Pirkei Avos: Why Is It Called iAvos?

Dear friends, 

With thanks to Hashem, I have crossed over two milestones. First I have completed 300 dvar Torahs and second I have entered into the sixth year of writing these Divrei Torah, five cycles on the parsha and Haftora. 

This year, with Hashem's help, I will be taking on a project, to write on Pirkei Avos. It will be based on the Rebbe's teachings and the classic commentaries, and I will be adding how I relate to it. 

I will also put a link on the weekly post to all the divrei Torah of the parsha. 

This will also be easier for me to do, because it is a lot of short teachings, as apposed to the longer Torah thoughts that I have been writing. It is also not time sensitive, as in the case of parshas. Whatever I will be able to write by Thursday, I will share with you and continue where I left off the following week. 

I hope you will enjoy it. 

Yitzi 

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 Pirkei Avos: Why Is It Called Avos? 

There are a few reasons that it's called Avos. 

Pirkei Avos are made up of ethics and "mili dechassidusa, virtues of piety," which is not what you are obligated to do, but the way a G-d fearing person should be. And being that fear of Hashem is a preparation and a prerequisite for learning Torah, as our sages say, "Anyone whose fear of sin comes before his wisdom, his wisdom will be sustained..." 

Pirkei Avos also teaches us how to be a mentch, a decent person. Someone could follow the letter of the law and still remain unmoved and even be mean spirited in their actions and in the way they fulfill the letter of the law. That's not the way Hashem wants us to be, as our sages say, "Derech eretz kadma laTorah," being a mentch precedes the study of Torah. 

In both of these cases, we see that these teachings are before and even what produces proper Torah study, the proper fulfilling of the Torah, Hashem's will. Therefore it is called Pirkei Avos, Chapters of Fathers, because every one of these teachings comes before or produces the Torah that comes after it, just as a father comes before and produces the child that comes from him. 

This brings us to the first rule of Pirkei Avos. 

Rule #1: There are no laws in Pirkei Avos. Everything in Pirkei Avos is beyond the letter of the law. 

If you read something in Pirkei Avos that seems to be a law, it should throw up a flag. You have to question it and figure out what it is really trying to say. Because there are no laws in Pirkei Avos. 

The Talmud tells us, "One who wishes to be pious, should fulfill the words of (tractate) Nezikin," which means damages. Another opinion, he should fulfill "the words of (tractate) Avos." A third opinion, he should fulfill "the words of (tractate) Brachos," which means blessings.

When there are multiple opinions on one thing, they have to be connected in some way.

We could say: The study of Pirkei Avos, nullifies things that are not wanted, (Nezikin) damages, and it brings (Brachos) blessing and redemption.

Another reason that it is called Pirkei Avos. The Tannaim (the sages of the Mishnah are called Tannaim, or in the singular, a Tanna) in Pirkei Avos don't give us their opinion, rather their way of living and their mode of service to Hashem. As the common expression of Pirkei Avos goes, "he used to say," because he didn't just say it once, rather he used to say it all the time, it was the words that he lived by. You can say that they are the fathers of their children, their sayings, it was an expression of who they were, hence the name Pirkei Avos, Chapters of the Fathers. 

Even more. Their way of living and their mode of service to Hashem, as expressed in Pirkei Avos is their modus operandi, and it explains their opinions in the rest of the Mishnah. You can say that their sayings in Pirkei Avos is the father of all they say in the rest of the Mishnah. 

Accordingly it's understood that the whole of the Mishnah is a reflection of what is said in Pirkei Avos. Pirkei Avos is a general tract that is inclusive of the whole of the Mishnah. So you can say that Pirkei Avos is the father of the rest of the Mishnah. In fact, we see similarities between the whole of the Mishnah and Pirkei Avos. For example, Mishnah begins with the Hebrew letter Mem (meiamosai) and ends with the letter Mem (bashalom), so too, Pirkei Avos begins with a Mem (Moshe) and ends with a Mem (haolam). 

This brings us to the second rule of Pirkei Avos. 

Rule #2: In order to really understand what a Tana is saying, you have to know a little bit about them and the time they lived. 

For example, in chapter one, Yehoshua the son of Prachia and Raban Gamliel say the same thing "make for yourself a master," but if you know their history and what was going on at the time that they lived, you will understand clearly that what they are saying is completely different. 

Pirkei Avos: Microcosm of the Torah 

The Mishnah is the basis of the Talmud, which is the basis of all our laws. It is our oral Torah, which was given to Moshe on Mount Sinai. So the Mishnah has within it the whole Torah, its purpose, its goal and the way to bring it to fruition. And because Pirkei Avos is the father of the rest of the Mishnah, it would make sense that it too should reflect these ideas.

How do we see these ideas in Pirkei Avos?

Everything has a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is its purpose, its reason for existing, the middle is the action that accomplishes the purpose and the end is the goal, which is the fruition of the original purpose brought about by the action.

The same is true about Torah, it has a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is the Torah, which came before the world, it's the foundation, the purpose and the reason for the creation of the world. The middle is the world, where we work to fulfill the purpose of the Torah and the purpose of creation. It's where we actualize the goal of the Torah, by fulfilling the mitzvos of the Torah and by Torah permeating every aspect of our lives and every aspect of existence. The end is the redemption, the era of Moshiach, which is the goal of the Torah and creation, a home for Hashem in the physical world.

And this is reflected in Pirkei Avos.

Pirkei Avos begins with, "Moshe received the Torah from Sinai." This is the general giving of the Torah, it is the foundation of all the teachings developed through studying the proper way. As our sages say, "Everything that the seasoned student will develop was given to Moshe from Sinai."

Then it says, "and he transmitted it..." And it continues with the transmission of the Torah through the generations which continues to this very day. This is the development of Torah throughout the ages, every generation having its part in the development of the Torah, its unique mission that comes with its part of the development, bringing the world closer to the goal, the redemption.

Pirkei Avos ends, "Hashem will reign forever and ever." This refers to the era of Moshiach, the goal of all the Torah that was studied and developed throughout the ages. It is the reason and the purpose that "Moshe received the Torah from Sinai."