Avot in retrospect -- and a holiday break!

Chag same'ach lekulam!

Avot Today is taking a break but looks forward to returning to action after the holiday of Sukkot. Meanwhile, since many readers were so busy with the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur that they didn't have much spare time for reading our Pirkei Avot pieces, here's a summary of our September posts. Do feel free to browse them at your leisure -- and don't hesitate to comment on them if the moment inspires you. 

The Facebook group for Avot Today is where you will find comments already posted by other readers. All the September posts on this blog are replicated on Facebook, so you can conveniently share them with friends.

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September posts

Wednesday 27 September 2023: Sukkot and a methodology for teaching. Traditional Jewish learning techniques may at first seem random and disjointed -- but have Pirkei Avot and other ancient texts already anticipated later didactic notions?

Tuesday 26 September 2023: Not pillars but a conveyor belt? At Avot 1:2 Shimon HaTzaddik teaches that the world stands on three "things", which many people analogise to pillars. But is there a better analogy?

Sunday 24 September 2023: When God copies us. The concept of imitatio dei -- of us seeking to emulate God-- is so frequently cited that we may lose sight of the possibility that it works the other way round, particularly when it comes to giving others the benefit of the doubt (Avot 1:6).

Friday 22 September 2023: Do not stand alone. An awkward phraseology in R' Shimon ben Netanel's teaching (Avot 2:18) that one should not be wicked "before oneself" invites a creative interpretation. 

Thursday 21 September 2023: Finding our way in the dark. Taking a look at Avot 2:1, the Kozhnitz Maggid asks where we might get a fix for our moral compass when neither prophecy nor Heavenly voices are part of our daily routine.

Tuesday 19 September 2023: Getting a second opinion. Pirkei Avot has much to say about relying on the opinions of our sages -- but is there a presumption that one attaches oneself to just one of them at a time?

Thursday 14 September 2023: Rosh Hashanah in just two minutes. If the long religious services and sometimes puzzling prayers are too much for you, Avot 4:29 succinctly summarises the main points of the day.

Tuesday 12 September 2023: Keeping the line open. Looking at Avot 6:2, we note that you won't get the message -- whatever it may be -- if you are not ready and prepared to receive it. 

Sunday 10 September 2023: "Where do you come from, where do you go?" Akavya ben Mahalalel's famous mishnah at Avot 3:1 is not all about a sperm-to-worm life-cycle: it also admits of an historical perspective.

Wednesday 6 September 2023: Having a good shout. Avot is clear when it comes to controlling one's temper -- but what about displaying anger when one is not actually angry at all? 

Friday 1 September 2023: Absolute consciousness: are we aware of it? A question posed on one of the Dee Project Pirkei Avot sheets invites speculation as to whether we can even function as humans if we are totally aware of everything we do.

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Avot Today blogposts for August 2023 
Avot Today blogposts for July 2023
Avot Today blogposts for June 2023
Avot Today blogposts for May 2023
Avot Today blogposts for April 2023
Avot Today blogposts for March 2023

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

Were you away last month? Just got home and missed the latest posts on Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers? Here's a list of what you missed.

Wednesday 30 August 2023: Temper, Temper!: When we judge others who lose their temper, are we influenced by our own susceptibility to getting angry?

Monday 28 August 2023: Handle with care! Learning from tales of the Sages: In theory, we are deemed wise if we learn from everyone -- but are there limits on what we can learn from exceptional individuals?

Friday 25 August 2023: Eat your dinner, for Heaven's sake! Can self-indulgence be justified if one also has a more lofty mindset?

Wednesday 23 August 2023: Truth Lite, or the real thing? While Pirkei Avot endorses the value of truth, this is a commodity that comes in different strengths. How do we handle this?

Monday 21 August 2023: Three big no-nos -- not so bad after all: Rabbi Elazar HaKapar cautions against jealousy, lust and the desire for honour, but there is a place for them in the lives of every one of us.

Friday 18 August 2023: Recycling sins: a thought for Elul. In the month leading up to the Jewish new year and the Day of Atonement, we should ask how effectively we dispose of our bad deeds and bad habits and check that they do not resurface under another guise. 

Wednesday 16 August 2023: Misleading words: what we ask for. Again on the subject of truth, we take a look at the vocabulary of deceit.

Monday 14 August 2023: Rabbi Eliezer's good eye. Rabbi Eliezer's advice as to the good path that we should follow needs a bit of explanation. What does he mean by "a good eye"?

