IT’S PIRKEI AVOT SEASON for observant Jews around the world.
I have several different editions of Avot and I have another work, Masters of the Talmud, At least one of my Avot books includes mini-biographies of the personalities who have a place in Avot.
OF COURSE, most sedurim include Avot, but the avot books (a) have bigger print and (b) offer explanations, including Rashi’s and other’s comments
Collecting Avot is akin to collecting hagadot; you cannot have too many.
The Judaica Press book, originally published in England in 1985, includes biographies of all the luminaries (both 100 watt and 25 watt) in the talmuds. It also lists everywhere in the talmuds the person has commented or was cited.
Of more interest to me is to see which of the avot actually worked for a living — beyond, or in addition to, teaching.
Masters of the Talmud also provides biographies — more complete than the avot book.
The bottom line is that these bios, be they long or just a short paragraph, prove that you CAN work AND study, and in the case of the avot, make substantial contributions to Jewish jurisprudence.
As examples, from the Judaica Press avot book:
* Abba Saul, gravedigger
* Chuzpit, interpreter
* Ishmael ben R. Jose, merchant (famous for his 13 medot)
* Jeshevav, scribe
* Judah (a/k/a “Rabbi”), medicine and science
* Meir, scribe (and husband of Buruyah)
* Menachem ben Signai, a dyer
* Nehemia, potter
* Yohanon haSandler, sandal maker
If these men who played a part in forming Judaism as we know it today and still managed to work “real” jobs, why cannot the lesser men of the yeshivot put in a little time at an honest job.
Pity their wives who must raise a family and often work outside the home to being in some income.
These “yeshiva boys” get a stipend from the government while the yeshivas send out schnorers around the world to collect still more money so the “boys” can sit and pretend to study.
Might it not be a good idea to test the yeshiva “boys” periodically as we do children in grammar, middle, and high schools? See how much they learned and retained. Test after one, two, and three years. If the third test fails to show expected progress, after the fourth year in yeshiva the talmid lo hakham is sent packing.
An outstanding student could stay longer, but in reality, that student should study with a new teacher to expand his knowledge. That’s what the avot did.
There may be one student out of 1,000 who might become a great posek, but against 999 who simply are dodging responsibility by sitting in a yeshiva, those are poor odds.
Is there even one student in a yeshiva that can rise to the stature of an Abba Saul?
I am partial to Abba Saul since my Father-In-Law, עה"ש, used to dig graves for the haverat kadesha in Morocco .
Many of the masters of the talmuds were teachers or heads of yeshivot; a few worked at the Bet HaMikdash while it stood, either as cohenim or leveim (singers). Those jobs were “shift work” that allowed the laveim and cohenim time to study and still “hold down a real job.” (A cohan working at the Temple, handling sacrifices bought from all over, by Jews and non-Jews alike, earned whatever remuneration he received.)
There are yeshivot in Israel, hesder yeshivot, where the students study AND serve in the IDF. These students, in my opinion, deserve respect. Not so the ones who dodge responsibility and either force their wives to work (and raise children) or depend on professional beggars to finance their stay at a yeshiva.
Sources
1. Ethics of the Fathers, Judaica Press, ISBN 0-910818-15-0
2. Pirkei Avos, Mesorah Publications, ISBN 0-89906-206-72
3. Sayings of the Fathers, Behrman House, Pub. Date: 1945 (no ISBN)
4. Masters of the Talmud, Jon. David, ISBN 0-8246-0436-0434-2
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
