Half-quotes, misquotes and false attributions

Here are a couple of small and, some would say, trivial episodes in the life of Avot and Jewish thought which are worth looking at.

The first is a recent post by Times of Israel blogger Michael Harvey ("Judaism vs. American Individualism"). He writes:

"As Pirkei Avot tells us, “For if one destroys one soul it is as if one destroys an entire world, ..."

The sentiment is sound, but the attribution is not: the quote comes from a mishnah in tractate Sanhedrin (4:1). 

The second is a piece in Communal News, in which David Wexelman (on the subject of responses to Covid-19) writes: 

 "The natural order of priorities is first yourself like it says in the ethics of the fathers, “If I will not be for myself, who will be for me.'” 

Pirkei Avot does indeed say this (Avot 1:14), but the quote is somewhat out of context because its author, Hillel, then appears to counterbalance it by adding ""And if I am for myself, what am I?" This addition appears to urge a person to find a happy medium, a path between being only for himself and not for himself at all.

Does any of this matter?

There is a principle, itself enshrined in Avot (6:6), that citing a teaching in the name of the person who teaches it is one of the 48 ways by which Torah is acquired -- and that, moreover, one who does so is viewed as bringing redemption into the world.  People are generally quite good at doing this, but there is a tendency to assume that any general principle that is repeated often enough somehow comes from Avot.  Other examples include "derech eretz kadmah leTorah" (i.e. good behaviour comes at the beginning of the Torah) and the maxim "if you chase after honour, honour runs away from you".  

I believe that we owe it to our readers, our friends, our families and our communities to be more careful with the words of our sages.  A correctly-cited axiom will more accurately reflect its author's meaning than an incorrectly-cited one, and will also spare the annoyance and frustration that can be inflicted on the poor soul who trawls through Avot in search of something that is not there at all.  Good habits of citation also enhance the credibility of the person who cultivates them. So let's get Avot right if we can!