Friday 11 August 2023: Manna from Heaven and the power of ko'ach: We look at a puzzling baraita in the sixth perek of Avot and offer an explanation.

Wednesday 9 August 2023: When love is not enough, try fear instead: One of the talmidim of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai is praised for the quality of his fear of sin. What's so special about this? Is it not something that everyone should have?

Sunday 6 August 2023: Was Shakespeare Jewish? And is there proof in Pirkei Avot? A provocative article on the Aish website raises the issue of the Bard's religious affiliation. We examine some of the evidence.

Wednesday 2 August 2023: Don't say "Mummy's in the toilet!" Is it safe to tell a little white lie? Sometimes it seems you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

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Avot Today blogposts for July 2023
Avot Today blogposts for June 2023
Avot Today blogposts for May 2023
Avot Today blogposts for April 2023
Avot Today blogposts for March 2023
Avot Today blogposts for February 2023

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

If you were away or busy during July, you may have missed all or any of the posts listed below. Do please take the opportunity to enjoy them at your leisure now.

Sunday 30 July 2023: So what does it really mean to love peace? When you read the same words often enough and always hear the same explanation, it's easy to overlook the possibility that they may convey another meaning -- even with a topic as plainly obvious as Hillel's advice at Avot 1:12 to love peace. 

Wednesday 26 July 2023: Beyond understanding. Another piece of advice from Hillel is not to say anything that can't be understood if the objective is for other people to understand it (Avot 2:5). Do the mournful threnodies which we recite on Tisha b'Av breach this guidance?

Monday 24 July 2023: When two giants meet: a modern midrash? Our sages emphasise the importance of learning with enthusiasm and not letting one's mindset go stale (Avot 1:4). To illustrate this, R' Chaim Druckman records an encounter between the celebrated musician and composer Leonard Bernstein and the iconic artist Pablo Picasso. But did they ever meet, and does it matter whether this anecdote is true or not?

Friday 21 July 2023: Don't touch, don't even talk? One of the most controversial mishnayot in modern times is that of Yose ben Yochanan ish Yerushalayim, that one should not talk too much with even one's own wife, not to mention other people's. This difficult mishnah is tackled head-on in a new book, Reclaiming Dignity. 

Wednesday 19 July 2023: When it's time to raid the fridge... A baraita at Avot 6:4 urges the serious Torah student to adopt an ascetic lifestyle. But how far, and how long, need self-denial go?

Monday 17 July 2023: When Peter Rabbi met Pirkei Avot. A chance finding of two quite contrasting books on the same pile of unwanted literature opens up questions regarding the moral standards of one of Beatrix Potter's best-loved children's characters.

Friday 14 July 2023: Seeking out the hidden talent. R' Yaakov Hillel, commenting on Avot 1:13, laments the fact that people tend to follow big-name rabbis with high media profiles, while great Torah scholars are never recognised because they sit quietly learning away in out-of-the-way places. But how are we to find them when they are hidden?

Wednesday 12 July 2023: When knowing stuff is not enough. Exploring the parameters of Avot 4:1 (Who is wise? The person who learns from everyone), we ask whether emotional intelligence has a place in Pirkei Avot.

Monday 10 July 2023: Worth looking into. Here are four Avot-related snippets that may interest you. Enjoy!

Friday 7 July 2023: Peace and Pinchas -- again. We revisit the question whether Pinchas is an appropriate role model for peace seekers in light of an item in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

Wednesday 5 July 2023: Picking the right fight. Hillel (Avot 1:12) urges us to model ourselves on Aaron when pursuing peace. Why Aaron, we ask, and not Moses or Pinchas? 

Tuesday 4 July 2023: A hang-out for sages or a cause for jealousy? Yose ben Yo'ezer ish Tzeredah says (Avot 1:4) that we should open out homes to sages so that people will flock to our houses to hear and learn from them. What might happen if everyone tried to do this?

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Avot Today blogposts for June 2023
Avot Today blogposts for May 2023
Avot Today blogposts for April 2023
Avot Today blogposts for March 2023
Avot Today blogposts for February 2023
Avot Today blogposts for January 2023

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

If you were away or busy during June, you may have missed all or any of the posts listed below. Do please take the opportunity to enjoy them at your leisure now.

