Avot136

1:
In imitation of the halakhic language of the sages we can say that Rabbi Yehoshu'a says three things which are one. He counts three bad traits in a human being which 'take a person out of the world'. It seems reasonable to assume that the world of which he speaks is this world: these three character traits, taken together, will remove a person from human society. He will be so despised that decent people will shun his presence and he will be left quite alone. Being bereft of human society is social death, as the great Amora Rava once said [Ta'anit 23a]: "Either society or death!" Of course, it is also possible to understand that Rabbi Yehoshu'a is saying that these three character traits will deprive a person of his or her share in the world to come. But this is a much less likely interpretation of his intentions, because the sages had already enumerated the sins for which one forfeits the world to come. We discussed this in great detail when we studied the last chapter of Tractate Sanhedrin, and the halakhic ramifications are treated in great detail by Rambam in Chapter 3 of The Laws of Repentance in his Mishneh Torah.

2:
The first trait is meanness, in Hebrew ayin ha-ra. (It is only much later, through the pervasive influence of medieval kabbalah that the same term took on the meaning of 'the evil eye'.) This trait expresses itself through cupidity, jealousy and niggardliness. The person who is under the control of ayin ha-ra desires intensely anything and everything that he sees possessed by others and cannot rest content until he too possesses them or their like. He is also intensely jealous of his own possessions and will not willingly part with any part of them.

3:
The Torah requires us to be generous towards those who are poverty-stricken and to help them with loans. The Torah [Deuteronomy 15:9-10] also is aware that as the sabbatical year looms ahead, a year in which all loans are cancelled, there will be people who are so jealous of their money that they will not help the poor man with a loan for fear that the duty of repayment will be abrogated by the incidence of the sabbatical year:

The rabbinic term ayin ha-ra is based on the Hebrew phrase 'so that you are mean' in the above passage.

To be continued.

In Avot 134, in response to a question, I mentioned the halakhic issue whether the recitation of the Evening service is halakhically required or voluntary. Jacob Chinitz writes:

It should be pointed out that tefilat Arvit [the Evening Service], originally Reshut [voluntary], became Chova [required] by the practice of the people. However, we should not assume that this creation of norms through practice applies only in the direction of adding Chovot to Reshut. It also applies sometimes to subtracting Chovot and turning them into Reshut or no observance at all. At one time, the Baal Keri [a male who had ejected semen] was prohibited to study Torah until he went through Tevila [bathing] in a Mikveh. But that was abolished by lack of practice by Ezra, if I remember correctly.

I respond:

Here is the text of the Shulĥan Arukh [Oraĥ Ĥayyim 88:1]:

There is a clear difference between the Ba'al Keri and the Evening Service. In the former case the rabbis abolished a rule instituted by one of their own number; according to Rambam the duty to recite the Amidah is from the Torah itself. It is true that Ramban [Nachmanides] held otherwise, but as the author of Arukh ha-Shulchan writes: