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!

        

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