Thursday 29 June: Can It Ever  Be Uplifting to Lower One's Sights? Yose ben Yo'ezer Ish Tzeredah urges us to "wrestle in the dust" of wise visitors to our homes. Can we bring this advice up-to-date for you in your own home?

Tuesday 27 June 2023: When Your Working Lunch Brings Its Own Reward: At Avot 5:22, disciples of Abraham are described as "eating" in this world while inheriting the world to come. Does this mishnah really refer to eating food?

Sunday 25 June 2023: Good Things, Good People, Same Headache: Building on the previous post (below), we ask whether the "ban" on discussing matters beyond our capacity goes further than we may first have imagined.

Thursday 22 June 2023: Bad Things, Good People: A Debate to Avoid? Rabbi Yannai (Avot 4:19) warns us that the classic argument over why had things happen to good people should be avoided.

Tuesday 20 June 2023: Speaking Stones: One Story, Three Views: Love midrash or hate it, Avot can give it deeper meaning. Here's a popular children's tale that isn't for kids at all.

Sunday 18 June 2023: Rambam on Humility: Has This Message Timed Out? A remarkable commentary by Rambam on Avot 4:4 calls into question the applicability of ancient wisdom in modern times.

Thursday 15 June 2023: Love Work -- Seriously? Shemayah teaches us to love work. What on earth can he have had in mind? 

Monday 12 June 2023: The Problem of the Prodigiously-Praised Professor: Avot is full of cautions about cultivating humility and avoiding pride -- but pride feels so good and is dreadfully difficult to shrug off.

Friday 9 June 2023: What Shall We do with the Noxious Neighbour? Distancing oneself from a troublesome neighbour is easy -- in theory -- but compliance with the guidance of Nittai HaArbeli at Avot 1:7 is no easy matter today.

Tuesday 6 June 2023: The Case of the Pious Prankster: What does Avot have to say about a nice guy, friendly and religious, who has a penchant for playing little practical jokes?

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Avot Today blogposts for May 2023
Avot Today blogposts for April 2023
Avot Today blogposts for March 2023
Avot Today blogposts for February 2023
Avot Today blogposts for January 2023
Avot Today blogposts for December 2022

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted to the Avot Today Facebook Group in APRIL 2023: 

Friday 28 April 2023: Building a Career in Holiness: In this guest post from Shmuel Gorenstein, the influence of parents is matched with the impressionability of children (Avot 4:25) in the formation of one's character and qualities.

Thursday 23 April 2023: Acts of Kindness: How the Torah Records an Upgrade: Why is Pirkei Avot called Pirkei Avot ("Ethics of the Fathers")? Rav Druckman's book on Avot offers many explanations. Here's one of them.

Sunday 23 April 2023: Good Names, Bad Names: The value of a good name, i.e. a good reputation, is promoted in Avot -- but even good names might be problematic, it seems.

Thursday 20 April 2023: Humility, Heep and a Pile of Baggage: The word "humility" -- so often mentioned in Avot -- has a dreadfully old-fashioned flavour to it these days. Is there a more palatable way to express the concept?

Tuesday 18 April 2023: Now is the Time: A reminder that now is the ideal time to renew one's pursuit of Pirkei Avot studies and to buy a new book -- whether mine or anyone else's.

Sunday 16 April 2023: Making a Fence: Do We Really Need 5,000 commandments? Avot 1:1 teaches the need to build a fence around the Torah. But do more commandments keep more people in or out of Jewish life?

Wednesday 5 April 2023: Progressing from Pesach: it's the Torah that counts: There are 48 ways to acquire the Torah (Avot 6:6) but 49 days from Pesach to Shavuot. What can we learn from this numerical discrepancy?

Monday 3 April 2023: Trump, Netanyahu and Political Credibility: a Message for Pesach: How far, if at all, does Pirkei Avot condone the placing of trust in our political leaders?

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Avot Today blogposts for March 2023
Avot Today blogposts for February 2023
Avot Today blogposts for January 2023
Avot Today blogposts for December 2022
Avot Today blogposts for November 2022
Avot Today blogposts for October 2022

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted to the Avot Today Facebook Group in MARCH 2023: 

Wednesday 29 March 2023: Patience! Pirkei Avot is full of encouragement to practise various virtues, but not all are immediately apparent. Where, for example, does it teach about patience?

Monday 27 March 2023: But learning isn't quite everything. The significance and correlative benefits of Torah study are well known. But Avot 6:1 offers the prospect of a wide interpretation of what engagement in Torah actually entails.

