Life in a Petri Dish

If you were fortunate enough to catch my trilogy on identity last week, you’re already aware that I’m in a state of questioning the role of religion in my life but also feel most Jewish in a state of study and discourse. However, my independent study has a crucial flaw compared to a true student of Talmud: I lack a chaver, a friend, a study partner. Rarely do students study alone–they work in pairs, bouncing ideas from one mind to the other until true learning has been achieved.

I lack a study partner, but thankfully, I have you–and I always welcome comments and discussions, always welcome additional voices filling the blank places of the internet upon which these words encroach.

No matter, the summer has returned in full force. Less than a month ago I graduated with my associate’s degree and in a little more than two months I’ll begin classes at a new college working towards my bachelor’s degree. In the time since I walked across the stage and turned my tassel, I’ve gone to the beach, been a guest at another graduation, spent more time playing video games than I have in the last eight months, and studied over Shavuot and spent some serious time in the study of introspection. All of this has only been preparation for my annual dive into the Pirkei Avot. This year I’m starting chapter three and I hope you’ll follow me on this enlightening journey.

All Things Come to an End

I’m writing this Friday night as I wait to leave for Kol Nidre, the start of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the final moment before the book is closed for another year. It’s fitting then, I suppose, that I should be reading the last teaching from the second book of the Pirkey Avot tonight. Today, when you read this, two gates will close.

2.21 This was a favorite teaching of his:

Your are not obligated to finish the task,
neither are you free to neglect it.
If you have studied much Torah, your reward will be abundant.
Your Employer can be relied upon to reward you for your labors.
Know, however, that the reward of the righteous is in a future time.

Reading this, I find it beautiful and fitting for the evening, for the day. Last week, Rabbi Tarfon spoke about workers and rewards, as he reiterates here, but what shines to me is not the study of Torah, which I have also spoken about on many occasions, or reliable employers, but how this teaching begins, and how this teaching ends.

Destiny and Rebirth

I’d like to begin by saying Shanah tovah to all my readers! This past Wednesday began Rosh HaShanah, the celebration of the Jewish new year and one of the most important holidays in the Jewish year. The ten days following until Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) next Saturday are referred to as the Days of Awe and are a time to seek forgiveness and make amends for the coming year.

Today, however, my focus is still on the Pirkei Avot.

2.20 Rabbi Tarfon taught:

The day is short, the task is great;
the workers indolent, the reward bountiful,
and the Master insistent!

What is this, a piece of poetry? Though I’m apt to adore art, I must wonder what is meant by this, what lesson was intended, what pupils were at his feet when he spoke these words….

On Diligence, Defense, and Duty

Long ago we were introduced to Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai and his five disciples. Since then we have learned from each of these Rabbis countless things–we’ve learned about community, about perception about prayers and obligations, about goodness and evil. Today, our lessons from these wise men come to an end as we study their final lesson to all us.

2.19 Rabbi Elazar taught:

Be diligent in the study of Torah;
Be armed with knowledge to refute a heretic;
Be aware for Whom you labor and that your Employer can be relied upon to reward your labors.

The interesting thing of all of this is that since I began studying the words of these six Rabbis more than two months ago, I was in a completely difference place in life. Since the semester began, however, I’ve been learning about statistics, world religions, and American politics, and my burgeoning wealth of knowledge in these areas has already changed the way I think and the way I see the world around me. I can almost guarantee that if I were to begin these texts now where I began then, I’d come to different conclusions on each of them. But there is no looking back in my philosophy, only looking forward, and that brings us to where I’d like to begin today.

Hello, I’m Evil

I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but I’m doing it now: I’m spending two weeks on the same mishneh, the same teaching. I hadn’t thought I’d be able to say so much on it, hadn’t expected it at all, but I got so carried away in my talk of prayers that I left no room for a further discussion on evil and identity. But perhaps that was for the best. Maybe we should keep our prayers away from what’s evil. But just maybe, we’ll see otherwise.

For those who might have missed it, or simply would like to read it again, here is the teaching I’ll be writing from, which is the same as last week’s:

2.18 Rabbi Shimon taught:

Be careful when you recite the Sh’ma and the Amidah.

When reciting the Amidah do not make your prayer a prescribed routine but a plea for mercy and grace before God, as it is said, “For He is gracious and merciful, patient and abounding in love, taking pity on evildoers” (Joel 2:13).

Do not regard yourself as an evil person.

In my first post, I focused primarily on the first two lines of this teaching. Today, I shall focus on the last.

