Avos 2:15-16

בס׳ד

אבות ב:טו/טז

Rabbi Tarfon says: The day is short, the work is heavy, and the workers are lazy - but the pay is rich, and the Boss is in a hurry! He used to teach: It’s not your responsibility to finish the work, but you’re not free to give it up; If you’ve learned lots of Torah, you’ll get a great reward, for your Foreman can be trusted to pay you exactly what your work is worth; And know this - the reward of the righteous is in the coming Future.

רַבִּי טַרְפוֹן אוֹמֵר, הַיּוֹם קָצָר וְהַמְּלָאכָה מְרֻבָּה, וְהַפּוֹעֲלִים עֲצֵלִים, וְהַשָּׂכָר הַרְבֵּה, וּבַעַל הַבַּיִת דּוֹחֵק: הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה. אִם לָמַדְתָּ תוֹרָה הַרְבֵּה, נוֹתְנִים לְךָ שָׂכָר הַרְבֵּה. וְנֶאֱמָן הוּא בַעַל מְלַאכְתְּךָ שֶׁיְּשַׁלֵּם לְךָ שְׂכַר פְּעֻלָּתֶךָ. וְדַע מַתַּן שְׂכָרָן שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא:

        Rabbi Tarfon served as a Kohen in the Temple as a boy and, after the Hurban, seems to have studied at Yavneh.  But he is not listed in Avos 2:8 as one of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai’s major disciples. Nevertheless,  if you compare his teaching in Avos 2:16 to that of Rabbi Elazar (Avos 2:14) you’ll find some obvious similarities.  The ambiguity about Rabbi Tarfon’s relationship to the main disciples at Yavneh probably explains why the Mishnah lists his teachings after theirs.  His important student, Rabbi Yehudah ben Ilai, was a great scholar in the Ushan yeshivah who contributed hundreds of halakhic rulings to the Mishnah.

        Time obviously weighed heavily on Rabbi Tarfon’s mind.  As a boy, he had known a sense of eternity and timelessness that filled the Temple during the sacrificial avodah.  He had himself experienced the loss of that sense of timelessness as Roman legions battered down the walls of Yerushalayim and put the Temple itself to the torch.  He knew how time consumes everything.  So he teaches how to use our time to recover eternity - put your time into Torah, the eternal communication of HaShem and His community.

        As he says in his first teaching: we have but one “day” to do more work than can ever be packed into it, and we barely feel able to begin - yet the labor we put into Torah will bring eternity back to us.  Do you feel overwhelmed?  Of course!  That’s why Rabbi Tarfon reminds us in his second teaching that we aren’t responsible for doing it all - but we have no excuse for failing to make the effort.  All of us must contribute our share to the overcoming of the sense of time that separates us from the eternal presence of HaShem in His Torah.  The coming Future, in Rabbi Tarfon’s opinion, is exactly the recovery of eternity, when the timelessness of the Mikdash becomes available to us once again as the beauty of Torah becomes fully revealed among us.

&&&

Avos 2:14

בס׳ד

אבות ב:יד

Rabbi Elazar says: Be diligent in Torah study; Know how to respond to an Apikoros; And know before whom you labor, For your Foreman can be trusted to pay you exactly what your work is worth.

רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי שָׁקוּד לִלְמֹד תּוֹרָה, וְדַע מַה שֶּׁתָּשִׁיב לְאֶפִּיקוֹרוֹס. וְדַע לִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עָמֵל. וְנֶאֱמָן הוּא בַעַל מְלַאכְתְּךָ שֶׁיְּשַׁלֶּם לָךְ שְׂכַר פְּעֻלָּתֶךְ:

        Rabbi Elazar’s three teachings can be interpreted to be each dependent on the other.  That is: “Be diligent in Torah study SO THAT you’ll know how to respond to an Apikoros.  And know that your labor in study and argument is part of your service to HaShem.”  In other words, our duty to study Torah is part of our duty to explain and defend Torah in places where it is undermined or scorned.

