Rabbi says: which is an upright path for which a person should opt? – One which is honourable for those who do it and which [also] brings honour from mankind. Be as careful with a simple mitzvah as with a serious one, since you do not know the reward for each mitzvah. Calculate the loss of a mitzvah against its reward, and the reward of a sin against its loss. Watch for three things and you will not come to sin: know what is above you – a seeing eye, a listening ear and all your deeds written in the book.
18:
It was none other than Rabbi Akiva who took the first steps towards creating order in the realm of the Unwritten Torah rather than the potential chaos that threatened. It is interesting that throughout the ages Rabbi Akiva has held a fascination for both scholars and lay people alike: for scholars, perhaps, because of the great sage's halakhic acumen; for lay people, most likely, because of the romantic nature of his biography. (But this is not the place to expatiate on either.) Comparatively few seem to be aware that it was this monumental sage who initiated the revolution in the transmission and organization of the Oral Tradition which eventually culminated in the achievement of Rabbi some eighty years later.
19:
The first step that Rabbi Akiva took was to verify and organize the material that had amassed until his time. He took all the midrashim that had accumulated around the verses of the Torah, sifted out those that were spurious, and gave form to those that were worthy of preservation. It is quite certain that Rabbi Akiva himself initiated the method but did not bring the method to fruition. This he left to his students, the great scholars of the next generation. In the Gemara [Sanhedrin 86a] we read:
For the purposes of our present discussion we can skip the first two items in the list, because they are connected with the later revolution that was initiated by Rabbi Akiva, as we shall see. The Sifra and the Sifré are collections of halakhic midrashim: Sifra ["the book"] contains the halakhic midrashim on the book of Leviticus and Sifré ["the books"] contains the halakhic midrashim on the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.
20:
There is no collection of halakhic midrashim on the book of Genesis because there is almost no halakhah in that book (and but three of the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot of the Written Torah). Halakhic midrashim on the book of Exodus have come down to us in two recensions. One is called Mekhilta and derives from the Bet Midrash of Rabbi Yishma'el whose hermeneutic system it reflects. Another recension on the book of Exodus, is also called Mekhilta but derives from the Bet Midrash of Rabbi Shim'on bar-Yoĥai and, of course, reflects the hermeneutic method of Rabbi Akiva.
21:
Perhaps it would be useful if I add here a few words about the difference between these two hermeneutic systems. 'Hermeneutics' is a word which derives from the Greek and refers to the way in which a text is interpreted. Obviously, one way in which a halakhic text is interpreted will result in one halakhah while that same text, if interpreted by a different method, can result in a different halakhah. Very basically, the hermeneutic guideline adopted by Rabbi Akiva was that the Written Torah is a sacred document originating in heaven and that it is extremely carefully worded; it therefore contains no superfluous phrases, words or even letters. If a phrase, word or letter seem to be superfluous they must be there in order to be interpreted halakhically. Thus Rabbi Akiva's hermeneutic system required even simple Hebrew words such as et, gam [too] and akh [but] to be expounded.
22:
Let me give one very short illustration of this last phenomenon. The Hebrew word et is enclitic and serves only to indicate that the next word is the direct object of a verb. However, Rabbi Akiva insisted that the word must be interpreted and that it serves to indicate inclusion: that is to say that it intimates that the intention of the text is to include something else not specifically mentioned. In Deuteronomy 6:13 we read:
You shall fear God, worship Him and swear in his Name.
"God" clearly is the direct object of the verb to fear and therefore in Hebrew takes the enclitic
et. Rabbi Akiva, however, says that here it serves to indicate "something else as well": parents are to be accorded the same respect as God. (He bases himself on Leviticus 19:3) [
Sifra Kedoshim 1:4].
23:
The hermeneutic system of Rabbi Yishma'el was much simpler. His attitude may be encapsulated in the simple phrase "the Torah speaks in human language". That is to say that while the Torah is a sacred document originating in heaven it is intended for a human readership, and therefore it may be understand on its simplest terms. (See, for example, an argument between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishma'el recorded in Sifré Shelaĥ 6 on the Hebrew phrase hikkaret tikkaret.)
24:
The hermeneutic system of Rabbi Akiva became dominant in halakhic circles – mainly because of his extraordinary personality. A thorough investigation of the differences between these two hermeneutic methods is made in the monumental work of Rabbi Avraham Yehoshu'a Heschel (in Hebrew) "Torah from Heaven".
25:
However, as already intimated, the organization of the halakhic midrashim was but "prelude to the swelling theme" (as Shakespeare's Macbeth says). And that swelling theme is the creation and development of Mishnah, as we shall see.
