E T H I C S O F O U R F A T H E R S

B"H


Iyar 14, 5773 * April 24, 2013

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E T H I C S  O F  O U R  F A T H E R S
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Staying Alive
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"Against your will you live; against your will you die"

- Ethics of the Fathers 4:22

            *    *    *

"The soul of man is a lamp of G-d." 

The flame knows no rest, for it lives in perpetual conflict between two opposite tendencies. On the one hand, it cleaves to its wick, drinking thirstily of the oil that fuels its existence. At the same time, it surges upward, seeking to tear free of its material tether. It knows that such disengagement would spell the end of its existence as a manifest, illuminating flame; nevertheless, such is its nature. 

This is the paradox of the flame's life: its attachment to wick and fuel sustains both its continued existence and its incessant striving for oblivion. 

Man, too, is torn between these two contrasting drives. On the one hand, he tends towards self, towards life and existence. At the same time, he yearns for transcendence, to tear free from the confining involvements of physical life, to reach beyond his material self. 

"Against your will you live; against your will you die" - the tension created by these conflicting drives is the essence of the human experience. The desire to escape the trappings of physical life is what separates the human from the merely animal; but the escapist nature of man is counterbalanced by the compulsion to be, a compulsion that binds him to the material reality. Back and forth, back and forth runs the cycle of life, from being to transcendence and back again. 


Consumed

And Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer ... and offered a strange fire before G-d, which He had not commanded. 

And a fire went out from G-d and consumed them, and they died before G-d. 

And Moses said to Aaron: "This is what G-d spoke, saying: `I shall be sanctified by those who are close to Me....'"  (Leviticus 10:1-3)


short/ cir/cuit: an abnormal, usually unintentional, condition of relatively low resistance between two points of different potential in a circuit, usually resulting in a flow of excess current. 
(The Random House Dictionary of the English Language)

Our sages explain that Nadav and Avihu's act of "offering a strange fire before G-d" was not a "sin" per se. On the contrary, the event prompted Moses to say to Aaron, "When G-d said `I shall be sanctified by those close to Me,' I thought it referred to me or you; now I see that they are greater then both of us." 

Rather, as Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar writes in his Ohr Hachaim commentary on Torah, theirs was "a death by Divine `kiss' like that experienced by the perfectly righteous - it is only that the righteous die when the Divine `kiss' approaches them, while they died by their approaching it.... Although they sensed their own demise, this did not prevent them from drawing near [to the Divine] in attachment, delight, delectability, fellowship, love, kiss and sweetness, to the point that their souls ceased from them." 

In other words, the Divine fire that consumed the souls of Nadav and Avihu was the fire that is intrinsic to every soul: the soul's burning desire to tear free of the physical trappings that distance it from its Divine source. Nadav and Avihu "came close to G-d" by indulging and fuelling this desire to the point that they broke free of the "cycle" of life - to the point that their souls literally severed its connection with their bodies and were utterly consumed in ecstatic reunion with G-d. 


Making It Real: From Cycle to Spiral

But this was a ``strange fire,'' a fire that ``G-d had not commanded.'' Man was not created to consume his material being in a fire of spiritual ecstasy. Although He imbued our souls with the drive for self-transcendence, G-d wants us to anchor our fervor to reality. He wants us to "settle" this yearning within our physical self, to absorb it and make it part of our everyday life and experience. 

Following the deaths of Nadav and Avihu, G-d specifically commanded that their example not be repeated. As the Torah relates: "And G-d spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons, who came close to G-d and died: ``... Speak to Aaron your brother, that he come not at all times into the Holy... So that he die not..." 

However, this Divine command did not come to limit the degree of self-transcendence and closeness to G-d that we may attain. On the contrary: the command itself empowered us to accommodate, as a physically alive human beings, the very fire that consumed the souls of Nadav and Avihu. So the "strange fire" they offered was also "strange" in a positive sense: an unprecedented act that opened a new vista in man's service of G-d. 

This is the significance of a remark attributed to the founder of the Chassidic movement, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov: "It is only out of a great kindness on the part of the Almighty that one remains alive after prayer."

Prayer is the endeavor to transcend the enmeshments of material life and come close to one's essence and source in G-d. When a person truly achieves this closeness (that is, when he truly prays), he can experience an attachment to G-d of the magnitude that "released" the souls of Nadav and Avihu. But G-d has enabled us (in the very act of commanding us to do so) to incorporate such sublime experiences into our daily, humanly defined lives. 

So life's constant to-and-fro movement is more than a cycle that runs from existence to oblivion and back It is, rather, an upward spiral. Against your will you live - man escapes his finite self, but is driven back to make his transcendent achievements an integral part of his individual being. Against your will you die - man's "escapist" nature now reasserts itself, compelling him to reach beyond the horizon of his new, expanded self as well. Against your will you live - again, man's tendency for being draws him back to reality. 

Back and forth, upward and on, the flame of man dances, his two most basic drives conspiring to propel him to bridge ever-wider gulfs between transcendence and immanence, between the ideal and the real. 

                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Introductory reading to Ethics of the Fathers:

All Israel has a share in the World to Come, as is stated: ``And your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever. They are the shoot of My planting, the work of My hands, in which I take pride.'' 
(Sanhedrin, 11:1)

Chapter Four

1.  Ben Zoma would say: Who is wise? One who learns from every man. As is stated: ``From all my teachers I have grown wise, for Your testimonials are my meditation.''

Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations. As is stated, ``Better one who is slow to anger than one with might, one who rules his spirit than the captor of a city.''

Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot.  As is stated:  ``If you eat of toil of your hands, fortunate are you, and good is to you'' ; ``fortunate are you'' in this world, ``and good is to you''---in the World to Come. 

Who is honorable, one who honors his fellows. As is stated: ``For to those who honor me, I accord honor; those who scorn me shall be demeaned.''

2.  Ben Azzai would say: Run to pursue a minor mitzvah, and flee from a transgression. For a mitzvah brings another mitzvah, and a transgression brings another transgression. For the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah, and the reward of transgression is transgression. 

3.  He would also say: Do not scorn any man, and do not discount anything. For there is no man who has not his hour, and no thing that has not its place. 

4.  Rabbi Levitas of Yavneh would say: Be very, very humble, for the hope of mortal man is worms. 

Rabbi Yochanan the son of Berokah would say: Whoever desecrates the Divine Name covertly, is punished in public. Regarding the desecration of the Name, the malicious and the merely negligent are one and the same. 

5.  Rabbi Ishmael the son of Rabbi Yossei would say: One who learns Torah in order to teach, is given the opportunity to learn and teach. One who learns in order to do, is given the opportunity to learn, teach, observe and do. 

Rabbi Tzaddok would say: Do not separate yourself from the community. Do not act as a counselor-at-law.  Do not make the Torah a crown to magnify yourself with, or a spade with which to dig. So would Hillel say: one who make personal use of the crown of Torah shall perish. Hence, one who benefits himself from the words of Torah, removes his life from the world. 

6.  Rabbi Yossei would say: Whoever honors the Torah, is himself honored by the people; whoever degrades the Torah, is himself degraded by the people. 

7.  His son, Rabbi Ishmael would say: One who refrains from serving as a judge avoids hatred, thievery and false oaths. One who frivolously hands down rulings is a fool, wicked  and arrogant. 

8.  He would also say: Do not judge alone, for there is none qualified to judge alone, only the One. And do not say, ``You must accept my view,'' for this is their [the majority's] right, not yours. 

9.  Rabbi Jonathan would say: Whoever fulfills the Torah in poverty, will ultimately fulfill it in wealth; and whoever neglects the Torah in wealth, will ultimately neglect it in poverty. 

