Avot347

6:
We have established that our present mishnah was not included in the original format of the tractate and that it may well be a very late addition. Nevertheless, since it is included in all modern editions we should not ignore it. Some of the 'ages' that are given in our mishnah are to a certain extent artificial in that they are derived from biblical verses that were not intended to indicate what the author of our mishnah says that they indicate.

7:
Five years of age for bible. We have already seen in the previous shiur that Abbayyé held that the age at which a child should start learning bible is six, not five. In order to study bible the child must be taught to read; and if the child is taught to read it will also be taught to write. Thus to requirement to study scripture also ensured general literacy among the Jewish people throughout the ages.

8:
Ten years of age for Mishnah. According to the author of our mishnah when a child has been literate for five years it should now be taught the Oral Torah in addition to the Written Torah. The very fact that it is recommended that a child be taught Mishnah suggests, as we have suspected, that our mishnah is very late, when study of Mishnah was no longer a novelty for adults.

9:
Thirteen years of age for Mitzvot. The idea is, of course, that at the age of thirteen a youngster is held responsible for his observance of the mitzvot. The sprouting of the first two hairs around the genitalia was always considered to be the physical sign of the onset of adolescence; or, from a different point of view, the end of childhood. No doubt in ancient times when it was necessary to ascertain for legal or ritual purposes whether or not a youngster had reached the end of childhood a physical examination was made. However, of course, such an examination has not been required now for very many centuries and it is a working assumption that a female who has reached the age of twelve and a male who has reached the age of thirteen years must have already fulfilled this requirement (unless there is a clear medical reason to suspect otherwise). This, of course, explains why we celebrate the acceptance of the obligation of observing the mitzvot at this age – Bat-Mitzvah and Bar-Mitzvah.

To be continued.

I am surprised that a query by Israel Man concerning elements of a Hindu origin in a synagogue service should have provoked a lively discussion.

Avraham Hasson writes:

True worship must be accompanied by concentration, something which enhances the worshipper's spirituality resulting in a strong worship experience. I do not think that the use of meditation or a meaningless mantra contains even a smidgen of the kind of idolatry that Jeroboam facilitated for the ten tribes. To the best of my knowledge the purpose of meditation or a mantra is the removal of foreign thoughts which the worshipper does not intend and concentration upon the thought in which he is interested, to wit prayer. Of course, this is not a simple technique and one must make a considerable effort to attain a state in which one can eschew foreign thoughts and concentrate on one thought. If the congregation is capable of bringing the worshippers to a standard where they can strengthen their concentration at prayer this seems to me to be very positive.

Concerning sitting in the lotus position: this is possible only for supple people and it can be part of the "choreography" of worship. As an oriental Jew who grew up in Damascus I remember that some of the worshippers would sit in the synagogue during services oriental style, which is not so different from the lotus position. I do not see this as being wrong in any way.

About a year ago I attended a Kabbalistic service in Tiberias. They uttered sounds, called out all kinds of names, and made most strange movements and leaps which, in my opinion, are far more strange that sitting in the lotus position. The truth is that there were moments when I was scared by the sounds because I did not know how they intended to continue.

Discussion on this topic is now closed.