Ethics of the Fathers

NCEE BT iG MEER REED OY: Coy ek ek hy BUUREN FOES CERN Oy eg en ne ee ere en, ence ee, ACen MTree F=BeREG ATES merit on Israel. That is why He gave them a copious Torah and many commandments, as it is said, “It pleased the LORD, for the sake of [Israel's] righteousness, Is. 42 | to make the Torah great and glorious.” If there is a minyan, mourners say the Rabbis' Kaddish (page 628). * * * All Israel have a share in the World to Come, as it is said, Kad “Your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever; Is. 60 they are a shoot of My own planting, a work of My own hands, that I may be glorified.” CHAPTER 3 1. Akavya ben Mahalalel said: Reflect on three things and you will avoid transgression: Know where you came from, where you are going, and before whom you will have to give an account and reckoning. “Where you came from” — from a putrid drop. “Where you are going” - to a place of dust, worms and maggots. “And before whom you will have to give an account and reckoning” — before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. 2. Rabbi Hanina, the deputy High Priest, said: Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for fear of it, people would swallow one another alive. 3. Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon said: When two people sit together and no words of Torah pass between them, they are regarded as a company of scoffers, as itis said, “He does not sit in the company of scoffers.” But when two people Ps.1 sit together and words of Torah do pass between them, the Divine Presence rests with them, as it is said, “Then those who feared the LORD talked together, Mal. 3 and the LORD listened and heard, and a scroll of remembrance was written before Him concerning those who feared the LORD and cherished His name.” This verse tells me about two people; from where can I learn that even one person who sits alone and studies Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, grants him a reward? From the verse, “Though he sits alone and meditates quietly, Lam.s He will grant him a reward.” | a | of law, society would degenerate into a “war of all against all” in which life | would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” 3:3. Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon: A restatement of the argument of Psalm 1:1-2, “Happy is the man who does not... sit in the company of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his Torah he meditates day and night.” Sharing words of Torah at the table transforms a physical act into a | spiritual one, and those present into a learning fellowship.