Ethics of the Fathers

] Ba a a FI aD a Se acolo. ata ness, but all depends on the majority of one’s deeds. | 20. He used to say: Allis given on collateral, and a net is spread over all the living. The shop is open, the shopkeeper extends credit, the ledger is open, and the | hand records. Whoever wishes to borrow may come and borrow. The collectors regularly make their daily rounds and collect payment from a person, whether he realizes it or not. They have [a record] on which they can rely; the judgment is just; and all is prepared for the banquet. 21. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said: If there is no Torah, there is no respect; if there | is no respect, there is no Torah. If there is no wisdom, there is no reverence; if | there is no reverence, there is no wisdom. If there is no knowledge, there is no | understanding; if there is no understanding, there is no knowledge. If there is | no flour [sustenance], there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour. | 22. He used to say: To what may one whose wisdom exceeds his deeds be compared? To a tree with many branches but few roots. When a wind comes, it | uproots and overturns it, as it is said, “He shall be like a juniper tree in the Jer. 17 | desert, which does not sense the coming of good: it is set in the scorched places of the wilderness in a barren, uninhabited land.” To what may one whose deeds exceed his wisdom be compared? To a tree with few branches but many roots. Even if all the winds of the world come and blow against it, they cannot dislodge it from its place, as it is said, “He shall be like a tree Jer. 17 planted by waters, sending forth its roots by a stream: it does not sense the coming of heat; its leaves are ever fresh; it has no care in a year of drought; it does not cease to bear fruit.” | 23. Rabbi Elazar ben Hisma said: The laws of bird offerings and the calculation of menstrual periods are essential laws; astronomy and mathematics are adjuncts to wisdom. Rabbi Hananya ben Akashya said: The Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to confer Makkot 23b 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). * * * |