Mishna 1:7

Hi, good morning everyone. I hope you're all well. Let's take a look here in Perek Aleph in Avos, Mishna Zayin. Nittai Ha'Arbeli omer:

הרחק משכן רע ואל תתחבר לרשע ואל תתיאש מן הפורענות.

A person should distance himself from a shachen ra. I think it's Rabbeinu Yonah... is it Rabbeinu Yonah? I forget which of the... yeah. When a person is looking into researching what neighborhood he should live in, so a person has to inquire as to the quality of the shchenim. A person should distance himself from a shachen ra, shouldn't join a chabura with a rasha. Obviously, both of these directives mean even though the person has no intention of... he's not moving in next door to the shachen ra or being mischaber larasha for purposes of doing ra, even if it's based on other considerations, but אף על פי כן, a person has to be aware that we're all susceptible to influence. אוי לרשע אוי לשכנו, veidach gisa טוב לצדיק טוב לשכנו. As the Rambam formulates it in Perek Vav of De'os:

דרך בריאתו של אדם להיות נמשך בדעותיו ובמעשיו אחרי רעיו וחבריו.

It's an essential element or feature of human nature that a person is drawn after the middos and the lifestyle of his friends and colleagues. And what's more, נוהג במנהג אנשי מדינתו. So that's sort of the biggest chidush as it were. Okay, nicha, so a person is... we're susceptible to influence from a friend. I understand, we spend time together, and we shmooze and I go to his house and he goes to my house, so I'm exposed to his way of living very directly, so we sort of see where the how the influence would come about. But the Rambam says but it doesn't... it's not limited to that. It's also נוהג במנהג אנשי מדינתו. A person has to be aware just the surrounding society. How do I... do I really interact with those people who are not my re'im and not my chaveirim? Minimally if at all, with most of them zero interaction, with a few minimal minimal interaction, אף על פי כן, that's part of this susceptibility that a person has to being influenced. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't create weaknesses just so that we should have a test of bechira to be able to overcome the weakness, to avoid succumbing to the weakness. At times, again, a susceptibility, a predisposition we have does play out that way, but it's not exclusively that. The flip side, the positive side to this t'chuna of being susceptible to influence is that a person has a capacity which he has to exercise, which he has to activate. A person has a capacity to be also influenced letova. One of the

כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא.

We all have our blind spots. Again, not just that we make mistakes. A person makes a mistake, so he's aware, he's aware of the mistake. But we have blind spots where we're sort of unaware of our own mistakes, our own errors, our own shortcomings. And that's why tochacha and the ability to be mekabel tochacha is so crucial. לעולם ידע אדם במקום עמו. If a person is willing to be nichna to the Rebbe, so the Gemara says, a person should bedafke live bimkom ambo so that he'll get tochacha, שכל זמן ששיבי בן גרא היה קיים, as long as Shibi ben Gero was alive, Shlomo lo chata. So hayos that we chotei and that it's not uncommon that we ourselves are not sufficiently aware of or sensitive to the chet, so we need this susceptibility to be influenced because what's negative in the context of if one lives next door to a shachen ra is very, very positive and vital in the context of being mekabel tochacha. To appreciate just how important this is, so when the Rambam quotes the Baraita that the Rif quotes about the in perek daled of Teshuva about the עשרים וארבעה דברים המעכבים את התשובה, 24 things that are serious impediments to teshuva, so one of them is a sonei es hatochachos. sonei es hatochachos, שהרי לא הניח לו דרך התשובה, this is

פרק ד הלכה ב, שהרי לא הניח לו דרך התשובה, שהתוכחה גורמת לתשובה, שבזמן שמודיעים לו לאדם חטאו ומכלימים אותו חוזר בתשובה.

