Using a mishnah as a springboard

Traditional commentaries on Avot, however greatly they differed from one another, were directed towards a common goal: explaining the meaning of the mishnayot and baraitot and, in consequence, giving us an insight into what their authors were trying to teach us. Nowadays that approach is probably the exception rather than the rule, as commentators increasingly focus on adding value to Avot’s teachings by relating them to contemporary social, cultural and political trends and developments.

Following the advent of chassidut we find a further way of treating Avot. Rather than looking for the initial meaning of a teaching or examining its scope of application, its content may also be treated as a springboard from which to reach or enrich a further and unrelated point, in much the same way as aggadic teachings may be founded on a verse from Tanach that has nothing at all to do with them.

Here are two examples from the Avodat Yisrael of the Kozhnitzer Maggid (1740-1814).

In Avot 4:1 Ben Azzai says:

אַל תְּהִי בָז לְכָל אָדָם וְאַל תְּהִי מַפְלִיג לְכָל דָּבָר, שֶׁאֵין לָךְ אָדָם שֶׁאֵין לוֹ שָׁעָה, וְאֵין לָךְ דָּבָר שֶׁאֵין לוֹ מָקוֹם

Do not scorn any person, and do not discount anything. For there is no person who has not his hour, and nothing that has not its place.

The Avodat Yisrael picks up on the word שָׁעָה, “hour”, and comments that there is no-one so low, so ignorant or so wicked that he does not have his moment before God, when he can pray before Him and even serve Him. Also, using the letters of the word שָׁעָה, he cites a verse from the story of Cain and Abel:

וְאֶל-קַיִן וְאֶל-מִנְחָתוֹ לֹא שָׁעָה

But to Cain and to his offering He [i.e. God] did not turn.

From this, the Avodat Yisrael infers that every person has the opportunity and the free will to repent because the Holy Spirit rests upon them.

In both these teachings, the Maggid reframes the mishnah by taking it from the context of interpersonal relationships and placing it in the context of man-and-God. It is improbable that Ben Azzai intended this. After all, why would anyone scorn or despise a fellow human being for having the chance to pray to God and repent?

On the one hand, a purist may object that this sort of use of Avot is a distortion of its original intent. Against that, it adds extra force to these teachings and makes them more memorable. I believe that, on balance, we have much to gain by using Avot in this way, so long as we never lose sight of the foundational meaning.

What do you think?