What Makes a Good Rabbi Polysemy and the Indeterminate Nature of Truth

And he [Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria]also opened his mouth and expounded: (Ecclesiastes 12:11) "The words of the wise are like staffs, and as nails planted are the words of the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd." Why are the words of the Torah likened to a staff? It is to tell you, Just as a staff is what direct the heifer in her furrows, so as to produce sustenance for the world, so too the words of the Torah direct the learners of them from paths of death to the paths of life. If you say, that just as a staff is what moves, so the words of the Torah will move; the text teaches "nails." If you say, that just as a nail is a thing which diminishes and does not add, so too the words of the Torah diminish and do not add, the text teaches "planted." Just as planting is a thing which is fruitful and multiplies, so too the words of the Torah are fruitful and multiply. ‘The masters of assemblies’: these are the disciples of the wise, who sit in manifold assemblies and occupy themselves with the Torah, some pronouncing unclean and others pronouncing clean, some prohibiting and others permitting, some disqualifying and others declaring fit. Should a man say: How in these circumstances shall I learn Torah? Therefore the text says: ‘All of them are given from one Shepherd’. One God gave them; one leader uttered them from the mouth of the Lord of all creation, blessed be He; for it is written: (Exodus 20:1) ‘And God spoke all these words’. Also make your ear like a hopper, and acquire for yourself an understanding heart to hear the words of those who declare unclean and the words of those who declare clean, the words of those who forbid and the words of those who permit, the words of those who disqualify and the words of those who pronounce ceremonially pure. In this same way he said to them, It is not an orphan generation when R. Elazar ben Azariah lives in it.

Abbaye said: The verse says, "Once God has spoken, but twice I have heard" (Psalms 62:12). A single verse has several senses, but no two verses ever hold the same meaning. It was taught in the School of Rabbi Ishmael: "Behold, My word is like fire--declares the Lord--and like a hammer that shatters rock" (Jeremiah 23:29). just as this hammer produces many sparks [when it strikes the rock], so a single verse has many meanings. (Translation by David Stern, Midrash and Theory, p. 17).

R' Acha bar Chanina said, It is revealed and known before the One Who said and the world came into being that nobody in the generation of R' Meir was like him. So why didn't they establish the Halachah according to him? It was only because his contemporaries couldn't follow his reasoning to its conclusion. For he might say on something that is impure that it is pure and show the reasons, and [he might say on] something that is pure that it is impure and show the reasons. It was taught: R' Meir's name wasn't that; it was R' Nehorai. So why was he called R' Meir? It was because he enlightened [me'ir] the eyes of the other Sages in law. And Nehorai wasn't his name, either; it was R' Nechemia. And others say that his name was R' Elazar ben Erech. So why was he called Nehorai? Because he clarified [manhir] the eyes of the other Sages in law. Rebbe said, The reason I am sharper than my friends is because I saw R' Meir from the back, and if I had seen him from the front, I would have been even sharper, as it is written, "And your eyes see your teachers" (Isaiah 30:20). R' Avahu said in the name of R' Yochanan, There was a student of R' Meir's named Sumchos, and he would give 48 reasons for anything that he declared impure and 48 reasons for anything that he declared pure. It was taught:... There was an old sage in Yavneh who would give 150 reasons for declaring an unclean reptile pure. Ravina said, I can judge and make it pure: If a snake, which, kills and [thus] increases impurity, is still pure [in its lifetime], an impure reptile, which doesn't increase impurity when it dies, is it not all the more so? But that's not [a good proof]; [a snake does] the same thing as a mere thorn [which is pure]. Rabbi Abba said in the name of Shmuel, For three years, the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai argued. One said, 'The halakha is like us,' and the other said, 'The halakha is like us.' A heavenly voice spoke: "These and these are the words of the living God, and the halakha is like the House of Hillel." A question was raised: Since the heavenly voice declared: "Both these and those are the words of the Living God," why was the halacha established to follow the opinion of Hillel? It is because the students of Hillel were kind and gracious. They taught their own ideas as well as the ideas from the students of Shammai. Not only for this reason, but they went so far as to teach Shammai's opinions first. Like that which we taught, One whose head and majority of his body are in the Sukkah and his table are in the [adjacent] house, Beis Shamai said it is invalid, and Beis Hillel said it is valid. Beis Hillel said to Beis Shamai, Is there not a story in our hands that the elders of Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel went to visit R' Yochanan ben HaChornis, and they found him sitting with his head and majority of his body in the Sukkah and his table in the house? [Doesn't this imply it's permissible?] Beis Shamai said back to them, From there you bring a proof? Even they said to him that if this is how you act, you never fulfilled the mitzvah of Sukkah in your life! [This story is] to teach you that whoever degrades himself, Hashem raises him, and whoever raises himself, Hashem degrades him. Whoever runs toward greatness, greatness flees from him, and whoever flees from greatness, greatness runs toward him. Whoever uses his time wisely, the time stretches out, and whoever procrastinates, the time stands still. It was taught in a Braita: For two-and-a-half years the house of Shammai and the house of Hillel argued. These said: Better for man never to have been created than to have been created. And these said: Better for man to have been created that not to have been created. They counted and decided: Better for man never to have been created than to have been created. Now that he has been created, he should sift through his actions. And there are those who say he should examine his actions.