MORE?
Hey! We’ve only begun...
Last week, after a rather long and circuitous path, we began to look at the Pirkei Avot (Avos) and arrived, only, at the state of the Men of the Great Assembly [hereafter: MGA]. But let’s review the way that Torah got to the MGA.
Remember; Moshie received the Torah... transmitted to to Yehoshua... (transmitted) to the elders... (transmitted) to the Prophets... (they) transmitted to the MGA. The [the MGA] determined that it was time to write it down and that the generations that would follow would receive it. Why, the question is, the difference between receiving and transmitting is mentioned?
As the Maharal of Prague says; a teacher transmits everything that he knows but the student only receives that which he is capable of receiving. Therefore, Moshie could only receive what he, as a man, could comprehend of the Divine ‘presentation’. That he could then transmit this as would Yehoshua, et. al. Later the MGA were concerned that so much would be lost, that they developed the “Written Torah”.
This now is when they made the statement(s) to be patient in judgment, to have many students and to make a fence for Torah. Those three statements addressed: chachmah, or ‘factual’ knowledge; binah, or understanding the implications behind the knowledge; and daat, or discerning. And the MGA related this to their statments in the following manner:
Chachmah [the factual knowledge] was addressed to the Judges as this was the Mishpatim the Law(s) of Torah. And the Judges were asked to be patient and understanding in their judgments.
Binah [the understanding of what was involved in the knowledge] was addressed to the students, the Scholars, and was to develop and fortify the knowledge.
And, finally, Daat [the discerning] was addressed toward making the Fence around Torah - for the benefit of the rest of the Jews, the Lay People, who were not involved in Law & Study. These were the folk who had the various questions like why not to the boiling of the flesh of an animal in milk - where the rabbis then forbid us to boil any kind of meat (animal or fowl) in milk.
Thus you see that the MGA address these items to fortify the three areas, or categories, of Torah: Mishpatim, chukim, and mitzvot. Be deliberate in judgment addresses and supports mishpatim through fairness and integrity. Develop many disciples would strengthen the general body of Torah through study and discussion. And Make a Fence around Torah would protect chukim, or the laws that are difficult to put into a logical presentation (forbidden marriages, for example).
So what can appear to us today to be somewhat ‘silly’ in some respects, can be easily understood when we observe the zeitgeist and the problems confronting the MGA at the time of the Second Century CE. These additional rabbinic restrictions were meant to make the ‘law’ more consistent and thereby make life easier and it would be easier to remember and apply to the (our) daily life.
Remember; Moshie received the Torah... transmitted to to Yehoshua... (transmitted) to the elders... (transmitted) to the Prophets... (they) transmitted to the MGA. The [the MGA] determined that it was time to write it down and that the generations that would follow would receive it. Why, the question is, the difference between receiving and transmitting is mentioned?
As the Maharal of Prague says; a teacher transmits everything that he knows but the student only receives that which he is capable of receiving. Therefore, Moshie could only receive what he, as a man, could comprehend of the Divine ‘presentation’. That he could then transmit this as would Yehoshua, et. al. Later the MGA were concerned that so much would be lost, that they developed the “Written Torah”.
This now is when they made the statement(s) to be patient in judgment, to have many students and to make a fence for Torah. Those three statements addressed: chachmah, or ‘factual’ knowledge; binah, or understanding the implications behind the knowledge; and daat, or discerning. And the MGA related this to their statments in the following manner:
Chachmah [the factual knowledge] was addressed to the Judges as this was the Mishpatim the Law(s) of Torah. And the Judges were asked to be patient and understanding in their judgments.
Binah [the understanding of what was involved in the knowledge] was addressed to the students, the Scholars, and was to develop and fortify the knowledge.
And, finally, Daat [the discerning] was addressed toward making the Fence around Torah - for the benefit of the rest of the Jews, the Lay People, who were not involved in Law & Study. These were the folk who had the various questions like why not to the boiling of the flesh of an animal in milk - where the rabbis then forbid us to boil any kind of meat (animal or fowl) in milk.
