Material wealth, human needs: when does a luxury become a necessity?

Some mishnayot in Avot generate never-ending and ever-inconclusive arguments which, in the great and noble tradition of “how long is a piece of string?”, are by their very nature simply incapable of being resolved. A classic example is found in an extract taken from Avot 2:2 where Rabban Gamliel, son of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, teaches:

יָפֶה תַּלְמוּד תּוֹרָה עִם דֶּֽרֶךְ אֶֽרֶץ, שֶׁיְּגִיעַת שְׁנֵיהֶם מַשְׁכַּֽחַת עָוֹן, וְכָל תּוֹרָה שֶׁאֵין עִמָּהּ מְלָאכָה סוֹפָהּ בְּטֵלָה וְגוֹרֶֽרֶת עָוֹן

Torah study is good together with derech eretz [usually translated here as a job or occupation], for the exertion of them both makes sin forgotten. All Torah study that is not joined with work will cease in the end, and leads to sin.

While the length of a piece of string has just one variable, without which its length cannot be determined, Rabban Gamliel’s teaching consists of almost nothing but variables: what constitutes Torah study, what the ambiguous term derech eretz means in this context, the quantification of the relative portions of Torah and derech eretz that produce the result, not to mention the parameters of sin. Does “sin” for this purpose encompass the transgression of the Torah’s prohibitions alone or does it embrace also the failure to fulfil positive commandments, and is “sin” defined solely by legal parameters or does the concept also include a failure to live up to the standards set by the middot, the good ethical and behavioural qualities that are articulated in Pirkei Avot itself?

Rabbi Yaakov Hillel renders derech eretz as “earning a living”—a term that we understand well today but which can’t help being a variable because our material demands are not objectively determined but vary as between communities, families and individuals. This variation is recognised outside Avot, in the context of charity. Rambam (Mishneh Torah, hilchot Matanot le’Aniyim 7:3) explains:

לְפִי מַה שֶּׁחָסֵר הֶעָנִי אַתָּה מְצֻוֶּה לִתֵּן לוֹ. אִם אֵין לוֹ כְּסוּת מְכַסִּים אוֹתוֹ. אִם אֵין לוֹ כְּלֵי בַּיִת קוֹנִין לוֹ. אִם אֵין לוֹ אִשָּׁה מַשִּׂיאִין אוֹתוֹ. וְאִם הָיְתָה אִשָּׁה מַשִּׂיאִין אוֹתָהּ לְאִישׁ. אֲפִלּוּ הָיָה דַּרְכּוֹ שֶׁל זֶה הֶעָנִי לִרְכֹּב עַל הַסּוּס וְעֶבֶד רָץ לְפָנָיו וְהֶעֱנִי וְיָרַד מִנְּכָסָיו קוֹנִין לוֹ סוּס לִרְכֹּב עָלָיו וְעֶבֶד לָרוּץ לְפָנָיו שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר דֵּי מַחְסֹרוֹ אֲשֶׁר יֶחְסַר לוֹ. וּמְצֻוֶּה אַתָּה לְהַשְׁלִים חֶסְרוֹנוֹ וְאֵין אַתָּה מְצֻוֶּה לְעַשְּׁרוֹ

We are commanded to give a poor person according to what he lacks. If he lacks clothes, we should clothe him. If he lacks household utensils, we should purchase them for him. If he is unmarried, we should help him marry. And for an unmarried woman, we should find a husband for her. Even if the personal habit of this poor person was to ride on a horse and to have a servant run before him and then he became impoverished and lost his wealth, we should buy a horse for him to ride and a servant to run before him, providing him with enough to[fill the lack that he feels. You are commanded to fill his lack, but you are not obligated to enrich him.

Within Avot, our rabbis challenge us to find the right balance in our daily lives between learning Torah and earning a living. A baraita at Avot 6:4 advocates living a life of poverty and physical hardship, subsisting on a diet of bread and salt and sleeping on the ground while engaging solely with Torah. But, taken at face value, Rabban Gamliel’s strong recommendation that one blend Torah learning with a day job seems far more in accord with modern expectations and propensities.

What does Rabbi Yaakov Hillel himself say (Eternal Ethics of the Fathers, Avot 2:2)? His words are instructive. After giving the now routine warning about the dangers of rampant materialism and soaring expectations, he writes:

…We are here for Torah, not for money. We cannot ignore the need to pay the bills, but we must keep our priorities in good order.

As with every decision we make, we need to be aware of exaggerating in either direction. In our times, if a family’s life is very difficult and very deprived, the wife may find it unbearable and reach the brink of collapse.... The children may turn away from Torah altogether … Our generation is not up to handling too much suffering, and we cannot live differently from everyone around us …

This is a remarkable concession to reality, on the part of one of the strictest and most unyielding modern commentators on Avot. We find here both an indication that, while the values of Pirkei Avot have not changed, people have, and a recognition of the power exerted by peer pressure in the modern world.

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