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.

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