Halakhah for Pirkei Avot 3:17

רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה אוֹמֵר, אִם אֵין תּוֹרָה, אֵין דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ. אִם אֵין דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ, אֵין תּוֹרָה. אִם אֵין חָכְמָה, אֵין יִרְאָה. אִם אֵין יִרְאָה, אֵין חָכְמָה. אִם אֵין בִּינָה, אֵין דַּעַת. אִם אֵין דַּעַת, אֵין בִּינָה. אִם אֵין קֶמַח, אֵין תּוֹרָה. אִם אֵין תּוֹרָה, אֵין קֶמַח. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, כָּל שֶׁחָכְמָתוֹ מְרֻבָּה מִמַּעֲשָׂיו, לְמַה הוּא דוֹמֶה, לְאִילָן שֶׁעֲנָפָיו מְרֻבִּין וְשָׁרָשָׁיו מֻעָטִין, וְהָרוּחַ בָּאָה וְעוֹקַרְתּוֹ וְהוֹפַכְתּוֹ עַל פָּנָיו, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ירמיה יז) וְהָיָה כְּעַרְעָר בָּעֲרָבָה וְלֹא יִרְאֶה כִּי יָבוֹא טוֹב וְשָׁכַן חֲרֵרִים בַּמִּדְבָּר אֶרֶץ מְלֵחָה וְלֹא תֵשֵׁב. אֲבָל כָּל שֶׁמַּעֲשָׂיו מְרֻבִּין מֵחָכְמָתוֹ, לְמַה הוּא דוֹמֶה, לְאִילָן שֶׁעֲנָפָיו מֻעָטִין וְשָׁרָשָׁיו מְרֻבִּין, שֶׁאֲפִלּוּ כָל הָרוּחוֹת שֶׁבָּעוֹלָם בָּאוֹת וְנוֹשְׁבוֹת בּוֹ אֵין מְזִיזִין אוֹתוֹ מִמְּקוֹמוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שם) וְהָיָה כְּעֵץ שָׁתוּל עַל מַיִם וְעַל יוּבַל יְשַׁלַּח שָׁרָשָׁיו וְלֹא יִרְאֶה כִּי יָבֹא חֹם, וְהָיָה עָלֵהוּ רַעֲנָן, וּבִשְׁנַת בַּצֹּרֶת לֹא יִדְאָג, וְלֹא יָמִישׁ מֵעֲשׂוֹת פֶּרִי:

R. Elazar b. Azaryah says: If there is no Torah, there is no derech eretz. [(He does not get on well with people)]; if there is no derech eretz, there is no Torah. [(It will eventually be forgotten.)] If there is no wisdom, there is no fear; if there is no fear, there is no wisdom. If there is no understanding, [understanding one thing from another (but not giving a reason for it)], there is no knowledge [i.e., giving a reason for the thing]; if there is no knowledge, there is no understanding. [If he cannot give a reason for the thing, it is as if he does not know it; but, in any event, understanding comes first, wherefore "if there is no understanding, there is no knowledge."] If there is no flour, there is no Torah. [If one has nothing to eat, how can he study Torah?] If there is no Torah, there is no flour. [What will his flour avail him? Since he has no Torah, it would be better if he had no flour and died of hunger!] He was wont to say: One whose wisdom is more than his deeds — to what may he be compared? To a tree whose branches are many and its roots few. The wind comes and uproots it and turns it over on its face, as it is written (Jeremiah 17:6): "And he [the man who trusts in men] will be like a tamarisk in the desert and he will not see when goodness comes. It dwells in parched lands in the wilderness, in a salty, uninhabited land." But one whose deeds are more than his wisdom — to what may he be compared? To a tree whose branches are few but whose roots are many. Even if all the winds in the world come and blow against it, they cannot move it from its place, as it is written (Ibid. 8): "He [the man who trusts in G-d] will be like a tree planted near water, which spreads out its roots along a brook and does not see when the heat comes, whose foliage is always fresh. It will not worry in a year of drought and will not stop producing fruit."

Shulchan Shel Arba

And it follows from the rule that a human being needs to direct his mind when eating (and this is of great benefit to the fulfillment of his intent), that he turn to “fine foods,” for by their fineness the intellect is refined and the heart made clear-sighted, as our sages said, “wine and fragrances made me clear-sighted,”⁶⁸B. Yoma 76b. and it is necessary to direct one’s mind to them only to make the eyes of the intellect clear-sighted, as I mentioned above. And one should beware of coarse foods, for the power of the intellect is clouded by them and its lucidity and refinement ruined. And already among our ancestors, so I have heard, that whoever did not eat beef because of its coarseness, but whose eating consisted mostly of small, delicate fowl, would raise them in their homes and feed them meals of ingredients known to them and which they themselves prepared for them, in order to refine their brains and make their organs right, which are the vessel of the soul, in order for the soul to be lifted up and develop the aptitude to receive the Torah and to understand the Holy One (may his name be blessed), for the intellect is sharpened and refined according to the fineness of the food and its purity. And this is a tried and tested thing among cosmopolitan people, and some village people, for cosmopolitan people whose foods are delicacies and whose drinks are fine and refined – are they not intelligent in every area, and quick to understand science with ease and without much effort, much more so than village people who eat barley and onions, and the rest of the coarse foods. Indeed the coarseness of their intellect follows the coarseness of their food. And the choicest of enjoyments, the pleasures of food were created only for the sake of the Torah, and for this reason they said in the Chapters of the Fathers: “If there is no choice flour, there is no Torah, and if no Torah, no choice flour,”⁶⁹M. Avot 3:17. that is to say, there would be no pleasures of food.

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Shulchan Shel Arba

It is well known that ethics [ha-musar] are connected to the Torah, for so it is written: “He who follows ethics [musar] shows the way to life,” and they said explicitly, “If there is no derekh eretz [etiquette], there is no Torah.”¹M.Avot 3:17. And it is from ethics and etiquette that we advised that no person should recline at the table until he knows who his fellow guests are and with whom he’ll be reclining. And so we learned from the laws of Derekh Eretz: “A person should always know with whom he stands, with whom he reclines, and with whom he puts his seal on his documents.”²Derekh Eretz Zuta 10.

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