Avot210

1:
In the copy of Rambam's commentary on our mishnah in his own handwriting the whole of our present mishnah is missing. I do not mean that he chose not to comment on it: I mean that even the text of the mishnah does not appear. But, since the biblical quotation that closed the previous mishnah is also missing I suspect that the copy may have been damaged. Perhaps this material was at the bottom of a page that was torn off. Obviously, I have not been able to verify this thought at first hand. (Later texts of the Commentary do bring this mishnah and append to it a bland commentary that says nothing.)

2:
Rabbi Eli'ezer ben-Ĥisma is a Tanna who lived towards the end of the 1st century CE and during the first half of the 2nd century. We are told that he studied under Rabbi Yehoshu'a ben-Ĥananyah and Rabban Gamli'el. He is mentioned several times in the Mishnah and also a few exegetical comments are attributed to him in the midrashim.

3:
The short and pithy mishnah which is attributed to him here is quite enigmatic for the uninitiated. However, when the terms that Rabbi Eli'ezer uses are explained his teaching becomes quite understandable (though it may also have a more profound meaning as well).

4:
Birds' nests: what an intriguing term! This is the name of a rather recondite tractate of the Mishnah; in Hebrew: kinnim. The Torah makes provision for several levels of sacrifice, particularly with regards to the financial ability of the person bringing the sacrifice when it is a free-will (voluntary) offering. The most expensive come from the animal herds (bulls etc); after them come the animals from the flock (sheep, goats); next come birds (pigeons or doves); and lastly come vegetable offerings (flour and grains). But, of course, there were compulsory offerings that had to be brought from birds and vegetables as well as from the herds and flocks. The main practical difference between offerings of birds and the other sources of offerings (apart from the financial aspect) was the fact that birds were difficult to handle. The larger animals could be tethered, but birds tended to fly away! So tractate Kinnim ("Birds' Nests") is mainly concerned with the halakhic problems involved in situations such as what happens if a bird has been designated for sacrifice but manages to escape? What happens if I put two birds in the same cage but with different sacrificial designations and when the time comes I can't tell which was designated for which sacrifice?

To be continued.

In mishnah 18 we read that if there is no wisdom there is no fear, if there is no fear there is no wisdom.

Amnon Ronel writes:

In my opinion, a person mainly fears what he doesn't understand and what is unknown. I have forgotten who it was who said (Leibowitz?) that the more one increases one's knowledge the more one becomes aware of what one does not know. According to this if there is no wisdom there is fear – fear of the unseen, the unknown, of what is beyond the boundaries of wisdom. The opposite is also true: people are wary of investigating issues concerning taboo and fear: "Do not investigate what is too wondrous for you." According to this, if there is fear there is no wisdom.

I respond:

What Amnon writes is very interesting. However, unfortunately, it does not connect with what Rabbi El'azar ben-Azaryah had to say in the mishnah. This is because they are talking about two different kinds of fear. Amnon is talking about fear of the unknown and the unknowable; Rabbi El'azar ben-Azaryah is talking about fear of God or fear of sin. Amnon teaches that fear breeds ignorance and ignorance breeds fear (and this is true). Rabbi El'azar ben-Azaryah teaches that wisdom creates fear of God or sin and that where fear of God or fear of sinning are absent there is room for ignorance (and this is true.)