Torah Community Connections

Week 136 - Sunday - 30 June 2002

PIRKEI AVOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 10

Rabbi Meir said: Reduce your business activities, and occupy your-self with the Torah; and be of humble spirit before every man; and if you neglect the Torah, you will have many idlers by your side; but if you labor in the Torah, He has ample reward to give you.

Kehati

Rabbi Aha bar Hanina said. It is revealed and known before God that no one equals (the intellect of) Rabbi Meir in his generation. Why then did they not accept his opinion as Halakhah? Because his colleagues could not grasp the full meaning of his views; for he would declare the ritually impure to be pure - and prove it; and the (ritually) pure, to be impure - and prove it too. It has been taught: His name was not Rabbi Meir, but Rabbi Nehorai; and why was he called Rabbi Meir? Because he enlightened (me’ir) the Sages in the Halakhah (Eruv. 13b). His teacher par excellence was Rabbi Akiva, but he also studied under Rabbi Yishmael and under Elisha ben Avuyah. He did not part company from the latter even when this teacher fell into heresy (and became known as Aher, the "other"). Our Sages said of Rabbi Meir that he "found a pomegranate, ate its contents (i.e. absorbed Elisha's knowledge - tr.) but discarded the shell (the heretic's way of life - tr.)" (Hag. 15b).

Rabbi Meir played a cardinal role in the compilation of the Mishnah, as they said (Sanh. 86a): "The author of an anonymous Mishnah is Rabbi Meir, in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva," i.e., Rabbi Meir's teachings, which he received from Rabbi Akiva, furnished the basis for the compilation of the Mishnah by Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. Rabbi Meir attached supreme educational, spiritual and moral value to Torah study, as expressed in the statement (below, Chap. 6, Mishnah I): "He who occupies himself with the Torah for its own sake, merits many things." Moreover (above, Chapt. 3, Mishnah 8), Rabbi Dostai said in his name: "He who forgets a single word of his studies, Scriptures account it unto him as though he transgressed against his own soul." In the present Mishnah, too, Rabbi Meir teaches man to value Torah study above all else.

Rabbi Meir said: Reduce your business activities - to a minimum, and occupy yourself with the Torah making the study of Torah at fixed times your principal occupation, and your worldly business a casual activity; and be of humble spirit before every man - learn even from your inferiors, as Ben Zoma said (Above. Chap. 4. Mishnah 1): Who is wise? He Who leans from every man. Moreover, do not be proud even when you gain proficiency in the Torah whose merit transcends all, not to speak of futile material attainments that deserve no praise (Rabbenu Yonah).

And if you neglect the Torah - because of your business activities you will have many idlers by your side - i.e., many obstacles will arise to trouble you and to intrude upon your time at the Torah's expense. Hameiri offers the following comment: and if you neglect the Torah and devote your efforts to the trades or other business you will not surpass your companions, seeing that you will have many idlers by your side - if you deal in merchandise, there will be no lack of similar merchants and the same applies to the whole range of arts and crafts. The Mishnah refers to these persons as idlers, because they are as null and void when compared to the merit of the Torah. However, the person who aspires to perfect himself in the mastery of Torah, may well surpass the attainments of his fellows, because their number is limited as the ba'alei musar (exponents of ethical doctrine) declared: "Truth is burdensome; therefore, its bearers are few."

In the words of our Rabbis (Bereshit Rabba 91:11): "There are four elements in the service of society, and all of their products are expendable: 'For there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine; iron is taken out of the dust, and brass is molten out of the stone' (Job 28: 1-2); but when a Torah scholar dies, can he be replaced?! And thus it is written (ibid., v. 12): 'But wisdom, where shall it be found?' " In Avot de Rabbi Natan we read: "Whoever is diligent in the study of Torah, is granted the company of other diligent students; and whoever detracts from the study of Torah, other detractors are sent to join him, e.g., lions, wolves, tigers, panthers, snakes, legionnaires and highwaymen, who surround him and exact their due from him, as it is written (Ps. 58: 12):'Verily there is a God who judges in the earth.' " Indeed, these detractors serve as the rod of God's anger, dispensing Divine justice against those who trespass His will.

But if you labor in the Torah - and limit your earthly pursuits, He has ample reward to give you - God Himself rewards those who are devoted to His Torah, not through angels or other agents, thereby expressing the superiority of the Divine reward over Divine retribution (Rabbenu Yonah, Bartenura).

