Avot157

1:
Mishnah 4 brings us another didactic midrash. The author of this midrash is Rabbi Shim'on. It is a commonplace of mishnaïc studies that where the sage is identified simply as "Rabbi Shim'on" most often the sage is Rabbi Shim'on bar-Yoĥai. I can see no reason why this should not also be the case here.

2:
As with the previous mishnah, Mishnah 4 is concerned with the virtue of being constantly occupied with Torah. Indeed, the teaching of Rabbi Shim'on in our present mishnah parallels the teaching of Rabbi Ĥananya ben-Teradyon in the previous mishnah. While Rabbi Ĥananya referred simply to people sitting together Rabbi Shim'on refers here to people sitting together at table in order to eat.

3:
One of the characteristics of the didactic midrash is that the sages felt themselves to be quite at liberty to ignore the obvious meaning of the biblical text quoted in favour of a 'creative reading' of the text. This means that in most cases the plain meaning of the biblical text in its original context is almost irrelevant to the expository purposes of the author of the midrash.

4:
In our present case, Rabbi Shim'on bases his teaching on a verse from Isaiah [28:8]:

The obvious connection with his teaching, as presented in our mishnah, is the word 'tables'. With a stretch of the imagination we can also associate 'vomit and feces' with 'the sacrifices of the dead'. (In Psalm 106:28 the phrase 'sacrifices of the dead' refers to sacrifices to idols.) But this still leaves us with no obvious connection to 'God' and 'Torah'. As I mentioned last time, the working assumption of the sages is that we know our bible like the back of our hand, and that we will instantly recall not only the words actually quoted but also the rest of the verse and, indeed, the next verses. In our case, I think we can assume that it was the continuing verse [Isaiah 28:9] which suggested to Rabbi Shim'on a connection with 'Torah':

Water and milk are often seen by the sages as midrashic synonyms for Torah. (Indeed, it may well have been the midrashic exposition of Song of Songs 4:11 – "honey and milk under your tongue" – that prompted the later custom of eating dairy foods on the festival of Shavu'ot, honey and milk being understood as synonyms for Torah.) The term 'instruction' can clearly suggest Torah: indeed, Rabbi Ya'akov ben-Asher used the Hebrew for 'He gives instruction' in this verse to indicate the second of the four volumes of his halakhic compendium the Tur, Yoreh De'ah.

5:
That leaves us with the task of finding a reference to God in the original verse. Indeed, we need to find a reference to the absence of God, the Source of Torah. The key to this understanding lies in the continuation of the teaching of Rabbi Shim'on. He says "it is as if they had eaten from the table of the Omnipresent". The Hebrew term for 'Omnipresent' is makom, place. Well known is the explanation of Rabbi Ammi [Genesis Rabbah 68:9] that

Of course, the word 'place' is there in the original verse: "no place is left". In other words, God is absent.

6:
When Jews sit down to eat and exchange a few words of Torah they have elevated, as it were, their simple biological function to a certain level of sanctity. Their table becomes, as it were, "the table of the Most High", who thus becomes, as it were, a part of their company.

In our last shiur I brought the rather derogatory opinion of Jim Feldman as to the personality and teaching of Akavya ben-Mehalal'el as it becomes apparent from Mishnah 1 of this chapter. Richard Friedman thinks that the mishnah should be understood in a completely different light:

In describing Akavya ben Mahal'lel [Avot 154] as a "stern, dour, unbending man," you seem to be giving his dictum a negative reading. I think a positive reading is also possible: "From where have you come? – from a smelly drop; where are you going? – to a place of dust, rot and worms; and to whom are you destined to render report? – to the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed is He." I think the heaping up of exalted language for God is suggestive – even though you came from nothing and you will wind up as nothing, what happens in between is worthy of being judged by this supreme being Himself. That message can be ennobling rather than frightening.

The next shiur will be sent out on Thursday, 15th December.

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