       The word Apikoros has no real translation. Some meforshim interpret it in light of the Hebrew root p-k-r (פ.ק.ר) which seems to be part of the word.  The root means “to abandon”.”  The Hebrew word, hefker (“abandoned property”), is formed from this root.  From this point of view, an Apikoros is a person who has abandoned himself to his immediate desires.  Such a person - Jew or Gentile - might want to defend his or her choices by arguing against the way of life mandated by the Torah.  Our own studies in learning and embodying Torah should give us the knowledge and moral strength to know how to reply to such a person.

        Historically speaking, however, the word Apikoros is the Hebrew version of the Greek word Epikuros (“Epicurean”).  The Epicureans were a major philosophical community of the Roman Empire at the time of the  Rabbis.  Their founder, Epicurus, established a school called “the Garden”.  There he taught that the highest wisdom and the greatest happiness is gained through the pursuit of physical and intellectual pleasure.  He also taught that the world was a collection of random events without overall plan,  that no divine mind worked behind the scenes to give coherence and direction to events.

        The Sages of the Mishnah shared with the Epicureans the ideal of pursuing wisdom, of course.  But they disagreed completely that the highest human fulfillment can be gained through pleasure alone, undisciplined by devotion to the service of HaShem.  And, because of their absolute trust in “hashgacha protis (“Divine Providence”), they rejected Epicurean teachings about the meaningless of events.  For these reasons, the Sages singled out the Epicureans - the Apikorsim - as the most dangerous of the philosophical schools of the ancient world.  It seemed to the Sages that they taught pleasure without responsibility and celebrated a world essentially empty of HaShem’s guidance.  For this reason, according to Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1, the Apikorsim have no hope of sharing in the transformed state of the world - the unhindered pleasures and immediate sense of Hashem’s presence - that Jews and righteous Gentiles will enjoy in the Coming World  presided over by HaShem and His Mashiakh.  In Avos 3:11 we’ll encounter some further categories of Apikorsim.

&&&

Avos 2:13

בס׳ד

note: please take the time to let us know who you are and where you are from.  You can submit a comment or email me privately at jaffee613@gmail.com.  (ed.)

אבות ב:יג

Rabbi Shimon says: Be very careful in reciting the Shma and the Prayer; When you pray, don’t pray by rote; Rather beg for mercy and condolence from the Blessed Source, As it is said: “For He is gracious and merciful, patient and generous, forgiving evil” (Yoel 2:13); And don’t treat yourself as if you were wicked.

רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי זָהִיר בִּקְרִיאַת שְׁמַע וּבַתְּפִלָּה. וּכְשֶׁאַתָּה מִתְפַּלֵּל, אַל תַּעַשׂ תְּפִלָּתְךָ קֶבַע, אֶלָּא רַחֲמִים וְתַחֲנוּנִים לִפְנֵי הַמָּקוֹם בָּרוּךְ הוּא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (יואל ב) כִּי חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם הוּא אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב חֶסֶד וְנִחָם עַל הָרָעָה. וְאַל תְּהִי רָשָׁע בִּפְנֵי עַצְמְךָ:

        Each of Rabbi Shimon’s teachings asks us to approach our prayer as the most important part of our day.  The idea of being “very careful” means, first of all, to keep our mind in touch with the meaning of the words we are saying.  This is just about the hardest mitzvah to fulfill in any consistent way.  But we must remember that recitation of the Shma is nothing less than the acceptance, twice a day, of HaShem’s dominion over our lives.  In the first paragraph we acknowledge HaShem’s unity and our obligation to love Him; in the second we confess confidence in the promises He offers us in His covenant; in the third we acknowledge His redemptive love for us in the past and our trust in the redemptive future.

        The Shmoneh Esreh requires an entirely different kind of attention from us.  As the Rabbis taught us, the Shmoneh Esreh is our opportunity to offer sacrifice to HaShem now that the Temple is destroyed.  Therefore, when we recite it we must take at least as much care as the Kohanim used to take in the Temple when they offered the daily Tamid offering.  Rabbenu Yonah knew a version of this mishnah which said that we should take more care in reciting Shma than the Shmoneh Esreh.  He understood this to refer to the fact that the obligation to recite the morning Shma must be fulfilled earlier than the Shmoneh Esreh.  Since there is less time to recite it, we might be tempted to rush it.  For this reason, we must take care to recite it properly.

