Avot DeRabbi Natan 8

JOSHUA B. PERAḤIAH AND NITTAI THE ARBELITE RECEIVED THE TRADITION FROM THE PRECEDING. JOSHUA B. PERAḤIAH SAID: PROVIDE YOURSELF WITH A TEACHER, AND GET YOURSELF A COMPANION, AND JUDGE ALL MEN FAVOURABLY.1lit. ‘in the scale of innocence’.PROVIDE YOURSELF WITH A TEACHER. What does this mean? It teaches that a man should provide himself with a permanent teacher from whom he may learn Scripture, Mishnah, Midrash, halakah and ’aggadoth. Accordingly, points which the teacher omitted to tell him in Scripture he can teach him later in the Mishnah, [what he omitted in the Mishnah he can teach him later in the Midrash,]2So in MS. E., omitted in V. what he omitted in the Midrash he can teach him later in the halakoth, and finally what he omitted in the halakoth he can teach him in the ’aggadoth. Consequently this man remains in his place and is replete with well-being and blessing.

R. Meir used to say: He who learns Torah from one teacher, to what can he be compared? To a man who has but one field; he sowed it partly with wheat and partly with barley, in another part he planted olive-trees and in still another fruit-trees. The consequence is that this man is [in one place and is] replete with well-being and blessing. When, however, a man learns from two or three teachers, he may be compared to a person who has many fields; in one he sowed wheat and in another barley, in a third he planted olive-trees and in yet another he planted fruit-trees. The result is that this man is always on the move3lit ‘dispersed’. in the country and has no enjoyment of well-being and blessing.

AND GET YOURSELF A COMPANION. What does this mean? It teaches that a man should get a companion for himself one who will eat with him, drink with him, read the Scriptures with him, study Mishnah with him, lodge with him, and reveal to him all secret lore, the mysteries of the Torah and the problems of everyday life. When they sit together engaged in the study of the Torah, if one of them errs in a halakah or in the opening passage of a chapter, or he pronounces what is unclean to be clean or what is clean to be unclean, or he declares what is forbidden to be permitted or what is permitted to be forbidden, his companion can correct him. [21b] Whence do we know that when his companion corrects him and continues to read with him they both receive a good reward for their labour? Because it is stated, Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.4Eccl. 4, 9.

If three sit together and are engaged in the study of the Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, accounts it to them as though they had formed a conclave5The Heb. ’aguddah, translated ‘conclave’, is frequently applied in other contexts to a collection consisting of three units, e.g. the lulab which is a combination of three plants: the palm, the myrtle and the willow. before Him, as it is stated, It is He that buildeth His upper chambers in the heaven, and hath founded His vault upon the earth; He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; the Lord is His name.6Amos 9, 6. The Heb. for vault is ’aguddah, homiletically understood as ‘conclave’. Hence you learn that if three sit together and are engaged in the study of the Torah, it is accounted to them as though they formed a conclave before the Holy One, blessed be He.

If two sit together and are engaged in the study of the Torah, their reward is set aside for them on high, as it is stated, Then they that feared the Lord spoke one with another, and the Lord hearkened … [and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name].7Mal. 3, 16. The expression one with another suggests a group of two. Who are they that feared the Lord? Those who decide upon a course, [and declare their intention,] saying, ‘We will go to free the bound and redeem the captive’. The Holy One, blessed be He, provides them with the opportunity, and they proceed to do it forthwith.8This is in accordance with the verse, Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee (Job 22, 28); for God abets the good intentions of the righteous. And who are they that thought upon His name? Those who merely think in their hearts [without declaring an intention], ‘We will go to free the bound and redeem the captive’. These the Holy One, blessed be He, affords no opportunity,9Since they did not expressly declare their course, it would seem that their original intention was not meant to be translated into action, but was to remain with them as a pious wish. and an angel comes and strikes them to the ground.10‘Them’ in all probability refers to the captives who come to grief before their would-be deliverers decide to act.

