Only a short while ago we discussed two related mishnayot at opposite ends of the first chapter of Avot, but we are going to return to them again.
At Avot 1:2, Shimon HaTzaddik teaches us that the world
depends on three things:
עַל שְׁלֹשָׁה
דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד: עַל הַתּוֹרָה, וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה, וְעַל גְּמִילוּת
חֲסָדִים
The world stands on three things:
Torah, divine service and acts of kindness.
However, at Avot 1:18, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel teaches:
עַל שְׁלֹשָׁה
דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם קַיָּם: עַל הַדִּין, וְעַל הָאֱמֶת, וְעַל הַשָּׁלוֹם,
שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: אֱמֶת וּמִשְׁפַּט שָׁלוֹם שִׁפְטוּ בְּשַׁעֲרֵיכֶם
By three things is the world
sustained: justice, truth and peace. As it says: "Truth, and a judgement
of peace, you should administer at your gates.''
There are many commentaries on the significance of the difference
between these two lists. Some link them, maintaining that justice, truth and
peace correspond to Torah, divine service and acts of kindness. Others argue
that the two mishnayot convey separate messages, delivered at different
junctures in Jewish history. The explanations are all plausible and have their
merits.
I’ve been thinking about this pair of teachings says to me.
How should I reconcile them?
My conclusion is that Shimon HaTzaddik’s teaching and that
of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel complementary and serve different functions.
Torah, divine service and acts of kindness share a common
feature. They are all means of achieving an end. That end can be laudable or not, as the case
may be. Thus a person can learn Torah in order to get closer to God and do His
will, or so that people will give him respect when he basks in the prestige of
being a Torah scholar (see Rabbi Tzadok at Avot 4:7). Divine service, both in
the sense of Temple sacrifices and as prayer, can be for worthy or unworthy purposes,
and even acts of kindness can be demonstrations of one’s selfishness, as we
learn from the midrashic teaching that about the chasidah (stork) displaying
kindness only to its own kind.
So how do we know if our Torah, divine service and acts of
kindness are worth anything, or whether we are just walking the walk and going
through the motions? It’s because truth, justice and peace are the yardsticks
of one’s performance.
How does this work? If these three classes of action are the
means of achievement, then justice, truth and peace are the objectives that
these means are intended to achieve. Thus if one’s study of Torah, divine
service and acts of kindness are not directed towards the acceptance of truth,
the creation of a society based on justice and the establishment of peace and
harmony between potential points of conflict, one’s efforts are in vain.
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