R. ‘Aḳiba said: A fence1The ‘fence’ is here taken in the sense of a safeguard or an aid to. With this paragraph, cf. Aboth 3:17. to honour is [the avoidance of] jesting,2That this is the true meaning of the saying is proved by the wording in Schechter’s second version of ARN XXXIII (beg.), ‘a fence to honour is not to jest’. Cf. Finkelstein’s translation of this maxim in his Akiba: Scholar, Saint and Martyr, p. 111, ‘Laughter protects one’s honour’. a fence to wisdom is silence, a fence to vows is self-restraint,3By practising abstinence the making of vows becomes unnecessary. a fence to purity is holiness, a fence to humility is the fear of sin.

He used to say: Come not among scoffers lest you learn of their ways. Eat not bread with a priest who is an ‘am ha-’areẓ lest you trespass in hallowed things. Be not free with vows lest you trespass in oaths.4The breaking of an oath is a more serious matter than the breaking of a vow. Cf. Ned. 20a (Sonc. ed., p. 56) and R. Nissim ad loc. Be not in the habit of feasting sumptuously lest in the end you will have to eat the bread of charity.5Reading haḳḳuppah, lit. ‘[the charity] chest’ which is found as a variant. The word in the text haḳḳanim, ‘the reeds’, makes no sense. The emendation of GRA is attractive, haẓẓiḳnin, ‘the scrapings of the pot’. Bring not yourself to a state of doubt lest you come up against a certain [transgression]. Do not leave the land [of Israel] lest you serve idols; for so David said, For they have driven me out this day that I should not cleave unto the inheritance of the Lord, saying; Go, serve other gods.61 Sam. 26, 19. Can it, however, enter your mind that king David would serve idols? But this is what David meant: Whosoever leaves the land of Israel and goes abroad, Scripture regards him as an idolater.He used to say: Whoever is buried in other lands is considered as though he were buried in Babylon;7Death being an expiation, when a person dies and is interred, he is brought one degree closer to the Divine Presence which manifests its greatest concentration and brilliance in the Throne of Glory which is directly above the altar in Jerusalem. The degrees in ascending scale which lead to the Divine Glory are: other lands, Babylon, the land of Israel, Jerusalem (this is omitted in the text), the altar, and the Throne of Glory. Cf. Kel. I, 6ff (Sonc. ed., pp. 10ff). whoever is buried in Babylon is as though he were buried in the land of Israel; whoever is buried in the land of Israel is as though he were buried beneath the altar, because all the land of Israel is fit [to be the site of] the altar; and whoever is buried beneath the altar8This is a strange statement. GRA substitutes ‘in Jerusalem’ for ‘beneath the altar’. Cf. Keth. 111a (Sonc. ed., p. 714). is as though he were buried beneath the Throne of Glory; as it is stated, The throne of glory, on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.9Jer. 17, 12. E.V., Thou throne … thou place of our sanctuary.

HE USED TO SAY: AN IGNORANT MAN CANNOT BE PIOUS, THE BASHFUL MAN CANNOT LEARN, AND THE IMPATIENT MAN CANNOT TEACH.10A saying ascribed to Hillel in Aboth 2:10. He used to say: Why do disciples of the Sages [often] die young? It is not because they are immoral or because they rob; but because they interrupt their study of the Torah to indulge in idle talk. Moreover, [when returning to their studies] they do not begin where they left off.

R. Simeon b. Eleazar said: The Israelites who live outside the land of Israel serve idols in all innocence.11lit. ‘in purity’. Cf. ‘A.Z. 8a (Sonc. ed., p. 38). [The word for ‘in purity’ is omitted in the Tosiftha to ‘A.Z. IV, 6, and Büchler, Studies in Sin and Atonement, p. 319, n. 2, explains it as ‘without evil intention’. How is this? For example, a Gentile prepares a banquet for his son and invites all the Jews of his town to it; although they eat and drink [of their own], and their own attendant waits on them and serves them with drink, Scripture accounts it to them as though they had eaten of the sacrifices of the dead; as it is stated, And they call thee and thou eat of their sacrifice.12Ex. 34, 15.R. ELIEZER OF MODIN SAID: IF A MAN PROFANES THE SABBATHS,13In Aboth 3:15: ‘the hallowed things’. SLIGHTS THE FESTIVALS, MAKES VOID THE COVENANT IN THE FLESH,14i.e. disregards the rite of circumcision. Aboth, loc. cit., reads, ‘the covenant of Abraham our father … the Torah contrary to the halakah’. [Some Jewish scholars have detected here a polemic against the early Christians cf. Bacher, Ag. d. Tannaiten I, p. 190, n. 1.] OR MISINTERPRETS THE TORAH, EVEN THOUGH HE POSSESSES TORAH AND GOOD DEEDS, HE HAS NO SHARE IN THE WORLD TO COME.R. ‘Aḳiba said: Whoever marries a wife who is unsuited to him transgresses five commandments, namely: Thou shalt not take vengeance;15Lev. 19, 18. Thou shalt not bear a grudge;16ibid. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart;17ibid. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;18ibid. and That thy brother may live with thee19ibid. XXV, 36.—because since he hates her, he wishes her dead, and, in consequence, he abstains from fulfilling the duty to be fruitful and multiply in the world.20Gen. 1, 28.

He used to say: If a man eats food which is unsuitable for his constitution,21A variant reading is: ‘over which no blessing should be recited’. Cf. R. Judah’s opinion in Ber. VI, 3 (Sonc. ed., p. 251). he transgresses three commandments: he disgraces himself, he disgraces his food, and he recites a benediction to no purpose.22lit. ‘that is not in accordance with the regulation’. Since the food is harmful to health, no blessing is to be recited, and one who does so pronounces the name of God in vain.

R. Judah b. Ilai said: If a man died and left a son, and that son, who had learnt no Torah from his father, now seeks to learn Torah from others, he is obviously insincere in his quest.23Since he missed the opportunity of being instructed by his own father. The passage, however, is obscure (cf. the commentaries ad loc.).R. Eleazar ha-Ḳappar said: Be not like the top lintel of a doorway which is out of reach of a man’s hand, nor like the top of the door-frame which can injure the face, nor like the middle of the door-frame which can hurt the legs; but be like the threshold below upon which all tread, and when the entire building is demolished it remains in its place.24A maxim stressing the importance of humility with its enduring virtue, and the harmfulness of pride and arrogance in whatever degree.