Wednesday 22 March 2023: A "fitting" application of a prudent mishnah. Taking a view of what's coming ahead isn't just the prerogative of the scholar. Rabbi Shimon ben Netanel's advice applies to shelf-fillers too.

Friday 17 March 2023: Is the devil really in the detail? How does Pirkei Avot strike a balance between viewing the big picture and narrowing one's perspective?

Wednesday 15 March 2023: Body, soul and a torn-up prayer? How "fixed" does a prayer need to be? Pirkei Avot shines a light on a well-known Talmud passage concerning the last two congregants left in a place of prayer at night.

Monday 13 March 2023: Don't rush to answer! We learn from Avot of the importance of taking one's time before answering a question. There's more than one reason why this is a good reason.

Friday 10 March 2023: For heaven's sake! Forget fun, let's just talk of doing things well. Rabbi Yose HaKohen (Avot 2:17) teaches that whatever we do should be for the sake of heaven. Here Rabbi Berel Wein offers an original explanation of what this means.

Tuesday 7 March 2023: Purim! Handle with care. Many people get quite drunk when celebrating the festival of Purim. This practice comes with responsibilities too.

Monday 6 March 2023: Judging the Chafetz Chaim favourably. In his great book on guarding one's speech, the Chafetz Chaim looks as though he has missed a trick and forgotten to quote a mishnah from Avot. But this need not be the case.

Friday 3 March 2023: What the Dickens! Let's treat our children with respect. Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua (Avot 4:15) sets the bar high for the way we should behave towards our schoolkids. 

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Avot Today blogposts for February 2023
Avot Today blogposts for January 2023
Avot Today blogposts for December 2022
Avot Today blogposts for November 2022
Avot Today blogposts for October 2022
Avot Today blogposts for September 2022

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted to the Avot Today Facebook Group in FEBRUARY 2023: 

27 February 2023: Setting an example -- for good or otherwise. We revisit the position of politicians, who are uniquely equipped to influence us. How does their conduct measure up against Avot?

Friday 24 February 2023: It's not all in the mind... We have thoughts, we speak and we do things. Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi's mishnah at Avot 2:1 may be referring to God's perception of how we do these things.

Wednesday 22 February 2023: For Heaven's sake! We're just having fun. Is there a place for leisure activities in the serious upper reaches of Jewish commitment? 

Monday 20 February: If not now, when? A time for focus, a time for family. Does Hillel's famous teaching shed light on when young Torah scholars should get married?

Friday 17 February 2023: Learning from the lives of Torah sages: Avot 4:1 speaks of how the person who is wise is one who learns from everyone. But do we need caution when learning from rabbinical biographies?

Tuesday 14 February 2023: So do we praise poverty or not? In The Dignity of Difference Rabbi Lord Sacks writes: "Throughout its history, Judaism resisted any attempt to romanticize, rationalize or anaesthetize the pain of hunger, starvation, or need".  Does this accord with the teachings in Pirkei Avot and beyond?

Sunday 12 February 2023: Coming adrift in a sea of prayer: Praying while under the influence of a powerful pain-killer provides the context for a discussion of Rabbi Shimon ben Netanel's advice not to make one's prayer "fixed". 

Sunday 5 February 2023: Of Rabbis and Realities: two mishnayot in Avot tell us to make a rav, a teacher for ourselves. What do these teachings mean for the teachers we choose?

Friday 3 February 2023: Beshalach, be Grateful: In a Torah reading where God bestows so much kindness upon the enslaved nation that He has just emancipated, it's curious that no-one seems to say "thank you" for His efforts.

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Avot Today blogposts for January 2023
Avot Today blogposts for December 2022
Avot Today blogposts for November 2022
Avot Today blogposts for October 2022
Avot Today blogposts for September 2022
Avot Today blogposts for August 2022

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

 In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted to the Avot Today Facebook Group in JANUARY 2023: 

30 January 2023: Pirkei Avot and the Museum of Cultural Curiosities. We look at some pertinent observations by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and apply them to the current state of (lack of) interest in the Ethics of the Fathers.

27 January 2023: Questions, Answers and the Call of the Caterer. The question-and-answer methodology lies at the heart of Jewish learning, as Avot shows -- but it involves much more than looking for answers.

24 January 2023: Turn it over, turn it over! Here's a novel way to interpret a well-worn mishnah by Rabbi Tarfon that has been seized upon by all sorts of folk.