Ulefikach skipping a few lines, no let's not skip a few lines,

כמו שכתוב בתורה זכור אל תשכח ממרים הייתם ולא נתן השם לכם לב עם נבל ולא חכם, וכן ישעיהו הוכיח את ישראל ואמר הוי גוי חוטא ידע שור קונהו מידעתי כי קשה אתה, וכן ציווה הא-ל להוכיח לחוטאים שנאמר קרא בגרון אל תחשוך, וכן כל הנביאים הוכיחו לישראל עד שחזרו בתשובה. לפיכך צריך להעמיד בכל קהל וקהל מישראל חכם גדול וזקן וירא שמים מנעוריו ואוהב להם שיהיה מוכיח לרבים ומחזירן בתשובה. וזה ששונא את התוכחות אינו בא למוכיח ולא שומע דבריו.

And especially let's note the concluding line, לפיכך יעמוד בחטאו שהן בעיניו טובים. Because that's the otherwise a person can be caught in a circular trap because again, sometimes a person is chotei and he's aware that he's being chotei. But sometimes we're chotei and maybe this gufo is follow-up from previous chata'im, but whatever the background to it is, that sometimes we're chotei and there's a blind spot and a person is convinced that what objectively klapei shamayim really is a chet, the person is convinced sheheim be'einav tovim. So the only way to break out of that vicious cycle of chet is if a person has this capacity to be influenced, to be susceptible to influence. Me'idach gisa. A person also and especially, it's a human quality, but it's even more pronounced as a Jewish quality; a person also has a very, very strong streak and capacity for independence, for an akshanus to reject outside influence. It's no stira; a person has—or not necessarily a stira—a person has both capacities. And as is the case with that capacity, with that susceptibility to being influenced, the ability to be forceful to reject outside influence also is one that can play out הן לטוב הן למוטב. If a person does find himself exposed to the hashpo'oh of a society which has gone totally, totally off, so then a person needs to be able to activate this koach. M'idach gisa, if we activate rachmono litzlan this koach in the wrong context and it manifests itself not as being principled no matter how small a minority a person is, but it manifests itself in being soneh es hatochacho, so then it has very, very negative consequences. This call it polarity that a person has both of these capacities to be nimshach but to also be independent. We see it even in little kids; a three year old, a two year old will want to choose his or her own outfit. The mother has this whole elaborate coordinated top and shorts v'chulu; no, I'm wearing these shorts today, I'm wearing this dress today. You see it even in little kids, this capacity to be an az, to be forceful and to reject influence. M'idach gisa, we also see in little kids the ability to be mekabel hadrochoh v'hashpo'oh. In fact, the Chovos HaLevavos comments, he says if you compare human babies and young to the animal world, so there's a unique feature that amongst humans, the baby and the children remain dependent for a longer period of time. In the animal kingdom, so the period of dependence after birth is much, much shorter than it is amongst people. And the Chovos HaLevavos explains that Hakadosh Baruch Hu designed the world that way because a bear doesn't have to be mechanech its cubs, neither does the lion, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we are again supposed to be mekabel chinuch, so to make us open and malleable and receptive to it, Hakadosh Baruch Hu extended the period of dependence. Al kol ponim, we have both of those techunos within us, a techunoh to reject outside influence, to be fiercely independent, but simultaneously we have a techunoh to be נמשך אחר רעו וחבירו to be heavily influenced. L'achora, this illustrates a very, very important yesod. I think over the years we've had occasion to comment, generally we understand the Rambam's derech hamemutzas of the first perek Hilchos Deos as sort of the midpoint between the extremes. And in that sense it sort of represents a maybe a compromise between the extremes, that there's one extreme of apathy, there's another extreme of being overly excitable, and then there's a midpoint, there's a midpoint. There's one extreme of being an ascetic, there's one extreme of being a hedonist, and then there's a midpoint. So it's a spectrum. So cultivate the middah that's in the middle of the spectrum. Don't cultivate the middah that's at either extreme of the spectrum, cultivate the one that's in the middle of the spectrum. But the emes is that's not the pshat. Haderech hayishara, if you have a Rambam you want to take a look,

