Avot263

Today's shiur is dedicated by Avraham Hasson
in memory of his father,

Yosef ben Miriam ve-Natan z"l,
whose Yahrzeit falls today.

8:
Do not question him when he is making a vow. We have had occasion several times in the past to note that the sages were most disapproving of vows and people who made them lightly and without forethought. We discussed this matter thoroughly in Avot 193. The two main reasons why people made vows were either vows of abnegation (born of a feeling of inadequacy) or vows made in a moment of anger or exhiliration.

9:
For the sages any language that was recognised as implying an oath fell into the category of vows. Quite often people would make a vow unthinkingly or propelled by emotion. A person might say something such as "If I am wrong, you'll see, I'll give $10,000 to charity!" Of course, when that person is shown to be wrong – as is usually the case in such circumstances – he or she has a problem. The promise they made was born of an emotion and might be extremely detrimental to the person who made the vow or it might even be impossible for them to carry it out.

10:
It is for this reason that the sages tried very hard to find legal loopholes through which a person might be excused the fulfillment of a vow. These legal mechanisms are complicated and need not detain us here. What Rabbi Shim'on ben-El'azar is saying in our present mishnah is just homely common sense. When a person makes a foolish vow they are not in full control of their thinking apparatus. It might even be detrimental to them if one were to argue with them in such a situation: the more one tries to get them to amend their 'vow' the more likely they are to reinforce it with even more ridiculous demands and promises. It is much more sensible to wait until a cool head has returned and then to ask the questions whose responses might just get them out of the difficulty they have created for themselves.

11:
Do not make efforts to see him when he is in disgrace. This last piece of advice in our present mishnah is so obvious in its intention that I see no need to explain it exhaustively. Rabbi Ovadya of Bertinoro in his commentary on our mishnah links this advice with a biblical story.

In Avot 258 I expressed my discomfort with the recommendation of the Mishnah that one be wary of teaching. I wrote: If everyone were to follow this advice there would never be teachers for the weaker students.

Jacob Chinitz writes:

Your demurrer about the importance of teaching is borne out by the Torah text. In the Pentateuch itself we do not find a command to study, but to teach: Veshinantam Levanekha. It is only by inference that we deduce the duty to study, for how can the father teach his child … if he does not learn himself. This question affects the rabbinate directly. Louis Finkelstein used to stress the importance of rabbis continuing their studies. Some went to graduate school instead of the pulpit, or combined the two functions. Is it possible that as we satisfy our vanity, or professional standing, by attaining to advanced degrees. We are neglecting our moral duty to teach the people who know less than us. It is only when we get to Joshua that we have the command: Vehagita Bo Yomam Valayla, which would imply studying as being more important than teaching. Unless we say that teaching itself can be a form of study. I know I learned a lot, maybe more, from teaching and preaching, than I learned from teachers in the Yeshiva and other schools.

I respond:

Amen.

Also in Avot 258 I brought the appreciation written by Bayla Singer of something that Ed Frankel had written.

Ed Frankel now responds.

I admire Bayla's comment. Frankly, I was not speaking to allegory as much as she. To me the issue is based on my training. I was a Bible major in college at JTS. I specialized in linguistics of the Bible, and particularly of the period of transition from biblical to mishnaic Hebrew. My "rebbe" was Avi Hurwitz of Hebrew U while he was on sabbatical in New York. I went on to continue as his student at Hebrew U during my junior year. One of the fundamental lessons he taught was that when there is more than one word that can be used for a purpose, there has got to be a reason why one synonym or means of expression is chosen. Sometimes, a reason can be simply that a certain word or expression had yet to have entered Hebrew usage or abandoned it. For example in early biblical Hebrew the expression used is "dor dor". Later that expression was abandoned in favor of "medor lador." However, the other implication is that words have specific meanings and nuance, and a good writer takes heed of them. I assume Rebbe knew what he was doing when he edited the mishnayot of our Sages into the text we have.

Discussion on this topic is now closed.

The Bet Midrash Virtuali is now going on its traditional vacation for the festival of Passover. The next shiur in this series will be, God willing, on Thursday 12th April. I take this opportunity of wishing everybody a Kasher and very happy Passover.