Little Mountain (1:1)
On this very first Shabbat after the Pesach holiday, with the taste of Matzoh and Maror still lingering, preparations for the next festival are already underway. Soon the two days of Shavuot commemorating the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai will be upon us. We will eat blintzes, listen to the reading of the Ten Commandments and recite the Yizkor prayer.
However, to do all the above in the proper spirit requires groundwork. It has therefore become a time-honored tradition to study on each of the six Sabbaths that separate Pesach and Shavuot, one chapter of the famous work, Ethics of our Fathers. This collection of our Sages’ timeless morals and wisdom was deemed one of the best cultivators…
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The Dirty Truth (1:4)
The universe is shrinking. I don’t mean in the physical sense. Indeed in that matter, science has finally caught up to the Midrash that explains how the constellations and the planets are expanding. What I refer to is how the world-at-large communicates. Until recently, humans in different parts of the globe could not speak to one another. Then, just over a century ago, the first telephones were connecting families and distant communities. Then the Fax machine brought us even closer together. What followed were CNN and its instantaneous on-the-spot reporting, the World Wide Web, then the latest Pony Express, E-Mail, and now cell phones that make us accessible 24 hours a day.
With all this talking going on, you would…
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Don’t Hate the Rabbis (1:10)
We live in an age when moral criticism is considered in bad taste and offensive. Of course, this makes most mothers politically incorrect. But they are not in such bad company. Their moral high-ground is shared by Judaism, as the Talmud points out, “All Jews are responsible for one another.”
This brings us to the classic, moral treatise Ethics of our Fathers, whose first of six chapters will be studied this Shabbat afternoon in most synagogues. In Mishnah number ten we are introduced to Shemayah, a proselyte, or perhaps the descendant of proselytes, turned Sage. He and his colleague Avtalyon, who lived in the middle of the first century BCE, refused to take an oath of allegiance to King Herod,...
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Creator of Silence (1:17)
As the hot summer weather takes hold and school lets out, more is shed than winter clothes and late night homework assignments. It seems as if the kick-back, take-life-easy attitude affects our very behavior. Young people are friskier, the rules of dress (even those of modesty, unfortunately) seem more relaxed, talk is looser, and parents give their children more leeway. No wonder then, that the Sages instituted the study of the ETHICS OF OUR FATHERS during these summer months.
What separates Jewish morals from those of the rest of the world? A simple answer might be gleaned from the 100 year old story concerning the President of Harvard University, Charles W. Eliot. A new hall of philosophy was being dedicated…
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A Straight Life (2:1)
Anton Chekhov, was an unsuccessful Russian doctor who would eventually become one of the world’s great literary masters. Among the many aphorisms attributed to Mr. Chekhov is the advice that he once gave an aspiring dramatist, “If you hang a gun on the wall in the first act, you had better use it by the third act.”
Avid readers, or those who attend plays, watch movies, etc. can readily testify to the large number of writers that utilize this tactic. Thus in the spirit of true Chekhovian drama, chest pains are inevitably followed by heart attacks, life insurance policies by sudden deaths, and telephone rings by earth shattering news. In real life however, most chest pains turn out to be…
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The Greatest Human Being
More than any other Sage, it was Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai who was instrumental in the national and spiritual recovery after the catastrophic destruction of the second Temple at the hands of the Romans. It was he who built Yavneh, the new center of Jewish life. And it was he who fanned the flames of hope by educating an elite cadre of young scholars who would carry on the teachings of Judaism for the next generation.
Even before Jerusalem lay in ruins, his lectures were so popular they had to be delievered outdoors in front of the Temple, since no study hall could contain the enormous crowds that attended. Nonetheless, this week’s ETHICS OF OUR FATHERS enumerates five disciples whose…
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The Good & Evil Eye (2:10-11)
Who has not heard of the malevolent “Evil eye”? In many cultures, the potency of such a gaze was believed to have enormous power capable of inflicting tremendous damage. The “evil eye” however, mentioned in this week’s Ethics of our Fathers is not to be confused with the ability to cast curses, and truly belongs in another category. This does not mean it lacks punch. In fact, the Mishna states, “The evil eye…drives a man from this world.” Nevertheless, our Sages are not talking about witches and black magic - just a sense of proportion.
The Mishna begins by listing the five most outstanding disciples of Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai, the first one being Eliezer Ben Hyrkenus. Now, this Eliezer…
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Choose Your Contract (2:15)
With the Pesach holiday under our belt as well as stretching it, we can finally sit back on our easy chairs and relax. A lot of hard work this G-d of ours seems to demand, but at least never more than we can handle. That is not just my sentiment. Indeed, no less an authority than the great Maimonedes himself echoed these very thoughts when he stated, “G-d gave us this tree of life..and He promised us that if we observe it with joy and gladness of heart…He will remove from us all that may prevent us from keeping it.”
The Rambam of course was not just saying this to make us feel good. In fact, he was quoting a…
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Judge...yourself (3:1)
Ethics, even more than law, often defines the true essence of who we are. The reason for this should be patently obvious. Rules, imposed by some greater, external authority compel us to do things not necessarily consistent with our real feelings or mores. Ethics, on the other hand, are not always measurable actions that can be regulated by some outside group. They represent our values, inner beliefs, attitudes, and our general outlook on life: In short, our entire personality.
Nonetheless, our Sages of old wished to regulate, or at least formulate, our ethics. Their suggestions, if you will, would serve as guides that would better our relationship with ourselves, our peers, and our Creator.
This week’s lesson is based upon…
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The Lonely Road (3:4)
As you all must be aware by now, the lengthy summer Shabbat afternoons are spiced up with studies from Ethics of our Fathers. This week’s Chapter (#3) contains a teaching from Rabbi Chanina ben Chachinoi that reads like this, “One who is awake at night or travels alone on the road, and he turns his heart to idleness, endangers his life.”
At first glance the Rabbi’s words seem rather harsh. Accordingly, many commentaries understood this statement to be not a directive for all time, but reflective of the difficult times in which the Sage found himself. Rabbi Chanina lived during the Roman occupation of Judea when the study of Torah was forbidden on pain of death. Indeed , his very…
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Don't Stop Looking (3:7)
Rabbi Yaakov said, “One who walks on the road, studies Torah, interrupts his studies and remarks, ‘How beautiful is this tree! How beautiful is this plowed field!’ Scripture considers it as if he were guilty of mortal sin.
Reading this week’s selection of Ethics, one comes across this rather harsh statement. Although it is obviously understood that while studying G-d’s holy Torah one should not digress, still the punishment does not seem to fit the crime. At least the fellow was learning in the first place. What about all the countless others who don’t even start?
Another interesting note is the specific type of interruption. Surely admiring the beauty of nature and extolling the wonders of G-d’s creation is itself…
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