Many times in Pirkei Avot we find a mishnah in which a Tanna says three or more things. A typical example is Avot 1:7, where Nittai HaArbeli says:
הַרְחֵק
מִשָּׁכֵן רָע, וְאַל תִּתְחַבֵּר לָרָשָׁע, וְאַל תִּתְיָאֵשׁ מִן הַפּוּרְעָנוּת
(i) Distance yourself from a bad neighbour, (ii) do not stick to a wicked
person, and (iii) do not abandon belief in retribution.
Commentators have long discussed the significance of these
grouped teachings: are they put together because they are intended to be
understood or interpreted in the context of each other? Or are they separate,
free-standing teachings that do not in any way demand to be associated with one
another, being brought together only for the sake of making them easier to
remember? This is the only place in Avot where we find Nittai’s words. Keeping them
together in the same mishnah makes them easier to recall than if they had been
scattered through different chapters.
We can also find examples of mishnayot containing teachings that
are more challenging to connect. Thus we see the following from Rabbi Tzadok (Avot
4:7):
אַל תִּפְרוֹשׁ
מִן הַצִּבּוּר, וְאַל תַּֽעַשׂ עַצְמְךָ כְּעוֹרְכֵי הַדַּיָּנִין, וְאַל
תַּעֲשֶֽׂהָ עֲטָרָה לְהִתְגַּדֶּל בָּהּ, וְלֹא קַרְדּוּם לַחְתָּךְ בָּהּ
(i) Do not separate yourself from
the community. (ii) Do not make yourself like a lawyer. (iii) Do not make the
Torah a crown with which to glorify yourself, or a spade with which to dig
…
Here the connections between the three teachings are far
less obvious.
Among commentators there are those who strive to find connections
wherever possible on the ground that, if there no such connections, the teachings
would not have been grouped together in the same mishnah. According to Shimon
Abu (Shomanu Avotenu), this principle derives support from Rashi (Betzah
2a, at se’or bekezayit), and scholars such as Rabbi Ovadyah Hedayah (Seh
leBet Avot) apply it rigorously.
The problem with this principle is that there are so many
mishnayot in which connections are not apparent and attempts to make them seem
contrived to the student. For example, in Avot 2:15, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus
says four things (officially three) which can be connected but only at the
expense of plausibility:
יְהִי כְבוֹד
חֲבֵרָךְ חָבִיב עָלֶֽיךָ כְּשֶׁלָּךְ, וְאַל תְּהִי נֽוֹחַ לִכְעוֹס. וְשׁוּב
יוֹם אֶחָד לִפְנֵי מִיתָתָךְ. וֶהֱוֵי מִתְחַמֵּם כְּנֶֽגֶד אוֹרָן שֶׁל
חֲכָמִים, וֶהֱוֵי זָהִיר בְּגַחֲלָתָן שֶׁלֹּא תִכָּוֶה, שֶׁנְּשִׁיכָתָן
נְשִׁיכַת שׁוּעָל, וַעֲקִיצָתָן עֲקִיצַת עַקְרָב, וּלְחִישָׁתָן לְחִישַׁת
שָׂרָף, וְכָל דִּבְרֵיהֶם כְּגַחֲלֵי אֵשׁ
(i) Let the honour of your fellow
be as precious to you as your own, and (ii) do not be easy to anger. (iii) Repent
one day before your death. (iv) Warm yourself by the fire of the sages, but be careful
not to get burned by its embers; for their bite is the bite of a fox, their
sting is the sting of a scorpion, their hiss is the hiss a serpent, and all
their words are like fiery coals.
My feeling is that, when approaching any compound mishnah, one
can maximise the scope for learning from it by taking the following route:
- Examine the possibility that two or more teachings in the same mishnah may be connected, or may even constitute a single teaching, but accept that this may not be the case.
- Where there is no apparent connection between distinct teachings, accept the possibility that they were understood to be related when Rebbi compiled the mishnah but that we no longer possess Rebbi’s understanding of what they meant.
- Whether connectivity between teachings in a single mishnah is established or not, examine each one separately and consider its content without reference to the others.
- Where a connection between component parts of a mishnah can only be established by coming up with an explanation that appears awkward or contrived, ask yourself whether—if that is the correct meaning—it is a meaning that Rebbi would have considered valuable enough to transmit through the generations.
- Never let a methodology for learning a mishnah distort or obliterate the plain meaning of the words which the Tanna chose in teaching that mishnah.
I’m sure many readers of this post will have other suggestions,
some of which may prove more useful when learning Avot. If you are such a
reader, please share your thoughts.
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