Avos 1:3

בס״ד

אבות א:ג

Antigonus of Sokho accepted the gift of Torah from Shimon the Tzaddik. He used to teach: Don’t act like servants who attend their Master expecting to accept some reward. Rather, act like servants who attend their master without expecting to accept some reward. And then the majesty of Heaven will be with you always!

אַנְטִיגְנוֹס אִישׁ סוֹכוֹ קִבֵּל מִשִּׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אַל תִּהְיוּ כַעֲבָדִים הַמְשַׁמְּשִׁין אֶת הָרַב עַל מְנָת לְקַבֵּל פְּרָס, אֶלָּא הֱווּ כַעֲבָדִים הַמְשַׁמְּשִׁין אֶת הָרַב שֶׁלֹּא עַל מְנָת לְקַבֵּל פְּרָס, וִיהִי מוֹרָא שָׁמַיִם עֲלֵיכֶם:

        If you look through the entire Tanakh you will not find the name “Antigonus”.  The reason is that it’s not a Jewish name at all.  But it was a very common name in the Greek culture in which the Jews of Eretz Yisroel lived from the time of Shimon the Tzaddik and onward.  Shortly after Shimon’s death there had been a High Priest, named Yehoshua, who took the Greek name, Jason.  And even a descendant of Yehudah HaMakkabi—a Hasmonean King and High  Priest who was given a good Jewish name, Yonatan—called himself “Alexander Jannaeus!”  His wife, Queen Shlomtzion (she has a street named after her today in Yerushalayim—Rehov Shlomtzion HaMalka), called herself Alexandra Salome!  Talk about assimilation!  And it even goes in reverse.  Jews started taking the name Alexander in honor of the Greek general who met Shimon the Tzaddik.  Eventually, the name became assimilated in Judaism.  If you know anyone with the Yiddish name, Zender or Sender, that’s short for Alexander.

        This mishnah proves to us, however, that names aren’t everything.  Maybe Antigonus of Sokho called himself “Avi” when he went up to the Torah, who knows?  But as a transmitter of Moshe Rabbenu’s Torah from Sinai, we remember him by his treyf name, Antigonus!  Every Jew, no matter how much he or she might superficially adopt “foreign” ways, is fully qualified to embody some aspect of Torah—if their inner life is shaped by the devoted service of HaShem.

        And this is just the point of Antigonus of Sokho’s teaching about serving HaShem without concern for material rewards.  Make your daily life a way of serving HaShem’s purposes no matter what the personal consequences.  The “reward” of living a life of service to HaShem is not measurable in the world’s scale of values.  The reward is in the ability to feel that HaShem’s Presence is never far off so that, wherever you are and whatever you do, the majesty and awe of Heaven inspires your deeds.

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