Rabbi says: which is an upright path for which a person should opt? – One which is honourable for those who do it and which [also] brings honour from mankind. Be as careful with a simple mitzvah as with a serious one, since you do not know the reward for each mitzvah. Calculate the loss of a mitzvah against its reward, and the reward of a sin against its loss. Watch for three things and you will not come to sin: know what is above you – a seeing eye, a listening ear and all your deeds written in the book.
That which is written you may not say orally; that which is not written you may not be put into writing.
This did not only mean that the "Unwritten Torah" could not be written down; it also meant that the Written Torah must be expounded from a written text. It would be helpful for our imaginations if we conjure up an admittedly fanciful picture of scholars and students going to the study sessions with the great sages of the age with a copy of the Written Torah under their arm. This was their text book.
15:
In these study sessions every verse of the Torah was scanned and discussed, until gradually everything and anything that might be deemed to be implicit in any particular verse was elucidated. It was these elucidations that were transmitted orally from generation to generation, and obviously they were linked in memory with the Torah verses from which they were derived. As century succeeded century the volume of material that had become adjunct to almost every relevant verse of the Torah became enormous; indeed, it was unwieldy. But even more difficult than sheer volume was the fact that the laws of the Torah are not set out in a particularly coherent manner. The number of topics that are dealt with in a typically 'legal' chapter are many and they do not usually have an essential logical connection. When you get a moment just look at Exodus 21, for example, and note how many disparate topics are contained within that chapter: the indentured servant, the daughter 'married off', homicide, kidnapping, cursing parents, compensation for physical injury… and that's only the first 19 verses.
16:
So student and sage, trying to remember all the minutiae that had been derived from these verses would have to remember them in the order that they were dealt with by the Written Torah. While this was not an impossible task it was very difficult. But there is a further problem that the Written Torah creates for her students: some topics are dealt with several times over the five books in widely separated parts. For example: the first topic of Exodus 21 is the indentured servant [Eved Ivri]; but this same topic is also dealt with in Deuteronomy 15 (verses 12-18) and there are there significant additions to what was said in Exodus and also apparent contradictions with what was stipulated in the earlier text. Thus a full understanding of the laws of the indentured servant as elucidated in the Unwritten Torah could only be appreciated by recollection and understanding of these two widely separated texts. And then just think how many times in how many places the various aspects of homicide appear in the Written Torah.
17:
It was a mess crying out for someone to create order. This someone appeared during the first half of the second century CE, as we shall see.
To be continued.
In Avot 084 I illustrated Rabbi's essential humility by quoting the personal prayer that he used to add after reciting the Amidah.
Steven Spronz writes:
I found the mention of Rabbi's "personal prayer" interesting because it is part of the morning tefila, right after the Birchot HaShachar [Early Morning blessings – SR]. My question relates to that portion of the tefila. The first paragraph right after the Brachot begins "Yehi Ratzon" and, if memory serves me correctly, includes the wish for "ve'al tashlet banu yetzer ha'ra, ve-harchikaynu me'adam ra u-me'chaver ra" [May it be God's pleasure to keep me far from a bad person and a bad companion… – SR]. Right after that (the second paragraph after the Brachot) comes Rabbi's personal prayer. The two seem so similar – Rabbi's being shorter, more direct, and not covering quite as much territory – I want to ask where the first of the two paragraphs comes from and why both paragraphs (instead of only one of them) were included in the Siddur.
I respond:
The two passages that Steven refers to derive from two different parts of the Gemara. After the Amidah it is now customary to add a petition asking God to "guard my tongue from wrong and my lips from speaking guile" etc. This prayer was originally a private prayer composed for his own use by Mar son of Ravina. It is quoted in the Gemara [Berakhot 17a] together with several other such personal prayers that great sages would add to their recitation of the Amidah. The personal prayer of Rabbi is quoted on the previous page [Berakhot 16b] and was included in the early part of the daily morning service as Steven notes.
The Gemara [Berakhot 60b] also brings a series of blessings (now known collectively as Birkhot ha-Shaĥar [Early Morning Blessings]) with which each person is expected to begin their daily devotions. This series of blessings ends with the petition that God 'keep me this day and every day from a bad person and a bad companion' etc. Thus the passage about which Steven is enquring is not added to Birkhot ha-Shaĥar but is an integral part of them.
I guess that Rabbi's prayer was appended to the culmination of the early morning blessings because of the association of ideas: God preserve me from evil influences.
