Avot352

1:
At long last we have reached the last mishnah of this tractate. Who are these tannaïm with the strange names? First of all, let us note that both these teachings are to be found in Avot de-Rabbi Natan [5:22-23] where they are quoted in the name of Hillel. Furthermore, in the Gemara [Ĥagigah 9b] we find Ben-Hé-Hé asking Hillel questions, and they seem to be the kind of question that a student might ask his teacher. For example:

This sounds like a typical altercation between a teacher and a student – and possibly the teacher is gently reprimanding the student for not being as diligent in his studies as he should. The response of the student is possibly petulant.

2:
So, it seems that in our present mishnah students are just quoting a teaching they heard from their teacher, and not something original. And how appropriate it is to end this tractate with teachings of Hillel. Both the teachings in our mishnah are in Aramaic rather than in Hebrew, and we have seen that two teachings of Hillel have been transmitted in this tractate in the original Aramaic [1:13 and 2:6].

3:
In a comment on the above passage from the Gemara one of the Tosafists reports that ben-Hé-Hé was a proselyte. He also gives an explanation of the rather strange name: ben-Hé-Hé is the spiritual descendent of Abraham and Sarah, both of whom had the Hebrew letter "Hé" added to their names. [See Genesis 17:5, 15.] This (unsubstantiated) comment of the Tosafists may well have given rise to the idea that ben-Bag-Bag and ben-Hé-Hé were two non-Jews who were converted to Judaism by Hillel. (For the story concerning one of the proselytes -Ben-Bag-Bag – see
Avot 003.)

4:
In 1504 the Spanish sage Avraham Zacuto [1450-1510] published a book called Sefer ha-Yuĥasin [Book of Genealogies] which purports to be a history of the world from creation until the year 1500. Zacuto quotes an ancient tradition that ben-Bag-Bag and ben-Hé-Hé were one and the same person. Since they are both quoted together in one mishnah this makes sense.

5:
It seems that ben-Bag-Bag (if he was a different person to Ben-Hé-Hé) was a scholar. In the Tosefta [Ketubot 5:1] we find that he had a son, Yoĥanan, who sent an halakhic question to Rabbi Yehudah ben-Beteyra, who responded with scant praise:

To be continued.

Because of the incidence of the festival of Shavu'ot (Pentecost) the next shiur in this series will be, God willing, on Thursday 12th June. Ĥag Samé'aĥ.