[Avodah] Avodah] Who is a Talmid Chacham

[Chana Luntz]

RDB writes: 

> It doesn't have to do with innate output ability, but with Ameilus in
plumbing the depths of Torah. The more one exerts oneself in learning, the
>greater the Zechus. 

The classic definition of merit is:

Brains (or IQ) +  hard work = merit.

(although perhaps it ought really to be a multiplication rather than an
addition, since the idea is that with zero brains or zero hard work you
would not achieve any merit).

Brains are the "innate output ability".  Ameilus is the "hard work".  Merit
is the actual output. So the classic definition of merit requires both.
Communistic thinking, on the other hand, points out that brains, or innate
output ability, are inherently unfair - and thus just as it is not fair to
pay people more because their parents happened to be rich, it is not fair to
pay people more because they happened to inherit brains.

Now it is not clear to me whether RDB (and/or the Netziv) is indeed
advocating merit, and only pointing out that one does not get to merit
without the application of hard work, or whether in fact he is/they are
saying that only hard work counts and has any value, and the actual output
(not just the output ability, but that which is produced) is irrelevant.

RZS, in his previous posts appeared to be saying the latter - ie the hard
work put in by somebody with a low IQ counts just as much as that of the
greatest gadol, and actual output is irrelevant.

>Isn't this explicitly rejected, though?  A poor person's korban is just as
valuable as a rich person's.  Also, "echad hamarbeh ve'echad hamam'it", and
>"Rachamana liba ba'i".

Echad hamarbeh ve'echad hamam'it is learnt from the poor person's korban
versus the rich person's (see Menachos 110a).

Note however that this concept actually contradicts the idea that what
counts is the time spent in hard work - ie the amount of ameilus a person
puts in, because what it appears to say is that if one gets to the same
point, it doesn't matter whether one takes a long time or short time, it is
the result that counts (that paradoxically seems to be the Sfas Emes's view,
although he appears to be talking about dvekus to Hashem).  So that would
seem to suggest that a person with a lot of brains, who can get to a certain
point in learning much more quickly earns as much merit as the years of toil
of the not so bright.
Indeed this seems to be the Taz's problem in Orech Chaim siman 1 si'if katan
3 - why shouldn't the one who does more get a greater reward than the one
who does less?  His answer is that this is specific to tephila, and only
where the one who does less then uses the time to learn more Torah.  

Tosphos (Shevuos 15a) has a more basic problem with echad hamarbeh ve'echad
hamam'it - doesn't it in fact matter in korbanos whether we provide more or
less- we see from various korbanos that we are required to choose the better
korban (the best of the flock etc) - and thus concludes that the point is
that one should not get puffed up by pride because one brought a better
korban than his fellow.

If that was applied to learning (and I am not sure Tosphos is, they too may
be restricting it to Avodah), then it is not that merit is not of
importance, just that somebody with the brains to achieve real merit should
not be proud about it, but rather needs to remind themselves that the fact
that they were able to achieve so much is not just due to the coach yadi -
the hard work aspect, but to the G-d given brains aspect.

Regards

Chana