“The people feared Hashem, and they had faith in Hashem and in Moshe, His servant” ^(Shemot 14:31)
>This pasuk teaches that one who has faith in the loyal shepherds of our people is considered to have faith in the One Who spoke and the world came into being (Mechilta d’Rabbi Yishmael, Beshalach).
&“If a matter of judgment is hidden from you… you shall arise and ascend to the place that Hashem, your G-d, shall choose… You shall do according to the word that they will tell you, from that place that Hashem will choose, and you shall be careful to do according to everything that they will teach you. According to the teaching that they will teach you and according to the judgment that they will say to you shall you do, you shall not depart from the word that they will tell you, right or left” ^(Devarim 17:8-11)
>A person has no right to say that he refuses to follow the dictates of our Sages, as they are not directly from the Torah. Hashem told us, “My sons, you must fulfill whatever the Sages command you. Why? Because I approve of whatever they say” (Midrash Tanchuma, Naso 29).
Moshe told Hashem, “Ribbono shel Olam! You have written in Your Torah, ‘You shall arise and ascend,’ referring to the times of the Beit Hamikdash. But when there is no longer a Beit Hamikdash, who will rule the people?”
Hashem replied, “Those who teach Torah, as the pesukim continue, ‘According to the teaching that they will teach you’” (Sheiltot, Mishpatim).
The Mesillat Yesharim (Chapter 3) explains: To what is this analogous? To a garden maze which is planted for the sake of amusement. The plants there are arranged in walls, between which are found many confusing and interlacing paths, all similar to one another. The purpose of the maze is to challenge a person to reach a portico in the middle of the paths. Some of the paths are straight ones, which lead directly to the portico, but some cause one to stray and to wander from it. One who walks between the paths has no way of seeing or knowing whether he is on the correct path, since all the paths are similar, presenting no difference whatsoever to the observing eye. He will not reach his goal unless he is familiar with the paths, through his having previously traversed them and reached the portico.
However, if a person occupies a commanding position in the portico, he sees all of the paths below him and can discriminate between those that lead to the goal and those that do not. He is in a position to warn those who walk upon them and to tell them, “This is the path; take it!” The person who is willing to believe him will reach the designated goal; but one who is not willing to believe him, but would rather trust his own eyes, will certainly remain lost and fail to reach it.
This is a parable for the idea under discussion. One who has not yet achieved control over his evil inclination is in the midst of the paths and cannot differentiate between them. But those who rule their evil inclination, those who have reached the portico, who have already left the paths and who clearly see all of the paths before their eyes – they can advise the one who is willing to listen, and we must trust what they have to tell us.
