At Avot 3:18 Rabbi Akiva burrows into three verses from Tanach in order to prove how dear are humans—and especially Jewish humans—to God. The mishnah runs as follows:
חָבִיב אָדָם
שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְּצֶֽלֶם, חִבָּה יְתֵרָה נוֹדַֽעַת לוֹ שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְּצֶֽלֶם,
שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: כִּי בְּצֶֽלֶם אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֶת הָאָדָם.
חֲבִיבִין יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנִּקְרְאוּ בָנִים
לַמָּקוֹם, חִבָּה יְתֵרָה נוֹדַֽעַת לָהֶם שֶׁנִּקְרְאוּ בָנִים לַמָּקוֹם,
שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: בָּנִים אַתֶּם לַייָ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.
חֲבִיבִין
יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנִּתַּן לָהֶם כְּלִי חֶמְדָּה, חִבָּה יְתֵרָה נוֹדַֽעַת לָהֶם
שֶׁנִּתַּן לָהֶם כְּלִי חֶמְדָּה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: כִּי לֶֽקַח טוֹב נָתַֽתִּי
לָכֶם, תּוֹרָתִי אַל תַּעֲזֹֽבוּ
Beloved is man, for he was created in [God’s] image; with even greater love
it was made known to him that he was created in [God’s] image, as it says,
"For in the image of God He made man" (Bereishit 9:6).
Beloved are Israel, for they are called children of God; with even greater
love it was made known to them that they are called children of God, as it is
stated: "You are children of the Lord your God" (Devarim 14:1).
Beloved are Israel, for they were given a precious article; with even
greater love it was made known to them that they were given a precious article,
as it is stated: "I have given you a good advice; My Torah, do not forsake
it" (Mishlei 4:2).
This is another instance of a mishnah that appears to
consist of “take it or leave it” statements with which one may agree or
disagree but which don’t appear to interfere with our daily lives. As I have
written in previous posts, the Bartenura maintains—and no commentator argues
with him—that the function of Pirkei Avot is to teach moral precepts and
ethical guidance for our own conduct in the course of our lives. That leaves no
room for decorative statements that seem to be there for their own sake.
Rabbi Berezovsky opens with words of foundational advice: בָּנִים אַתֶּם
לַייָ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, "You
are children of the Lord your God”.
But, while Rabbi Akiva tells us that these words reflect God’s love for
us, Rabbi Berezovsky takes them in a different way. Yes, we are God’s
children—but being a child implies a duty towards one’s parent, in this case
God.
Wha duty is this? The answer is derived from another verse
from Proverbs: מוּסַר יְהוָה, בְּנִי אַל-תִּמְאָס (Mishlei 3:11). Conventionally translated
as “My son, do not despise the mussar of God”, these words are taken to
be advice given by a father to a son. However, here they are given a Chasidic
spin. The speaker is taken to be God Himself and He is speaking to His children,
commanding them not to despise His mussar. Since all Jews are God’s
children (בָּנִים אַתֶּם לַייָ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם), God is speaking
individually to each one of us and He is telling us to respect and pay
attention to His moral guidance.
So Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Berezovsky are pulling this verse
in opposite directions. But do they actually disagree with one another? In
practice, probably not. Let us return to the first of Rabbi Akiva’s verses: כִּי בְּצֶֽלֶם
אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֶת הָאָדָם. It is axiomatic that this verse cannot be
taken literally for two obvious reasons. First, so far as we believe and
understand, God has no perceptible image and cannot be seen. This means that
even if He has an image, we would not know what it is. Secondly human beings
are remarkably diverse in their own appearance: they share no “image”. This had
led our sages to conclude that “image” here refers to qualities that God
possesses and lets us perceive, and which in one form or another we can
perceive in ourselves. Just as God is merciful, we can be merciful; just as God
is kind, we can be kind, and so on (Shabbat 133b).
Turning to the third verse in Rabbi Avika’s mishnah, the
counsel that God has given us and which we are charged not to forsake is not
only the written Torah but the web of complex social and behavioural norms that
govern our conduct towards others as well as towards God and indeed ourselves.
Putting this all together, we now see two things.
One is that Rabbi Berezovsky’s first advice to the young
bridegroom is to be conscious at all times that, though he may feel he is the
master of his new home—and indeed of his new wife—he is perpetually bound by
his paternal ties to his Creator, who expects him to act with dignity,
propriety, kindness and loyalty, as befits a prince, the son of the King.
The other is that Rabbi Akiva’s verses are there to be
internalized and acted upon. Because God loves His human creations, He has
given them the means to emulate Him. These means are encapsulated in the Torah
He has given them, and since they are His children, they are fully accountable
to Him.
For comments and discussion of this post on Facebook,
click here.
