Avos 2:2

בס״ד

אבות ב:ב

        

Rabban Gamliel, the son of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi says: Torah-study goes best with a worldly occupation, for labor in both blots out the thought of wickedness; And any Torah unaccompanied by work will eventually be wasted and arouse wickedness; And all who toil for the community, should toil for the sake of Heaven — for the merits of their ancestors works in their favor, and their righteousness stands forever. “And as for you, I pile up rewards for you as if you had done it all by yourself!”

רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל בְּנוֹ שֶׁל רַבִּי יְהוּדָה הַנָּשִׂיא אוֹמֵר, יָפֶה תַלְמוּד תּוֹרָה עִם דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ, שֶׁיְּגִיעַת שְׁנֵיהֶם מְשַׁכַּחַת עָוֹן. וְכָל תּוֹרָה שֶׁאֵין עִמָּהּ מְלָאכָה, סוֹפָהּ בְּטֵלָה וְגוֹרֶרֶת עָוֹן. וְכָל הָעֲמֵלִים עִם הַצִּבּוּר, יִהְיוּ עֲמֵלִים עִמָּהֶם לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, שֶׁזְּכוּת אֲבוֹתָם מְסַיַּעְתָּן וְצִדְקָתָם עוֹמֶדֶת לָעַד. וְאַתֶּם, מַעֲלֶה אֲנִי עֲלֵיכֶם שָׂכָר הַרְבֵּה כְּאִלּוּ עֲשִׂיתֶם:

        You’ll recall from our discussion of Avos 2:1 that Rabban Gamliel III inherited the office of Nasi from his father in around 220. He is the last Nasi mentioned in the Mishnah.  Like his father, Rabban Gamliel was very concerned with training Jews to take the “real world” seriously even as they see past it to the “realer world” revealed in the life of Torah and mitzvahs.  Each teaching in this mishnah is about the importance of this ability to see two worlds in one.

        First of all, he teaches that Torah-study is incomplete without derech eretz.  It is possible that Rabban Gamliel is using the familiar meaning of derech eretz as “proper behavior,” as the Tiferes Yisrael insists.  This would mean that Torah-study without proper moral behavior is a waste of time and leads to the sin of arrogance. Yet Rashi, Rambam, and most other meforshim interpret this ambiguous Hebrew phrase as “worldly occupation,” that is, engagement with the work of survival.  Rabban Gamliel’s point is that a Jew needs to create a balanced view of reality, to see the spiritual reality of the Torah in the midst of immersion in the material reality of daily cares.  Study of Torah is not an escape from the world, but training for making the world a place of  kedushah, holiness.

        One of the greatest Torah scholars in recent history, the Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna (also known as the Gra), spent his entire life in exclusive study of Torah, leaving worldly cares to his wife.  Yet his own comment on this mishnah seems to be highly self-critical.  He points out that Rabban Gamliel’s teaching is in fact based upon a statement of King Solomon: “Great is wisdom with the labor of producing an inheritance” (Qoheles 7:11).  It’s as if the Gra is saying that, despite his own example, the Torah itself requires its students to engage the world and its concerns.

        This interpretation is pretty likely, considering what Rabban Gamliel says in the rest of the mishnah.  Study of Torah must be accompanied by melakhah ("work") or it will be wasted and perverted. This is an even stronger statement than the first one.  Not only is Torah incomplete without worldly labor, but it can even be a negative force. For example, Torah study can be a self-indulgent enjoyment of pleasure if it comes at the expense of the suffering of those dependent upon us for their well-being.  Only through the hard work of the body in providing a livelihood for one’s children and loved ones does study of Torah find its real fulfillment.

        Rabban Gamliel’s third teaching pushes this point even further. The obligation of combining Torah and work extends beyond the support of one’s family to one’s entire community.  When doing the work of the community — supporting a shul, collecting tzedakah, tending the mikvah, preparing meals for mourners or new mothers, and so on — our eyes should always be trained on the spiritual value of our worldly activity.  Even more, the time taken away from Torah-study is made up for by the service to the descendants of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov, whose closeness to HaShem still serves us in our own attempts to become a holy community.  While our own labors may not by themselves ever meet all the community’s needs, and our study of Torah may suffer in the short term, our devotion is very precious in the eyes of HaShem.  Note the words that Rabban Gamliel ascribes to HaShem in the last line of the mishnah!

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