If one man sits and occupies himself in the Torah, his reward is set aside for him on high, as it is stated, Though he sit alone and meditate in stillness, yet he hath taken [his reward] unto himself.11Lam. 3, 28. E.V., Let him sit alone and keep silence, because He hath laid it upon him. This may be illustrated by a parable.12What follows is hardly a parable, but merely an example of an individual, in this case a small child, studying alone and being praised for his act. To what can the matter be likened? To a man who had a young son. When the father went to market leaving his son on his own, the child arose, took a scroll, placed it on his lap, and began to study it. When the father returned from market he exclaimed, ‘See what my young son has done! When I left him and set out to market he, of his own accord, took a scroll, placed it on his lap, and began to study it!’ Hence you learn that, even if one man sits alone and occupies himself in the Torah, his reward is set aside for him on high.

AND JUDGE ALL MEN FAVOURABLY. It once happened that a young girl was taken captive and two pious men set out after her to ransom her. One of them entered a house of ill-fame.13Where the girl had been taken. When he came out he said to his companion, ‘Of what did you suspect me?’ The other replied, ‘I thought that perhaps [you went there] to find out at what price she was held for ransom’. He said, ‘By the Temple Service! So it was; and as you judged me favourably, so may the Holy One, blessed be He, judge you favourably.’

Again it happened that a young girl was taken captive and two pious men set out after her to ransom her. One of them, however, was arrested on a [false] charge of robbery and was detained in prison, where his wife daily brought him bread and water. One day he said to her, ‘Go to my colleague and tell him that I am detained in prison [because of my efforts to save the girl] from harlotry,14The phrase is strange in its present context and is deleted by GRA. while he stays at home, making merry, with no concern about the girl’. She replied, ‘Is it not enough for you that you are detained in prison that you must occupy yourself with futile matters?’ She did not go, but occupied herself with matters of no moment. He then said to her, ‘I beg of you, go and inform him’. She went and informed his colleague. Now what did that man do? He went and took with him much silver and gold as well as several men, and released the two of them. On his release he said to his companions, ‘Permit this young girl to sleep with me in bed with her clothes on’.15His intention was to protect her from those who might take advantage of her plight. [They did so.] The following morning he said to them, ‘Prepare a ritual bath for me and also for her’. They did so. He then said to those who had prepared the baths, ‘When I asked for a ritual bath for myself, of what did you suspect me?’ They replied, ‘We thought that during all the days that you were confined in prison you must have suffered hunger and thirst, and that now that you have come out into the free world your emotions were stirred and you probably suffered a pollution’. He further said to them, ‘And when I asked for a ritual bath for the young girl, of what did you suspect her?’ They replied, ‘Seeing that all those days that she had been living among heathens she was obliged to eat of their food and drink with them, now [that she is free] you asked that a ritual bath be prepared for her in order that she may become clean’. He said to them, ‘By the Temple Service! So it was; and as you judged me favourably, so may the Holy One, blessed be He, judge you favourably’.Just as the righteous men of old were pious, so also were their beasts. It was said that the camels of our father Abraham would not enter a house in which there was an idol, as it is stated, For I have cleared the house, and made room for the camels.16Gen. 24, 31. I have cleared the house of the terafim; why, then, does the verse add and made room for the camels? It teaches that they would not enter the house of Laban the Aramean until all the idols had been cleared out before them.Once the ass of R. Ḥanina b. Dosa was stolen by bandits. They locked it up in a courtyard and placed before it hay, barley and water, but it would neither eat nor drink. They said, ‘Why should we let it die here and befoul the courtyard with its stench?’ So they proceeded to open the gate for it and let it go free. It dragged itself17Because it was enfeebled by hunger and thirst. For the verb מושכת there is a variant משחקת, ‘being merry’, but it does not make sense here. Schechter reads מנהקת, ‘braying’. all the way until it reached the house of R. Ḥanina b. Dosa. When it arrived, R. Ḥanina’s son heard its cry and said to his father, ‘Father, the sound is very similar to that of our beast.’ The father said to him, ‘My son, open the door for it, since it is almost dead from hunger’. He at once opened the door for it, and put before it hay, barley and water which it ate and drank. Because of this incident the Sages declared: Just as the righteous men of old were pious, so too were their beasts.