Avot233

4:
One of the best-known facts concerning the Jewish calendar is the fact that this year, for example, is 5767 and that figure represents Anno Mundi, the presumed time that has elapsed since the creation of the world. Much less well-known is the fact that this figure derives initially from a work which is attributed to Rabbi Yosé ben-ĥalafta, the author of our present mishnah. In the Gemara [Yevamot 82b] the great Palestinian Amora, Rabbi Yoĥanan, states that our Rabbi Yosé was the author of a work called Seder Olam – 'World Chronology'.

5:
It is generally accepted that the object of Rabbi Yosé in compiling Seder Olam (if it was indeed he who authored the work) was to establish the era of creation that this might serve as the basis of calendrical dating – as, indeed, it does to this day. Adhering closely to the Biblical text, he sought to determine certain dates which are not indicated in the Bible, but which may be inferred by calculation. He also inferred many dates from tradition and from aggadah and midrash of the sages. By such methods he established that the great flood in the time of Noah occurred in the year 1996 AM, and that the Exodus from Egypt took place in the year 2450 AM – and so forth.

6:
Seder Olam delineates biblical chronology in minute detail using such methods – which, of course, bear little or no relationship to the findings of modern scholarship. The original intention of Rabbi Yosé was clearly to establish a chronology up to the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt, but much of the latter part of the work has been lost, it being complete only up to the conquest of the Middle East by Alexander the Great (333 BCE). The dating of Alexander (and the succeeding centuries) is accurate, but this accuracy is arrived at through many suppositions concerning earlier events which are 'problematic'. For example, the period of Persian domination is given as 54 years, whereas in fact it lasted 206 years.

7:
The teaching attributed to Rabbi Yosé in our present mishnah is very clear and needs no commentary or elucidation. It is for this reason, surely, that so assiduous a commentator as Rabbi YomTov Lipmann Heller (Tosfot YomTov) ignores it completely. But the fact that the import of the teaching is clear does not mean that we can easily accept the teaching. We know only too well that this is not the case. Many of us know good and pious people who hold Torah in greatest honour who are not honoured by others (to put it kindly); and we know of many people who dishonour Torah quite publicly who are venerated by others. Presumably, we must understand the teaching of Rabbi Yosé as meaning that one should honour Torah in the hope that our honouring of Torah will encourage others to do so as well.

In Avot 229 we discussed the teaching of Rabbi Zadok that one must not 'use' Torah for mundane purposes. (I elaborated on this as follows: he strongly deprecates 'using' Torah to further some end other than Torah itself – be that end self-glorification because of one's great Torah knowledge or be it the attainment of some material objective which is not Torah itself.)

Jacob Chinitz writes:

The ideal of Torah Lishmah [Torah for no ulterior motive] is admirable, as are all the imprecations [sic] to serve out of Love, not Fear. Even converts who were motivated by other considerations than love of God and Torah, were called Geirei Arayot," proselytes who came out of Fear. Not taking fees for teaching Torah is also admirable. But let us be honest. Torah is still a "Crown." Through the ages when wealth, power, and influence were considered inferior to scholarship, piety and spiritual perfection – the scholars were rewarded with honor, leadership, and fame. The Utilitarian element is present in Torah itself. Despite the constant emphasis on obedience, loyalty and selfless conduct based on the Will of God, Torah also promises length of days, protection, and Peace. When Deuteronomy warns Israel not to make images, "because you saw no similitude [of God]" – at Sinai there was only Audio, no Video – this preachment is accompanied by the warning: "take great heed to yourselves". We can interpret that passage in physical terms, as some authorities derive the obligation of bodily care from these words. Or we can assume that Moses is warning about spiritual danger, to the soul. In any event, the service of God is not purely pure, but inevitably is mingled with either physical or spiritual reward, in this world or the next.

I respond:

I find Jacob's argument unconvincing. Surely there is a great difference between God promising certain rewards if one does observe Torah and observance of Torah in order to benefit from the promised rewards. Furthermore, personal wealth and fame are never promised by the Torah in exchange for observance: these are promises to the nation, not to the individual. The individual is to be guided by the advice of Antigonos of Sokho that we encountered in Avot 1:3 (Avot 020 and the following shiurim): Do not be like servants who serve the master in order to receive a reward, but be like servants who serve the master not in order to receive a reward.