Bereishit that after Adam and Chava’s sin, God prepared for them “kotnot or” – leather tunics as clothing (3:21).
The Midrash, in a surprising passage (Bereishit Rabba 20:12), comments that Rabbi Meir, in his Torah scroll, spelled the word “or” with an “alef” instead of an “ayin,” such that the phrase “kotnot or” means not “leather tunics,” but rather “tunics of light.” The obvious question arises as to how Rabbi Meir could advocate a deviant spelling of a word in the Torah, and what the significance of this deviant spelling might be.
The Tolna Rebbe suggested a symbolic approach to the Gemara’s remark, by examining other comments made by Chazal concerning Rabbi Meir. In Masekhet Eiruvin (13b), the Gemara cites Rabbi Acha bar Chanina as stating that Rabbi Meir had no equal among the scholars of his time. The reason why Halakha does not follow Rabbi Meir’s rulings, Rabbi Acha said, is specifically because of his superior stature: “It is known and revealed before He who proclaimed that the world should exist that there was no one like Rabbi Meir in his time. So why does Halakha not follow him? Because his colleagues could not properly grasp his thinking…” Rabbi Meir’s analytical skills were so advanced that the other Sages could not accept his conclusions. Elsewhere, in Masekhet Megila (18b), the Gemara notes Rabbi Meir’s unparalleled memory, which allowed him to write a Torah scroll from memory, which is normally forbidden.
And yet, despite Rabbi Meir’s superior stature, Rabbi Meir devoted himself to teaching even the simplest Jews. In Masekhet Sanhedrin (38b), the Gemara describes Rabbi Meir as a master storyteller, who would create fables to stir his audiences. In fact, in Masekhet Sota (49a), the Gemara comments that nobody was ever able to tell stories like Rabbi Meir: “Once Rabbi Meir died, there were no longer any tellers of fables.” Telling fables is an art generally practiced by those who teach simple, unlearned people. It appears that Rabbi Meir, who stood head-and-shoulders above the other scholars of his time, did not deem himself too learned or too accomplished to teach uneducated laymen.
Indeed, Rabbi Meir vigorously advocated the obligation to share one’s Torah knowledge with the masses. We read in Masekhet Sanhedrin (99a) that Rabbi Meir interpreted the verse in Sefer Bamidbar (15:31), “…for he has scorned the word of the Lord” as referring to one who has studied Torah but does not teach it.
The Tolna Rebbe Shlita suggests that this quality of Rabbi Meir underlies the switch from “or” with an ayin to “or” with an “alef.” Leather is generally used to cover and conceal. The Gemara is alluding to us that Rabbi Meir used his Torah to illuminate those who were “covered” and in the dark. He worked to bring Torah to even the darkest places, to those on the lowest levels of ignorance and indifference. His Torah differed from that of others who kept the light of Torah with themselves and their colleagues. His Torah was one which shed light upon all strata of Am Yisrael, as he worked to teach, inspire and guide all members of the nation, rather than focus his energies solely on the intellectual elite.
[Rav David Silverberg vbm.org]
