Mishnah
Mishnah

Chasidut for Pirkei Avot 4:5

רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל בְּנוֹ אוֹמֵר, הַלּוֹמֵד תּוֹרָה עַל מְנָת לְלַמֵּד, מַסְפִּיקִין בְּיָדוֹ לִלְמֹד וּלְלַמֵּד. וְהַלּוֹמֵד עַל מְנָת לַעֲשׂוֹת, מַסְפִּיקִין בְּיָדוֹ לִלְמֹד וּלְלַמֵּד לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשׂוֹת. רַבִּי צָדוֹק אוֹמֵר, אַל תַּעֲשֵׂם עֲטָרָה לְהִתְגַּדֵּל בָּהֶם, וְלֹא קַרְדֹּם לַחְפֹּר בָּהֶם. וְכָךְ הָיָה הִלֵּל אוֹמֵר, וּדְאִשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ בְּתָגָא, חָלָף. הָא לָמַדְתָּ, כָּל הַנֶּהֱנֶה מִדִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה, נוֹטֵל חַיָּיו מִן הָעוֹלָם:

R. Yishmael, his son, says: If one learns in order to teach, it is given him to learn and to teach. [This is the correct version. Its meaning: If one learns in order to be constantly involved in Torah, not thinking to engage in lovingkindness with others, like Rava (Rosh Hashanah 18a) who occupied himself with Torah but not with lovingkindness, even though he should also do the latter, still, it is given him to learn and to teach, as per his intent], and if one learns in order to do, [wanting to study Torah but also to engage in lovingkindness, like Abbaye, who engaged in Torah and in lovingkindness,] it is given him [to fulfill his intent and] to learn and to teach, to keep and to do. [There are some who explain "If one learns in order to teach," in order to be called "Rabbi," and who read "it is not given him to learn and to teach," but in most books I have found it as in the first version, which is the correct one.] Do not make them (words of Torah) a crown to aggrandize yourself with. [Do not say: I will learn in order to be called "Rabbi" and to sit at the head, but learn from love, and honor is bound to come], (and do not make them) a spade with which to dig. [Do not learn Torah in order to make a livelihood of it. For one who does so profanes the holiness of Torah and is liable to death at the hands of Heaven, as is one who derives (personal) gain from sacred property. And the teachers of schoolchildren take pay only for watching them alone, that they not damage things, and for teaching them cantillations, which a teacher is not obligated to exert himself to do. But it is forbidden to take pay for teaching Torah, as it is written (Deuteronomy 4:14): "And the L rd commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments" (Ibid. 5): "as the L rd my G-d commanded me" — Just as I, gratis, you, too, gratis. And a judge, too, is forbidden to take a fee for ruling, but only an "absentee fee," that it be manifest that the fee represents what he loses by absenting himself from his work to hear the pleas of the litigants (provided that he takes an equal amount from both. If he takes more from one than from the other, his rulings are nullified.) As to the Torah permitting a Torah scholar to benefit from words of Torah, this applies to selling his works in the marketplace before others do and also to his exemption from all (personal) taxes, impositions, and property taxes. The congregation must pay even the head tax for him. And even if he is wealthy and has much money he may claim exemption by law. And if a Torah scholar is sick and steeped in affliction and the congregation proffer large gifts to him in honor of his Torah, it is a mitzvah for him to take them. And this is not in the category of profiting from words of Torah since it is impossible for him to sustain himself otherwise. And, likewise, a Torah scholar who was appointed a parnas (community leader) or rosh haseder by the congregation, and who occupies himself with the needs of the congregation, may take a wage from them, even what is far in excess of what he needs for a livelihood, so that he be great, and feared and awe-inspiring to them, as we said with the high-priest of whom it is written (Leviticus 21:10): "who is greater than his brothers," which the sages expound: "Make him great from his brothers." His brother Cohanim are to make him wealthy from what is theirs. As to the early sages, who abstained from this, this was out of their chasiduth but it is not the din.] And this is what Hillel was wont to say: "One who 'uses' the crown (of Torah) passes away" — whereby we are taught that one who exploits words of Torah "takes his life" from the world.

