Avot139

1:
The teaching attributed to Rabbi Yosé in our present mishnah consists of three discrete elements. We have mentioned before that it seems to be the intention of the first two chapters of Tractate Avot (an intention not realized in each case) to present three teachings for each sage mentioned. Perhaps this intention was influenced by the teaching of the author of the book of Kohelet [Ecclesiastes 4:12] that "a three-ply cord will not easily snap".

2:
Firstly, Rabbi Yosé warns us that someone else's property must be as dear to us as our own. At a first reading this may seem trite: after all, is this really saying anything beyond the explicit commands of the Torah not to steal and not to covet? Actually, Rabbi Yosé is disclosing a deep understanding of human nature in general and the nature of human acquisitiveness in particular. Very few are the people for whom material goods have no real value – if there are any at all! We have an almost natural propensity to value those material things that are in our possession. Indeed, the great Amora of Eretz-Israel, Rabbi Yoĥanan, is quoted in the Gemara [Sotah 47a] as saying:

Indeed, this propensity towards a special affection for what is ours sometimes extends towards objects of no value or objects that have lost their value. There is a mishnah [Bava Metzi'a 38a] which teaches that if someone has entrusted into your care even perishable goods you may not touch them; Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el suggests that they be sold in court in order to be able to restore to the owner at least their original value. But his is a rejected opinion and the Gemara asks why, since it is an act with the worthy intention of preserving the value of the goods entrusted for eventual return to their owner. The Babylonian Amora, Rav Kahana, suggests that the reason is because

The Torah [Deuteronomy 6:5] teaches us that we must love God with all our heart, soul and might (which last term may also be understood as wealth). In the Gemara [Berakhot 61b] Rabbi Eli'ezer suggests that there is a redundancy here:

3:
In mishnah 11 of this chapter [Avot 134] we found Rabbi Eli'ezer teaching us that someone else's honour should be as dear to us as our own; and now we find his colleague, Rabbi Yosé, teaching that someone else's property should be as dear to us as our own. The two teachings, almost juxtaposed, remind us that we should have regard for property just as we have regard for people. It is not enough to show care for the welfare of others: we should also show care for the welfare of inanimate things that belong to others – because even ownerless property belongs to mankind. There is a midrash [Ecclesiastes Rabba 7:19] which says:

This is equally true when an unthinking person cuts down a tree just because it spoils his view and when a mighty empire in order not to damage its economy endangers the ozone layer which protects all mankind.

To be continued.

In Avot 137 I mentioned the teaching found in Avot de-Rabbi Natan [16:2] that the bad tendency [yetzer ha-ra] is innate whereas the good tendency [yetzer ha-tov] only comes with the onset of adolescence. This implies that we do bad things naturally but that we have to be educated to do the good things.

This prompted my colleague, Marty Berman, to send me a comment which is a veritable gem!

It has been my feeling that the best way to define the yetzer hara, especially since Hazal [the sages] seemed to link it closely with the sexual drives, was to consider it the Freudian id. Self centered, unconcerned with its affect upon others and mostly pleasure driven seems to me to be what Hazal meant. Without being Freudian, that also fits in with the later development of the super-ego, i.e. the yetzer hatov.