A hang-out for sages or a cause for jealousy?

We recently discussed the curious proposition of Yose ben Yo’ezer Ish Tzeredah (Avot 1:4) that we should wrestle in the dust of wise men’s feet. This time we take a look at the same rabbi’s teaching which precedes it: “Let your home be a meeting place for the wise”. 

This proposition is not at first sight a delphic utterance or enigma: its meaning is plain and does not demand any complex or profound explanation. Thus the Bartenura, endorsing the position of the Rambam, leans that one should make one’s home the natural go-to place for any chachamim to gather together. The benefit for the host is obvious: it is impossible for him or her not to absorb some words of wisdom from them. For Rabbenu Yonah the mishnah contains the subtle implication that, in order to make your home a natural habitat for the wise, you must first attend to your own reputation: if you are not well regarded, they will be unwilling to step inside.

The thing that caught my attention is the fact that so many later commentators, while not negating this standard explanation, are so determined to look beyond it, even to the point of straining the literal meaning of Yose ben Yo’ezer’s words. Rabbi S. R. Hirsch appears to consider the mishnah as referring to a modest meeting between just the host and his wise guest, whom he should welcome warmly and from whom he should gain the maximum benefit from the latter’s Torah knowledge. R’ Meir Lehmann’s take is that, in the (likely) event that one cannot make one’s home a bet midrash, one should make the local bet midrash one’s home. In his Ruach Chaim, R’ Chaim Volozhiner advises us to fill our homes with the sages’ books, so that we can ‘meet’ them head-on by reading and digesting their words. R’ Yisrael Meir Lau (Yachel Yisrael) adds that welcoming a Torah scholar into one’s home brings not merely spiritual but also material blessing.

Why do so many later scholars look beyond the plain meaning of the Mishnah? While endorsing it as an ideal, might they also be thinking of the its possible real-world repercussions?

The issue is this. Most of the mishnayot in Avot offer guidance that is ideally directed at us all. Judging others favourably (1:6), greeting others with a smile (1:15), being pleasantly respectful to one’s seniors and one’s juniors (3:16), not gloating over the misfortunes of your foes (4:24) and not influencing the masses to sin (5:21) are typical examples of such advice: the more people follow it, the better it is for everyone. But can the same be said for letting one’s home be a meeting place for the wise?

The literal words of the mishnah carry the seeds of a problem because they appear to be most efficacious in a small community (such as Tzeredah) in which only one such home is opened up as a hang-out for sages. While hosting the wise and making one’s home a meeting place for them is not exactly a zero-sum proposition, the more people open their homes to such meetings, the fewer will be the number of available wise folk and people for the host to welcome in so that they can hear the words of the wise—and the more difficult it will be for any individual to establish his or her home as the place for such praiseworthy get-togethers.

What does this mean in practice? While competition among sages and talmidei chachamim is encouraged because it improves our overall level of Torah knowledge, the same cannot be said about competition between householders. Given the known quality of human nature, it is quite possible to imagine a situation in which a home owner, jealous that a neighbour’s home has attracted gatherings of sages, endeavours to attract better sages and bigger audiences by offering more lavish refreshments. This works to the advantage of those with bigger entertainment budgets rather than those with better personal reputations. One can also imagine the almost tangible buzz of kavod that a person may experience if it is his or her house that becomes the venue of choice for such meetings.

Might it be these concerns that drive more recent commentators to look for non-literal interpretations?