Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai and his five famous talmidim are
a topic to which we have turned often in recent times. Indeed, they seem to
provide an inexhaustible supply of discussion points for those keen on finding
a fresh element of mussar, Jewish ethical teaching, that may have lain
quietly concealed for centuries—or longer.
So let’s return to Avot 2:13. I’m starting here not, as I
usually do, with the Hebrew text, but with the popular Chabad online
translation which reads:
[Rabbi Yochanan] said to them: Go
and see which is the best trait for a person to acquire. Said Rabbi Eliezer: A
good eye. Said Rabbi Joshua: A good friend. Said Rabbi Yossei: A good neighbor.
Said Rabbi Shimon: To see what is born [out of ones actions]. Said Rabbi
Elazar: A good heart. Said He to them: I prefer the words of Elazar the son of
Arach to yours, for his words include all of yours.
The term “the best trait for a person to acquire”,
also used by Gila Ross (Living Beautifully), may seem a bit bland but
otherwise unexceptionable, but it is not wrong in terms of our need to find good
guidance in life and then stick to it. There are other ways to express the same
notion. For example:
·
“the straight path to which
a person should adhere” (Rabbi David Sedley, Rabbeinu Yonah,
Rodin edition);
·
“the upright path to which
a person should cleave” (Rav Asher Weiss on Avos) and “the good
way to which a man should cleave” (R’ Shlomo Toperoff, Lev Avot);
· “the best path for a person to attach himself to” (R’ Tal
Moshe Zwecker, Ma’asei Avos), “attach himself” also being used by Rabbi
Yisroel Miller, The Wisdom of Avos;
· “the proper path to which a man should cling” (Rabbi
Abraham J. Twerski, Visions of the Fathers)—the word “cling” also being
favoured by Chanoch Levi’s translation of the Ru’ach Chayim, by Rabbi
Lord Jonathan Sacks.
Now let’s look at the original Hebrew. Our Tanna uses the
word שֶׁיִּדְבַּק sheyidbak:
אָמַר לָהֶם:
צְאוּ וּרְאוּ אֵיזוֹ הִיא דֶּֽרֶךְ טוֹבָה שֶׁיִּדְבַּק בָּהּ הָאָדָם
This word suggests a degree of devekut, an attachment
of a powerful nature, or even bonding (in modern Hebrew the same root gives us devek,
“glue”). But does it really matter which English word is chosen, and why? I
think it can.
Rabbi Norman Lamm (Foundation of Faith, edited by
Rabbi Mark Dratch) picks up on the force of the word sheyidbak when he explains
our mishnah in Avot. Going for the cling option, he unexpectedly points
to a passage from the Book of Ruth (1:14):
וַתִּשֶּׂנָה
קוֹלָן, וַתִּבְכֶּינָה עוֹד; וַתִּשַּׁק עָרְפָּה לַחֲמוֹתָהּ, וְרוּת דָּבְקָה
בָּהּ
And they [i.e. Naomi’s
daughers-in-law Ruth and Orpah] lifted up their voice, and wept again; and
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
On this Rabbi Lamm writes:
“And Orpah kissed (n-sh-k)
her mother-in-law, whereas Ruth clung (d-v-k) to her”. Their
descendants, David and Goliath, are referred to in the Talmud as “the sons of devukah
who vanquished the sons of neshukah”.
Now here comes the crunch point, the powerful mussar
concealed within an apparently innocent word in the English translation:
“There are two universal types:
clingers and kissers—those who are authentically loyal and those who merely
blow kisses. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai challenges his students to discover the
trait to which a person should cling, not to which he might merely pay lip
service”.
What a remarkable way to wring a sharp point of mussar
out of what appears to be a mere side-issue in the mishnah as a whole.
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