One of the most beloved of Jewish texts is Pirkei Avot,
(The Ethics of the Fathers), a collection of wise sayings attributed to the
Jewish sages who lived during the last several centuries before the Common Era
and the two centuries following. Avot (as it is called for the sake of
brevity) is a tractate of the Mishnah, the six-volume compendium of
Jewish law that was published around 200 CE and that, together with the
commentaries and scholarly discussions that it generated over the next two to
three centuries, were to constitute the text of the Talmud. Unlike the
other tractates of the Mishnah, which are focused on intricate matters
of practical law and on the details of religious observance, Avot
reflects a more generalized perspective, setting out the underlying values and
belief system of the sages who fashioned and shaped post-biblical Judaism and
presenting what they believed about God, about God’s relationship with
humankind, and about what constitutes a worthy life.
In the liturgy of the synagogue, the chapters of Avot
are read and studied, a chapter at a time in succession on Sabbath afternoons
during the summertime months.
The sayings found in Avot are often terse and
epigrammatic. They record the differing approaches of the sages whom they quote
to questions of ethics and spirituality. The sayings often show a sensitivity
to the nuanced, complicated and sometimes paradoxical nature of human existence
and experience.
The most familiar of texts from Avot is the saying of
the sage and venerated teacher Hillel, “if I am not for myself, who will be for
me, but if I am for myself alone, what am I?” Regarding the perennial
philosophical question of free will and determinism, Rabbi Akiba proclaimed
that everything is foreseen by God and yet free will is given to humans to make
ethical choices.
The text from Avot that speaks to me most poignantly
during these troubled times are the words of Rabbi Tarfon (late first and early
second centuries CE): “It is not for you to complete the task, but neither are
you free to stand aside from it.” The late Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks quite
rightly understood the task referred to by the text as the work of “creating a
society built on justice and compassion, freedom and respect for human
dignity.” Rabbi Sacks noted that this goal “cannot be achieved by one
generation alone. It is a continuous struggle, in which each of us has a part
to play.” Note that the task of which Rabbi Sacks spoke is daunting but not
impossible; it takes place not in some other-worldly realm but in the here and
now of our own reality.
The Hebrew word translated as “task” in the text from Avot
is m’lachah; it is the same word used in Genesis to denote God’s creative
labors in fashioning the heavens, the earth and all they contain during the six
days of Creation. The use of the same word in Genesis and in Avot
underlines for me the theme in rabbinic theology of humans’ partnership with
God in the work of Creation. God’s m’lachah gave us a world filled with wonders
and suitable for our habitation, a world in which, despite our mortality and
our vulnerability to suffering and loss, each of us can potentially find a
measure of joy and fulfillment, of wonder and amazement. Our m’lachah can help
perfect the world God created and make that potential a reality for all.
It is all too easy for us to be overwhelmed and discouraged
by the injustice, the brutality and cruelty, the greed and selfishness, the
oppression and disrespect for human dignity that we witness in our world, that
we read about in our newspapers and that we see on our TV screens. What Rabbi
Tarfon was saying is that we cannot allow the magnitude of the task or the
remoteness of its completion to dismay us and keep us from participating. Our
effort and participation are needed. Even if the contribution we make toward
the realization of the ultimate goal is a small one, by our participation we
are affirming the dignity of our fellow persons and our own dignity as partners
with God.
Rabbi Barry Marks is rabbi emeritus of Temple Israel in
Springfield.