What Makes a Ritual

There’s a strange phenomena that occurs when I go to Shabbat services: I get up early Saturday morning, I’m fully awake till halfway through the car ride, then my tiredness slowly begins to creep upon me until–right as I walk into the sanctuary–all my energy is gone and I feel like I could fall asleep right there. Ten minutes later, something miraculous happens–as if through osmosis, the energy of the environment, the sacred prowess of the place, the vibrancy of the life-borne prayers surrounding me, the Ner Tamid–the Eternal Light–hanging above the ark, begins to seep inside me until I’m fully alive with the intensity of the moment.

Then I get home and I need a nap. Go figure.

Something amusing also occurred today: Of the four Torah readers, I was the only one who wasn’t a rabbi. Go figure.

2.18 Rabbi Shimon taught:

Be careful when you recite the Sh’ma and the Amidah.

When reciting the Amidah do not make your prayer a prescribed routine but a plea for mercy and grace before God, as it is said, “For He is gracious and merciful, patient and abounding in love, taking pity on evildoers” (Joel 2:13).

Do not regard yourself as an evil person.

Suppose I Never Ever Met You

For the sake of introduction, I feel I should say something here. However, it is not in me tonight. I’ve had a long day. From studying, to studying, and all the myriad things in between I just don’t feel like talking about, I never thought the day would become so drawn out. I’m glad I’m here, to finally put my mind on something tangible, something sensible. Some days these things just seem lacking in general. Some days you just know what I mean.

2.17 Rabbi Yose taught:

The property of others should be as precious to you as your own;
Perfect yourself in the study of Torah–it will not come to you by inheritance;
let all your deeds be for Heaven’s sake.

I took a class with my rabbi once. I can’t remember what it was about, I’ve taken a few with him, but I remember the way he put it: All sins in the Bible can be traced back to one–the sin of stealing. Murder is stealing another’s life; adultery is stealing another’s wife; even idolatry can be described as stealing from God what is due to him and giving it unto another. It’s a perfect philosophy, in a way, and this teaching makes me think of it.

It’s Out of This World

Long week. I know time cannot be properly perceived from three-dimensional perspective, but I didn’t think it could feel so long. Or be so exhausting. However, I was treated to a delightful morning today, able to attend services bright and early, bathed in the brisk winds of a coast-crossing hurricane. It really was lovely weather save for the humid heat. And the melodies, the Torah reading, the discussions during kiddush. It really was a good way to start the day.

2.16 Rabbi Yehoshua taught:

The begrudging eye, the evil impulse,
and hatred of one’s fellow human beings
will ruin a person’s life.

I don’t know every word, that’s a trend, but I can make sense of quite a few. And with an understanding of the Hebrew, this isn’t at all as simple as it first appears. Reading the English, I was about to say, We’ve discussed this all before, but peering into the Hebrew, I see a whole new world unraveling.

Like Coals of Fire

Today I’ve been lax. I just haven’t had the energy to do anything. Not that I’ve been sleeping too restfully, though. Why is it when I yearn for sleep most my dreams keep me awake? Perhaps I’m more stressed from the prospect of school starting on Monday than I had imagined.

In any case, our time here is beginning to close. With the passing of one narrative births another, and only seven teachings remain.

2.15 Each of the disciples taught three things.

Rabbi Eliezer taught:

Cherish your colleague’s honor as your own;
Be not easily provoked to anger;
Repent one day before your death.

(He is also quoted as saying: Warm yourself at the fire of the scholars, but be wary of their glowing coals lest you be burnt. Their bite is that of a fox; their sting that of a scorpion; their hiss that of a serpent–indeed, all their teachings are like live coals of fire.)

The first three can go without saying. Treat others how you wish to be treated. Take a deep breath. Say you’re sorry. It’s all things my mother taught me, and surely things other children have been taught all throughout their childhood, too. What interests me is not the teaching itself, but the notes at the end.

Coals of fire… What could it mean?

Abstinence

Last week we studies cleavage, those great things that would befit all of us to cling to more wholly in our lives, and this week we’ll proceed with a study of abstinence, those things we would best want to avoid.

2.14 Rabbi Yoḥanan continued:

Look about you and tell me, which is the way in life that one should avoid?

Rabbi Eliezer said: a begrudging eye;
Rabbi Yehoshua said: an evil colleague;
Rabbi Yose said: an evil neighbor;
Rabbi Shimon said: one who borrows and does not repay [for borrowing from a person is like borrowing from God, as it is said, "The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous one deals graciously and gives" (Psalm 37:21)];
Rabbi Elazar said: a begrudging heart.

Said he to them:

I prefer the answer of Elazar ben Arakh, for his view includes all of yours.

What interests me here is the perfect parallel these teachings make with what we were taught last week: If you simply invert the answers they had given before, you have the answers they have given now. Is this merely as it seems, that today we shall think of the negatives of last week’s positives? At first it appears so, but I won’t settle for a simple matter of opposites. There must be something deeper. Quite frankly, there always is.