Mishnah
Mishnah

Halakhah for Pirkei Avot 2:4

הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עֲשֵׂה רְצוֹנוֹ כִרְצוֹנְךָ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה רְצוֹנְךָ כִרְצוֹנוֹ. בַּטֵּל רְצוֹנְךָ מִפְּנֵי רְצוֹנוֹ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּבַטֵּל רְצוֹן אֲחֵרִים מִפְּנֵי רְצוֹנֶךָ. הִלֵּל אוֹמֵר, אַל תִּפְרֹשׁ מִן הַצִּבּוּר, וְאַל תַּאֲמִין בְּעַצְמְךָ עַד יוֹם מוֹתְךָ, וְאַל תָּדִין אֶת חֲבֵרְךָ עַד שֶׁתַּגִּיעַ לִמְקוֹמוֹ, וְאַל תֹּאמַר דָּבָר שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לִשְׁמֹעַ, שֶׁסּוֹפוֹ לְהִשָּׁמַע. וְאַל תֹּאמַר לִכְשֶׁאִפָּנֶה אֶשְׁנֶה, שֶׁמָּא לֹא תִפָּנֶה:

He was wont to say: Make His will like your will [i.e., Spread your wealth for the "desires" of Heaven as if they were your will, as if you spread it for your desires], so that He make your will like His will [i.e., so that He grant you good with an open hand.] Void your will before His will so that He void the will of others before your will [i.e., so that He void the will of all who rise against you for evil. And I have heard that this is a euphemism for "so that He void His will for your will." [As stated (Shabbath 63a): "If one performs a mitzvah as ordained, even a seventy-year decree is voided for him."] Hillel says: Do not separate from the congregation, [but share in their sorrow, for all who separate from the congregation do not merit seeing the consolation of the congregation (Ta'anith 11a)], and do not trust in yourself until the day of your death. [For Yochanan Cohein Gadol served as high-priest for eighty years, and, in the end, became a Sadducee (Berachoth 29a)], and do not judge your friend until you arrive at his place [i.e., if you see your friend being tested and failing, do not judge him guilty until you are put to the same test and succeed.], and do not say a thing which cannot be heard, which can be heard in the end [i.e., let your words not be ambiguous ones, which cannot be understood in the beginning, at first hearing, assuming that if the hearer analyzes them, in the end he will understand them. For this will lead people to mistake your words and possibly to come to heresy because of you. Alternately: Do not reveal your secret, even between you and yourself, saying that there is no one here to hear you, for in the end it will be heard, "for a bird of heaven will carry the voice, etc." (Koheleth 10:20). According to this interpretation, the reading is "for in the end it will be heard." But Rashi reads it "And do not say of a thing [words of Torah] which can be heard (now) that it can be heard in the end," but incline your ear like a hopper and hear it now.], and do not say: When I can free myself [of my affairs] I shall learn (Torah); perhaps you will not free yourself.

Sefer HaChinukh

And so [too,] that which they said (Bava Batra 21b) that the community in each and every place is obligated to set up teachers of infants, that a city that does not have infants of the house of their teacher will be destroyed and that [up to] twenty-five infants are set up with one teacher. And [also] that which they said (Avot 2:4) that a person not say, "When I will be available I will study [Torah]," lest he never become available - as a person does not know what a day will bring. As one's involvement in the world renews itself each day and pushes a man from one thing to another and from one bother to another; and [so] it will come out that all of his days will pass in bewilderment if he does not make himself available regardless and push himself to involvement [with] Torah [study]. But anyone who does this and desires blessing will be helped from the Heavens and the bewildering bothers of the world will be lightened from upon him, and the yoke of [other] creatures will be removed from upon him. And [so] he will dwell happily in this world all of his days, and it will be good for him in the world to come. And happy is the one who speaks to a listening year. [These] and the rest of its details are elucidated in Kiddushin in the first chapter and in dispersed places in the Talmud (see Tur, Yoreh Deah 246).
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