Avot159

נושא: Avot

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

Rabbi Ĥanina ben-Ĥakhinai says: one who stays awake at night, who travels alone and who empties his thoughts to no purpose – such a person is endangering his soul.

6:
The content of our present mishnah is quite straightforward. Indeed, it is so straightforward that Rambam did not see any reason to comment at all! Rabbi Ovadya of Bertinoro does, however, comment. His comment will evoke from modern readers reactions that might run the whole gamut from ridicule to equanimity. We must remember that he is a child of his time. He says that night time is the time when all the evil spirits, imps, pixies, nixies, hobgoblins, werewolves – the whole panoply of medieval superstition – are abroad, seeking to wreak their malicious intent on innocent people. He also acknowledges the possibility that danger might also be lurking in human form from robbers and bandits – which was also a medieval reality.

7:
In order to fully understand what Rabbi Ovadya is truing to say we must address what he understands by "emptying one's thoughts". For him this is a warning that one should constantly have one's mind concentrated on God and His Torah; any others thoughts entering one's head are 'frivolous'. We can see that he is a child of his time also in the fact that he sees concentration on Torah as being prophylactic:

One who stays awake at night and who travels alone – thinking frivolous thoughts – is endangering his soul – because night is the time for evil spirits; also, someone who travels alone is in danger from bandits and several other nasty accidents. If he had been thinking Torah thoughts they would have protected him.

8:
Rabbi YomTov Lippmann Heller, in his commentary Tos^efot YomTov notes that Rabbi Ovadya appears to have a different reading of the text of our mishnah. The omission of one letter would render the text as follows:

Rabbi Ĥanina ben-Ĥakhinai says: one who stays awake at night and, while travelling alone, empties his thoughts to no purpose – such a person is endangering his soul.

He also indicates that certain authorities authorized this version of the text. His interpretation of the intention of our mishnah is that one's life should be constantly filled with one of three things: either one should be at work or asleep or studying Torah. He substantiates his interpretation by reference to what we have already learned in mishnah 2 of chapter 2 [Avot 095], where Rabban Gamli'el teaches that "any Torah study which does not have work with it is ultimately invalid and brings sin in its wake."

9:
It seems to me that this stern teaching is fully in accord with what we know of Rabbi Ĥanina ben-Ĥakhinai. Someone who could absent himself from his wife and family for thirteen years, not contacting them even once to see how they were faring in his absence; who is quite prepared to ignore his duty as a parent towards his daughter; and this because he has immersed himself in Torah study to the exclusion of everything else – such a person would well hold that when one is awake at night, when one is travelling, when one is alone, one should have nothing on one's mind but Torah.

10:
Needless to say, not all the sages agreed with this stern judgement. I have said before that when Rambam refrains from comment it may well be construed as a "resounding silence". In his Mishneh Torah [De'ot 3:1] he quotes from the Talmud of Eretz-Israel the opinion of a different sage:

A person should not say: 'Since jealousy, desire, honour and the like can take a person out of this world, I will totally separate myself from them, and go to the opposite extreme,' to the extent that he will not eat meat, drink wine, get married, live in a nice home, or wear nice clothing – wearing rather sackcloth and rough wool, like the idolatrous priests – as this is an improper path, and it is forbidden to follow it. He who follows this path is called a sinner… Therefore the sages instruct that a person should only deny himself those things which the Torah has expressly forbidden and should not deny himself … things which are permitted. The sages said, "Is not what the Torah has prohibited enough for you that you deny yourself other things?" … The sages forbid us to practice self-denial by fasting and so forth. Solomon [Ecclesiastes 7:15] commands us: "Don’t overdo goodness and don’t act the wise man to excess, or you may become distraught."

Jordan Wosnik asks:

Is the Rabbi Ĥanina of this mishnah the same one who is quoted by Rabbi El'azar in the Gemara in Berakhot 64a: "Scholars increase peace in the world" etc. – the well-known passage customarily recited during Mussaf before saying Kaddish de-Rabbanan?

I respond:

Jordan actually asked his question in connection with another Rabbi Ĥanina – the one we encountered in Avot 155, not the Rabbi Ĥanina of our present mishnah. But the answer is the same:

The Rabbi Ĥanina Jordan refers to is Rabbi Ĥanina bar-Ĥama, who died around the year 250 CE. He is sometimes referred to as Rabbi Ĥanina 'the Great', but most often quite simply as Rabbi Ĥanina. Regardless of where he may have or may not have been born he was an Amora of Eretz-Israel. Several great sages were among his students, including the great Rabbi Yoĥanan and (as in the text mentioned by Jordan) Rabbi El'azar ben-Pedat.

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