        This is also the point of not “praying by rote.”  When we pray and pay attention to what we’re doing we will be able to get in touch with that part of us which always is in desperate need for HaShem.  But if we rattle off our prayers without thinking about them we cheat not only HaShem, to whom we pray, but ourselves.  We are just babbling. This perspective on the mishnah is reflected in Avos d’Rabbi Noson’s version of this mishnah which reads: “don’t treat your prayer like a chat.” (A, 17).

        Rabbi Shimon’s final teaching is perhaps the most important piece of psychological advice one can learn.  If you convince yourself you are wicked, you have then given yourself a whole list of excuses that prevent you from improving yourself.  If you say, “I’m a rasha, what can I do?”, you actively prevent yourself from benefitting from the purifying effects of Torah and mitzvahs.  Even worse, you justify your failings by making them seem out of your control. None of us can claim to be a tzaddik - but as Jews who have a share in the Torah of HaShem, we all have a basic capacity to climb the ladder of kedushah through the life of Torah.

        

&&&

Avos 2:12

בס׳ד

אבות ב:יב

Rabbi Yose says: Let your friend’s property be as precious to you as your own; Discipline yourself to study Torah, for knowledge of it isn’t your birthright; And may all your actions serve heaven.

רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, יְהִי מָמוֹן חֲבֵרְךָ חָבִיב עָלֶיךָ כְּשֶׁלָּךְ, וְהַתְקֵן עַצְמְךָ לִלְמֹד תּוֹרָה, שֶׁאֵינָהּ יְרֻשָּׁה לָךְ. וְכָל מַעֲשֶׂיךָ יִהְיוּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמָיִם:

        Rabbi Eliezer (Avos 2:10) has already advised us to protect our friends’ honor as our own.  But why does Rabbi Yose now tell us to treat our friends’ property as we would our own?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to point out that material possessions of any kind are of no real value compared to the possessions of the spirit we acquire through Torah and mitzvahs?  The advice should be: “have no regard for your own property; and pay no attention to that of your friend!”

        Rabbi Moshe Alashkar, one of the great teachers of the Spanish Exile, has a good solution that is quoted in the Midrash Shmuel. Rabbi Yose’s advice is a kind of training against the “wicked eye” that Rabbi Yehoshua has mentioned in the previous mishnah.  One interpretation of the phrase “wicked eye” is “resentment,” an unhealthy preoccupation with what others have.  That resentment is a direct result of failing to remember that possessions are ultimately of little value.  

        Rabbi Yose’s second teaching seems to contradict a point made by his teacher, Rabbi Yohanan.  In Avos 2:8 Rabbi Yohanan reminds us not to take our attainments in Torah study as some sort of honor, since “that’s why you were created.”  So how can Rabbi Yose now tell us that the Torah isn’t our birthright? Don’t we sing every Simhas Torah that Torah tziva lanu Moshe, morashah kehillas Yaakov (“Moshe taught us Torah, a heritage for the Congregation of Yaakov”)?  It’s not hard, really, to see what Rabbi Yose is saying.  Torah was given to us as a possession, but we must actively master it through careful and diligent study.  It only becomes OURS when we learn it.  It won’t just fall into our laps without our active engagement with it.  This way of looking at Rabbi Yose’s comment also helps us connect it to his first teaching.  We should honor our friends’ possession of Torah as much as our own.  That is, don’t let resentment of your friends’ mastery of Torah paralyze your own efforts!

        Rabbi Yose’s final teaching seems obvious - of course, everything we do should be intended as service of HaShem.  Doesn’t this go without saying?  The Midrash Shmuel has a remarkable interpretation of this advice that throws a whole new light on it.  He links the thought to Rabbi Yose’s second teaching about Torah study.  Part of our service to HaShem, says Midrash Shmuel, should include the study of the world’s religions!  “It’s not farfetched,” he says, “to claim that Rabbi Yose is cautioning us to be diligent in studying foreign wisdom that is not our inheritance…We need to study and understand other religions in order to know how to answer Jews who reject Judaism in favor of others.  And this will lead to the Sanctification of the Name of Heaven.”  One way of preserving the honor of Torah in a non-Jewish world is to know how to interpret the meaning of Judaism in ways that will help alienated Jews understand the treasures in their own backyard.

