BEN ZOMA SAID: WHO IS WISE? HE THAT LEARNS FROM ALL MEN, AS IT IS STATED, FROM ALL MY TEACHERS HAVE I GOT UNDERSTANDING.1Ps. 119, 99, E.V., I have more understanding than all my teachers. Who is the humblest among the humble? He who is humble like Moses our teacher, as it is stated, The man Moses was very meek.2Num. 12, 3. WHO IS THE RICHEST AMONG THE RICH? HE WHO REJOICES IN HIS PORTION, AS IT IS STATED, WHEN THOU EATEST THE LABOUR OF THY HANDS, HAPPY SHALT THOU BE, AND IT SHALL BE WELL WITH THEE.3Ps. 128, 2. In Aboth 4:1 (Sonc. ed., p. 43) the question reads, ‘Who is rich?’. WHO IS THE MIGHTIEST AMONG THE MIGHTY? HE WHO SUBDUES HIS PASSIONS, AS IT IS WRITTEN, HE THAT IS SLOW TO ANGER IS BETTER THAN THE MIGHTY; AND HE THAT RULETH HIS SPIRIT THAN HE THAT TAKETH A CITY.4Prov. 16, 32. In Aboth loc. cit. the question reads, ‘Who is mighty?’ Whosoever subdues his passions is accounted as though he conquered a city filled with mighty men, as it is stated, A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty;5ibid. XXI, 22. and6GRA inserts here ‘Another interpretation’ which is to be preferred, because what follows is an exposition substantially different from the preceding. the mighty are none other than those who are strong in [the performance of the] Torah, as it is stated, Ye mighty in strength, that fulfil His word.7Ps. 103, 20. The verse therefore means: the wise man is raised to the category of ‘the mighty’ who fulfil God’s word. Some say: They are the ministering angels, as it is stated, Bless the Lord, ye angels of His, ye mighty in strength.8ibid. The verse is thereby interpreted to mean that the wise man is raised above the level of the angels. Others say: [Who is mighty?] Who turns an enemy into his friend.
R. NEHORAI SAID: WANDER FORTH TO A PLACE OF THE TORAH,9From Aboth 4:18 (Sonc. ed., IV, 14, p. 51). etc. 10A saying of Ben ‘Azzai, ibid. 3 (Sonc. ed., pp. 44f.). [Cf. Bacher, Ag. d. Tannaiten I, p. 410, n. 1.]He used to say: Despise no man and consider nothing impossible, as it is stated, Whoso despiseth the word shal suffer thereby; but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.11Prov. 13, 13.12GRA inserts here: ‘Elisha b. ’Abuyah used to say: If one learns as a child, what is it like? Like ink written on clean paper, etc. (Aboth 4 25, Sonc. ed., IV, 20, p. 55). Cf. §3 below.He used to say: He who learns Torah in his youth, to what is he like? To a heifer which has been broken in while young, as it is stated, Ephraim is a heifer well broken, that loveth to thresh.13Hos. 10, 11. Trained from its early days to thresh, the animal welcomes the task. So, too, the scholar, initiated in his youth to Torah-study, finds it a welcome duty. But he who learns Torah in his old age is like a heifer which was broken in only in its late years, as it is stated, For Israel is stubborn like a stubborn heifer.14ibid. IV, 16.He used to say: He who learns Torah in his youth is like dough which a woman kneads with warm water;15Following the emendation of GRA. but he who learns Torah in his old age is like dough which a woman kneads with cold water.
R. Eliezer b. Jacob said: He who learns Torah in his youth is like writing which is written on new paper; but he who learns Torah in his old age is like writing which is written on old paper.16i.e. paper which has once been written on and rubbed out, so that any further writing would be blurred and indistinct.
Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel added to the former’s saying: He who learns Torah in his youth is like a young man who married a virgin: they suit one another and desire one another. But he who learns Torah in his old age is like an old man who married a virgin: she suits him but he does not suit her; she desires him but he withdraws from her, as it is stated, As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of one’s youth,17Ps. 127, 4. and in the following verse it is written, Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.He who learns [Torah] and forgets it is like a woman who bears children and buries them, as it is stated, Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them till none is left.18Hos. 9, 12, E.V., that there be not a man left. Read not I will bereave them but ‘I will make them forget’.19The two verbs differ in only one letter, ושכלתים, ‘and I will bereave them’, and ושכחתים, ‘and I will make them forget’. The lesson is derived by drawing upon both verbs: bereavement is the result of forgetting the Torah.R. Simeon b. Eleazar said: He who learns Torah in his youth is like a surgeon who, even when confronted with a growth, possesses a knife for the operation and remedial drugs to cure; but he who learns Torah in his old age is like a surgeon who, when confronted with a growth, possesses a knife for the operation but has no drugs to cure.Therefore20This paragraph follows logically on the last but one, and suggests means whereby the words of the Torah shall not be forgotten; cf. ‘Erub. 54b (Sonc. ed., pp. 381ff). The preceding paragraph, the maxim of R. Simeon b. Eleazar, is manifestly out of place where it stands, and is transferred by GRA to the end of chap. XXII. It could very well be inserted between §§3 and 4 of this chapter. let the words of the Torah be distinguished so that one thing [may be derived] from another and one thing [may be equated] with another, as it is stated, Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thy heart;21Prov. 7, 3. and Scripture also states, Bind them continually upon thy heart, tie them about thy neck.22ibid. VI, 21.