Avos 5:8-9

בס׳ד

אבות ה:ח-ט

Seven are the retributions inflicted upon the world for seven types of transgression: If some offer tithes and some don’t - starvation by drought befalls us; If some are hungry, but others are full, and no one offers tithes - starvation by war and drought befalls us; If people don’t take hallah - starvation by devastation befalls us. Epidemics befall us - as punishment for death sentences mandated by the Torah that are not carried out, and for the misuse of Seventh Year produce; War befalls us - as punishment for delay of justice and the perversion of justice, and for those who teach Torah against tradition. The marauding Beast befalls us - as punishment for pointless oaths and desecration of the Holy Name. Exile befalls us - for the worship of false gods; for shamelessly displaying our nakedness; for bloodshed; and for overworking the Land of Israel. At four moments epidemics increase: in the Fourth Year of the Sabbatical cycle; in the Seventh Year of the Sabbatical cycle; at the conclusion of the Seventh Year; and at the conclusion of Sukkos every year. In the Fourth Year - for withholding the Third-Year tithe; In the Seventh Year - for withholding the Sixth-Year tithe; At the end of the Seventh Year - for profiting from Seventh Year produce; And at the end of Sukkos every year - for stealing the gifts left for the poor in the field.

שִׁבְעָה מִינֵי פֻרְעָנֻיּוֹת בָּאִין לָעוֹלָם עַל שִׁבְעָה גוּפֵי עֲבֵרָה. מִקְצָתָן מְעַשְּׂרִין וּמִקְצָתָן אֵינָן מְעַשְּׂרִין, רָעָב שֶׁל בַּצֹּרֶת בָּאָה, מִקְצָתָן רְעֵבִים וּמִקְצָתָן שְׂבֵעִים. גָּמְרוּ שֶׁלֹּא לְעַשֵּׂר, רָעָב שֶׁל מְהוּמָה וְשֶׁל בַּצֹּרֶת בָּאָה. וְשֶׁלֹּא לִטֹּל אֶת הַחַלָּה, רָעָב שֶׁל כְּלָיָה בָאָה. דֶּבֶר בָּא לָעוֹלָם עַל מִיתוֹת הָאֲמוּרוֹת בַּתּוֹרָה שֶׁלֹּא נִמְסְרוּ לְבֵית דִּין, וְעַל פֵּרוֹת שְׁבִיעִית. חֶרֶב בָּאָה לָעוֹלָם עַל עִנּוּי הַדִּין, וְעַל עִוּוּת הַדִּין, וְעַל הַמּוֹרִים בַּתּוֹרָה שֶׁלֹּא כַהֲלָכָה: חַיָּה רָעָה בָאָה לָעוֹלָם עַל שְׁבוּעַת שָׁוְא, וְעַל חִלּוּל הַשֵּׁם. גָּלוּת בָּאָה לָעוֹלָם עַל עוֹבְדֵי עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, וְעַל גִלּוּי עֲרָיוֹת, וְעַל שְׁפִיכוּת דָּמִים, וְעַל הַשְׁמָטַת הָאָרֶץ. בְּאַרְבָּעָה פְרָקִים הַדֶּבֶר מִתְרַבֶּה, בָּרְבִיעִית, וּבַשְּׁבִיעִית, וּבְמוֹצָאֵי שְׁבִיעִית, וּבְמוֹצָאֵי הֶחָג שֶׁבְּכָל שָׁנָה וְשָׁנָה. בָּרְבִיעִית, מִפְּנֵי מַעְשַׂר עָנִי שֶׁבַּשְּׁלִישִׁית. בַּשְּׁבִיעִית, מִפְּנֵי מַעְשַׂר עָנִי שֶׁבַּשִּׁשִּׁית. וּבְמוֹצָאֵי שְׁבִיעִית, מִפְּנֵי פֵרוֹת שְׁבִיעִית. וּבְמוֹצָאֵי הֶחָג שֶׁבְּכָל שָׁנָה וְשָׁנָה, מִפְּנֵי גֶזֶל מַתְּנוֹת עֲנִיִּים:

