Ben Azzai teaches an important pair of principles at Avot 4:3:
אַל תְּהִי בָז לְכָל אָדָם וְאַל תְּהִי מַפְלִיג
לְכָל דָּבָר, שֶׁאֵין לָךְ אָדָם שֶׁאֵין לוֹ שָׁעָה, וְאֵין לָךְ דָּבָר שֶׁאֵין
לוֹ מָקוֹם
In English: “Do not scorn any man, and do not be
disdainful of any thing, for there is no man who does not have his hour, and no
thing that does not have its place”.
This post discusses the first of these principles.
According to Rambam and Rabbenu Yonah, the point Ben
Azzai makes is that, if you do not underestimate another person, even someone
of no account, he will have no reason to hate you. Who might this person be? It
could be someone who currently has no feelings towards you or (according to Me’iri)
someone who hates you already. Either way, even if this person is utterly
insignificant, don’t take his potential for hatred lightly since it may be in
his power to harm you. Indeed, as all three of these eminent commentators
accept, if you do take this person seriously, you may find that it is also in
his power to benefit you.
Though there are some outliers (Maharal’s Derech
Chaim, for example, links this teaching to the unique mazal of each
individual), this understanding, shared by Bartenura and the commentary
attributed to Rashi, appears to have shaped the consensus view of the meaning
of Ben Azzai’s teaching from the days of the Rishonim until relatively
recently, when it has been more extensively explored and the focus on the
notion of personal animosity abandoned.
Is this drift away from the traditional explanation
justified? Let us first see how it works. Examples of later, non-traditional
approaches that violate neither the meaning of the words of the mishnah nor the
ethos of Pirkei Avot include the following:
- “The only way to earn esteem and respect for yourself is to esteem and respect other people, for in that way you are showing respect to your Creator. … [A] man who is a criminal or a fool is a human being just like you and, if you cannot find anything to say in his praise, then rather say nothing, but you have no right to despise him…” (The Lehmann-Prins Pirkei Avoth);
- “Everything in life has its purpose, every person has
a potential meaning (sic) possibility, however distant and remote it might seem
from the superficial view. It is obligatory upon each individual to see the
good and the potential of other individuals” (Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka, Chapters
of the Sages);
- “[I]f everyone and everything that exists has time and
space by Divine decree, in a universe governed by His will, each person,
creature, and object is automatically due a certain respect and reverence”
(Irving M. Bunim (Ethics from Sinai);
- “Each person and each object has value, even if that value is not always manifest. Each person, at some point in life, may rise to greatness…” (Rabbi Marc D.Angel, The Koren Pirkei Avot).
What then has happened to the notion of taking account
of the hatred of others and the possibility of being harmed by them? Has this
idea become old-fashioned and in need of replacement by a more relevant
explanation of Ben Azzai’s words? Or do we now live within a society in which
the need to avoid being dismissive of others and to underestimate their
potential for hatred has become so deeply self-understood that it no longer
requires to be taught?
Maybe the real reason is that, being uncomfortable at
the thought that our attitude towards others might cause them to hate us, we
prefer to read a more congenial message into Ben Azzai’s admonition.
