Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

There is a rabbinical statement made in the Talmud that says, “Anyone who says what he learned in the name of the one he heard it, brings redemption to the world.”
This refers to Mordechai, who informed Esther of the plot of Bigtan and Teresh to assassinate the king. Esther made certain that Mordechai was given credit for having saved the king’s life.

The special care she took in relating the story in Mordechai’s name, contributed to the redemption of the Jewish people from Haman’s evil plot.

The Talmud relates a story of the great Rav Yochanan who became very angry when he learned that his student, Rabbi Elazar, taught his Torah without mentioning his name.

Other rabbis tried to calm Rav Yochanan with great difficulty. It was only after he was told that Yehoshua taught Torah without mentioning that he was teaching what he had learned from Moshe Rabbeinu.

Just as it was obvious to all that Yehoshua’s Torah came from Moshe, everyone knew that Rabbi Elazar’s Torah had come from him. This argument did give Rav Yochanan comfort.

Nevertheless, he wanted to drive home the message of the importance of not taking credit for someone else’s brilliance. We should always be careful to give credit where credit is due. Not only is this proper etiquette, but the results could be far greater than we realize. In Mordechai and Esther’s case, it brought redemption to the Jewish people.