Living the Lesson

 Rabbi Yosef Levin | “The Ethics of Our Fathers” (in Hebrew Pirkei Avot) is a tractate of Mishna with six chapters full of fascinating advice and insights into living an ethical life.  It is customary to study this tractate on Shabbat between Pesach and Shavuot, one chapter for each of the six Shabbats.  In fact, the original Mishna has five chapters, and the sages of the Talmud added a sixth chapter – as they write “in the language of the Mishna” – in order to fill all of the six weeks.

There are several reasons given for this study.  One is to prepare for the Giving of the Torah on Shavuot.  Our Sages taught that “derech eretz kadma Latorah” – ethical behavior comes before Torah. Therefore in the weeks leading up to receiving the Torah, we study ethics.  Another explanation is that as the world warms up in the spring and summer, our emotions blossom and we tend to be drawn to behavior that may not be so ethical, so we study Pirkei Avot to remind us what is appropriate.  Based on this reason, there are many communities who continue the study of Pirkei Avot throughout the summer, repeating it several times, until Rosh Hashana. 

This year, I learned a new explanation for studying Pirkei Avot between Pesach and Shavuot.  This is the time of the “counting of the Omer,” which among other things is a time of mourning for the 24,000 srtudents of Rabbi Akiva who died in a terrible plague during this period.  Our Sages taught that the plague came about because they “did not behave with respect toward one another.”  In every tractate of the Talmud, you will find disagreements between the sages.  This is not a bad thing! It is the way the Torah is learned and the way we arrive at the truth and establish the Halacha which is the way to act in any given situation according to Torah.  But there is something unique about Pirkei Avot.  There is not a single disagreement in the entire tractate!  Everyone agrees with everything that is being taught.  It is therefore especially appropriate to study this tractate during the time of the Sefira – the counting of the Omer.

When we study the Mishna of Pirkei Avot, a question jumps out at us.  Many of the teachings are not new and seem to be pretty obvious, so why do we need the sages of the Mishna to teach them?    Some examples are: Be the first to say Shalom to every person.  Greet every person with a pleasant face.  Don’t judge another person until you are in his or her place.  Yes, these are important lessons, but do we need a Mishna to teach them to us?  How are they different from other basic teachings?

There is one Mishna which is especially perplexing in Chapter 4 (Mishna 19).  Shmuel the Small says: When your enemy falls do not rejoice… What is especially perplexing about this Mishna is that what Shmuel says is a direct quote of a verse in Proverbs (24:17)!  Shmuel doesn’t add a single word to the verse!  So what is he teaching us here that is new?

The Rebbe gives us a fascinating insight into the message of Pirkei Avot and its unique lesson.  A common phrase used in this tractate is “Hu Haya Omer.”  When a sage is quoted by name, a second or third quote will begin with those words, instead of repeating the name of the sage.  The simple translation is “he used to say.”  Another interpretation is that it was a phrase that he commonly said - something that people associated with him because he said it frequently.  A deeper look at the phrase yields another interpretation.  Hu Haya – what he was – Omer – he said.  What the Mishna is telling us is that these ethical teachings are not just being taught academically.  The sages who taught them lived this way and internalized the lessons, and then taught us to emulate how they lived.

There is a great story about a famous child psychology professor who spent his career teaching about only speaking positively to children.  He wrote books and lectured extensively on this subject.  The university was building a new psychology building and were naming it for him in honor of his 40 years of service.  In the middle of a lecture, he looked out of the window and saw some kinds messing up the newly poured cement.  In a fit of anger, he ran outside and started yelling at the kids.  When he came back to the classroom he saw 100 dropped jaws.  This is the great man who had lectured all his life about only positive speech to kids?  He looked around, and sheepishly said: Everything I teach is in theory, not in concrete.  The Rebbe told a story about a student of the great philosopher Aristotle who saw him in a compromising situation with a woman and asked him how he could behave like that in light of all his teachings about the need to curb physical desires.  He answered:  Now I am not Aristotle the philosopher, now I am just a man.

Our sages taught from the depth of their souls and they shared their true character.  Shmuel “the Small” was so named because of his intense humility.  When he repeated the verse from Proverbs, he was sharing a lesson that he had completely internalized and inspiring us to do the same. 

Torah’s teachings are not academic discussions.  Pirkei Avot reminds us that the Torah is a lesson in how to live our lives.  True Torah teachers are those who live the Torah deeply, and by learning from them, we are inspired to emulate them to the best of our ability.