(Note that a couple of these have been posted before, but I wanted to keep all the Chapter 3 comments together.)
Pirkei Avot 3:2
“Rabbi Hanina, the Deputy Priest says: Make it a practice to pray for the wellbeing/peace of the sovereign power (‘malhut’), for were it not for the fear/awe of it, a person would swallow their neighbor alive.”
One could read this as a statement of the general nastiness of humanity. I prefer the interpretation R. Ovadia Bartenura points to from Talmud Avodah Zarah 4a, which understands the statement as being about power differentials: “Just as with the fish in the sea, one who is bigger than others swallows the others, so with people: were it not for the fear of the sovereign power, whoever is bigger than others would swallow the others. – מה דגים שבים כל הגדול מחבירו בולע את חבירו אף בני אדם אלמלא מוראה של מלכות כל הגדול מחבירו בולע את חבירו” Rabbi Hanina, who lived through the Roman destruction, thought we should even pray for oppressive governments that were themselves fully in the hands of the bigger fish and ate people alive, because he viewed the alternative as even worse – pure mayhem at the hands of the powerful. All the more so, kal vahomer, we should pray for the wellbeing/peace of a democratic government, in which the smaller fish have some significant say.
Another possibility is to read malhut as related to nimlah – to take counsel. When people don’t honor mutual discourse, they resort to power relations – swallowing one another alive. The alternative to democratic decision-making is the tyranny of the powerful.
Another possibility: We might read malhut kabbalistically, as a synonym for Shechinah. Society requires awe for that aspect of divinity (however we understand it) that dwells here with us, the conduit of blessing, the One in solidarity with the exiled and the longing. The peace of Malhut is all of our peace.
Pirkei Avot 3:4
רַבִּי חֲנִינָא בֶן חֲכִינַאי אוֹמֵר, הַנֵּעוֹר בַּלַּיְלָה וְהַמְהַלֵּךְ בַּדֶּרֶךְ יְחִידִי וְהַמְפַנֶּה לִבּוֹ לְבַטָּלָה, הֲרֵי זֶה מִתְחַיֵּב בְּנַפְשׁוֹ:
Rabbi Hananiah ben Hakinai said: one who wakes up at night, or walks on the way alone and turns his heart to idle matters, behold, they are liable for their life.
This is commonly understood (e.g. by Rabbi Ovadia) to mean that walking around alone at night is dangerous, but that Torah protects one from the danger. Therefore, turning your heart to idle matters is taking your life in your hands. One can read it even more practically: If you’re not paying attention walking around alone at night, you’re taking your life in your hands.
Pirkei Avot 3:5
רַבִּי נְחוּנְיָא בֶּן הַקָּנָה אוֹמֵר, כָּל הַמְקַבֵּל עָלָיו עֹל תּוֹרָה, מַעֲבִירִין מִמֶּנּוּ עֹל מַלְכוּת וְעֹל דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ. וְכָל הַפּוֹרֵק מִמֶּנּוּ עֹל תּוֹרָה, נוֹתְנִין עָלָיו עֹל מַלְכוּת וְעֹל דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ:
Rabbi Nehunia ben Hakkanah said: whoever takes upon himself the yoke of the Torah, they remove from him the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly concerns, and whoever breaks off from himself the yoke of the Torah, they place upon him the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly concerns.
Not everyone in Pirkei Avot agrees with Nehunia ben Hakkanah’s assessment of Torah vis a vis dereh eretz – worldly occupation/concern. In 2:2, Rabban Gamliel says the two go well together and keep one away from sin. And in 3:17, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah says you can’t have the one without the other.
One might understand Rabbi Nehunia’s teaching in a different way by emphasizing the word “yoke.” It’s not that Torah eliminates the need to submit to or participate in government or to be engaged in worldly concerns, like making a living. But accepting the yoke/burden of Torah makes the others not be a burden. When we gain the wisdom of living in the world, doing so is no longer a yoke on our shoulders. This is the approach of Rabbi Rami Shapiro, whose interpretive translation of these lines is: “Devotion to Torah frees you from power and possessions. Ignore Torah and they will crush you.” (“Ethics of the Sages: Pirke Avot – Annotated and Explained,” Skylight Paths Publishing (2014), p. 41)
Pirkei Avot 3:7
רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, הַמְהַלֵּךְ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וְשׁוֹנֶה, וּמַפְסִיק מִמִּשְׁנָתוֹ וְאוֹמֵר, מַה נָּאֶה אִילָן זֶה וּמַה נָּאֶה נִיר זֶה, מַעֲלֶה עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ מִתְחַיֵּב בְּנַפְשׁוֹ:
Rabbi Shimon says: One who is walking along the way and reciting [Torah teaching], and stops reciting and says, “How lovely this tree is; how lovely this field is,” scripture accounts as liable for their life.
This passage troubles those of us who emphasize the holiness of the natural world.
It could be read in line with Rabbi Ovadia’s reading of 3:4. Since recitation is protective, stopping even to praise God’s creation is dangerous and foolhardy.
Another possibility is: As Rashi points out, we don’t suppose this person is walking by themselves. In this period, a very important rabbinic activity was studying in pairs (hevruta) and reciting learned teachings to one another. So, here, the person interrupting their recitation is turning from their learning partner and that partner’s needs. Rabbi Shimon’s statement may still strike us as hyperbole or insensitive to the importance of gratitude for God’s natural creation, but recognizing an interpersonal harm adds some new depth to the teaching.
Pirkei Avot 3:9-10
Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa said: anyone whose fear of sin precedes his wisdom, his wisdom is enduring, but anyone whose wisdom precedes his fear of sin, his wisdom is not enduring. He [also] used to say: anyone whose deeds exceed his wisdom, his wisdom is enduring, but anyone whose wisdom exceeds his deeds, his wisdom is not enduring.
After all this talk of the extreme importance of Torah learning and the mortal danger of ignoring it, Rabbi Haninah ben Dosa comes along and reminds us not to get carried away. It’s our behavior toward others that’s the real goal and measure of our learning.
Pirkei Avot 3:12
רבי ישמעאל אומר …. והוי מקבל את כל האדם בשמחה:
Rabbi Ishmael says: …. greet every person happily.
Every person: refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants, included. We see them. We accept them into our consciousness. More than that: We’re happy they’re in the world. We’re happy the divine image has manifested itself in them. What a miracle! Let’s start figuring out policies with that as the starting point.
Pirkei Avot 3:13
רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר, …. מָסֹרֶת, סְיָג לַתּוֹרָה ….
Rabbi Akiva says: …. Tradition/Transmission is a fence for the Torah. ….
The very first teaching in Pirkei Avot (1:1) tells us to make a “fence for the Torah,” but it doesn’t tell us what such a fence is. Rabbi Akiva says it’s the process of transmission described in that passage. As we’ve seen in Pirkei Avot, the contents of “Torah” (in its broad sense) might grow and even change over the course of generations; One person might ‘say Torah’ that contradicts another’s Torah; but if we learn sincerely and diligently from teachers who learned sincerely and diligently, and if we pass Torah on to our students, then we know we’re still in the field of Torah, still inside the fence.
Pirkei Avot 3:17
Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah says that one whose wisdom exceeds their deeds is like a tree easily blown over, using language that Jeremiah 17 uses to describe one who does not trust in God. Conversely, one whose deeds exceed their wisdom is like the “tree planted by the water” that Jeremiah uses to describe one who trusts in God. It seems to me that the implication is that trusting in God leads us to act. This might be surprising to some. Doesn’t ‘trust in God’ mean ‘leaving it up to God?’ Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah says no. Why? Perhaps trusting in God means trusting that God’s call to us to act with love, wisdom, and justice is real. Perhaps trusting in God means that we trust that our actions have meaning and import, even if it seems sometimes like we’re banging our head against a wall or, as the colorful Yiddish phrase has it, peeing in the ocean. Or maybe Elazar ben Azariah is suggesting that the direction of causation is the other way: So long as our wisdom about God is theoretical, just in our minds, other pretty ideas can come along and easily displace our wisdom and trust. But if we’re grounded in the Godly work of tikkun with others (he wouldn’t have used “tikkun” that way), our wisdom and trust will be strong.
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