CHAPTER IV
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Gorfinkle, Joseph I. (Joseph Isaac)
(26) R. Judah ben Ilai lived about 140 C.E.
(27) Cf. Chapter III, 10.
17. R. Simeon (28) said, "There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of royalty; but the crown of a good name excels them all."
(28) On R. Simeon ben Yochai, see chapter III, n. 12.
18. R. Nehorai (29) said, "Betake thyself to a home of the Torah (30), and say not that the Torah will come after thee; for there thy associates will establish thee in the possession of it; and lean not upon thine own understanding" (31).
(29) He lived about 130 C.E.
(30) If there is no teacher where you live.
(31) Prov. III, 5.
19. R. Jannia said, "It is not in our power (to explain) either the prosperity of the wicked or the afflictions of the righteous."
20. R. Mattithiah, the son of Heresh (32), said, "Be beforehand in the salutation of peace to all men; and be rather a tail to lions than a head to foxes" (33).
(32) He lived about 120 C.E. in Rome.
(33) It is better to be a pupil of great teachers than to be a teacher of worthless pupils (Maimonides). It is better to follow those who are greater than to lead those who are inferior.
21. R. Jacob (34) said, "This world is like a vestibule before the world to come (35); prepare thyself in the vestibule, that thou mayest enter into the hall." 22. He used to say, "Better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than the whole life of the world to come; and better is one hour of blissfulness of spirit in the world to come than the whole life of this world."
(34) He lived about 160-220 C.E.
(35) This world is a bridge that leads to the future world (Maimonides).
23. R. Simeon, the son of Eleazer (36), said, "Do not appease thy fellow in the hour of his anger, and comfort him not in the hour when his dead lies before him, and question him not in the hour of his vow, and rush not to see him in the hour of his disgrace."
(36) A pupil of R. Meir. He lived about 160-220 C.E.
24. Samuel (37), the younger, used to say, "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: lest the Lord see it and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him" (38).
(37) Samuel (about 120 C.E.) is said to have composed, at the request of R. Gamaliel II, the prayer against heretics, added to the "Eighteen Benedictions" (Shemoneh Esreh). See the Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. XI, p. 281.
(38) Prov. XXIV, 17, 18.
25. Elisha, the son of Abuyah (39), said, "If one learns as a child, what is it like? Like ink written in clean paper. If one learns as an old man, what is it like? Like ink written on used paper" (40).
(39) See n. 1, above. Elisha ben Abuyah, otherwise known as Acher, lived at the end of the first and the beginning of the second century. He is charged by the Rabbis with having aided the Romans in their attempts to suppress the Jewish religion, with having endeavored to estrange the young from Judaism and from the study of its literature, with having intentionally and openly broken the ceremonial laws, and with having desecrated the Sabbath. R. Meir, his pupil, maintained a close intimacy with him, in spite of his apostacy, having high regard for Elisha's intellectual worth. When reproached for this, R. Meir said, "I eat the kernel, and throw away the husks." Elisha is often referred to as the "Faust of the Talmud." On his identification with the Apostle Paul, see I. M. Wise, The Origin of Christianity, p. 311, and Danziger, ibid., pp. 304-306. Some have even identified him with Jesus. In Abot de-Rabbi Natan, a parable that is very similar to that of Jesus, in Luke VI 47-49, is attributed to Elisha. "A man who does good deeds and diligently studies the Law, to whom is he likened? He is like a man building a house with a stone foundation and with tiles (on the roof); and when a flood arises, and breaks against the walls, that house cannot be moved from its place. But the man who lives an evil life, in spite of having deeply studied the Law, to whom is he like? He is like a man building a house with tiles for a foundation and with heavy stones (on the roof); and when a little rain comes, straightway the house falls in" (G.
Friedlander's translation, in The Jewish Sources of the SErmon on the Mount, pp. 259-260). On the career of Acher, see Bacher, ibid., pp. 432-436; Graetz, History, II, passim; Myers, ibid., pp. 200-202; and Strack, Einleitung in den Talmud, p. 91.
(40) What one learns in youth, one retains, while the opposite is true of learning in old age. The Rabbis, elsewhere, liken learning in youth to engraving upon a stone, and learning in old age to writing on the sand.
26. R. Jose, the son of Judah (41), of Chefar Babli said, "He who learns from the young, to what is he like? To one who eats unripe grapes, and drinks wine from his vat (42). And he who learns from the old, to what is he like? To one who eats ripe grapes, and drinks old wine."
(41) A contemporary of Judah ha-Nasi.
(42) I.e., wine that is not forty days old, and not yet clarified.
27. Rabbi Meir said (43), "Look not at the flask, but at what it contains: there may be a new flask full of old wine, and an old flask that has not even new wine in it" (44).
(43) Some texts read "Rabbi," i.e., Judah ha-Nasi (see chapter II, n. 1).
(44) This verse expresses an opinion contrary to that of the preceding one. The mind of a young man may be more mature than that of an old man.
28. R. Eleazar ha-Kappar (45) said, "Envy, cupidity, and ambition take a man from the world" (46).
(45) A contemporary of Judah ha-Nasi.
(46) Cf. chapter II, 16.
29. He used to say, "They that are born are doomed to die; and the dead to be brought to life again; and the living to be judged, to know, to make known, and to be made conscious that He is God, He the Maker, He the Creator, He the Discerner (47), He the Judge, He the Witness (48), He the Accuser; He it is that will in future judge, blessed be He, with Whom there is no unrighteousness, nor forgetfulness, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes (49); and know also that everything is according to the reckoning (50); and let not thy imagination give thee hope that the grave will be a place of refuge for thee; for perforce thou wast formed, and perforce thou wast born, and thou livest perforce, and perforce thou wilt die, and perforce thou wilt in the future have to give account and reckoning before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He."
(47) Cf. Ps. XXXIII, 15: "He fashioneth their hearts altogether; he hath regard to all their works."
(48) Cf. Mal. III, 5.
(49) Cf. II Chron. XIX, 7: "Take heed and act; for with the Lord our God there is no injustice, nor respect for persons, nor taking of bribes." Maimonides interprets this verse of Abot as meaning that one cannot bribe God with good deeds in order to have bad deeds forgiven. The one bad deed is not forgiven even by the doing of one hundred good ones, but punishment is meted out for the bad deed and reward in full for the hundred good ones. That is, each action is judged entirely on its own merits. Neither is God a respecter of persons. On the one hand, He punished Moses for his anger at the waters of Meribah, and, on the other, He rewarded Esau for honoring his parents, and Nebuchadnezzar for honoring God.
(50) Maimonides interprets as follows, "Think of the physical things in which man has no choice, as our sages said, 'All is in the power of God, except the fear of God.' It is not said that one must perforce, and against one's will, sin, or that one is constrained to journey, walk, stand, etc., for these are in the power of man, and are dependent upon his own free will, and not upon any (external) compelling force, as we have explained in chapter eight." See Rawicz, Commentar des Maimonides, p. 89, n. 4, and Garfinkle, ibid., p. 88 et seq.
Rabbi Chanania, the son of Akashia, said, "The Holy One, blessed be He, was pleased to make Israel worthy; wherefore He gave them a copious Torah and many commandments, as it is said, 'It pleased the Lord, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the Torah and make it honorable'".