Moïse a reçu la Torah du Sinaï. [Je dis cela parce que ce traité n'est fondé sur aucune explication d'une mitsva de la mitsvoth de la Torah comme le sont les autres traités de la Michna, mais est entièrement mussar et middoth, et les sages des païens ont également écrit des livres du réflexions de leur cœur sur les voies des moussards— comment un homme doit se déporter avec son voisin —par conséquent, le tanna commence ce traité: "Moïse reçut la Torah du Sinaï", pour nous enseigner que le middoth et le mussar dans ce traité n'ont pas été évoqués par les sages de la Michna, mais ceux-ci, aussi, ont été déclarés sur le Sinaï, (ie , par Celui qui s'est révélé sur le Sinaï)]. Et Il la donna à Josué; et Josué, aux anciens, [qui vécut après Josué, jusqu'à l'avènement des premiers prophètes, Eli le grand prêtre et Shmuel Haramati]; et les anciens, aux prophètes; et les prophètes la donnèrent aux hommes de la grande assemblée (anshei knesseth hagedolah). [Ils étaient 120 anciens: Zerubaval, Seraya, Re'elayah, Mardochée-Bilshan, qui vivaient à l'époque d'Esdras, quand ils montèrent de l'exil au deuxième Temple, parmi eux, Chaggai, Zacharie, Malachie et Nechemiah ben Chachalyah et leurs collègues. On les appelait «les hommes de la grande assemblée» pour avoir restauré la «couronne» dans son état immaculé (grandeur). Car Moïse a dit (Deutéronome 10:17): "Le grand, puissant, impressionnant, D.ieu." Jérémie et Daniel sont venus et (Daniel) n'a pas dit «grand», et (Jérémie) n'a pas dit «impressionnant», et ils (les hommes de la grande assemblée) les ont restaurés («grand et impressionnant») comme au début, " en disant "ceci (comme indiqué ici [Yoma 69b]) est précisément Sa grandeur"; "c'est précisément Son génialité"; "car sinon (c'est-à-dire, s'il n'était pas grand et impressionnant), comment une nation pourrait-elle endurer contre soixante-dix nations (avec l'intention de l'annihiler, etc.)! "] Ils avaient coutume de dire trois choses. [Ils disaient beaucoup de choses; mais ils avaient coutume de dire ces trois choses pour maintenir l'intégrité de la Torah]: Soyez patient (" metunim " ) dans le jugement [c.-à-d. si quelque chose vous est soumis pour jugement, ne dites pas: "Un tel cas est venu devant moi deux ou trois fois auparavant", mais soyez patient, c'est-à-dire "attendez" ('mamtinim') avant vous réglez-la.] Et installez de nombreux disciples, [(contrairement à l'opinion de R. Gamliel, qui dit (Berachoth 28a): "Qu'aucun disciple dont l'intérieur ne ressemble à son extérieur n'entre dans la maison d'étude.") Nous sont par la présente ta bien que la Torah soit enseignée à chaque homme, et il n'est pas nécessaire de «le rechercher», tant qu'on ne sait pas qu'il est un homme de mauvaise conduite et de mauvaise réputation. Ou bien, on nous enseigne (par la présente) que si quelqu'un a établi des disciples dans sa jeunesse, il doit continuer à le faire dans sa vieillesse, comme il est écrit (Koheleth 11: 6): "Le matin sème ta semence, et en le soir ne laissez pas votre main se reposer. "] Et faites une clôture pour la Torah, [afin que vous ne veniez pas à violer l'issur de la Torah elle-même (par exemple, la classe secondaire [shniyoth] des relations interdites) et shvuth (interdit rabbiniquement occupation) le jour du sabbat, comme il est écrit (Lévitique 18:30): "Et vous garderez ma charge"— Faites une "conservation" pour Ma charge.]
Shaarei Teshuvah
But the one who does not always remember the day of his death is similar in his own eyes to one who has extra time and calm (mitun) to reach his goal. (It appears to me that it is from the usage [in Avot 1:1], "be patient [matunim] in judgement." And in Berkhot 20a, [we read], matun [which can also mean two hundred] and matun is equal to four hundred zuz.) And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Avot 4:17), "more precious is one hour in repentance and good deeds in this world, than all the life of the world to come; and more precious is one hour of the tranquility of the world to come, than all the life of this world."
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Shaarei Teshuvah
“You shall not place a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:14). And we were warned with this not to give a ruling to the Israelites which is not like the doctrine and not like the law (halakha). And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Avot 1:1), “Be deliberate in judgement.” And the ones who are impatient to understand and give a ruling will not save their souls from putting a stumbling block before the blind; and their sin is very heavy, as it is written (Psalms 82:5), “They neither know nor understand, they go about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth totter.” And they also said (Avot 4:13), “Be careful in study, for an error in study counts as deliberate sin.” And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 22a), “‘For she has cast down many wounded’ (Proverbs 7:26); this is [referring to] a Torah scholar who has not yet attained the ability to issue rulings, and yet issues rulings. ‘And a mighty host are all her slain’; this is referring to a Torah scholar who has attained the ability to issue rulings, but does not issue rulings.”
