Holidays & Observances

 

    The Jewish world is rich in the wisdom literature of prophet and sage. These are filled with reflections on the right ways of human conduct, on the concern for justice and love for humanity. The ethical treatise that is called Pirke Avot ("Chapters of the Fathers") is perhaps the best known, for it has been included in editions of the traditional prayer book for centuries. An ancient custom, observed in most Ashkenazi congregations, is to study a chapter each Shabbat afternoon from Pesach until Rosh Hashanah.

    Avot, as it is also named, is a tractate or treatise of the Mishnah. The Mishnah is the opinions and teachings of early rabbinic authorities interpreting the laws of the Torah, originally transmitted orally through successive generations of scholars and their disciples. The Mishnah is believed to have been given a cohesive order and structure and then committed to writing by Rabbi Judah HaNasi,(Judah the Prince) whose dates are 135-219 C.E.  Avot contains a collection of ethical principles and rules for a life of righteousness, ascribed to some sixty sages who lived between 300 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. Its contents are unique;  homiletic exhortations and folk-lore, with no legal pronouncements at all. The text opens with the statement that Moses received the Torah from Sinai. It then  asserts a chain of  uninterrupted transmission of this tradition and its authority directly to the tannaim, these same sages and rabbinic teachers. In this way, the law code of the Mishnah, the Oral Law, is provided with a claim of divine authenticity, while establishing the credentials of the sages as teachers of the truth revealed to Moses.

    The sayings or teachings presented here are not merely clever aphorisms. Taken together they reveal the convictions that formed the model for a Jewish world view of the unity of humanity. Foremost was the belief that civilization escaped total chaos by the divine teaching in Torah, by serving and worshipping God, and by acts of decency and love. Further, that the obligation of the disciple of Torah required a high degree of moral fiber and social responsibility; that one was to be decent and charitable to all, to work at one's tasks and to refrain from seeking personal power, prestige or wealth; that the labor demanded by God was arduous and thankless, and that the reward for piety and good deeds would be the multiplication of human decency, not earthly riches. We are told that Rabbi Akiba declared "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18) the greatest teaching of the Torah. Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai then maintained that even more important were the verses quoted in the Book of Genesis, that taught the unity of humankind, all created in the image of God.

Antigones of Socho who received the tradition from Simon the Just, said:  Do not be like servants who work for their master on condition that they be paid, but be like servants who work for their master without thought of a reward; and may the reverence for God be upon you.

Yose ben Yoezer, of Zeredah, said: Let your house be a meeting place for the wise, sit in dust of their feet, and drink in their words with thirst.

Joshua ben Perachya said: Provide a teacher for yourself, acquire a companion (for study) and judge everyone equitably(lit. "in the scale of merit").

 Shemayah said:  Love work, hate dominance and avoid intimacy with the ruling power.

Hillel said: Be among the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and bringing them nearer to Torah.

He used to say: A name made great is a name destroyed; who does not add to his knowledge decreases it; who does not study deserves to die and who makes worldly use of the crown of Torah shall fade away.

He also used to say:  If I am not for myself, who will be for me? and if I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?

Shammai said: Make your study of Torah a regular habit, say little and do much, and receive everyone with a cheerful smile.

Simon the son of Rabban Gamaliel said:  All my like I was raised among the Sages and I have found nothing better than silence; it is not the study (of Torah) but its practice that is the essence, and whoever talks excessively causes sin.
 

Rabban Simon ben Gamaliel said that the world is sustained by three things:  By justice, truth and peace, as it is said "you are to execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates".

Rabbi Judah the Prince said:  Which is the proper path to choose? Any that is honorable to pursue and earns one the honor of humankind.
 

Rabban Gamaliel, the son of R. Judah the Prince said:  Be on guard in your relations with rulers, for they befriend no one except for their own interest, acting friendly when it is to their advantage, they do not stand by someone in his time of need.

Hillel said: Do not separate yourself from the community; do not be sure of yourself until the day of your death; do not judge another until you are in that one's position; do not say something that cannot be easily understood in the hope it will be understood eventually; do not say, when I have leisure I shall study, for you may never be free.
 

He also said:  In a place where no one behaves like a human being, you must strive to be human.

He used to say:  The more Torah, the more life; the more study, the more wisdom, the more counsel, the more understanding; the more tzedakah, the more peace. Those who have gained a good (name) reputation, have acquired it for their own benefit; those who have acquired knowledge of Torah have gained life in the world to come.

Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai received the tradition from Hillel and Shammai. He used to say:  If you have studied a lot of Torah, do not ascribe merit to yourself, because this is what you were created to do.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus said:  Let the honor of those with whom you associate be as precious as your own; do not anger easily; and repent one day before your death.

Rabbi Yose the Priest said: Let the property of your neighbor be as precious to you as your own. Prepare yourself for the study of Torah, for the knowledge of it is not inherited; and let all your deeds be for the sake of God.
 

