pirkei avos sicha - chazara :)

Ah gutte voch everyone!

We know that the Rebbe greatly encouraged saying pirkei avos every week, and that's what we all do (right?). But did you know that the Rebbe also encouraged learning at least one mishnah in-depth?
Well for this week, here's a little review of a sicha we learned at our weekly pirkei avos shiur here in kahn tziva with Zeldy Nemanov-Laufer.
I thought it was sweet, and besides it's always good to go over what you learned, and what better way is there than on our blog? ;)

It's about mishnah 15 in this week's perek. Goes like this:
"Shammai said: Make your Torah study fixed, say little and do much, and receive everyone with a cheerful countenance."

Seems simple enough, right? So what's the question?
Well, the Rebbe begins with a basic concept if you know anything about pirkei avos, and that is that pirkei avos is all about milei dechasidusa - being a chassid, or basically about going beyond the letter of the law, in all areas of life.

So if that's the case, how does our mishnah fit in? In fact, each of the three concepts expressed here is really a part of a clear mitzvah in the Torah! The first is a halacha that says: "make your Torah study fixed and your work temporary" - exactly the words here. The second is a posuk in Torah "lo yachel devoro" meaning not to violate something you promise to do, which can actually literally mean "do not make your speech common" - so it makes sense to just speak little. The third would be part of the mitzvah of loving your follow jew as yourself, or as Hillel defines it, "do not to unto others what you would not want done to you" - and you would obviously want someone else to greet you cheerfully!

So the question is - why is this included in pirkei avos, which is supposed to be about concepts that are beyond the letter of the law?

We will understand the answer through analyzing few details in the mishna itself:
a) why these three ideas are put together in the same mishna
b) why the second part of the halacha "make fixed times for torah and make your work temporary" is omitted
c) why Shammai's name is included in the mishnah, as it must add to our understanding of the mishnah or it would not be there!

The Rebbe's explanation:
This mishnah is coming as a continuation to an earlier mishnah - that there are three pillars that support the world: torah, avodah, and gemillus chassadim, (or Torah study, prayer, and acts of kindess). Now if a person is not capable of putting their entire heart and soul in all three areas, he is advised to choose one and focus on that, and after that, work on the other two to the best of his ability. what Shammai is telling us here is that if a person wants to act as a chassid, the pillar he should choose should be Torah - that although he has a choice, and can choose to be a businessman whose concentration is on gemilas chasadim, on giving money and the like to others, a chassid is someone who chooses Torah.

According to this, we can understand why he omitted the second part "and your work temporary" because the point is not that the rest of your mitzvos should be temporary or secondary, only that your focus should be Torah. The next part of the mishna tells you that this is not talking about learning only what is applicable in daily life, in halachic decisions which are referred to as "speaking" - about that he says "speak little." Shammai here is referring to learning Torah lishmah - only for the sake of the mitzvah of learning Hashem's Torah and connecting to Hashem.

Now after hearing this, a person might think that means that since learning Torah is such a priority, his other deeds are not so important, and he need not put so much effort into keeping other mitzvos in general. So the next part of the mishnah tells us "... and do a lot" - that our actions at the same time must be plentiful, both in quantity and quality.

Still, if Torah is so greatly emphasized, a person can still come to a different mistake:
People are made up of intellect and emotion. Intellect is something that generally stays within yourself, while emotions are expressed through relating to others. In fact, when concentrating on the intellectual, sometimes other people can even be a disturbance, and it is much more conducive to be alone. And so you can come to the conclusion that if you are really going to focus and learn, you need to isolate yourself - and if you need to be with people, it will be only those that will help you in learning. And so you will keep your distance from anyone else, especially if you think they might adversely affect you and your learning.

And so Shammai comes with the third part of the mishnah: "and received everyone with a cheerful countenance". Even if you are concentrating on learning Torah, and it is someone you cannot help and cannot help you, not in learning and not even in an act of kindness cuz he needs none - still you must greet him pleasantly.

[Hang on there... we're almost done!]

So we basically answered the main question and one of the smaller ones, but if you think about it, actually strengthened another one. The question is, if Shammai is telling us that we are supposed to choose Torah as our focus, which is something usually done best alone, how is it possible to at the same time keep up the other two areas of doing mitzvos all the way and always greeting all others cheerfully?

The answer is actually the answer to our third question - that Shammai said it. Shammai hints to the phrase "...Sam orchosav" (or something... not quite sure how it's said) - that a person has the ability to choose how he is going to spend his time. And so a person is given the ability from Hashem to do all these three if he puts his mind to it, and especially in the weeks that we are learning pirkei avos.

Now a deeper connection between all three parts of the mishnah is the way they are supposed to be done: the Torah is not learned (only) to do, but purely to learn and connect to hashem. the mitzvos are done completely and fully, not for the reward. That's why it says "do a lot" - not just the little that is required, but keep on doing cuz Hashem said. The third part is the same - it is including someone that needs absolutely nothing from you.... it is purely the ways of chassidus that make you greet him cheerfully. Each of them is done purely and absolutely for itself and nothing else - like a pnimi :).

And this kind of attitude will be fully revealed when Moshiach comes, when it will be clear how Hashem and yidden are one, and there won't be any more concealment which leads to different people with different paths, where they can focus only on one area.

And this is the deeper connection between this mishnah and Shammai. When moshiach comes, the Halacha will follow the opinion of Beis Shammai. That is when it will be clear and obvious how a person can conduct himself in such a way, with every area of yiddishkeit done fully and properly and only for its own sake.

But since everything of Moshiach's times depends on our actions now, we must start now and behave according to Shammai's instructions, and automatically we will see how we are given the koichos to fulfill it all the way (and manage our time right so it works!).

And "the way a person judges is the way he is judged" - so just as we greet others with a cheerful face, we will merit a "cheerful face" from Hashem and we will merit everlasting life in the times of techiyas hamaysim. Amen!

and whoa i did not realize how long it was going to be... lol well enjoy it if you can!
Moshiach now and thank you for listening!
:)