Big brother, or book learning?

For some people the third of Rebbi’s teachings at Avot 2:1 has a slightly menacing flavour:

הִסְתַּכֵּל בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה דְבָרִים, וְאֵין אַתָּה בָא לִידֵי עֲבֵרָה, דַּע מַה לְּמַֽעְלָה מִמָּךְ, עַֽיִן רוֹאָה וְאֹֽזֶן שׁוֹמַֽעַת, וְכָל מַעֲשֶֽׂיךָ בְּסֵֽפֶר נִכְתָּבִים

Contemplate three things and you will not come to the hands of transgression. Know what is above you: a seeing eye, a listening ear, and all your deeds are inscribed in a book.

The fictional nightmare of George Orwell’s 1984, a world of constant surveillance of the actions of individuals, became a reality years ago. We have become quite used to security cameras and to developments in computing and AI that create the uncomfortable impression that there are machines out there that know more about ourselves than we do. Many commentators on Avot, even in earlier generations, were quick to remind us that God sees and hears everything we do—and that nothing is omitted from His database of human actions, words and thoughts.

Rabbi Yaakov Hillel (Eternal Ethics from Sinai) brings a refreshing perspective to the part of the mishnah that mentions how our deeds are written in a book. For most of us the message of Rebbi is a cautionary one: don’t do it or, if you do it, don’t imagine that you can get away with it without being noticed. But Rabbi Hillel finds a positive message in it too.

Many of us are occasionally motivated to raise our game, as it were, and cultivate a more spiritual attitude towards the way we live in this, our physical and materialistic world. But from where can we derive our spiritual inspiration?

The path to one’s spiritual elevation isn’t tangible; it isn’t something that can be seen. We don’t normally experience spiritual visions and, if we started telling people we were having them, they would likely consider us likely candidates for psychiatric care. Likewise, though a baraita at Avot 6:2 mentions a Heavenly voice emanating daily from Mount Horeb (Sinai), our non-prophetic ears are not equipped to pick up celestial soundbites. That leaves only books.

Our Sages old and new have left us with a rich literary heritage in terms of Jewish subject matter: halachah, mussar, midrash, kabbalah, chassidut, philosophy and much more besides. If we find the right books, we can grow from them, enriching our understanding, our commitment and ultimately our closeness to God. So, explains, Rabbi Hillel, when our mishnah states that “all your deeds are inscribed in a book”, we can take this to mean that all our deeds—the deeds which we consciously seek to emulate or implement in our own lives—are already written down in the kodesh books we read. All we have to do is follow the instruction we find in the printed word.

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Our three best friends

At Avot 4:13 we learn that there’s more to being good than getting rewarded, and more to being bad than being punished. According to Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov our good and bad deeds effectively speak for us. Our actions, personalised in this way, can thus supply clues as to our motivation: they can expose our grace and generosity when we do good things—and the malice and madness with which we do the opposite. He explains:

הָעוֹשֶׂה מִצְוָה אַחַת, קֽוֹנֶה לּוֹ פְּרַקְלִיט אֶחָד, וְהָעוֹבֵר עֲבֵרָה אַחַת, קֽוֹנֶה לּוֹ קַטֵּגוֹר אֶחָד, תְּשׁוּבָה וּמַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים כִּתְרִיס בִּפְנֵי הַפּוּרְעָנוּת

Someone who fulfils one mitzvah acquires for himself one advocate; but someone who commits one transgression gains himself one accuser. Repentance and good deeds are like a shield against retribution.

In other words it’s not enough to say simply that “actions speak louder than words”. In Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov’s view the actions speak both for themselves and for the person who commits them.  One’s actions are a matter of record. According to Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi (Avot 2:1) they are, so to speak, filmed, taped and recorded in writing. But the reasons for doing what we do are quite another matter. And that’s what our mishnah is about.

Gila Ross (Living Beautifully) describes the workings of this Mishnah in the following way:

A person gets a court summons. He has three friends to whom he reaches out for help.

His first friend says, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you”.

The second friend says, “You know what? I’ll come with you all the way to the courthouse, but from there you are on your own”.

His third friend says, “I will come, and I will be a character witness for you”.

Each of us has these three friends in our lives: Our first friend is the possessions that we have. They accompany us through life but, the moment life is over, they’ve gone. We can’t take any of our possessions with us. Then we have our family and our loved ones who are great friends throughout life. When a person passes on. They will accompany him until burial. Beyond that, they can’t really be with the person. There’s only one friend who stays with us all the way through to our accounting in the Next World. These are our actions and our good deeds; they are our character witnesses.

This idea of being accompanied into the Next World by nothing but one’s good deeds and Torah learning has a good Avot pedigree, being spelled out in a baraita at 6:9. But, however attractive this prospect appears, we are supposed—as Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov reminds us here—to remember the downside. It’s not just our friends who stick with us to the end and testify to our character. Our ‘enemies’ do so too—and there’s enough room in the metaphorical celestial courtroom for every one of them.

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Repentance and good deeds: you can't have one without the other

Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov says (Avot 4:13), “A person who performs a single mitzvah (positive commandment) acquires for himself a single advocate, and a person who transgresses a single averah (negative precept) acquires for himself a single accuser. Repentance and good deeds are like a shield against retribution.” 

Teshuvah (repentance) and ma’asim tovim (good deeds) are demanded together in this Mishnah on the basis that they are effective only in combination with one another. Repentance is all very well, but only God knows what truly lies in a person’s heart and mind. In the absence of some visible, physical activity, there is no evidence that any teshuvah has occurred. Likewise, good deeds are always welcome, but they may do not by themselves constitute a sign of penitence. 

What is meant by good deeds in the absence of repentance? Consider the possibly familiar scenario in which a child, having kicked a ball through a window-pane while his parents were out, seeks to do some helpful deed around the house like tidying his room or cleaning his shoes. The child does not repent of playing ball indoors, even if his parents strictly prohibited him from doing so, since the chances are that he will do so again (though a little more carefully). He is however in fear of what his parents might say or do when they return home and see the shards of shattered glass, so—unrepentant as he may be—he still seeks to ameliorate the nature of their response. 

Half-way between a person’s thoughts, known only to God, and his actions, visible to all, is a space that is occupied by speech. Words spoken by a person can offer a window on to his thoughts, but not a guarantee that what is said is an accurate reflection of what is felt. Thus the words “I’m sorry …” indicates a speaker’s regret, but not in a clear and unambiguous manner. They may mean “I’m sorry for what I did, irrespective of whether it hurt anyone or not,” “I’m sorry that what did I hurt you” or “I’m sorry I didn’t hurt you more.” A full apology or statement of regret, spoken as if it is sincerely meant, is always a good start, but no more than that. That is why good deeds are needed as well as repentance; they are evidence of sincerity.