Today's shiur is dedicated by Avraham Hasson in memory of his father, Yosef ben Miriam ve-Natan, z"l, whose Yahrzeit falls tomorrow, 10th Nisan.
TRACTATE AVOT, CHAPTER TWO, MISHNAH FIVE (recap):
Hillel says: Do not opt out of society; do not believe in yourself until your dying day; do not judge your fellow until you reach his place; do not say something which it is impossible to obey, because in the end it must be obeyed; and do not say, 'When I get some free time I will study' – you may not get any free time.
EXPLANATIONS (continued):
20:
The last item in our present mishnah is very simple. It is so simplistic that this very fact, perhaps, obscures the fact that this teaching enshrines one of the greatest truths of the Jewish way of life. If one wishes to be an authentic Jew – in the traditional understanding of the term – one has to include study in the humdrum routine of one's everyday life. When we reach the next mishnah we shall investigate why regular learning is so essential in the Jewish tradition.
21:
The study referred to by Hillel in our mishnah refers specifically to Jewish religious study, of course. Each Jew should try his best to make himself as knowledgeable as he can in all the essential sources of Jewish religious knowledge: bible, mishnah, gemara, halakhah and midrash. Some time ago we mentioned in passing that one of the main characteristics of learning is that it is never static: even if today one knows everything that it is possible to know about a subject, that does not mean that tomorrow one will still know everything that it is possible to know about that subject; and it is an absolute certainty that within a short period of time one's knowledge will be seriously "out of date". Therefore, the price of knowledge is constant study.
22:
Rambam understands Hillel to be saying that one should not say that one will study "when I finish this piece of business", and he notes that in this Hillel is further emphasizing what was said by his colleague Shammai [Avot 1:15] that one should dedicate a fixed time for Torah study. This is because, in the very nature of things, if one has not set aside some time that is sacred to the duty to study Torah one will always find other things to do which must claim priority on one's time.
23:
When Joshua succeeds Moses as leader of the people God gives him two pieces of advice [Joshua 1:6-8]: the first was never to be afraid:
Be strong and resolute.
The second piece of advice was to constantly study Torah:
Observe faithfully all the Torah that My servant Moses enjoined upon you… Do not let this Book of the Torah cease from your lips, but ponder it day and night.
The sages give us all the same advice: not to waver in our regular study of the essential sources of Judaism. In Mishneh Torah [Torah Study 1:11] Rambam teaches that
One must divide up one's learning time into three parts: one third study of the Written Torah, one third study of the oral tradition, and the third part must be dedicated to understanding and thinking about the consequences [of what one has learned] from the beginning, deriving new things from old things, comparing one thing with another… This latter discipline is called Gemara.
There are many Jews in the world today who follow the regime of studying one chapter of the Bible every day, one mishnah everyday and then one page of Talmud. Obviously, not every Jew will be able to follow such a regime, but everybody should set aside some time every day – however minimal it might be – for the study of the basic texts of our Jewish tradition. (Many people have told me that they find these shiurim of the Virtual Bet Midrash to be helpful in that regard.) Indeed, if you check up the BMV homepage on the internet you will find there emblazoned Hillel's charge:
Do not say, 'I will study when I get a free moment' – you won't get a free moment.
You will make sure of that!
DISCUSSION:
In Avot 101 we noted yet again the way that the sages habitually "reworked" laws of the Torah whose literal application was against their intuition, and that they did this by 'interpretation' and 'elucidation'. Gregory A. Ashe writes:
Another example of the Rabbis reinterpreting the Torah is in a recent Daf Yomi [daily study of a page of Talmud] where an Ammonite seeks to be converted. Rabban Gamliel forbids it because the Torah says no Ammonite can ever convert. But Rabbi Yehoshua allows it reasoning that the Assyrians so mixed up the nations that an Ammonite of their time is not the "Ammonite" referred to in the Torah. Thus, the mitzvah still remains, its just explained away.
NOTICE:
The Bet Midrash Virtuali is now going on its traditional Passover break. God willing, we shall resume our shiurim on Wednesday, 4th May. I take this opportunity of wishing everybody a very happy and Kasher Passover.
