Avot271

20:
We must now consider two aspects of the behaviour of Elisha ben-Avuyah after he left the Pharisee camp: we must describe his personal behaviour and his continuing relationship with his prize student, Rabbi Me'ir.

21:
It is very clear that some of the stories about him told in the Gemara are very problematic: they are either fiction or garishly embroidered accounts of rather more innocent incidents. One example may suffice. The Gemara [Ĥagigah 15a] says that he solicited a prostitute. Since he was a well-known personality she recognized the erstwhile sage. "Aren't you Elisha ben-Avuyah?" she asked. He responded by pulling up a vegetable from the ground and giving it to her. Since this was on a Shabbat when such an action is forbidden she exclaimed, "He has become a different person!" It is quite likely that Elisha transgressed the Shabbat laws as developed by the sages (for reasons that will be offered later), but it is most unlikely that this incident involved the soliciting of a prostitute. Elisha forsook the Unwritten Torah (Torah she-b'al Peh); he did not forsake Jewish morality.

22:
The true nature of his apostasy can be gauged from the relationship of Rabbi Me'ir to his teacher. Until Elisha's dying day Me'ir did not give up hope of his return to the fold, nor did he cease his heroic attempts to persuade his teacher to repent. An unwritten rule among the sages was loyalty to one's teacher and to his teachings. Students would show great respect to their teachers, even after they themselves had become famous in their own right. The Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Ĥagigah 9b] tells us that on one occasion Rabbi Me'ir was teaching in the Bet Midrash in Tiberias when he was told that the apostate Elisha ben-Avuyah was outside. Immediately, he interrupted the shiur and went outside to greet his teacher and show him honour.

23:
The Gemara [Ĥagigah 15b] tells us that on another occasion Rabbi Me'ir met Elisha one Shabbat. Elisha was riding on a donkey. Rabbi Me'ir accompanied his teacher, walking by the side of the donkey, chatting with him all the time. Elisha, apparently, was very moved and begged Me'ir to leave him in peace and to forsake him. Me'ir adamantly refused. Finally, Elisha pointed out to Me'ir that they had reached the 'Techum Shabbat', the furthest distance that one could go on Shabbat beyond the boundaries of the town: if Me'ir accompanied him any further he too would be transgressing Shabbat laws!

To be continued.

In the discussion section of Avot 266 Jacob Chinitz presented a critique of the teaching of Rabbi Ya'akov which had been presented in Avot 260. In the previous shiur I presented the response of Motti Laxman. Here is another response that reached me from Amnon Ron'el:

I will be so bold as to suggest a pilpul which derives from my personal beliefs: the main thing is this world and the manner in which a person spends his life in this world. If we add just three words everything will sort itself out: "and [people say that] one hour of serenity in the next world is better than all the life of this world". People say that one hour in the next world is better than all the life of this world, whereas I, Rabbi Ya'akov, say that "one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the next world". It will follow from this that my response to Rabbi Chinitz is thus:

1. A life of repentance and good deeds in this world is the aim: even just one hour like that is better than all the life of the next world.
2. If a person does not spend his life in repentance and good deeds it would be better for him had he not been created.
3. Nevertheless, even if he spends his life in sin there is still room for repentance and making good, so that at least the rest of his life will be pure; for, as it has been said,"one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the next world" – which, so they say, is wonderful.

I prefer to see the meaning of "the life of the next world" or "eternal life" as the good which a person leaves behind them after their death. May we merit one hour of serenity from what we leave after us (educated children, good deeds, a good memory); that is something that it is worth working towards throughout our lives.