On weekdays, the middle 13 blessings of the Amidah are blessings of petition. We ask G-d for all sorts of things: health, wealth, a return to Israel, etc. But the first thing we ask for is…wisdom.
The blessing begins with a statement: “You, G-d, graciously grant knowledge to humanity, and teach understanding to humankind.” Then comes “the ask”: “Graciously grant us, from you, knowledge, understanding, and discernment (haskel, similar to the Yiddish word sechel, as in “For heaven’s sake, use a little sechel!”).
From a literary point of view, the difference between the statement and “the ask” is glaring. The statement mentions knowledge and understanding, but omits discernment. “The ask” includes discernment, with the implication that it is a special request, over and above that which is normally granted to humanity.
And how true this is. There are lots of people with knowledge. Fewer with understanding. Fewer still with discernment. Remember the famous Tom Lehrer song above Werner von Braun, the brilliant German scientist who helped Hitler yimach shmo, (may his name be blotted out) make V-2 rockets to terrorize London, and then after the war came to the U.S. and headed our space program. “’I just send them up, who cares where they come down, that’s not my department,’ says Werner von Braun.”
Or put another way, knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit. Discernment is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
Case in point: Facebook. The name has been changed (to Meta) to protect the guilty. A couple of very knowledgeable Harvard kids figured out a system that had the potential to connect the world into one community. But lacking discernment, they opened a Pandora’s box that, among other things, facilitated the rise of right-wing hate groups, made an entire generation of young people insecure because of the fear of not getting enough “likes” or being “unfriended,” and became a treasure chest of embarrassing personal data that has been called the primary source of compromising information leading to divorce.
Mazel tov.
What our rabbinic ancestors realized is that the gift of knowledge, from the Garden of Eden on, carries with it considerable risk. So after asking G-d to grant it to us—for surely, we do need it—they also asked for the safeguard of discernment. Knowledge is assertive. Discernment is restrained. Or put another way, knowledge speaks. Discernment listens.
May G-d grant us both.