פרק א הלכה ד, פרק א הלכה ד. הדרך הישרה היא מדה בינונית שבכל דעה ודעה מכל הדעות שיש לו לאדם והיא הדעה שהיא רחוקה משני הקצוות ריחוק שווה ואינה קרובה לא לזו ולא לזו. לפיכך צוו חכמים הראשונים שיהא אדם שם דעותיו תמיד ומשער אותם ומכוון אותם בדרך האמצעית כדי שיהא שלם. כיצד? לא יהיה בעל חמה נוח לכעוס ולא כמת שאינו מרגיש אלא בינוני לא יכעוס אלא על דבר גדול שראוי לכעוס עליו כדי שלא יעשה כיוצא בו פעם אחרת.

So this illustration is so, so telling and the pshitus is it's why this is the first illustration that Rambam gives us. You see from this, we would have thought if our understanding of what the middah beinonis represents were correct, so then on the spectrum of let's say total apathy at one end and having a volcanic temper at the other end, so we would have said okay don't be a zero, don't be apathetic, don't be a ten, don't be mount, don't be Mount Rushmore, but have normal, modulated, moderate reactions. But that's not what the Rambam says. The Rambam says that the middah beinonis by ka'as is to only grow angry when it's really justified, when it's really warranted. So it's not the case, it's not that again if the apathy is zero and the Mount Rushmore type personality is a ten, to be a five. No. So you see from this illustration of ka'as, it's such an important yesod. You see from this illustration of ka'as that the definition of halachta bidrachav of the middah beinonis is that a person has both extremes within him. By most midos on most occasions, what a person is supposed to do is blend those two extremes, which is why in most cases it's indistinguishable from just saying that you should be in the middle. But you see from the example of ka'as that really what the mitzvah is is to have both extremes, but neither one should dominate or control you. You should control both and be able to marshal and apply whichever the occasion calls for, whichever is warranted. Again, rubba d'rubba by most other midos, you don't get to see that this is the definition. And that's why pshitus is that's why the Rambam bedafke gives this illustration first, because when the Rambam says how much a person should eat, so you don't really see that a person is combining the ascetic and the hedonist. No, it could be that the pshat in the derech hamemutza is to be a five. And similarly for most of, virtually all of the other midos. Here, the middas haka'as illustrates again what is the The core definition. What we're talking about here, these two opposite tchnous that a person has. On one hand a person can be so fiercely, stubbornly independent to reject what anyone and everyone else says. Me'idach gisa, a person can be so malleable that he's just nimshach blindly, mindlessly, אחר רעהו וחבריו ונוהג כמנהג אנשי מדינתו. So ein hachinami, these are two contradictory tchnous, but that's gufe what the pshat in the Derech Ha-Memutza is, that a person isn't meshubad to either. And that's if a person isn't, if a person is meshubad, you're either meshubad to one, or you're meshubad to the other. If I'm meshubad, I'm either meshubad to apathy or I'm meshubad to anger. But if I'm not meshubad to either, I can have both capacities within myself. And that's exactly being illustrated here. On the one hand, a person has a midah hachna'ah to be affected, influenced. Me'idach gisa, he has the fierce independence. And lema'aseh you see it meforash in the Mishna and the Rambam himself basically says this meforash. If you take a look at the end of, towards the end of Perek Chamishi in Avos. So it's really an amazing, amazing Mishna. If you have it rabosai, take a look. I don't know, the numbering of the Mishnayos isn't totally standard, but I don't know, here I have it as Mishna Yud-Ches, so if it's not Mishna Yud-Ches, it's close to that.

יהודה בן תימא אומר הוי עז כנמר וקל כנשר ורץ כצבי וגבור כארי לעשות רצון אביך שבשמים.

