How did we get a Sixth Chapter?

פרק ששי

6/1 The Sages taught [this chapter] in the language of the Mishnah. Blessed is He Who chose them and their teaching.

1. Rabbi Meir says: “Whoever engages in Torah study for its own sake merits many things; [the Creation of] the entire world is worthwhile for his sake alone. He is called ‘Friend’, he is called ‘Beloved’, he loves the Omnipresent, he loves people… [The Torah] clothes him in humility and the fear [of G-d]; it makes him fit to be righteous, pious, fair and faithful…”

Torah and mussar complement each other. Let’s think about this first. Your first question begs a concise definition of mussar and it is not easy to do that. It is said that Mussar is this: The Mussar movement was a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement that developed in 19th century Eastern Europe, particularly among Orthodox Lithuanian Jews. The Hebrew term Musar (מוּסַר), 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 made significant contributions to Jewish ethics.

ּrcvm Root: rcm transfer; delivering; handing over; tradition. cm convey; transmit. That pretty well says what it ‘does’, and what it is that it does… that is a little harder to really get into but if we simply consider it as handing over or transmitting a tradition of the ethics practiced by the Jews as we learned from the Oral Tradition, we should be well on our way.

There we see that the Torah and mussar (or musar) are not so much a complement or each other but more as a twin. Torah, of course, is the prime, the first, and the basis for the Jews to (have) developed our ethical essence. That, over the millennia have become so ingrained into the Jew that it is no wonder that we react with surprise and feel a smack across our collective face(s) when we read the headlines in the paper about another Jew involved in some scandal or another which bring collective shame on us and on Torah itself.

The Pirkei Avot [which we finish this week - but have only touched the surface] says in this final chapter that Torah illuminates the path, while mussar is advice on how to deal with worldly temptations which draw us away from the path. The living practice of the study of mussar is called derech eretz [the Way of the World] - the discipline of civilized behavior and the good qualities of character. The Pirkei Avot is a work of mussar and as mentioned a companion of Torah.

Three additional books which are worth the effort that it takes to study them are:

Melissas Yesharim (commentary by R. Twerksi) and Derech HaShem, both by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, and Ohr Yisrael by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. It is also worthwhile to read and learn from the Chofetz Chaim. And in truth, if you took these four works and studied them well, you would have more than a lifetime’s learning at hand. We Jews are truly blessed with an embarrassment of wealth in our teachings, in our Torah, Talmud, and the books or our Chazal.

“If there is no Torah, there is no derech eretz;

if there is no derech eretz, there is no Torah.”

The redactors of the Mishnah composed the Pirkei Avot with five chapters to correspond to the five books of Torah. They did this to emphasis the relationship with between Torah and the Avot. [with careful reading you will see how Chapter One parallels Bereishit (from Adam to leaving Egypt) with the generations from Sinai to our current galut (exile)]. So you ask how it is that we are learning from Chapter Six. This chapter was not a part of the original tractate. it is an addendum. It is dedicated to describing the exalted level of Torah and is a cement that connects Torah and derech eretz. This chapter attempts to make it clear that derech eretz is necessary to pave the way to achieve the ultimate goal of Torah.

Can we reach this goal without mussar? Without following derech eretz? To begin with:

The phrase yafeh talmud Torah im Derech Eretz is first found in the Mishnah in Tractate Avoth (2:2)[p81]: "Beautiful is the study of Torah with derech eretz, as involvement with both makes one forget sin". The term derech eretz, literally "the way of the land", is inherently ambiguous, with a wide range of meanings in Rabbinic literature, referring to earning a livelihood and behaving appropriately, among others.

So, I ask, what are our goals? Why do we spend time each week in a Torah Study group? What brings us together in person, or via a web-blog, to collectively learn words of Torah [words of G-d]? And, perhaps, more important; what are we going to do with the knowledge and wisdom that we (hopefully) learn in our studies? How will we impart it to others? Remember the meaning of mussar where the root letters lead us to: handing over and transmitting a tradition of ethics. We need to deliver this knowledge to the next generation.

How will you do that?

How do you now already do that?

Shabbat Shalom