        Here’s a true story.  One time after teaching my course in Introduction to Western Religions, one of my students came up to me and said: “I think I was raised sort of Reform.  Now I think I understand how much my parents cheated me!”  I told her that it would be better for her to understand the pressures that made her parents do what they did rather than resent them.  But she should also look for a deeper engagement with HaShem through her own Judaism.

&&&

Avos 2:11

בס׳ד

אבות ב:יא

Rabbi Yehoshua says: A wicked eye, The rebellious desire, And hatred of others, Drive a person from the world.

רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אוֹמֵר, עַיִן הָרָע, וְיֵצֶר הָרָע, וְשִׂנְאַת הַבְּרִיּוֹת, מוֹצִיאִין אֶת הָאָדָם מִן הָעוֹלָם:

        The mishnah keeps surprising us!  It told us that each of Rabbi Yohanan’s disciples taught three lessons.  Yet we just saw that Rabbi Eliezer is assigned four lessons, and now Rabbi Yehoshua is assigned a single lesson that makes three points.  In order to understand them we have to ask, first of all: what does it mean to be “driven from the world?”

        Most likely it means “to suffer an early death.”  On one level, Rabbi Yehoshua teaches that a sour outlook on life, an attitude of hostility to Torah, and the rejection of solidarity with other people is a recipe for physical illness.  This is because the source of physical vitality that keeps us healthy goes beyond good food and rest.  Our physical health is sustained by our relationships to the world, to HaShem through Torah, and to the people we encounter every day.

        But there is also a second kind of death involved here.  If we cut ourselves off from these crucial relationships, we actually amputate a part of ourselves.  We lose the compass that keeps us oriented towards the things that give our lives substance and joy.  This is a moral and psychological death that is in a way worse than a physical one.  The body and its functions survive but our lives are “over” in a deeper way, since we connect to nothing real.  A similar point is made by Rabbi Eliezer HaKappar in Avos 4:21.

&&&

Avos 2:10

בס״ד

אבות ב:י

        

Each of them taught three lessons: Rabbi Eliezer says: Let your friend’s honor be as precious to you as your own; And don’t be easily angered; And return to HaShem one day before you die. And warm yourself in the fire of the Sages, but beware of being burned by their coals! For they bite like foxes, sting like scorpions, hiss like snakes, and all their words are like fiery cinders!

הֵם אָמְרוּ שְׁלשָׁה שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים. רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, יְהִי כְבוֹד חֲבֵרְךָ חָבִיב עָלֶיךָ כְּשֶׁלָּךְ, וְאַל תְּהִי נוֹחַ לִכְעֹס, וְשׁוּב יוֹם אֶחָד לִפְנֵי מִיתָתְךָ. וֶהֱוֵי מִתְחַמֵּם כְּנֶגֶד אוּרָן שֶׁל חֲכָמִים, וֶהֱוֵי זָהִיר בְּגַחַלְתָּן שֶׁלֹּא תִכָּוֶה, שֶׁנְּשִׁיכָתָן נְשִׁיכַת שׁוּעָל, וַעֲקִיצָתָן עֲקִיצַת עַקְרָב, וּלְחִישָׁתָן לְחִישַׁת שָׂרָף, וְכָל דִּבְרֵיהֶם כְּגַחֲלֵי אֵשׁ:

        The mishnah announces that each of Rabban Yohanan’s disciples taught three main lessons, but immediately assigns four teachings to Rabbi Eliezer.  Among the great meforshim there are more disputes about how to count Rabbi Eliezer’s teachings than about what they mean!

        My translation follows Rambam, who lists “let your friend’s honor” and “don’t be angered” and “return to HaShem” as Rabbi Eliezer’s three teachings. The separate paragraph “warm yourself” is not Rabbi Eliezer’s own teaching, but something he heard others say. Rashi, however, counts “let your friend’s honor” and “don’t be easily angered” as a single teaching.  That is, if you are very careful about your friend’s self-respect you’ll be able to control your anger if he irritates you.  In this way of counting, the second teaching begins “return to HaShem” and the third is “warm yourself.”  Finally, there is the opinion of the French Talmudist, Rabbi Menachem Meiri.  He believes that the first three teachings are from Rabbi Eliezer, but the paragraph “warm yourself” was added to the mishnah by a later scribe and has nothing whatever to do with Rabbi Eliezer!