Thus you see that the MGA address these items to fortify the three areas, or categories, of Torah: Mishpatim, chukim, and mitzvot. Be deliberate in judgment addresses and supports mishpatim through fairness and integrity. Develop many disciples would strengthen the general body of Torah through study and discussion. And Make a Fence around Torah would protect chukim, or the laws that are difficult to put into a logical presentation (forbidden marriages, for example).
So what can appear to us today to be somewhat ‘silly’ in some respects, can be easily understood when we observe the zeitgeist and the problems confronting the MGA at the time of the Second Century CE. These additional rabbinic restrictions were meant to make the ‘law’ more consistent and thereby make life easier and it would be easier to remember and apply to the (our) daily life.
MISHNAH NUMBER THREE
The world depends on three things:
The world depends on three things:
...On Torah study, on the service [of G-d], and on kind deeds.
The Maharal tells us in relationship to this statement that a person relates to the world in three dimensions. Those interactions are: a) with oneself; b) with G-d; & c) with other people. Further that we maintain these relationships through Torah study; the Service (avodah) of G-d and through kind deeds. All of which together are the means for us to acquire a ‘goodness’ in the relationship. Is it, I ask, possible for a person to have a goodness in a relationship with himself, G-d or others and be Agnostic? Muslim? Christian? Buddhist? Non-observant Jew? Anyway.... [p17]
The MGA are - in Pirkei Avot - teaching Mussar. They are not addressing the legal implications of Torah. They are not concerned with the minutiæ of the law. They are concerned with providing “practical” advice. Yes, as Jack mentioned in class, the MGA were “ordering” the students on how to act, study, live... but in the overall picture,
they were ‘teaching’ Mussar. [The Hebrew term Mussar or Musar, is from the book of Proverbs 1:2 meaning instruction, discipline, or conduct. The term was used by the Musar movement to refer to efforts to further ethical and spiritual discipline. The Musar Movement (as something else) made significant contributions to Jewish ethics. In furthering the later movement of Musar we find Rabbi Israel Salanter in seeking to encourage the study of Musar literature, Salanter had three works of Musar literature republished in Vilna: Mesillat Yesharim by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh by Solomon ibn Gabirol, and Chesbon Ha-Nefesh by Menachem Mendel Lefin. At some future time we will look at Rabbi Salanter and his book Ohr Yisrael and also at the Mesillat Yesharim.]
The Three Things that the MGA spoke of, is, in another way, referring to the Three Pillars of Judaism as personified in the forefathers Abraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov for they were the foundation of Israel, of Judaism and, indeed, all of Monotheism. They show us the three aspects of Torah, of Service and of Kindness. Kind Deeds being the trait we attribute to Father Avraham. Service (to G-d, especially) we see in the acceptance of Yitzchak who approached the sacrificial altar. And Torah relates to Yaakov as Moshie commanded to us the Torah as the inheritance of the Congregation of Yaakov – Israel.
they were ‘teaching’ Mussar. [The Hebrew term Mussar or Musar, is from the book of Proverbs 1:2 meaning instruction, discipline, or conduct. The term was used by the Musar movement to refer to efforts to further ethical and spiritual discipline. The Musar Movement (as something else) made significant contributions to Jewish ethics. In furthering the later movement of Musar we find Rabbi Israel Salanter in seeking to encourage the study of Musar literature, Salanter had three works of Musar literature republished in Vilna: Mesillat Yesharim by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh by Solomon ibn Gabirol, and Chesbon Ha-Nefesh by Menachem Mendel Lefin. At some future time we will look at Rabbi Salanter and his book Ohr Yisrael and also at the Mesillat Yesharim.]
The Three Things that the MGA spoke of, is, in another way, referring to the Three Pillars of Judaism as personified in the forefathers Abraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov for they were the foundation of Israel, of Judaism and, indeed, all of Monotheism. They show us the three aspects of Torah, of Service and of Kindness. Kind Deeds being the trait we attribute to Father Avraham. Service (to G-d, especially) we see in the acceptance of Yitzchak who approached the sacrificial altar. And Torah relates to Yaakov as Moshie commanded to us the Torah as the inheritance of the Congregation of Yaakov – Israel.
Yes; MORE to follow.
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