Avot344

3:
The author of our mishnah, Yehudah ben-Tema, is quite a puzzle. This mishnah and its continuation in the next is his only appearance in this tractate; indeed, it is his only appearance in the whole Mishnah. However, he is quoted on occasion in the Tosefta and once in a post-talmudic tractate. He is quoted on eight occasions in the Babylonian Talmud and on three occasions in the Talmud of Eretz-Israel. Sometimes – as in our present mishnah – he is not given a title and on other occasions he is referred to as Rabbi Yehudah ben-Tema. Alas, despite all these references we know nothing at all of his biography. If we can make a guess from some of his utterances we would place him some time during the 2nd century CE, around the time of the bar-Kokhba revolt.

4:
There are probably as many forces that motivate people to Jewish observance as there are Jews. However, while it is a gross over-simplification, it would suit our present purposes to refer to two basic kinds of observance motivation: those whose observance of the commandments ultimately derives from a belief in a Divine Commander on the one hand and those whose observance derives from some other motivation. The teaching of Yehudah ben-Tema in our present mishnah is addressed to the former.

5:
When one is motivated to observance by some factor that is not immediately connected with the feeling of "being commanded" there is little problem with observance: one has no compunctions about disregarding those elements of the tradition that do not appeal (for want of a better term). However, the person who feels commanded to observe can face great problems, especially when he or she feels required to observe a commandment that they do not understand or that negates their secular understanding. In such circumstances the observant Jew needs a great deal of will power, because ultimately this autonomous Jew is voluntarily "submitting to a higher authority".

6:
This is where the characteristics of the animals mentioned in our present mishnah come into play. One needs to be strong, swift, agile and bold to submit one's own judgement to that of the tradition. One needs to be determined and to act with alacrity.

To be continued.

In Avot 342 I brought the query of Israel Man as to whether rabbis who introduce into their synagogues alien practices such as Indian chanting are "bringing the public to the sin of idolatry" like Jeroboam, king of Israel. He described an Indian style Service whereby there is a band and a lead singer who sing and play Indian style music, people seat in a lotus posture and the tfilot are abridged to a repetition of one sentence "mantra style".

Jerry Langer writes:

I found the query by Israel Man curious. The Conservative movement where I live tends to be rather restrained, but I'm in New Jersey, the backyard of JTS. I personally haven't seen such "radical" behavior in the context of the Conservative movement. I wonder whether Israel Man witnessed this service personally or heard about it second-hand; if he has personally experienced it in the context of a Conservative shul, I wonder how widespread such innovative practices are.

I respond:

Perhaps Israel and others might care to relate to Jerry's question.