        We won’t solve these problems here, that’s for sure.  Let’s look at the teachings themselves.  Rashi is certainly right in seeing a deep connection between the first two teachings.  A person swept away by anger and resentment is never free to see the needs of others.  He will always be trapped in his own desire for honor, viewing others as instruments for his own needs.  When they fail him, his anger becomes uncontrollable.  The only way to break out of this circle is to move beyond one’s own needs to be concerned for those of ones friends.  As ego evaporates, so does the origin of anger.

        On the surface, the advice to “repent one day before you die” is impossible.  How do you know which day you’ll die?  As most meforshim explain, the point is simply this: do teshuvah EVERY day!  This explanation is also the key to understanding Rabbi Eliezer’s three teachings as a coherent lifestyle.  If you take every daily act of davening as an opportunity to express a sincere confession of your own failings, you’ll be released from the anger and resentment that prevents you from being loving and respectful towards others.

        

        The final teaching in the mishnah is the most difficult one.  Why should we not get too close to the Sages?  How can people who embody Torah cause us harm?  Rambam and others suggest that we shouldn’t act thoughtlessly in the presence of Torah-sages.  We should try to get close enough to absorb their teachings, but not so close that we forget the distance of breeding and wisdom that separates us.

        There is a startling teaching of the Baal Shem Tov recorded in Keser Shem Tov #244.  He says that each Sage, being human, has moments of spiritual grandeur (gadlus), during which his prayer and Torah overflow to illuminate his disciples, and spiritual starvation (qatnus),  during which his “fire” dies down to “coals.”  As disciples, we must remember to let the moments of fire warm us; but we must also be careful not to use our teachers’ human failings as excuses to lower the standards that we ourselves strive for.  In other words, the Besht is telling us that we must take immense responsibility for our own spiritual growth. We need our Sages as examples.  But we also need our own judgement to know WHEN to use our teachers as examples and when NOT to!

        

&&&       

Avos 2:9

בס״ד

אבות ב:ט

        

He said to his disciples: Go out and discover which is the good path that a person should stick to. Rabbi Eliezer says: A good eye! Rabbi Yehoshua says: A good friend! Rabbi Yose says: A good neighbor! Rabbi Shimon says: An ability to see what’s coming! Rabbi Elazar says: A good heart! He said to them: I prefer the words of Elazar ben Arakh, for your words are included in his. He said to them: Go out and discover which is the wicked path that a person should avoid. Rabbi Eliezer says: A wicked eye! Rabbi Yehoshua says: A wicked friend! Rabbi Yose says: A wicked neighbor! Rabbi Shimon says: One who borrows and does not repay!  One who borrows from people is like one who borrows from the Blessed Source, as it is said: “An evil person borrows but doesn’t repay, but a righteous person is generous in giving” (Tehillim 37:21). Rabbi Elazar says: A wicked heart! He said to them: I prefer the words of Elazar ben Arakh, for your words are included in his.

אָמַר לָהֶם, צְאוּ וּרְאוּ אֵיזוֹהִי דֶרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה שֶׁיִּדְבַּק בָּהּ הָאָדָם. רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, עַיִן טוֹבָה. רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אוֹמֵר, חָבֵר טוֹב. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, שָׁכֵן טוֹב. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, הָרוֹאֶה אֶת הַנּוֹלָד. רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אוֹמֵר, לֵב טוֹב. אָמַר לָהֶם, רוֹאֶה אֲנִי אֶת דִּבְרֵי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲרָךְ מִדִּבְרֵיכֶם, שֶׁבִּכְלָל דְּבָרָיו דִּבְרֵיכֶם. אָמַר לָהֶם צְאוּ וּרְאוּ אֵיזוֹהִי דֶרֶךְ רָעָה שֶׁיִּתְרַחֵק מִמֶּנָּה הָאָדָם. רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, עַיִן רָעָה. רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אוֹמֵר, חָבֵר רָע. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, שָׁכֵן רָע. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, הַלֹּוֶה וְאֵינוֹ מְשַׁלֵּם. אֶחָד הַלֹּוֶה מִן הָאָדָם, כְּלֹוֶה מִן הַמָּקוֹם בָּרוּךְ הוּא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים לז) לֹוֶה רָשָׁע וְלֹא יְשַׁלֵּם, וְצַדִּיק חוֹנֵן וְנוֹתֵן. רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אוֹמֵר, לֵב רָע. אָמַר לָהֶם, רוֹאֶה אֲנִי אֶת דִּבְרֵי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲרָךְ מִדִּבְרֵיכֶם, שֶׁבִּכְלָל דְּבָרָיו דִּבְרֵיכֶם:

        Although most versions of this mishnah have Rabban Yohanan asking his disciples about a “straight” path (derekh yesharah), many manuscripts of the mishnah, including the one used by the Rambam, speak about a “good” path (derekh tovah).  I’ve chosen Rambam’s version to translate for three reasons. First, a “good” path contrasts best with the “wicked” path mentioned in Rabban Yohanan’s second question.  Second, Rabban Yohanan’s disciples all answer his question by using the word “good” rather than “straight”.  Finally, if Rabban Yohanan had asked about the “straight” path, why would Rabbi have asked the same question in Avos 2:1?

        This mishnah, as the Tosfos Yom Tov notices, is a beautiful example of Rabban Yohanan’s style as a teacher.  He tells his disciples to “go out and discover” for themselves the traits that distinguish a good life from a wicked life. Why doesn’t he ask them, instead, to make a catalog of the traits that the Torah itself describes as good and evil?  Because it’s easy to read any book, even the Torah, as if it were a source of information that we could tuck away and “master.”  We could list all the “good” and “wicked” people in the Torah and hold forth endlessly about their traits.  And, after all that, we could be totally untouched in our own hearts by what we had “learned.” Rabban Yohanan’s approach is different.  He KNOWS that his disciples know what’s in the Torah. But he wants them to experience for themselves the challenge of LIVING with the Torah.  So he asks them: “Having lived with the Torah and observed how others live with it, what’s the ESSENCE of the moral life?”

        Notice that each disciple replies by focusing on a distinct aspect of life and highlighting its positive and negative potential.  Rabbi Eliezer’s mention of the good and wicked eye is a reference to “outlook.”  In his opinion, our ability to live with Torah is dependent upon the outlook on the world we bring to Torah.  A “good eye” will enable us to see life as a series of opportunities for embodying the Torah, while a “wicked eye” will find ways of proving that “the Torah doesn’t apply to this situation!” (See Avos:5:19!)

        Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Yose focus on relationships as the crucial factor that determines how we live with the Torah. Surrounding ourselves with good company - friends or neighbors - gives us reinforcement and examples that enable us to make our choices based upon the Torah rather than our own narrow self-interest. If, on the other hand, we surround ourselves with people who pay no attention to Torah, we will ultimately be swayed by their example and lose our direction as Jews.

        Rabbi Shimon’s responses are unique, since they break the pattern of “good/bad” answers.  And his own answers don’t seem to balance each other. Rambam, the Midrash Shmuel, and Tiferes Yisroel are very helpful here.  In their opinion, the person who “sees what’s coming” is one who knows that whenever he makes a choice without a grounding in Torah, he is going to ultimately make a bad choice.  It follows that a person who “borrows and doesn’t repay” is an example of just such a bad choice, for he fails to see the consequences for himself and others of disregarding the Torah’s prescription for creating justice and honor.

        The answer of Rabbi Elazar of Arakh - focusing on the qualities of the heart - receives Rabban Yohanan’s highest praise.  But the mishnah doesn’t explain exactly how Rabbi Elazar’s words include those of his other fellows.  Perhaps the point is this - the desire to transgress must be dominated by the “heart” together with the mind. The “heart” represents this unification into a coherent and harmonious center of moral judgement.  A person with a balanced heart who moves through life with the good outlook recommended by Rabbi Eliezer, will associate with the good people recommended by Rabbis Yehoshua and Yose, and will surely embody Rabbi Shimon’s ability to “see what’s coming.”  Likewise, a person with a wicked heart will go astray in all the predictable ways.

        

&&&