"Come to us ! Come to us !"

B"H

A Mishna from Talmud Avot (Pirkei Avot – Sayings of the Fathers), Chapter 6, Mishna 9. It is an interesting Mishna and a great example for explaining how Talmud study works.

But first of all the Mishna:

Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma said: "Once I was walking by the way when a man met me, and gave me the greeting of SHALOM. And I returned to him SHALOM.

The man said: Rabbi, from what place are you ?

I (the Rabbi) responded: From a great city of sages and scribes.

The man said: Rabbi, why don't you dwell with us in our place ? I will give you a thousand Dinars of gold, and precious stones and pearls.

I (the Rabbi) said to him: Even if you give me all the gold, precious stones and pearls that are in the world, I would not dwell anywhere excepting in a place of Torah."

So far the Mishna in Pirkei Avot.


This text leads us to many questions. First of all: Why do the Mishna and Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma tell us the story ? What do we learn from the context ? And we definitely have to learn something from it, as nothing in the Torah and the Talmud is written or mentioned in vain. The Torah is timeless and everything written in it also applies to us. Not only the Mitzwot (laws) but also the personal life of our ancestors. How did our forefathers and foremothers react in certain situations ? Don't we face the same situations until today ? How did the forefathers use their moral attributes ? Do we Jews today show enough responsibility to our people ? How did the forefather manage precarious situations ? We should ask ourselves all these questions when we doubt the validity of the Torah in our times.

But let's go back to the question why Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma tells us the whole story in detail. Why does he put so much emphasize on details instead of simply telling us: "Once I met a man who offered me precious stones when I move to his town. I said NO because I want to live where there is Torah study".

Wouldn't this be enough to tell us ? Why does Rabbi Yossi then tells us about the greetings and everything ?

First of all, we have to look into the Hebrew original text and whoever doesn't do so, is missing out the whole meaning and all the hints.

Rabbi Yossi doesn't say that he "met the man". Meeting someone by accident means in Hebrew "PAGASH - פגש" (from the infinitive "LIFGOSH - ליפגוש"). Meeting someone as a result of an appointment means in Hebrew (LEHIPAGESH - להיפגש). Thus, someone knowing Hebrew can hear immediately from of the conversation if someone met another person by accident or if they were having an appointment.

Our Mishna, however, doesn't tell us if Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma met the man due to an appointment. In fact, he didn't even know the man and therefore they met by accident. In the Mishna text it says that Rabbi Yossi PAGA - פגע this man. But PAGA usually means TO HURT SOMEONE and not TO MEET SOMEONE. PAGA is the past of LIFGOA – TO HURT - לפגוע.

The result would be that the Mishna translation is wrong. Rabbi Yossi met the man but got hurt by him. How did he get hurt ?

In order to understand this we, once again, need to look at the Hebrew original.

But, first of all, I want to bring in an additional thought.

Don't we learn from Talmud Berachot that anyone being greeted by another person has to respond with a greeting ? And if anyone doesn't respond to a greeting, he is considered a thief.

Why is this so ?

Another person is offering you something (his greeting) and you just take it but don't do anything in response. You are only the taker but don't give. This even applies to a person you normally cannot stand and wouldn't think of greeting at all. If he offers you a greeting, you have to respond.

Rabbi Yossi did so.

But doesn't it also say in Berachot that a religious righteous person should greet everybody first ? Making the first greeting is a special Mitzwah. Why then did Rabbi Yossi not greet the man before he greeted him ?

The answer gives us the word PAGA.
Rabbi Yossi saw from far away that the man is not up to anything good. Thus, the Rabbi didn't intend to greet him at all but just pass by. However, when the stranger greeted him, he had to respond. As a result, the stranger started his conversation about money.

What is so wrong about that ?
First of all, he hurt the Rabbi's feelings with his behaviour. And there we are back at the word PAGA. In a rather stupid way, the stranger wanted to convince him to move to another place.

From where do we learn that ?
Because in his introduction Rabbi Yossi said that he was "walking by the way".

Way ? What way ?
Was he symbolically speaking on the right way or right track ? Or maybe a strange thought came into his mind ?

What the stranger really wanted was leading the Rabbi astray. The best example for this are Christian missionaries whose intention it is to lead Jews astray. Their and the stranger's intention are negative and destructive to begin with.

The same as the following discussion with Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma.

The stranger didn't say: "You can live in my town".

What he rather said was: "You can live WITH (IMANU - עמנו) us in our PLACE - מקומנו".

WITH US at OUR PLACE. Here we have to take a closer look at the word "IMANU – WITH US".

The meaning is not only that the Rabbi could simply live at a different place. "LIVING WITH US" means here to adopt the lifestyle, customs and traditions of the inhabitants as well. The same with the Christian missionaries who want to lead us astray into idol worship. Once we are with them, they want us to adopt their way of life.

Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma refused and kept walking on the right path.

_________________________


I want to thank the Chabad Rabbi who gave this teaching at a Shiur (class). Unfortunately, I missed out his name.