Hu haya omer, the same Yehudah ben Teima, עז פנים לגיהנום ובושת פנים לגן עדן. Extraordinary. Beneshima achas he says a person who's an az panim, so where will that tchnua rachmana litzlan lead the person? Not to a good place. And yet, Yehudah ben Teima then toch kedei dibbur tells us that הוי עז כנמר לעשות רצון אביך שבשמים. Take a look in the Rambam if you have, אף על פי שאמר עז פנים לגיהנום. So we thought, maybe, maybe az means two different things and that's why in one he says az panim, in one he... no. It's the same trait of azzus we're talking about.

אף על פי שאמר עז פנים לגיהנום צוה על העזות בתוכחת הממרים וכיוצא בהן.

No, the Rambam... there are times when a person is supposed to be forceful. A forcefulness that in a different context we would call it brazenness and an arrogance. In a different context, that forcefulness would be appropriately, critically described as a brazenness and an arrogance. No, but there are times when that same forcefulness is very positive. When is that? So for instance בתוכחת הממרים וכיוצא בו זה. Uke'ilu amar and what Yehudah ben Teima is telling us, again, he's giving us a specific directive but he's also illustrating a major yesod. וכאילו אמר השתמש במקצת הפחיתויות במקום לשם שמים. Even those qualities which in most contexts are character flaws. In most contexts that kind of forcefulness, that azzus, again, an azzus that we associate, again when we say az panim in the al cheit, again, it means a brazenness and an arrogance. That kind of forcefulness, which usually translates into this major flaw. No, there are times when, when a person is supposed to exercise that capacity and apply that midah.

כדרך שאמר הנביא עם עקש תתפל. אבל בתנאי שתהיה כונתך לאמת ורצון אביך שבשמים.

Okay, let's pick up... Mishnah Yud. פרק אלף משנה יוד for a moment, let’s say.

שמעיה ואבטליון קבלו מהם שמעיה אומר אהוב את המלאכה ושנא את הרבנות ואל תתוודע לרשות.

So we’ve had occasion to discuss how we find unusually, this is not the normal, this is not the norm, that sometimes we’re not simply instructed to do something, but we’re instructed to ehov, to love it. The Chofetz Chaim comments on the pasuk in Micha that

מה ה׳ אלהיך שואל ממך כי אם עשות משפט ואהבת חסד והצנע לכת עם אלהיך.

So we’re told to do mishpat, we’re told to be holech b’tzniut, but we’re told to have ahavat chesed. We see, we ask, it’s tefillat rav from the gemara in Brachot that he used to say in the spot where we say elokai netzor, he used to say what we say when we bench Rosh Chodesh, we ask for ahavat torah. As David Hamelech said he had ma ahavti toratecha. Some things that we’re not just told to learn torah, we’re told to have an ahavat torah. We’re not just told to do chesed, we’re told to have an ahavat chesed. So by ahavat chesed, so the Chofetz Chaim gives the explanation, he says that the what the torah demands of us in the realm of gemilut chasadim is such that there’s no way a person can just do it yotze v’yagen. A person can't just do it to discharge an obligation if he’s not invested in it, if he doesn’t love it, if he doesn’t want to do it, if he’s not super motivated, he cannot do chesed on the level and to the degree that the torah expects of us. And that’s why it’s not enough to say do chesed, no, there has to be an underlying ahava in order to make possible that that implementation of the chesed. We suggested that the pshat in ahavat torah is that hayot that talmud torah is above and beyond everything else, the the path to ahavat hashem, so it’s described the teshuka that the person should have for kirvat elokim mimela is a teshuka for torah and hence we speak of of ahavat torah. But why ehov et hamelacha? Ehov et hamelacha. Lema'aseh the more a person enjoys his job so then the better off he is, the less onerous he’s going to find it and the less tedious it will be and the less exhausting it will be, that’s all true, that’s all true, but אף על פי כן what’s the pshat here in ehov et hamelacha? So I think the Meiri l’ichora is clearly again I don’t know that he let me just check the lashon. I don’t think he poses it as a question but l’ichora he is certainly well again it’s almost explicit that that he’s medayek in the lashon. אמר תחילה שיאהב את המלאכה כלומר... again this is very Meiri language.