22 January 2023: 'Some Thoughts on Exile" Revisited. Looking back at our earlier post, we find a source that supports the concept of exile as a state of mind. 

20 January 2023: Dealing With Anger. Pirkei Avot has a good deal to say about anger and the need to control it. We review the topic and pose some helpful practical questions.

18 January 2023: Most-Read Avot Today Posts of 2022. The Facebook metrics show that, whatever thoughts we might have on the subject, readers go for those Jewish ethical posts that most intrigue them.

16 January 2023: The Perils of Teaching and the Danger of Words. Picking up on a point made by R' Mordechai Schiffman in Psyched for Avot, we discuss the value--if there be any--in issuing generalised warnings to people to be careful.

12 January 2023: Some Thoughts on Exile. The concept of exile is something that the Jewish people have had to grapple with for millennia, and Pirkei Avot teaches about it too. But is exile only a physical state? Maybe it is also a state of mind?

10 January 2023: Mishnayot in the Media: Which Bits of Pirkei Avot Get the Most Cites? Avot Today monitored references to Avot that were picked up by Google Alert, to see which soundbites and snappy sayings are most frequently used in the online media.

8 January 2023: The Trouble With Tongs. Avot 5:8 speaks of the creation of "tongs made with tongs". Is this invention a boon for mankind, or proof that man was made to toil?

6 January 2023: Kriat Shema on Our (Death)beds. This shared post, composed by Nate Light, discusses -- among other matters -- Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus's famous proposition that a man should repent the day before he dies.

5 January 2023: You're Telling Me That This Is a Blessing? Hillel (Avot 2:5) makes it plain that one should not say things that can't be understood if the objective is for them to be comprehended. Does the patriarch Jaob breach this guidance in the blessings he gives his sons?

1 January 2023: Is It Ever Possible to Act With a Totally Pure Motive? This post by Shmuel Phillips delves deeply into this question, which was addressed in Avot by Antigonos Ish Socho at Avot 1:3.

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Avot Today blogposts for December 2022
Avot Today blogposts for November 2022
Avot Today blogposts for October 2022
Avot Today blogposts for September 2022
Avot Today blogposts for August 2022
Avot Today blogposts for July 2022 

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted on Avot Today in DECEMBER 2022: 

Wednesday 28 December 2022: Focusing on prayer: a curious irony. How much thought has to go into one's prayers -- and what does Pirkei Avot have to say on the subject?

Friday 23 December 2022: The voice within. Rabbi Elazar ben Arach teaches the importance of knowing how to respond to a heretic -- but is the real threat the voice of one's own thoughts?

Monday 19 December 2022: A seasonal reading suggestion. Don't let your copy of Pirkei Avot hibernate: it's just as relevant in the winter as it is during the summer season.

Friday 16 December 2022: Doing something wrong? Then go with the flow. Can one make a valid distinction between normative and non-normative sin?

Monday 12 December 2022: Keeping the kernel, discarding the peel. Rabbi Meir was allowed to learn Torah from an apostate. Is this a precedent for us all or is a one-off?

Tuesday 6 December 2022: Good eye, good heart. The Hebrew terms ayin tovah and lev tov in Avot 2:13 demand explanation as much as translation. What are they about?

Monday 5 December 2022: Finding that right elusive path. At Avot 2:13, five distinguished Torah scholars answer the question "what is the good path for a person to follow?" Each gives a different answer -- but none suggests the path of learning Torah. Why?

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Avot Today blogposts for November 2022
Avot Today blogposts for October 2022
Avot Today blogposts for September 2022
Avot Today blogposts for August 2022
Avot Today blogposts for July 2022 
Avot Today blogposts for June 2022 

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

 In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted on Avot Today in NOVEMBER 2022: 

Tuesday 29 November 2022: Out of sight. Why is it that the sages of Avot give so much more attention to what we hear and what we say than to what we see?

Friday 25 November 2022: Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu: a Perek Man Personified. Avot Today recalls a great Torah personality.

Wednesday 23 November 2022: When Perek meets Pardes. A remarkable application by the Malbim of an apparently simple mishnah in Avot provides a chance to contrast two ways of learning a mishnah: extracting a meaning from it and injecting a meaning into it.

Tuesday 22 November 2022: Not just what his rebbe taught him. Avot Today takes note of a recent book on Pirkei Avot that is quite outspoken and provocative in places.

