Avos 4:9

בס׳ד

אבות ד:ט

Rabbi Yonasan says: Whoever fulfills the Torah in poverty will eventually fulfill it in wealth; And whoever violates it in wealth will eventually violate it in poverty.

רַבִּי יוֹנָתָן אוֹמֵר, כָּל הַמְקַיֵּם אֶת הַתּוֹרָה מֵעֹנִי,סוֹפוֹ לְקַיְּמָהּ מֵעשֶׁר. וְכָל הַמְבַטֵּל אֶת הַתּוֹרָה מֵעשֶׁר,סוֹפוֹ לְבַטְּלָהּ מֵעֹנִי:

        If this mishnah is the teaching of Rabbi Yonasan who was the student of Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, then it is a bit out of place chronologically among all these Ushan masters.  On the other hand, the Avos d’Rabbi Noson (B, 35) transmits a longer version of this teaching in the name of Rabbi Yonason ben Rabbi Yose.  This would place him in the same generation as the other Sages mentioned here. In any case, his teaching makes a good fit with others we have just studied on the honor of Torah.

        The Midrash Shmuel begins his comments on this mishnah with an obvious point.  Don’t we all know of people who remain poor despite diligent devotion to Torah?  And what about all the wealthy people whose wealth only increases despite their neglect of Talmud Torah?  One solution, of course, is that Rabbi Yonasan is thinking about the way behavior in THIS world shapes our destiny in the Coming World.  As we learn in Mishnah Peah 1:1, we eat the fruits of our behavior (good or evil) in this world, while the principle (reward or punishment) awaits us in the next.  So here: study of Torah in worldly poverty will be rewarded with a prominent place in the Heavenly Yeshivah, while neglect of Torah in worldly wealth will receive its appropriate compensation after death.

        Another interpretation offered in Midrash Shmuel strikes me as particularly helpful because it doesn’t place the entire burden of our actions on a future world.  According to him, Rabbi Yonasan is referring to our own intellectual capacities and our responsibilities to use them as fully as possible.  Therefore, a person of limited intellect who “studies Torah in intellectual poverty” will in the end be rewarded by richness of insight commensurate to whatever talents and effort he has invested.  Similarly, a gifted person who neglects Torah will in the end be intellectually impoverished by that neglect.  So, in either case, the reward for Torah study is directly related to your effort, NOT to your native intellectual gifts.

        As I mentioned already, the Avos d’Rabbi Noson transmits this teaching of Rabbi Yonasan in a longer version.  I’ll include below those portions which do not appear in our mishnah:

“Rabbi Yonasan ben Rabbi Yose says: One who learns Torah even though pressed for time, will ultimately learn it in leisure.  But one who ignores Torah in leisure will ultimately ignore it while pressed for time…One who studies Torah for his own advantage will ultimately forget it.  And one who willfully forgets his Torah in his youth is destined to pine for it in his old age.”

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