PIRKEI AVOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 11

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said: He who performs one mitzvah, acquires one advocate; and he who commits one sin, acquires one prosecutor. Repentance and good deeds are a shield against punishment. Rabbi Yohanan Hasandelar said: Every assembly which is for the sake of Heaven, will in the end endure; but that which is not for the sake of Heaven, will not in the end endure.

Kehati

Two Tannaim were known as Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov. The first lived in the time of the Second Temple, and was the author of the mishnaic tractate Midot (Measurements) containing a detailed, firsthand account of the Temple. In the "genealogical scroll" discovered by Ben Azzai we read i.a.: "The teaching of Rabbi Eliezer is kav (a small measure of capacity), venaki (but well sifted)", i.e., his statements are few, but of a high grade, like refined flour. The other Sage bearing this name, apparently the one quoted in our Mishnah, was a disciple of Rabbi Akiva. In the Jerusalem Talmud (end of Pe 'ah), it is related: A blind man once came to the city of Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, whereupon the Sage sat down by his side. Said the local citizens: Were not this blind man a great man, Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov would not sit by his side; and they provided him with his needs, plentifully. The blind man asked them: Why did I deserve all this? They answered: We saw Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov sitting by your side. Thereupon, the blind man prayed the followed prayer on behalf of Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov: "You bestowed loving-kindness upon one who is visible, but does not see; may He who sees, but is invisible, accept your petitions and bestow loving-kindness upon you." Our Mishnah teaches that man's good deeds are his most eloquent champions, and his sins, man's most potent enemy.

Rabbi Yohanan, a disciple of Rabbi Akiva's, surnamed hasandelar may indicate his occupation as a sandal maker. Others believe hasandelar to denote "the Alexandrian," referring to the city of his birth (Yerushalmi, Hag. 3:1). It is related (ibid.): "After the revocation of Hadrian's decree against the practice of Judaism, seven elders, disciples of Rabbi Akiva, convened in Bik'at Rimon to proclaim a leap-year, and among them was Rabbi Yohanan Hasandelar... A dispute over Halakhah broke out among the Sages, whereupon Rabbi Yohanan exclaimed to Rabbi Meir that his own scholarship under Rabbi Akiva was superior to that of Rabbi Meir. Sages, recalling his birthplace, referred to him as the "Alexandrian", and charged him with sharing the haughty spirit that marked the character of this city. Eventually, they were reconciled and they parted with a kiss. It is suggested that Rabbi Yohanan's statement concerning the ultimate fate of assemblies, refers to this gathering at Bik'at Rimon (Rambam, Sefer Hama'or). Indeed, after their meetings at Bik'at Rimon and Usha, these disciples of Rabbi Akiva, "then arose and filled the whole land of Israel with Torah" (Bereshit Rahha 61:3).

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said: He who performs one mitzvah, acquires one advocate - a defending counsel who testifies and pleads in his favor; and he who commits one sin, acquires one prosecutor - who denounces him and demands that he be punished. We are taught that the performance of even a single mitzvah should not be underestimated, for it immediately provides us with a defence at the Heavenly Court. Likewise, the commission of but a single sin is grave enough to call forth a prosecutor. Moreover, a mitzvah does not cancel a sin, since man receives a fitting reward for a mitzvah, and an appropriate punishment for a transgression (Hameiri).

Repentance and good deeds are a shield against punishment - if a man sins, his remedy is repentance and good deeds which serve as a protective shield against Divine retribution. In the words of our Sages: "Great is repentance, for by it, wilful transgressions are accounted as virtues" (Yoma 86a). Elsewhere, we learn: "He who has sinned, and is ashamed to repent, let him put in its place a good deed and repent, and be accepted. This is like a man who has a bundle of bad coins. He goes to the money-changer, pays an additional fee, and exchanges them for good coins." Similarly, whoever is burdened with bad deeds, let him repent and add on good deeds (Yalkut, Hoshea 13).

Rabbi Yohanan Hasandelar said: Every assembly which is for the sake of Heaven whose members concern themselves with the needs of the public and apply themselves to the solution of problems genuinely and without regard to their own personal interests, will in the end endure - such deliberations will produce positive and permanent results; but that which is not for the sake of Heaven - in which opinions are advanced in a spirit of conflict and provocation, and not for the sake of genuine truth (Hameiri), will not in the end endure - their measures will fail to produce lasting results. In Avot de Rabbi Natan (end, Chapt. 40) we read: "An assembly for the sake of Heaven, this refers to the Men of the Great Assembly; and that which is not for the sake of Heaven, this refers to the gathering during the period of the Tower of Babel."

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