Avot232

Today is the 11th Yahrzeit of Yitzĥak Rabin z"l
(and hence it is also the 11th anniversary of our Mishnah Study Group).
I append here the lines that accompanied each Shiur of the Rabin Mishnah Study Group during that first year:

Hareini lomed/lomedet Mishnah le'ilu'i nishmato shel Yitzĥak ben Rosa u-Neĥemya Rabin.
I am studying Mishnah in memory of Yitzĥak Rabin, son of Rosa and Neĥemya.

You may also care to read the shiur that I wrote on Rabin's first Yahrzeit. You will find it here.

1:
The Rabbi Yosé of our mishnah is Rabbi Yosé ben-Ĥalafta. He was one of the five students of Rabbi Akiva who survived Hadrian's massacre of the sages that followed the suppression of the Bar-Kokhba revolt and the execution of Rabbi Akiva. He was born in the Galilean town of Sepphoris (Tzipori), but according to the Gemara [Yoma 66b] his ancestors had come from Babylon. He must have been quite young when he studied with Rabbi Akiva because he was ordained once more by Rabbi Yehudah ben-Bava and he often describes himself also as a student of Rabbi Yoĥanan ben-Nuri.

2:
The story of his ordination by Rabbi Yehudah ben-Bava (together with four other young students) is dramatic and is recounted in the Gemara [Sanhedrin 13b-14a]:

Thanks to this heroic deed by Yehudah ben-Bava these five sages were able to ensure the continuity of Torah. The Gemara [Yevamot 62b] says that "they set Torah on its feet" again. According to the Gemara [Bava Metzi'a 84b] after this ordination Rabbi Yosé escaped to Turkey, where he remained until Hadrian's edict was abrogated.

3:
Even after he died the fame of Rabbi Yosé ben-Ĥalafta did not die. In the following generation no less a personage than Rabbi Yehudah the president of the Sanhedrin and compiler of the Mishnah said:

To be continued.

In mishnah 7 we discussed the teaching of Rabbi Zadok that one must not derive any material benefit from Torah. Karen Rudnick writes:

Are we to assume that our Rabbi's are not paid for their knowledge of Torah; and they are paid only for administering the office of "Rabbi"? What does this mishna explain then, if we learn the words of Torah for the sake of knowing the words of Torah, then if we are in a position to teach the words of Torah are we forbidden to accept money for our time teaching? What about writing a fictitious book where some of our Torah ancestors are used as characters, is this also forbidden? Would it be considered secular gain to profit by your imagination concerning some of the stories in Torah?

I respond:

I believe that I have already answered Keren's first question in Avot 231. The prohibition of receiving remuneration for teaching and administering Torah does not apply to anything adjunct to that. I would imagine that modern rabbis are paid for all the extra 'secular' work that they do in administering a congregation and not for the actual teaching that they do. I can see no objection at all to receiving payment for a novel about biblical or rabbinic figures. This is not teaching or administering Torah as we understand it.