Avot189

9:
The contribution of Rabbi Yishma'el to the oral tradition is most accessible in the halakhic midrashim. (For a brief explanation of the meaning of this term please refer to the General Introduction in the archives.) The halakhic development of the text of the Torah that was current in the Bet Midrash of Rabbi Yishma'el is the basis of the collection of halakhic midrashim on the book of Exodus known as Mekhilta. (We have already dealt with this matter rather extensively in Avot 087.) There are also other midrashim from the school of Rabbi Yishma'el in another collection of halakhic midrash called Sifré.

10:
We have already noted on many occasions that before and during the Bar-Kokhba revolt (132-135 CE) Rabbi Akiva belonged to the activist party that supported the disastrous war against the Romans. (See, for example, Avot 078.) Rabbi Yishma'el was opposed to Rabbi Akiva not only in his halakhic ideology but also in his quasi-political ideology: he was firmly in the camp of the 'peace party' who wanted to prevent the revolt.

11:
It seems to me that it is against the background of the tempestuous years that led up the the Bar-Kokhba revolt that we can best understand the teaching of Rabbi Yishma'el that is recorded in our present mishnah. But before we offer that explanation let us briefly examine the explanations given by the classical commentators.

12:
For both Rambam and Rabbi Ovadya of Bertinoro there is one Hebrew word that is problematic and that is the word tishĥoret. Rambam, presumably because he had no better information, connected the term with the Hebrew word for 'black'. This leads him to interpret our mishnah as instructing us to be swift to follow the instructions of the head of the Yeshiva and other important religious functionaries; but also to accept with good grace the instructions of the younger generation – those who still have black hair! Rabbi Ovadya follows in Rambam's footsteps. But they were both wrong!

13:

In the midrashic collection called Tanna de-bei Eliahu Rabbah (Chapter 1) we find a most interesting sentence:

And in another midrashic work, Kallah Rabbati (Chapter 4) we even find the term defined:

Angaria is a Greek word ['αγγαρεια] which is often used in our classical sources. It indicates soldiers or police in the service of the imperial government who, when they needed something to be done and could not (or would not) do it themselves, would stop a passing citizen and force him to do the job and only release him when the job was done.

14:
It is now possible for us to understand the recommendation of Rabbi Yishma'el: in the tense and difficult situation that eventually erupted into the Bar-Kokhba revolt he was teaching that in order to maintain the peace Jews should not resist the Roman army of occupation: on the contrary, they should be swift to do the behest of the military headman and make themselves easy when the imperial press-gangs force them to perform some errand or other.

In Avot 181 I wrote:The first item in the list of Rabbi El'azar is the desecration of Israel's sancta. In his commentary on our present mishnah Rambam – incredibly! – understands the term sancta to be referring to sacrifices! In Avot 186 Martin Berman gave a reasoned objection to which I responded (in part): Clearly Rambam's interpretation can be substantiated, so perhaps I was a little rash to think that it was incredible… I have not had the time to check whether the term kodashim is elsewhere treated as ideas rather than sacrifices…

Gary Berg comes to our assistance:

The word kodashim is used in Bab.Sanhedrin (Aĥar ha-din) to refer to animals in an ir nidaĥat that were destined to be used as sacrifices in the Temple. They are to be considered as bedek, namely part of the maintenence of the Temple and therefore not subject to the penalties imposed upon the residents of the city. At least this is the way Rashi has it. The meaning of the word kedoshim is not clear from its immediate textual context.