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Week 133 - Shabbat - 15 June 2002

PIRKEI AVOT: CHAPTER 2: MISHNAH 14

Rabbi Eleazar said: Be diligent in the study of Torah; and know what to answer the heretic; and know before Whom you labor; and your Employer is trustworthy to repay you the reward of your labor.

Kehati

Rabbi Eleazar ben Arakh calls for a constant and unrestricted effort in the study of Torah, to achieve wide and profound familiarity with all its aspects, for two specific purposes: 1. To demonstrate the truth of the Torah in the face of false doctrines. 2. To know the existence, greatness, wisdom, loving-kindness and wonders of the Creator, as the basis of perfect faith in G-d, enabling us to serve Him with reverence and love.

Rabbi Eleazar said: Be diligent in the study of Torah - which is acquired only through persistent application, and know what to answer the heretic - deepen insight into the Torah and its basic principles, so as to refute the claims of the unbeliever, and disprove his arguments. By heretic (apikores) is meant one who denies the existence and unity of G-d, who disowns the Oral Torah, and transgresses the Divine law, publicly and spitefully as an act of heresy. Rambam associates the term apikores with hefker (wantonness), i.e. a person who wantonly disowns and despises the Torah. The term is generally associated with the Greek philosopher Epicurus (4th cent. BCE), who denied the existence of God and taught that the supreme purpose of life is the search for self-gratification, Our Sages applied his name to any person who degrades the Torah (see our explanation of Mishnah Sanhedrin, Chap. 10, Mishnah 1).

And know before Whom you labor - strive to penetrate the revealed and hidden aspects of the Torah so as to know your Creator, and to serve Him with perfect and whole-hearted faith, and your Employer – G-d, who sets this task before you, is trustworthy to repay you the reward of your labor. In a variant version, this latter phrase is missing, and the Mishnah concludes with: "And know before Whom you labor, and Who is your employer." Rambam comments: and know what to answer the heretic - the study of Torah should be followed up with secular studies so as to know how to answer the heretic, And know before Whom you labor - as you study the gentile doctrines, to know how to refute them, beware not to be swayed by them, for G-d knows the inner recesses of your mind; it is your duty to train your heart in the unswerving faith in G-d.

PIRKEI AVOT: CHAPTER 2: MISHNAH 15

Rabbi Tarfon said: The day is short; and the task is great; and the laborers are lazy; and the wages are abundant; and the Master of the house urges on.

Kehati

So far, the sayings of the leading Sages have appeared in chronological order. First, Simon the Just; then, the "Pairs"; with Hillel and Shammai were recorded the sayings of the Nesi'im (presidents) of the House of Hillel in their order down to Rabban Gamliel, the son of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi; then, came several statements of Hillel the Elder, to establish the link with the utterances of (the non-Hillelite - tr.) Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, who received Torah from Hillel; and then followed the sayings of the chosen disciples of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. Henceforth, the pronouncements are no longer arranged chronologically. In the following two Mishnayot the words of Rabbi Tarfon tie up with those of Rabbi Eleazar ben Arakh in the previous Mishnah, inasmuch as both refer to Torah study and its reward, and both Sages use the phrase: for your Employer is trustworthy (see Mishnah 16, below). Rabbi Tarfon was likewise a disciple of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. In the academy of Yavneh, he was considered a brilliant scholar and a leading spokesman of the Sages in that generation. He was likened to a heap of nuts: "Just as with a pile of nuts, when a man takes out one, all the rest topple over one another, so with Rabbi Tarfon; when a scholar approached him and said 'Teach me,' he would cite the Scriptures, Mishnah, Halakhah and Aggadah, so that the scholar would leave full of blessing and satisfaction" (Git. 67a, Avot de Rabbi Natan 18). Rabbi Tarfon's residence was in Lod. In the pithy maxim of our Mishnah, Rabbi Tarfon compares the relation between man and his Creator to that of a worker and his employer.

Rabbi Tarfon said: The day is short - the span of man's life is brief, and the task is great - the mastery of Torah is a vast undertaking, as it is written (Job 11:9): "The measure thereof (of the Torah) is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea"; and the workmen are lazy - for people are prone to waste their time on trifles and passing pleasures; and the wages are abundant - a great reward is assured to those who study Torah, as it is written (Prov. 8:11): "Wisdom is better than rubies, and all things desirable are not to be compared to her." It is, therefore, highly profitable for man to involve himself in this enterprise; and the Master of the house urges on – G-d continually exhorts us to delve into the Torah, as it is written (Deut. 6:7): "and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up." Moreover, (Tanhuma Re'eh): "Whoever neglects the Torah, is as though he denied G-d's existence, for the Torah was given to Israel solely that they might study it day and night, as it is written (Josh. 1:8): 'but you shall meditate therein day and night."'

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