The principle of “poetic justice” (midah k’neged midah), which we last encountered in Avos 5:4, stands behind this mishnah’s listing of transgressions and the disasters they bring in their wake.  Since the composition of the mishnah is a bit complicated, let’s first sort it out its parts.  The list of seven begins at 5:8 (“if some offer tithes”) and concludes in the middle of 5:9 (“Exile befalls us”). The paragraph beginning with the first bolded line, “At four moments epidemics increase”, is really a comment on 5:8’s mention of epidemics coming into the world.  It’s been left till the end of the mishnah so as not to interrupt the list of seven.  The paragraph beginning with the second bolded line, “in the Fourth Year”, then explains the mishnah’s own explanation.

        There is a simple, but easily missed, pattern that unites all of the elements in this list.  Virtually all of the transgressions involve Jewish violations of the holiness of Eretz Yisroel, but the retributions sent by HaShem in response to them are world-wide calamities that engulf Jews and Gentiles alike wherever they find themselves.  The message, then, is a simple and, perhaps, terrifying one.  Klal Yisroel’s stewardship of Eretz Yisroel has cosmic consequences.  Our success or failure affects not only our destiny but that of the world as a whole.

        The mishnah focuses on three particular forms of stewardship: the proper dispensing of various gifts from the Land’s produce; the proper administration of justice in the Land’s courts; and the proper concern for the holiness of the Divine Name in the Land (as well as beyond it). Let’s look at each.

        The first three items of the mishnah’s list show that the punishment for hoarding or otherwise misusing food that belongs ultimately to HaShem is starvation and famine for all.  The Torah teaches in many passages that Jewish farmers in Eretz Yisroel must remove from their fields and harvests a variety of tithes, priestly offerings (including a bread offering called hallah), and charity offerings as an acknowledgement of HaShem’s ultimate ownership of the Land. It also teaches that every seventh year, as a sign of HaShem’s ownership of the Land, Jewish farmers must give the land a Shabbos, a rest from production (shmitah).  Farmers may neither plough, plant, nor reap.  Nor may they sell whatever grows of its own accord in their fields.  All this must be left for the poor.  When Jews overstep their rights to food owned ultimately by HaShem, they risk the loss of food itself.

        The devastation of epidemics and war, by contrast, come into the world principally through violations of social justice.  Mass disease and the violence of war cause death randomly and without reason. This is why they are appropriate “poetic justice” for violations of rules that are intended to provide equal justice for everyone.  That is, violations of the order that justice seeks to establish are punished by the injustice and disorder caused by random death and violence.

        What is the connection between a world over-run by marauding animals and the desecration of the Divine Name caused by thoughtless vows?  Misuse of the Name through oaths impose upon us all sorts of unbreakable restrictions and progressively disrupt normal social relations.  When people use the Name to prevent others from deriving benefit from themselves, or for other spiteful purposes, the good order of society begins to sway.  The advance against civilization represented by wild beasts symbolizes the loss of human civility.  By making a “jungle” of society through our thoughtless speech, we quite literally turn the world back to the jungle of bare survival.

        The connection between Exile and the sins of idolatry, illicit sexuality, murder, and violations of the Land’s sanctity is pretty self-evident.  These are explicitly mentioned in the Torah as sins that will cause the Land to “vomit” Israel into Exile (Vayikra 18:27-28, Vayikra 26:30-35, Bamidbar 35:33-34).

        We have seen that seven sorts of transgression impose seven dimensions of disintegration upon the world.  It is perhaps no accident that the mishnah specifies exactly seven sorts of transgression.  Recall that it took  HaShem seven days to create the world; seven days to bring reality into a coherent structure in which the generations of Adam might dwell.  The implication of the mishnah seems to be that by UNDOING transgressions against the kedushah of Eretz Yisroel, against the absolute mandate for justice, and against the kedushah of the Divine Name, we may participate in the restoration of the world to the order originally anticipated in HaShem’s mind.  This is Klal Yisroel’s holy mission in paving the way for the redemption of the world.

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