Avot259

Today's shiur is dedicated by Melvin Shuter
in memory of his late wife,
Phyllis Shuter, Pesha bat Elimelech z"l,
whose Yahrzeit falls today.

1:
Rabbi Ya'akov ben-Korshoi lived during the 2nd century. In tannaïtic literature, when Rabbi Ya'akov is named without a patronymic the reference is almost invariably to our Rabbi Ya'akov. In the case of our present mishnah this is quite certain since the essential message is repeated in a midrash [Leviticus Rabba 3:1] where the attribution to Rabbi Ya'akov ben-Korshoi is specific. Rabbi Ya'akov was a student of Rabbi Me'ir.

2:
In Avot 172 I wrote:

Rabbi Ya'akov was one such, because he was appointed the Tanna of Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el, the President of the Sanhedrin in the era of national rehabilitation after the failure of the Bar-Kokhba revolt.

3:
In Avot 241 I recounted the story of how a plan of Rabbi Me'ir and Rabbi Natan to have Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el removed from office was thwarted. (They agreed that the following day they would suggest that Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el lecture on the very recondite tractate Uktzin, "because he doesn't know that stuff" and would thus be put to shame.) However, Rabbi Ya'akov learned of their plan and spent the whole night reviewing Tractate Uktzin with the president.

4:
The Talmud of Eretz-Israel tells us that the son of Rabban Shim'on, Rabbi Yehudah, was the outstanding student of Rabbi Ya'akov. This Rabbi Yehudah was, of course, the compiler of the Mishnah. Thus we can establish a chain of transmission: Rabbi Me'ir taught Rabbi Ya'akov who, in turn, taught Rabbi Yehudah. Thus the backbone of the Mishnah derives from the teaching of Rabbi Ya'akov.

5:
The halakhic teachings of Rabbi Ya'akov are not mentioned often in the Mishnah. (In fact he is mentioned by name only once more in the Mishnah.) But he is mentioned often in other tannaïtic compilations (Tosefta, baraitot, halakhic midrashim). Before we leave the biography of Rabbi Ya'akov we should perhaps note that according to one statement in the Gemara [Ĥullin 142a] Rabbi Ya'akov was the grandson of Rabbi Elisha ben-Avuyah (whom we shall encounter at length when we reach Mishnah 24 of this chapter). This fact may, possibly, shed some light on the teaching attributed to him in our present mishnah, as we shall see.

To be continued.

In [Avot 257 , in response to a query, I quoted the second parashah of the Shema in connection with reward and punishment. You will recall that there weather conditions that regulate success or failure of harvests is attributed to our obedience or disobedience to God's law. And I concluded with the words: In these days of global warming perhaps it is most timely to recall that we are all responsible for our collective behaviour.

Amnon Ron'el writes:

Are you claiming that global warming is a punishment for disobedience to God's commands?

I respond:

I am indeed. But not in the sense of Amnon's question. There is a biblical verse [Ecclesiastes 7:13] which reads:

The Midrash [Kohelet Rabba 7:19] expounds this verse as follows:

Global warming has been caused because mankind has not been careful not to spoil or destroy God's world. Global warming is a direct result of our ecological sins. On more than one occasion I have suggested that modern man must begin to understand that we are not punished for our sins, but by our sins.