Appreciating Torah Scholarship

I always wonder whether people fully appreciate the extraordinary depth of Torah scholarship of leading rishonim and acharonim (up until our own time) in terms of having literally the entire breadth and scope of Torah literature - tanach, mishna, gemara, etc. - at their fingertips, with an ability to call upon this knowledge in addressing any sugya or shailah. IMHO, such realization is necessary to imbue the rest of us with a sense of humility whenever we learn Torah.

An insight into the mitzvah of bikkurim (first fruits) discussed in this week's parsha - Ki Savo - brought down in the sefer Parperaot Latora (by Menachem Baker) - provides a glimpse of the Torah brilliance of the Vilna Gaon.

While the Torah provides no minimum shiur (measurement) for the mitzvah of bikkurim, the chachamim established a measurement of 1/60 (one sixtieth). See Rambam, Hilchot Bikkurim, 2:17.

Calling on obscure passages from two different gemaras and one mishna, plus a pasuk in Ki Savo, the Vilna Gaon suggests how this measurement was established.

First, a gemara in Kesuvos (111b) relates how in the time of mashiach, the trees in Eretz Yisroel will be so productive that they will not yield less fruit than "two donkeys' worth."

Second, as per a gemara in Baba Metzia (80b), the legally recognized burden that can be carried by a donkey without risk of injury is 15 seah (anyone using the donkey who loads on more than this may be subject to liability).

Combining the gemara in Kesuvos with the gemara in Baba Metzia establishes the yield of fruit trees in zeman mashiach as 30 seah (i.e., two donkey's worth).

Our parsha (26:2) commands that the bikkurim brought shall be placed in a receptacle referred to by the Torah as a a "teneh" - which, the Vilna Gaon observes, is identified in a mishna in Kelim (12:3) as a basket capable of holding a volume of 1/2 seah.

1/2 of 30 is the equivalent of 1/60; thus, concludes the Vilna Goan, the Torah itself alludes to the required measurement of bikkurim as 1/60 of one's fruit output without actually specifying that measurement.

Seems to me the Vilna Gaon's ability to recall all of these sources to arrive at his conclusion is breathtaking, and a humble reminder of the greatness of his Torah scholarship.