Avot221

Today's shiur is dedicated by Edie Freedman
in memory of her father, Binyamin Ben Shmuel Pulier z"l
whose Yahrzeit falls on Shabbat, 16th Elul.

5:
For the reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah. I must admit that my translation of this phrase is highly influenced by my understanding of its meaning. A more literal translation would be >for the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah. Our classical sources have understood this teaching in more than one way. (I shall offer my own understanding later on.)

6:
One way of understanding this teaching of ben-Azzai is that the reward one gets for performing a mitzvah is yet another mitzvah. This is similar to what we have already said about the previous clause. For example, Rabbi Ovadya of Bertinoro comments on our present mishnah:

This understands the teaching as meaning that the reward for the performance of one mitzvah is the performance of yet another.

7:
Another, slightly more original understanding of this clause of our present mishnah is that "the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah" – when one performs a mitzvah the reward that one receives for the performance of that mitzvah may be considered a mitzvah in itself.

8:
However, Rabbi Ovadya of Bertinoro offers a second interpretation of our mishnah. He comments:

9:
In our day and age many Jews ask – and even ask themselves! – what point is there in the observance of the mitzvot? The utilitarian attitude which is prevalent always asks "what do I get out of it?" In bygone ages it would be enough to suggest that the delight one gives God when one performs one of His mitzvot is sufficient reward in itself. Today, of course, such a suggestion will not wash, as they say – except possibly in certain fundamentalist circles.

In order to understand the 'reward' of a mitzvah we must first ascertain what we consider to be the purpose of the performance of a mitzvah. 'Why should I do this mitzvah?' will usually come before 'What do I get out of it?' Suggestions that we perform a mitzvah because it is God's will do not usually convince people nowadays: they will simply ask "Why is that God's will?" (if they have not already asked "How do you know that it is God's will?")

In an essay that I wrote which elaborates on this issue I offered the following suggestion:

Therefore, it seems to me that a most appropriate modern understanding of what ben-Azzai has said is that the performance of the mitzvah is its own reward and we should seek no further reward. As Rambam said in a different context: "the purpose of the mitzvot is their observance." The converse is also true: the 'reward' for a sin is the sin itself. Perhaps during these days of introspection that carry us forward into the days of penitence and soul-searching as moderns we should be aware that we are not so much punished 'for' our sins as that we are punished 'by' our sins.

In Avot 216 in the mishnah ben-Zoma quotes Psalm 119:99 and we offered the interpretation that one learns something from everybody. Avraham Arbiv writes:

Is it not correct that ben-Zoma is turning the literal meaning of the verse on its head? – Is not the literal meaning "I am wiser than all who have taught me"?

I respond:

That is the case, indeed. The sages often 'manipulated' the literal meaning a verse for their midrashic purposes – often with delightful results! The JPSA translation of the verse is: