Avot163

10:
In order to 'prove' the point that God is present when only three people study Torah together the author of the didactic midrash quotes the second half of the first verse of Psalm 82. (We recall that the first half of that same verse was quoted earlier in order to 'prove' that God is present when ten people study Torah together.) In order to appreciate the midrash we must quote the whole of the verse:

11:
The Hebrew word that we have here rendered 'justices' is what Rambam calls a 'homonym'. That is that the word has different meanings, depending on the context. The most common meaning of the Hebrew word Elohim is 'God'; sometimes it refers to God-like figures (perhaps angels, perhaps shades of the dear departed), as in 1Samuel 28:13, where the woman of Eyn-Dor describes to Saul how she sees the spirit of the dead Samuel. However, the meaning that must be attributed to the word in the context of our midrash (regardless of what its meaning may have been in its original context) is 'judge'. Several times in the bible the Hebrew word Elohim means 'judges' and can bear no other meaning. (For examples see: Exodus 22:8 or 21:6.)

12:
It is a commonplace of rabbinic jurisprudence that a court trying cases involving money and property consists of three judges (See the very first mishnah of Tractate Sanhedrin: Sanhedrin 001.) Therefore, if the Divine Presence rests upon the justices, as the verse says, it must rest upon three. Quod erat demonstrandum.

To be continued.

I don’t understand. Is being awake by itself wrong? I once heard that the Vilna Gaon only slept four hours a night. He was awake studying Torah the rest of the time. The self-deprivation and abstinence implied here was elaborated by Ramĥal [Rabbi Ĥayyim David Luzzatto] in Mesilat Yesharim [Path of the Upright], where he says that eating should be only for the purpose of keeping the body alive so that it can serve God. According to this, it is not proper to say Beteiavon ['Bon Appetit'] to someone who is eating, because eating should not be to satisfy appetite but to keep the body alive. Similarly, it is wrong to wish someone Tzom Kal, an easy fast, because on Yom Kippur it is supposed to be in fulfillment of the command Veinitem Et Nafshoteikhem, you shall plague yourselves. As for the other fasts, since they are for the sake of mourning, it should not be an easy fast, but a hard one.

I find that the concept of constant Torah study is post-Pentateuchal. In Torah we do not have Torah presented as a study activity for its own sake, but only for learning the Mitzvot and how to fulfill them. Veshinantam Levonekha, Teach them to your children, means Lilmod, Ulelamed, Lishmor Velaasot [to learn, teach, observe and do]. In is only when we get to Joshua and Psalms that we have Vehagita Bo Yomam Valayla. Study day and night, for the sake of study. In fact, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein distinguishes two different Mitzvot: studying Torah in order to fulfill it. And studying Torah for its own sake.

Rabbi Norman Lamm in his Torah Lishmah cites Rabbi Ĥayim Volozhiner as saying that the Torah is not just a handbook of how to practice the Mitzvot, but it is a metaphysical entity representing the entire universe. Hence the study of Torah is equivalent to Science, Philosophy and Kabbalah. Even the practical Mitzvot contain embodiments of the secrets of all being.

With such a concept of Torah, it is not surprising that some Rabbis thought the study of Torah is Keneged Kulam [the equivalent of all the Mitzvot], not only because it leads to practice, but because it is the essence of wisdom and the key to salvation.

I respond:

Jacob's perplexity here derives from the fact that he wants Rabbi Ĥanina ben-Ĥakhinai to say the same as other sages say and this clearly is not the case. Several times we have noted that some of the sayings of the sages quoted in Tractate Avot contradict other sayings of the sages. This just goes to teach that in Mishnaic times Torah really did have 'seventy faces'.

I have quoted all of Jacob's message – even though the details he provides substantiating his perplexity are numerous. I have done so because I think that his examples contain information that might be of general interest.

A happy and joyous last day of Ĥanukah to everybody!