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Video class September 10, 2026 42 min

Why a Cancer Researcher Can Still Smoke: Binah vs. Da'as Explained

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Welcome to Ethics of Our Fathers: Chapter 3, Mishna 17 (Part II) — wisdom and awe, understanding and knowledge, flour and Torah

A tutor reads a letter aloud: the innkeeper’s father has died. The innkeeper faints. The tutor, who actually read the words, doesn’t. Why? Because knowledge only changes you when it becomes yours.

Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah’s Mishna continues with three more pairs that depend on each other in both directions: without wisdom there is no yirah, and without yirah there is no wisdom; without da’as there is no binah, and without binah there is no da’as; without kemach (flour) there is no Torah, and without Torah there is no flour.

Rabbi Greenberg shows that yirah means far more than fear: awe, reverence, shame and self-effacement all begin with awareness of something greater than yourself. Through the Chabad framework of chochmah, binah and da’as, he explains why understanding an idea is not the same as owning it. The class closes on flour: why the Mishna chose kemach, and why on Rosh Hashanah, the most spiritual day of the year, we still pray for sustenance.

🔎 In this video we explore: • Yirah beyond “fear,” and the awareness every kind of awe shares • Why Torah study needs a goal, and why ego blocks wisdom • Fear of punishment vs. the reverence of a tzaddik; the Talmud’s two keys • Binah vs. da’as: how a cancer researcher can still be a chain smoker • The Rebbe’s story of the innkeeper who fainted • Why a Torah scholar shouldn’t fast, and why flour is enough • The Maharal on flour: plan for now, not forever • Moshe, the angels and Avraham’s hospitality: kindness opened the door to Torah • Chana’s prayer and the Baal Shem Tov on why we get hungry

💡 Key Insights:

  • You can’t revere what you don’t know.
  • Knowledge that stays academic fades; it lasts when it becomes personal.
  • Prayers for material needs are really prayers for what those needs make possible.

🤔 Reflection Question: What do you know to be true that hasn’t yet changed how you live?

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Welcome — Pirkei Avot 3:17, Part II 01:10 “No wisdom, no awe; no awe, no wisdom” — where do you begin? 02:21 What yirah really means: fear, awe, reverence, shame, self-effacement 04:20 The common thread: awareness of something greater than you 07:12 Wisdom needs a goal — why do we study Torah? 08:22 Which comes first? Humility before wisdom 09:22 Fear of punishment vs. the reverence of a tzaddik 10:52 The Talmud’s two keys: the inner door and the outer door 11:34 Binah and da’as — the three faculties of ChaBaD 13:56 Da’as: owning the idea (the cancer researcher who smokes) 15:44 Q&A: Does da’as come through action? 17:34 Binah without da’as fizzles out 18:30 The Rebbe’s story: the innkeeper who fainted 20:42 Meditating on God’s greatness: understanding vs. connecting 21:17 “No flour, no Torah” — kemach, not bread 22:32 Why a Torah scholar shouldn’t fast 24:19 No gourmet required — flour is enough 25:01 Processing food: what separates humans from animals 26:47 The Maharal: why flour? Plan for now, not forever 28:28 Moshe, the angels & Avraham’s face (Midrash) 30:19 Sodom vs. Avraham: “What’s mine is mine” 32:04 Avraham studied Torah before Sinai 33:16 Kemach as prayer: the needs of the moment & eternal Torah 34:04 Rosh Hashanah: Chana’s prayer and Eli 35:28 Why we pray for material things on the holiest day 36:51 The Baal Shem Tov: why we get hungry 38:56 Q&A: kemach as all forms of sustenance 39:33 Shofar & wishes for a sweet year

🙏 If this class helped you see why learning has to become personal before it makes a difference, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone you learn with. Tell us in the comments: which pair from the Mishna speaks to you most? (Part I of this Mishna, on Torah and derech eretz, is in the previous class.)

📚 Sources discussed: Pirkei Avot 3:17; Pirkei Avot 5:10 (“what’s mine is mine”); Talmud Shabbos 31a–b (the two keys); Talmud Ta’anis 11a–b (a Torah scholar who fasts); Bereishis 3:18–19 (Adam’s food); Bereishis 4:1 (“Adam knew Chava”); Bereishis 18 (Avraham’s guests); Shmuel I, ch. 1 (Chana and Eli); Midrash (Moshe, the angels and Avraham’s face); Maharal; the Baal Shem Tov; the Rebbe

#PirkeiAvot #EthicsOfOurFathers #Yirah #BinahDaas #Chabad #RoshHashanah #JewishWisdom #TorahStudy #RabbiGreenberg

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