Tuesday 1 March 2022

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted on Avot Today in February 2022:

Sunday 27 February 2022: What does "loving peace" mean? Hillel (Avot 1:12) urges us to love peace and pursue it. But can you love something when you take it for granted?

Friday 25 February 2022: Praying for peace: not so easy.  The unfolding events in Ukraine call for prayer. Rabbi Shimon ben Netanel (Avot 2:18) has some advice that seems simple, but is not always so in practice..

Tuesday 22 February 2022: Worrying about the cure for worry? Hillel teaches, "the more the wealth, the more the worry" (Avot 2:8). Is there a degree of circularity in this simple proposition? 

Sunday 20 February 2022: Priestly blessings and an excess of piety: Hillel teaches (Avot 2:6) that an am ha'aretz cannot be a chasid. The Pele Yo'etz gives a practical example.

Friday 18 February 2022: The tablets of stone and the invention of literacy: Avot 5:8 talks of ten items that were created just before the onset of the first Sabbath. Three are to do with writing.

Wednesday 16 February 2022: A graphic account of Jewish ethics: Jessica Tamar Deutsch's illustrated version of Pirkei Avot has only now caught this blog's attention. What's it really like? 

Monday 14 February 2022: Torah learning a tale of pigs and rings: We investigate the meaning of the word nazuf in Avot 6:2 and review an apparent double-metaphor involving beautiful women, pigs and rings.

Friday 11 February 2022: Kohanim, Clothes and the Worth of a Good Name: Avot 4:17 refers to three crowns -- or is it four? Can they be made to relate to the priestly garments detailed in the Torah?

Wednesday 9 February 2022: A name made great...: The sad tale of Eric Lander's tenure as head of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Thursday 3 February 2022: What the blazes! The fox, the scorpion and the snakeWe look behind Rabbi Eliezer's teaching about respecting the words of the wise and consider his choice of metaphor.

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Avot Today blogposts for January 2022 here
Avot Today blogposts for December 2021 here
Avot Today blogposts for November 2021 here
Avot Today blogposts for October 2021 here
Avot Today blogposts for September 2021 here
Avot Today blogposts for August 2021 here


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