Avos 3:9-10

בס׳ד

אבות ג:ט/י

3:9 - Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa says: If your fear of sin precedes your wisdom, your wisdom will endure; But if your wisdom precedes your fear of sin, your wisdom will not endure. He used to teach: If your deeds exceed your wisdom, your wisdom will endure; But if your wisdom exceeds your deeds, your wisdom will not endure. 3:10 - He used to teach: One who gives pleasure to people brings pleasure to the Source; And one who does not give pleasure to people does not give pleasure to the Source. Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas says: Late sleeping, early drinking, childish talk, and loitering in the lairs of idiots drive a person from the world.

רַבִּי חֲנִינָא בֶן דּוֹסָא אוֹמֵר, כָּל שֶׁיִּרְאַת חֶטְאוֹ קוֹדֶמֶת לְחָכְמָתוֹ, חָכְמָתוֹ מִתְקַיֶּמֶת. וְכָל שֶׁחָכְמָתוֹ קוֹדֶמֶת לְיִרְאַת חֶטְאוֹ, אֵין חָכְמָתוֹ מִתְקַיֶּמֶת. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, כָּל שֶׁמַּעֲשָׂיו מְרֻבִּין מֵחָכְמָתוֹ, חָכְמָתוֹ מִתְקַיֶּמֶת. וְכָל שֶׁחָכְמָתוֹ מְרֻבָּה מִמַּעֲשָׂיו, אֵין חָכְמָתוֹ מִתְקַיֶּמֶת: הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, כָּל שֶׁרוּחַ הַבְּרִיּוֹת נוֹחָה הֵימֶנּוּ, רוּחַ הַמָּקוֹם נוֹחָה הֵימֶנּוּ. וְכָל שֶׁאֵין רוּחַ הַבְּרִיּוֹת נוֹחָה הֵימֶנּוּ, אֵין רוּחַ הַמָּקוֹם נוֹחָה הֵימֶנּוּ. רַבִּי דוֹסָא בֶן הַרְכִּינַס אוֹמֵר, שֵׁנָה שֶׁל שַׁחֲרִית, וְיַיִן שֶׁל צָהֳרַיִם, וְשִׂיחַת הַיְלָדִים, וִישִׁיבַת בָּתֵּי כְנֵסִיּוֹת שֶׁל עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ, מוֹצִיאִין אֶת הָאָדָם מִן הָעוֹלָם:

        We’ll treat these two mishnahs as a single group, although some versions of the Mishnah separate the teaching of Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas from those of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa.  Both were disciples of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai in the years after the Temple was destroyed.  Neither transmitted many halakhic traditions, but the Talmud recalls Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa in particular as a person capable of remarkable acts of healing, specifically through the power of his prayers (Bavli Berakhos 34b).

        In many ways, Rabbi Hanina was a Hasid before Hasidism.  That is, he focused on prayer as the most essential moment in life, and knew that intelligence unshaped by submission to HaShem in prayer was more of a danger than a blessing.  The followers of the Baal Shem Tov recognized this as well. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoy, an early disciple of the Besht and a brilliant Talmudist who wrote Toldos Yaakov Yosef, once said: “I knew how to learn.  I came to the Besht to learn how to daven.”

        In mishnah 3:9, Rabbi Hanina offers his recipe for genuine wisdom.  It is a wisdom of the heart, not of the mind; one grounded in carefully honed obedience to HaShem and embodied in the performance of mitzvahs.  The unity of heart and body in avodas HaShem is the behavioral foundation that sustains wisdom.  Any traits of mind that remain unanchored in these foundations yield not wisdom, but mere cleverness.  You might want to skip ahead to the end of this chapter (Avos 3:17) to see how a later Sage, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, links this teaching to appropriate pasukim.

        Rabbi Hanina’s teaching in Avos 3:10 is also transmitted in Tosefta Berakhos 3:3.  One manuscript of the Tosefta assigns the teaching to Rabbi Aqiva and another to Rabbi Yehudah - and neither mentions Rabbi Hanina. Perhaps Rabbi Aqiva heard it from Rabbi Hanina and taught it to rabbi Yehudah?

        The line of transmission of this teaching may be a bit crooked, but the teaching itself goes straight to the heart of the matter.  What we do to people, the creatures of HaShem, affects their Creator.  It is not possible to be truly “religious” unless we are first scrupulously careful in the treatment of people and their needs.  All the davening in the world, all the Shmas that pray for the unification of the Holy Name, are entirely undone by a thoughtless word that wounds a friend.

        We all know the famous mishnah (Yoma 8:9) that teaches that Yom Kippur fails to atone for sins committed against neighbors unless and until we receive their forgiveness.  Our mishnah here is a kind of companion to that mishnah in Yoma.  Perhaps the confusion about who first “said” our mishnah is a result of the fact that everyone had it in mind on Yom Kippur and frequently repeated it as a reminder of the requirements of the Day.  Rabbi Dosa’s teaching brings us sharply back to the issues we studied early in this chapter at Avos 3:4, 3:7, and 3:8 - the danger of habitual laxity in the study of Torah.  All the activities he talks about indicate that a person has lost the discipline of mind and heart that keeps one motivated in the pursuit of holiness.  All are bittul Talmud Torah (neglect of Torah study) on a massive scale and set you up for personal disaster.

        If you check other translations of this mishnah you will find that the words I’ve translated as “lairs of idiots” (batei kenessios shel amei ha-aretz) are rendered as “synagogues of the ignorant.”  The use of “synagogue” in this mishnah may be a bit anachronistic.  For the Sages of the first generation after the Hurban HaBayis, a bes kenesses was not only or even primarily a place to pray.  It was really an all-purpose Jewish gathering place.  That’s why I think that Rabbi Dosa is not criticizing other Jews’ shuls.  Rather his target is hang-outs populated by people who are ignoring their obligation to study Torah.

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