Avot234

1:
The rabbi Yishma'el of our mishnah is identified as the son of Rabbi Yosé ben-Ĥalafta, the author of the preceding mishnah. This Rabbi Yishma'el (as opposed to the Rabbi Yishma'el who was the great protagonist of Rabbi Akiva in the first half of the 2nd century) was active towards the end of the second century and into the start of the third century. (This confirms what we earlier surmised that his father was very young indeed when he was first ordained by Rabbi Yehudah ben-Bava.)

2:
Rabbi Yishma'el was not only a great sage but he also held an official position in the Roman provincial government. We are told that in the year 193 CE he was one of the officials to whom fell the task of suppressing gangs of Judean highwaymen that had sprung up during a period of unrest. The Gemara relates to this aspect of his activities very negatively, because it involved arresting Jews and handing them over to the Roman government for execution. In the account as related in the Gemara [Bava Metzi'a 84a] the prophet Elijah represents 'public opinion':

But Rabbi Yishma'el did not, apparently. (Concerning his father in this connection see Avot 232, Explanation #2 towards the end.)

3:
His official duties also brought him into confrontation with other inhabitants of Eretz-Israel. A midrash [Genesis Rabba 81:3] tells us that once, passing through the town of Shekhem on his way to Jerusalem, the local Samaritans 'suggested' that he join them in prayer on Mount Gerizim rather than in "those ruins [Jerusalem]"; Rabbi Yishma'el responded that what they were wershipping were the idols that the patriarch Jacob had hidden there (according to Genesis 35:4). Another passage in the Gemara [Sanhedrin 38b] may be indicating that he also had arguments with local Christians.

4:
Rabbi Yishma'el was an expert in the text of the bible. The Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Megillah 28b] quotes him as saying that he was capable or reciting the whole of the Hebrew bible by heart!

5:
Despite their criticisms of his administrative activities, his contemporaries recognized the absolute uprightness of Rabbi Yishma'el. The Gemara [Makkot 24a] quotes Rabbi Yishma'el as a shining example of the kind of person described by Psalm 15:

His superior in the Sanhedrin, Rabbi Yehudah the President, often praised the modesty of Rabbi Yishma'el. He would quote Isaiah 23:18 and refer it to Rabbi Yishma'el. The prophet says that all the ill-gotten gains of the city of Tyre "will not be treasured or stored; rather her profits will go to those who abide before God, that they may eat their fill and clothe themselves elegantly."

To be continued.

Mishnah 7 of our present chapter taught that it is wrong to accept payment for teaching Torah, and we saw how Rambam expatiated on this to a most severe degree. Ed Frankel writes:

Could this mishna or Rambam have foreseen a time when there was a cadre of professional Jews, rabbis and educators particularly, who earn their livelihood as a result of their Judaic scholarship? Or the obverse, a time when Jewish education was so shallow for the masses, that they would need the services of professionals? In a world where everyone adhered to a standard of Jewish learning there was a need for experts, teachers, who had a firmer grasp of the intricacies and minutiae of the Jewish heritage to fill in the gaps of a typical person's learning. In that age, I could well understand our latest mishna and Rambam's view on it. If not mistaken, Rambam even allows for the professionalization of teaching our heritage for those that the community takes under its wing, orphans particularly. Still, could anyone have foreseen an era as ours when our legal texts were being created? For me, who still sees himself as an educator, I believe myself capable of anything I would wish to do as a profession. I love Jewish education, and I believe that I am warranted income enough to replace that which I would have taken up had I pursued another avenue.