Avot349
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
RABIN MISHNAH STUDY GROUP
TRACTATE AVOT, CHAPTER FIVE, MISHNAH TWENTY-ONE (recap):
He used to say: five years of age for bible; ten years of age for Mishnah; thirteen years of age for mitzvot; fifteen years of age for Talmud; eighteen years of age for the ĥuppah; twenty years of age to pursue; thirty years of age for power; forty years of age for understanding; fifty years of age for counsel; sixty years of age for old-age; seventy years of age for grey hairs; eighty years of age for might; ninety years of age for a bowed back; one hundred years of age – it is as if [the person] were dead, gone, and out of this world.
EXPLANATIONS (continued):
12:
Twenty years of age to pursue. What an enigmatic statement! It immediately prompts the question: to pursue what? And then a second question suggests itself: why should one begin to pursue this object or end from the age of twenty? In his commentary on our mishnah Rabbi Ovadya of Bertinoro offers two explanations. This is the first of his explanations.
To pursue after a livelihood: having learned bible, Mishnah and Gemara and having married and begotten children he must now seek a livelihood.
This explanation is quite problematic. Does Rabbi Ovadya mean to suggest that one should first marry and beget offspring and only then worry about how to support one's family?
13:
This dilemma is discussed in the Gemara [Kiddushin 29b] where the question is raised whether a young man should first study Torah and only afterwards get married or should the reverse order prevail. The answer offered is that a young man should first study Torah and when he has completed his studies he should get married. However, a rider is added: if the young man cannot live without a woman (i.e. sex, as we explained in the previous shiur) he should first marry and then commence his studies. Concerning this latter option the great Amora from Eretz-Israel, Rabbi Yochanan, objects:
With a millstone around his neck how can he study Torah !?
The Gemara leaves the issue open; but the halakhic midrash on Deuteronomy, Sifrei, does not. The Torah [Deuteronomy 20:5-7] stipulates that before the Israelites engage in battle a special priest must address the soldiers:
Is there anyone who has built a new house but has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another dedicate it. Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard but has never harvested it? Let him go
back to his home, lest he die in battle and another harvest it. Is there anyone who has paid the bride-price for a wife but who has not yet married her? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another marry her.
The Sifré notes the order of these exemptions and Rambam [De'ot 5:11] draws a succinct conclusion:
Intelligent people first obtain gainful employment, then acquire an apartment and then get married.
And he points out the order of events in the biblical verses quoted above: the vineyard and the house come before the woman and marriage. He then adds:
But the foolish begin by getting married; then, if they can find the money they will buy a house; and then lastly they will seek out some livelihood – or live off charity.
So, according to Sifré and Rambam Rabbi Ovadya's first explanation is not really acceptable.
15:
Rabbi Ovadya's alternative explanation for the age of twenty being the age "to pursue" is as follows:
To be pursued by Heaven and to be punished for his misdeeds. For the heavenly court does not punish a person aged less than twenty.
Well, that surely is a most comforting message for most teenagers! But our mishnah does not say 'to be pursued' but 'to pursue'.
16:
It seems to me far more likely that the intention of our mishnah is that from the age of twenty a man is liable to military service. In the Torah [Numbers 1:2-3] God instructs Moses as follows:
Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head. You and Aaron shall record them by their groups, from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms.
If this interpretation is correct then our mishnah teaches that the age of twenty is the age when a man may be conscripted to pursue the enemy.
To be continued.
BMV Home and Search Engine |
Avot Archive |
Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Shiur Dedication |
[What is this?]
Admin @ bmv.org.il is the address for discussion, queries, comments and requests. If your message appears in a shiur it will be attributed to you by name; otherwise please mark your message clearly "not for publication".
The shiurim of the Rabin Mishnah Study Group are usually sent out on Tuesday and Thursday.
The shiurim of the Halakhah Study Group are usually sent out on Monday.
There is also a Hebrew version of the Virtual Bet Midrash.
These shiurim are and will remain free of charge.
If you should enjoy one of them please consider making a secure online donation to the Masorti Movement, which sponsors them. Make sure that you indicate that your donation is for the "Virtual Beit Midrash" in the dropdown box for "My Gift Allocation". All donations to the Virtual Bet Midrash are tax deductable.
Please use this link to reach the Masorti Online 
Donation Form.
