Avos 1:6-7

בס״ד

אבות א:ו-ז

Yehoshua ben Perhya and Nittai of Arbel accepted the gift of Torah from them. Yeshoshua ben Perahya says: Make for yourself a Master; Create for yourself a study partner; And judge each person more kindly than they deserve. Nittai of Arbel says: Avoid a bad neighbor; And don’t associate with the wicked; And don’t despair—everyone will ultimately get what they’ve earned!

יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן פְּרַחְיָה וְנִתַּאי הָאַרְבֵּלִי קִבְּלוּ מֵהֶם. יהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן פְּרַחְיָה אוֹמֵר, עֲשֵׂה לְךָ רַב, וּקְנֵה לְךָ חָבֵר, וֶהֱוֵי דָן אֶת כָּל הָאָדָם לְכַף זְכוּת: נִתַּאי הָאַרְבֵּלִי אוֹמֵר, הַרְחֵק מִשָּׁכֵן רָע, וְאַל תִּתְחַבֵּר לָרָשָׁע, וְאַל תִּתְיָאֵשׁ מִן הַפֻּרְעָנוּת:

        

The two Yoses taught general principles (klalim) about the importance of turning our homes into places of Torah and hospitality.  Their two main disciples, Yehoshua ben Perahya and Nittai of Arbel, now teach the details (pratim).  It is not enough to open your doors to Sages or to “wallow in the dust of their feet” as Yose ben Yoezer taught.  Nor is it enough to maintain open doors to all guests, as Yose ben Yohanan insisted.  Here we learn how to apply these teachings in practice.

        Yehoshua ben Perahya focuses on the relationships that make it possible to learn Torah from others.  There are two kinds of relationships in which we learn.  The first is when we learn from someone who knows more than we do.  The second is when we learn from our peers.  Yehoshua ben Perahya uses two words for these types of learning.  We “make” (in Hebrew oseh, עשה) our Master, but we “create” (qoneh, קנה) our study partner.  What is behind the use of these different words?

        In the Psalms that we sing during Hallel, HaShem is calledOseh Shamayim ve-Aretz, the “Maker of Heaven and Earth.”  That is, in His desire for the world’s companionship, He called it into existence from nothing.  Similarly, in our own desire for Torah, we should call a Master into existence, even where a teacher might seem scarce.  This is what Rambam means in his comment on Yehoshua ben Perahya’s teaching: “Even if a person isn’t really suitable to be your Master, you must place him in the position of authoritative Master, and continue to learn from him until he truly fulfills your expectations for wisdom.”  Just as HaShem allowed himself to become related to the world, through his love and concern for it, we must enable ourselves to learn how to be connected to a teacher, even if we have to first lower our expectations.  Everyone who teaches Torah in honesty and respect is someone from whom we can learn humility.

        The word qoneh also carries an important lesson.  In the Torah, when Avraham Avinu receives his blessing from Malkhizedek, the Priest of Shalem, Malkhizedek says: “Blessed be Avram from God Most High, Qoneh (Creator) of Heaven and Earth” (Genesis 14:9).  To call HaShem “Creator” in this sense is to acknowledge that he “owns” the world that He has made.  That is why, in Hebrew, the same word means “to buy” and “to create”.  Just as HaShem created the world and now possesses it, Yehoshua ben Perahya tells us to create a study partner so that we can truly possess the Torah we learn from each other.

        Either way, the point is that true Torah-study takes place in relationship to another person.  By making ourselves a teacher, we humble ourselves and accept that we always need instruction from those wiser.  By creating for ourselves a study partner, we have the beautiful experience of completely sharing our discoveries in Torah.  And this sharing roots them firmly in our memories, so that as we come to possess Torah, it also comes to possess us and speak in our own voices and through the faces and gestures of those with whom and from whom we learn.

        The result is spelled out in Yehoshua ben Perahya’s last point.  Having learned the humility of our own limitations in learning, and having seen how much we have grown in our shared learning with a friend, we are truly able to give each new person the benefit of the doubt.  That is, no matter how they may appear to our superficial gaze, that person, too, can become a source of Torah for us.

        All that being said, Nittai of Arbel’s teaching comes to remind us of an important reality.  As the Av Beis Din of his generation, he knew that the world isn’t made up only of people illuminated by the light of Torah!  So he tells us in simple words — sometimes we run out of reasons for giving a person the benefit of the doubt, and we must avoid him or her.

        We should, of course, open our households to all who wish to learn Torah.  But if a person routinely demeans the Torah and insults those who embrace it, our duty of hospitality has ended.  We must bring Torah to other Jews and accept that many will be unable to honestly embrace all or even part of it.  But these are not the bad neighbors that Nittai of Arbel has in mind.  Honest doubt and scepticism have to be respected, and we must try to maintain real relationships with others whose Jewish way is not our own.  But we must also know when enough is enough.

         In his commentary on this mishnah, Rabbi Ovadiah of Bertinora quotes a pretty spicy Talmudic warning about the dangers of spending too much time among people who demean the Torah and insult those who love it: “One who associates freely with wicked people is likely to become like them.  It’s like a person who enters a tannery — even though you don’t buy anything, the stink you absorb travels around with you!”

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