How does this commentary differ from all the rest? The
jacket-flap declaration sets out the book’s objectives thus:
The teachings of Pirkei Avos
are timeless and contain answers to the moral challenges of every generation.
The particular application of those messages to the needs of each generation,
however, changes according to the times. As such, every generation needs to
delve anew into the words of Chazal to discover how to apply the eternal truths
of the Torah to the challenges of the day.
Relevance fulfills this need
by showing how each Mishnah pertains to the modern world, revealing Pirkei
Avos to be as vibrant and contemporary as if it were written today.
The claim that the book shows how “each Mishnah pertains to
the modern world” is not strictly true. Avot contains over 120 mishnayot and
baraitot, of which this book discusses just 24, omitting any discussion of the
baraitot in the sixth and final perek. Some added features are however worthy
of note. One is a glossary of non-English terms found in the text; another is
the impressive bibliography, and a third is a short but useful index of names
and topics.
The author’s selection of mishnayot suggests to me that he
may have started with a collection of contemporary issues and points which he
was seeking to make, working back towards whichever mishnah was the appropriate
peg on which to hang it. This approach would also explain why, to the relief of
many modern readers, there are no flights into the realms of linguistics,
semantics and philology. Nor are there lengthy anecdote-laden biographies of
the sages or philosophical speculations. The overall effect is to provide a
direct, accessible statement of the sort of day-to-day moral values that a
Torah-conscious Jew should put into practice.
This is a book for believers, not doubters. The tone of the
text is direct, confident and assertive. I would imagine that the ideal reader
is a recent ba’al teshuvah whose enthusiasm for living a Jewish life has
resulted in the adoption of a lifestyle where the person’s commitment exceeds
their knowledge. Its overall message is clear. It tells the reader: “you too
can live a good Jewish life and don’t be embarrassed at the antiquity of its
source materials since they are eternally relevant”.
On a personal note, I
enjoyed the author’s approach to Avot 5:23, in which Yehudah ben Teyma teaches
us to be as bold as leopards, light as eagles, swift as deer and strong as
lions in our service to God. Though his analysis is different from mine, he
takes the same line as I do in my book, looking afresh at the natural qualities
of these four creatures—but he got there a decade and a half ahead of me.
I’d like to conclude with a word of criticism, to be
addressed to the publisher, not the author. Although the main content of the
book spans 268 pages, readers will find themselves getting to the end of it
rather sooner than they imagined they might. This is not only a consequence of
the fact that the print is agreeably large. It also reflects the fact that, of
those 268 pages, a remarkable 63—or around nearly 25%--are either completely
blank or contain nothing except the title of the discussion that follows two
pages later. This seems to be a regrettably large quantity of paper to
sacrifice at the altar of aesthetic appeal.
Pirkei Avos For The Twenty-First Century was published by Feldheim, Jerusalem in 2007. It is available on Amazon in Kindle and hardback formats.
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