Talmudic Tidbits

Pirkei Avot is the sec­tion of the Mish­nah that deals pri­mar­ily with Jew­ish phi­los­o­phy and eth­i­cal liv­ing. Here is the first part, with my lit­eral trans­la­tion from the Hebrew to accom­pany my fol­low­ing commentary.

Moses received Torah* from Sinai** and handed down*** to Joshua; Joshua to the Elders [of the tribes of Israel]; the Elders to the Prophets; the Prophets handed down to the men of the Great Assem­bly. They**** said three things: Be cau­tious in judge­ment***, raise up many dis­ci­ples, and make a fence around Torah.** (Chap­ter 1, Mish­nah 1)

* Many Eng­lish trans­la­tions incor­rectly trans­late this as “the Torah.” The Hebrew word תורה (Torah) does not have the ה in front that would make it “the Torah.” But why did the orig­i­nal author not write “the Torah”? The inclu­sion of the def­i­nite arti­cle would make it sound like the Law has a finite exis­tence, a begin­ning and an end. Torah is infi­nite. Like God, Torah itself is אין סוף (with­out end).

** Why does the Mish­nah not say “from God” or “at Sinai” rather than “from Sinai”? This is to remind Jews that the giv­ing of Torah occurred at a spe­cific place and a spe­cific time in his­tory. It was a REAL event. It is not an oral tra­di­tion or a myth — it was an actual event at an actual place. All Jews, present and future, were there.

*** The Hebrew nei­ther repeats the word “Torah” nor uses the pro­noun את זה (it) when refer­ring to the hand­ing down of Torah through the ages. The use of the pro­noun would give a sense of limit to Torah just like the arti­cle ה (the) would have done. See my first footnote.

**** The pro­noun “they” refers specif­i­cally to the men of the Great Assem­bly and not col­lec­tively to Moses, Joshua, the Elders, and the Prophets as well. The Great Assem­bly was the first to make rul­ings and issue pre­cepts based on Torah since knowl­edge had become dif­fused by that time.

*** Courts of law are to resem­ble God. Courts should be nei­ther too strict nor too lenient; they should be fair. This resem­bles two aspects of God as described in the mys­ti­cal tra­di­tion — דין (Judge­ment) and חסד (Mercy) — that are bal­anced by תפארת (Compassion).

** Jews are sup­posed to guard against even approach­ing the break­ing of Torah. For exam­ple, it is for­bid­den in the Bible Tal­mud to eat beef and dairy prod­ucts in the same meal. The Oral Law — the Tal­mu­dic tra­di­tion that accom­pa­nies the Writ­ten Law in the Bible — also expanded this pro­hi­bi­tion to include chicken so Jews are one step removed from even com­ing close to vio­lat­ing the pre­cept. (Fish is allowed.)

Note: Most of the com­men­tary comes from tra­di­tion sources, but a few ideas are mine. Then again, there is noth­ing new under the sun.