Sha'ar HaEmunah VeYesod HaChasidut

I thank God with all my heart,3This opening is based on the verse in Tehillim (111:1). In the counsel4“Sod,” in Hebrew, means both counsel and mystery. “In the counsel of those who remain,” “b’sod hanisharim” in Hebrew, is a play on the words of Psalm 111, “b’sod yesharim,” “in the mystery of the upright of heart.” This leads us to the simple principle that the unknown becomes known through proper counsel, which is the aim of this treatise. It is also an allusion to the four major works penned by this author, collectively called Sod Yesharim, as mentioned in the introduction. As is often the case regarding the titles of Hasidic works, the numerical equivalent of the phrase, “sod yesharim,” is “Gershon Henokh.” (=630) It may be that this equation is the least significant of the mysteries contained in the pages of this book. of those who remain5“Those who remain and those who love,” refers to members of each generation who yearn for Divine truth. It is as though, at this point in the opening of the work, the author is inviting the souls of the great Torah masters of the past; for he is entering into a battle of the spirit, and not going alone. His polemic is not only armed and positioned with a regiment of prophetic spirits, but with the prophets themselves and the One who speaks to them. All God fearing men who enter into a dialogue with the soul and the “penimiyut,” or internal aspect of the Torah are a part of the counsel, and all who revere the message and morals of prophets and kabbalists and are worthy of the mystery. and those who love, 6cf. Megilla 6b, “אוהבי שרידים יושבי רקת”. According to Rashi, “lovers of Israel.” Those who thirst for God’s word, Those love His Torah with truth and wholeness. They do not learn the Torah as a woodsman sharpens his axe, in order to earn a living.7See Pirkei Avot, 4:5, Nedarim 62a, where the Sages speak sharply against those who use the Torah in order to gain honor or riches. Nor do they adorn themselves in it like a fur coat.8כאדרת שער, cf. Bereshit 25:25, “And the first came out all red, like a hairy garment.” Esav, the hunter, the man of the field, would put on the act of righteous to win his father, Yitzhak’s favor. Those who, “adorn themselves in the Torah as one wears a fancy coat,” were religious men whose saintliness was more an expression of self-aggrandizment than inner dedication. The author was known as a bold fighter, and not afraid to compare many of the self-styled scholars and holy men of his generation to Eisav. Yet they bend their ears to hear the words of the sages. Their hearts yearn to know the truth.
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Sha'ar HaEmunah VeYesod HaChasidut

And now, for the sake of our brothers and friends, who tremble at the word of God, seeking the Torah and loving its wisdom, I will now say, “Peace unto the lovers of God’s Torah!” Come, House of Yaakov, and you will walk in the light of God,481Yeshayahu, 2:5. may God be with us as He was with our forefathers, He shall not forsake us and He shall not forget us.482Melachim 1, 8:57 He shall forever lead us by peaceful waters, our rest shall be in our very progression from strength to strength, to ascend the ladder fixed in the ground which rises to Heaven! As for our revilers, who ask why we bother to invest so much contemplation into the Torah until our strength is exhausted? Who claim that the simple explanations of the written and oral Torah is enough. To them, I will offer noble words483See Mishlei, 8:6. which draw the heart of man. Come and consider, see and behold! Taste and see that God is good484Tehillim, 34:9 to those who yearn for their souls to be restored by His perfect Torah.485See Tehillim, 19:8. Those who contemplate it in the depths of their hearts will see and understand that those who taste its depths will merit life. These are the things that man will do and through them he shall live for eternity. Do you not see now that the house of Yaakov is faithful and the house of Yosef is your provider?486Bereshit, 42:6. From the time the house was established, he has been faithful to sustain Israel with every word that comes out of the mouth of God upon which man lives.487“…he would make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but rather by all that comes forth from the mouth of G-d” (Devarim, 8:3). Interpreted in hasidic terms, this means that it is not physical sustenance that gives life, but the Divine essence within the food that enlivens. So, too, the author rails against those who neglect or deny the deeper meaning of the Torah, which is like being concerned only with the body and not the soul. On a more personal level, he seems to be attacking those who deny the validity of the unique (and controversial) interpretative approach of his grandfather, R. Mordechai Yosef of Izhbitz, and of his father, R. Yaakov. Those who reject it have “no portion in Yaakov and no inheritance in the house of Yosef.” This shall cast away those who say that they have no portion in Yaakov and no inheritance in the house of Yosef. Their ways are crooked488Mishlei, 2:15 and they pervert the explanations of the Torah, hanging their misunderstandings like a lyre, preaching all of their logic which has no basis in God’s Torah, not in the words of the Tanaaim and Amoraim of the oral law, and all that they imagine they hang on a great tree489That is, claim that they can based their false interpretation on valid, earlier sources. Here, too, the author may be critiquing those who claim that Maimonides was a rationalist, who did not deal with the secrets of the Torah. The author proved that claim wrong in the first half of this work. asserting, “This is the meaning of the Torah.” For these, the House of Yaakov will be a fire and the House of Yosef like a flame!490Ovadia, 1:18. They will see and learn. They will see how to reveal the Torah of God from the plain meaning of the words, for are not His words like fire,491Yirmiyahu, 23:29. and all who desire its light with truth and faith can come and warm themselves? And likewise, as a flame it will burn all those who learn Torah in order to vex the scholars of the mysteries, and who wear it as a crown and wield it as an axe.492See the Talmud, Pirke Avot, 4:5 And now, House of Yaakov, walk in the light of God and come home. See and understand that all the words of the Torah written in this book are needed for every man of Israel, in every place and every time. And how all of the events recorded in the Torah can illuminate every soul and instruct him how to sustain his life and all that he goes through with justice.493Tehillim 112:5. For the words of the Torah are living and enduring for all eternity. All who contemplate the Torah grasp onto the tree of life, and it is life for those who hold onto it.494Mishlei, 3:18. May God illuminate our eyes to His Torah, and place His love and fear in our hearts, in order to do His will, and to serve Him with a whole heart.495From the liturgy of the morning prayer, in the blessing before the reading of the Shema Yisrael.
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