Avot064

נושא: Avot

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

Today's shiur is dedicated by Edith Freedman in memory of her father, Benjamin Pulier, Binyamin Ben Shmuel, z"l, whose Yahrzeit is today.

He [also] used to say: If I am not for myself who will be for me? But if I am [only] for myself what am I? And if not now when?

1:
Yet another saying of Hillel's is brought here, possibly one of the best known of them all. While the text is clear and concise (and, as usual, with three clauses), it is, in fact, a little enigmatic. Thus it has been subjected to many slightly differing interpretations.

2:
Rambam gives our mishnah an interpretation that is based on his own thoughts on the psychology of man. Indeed, his general introduction to Tractate Avot is so long and so detailed that he had to divide it up into eight sections. These sections are now known in the world of Torah as "Rambam's Eight Chapters" or, in Hebrew "Shemoneh Perakim shel Rambam". Rambam's 'psychology of man' is too complicated to present here systematically. But if we present his commentary on our present mishnah with a few judicious comments and explanations it should give us a fair impression of his 'system'.

3:
Rambam writes:

If I myself do not rouse my soul [psyche, 'superego'] upwards [to adopt the most noble virtues in human behaviour] who will do so? For there is no external trigger [which will rouse me to more noble deeds] (as we explained in the eighth chapter) [of the 'Eight Chapters']. Since it is only I who can influence my soul to adopt whichever course I choose, whichever good deeds I perform, I shall [nevertheless have to ask] 'What am I?' [since I can never reach perfection, only constantly strive to be virtuous]. And if I do not train myself in these noble virtues now, when I am young, when shall I do so? – When I am senile, when it will be much harder to train my character which will already have grown used to its bad habits? As the [great] sage said [Proverbs 22:6]: Train a lad in the way he ought to go; he will not swerve from it even in old age.

4:
Rabbi Ovadya of Bertinoro, in his commentary, takes a slightly different tack. The main burden of his explanation is the same as that given by Rambam, but there are subtle differences:

If I do not acquire for myself [a noble character] who will do it for me? But even if I do [acquire a noble character] it is nothing compared with what I should be [i.e. one can never reach perfection of character, only continuously strive in the right direction]. And if not now [and if I do not make this effort now], in this life, when [shall I do so]? – in old age I shall fail.

5:
Most modern interpreters of this mishnah look upon its meaning rather differently:

If I do not stand up for myself, if I do not hold myself to be a worthy person, why should I expect anyone else do so? But if I only consider myself and never consider others what kind of a person am I? And if something is worth doing it is worth doing now!

6:
Before we leave this mishnah I would like to suggest a novel idea that has occurred to me from time to time. In the Gemara [Sukkah 53a] we read the following baraita:

It is said of Hillel that when he took part in the rejoicing [in the Bet Mikdash from the second night of Sukkot onwards] of the Water Libation he would say, 'If I am here everything is here and if I am not here who is here?"

Rashi, on this saying, puts these words into the mouth of God, not Hillel: Hillel is quoting God, as it were. But others have understood the Hebrew word Ani [I] as being a proper designation of God. (There is linguistic justification for this, but it is too complicated to explain here – and unnecessary.) According to this understanding a more correct translation would be:

If "Ani" [God] is here everything is here; and if "Ani" [God] is not here nobody is.

If we adopt a similar usage into our present mishnah it would yield the following meaning: "If God is not for me who will be for me? But when I [and not God] are for myself what am I?"

In Avot 061 I wrote: Therefore 'he who does not add' to his knowledge of Torah will find that in a very short time he has in fact subtracted, because, not being up-to-date, as it were, he can no longer function as becomes someone who has continued to study.

Amnon Ronel disagrees:

But it is possible to be a good (and observant) Jew even without being up-to-date in the latest fashionable commentaries.

I respond:

While I see what Amnon is saying I do not think he has seen what I wanted to say. Let us assume that the greatest desire of the observant Jew is to observe God's will as faithfully as possible. Let us also accept that the Torah innovations of modern scholars are just as valid as those of a bygone age (as we established yesterday in our discussion). It then follows that if someone has not kept himself or herself up-to-date in their Torah knowledge they cannot be the good Jew that they aspire to be. They will answer to the criteria of being 'a good Jew' that applied yesterday, last week, last month, last year, last century. But not those that apply today.