נוח לו שיזון מעמלו ויהנה מיגיעו ולא יצטרך ליזון מן הצדקה או שילעיט את הבריות.

Let’s say a person has two options. You want chicken or you want meat on a different occasion. You want vanilla ice cream for for dessert, you want chocolate ice cream for dessert. So what determines a person’s choice? He’s going to choose that which he likes, he’s going to choose that which he enjoys enjoys more. If I like chocolate ice cream, so that’s going to that’s going to drive my choice. So when given the choice... I'll go for that which I like. I'll go for the chocolate ice cream. Says the Meiri, so a person needs, a person needs to pay the bills, a person needs money. Okay, there are different avenues, there are different ways of achieving that goal. A person can go around trying to get money from tzedakah. A person can resort to underhandedness to try to earn what he needs. Or a person can do an honest day's work. So what's gonna determine or what's one of the ways of ensuring that I make the right choice? Again, when given the choice of vanilla or chocolate ice cream, I go for the chocolate ice cream because that's what I like. I love chocolate ice cream. So that's what I go for. If I'll have an ahavas melacha so that will determine that no, I'm not gonna look to, I'm not gonna be mitztarech labriyos. I'm not gonna look to try to live off of other people's generosity when I can avoid doing so. And I'm not gonna resort to underhandedness to try to earn what I need. Ahavas hamelacha will dictate the person's choice when he finds himself with a choice. If there's no ahavas melacha, so then there's gonna be a yetzer hara. He still can make the right decision, but if you want to ensure the right decision, you want to ensure the right decision, so then if the person has an ahavah. Ready, ready? Oh, even within that decision if a person chooses work like the Rambam talks about how Yaakov Avinu's work ethic. So even if he chooses the right decision to work, but the more he loves the job, the more it'll ensure that he'll give the baal habayis everything he's supposed to give him. Correct, correct. So a double on two levels. Yeah, thank you, excellent. But then the Meiri has another pshat. Meiri's second pshat is

ויש לפרש אהבת המלאכה אף לעשיר כמו שיתעסק באיזה דבר של תועלת ולא יעמוד בטל שהבטלה גורמת לכמה דברים קשים.

