The de-volution of man
By: Rabbi Dr David Fox
Summer in California was from June through August, school was out, and we had three months to holiday or take it easy. I would spend much of my summer in the yeshiva although it was not in session, and would have more time to interact with my great mentor, Rav Simcha Wasserman ztz”l. Meanwhile, after summer holiday we would all reunite once yeshiva was back in session, comparing notes about what we had accomplished during our long break.
During those years of high school, we had a number of colourful characters serve as teachers in the secular studies department. We had the sister of one of the inventors of the laser beam, we had the brother of India’s leader of the communist party, and we had a science teacher whom I will refer to as Mr Feld. The yeshiva was obviously a Torah institution, an orthodox school. All who attended and all who worked there had great reverence for Rav Wasserman, who was a brilliant scholar while also a warm, down-to-earth gentleman who put everybody at ease with his kind and respectful demeanour. The yeshiva set a high standard which included our dress code, and the expectation was that all faculty, Jewish and non-Jewish, would wear a yarmulka on campus. The faculty complied with this, except for Mr Feld. He was Jewish, was from a wealthy family, and taught only to keep busy. He did not need to work for a living. He headed the science department in a large local public high school and spent his afternoons teaching us science in the yeshiva. But he refused to wear a yarmulka, stating that he did not believe in G-d, that he believed in science, and would not put on the garb of a religious Jew.
Rav Wasserman showed him respect and they would often discuss the theories which he planned to teach us. Mr Feld said that he would grow a beard in order to blend in with the other men who taught in the yeshiva but he would not put on a yarmulka. Rav Wasserman tolerated this. Some of us were annoyed with Mr Feld for his disregard for our Rosh Yeshiva and his standards. On occasion when Rav Wasserman would walk into the classroom, all of us stood up to show him honour but Mr Feld would remain in his chair, feet on the desktop, and look with amusement at what he considered an antiquated custom. Still, Rav Wasserman said nothing to rebuke the man, and allowed him to teach us science.
His garb was shabby and dirty and he was rank with the putrid traces of his long mountain sojourn.
Mr Feld had lots of money and each summer he would holiday in some exotic spot. When we returned to school in the autumn he would share his adventures with us. This actually gave us more of an education as we learnt about foreign countries and the points of interest in each land where our intrepid Mr Feld would trek. One year, he headed to the Himalayas where he hiked for three months. His flight returned to LA on the first day of the semester and we watched as he pulled up in his costly sports car. He walked onto the campus and it was immediately apparent to us that he had not shaved, had his hair cut, or changed his hiking clothes or bathed for the entire three months. This normally suave and impeccably groomed man was now shaggy, malodorous, unkempt, and wild-looking. His garb was shabby and dirty and he was rank with the putrid traces of his long mountain sojourn.
We kept a safe distance, somewhat dismayed and somewhat amused to see this man-turned-creature returning to teach us well-groomed white-shirted yeshiva scholars. It was then that Rav Wasserman walked onto the scene, and seeing Mr Feld, he approached him with a pleasant smile. The two men looked at each other and then Rav Wasserman said, “Mr Feld, I know that you believe in the theory of evolution, but you do not have to prove it.”
For once, Mr Feld was speechless, none of his wisecracks or cynical responses emerged, and he conceded that he would go home, shower, and change. We had no science class that day but had learnt something about the science of communication and art of respectful rebuke.
