Avot141

נושא: Avot

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

Today's shiur is dedicated by Edith Freedman in memory of her father, Benjamin Pulier, Binyamin Ben Shmuel, z"l, whose Yahrzeit is tomorrow.

Rabbi Yosé says: Let your fellow's property be as dear to you as your own; prepare yourself to learn Torah because it is not inherited; let all your actions be for the sake of heaven.

9:
We now come to the last element in the teaching of Rabbi Yosé as taught in our present mishnah. (We should be reminded that this is not the much better-known Rabbi Yosé who lived a couple of generations later but, as we learned in Mishnah 9 [Avot 126], Rabbi Yosé ha-Kohen, one of the students of Rabban Yoĥanan ben-Zakkai.) His teaching is "let all your actions be for the sake of heaven".

10:
It seems to me that if we are to understand this teaching literally it must be one of the hardest of all charges to uphold. Is it possible for mere flesh and blood to dedicate every single action of life to God? Surely, the idea must be that this is a goal to be striven for, "a consummation devoutly to be wished" but probably never achieved. However, great sages of the Middle Ages thought otherwise. Rabbi Ya'akov ben-Asher, for example, in his major halakhic compendium the Tur [Oraĥ Ĥayyim 231], writes as follows:

And let all your actions be for the sake of heaven – even secular ones such as eating, drinking, walking, sitting, standing, sex, conversation: let all your bodily needs be directed to the service of your Creator or to something that promotes His service. For example, eating and drinking: needless to say one should not eat or drink forbidden foods; but even when eating and drinking what is permitted because of hunger or thirst, if this is done for physical pleasure it is not worthy; rather should one intend to supply all one's physical needs in order to stay alive and worship the Creator.

He then goes on to give examples of other physical activities: walking, sitting, standing and lying down. And here is what he says about sex:

Needless to say one should not sin; but even at times permitted by the Torah if the act is performed for physical pleasure this is reprehensible. Even if one's intention was that he have sons who will attend upon his needs and replace him [after his death] this is unworthy. His intention should be to produce children who will serve his Creator or [alternatively, his intention should be] to fulfill the command of the Torah…

And he summarizes as follows:

A person must survey his actions and weigh all his deeds in the scales of his intelligence. When he sees something that will promote God's service he should do it and if it won't he should not do it. Anyone who possesses these character traits is worshipping God all the time…

It seems to me that anyone who claims to live his life according to these precepts is either a superhuman saint or is a fool full of self-deception. Surely, in such matters it is the striving which is important even if very few indeed will reach achievement, if at all.

11:
Of course, there were other sages who must have looked upon the concept of "all your actions for the sake of heaven" in a more realistic light. Most interesting – and the boldest of all – I think is a statement attributed in the Gemara [Berakhot 63a] to the great Babylonian Amora, Rava. Many of the sages link the concept of directing all one's actions for the sake of heaven to a biblical verse [Proverbs 3:6]: "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will straighten your paths." After another sage had quoted this verse as being "a small verse upon which hang all the basics of Torah" Rava adds: 'even when you sin!' It seems that he is saying that if, even when you sin, your thoughts and intentions are directed to love of God, He (God) will consider your action as worthy. In the Torah [Genesis 19:30-38] we learn how the two nations of Moab and Amon were generated by two acts of incest. Yet Rabbi Ovadyah Sforno, in his commentary on that verse, applies the thought that we have just enunciated here:

Because the intention of these women was worthy [they wanted to preserve the human race] their descendents became two peoples tracing their descent from Abraham, as is implied in the rabbinical teaching, "in all your ways acknowledge Him" – even when you sin.

In other words, even when you sin make sure that you do wrong for the right motives!

In Avot 135 we had occasion to mention the Greek philosopher Epicurus and we briefly outlined his teachings. Melvin Polk writes:

I feel the handling of epicurianism was not handled to my satisfaction. It does not represent my understanding of epicurean philosophy. For example, this atomistic philosophic cardinal virtues of a system of ethics "justice, honest prudence, or the balancing of pleasure and pain". The crudely hedonism has been attributed to cyrenaics. My readings on epicureanism have come from Encyclopedia Britannica 2004, Encarta Encyclopedia 2004, Harper's Bible Dictionary, and the web.

I respond:

I cannot argue with the above because, to my shame, I must admit that I do not understand the main sentence: "This atomistic philosophic cardinal virtues of a system of ethics 'justice, honest prudence, or the balancing of pleasure and pain'."

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