Rabbi Simon ben Nathaniel said:  Take some care when you read the Shema and when praying. When you pray, do not let your prayers become routine, rather appeal for compassion and supplication from God, as it is said:  For You, God, are gracious and compassionate, endlessly patient, abounding in love and forgiving the wicked; and do not judge yourself as an evil person.
 

Rabbi Tarfon said:  The day is short, the task is great, the workers are sluggish and the wages are high and the Master of the house is pressing.

He also used to say:  You are not required to complete the work, but neither are you free to avoid it; if you have studied much Torah, you will be given a great reward, for your Employer is faithful and shall pay you the wages of your labor; and know though, that the reward of the righteous will be given in the time to come.
 

Rabbi Chanania ben Teradion said:  If two sit together and exchange words of Torah, the Divine Presence abides among them.

Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa said:  Anyone whose fear of sin takes precedence over wisdom, wisdom endures; and when wisdom takes precedence over the fear of sin, wisdom will not endure.  He used to say:  When deeds exceed wisdom, wisdom endures, but when a person's wisdom exceeds deeds, that person's wisdom will not endure.

Rabbi Akiba used to say:  Beloved is humanity, for it was created in the image of God; a greater love was shown when we were made conscious of being created in God's image, as it is said in Torah, "For in the image of God was the human made". He also said: Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given; The world is judged by goodness, and everything depends on the abundance of good deeds.

Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said:  Where there is no Torah, there are no manners; where there are no manners, there is no Torah. Where there is no wisdom, there is no awe of God, without awe of God, there is no wisdom. Where there is no understanding, there is no knowledge, where there is no knowledge, there is no understanding. Where there is no sustenance, there is no Torah, where there is no Torah, there is no sustenance.

He used to say:  When our wisdom (learning) exceeds our deeds, we are are like a tree whose branches are many, whose roots are few. And the wind comes and uproots it and turns it upside down. But when our deeds exceed our wisdom, we are like a tree whose branches are few, but whose roots are many, so that even if all the winds of the world were to come and blow against it, it could not be budged from its place, as it is said in the Torah:  "For you shall be as a tree planted by waters, that spreads its roots by the river, and it shall not notice the heat's arrival, but its foliage shall be green; it shall not dread the year of drought, neither shall it cease yielding fruit".
 

Ben Zoma said:  Who is wise?  One who learns from every person, as it is said in Torah," from all my teachers I acquired understanding." Who is mighty? One who controls their passion, as it is said, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who masters his spirit than one who conquers a city." Who is rich? One who rejoices in their portion, as it is said, "when you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it will be well with you." Happy will you be in this world and it will be well with you in the world to come. Who is honored? One who honors others, as it is said, "Those who honor Me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be shamed."

Ben Azzai said:  Run to do even a minor mitzvah as you would an important one, and flee from transgression; for one good deed leads to another, and one sin leads to another. For the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah, and the wages of sin is another sin.

 He used to say:  Despise no one and do not discard anything, for there is no one whose hour does not come and no thing without its place.

Rabbi Jonathan said:  Whoever fulfills the Torah despite poverty, will ultimately fulfill it in wealth; whoever neglects the Torah because of wealth, will ultimately neglect it in poverty.

Rabbi Meir said:  Decrease your business activities and occupy yourself with Torah; be modest in your behavior with all people; and if you neglect the study of Torah, many excuses for neglecting it will present themselves to you, and if you toil in the Torah, God has abundant reward to give you.

Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua said:  Let your pupil's honor be as dear to you as your own; and the honor of your chaver (colleague, friend) as the reverence for your teacher, and the reverence for your teacher be as the reverence for God.

Rabbi Shimon said:  There are three crowns:  The crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of royalty; but the crown of good name surpasses them all.

Rabbi Simon ben Elazar said:  Do not placate your friend during the time of his anger; do not attempt to console her while her dead lies before her; do not question one at the time he has made a vow; do not strive to see someone in the hour of his disgrace.

Samuel the Younger said:  Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, nor gladden your heart when he stumbles; Lest God sees it and accounts it as evil and turns the wrath from him [to you].

Rabbi Meir said:  Do not look at the jar, but what is in it; there may be a new vessel filled with mature wine and an old vessel that does not even contain new wine.

Rabbi Elazar HaKappar said:  Envy, lust and ambition removes one from the world.

Judah ben Tema said:  Be strong as a leopard, swift as an eagle, fleet as a deer, and brave as a lion to do the will of the Creator.

Ben Bag Bag said:  Turn it [The Torah] and turn it over and over again and again, for everything is in it, study it thoroughly, grow old and gray in its study, do not stir from it for you can have no better measure than this.

[Anonymous]

This is the way of Torah:  You shall eat a morsel of bread with salt, drink a small amount of water, sleep on the ground, and live a life of hardship while you toil in [the study of] Torah. If you do this" Happy shall you be and it shall be well with you": you shall be happy in this world and it shall be well with you in the world to come.
 

Do not seek greatness for yourself and do not covet honor; let your practice exceed your learning; do not long for the table of kings, for your table is greater than theirs, and your crown is greater than their crown, and your Employer is faithful and shall pay you the reward of your work.