Again, so the Meiri again clearly, it's clear that the Meiri again is sensitive to this just most basic question in pshat. Why is the exhortation of the Mishna ahavas hamelacha? The exhortation of the Mishna should be you don't have to like it, just get a job. And no, but the exhortation of the Mishna is ahavas hamelacha. No, you should love it. Says the Meiri. He says if you look around, he says, so some people will retire the first chance they get. As soon as it's feasible, they'll retire. I don't mean in me'ah she'arim. I'm talking about the world at large. And other people, other people will keep on working even though they have no financial need whatsoever to do so. They keep on working. What determines the person's decision? If you don't like your job and therefore the only thing that's motivating you, or not only if you don't like your job but if you don't even like the idea of having a job, so the only thing that's motivating you is because you need money to pay the bills. So then the first minute it becomes feasible, he's eligible for social security, he can live off that social security check, the first minute it becomes feasible, so then that person is gonna retire. But if a person enjoys what he's doing, so then the sole motivation isn't the paycheck because he enjoys what he's doing. So he'll do it even if his financial advisor tells him that he can already afford to retire. Ahavas hamelacha because batalah is very dangerous. Ahavas hamelacha and therefore continue working, a person has to be busy. הבטלה גורמת לכמה דברים קשים. People get into trouble when they're not busy, when they're not preoccupied. They get into trouble on all different of all different sorts and all different levels. Right, the Rambam. On one level, that's what the Rambam describes at the end of Hilchos Tumas Tzara'as about how the letzim, the yoshvei kranos, they have nothing to do with their time so they sit around talking and first they talk devarim betelim, and devarim betelim leads to lashon hara and then lashon hara leads to talking against the chachamim etc. Battala the Mishnah in Kesubos says is mavia lidey zimmah, chas v'shalom it can set off a chain of events that can result in znus. A person's got nothing if a person is busy, so a person doesn't just stam shoot the breeze and talk unnecessarily with people. But a person's not busy, so a person talks. If a person's not busy and flirts and talks with the wrong person, it can have very terrible consequences. Battala the same Mishnah in Kesubos says is mavia lidey shiamum, shigaon Rashi says. So that's the pshat, a person has to be busy. Why can't he be busy with learning? So the answer is ee namami, he can be. But a person has to know himself as to will I keep myself busy full time learning. Let's say a person is in a position to retire. Well he can. Boruch Hashem Ribono Shel Olam's blessed him, he's in a position to retire. A person has to make sure that he's going to be busy full time. Okay, now melacha's not the only answer. It could be that in addition to learning he's going to be osek b'tzorchei tzibur and he's going to get very involved with certain chesed organizations and certain chesed projects or maybe he's going to start a he recognizes a need so he's going to start a new one. Melacha is not the only answer and the only antidote but the yesod is a person has to be busy. A person is supposed to be preoccupied. Adam l'amal yulad. A person was created. The natural state vacation, okay sometimes you need vacation. At night we're tired we have to go to sleep. But a person was created to be awake and to be active. Okay. The Gra says the only reason Hakadosh Baruch Hu created sheina in the world is that if you're learning all day and you're stuck in something, so when you go to sleep at night you can have a giluy Eliyahu. I guess in the Gra's life that's the only reason he needed to sleep is I guess Eliyahu Hanavi talked fast because the Gra only slept an hour and a half or something so I guess Eliyahu Hanavi talks fast and the Gra understood quickly so it worked. But does a person need vacations? Yes. Does a person need sleep? Yes. But a person wasn't born to be a fashlofener to be sleeping and a person wasn't born to be on vacation. Person is born to be busy to be active. Adam l'amal yulad. Well a person is supposed to be busy and a person has to be realistic even when financial considerations don't dictate any longer that he has to work. It could be l'shem shamayim that to a degree that's the right thing to do. It's hard to imagine that it's going to be the right thing to do with a 40 or 60 hour work week if he's already financially independent, but itachen me'od that it still is that's what this Mishnah says according to the Meiri. That at times this will still be part of a program that's l'shem shamayim and that's the significance of ehov es hamelacha. I was wondering if in the Rambam we don't implicitly find yet another explanation for why it's ehov es hamelacha as opposed to engage in melacha, asay melacha. Take a look in here in Hilchos Talmud Torah on פרק ג הלכה י Rabbosai. Take a look gimmel yud in Talmud Torah.

כל המשים על לבו פרק ג הלכה י. כל המשים על לבו שיעסוק בתורה ולא יעשה מלאכה ויתפרנס מן הצדקה הרי זה חילול השם ובזיון התורה וכיבוי מאור הדת וגרם רעה לעצמו ונטל חייו מן העולם הבא לפי שאסור ליהנות מדברי תורה בעולם הזה. אמרו חכמים כל הנהנה מדברי תורה נטל חייו מן העולם. ועוד צוו ואמרו אל תעשם עטרה להתגדל בהם ולא קרדום לחפור בהם. ועוד צוו ואמרו אהוב את המלאכה ושנא את הרבנות. וכל תורה שאין עמה מלאכה סופה בטילה וסוף אדם זה שמלסטם את הבריות.

There's a mashmas here in the Rambam, it's not mefurash and it's not ingantzen muchrach, but I don't know, the rechesh says, haleiv omeir, that the Rambam understood that the Mishna of אהוב את המלאכה ושנא את הרבנות is addressed especially to chachamim, to talmidei chachamim. Which again, contextually in Perek Alef in Avos is a very, very cogent, there's a lot of things in Perek Alef which are clearly addressed to dayanim, to Beis Din, to Sanhedrin. