Lion's tails and foxes' heads: a fresh perspective

In Avot 4:20 Rabbi Matya ben Charash teaches that one should be the "tail of lions" and not the "head of foxes". We all know that lions are supposed to be lordly and majestic, while foxes are menial and crafty. There are however many explanations of what this Rome-base rabbi meant.

One such perspective on this mishnah comes from Rabbi Yehoshua Heller's Toledot Yehoshua. It focuses on the relative status of Israel and the various lands into which its Jewish inhabitants were exiled. Israel is the natural home for Torah learning and for living one’s life in accordance with its precepts. By the time of the Roman occupation, “Israel” as a country was however only a geopolitical synonym for Judah, the southern kingdom based largely on the territory of Yehudah after the dispersal and loss of the Ten Tribes following the Assyrian conquest in 722 BCE. The symbol of Judah is the lion. Alluding to the tail of the lion, Rabbi Matya ben Charash is effectively teaching that it is better to serve the more exalted chachamim of Israel than to be regarded as a chacham among the less learned Jews who inhabit the lands of exile.