Put not your trust in princes

Tehillim 146:3 opens with a line that has become so much a part of colloquial English that many people have no idea of its origin in the book of Psalms:

אַל-תִּבְטְחוּ בִנְדִיבִים בְּבֶן-אָדָם שֶׁאֵין לוֹ תְשׁוּעָה

Put not your trust in princes nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Ferber, in the first volume of Si’ach Tzvi—his commentary on the siddur—explains this verse by reference to the question posed by Hillel at Avot 1:14:

אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי

If I am only for myself, who am I?

For Rav Ferber the whole point of this verse in Tehillim is therefore to encourage us to seek to rely on our own efforts instead of trusting others since they can’t be expected to have our interests at heart. And it’s not just princes that one shouldn’t trust. Even בֶן-אָדָם, our own child, even if we have imbued him with our own ru’ach.

This explanation deserves comment. In the first place, Avot already cautions us explicitly not to rely on the powers that be, as Rabban Gamliel ben Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi cynically observes at Avot 2:2:

הֱווּ זְהִירִין בָּרָשׁוּת, שֶׁאֵין מְקָרְבִין לוֹ לְאָדָם אֶלָּא לְצֹֽרֶךְ עַצְמָן, נִרְאִין כְּאוֹהֲבִין בְּשַֽׁעַת הַנָּאָתָן, וְאֵין עוֹמְדִין לוֹ לְאָדָם בְּשַֽׁעַת דָּחֳקוֹ

Be careful with the government, for they befriend a person only for their own needs. They appear to be friends when it is beneficial to them, but they do not stand by a person at the time of his distress.

Rav Ferber does not however cite this teaching.

Secondly, in Higionei Avot, Rav Ferber’s commentary on Pirkei Avot, there is not even a smidgeon of reciprocity in his commentary on Hillel’s teaching at 1:14.  He makes no mention of not putting one’s trust in princes. Instead, he discusses ִ אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִיwithin the context of a person’s need to find the level that is right for him when he tries to balance within himself the competing middot of arrogance and humility. Likewise, he makes no reference to Tehillim in 146:3, where he discusses the “government” in Rabban Gamliel’s mishnah as government by one’s evil inclinations.

All of this leads me to ask whether, without noticing, we practise double standards when appraising the methodology of our rabbinical scholars. There seems to be a thriving cottage industry in trawling the words of Maimonides in search of contradictions and inconsistencies, which are then endlessly analysed for clues of his true position on philosophy or religion. Yet with relatively recent commentators such as Rav Ferber one might be justified in concluding that he is demonstrating the multifaced nature of our ancient teachings and canonical literature, which can be explained and illuminated in so many different ways.

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