Sunday 20 November 2022: Ask no questions? How should we respond when someone asks us a totally unnecessary question?

Wednesday 16 November 2022: Pirkei Avot, politics and a job not yet done: does the use of maxims from Pirkei Avot in political speeches reduce them to mere platitudes?

Monday 14 November 2022: Dealing with insults. On the second anniversary of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks' passing, we recall one of his most Avot-friendly attributes.

Friday 11 November 2022: Cull, control or cultivate: what should we do about self-esteem? Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks appear to hold different views regarding self-esteem -- but these positions are not necessarily in conflict with one another.

Wednesday 9 November 2022: Psyched for Avot: a new series. Rabbi Dr Mordechai Schiffman launches a regular feature, to appear in the Jewish Press, which looks at Avot through the eyes of a Torah scholar who is also a licensed psychologist.

Monday 7 November 2022: Can we all be winners? Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks' predilection for zero-sum outcomes and cooperative action is gently reflected in a teaching of Ben Zoma at Avot 4:1.

Thursday 3 November 2022: After the event: what next? The Israeli general election is now over. How should the winners and losers behave--and by what standards should the incoming government be measured?

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Avot Today blogposts for October 2022
Avot Today blogposts for September 2022
Avot Today blogposts for August 2022
Avot Today blogposts for July 2022 
Avot Today blogposts for June 2022 
Avot Today blogposts for May 2022

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted on Avot Today in OCTOBER 2022: 

Monday 31 October 2022: Are you voting for a golem? The day before the Israeli elections, Avot Today asks searching questions about the characters for whom we are invited to vote.

Friday 28 October 2022: Noah and the limits of patience. The righteous captain of the Ark is name-checked twice in Avot. Are these references purely historical or can we learn from them?

Wednesday 26 October 2022: Relevance in retrospect. Here's a commentary on Pirkei Avot that was published way back in 2007. Called Relevance, is it still relevant today?

Monday 24 October 2022: The Bad Neighbour problem: Nittai HaArbeli (Avot 1:7) warns us to keep far away from a bad neighbour. Is this practical in today's world -- and how, if at all, does it apply to the social media?

Friday 21 October 2022: Gratitude versus Jealousy: keeping it in the family. A curious piece of advice from Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky appears to place different provisions of Pirkei Avot in conflict with one another.

Thursday 20 October 2022: Quarterly Report: Avot in the Online Media. We take a look at the extent to which the provisions of Pirkei Avot are quoted on the internet. Which teachings are hot -- and which are not?

Tuesday 18 October 2022: Crowds: it'll take a miracle ... A mishnah in the fifth perek of Avot states that non-one complained of overcrowding in Jerusalem in Temple times. Two thousand years later, how do we match up to our forebears?

Friday 7 October 2022: The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth? We take a look at the central role of truth in Jewish ethics.

Tuesday 4 October 2022: Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we repent. On the eve of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, we remember that Avot has something constructive to say on the topic.

Monday 3  October 2022: Do it deliberately! We all act on autopilot sometimes, but the advice of the Men of the Great Assembly is that we should stop and think before taking decisions,

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Avot Today blogposts for September 2022
Avot Today blogposts for August 2022
Avot Today blogposts for July 2022 
Avot Today blogposts for June 2022 
Avot Today blogposts for May 2022
Avot Today blogposts for April 2022

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted on Avot Today in SEPTEMBER 2022: 

Friday 30 September 2022: Is a bur a boor, or something more? We look at the three-way relationship between learning Torah, having a day job and fearing sin.

Wednesday 28 September 2022: Don't just sit and learn! For God's sake get a job ... Pirkei Avot offers support to both sides of the learn-or-work debate -- and here's a fresh perspective on it.

Sunday 25 September 2022: Shanah Tovah! A happy new year to you all. For once, here's a post that is self-explanatory.

Friday 23 September 2022: Lions, foxes and a mysterious proof verse. Several classical commentators explain the mishnah about being a tail to lions rather than a head to foxes by reference to a verse from Proverbs that no longer appears in the Ethics of the Fathers.

Wednesday 21 September 2022: Portrait of a prophet: another reason for not judging by appearances; A midrashic "case study" of Moses shows the dangers of superficial assessment of others.

Monday 19 September 2022: Do good, feel bad? Fulfilment of a divine commandment should make us feel great about ourselves. Avot advocates the virtues of charitable giving, though that can have quite the opposite effect.