10.  Rabbi Meir would say: Engage minimally in business, and occupy yourself with Torah. Be humble before every man. If you neglect the Torah, there will be many more causes for neglect before you ; if you toil much in Torah, there is much reward to give to you. 

11.  Rabbi Eliezer the son of Yaakov would say: He who fulfills one mitzvah, acquires for himself one advocate; he who commits one transgression, acquires against himself one accuser. Repentance and good deeds are as a shield against retribution. 

Rabbi Yochanan the Sandal-Maker would say: Every gathering that is for the sake of Heaven, will endure; that is not for the sake of Heaven, will not endure. 

12.  Rabbi Eliezer the son of Shamua would say: The dignity of your student should be as precious to you as your own; the dignity of your colleague, as your awe of your master; and your awe of your master as your awe of Heaven. 

13.  Rabbi Judah would say: Be careful with your studies, for an error of learning  is tantamount to a willful transgression. 

Rabbi Shimon would say: There are three crowns--the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood and the crown of sovereignty--but the crown of good name surmounts them all. 

14.  Rabbi Nehora'i would say: Exile yourself to a place of Torah; do not say that it will come after you, that your colleagues will help you retain it. Rely not on your own understanding. 

15.  Rabbi Yannai would say: We have no comprehension of the tranquility of the wicked, nor of the suffering of the righteous. 

Rabbi Matya the son of Charash would say: Be first to greet every man. Be a tail to lions, rather than a head to foxes. 

16.  Rabbi Yaakov would say: This world is comparable to the antechamber before the World to Come.  Prepare yourself in the  antechamber, so that you may enter the banquet hall. 

17.  He would also say: A single moment of repentance and good deeds in this world is greater than all of the World to Come.  And a single moment of bliss in the World to Come is greater than all of the present world. 

18.  Rabbi Shimon the son of Elazar would say: Do not appease your friend at the height of his anger; do not comfort him while his dead still lies before him; do not ask him about his vow the moment he makes it ; and do not endeavor to see him at the time of his degradation. 

19.  Samuel the Small would say: ``When your enemy falls, do not rejoice; when he stumbles, let your heart not be gladdened. Lest G-d see, and it will displeasing in His eyes, and He will turn His wrath from him [to you]''

20.  Elisha the son of Avuyah would say: One who learns Torah in his childhood, what is this comparable to? To ink inscribed on fresh paper. One who learns Torah in his old age, what is this comparable to? To ink inscribed on erased paper. 

Rabbi Yossei the son of Judah of Kfar HaBavli would say: One who learns Torah from youngsters, whom is he comparable to? To one who eats unripe grapes and drinks [unfermented] wine from the press. One who learns Torah from the old, whom is he comparable to? To one who eats ripened grapes and drinks aged wine. 

Said Rabbi Meir: Look not at the vessel, but at what it contains. There are new vessels that are filled with old wine, and old vessels that do not even contain new wine. 

21.  Rabbi Elazar HaKapor would say: Envy, lust and honor drive a man from the world. 

22.  He would also say: Those who are born will die, and the dead will live. The living will be judged, to learn, to teach and to comprehend that He is G-d, He is the former, He is the creator, He is the comprehender, He is the judge, He is the witness, he is the plaintiff, and He will judge. Blessed is He, for before Him there is no wrong, no forgetting, no favoritism, and no taking of bribes; know, that everything is according to the reckoning. Let not your heart convince you that the grave is your escape; for against your will you are formed, against your will you are born, against your will you live, against your will you die, and against your will you are destined to give a judgement and accounting before the king, king of all kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. 

Studied at the conclusion of each lesson of the Ethics:

Rabbi Chananiah the son of Akashiah would say: G-d desired to merit the people of Israel; therefore, He gave them Torah and mitzvot in abundance. As is stated, ``G-d desired, for sake of his righteousness, that Torah be magnified and made glorious.'' 
(Makot, 3:16)

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