What was the chiddush in the sayings of the Sages quoted in Pirkey Avos when those very ideas already appeared throughout Tanach? Is there a deeper lesson to be gleaned from the personalities of those wise men who gave us the legacy of refined moral behavior?

The months of spring and summer are upon us and once again it is time to sit and learn Pirkei Avos on the long Shabbos afternoons. Maseches Avos as we know is made up of aphorisms on matters of ethics and character-building from the Tannaim the great Sages of the Mishnaic era which spanned the final years of the Second Temple and the period following the Destruction. Many of the common expressions used in modern spoken Hebrew or as decorative elements in Hebrew writing are taken from Pirkei Avos.

Many have wondered why the masechta is called “Avos.” The name doesn’t seem to express anything about the actual content of the masechta and probably wouldn’t pass muster with your average naming committee. A more incisive question arises however from even a superficial study of the tractate.

The Vilna Gaon wrote a commentary on Avos in which he finds an explicit source in the Tanach for every single dictum in the masechta. It would appear that he was challenging the authenticity of this whole tractate of the Mishnah. If every statement in Avos was already made somewhere in Tanach and the Sages had nothing new to add then why was this ever written at all?

For example in Chapter Four of Avos (mishnah 19) we find a superb piece of moral advice: “Shmuel HaKatan says ‘Do not rejoice at the downfall of your enemy and when he stumbles let not your heart be glad….” This beautiful dictum however appears word for word in Mishlei (24:17). It’s a bit baffling; one might even take it as an affront to one’s intelligence. What we might ask was Rabi Yehudah HaNasi the redactor of the Mishnah thinking when he included this statement as part of the Oral Torah?

These questions and others like it are rhetorical. Rather than expecting answers we are forced to go back to our starting point to change the initial assumptions we brought with us in our approach to the masechta.

A thorough and meticulous study of Avos in fact reveals striking parallels between the sayings attributed to each Tanna and his biographical details which can be gleaned from the Gemara and the Midrashim. Let us look at some examples.

“Hillel says be among the disciples of Aharon one who loves peace and pursues peace loves mankind and draws them closer to the Torah” (Avos 1:10). How perfectly this dictum fits with all those well-known stories about Hillel the Elder which many of us heard as children including the famous tale about the proselyte who asked Hillel to teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot and Hillel’s famous answer: “That which you dislike do not do to your fellowman….” Hillel’s actions as borne out by this story perfectly matched his teaching “…one who… loves mankind and draws them closer to the Torah.”

Here is another example from Chapter 6: “Rabi Yehoshua ben Levi says: Every single day a heavenly echo issues forth from Mount Horeb proclaiming ‘Woe to mankind for the affront to the Torah.’ ” On the surface this is simply a piece of prophetic information but in fact it speaks volumes about the beautiful life story of Rabi Yehoshua ben Levi which appears in a number of places throughout the Talmud holding him up as a model of love and devotion to Torah with descriptions of how he would carry his grandson on his shoulders to the beis midrash and so on (for example see Kesubos 7 Eiruvin 4).

A further example is reflected in the life story of Shmuel HaKatan who was quoted earlier.

A story is told in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 11) about Rabban Gamliel the Nasi who summoned seven Sages to come and declare a shanah me’uberes a leap year (in Talmudic times when there was no fixed calendar a leap year was declared by a beis din at a specially-convened session). He arrived on the appointed morning and found eight Sages there. Rabban Gamliel said “He who came up without being authorized let him step down!” Shmuel HaKatan stood up and said “I came up without authorization; I only came to see and learn how a leap year is declared.” Rabban Gamliel replied “Sit down my son sit down. It would be fitting that all the years be declared leap years by you but the Sages have said ‘A year is declared a leap year only by those who are called to it.’ ”

The Talmud goes on to say that Shmuel HaKatan actually was among those who had been summoned but in order to prevent the uninvited guest from being humiliated he took the shame upon himself.

This was the man to whom the Mishnah attributes the saying “Do not rejoice at your enemy’s downfall and when he stumbles let not your heart be glad ” which was taken from Sefer Mishlei. True there is nothing new in the words themselves. The chiddush hinges entirely on the high standard to which Shmuel HaKatan held himself in practicing what he preached. Because he was such a striking role model for the teaching in the Scriptural pasuk the words are attributed to him. The saying encapsulates the life of Shmuel HaKatan just as his name is emblematic of one who was renowned for his extreme humility and dedication to others for constantly “making himself small ” minimizing his own importance.

Pirkei Avos then may be viewed as a biographical encyclopedia of the Sages. Its redactor had more in mind than just recording their favorite aphorisms which in any case are quotations from various places in Tanach. Rather he was presenting a colorful gallery of role models of men who excelled in their practice of the principles they preached who not only spoke seemly words but did seemly deeds. As we learn from Rabi Eliezer ben Azaryah who sharply criticized a Sage who taught a halachah that he himself did not practice: “Seemly words — when they come from the mouth of those who act accordingly” (Tosefta Yevamos ch. 8).

Ever since the Torah was given to Israel personalities in the Torah world and their sayings -- however stately -- have been judged not by the criteria of rhetoric or style nor even by the sagacity reflected in their words but first and foremost by the extent to which they have practiced what they preached.

Now we have a key to understanding the puzzling name of Pirkei Avos. Rashi tells us at the end of the masechta “Because the words of our early forefathers who received the Torah one from the other have been compiled here… and Rabi [Yehudah HaNasi] came to inform us of how correct their deeds were” (emphasis mine).

This approach served as a guide not only for the redactor of Maseches Avos but for all the Sages of Torah and halachah in the generations that followed. Only those words and thoughts that were actually practiced merited being incorporated in the eternal treasury of our Torah as teachings for specific times and for all times.

For in order to guide and to teach halachah and proper conduct to teach ethics and good character traits or to serve in the sacred role of leaders of generations it is not enough to have rhetorical skill finely-honed language broad knowledge in Torah or expertise in human relations. Before all else a high standard of personal practice of role-modeling is required.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

At least ten tzaddikim were necessary to save Sedom. But one fool is enough to overturn an entire world

(Menachem Mendel of Kotzk)

The Talmud goes on to say that Shmuel HaKatan actually was among those who had been summoned but in order to prevent the uninvited guest from being humiliated he took the shame upon himself