Sunday 18 September 2022: A vanishing hatred. We take a deeper look at Ben Azzai's warning that we should not regard any fellow human lightly.

Friday 16 September 2022: Goodwill to all men. How can we ascertain whether the idea of greeting everyone with a cheerful countenance really does mean "everyone" and not just other Jews?

Wednesday 14 September 2022: Avot, Elul and repentance: it's not too late. A few simple thoughts about the best way to make use of the month that leads up to the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Tuesday 13 September 2022: Does God accept bribes? A further comment. We look at the Meiri's contribution to this great debate.

Sunday 11 September 2022: Escape from captivity. Rabbi David Hazan's David BaMetzudah opens with a description of the unusual circumstances in which he came to write his commentary on Avot.

Friday 9 September 2022: Are you a man or a chameleon? Is a person's individuality compromised by the need to conform to norms and meet the needs of others, or is it determined by these things? 

Monday 5 September 2022: Left dangling: limits to free will revisited. Returning to one of Judaism's favourite topics, we suggest that there is a half-way stage between total free will and complete predestination.

Sunday 4 September 2022: Orphaned, Unloved: Another seemingly unwanted commentary on Pirkei Avot is unearthed. Information concerning it and its author is earnestly requested.

Friday 2 September 2022: Seniors and Juniors: One can learn a lot from those higher up in the hierarchy and those below, even though what one learns may be quite different in each case.

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Avot Today blogposts for August 2022
Avot Today blogposts for July 2022 
Avot Today blogposts for June 2022 
Avot Today blogposts for May 2022
Avot Today blogposts for April 2022
Avot Today blogposts for March 2022

Avot in retrospect: a summary of last month's blogposts

In case you missed them, here's a list of items posted on Avot Today in AUGUST 2022:

Tuesday 30 August 2022: Watch what you say -- and what you do: a new slant on Avtalyon: It's not just a teacher's words that can mislead pupils, as the Tiferet Tzion explains.

Sunday 28 August 2022: Teachers and students: As the new academic year approaches, it's time to review the teaching relationship and the need for integrity and trust.

Friday 26 August 2022: Well-worn mishnah, well-worded explanation. Tiferet Tzion offers a neat and practical way to look at Yehoshua ben Perachya's classic teaching.

Tuesday 23 August 2022: Ethics without Avot? A reading of the 1972 essay collection Modern Jewish Ethics: Theory and Practice raises questions as to the relevance of the Ethics of the Fathers to ethics of any description.

Sunday 21 August 2022: Freedom of choice and lined writing paper: There is more than one way of viewing the famous free will v determinism conundrum of Rabbi Akiva.

Thursday 18 August 2022: Does God accept bribes? Both the written Torah and its oral counterpart assert that God has no favourites and takes no bribes -- but that has not stopped humans seeking to gain influence with Him.

Wednesday 17 August 2022: Abarbanel in brief. We welcome a precis of the Abarbanel's mammoth commentary on Avot.

Monday 15 August 2022: Hedgehogs, foxes and the "one great thing": Sir Isaiah Berlin's classic essay sparks off some thoughts on what it takes to be a practising Jew, contrasting the position of the written Torah with that of Avot.

Friday 12 August 2022: Harry Potter and the Tractate of Truth. Is it appropriate to write an explanation of the teachings in Avot in light of the Harry Potter books, or is it disrespectful or downright harmful?

Thursday 11 August 2022: Kids' Stuff: We take note of a recent children's book that is designed as an entertaining introduction to Avot.

Monday 8 August 2022: Slipping into holiday mode: what would Shammai say? "Making one's Torah fixed" is not just a lesson for people learning Torah -- it applies to us when we go away on vacation too.

Friday 5 August 2022: Comforting us on Tisha be'Av: an application of Avot: On this saddest of days in the Jewish calendar, we recite the consolatory prayer of Nachem only in the afternoon prayers. A reading of Avot discloses why this may be so.

Wednesday 3 August 2022: Preparing to say goodbye: A recent program on planning for death opens a discussion here about how far Pirkei Avot addresses that delicate issue.

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Avot Today blogposts for July 2022 
Avot Today blogposts for June 2022 
Avot Today blogposts for May 2022
Avot Today blogposts for April 2022
Avot Today blogposts for March 2022
Avot Today blogposts for February 2022