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit
The author of these two parables dealt with a difficult question which I have already raised, namely that the angels possess one sanctity while Israel possesses two sanctities; this is derived from Psalms 103,20: ברכו ה' מלאכי, גבורי כח עשי דברי לשמוע בקול דברו, "Bless the Lord, O His angels, mighty creatures who do His bidding, ever obedient to His bidding." Based on this verse the angels are perceived as possessing one level of sanctity whereas Israel is perceived of possessing two levels of sanctity. Israel's first level of sanctity is acquired by "being obedient and doing G–d's bidding," whereas the second level is achieved through observing Rabbinic "fences" erected around basic Sinaitic laws to make it more difficult for the individual Jew to transgress such Biblical injunctions (cf. Avot 1,1). The reason for all this is alluded to in the parable about the wine cellar. We know about the יין המשומר, the wine preserved in its grapes since the time of גן עדן. There is some wine which does not contain any sediment apt to cause the wine to go sour under certain conditions. The wine, i.e. grapes of the tree of knowledge which Eve squeezed out and drank and gave Adam to drink, had not been guarded by a fence around the prohibition not to eat from the tree of knowledge. It thus was able to form sediments, which clouded its appearance, thereby preventing the detection of the pollutant emanating from the original serpent which was concealed therein. When Rabbi Avin speaks about guarding the wine cellar, he refers to the unpolluted remnant of the wine from גן עדן. Another word for such sediment or dross is סיג, and this is why the "fence" around Biblical laws is called סייג. This is also the deeper meaning of 18,30: ושמרתם את משמרתי, which is interpreted in Moed Katan 5 as עשו משמרת למשמרת, "construct a strainer for the strainer!" The Torah suggests that extra precautions should be taken to ensure against violations of its commandments. The function of the second strainer is similar to what is discussed in Shabbat 137 where the question is debated whether it is permissible to suspend such a strainer above the cup on a festival.
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Orchot Tzadikim
Even though zeal is a very good quality, one must be careful not to work too quickly. For one who rides quickly is liable to stumble, and one who runs quickly may fall. It is not wise to attempt to repair anything in haste, but rather with deliberation. And thus said our teachers, "Be deliberate in judgment!" (Aboth 1:1). And zeal means that one's heart must be stirred, and one's thoughts aroused and that one's limbs must be light for one's work, but one ought not to be hasty in any matter. All of these matters require great wisdom as to when to hurry and when to tarry. Even though the quality of zeal is very good nevertheless a man ought not be zealous to pursue his lusts, to busy himself in seeking pleasures, or to pursue evil deeds. For just as zeal in the matter of Torah raises a man to a very lofty height, so does alertness in the matter of transgressing bring a man down to the nether world.
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit
A third interpretation of the repetition of the word צדק would be that there are two ways of arriving at a fair judgment. The first צדק refers to the need to arrive at a mutually agreeable resolution of disagreements without recourse to the letter of the law. The second time the word צדק is used is for the eventuality that an agreed solution to the disagreement cannot be found. According to the Sifri it also means that the trial may not be re-opened once a person has been found innocent, even if new evidence against him is suppposed to have been found. Still another meaning of the second צדק could be that a judge, is supposed to be מתון, i.e. judge each case on its individual merits, without reference to precedent. It is not enough to refer to a previous judgment in what is perceived as an identical dispute. No two cases are identical. Moses already explained this point to his father-in-law Yitro in Exodus 18,16 when he told ושפטתי בין איש ובין רעהו, "When I pronounce judgment I have to consider each litigant on his own merits."
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit
Our author demonstrates by means of a number of allusions based on numerical values that by serving the golden calf the common numerical factors in the words Israel-Moses and Sinai were invalidated. These allusions depended on the use of the number 10 derived from the Ten Commandments which Israel violated when making and serving the golden calf. This relationship had to be restored after Israel repented of its errors. Counting the half-shekels helped restore the numerical equation which signalled Israel's and Moses' profound connection with Sinai and Torah which were expressed in numerical equations.
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit
We can utilize this thought to answer a problem in the wording of the first Mishnah in tractate Avot. The author says: משה קבל תורה מסיני ומסרוה ליהושע, "Moses received the Torah from Sinai and handed it over to Joshua." Why does the Mishnah change from the term קבל to מסר when describing the transfer of the tradition? Another difficulty is that there is no word of how the transfer from Joshua to the elders, and from the elders to the prophets took place, whereas we find the term מסר used again when the Mishnah describes the transfer of the oral tradition from the prophets to the members of the Great Assembly. A further difficulty is the statement in Eiruvin 54: "How did the oral tradition get taught? Moses learned it from G–d. Then Aaron entered and Moses would teach it to him. After that Aaron's sons entered and Moses taught it to them. After that the elders entered and Moses taught the elders; finally the people at large entered and Moses taught all of them. We do not hear one word in this sequence about Moses handing over the oral tradition specifically to Joshua, as was mentioned in the Mishnah.
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Shenei Luchot HaBerit
The mystical dimension of all this is that ever since the pollutant of the serpent, i.e. the negative fall-out of the sin, infected man it has become necessary to build "fences" around G–d's laws to make it almost impossible to transgress an actual Biblical injunction. When someone is guilty of being פורץ גדר, demolishing such a fence, the serpent will bite him. In other words, if someone does not construct a משמרת he is liable to transgress the essence of G–ds commandments. In the future, when G–d will remove the pollutant of the serpent there will no longer be a need for these fences; this need stems from the power of the Sig, dross, introduced into our bodies by the serpent. It is significant that in the parlance of our sages the fence is not called גדר, but rather Se\yag, i.e. the same word as Sig. Our Rabbis in Avot 1,1 wanted to make sure that we appreciate the reason for the need to construct such "fences." Aaron came close to G–d in lieu of Adam. He was the Meshameret. This is the meaning of G–d saying in Numbers 18,8 that he would be the משמרת תרומתי.
