Avot072

17:
At first glance the first teaching of Rabban Gamli'el the Elder preserved in our present mishnah seems to be very similar to the teaching presented by Yehoshu'a ben-Peraĥyah nearly 150 years previously. And, indeed, it is quite possible that Rabban Gamli'el intends to emphasize that it is not desirable to study Torah alone, but one should always have a trusted companion against whose understanding of what is being learned one can judge one's own understanding. For a full explanation of this possible interpretation see what we said in explaining the original teaching of Yehoshu'a ben-Peraĥyah in Avot 035 and Avot 036.

18:
The classical commentators, however, have a slightly different view of this teaching. Whereas Yehoshu'a ben-Peraĥyah was understood as referring to the learning process in Judaism, Rambam (and also Rabbi Ovadyah of Bertinoro) understand the teaching of Rabban Gamli'el here to be concerned with the task of the rabbi as decisor [posek].

19:
Essentially, every person who elects to be accepted in Israel as a rabbi must take upon himself or herself two major tasks: to teach Torah to as many people as possible and to answer halakhic queries as accurately as possible. (Any further tasks assumed by the modern rabbinate are 'extras' to these two essential tasks.) The teaching of Torah need not be a difficult task: if one has fulfilled the instructions of Yehoshu'a ben-Peraĥyah to the best of one's ability one can always pass on what one has learned from a teacher; and happy the teacher who can add some original ideas to what he has received. (Sadly, it seems to me that the greatest difficulty facing the modern rabbi is to teach Torah but to find people who want to learn Torah!)

20:
But the task of the posek [decisor] is much more problematic. People come to the rabbi with halakhic questions of a most varied nature and the rabbi has to delve into the store of what he has learned in order to retrieve from his memory what the response should be – always bearing in mind that what he has learned may have to be modified to be appropriate to the present circumstances of the questioner. But often – and this is certainly the case in modern times no less that in earlier ages – the questioner asks the rabbi to address a novel question, either because the question has never previously been asked or because the situation has never previously existed. Here the task of the rabbi is fraught with difficulties because essentially he must decide what 'Torah' would have said if the issue had been previously addressed. This can only be done by an intelligent, insightful and creative reasoning from issues that have previously been dealt with that might conceivably be contingent upon the present issue.

21:
Thus rabbis should be very cautious when answering queries that deal with a novel situation. The greatest danger that besets the respondent is the tendency to be self-reliant. Rambam, in his commentary on our present mishnah, says that it is against this self-reliance that the words of Rabban Gamli'el are directed. 'Make yourself a master' is not to be understood as urging us all to become masters in our fields; it is urging the qualified rabbi to make someone else his master – someone (or some people) with whom he can discuss difficult matters that come before him before he renders his decision. In doing so he will 'escape all doubt' as to whether the answer that he (or she) has come up with is a worthy answer, a response that will not mislead the innocent enquirer.

22:
The Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Moe'd Katan 1:6, Yevamot 12:7] reports that on one occasion when a great rabbi was uncertain as to what the halakhah should be in a certain situation he told the enquirer, "bring me one rabbi from the market place upon whom I can place reliance and I will permit this to you" – if he agrees. But this is not the case only with other rabbis; sometimes the additional information might come from professional experts. The Gemara [Sanhedrin 7b] relates that when faced with a question concerning the kashrut of some meat Rav Ashi would ask for all the ritual slaughterers of the town, Mata Meĥasya, to assemble in order to make the decision together with him.

23:
Before food grown in Eretz-Israel may be eaten – anywhere in the world – a Jew must separate terumot [donatives] and ma'aserot [tithes]. (Nowadays this is almost always unnecessary since all the large marketing companies of fresh and processed foods perform these mitzvot automatically before releasing the produce to the markets. It will definitely be necessary to enquire concerning produce bought direct from the grower.) We have mentioned on many occasions that the donations to be made were (and are) of several kinds: for a brief resume see Peah 079 in the web archives. There obviously must have been a tendency to 'guestimate' the amount to be separated off from the foodstuffs as compulsory dies. Rabban Gamli'el deprecates this tendency. One commentator suggests that the Hebrew term in the mishnah which we have translated 'too often' should be understood as 'overly' and the intention of Rabban Gamli'el is to deprecate tithing by estimation even when the person giving the tithes deliberately errs on the side of generosity.

Mo'adim le-Simĥah and Ĥag Samé'aĥ to everybody.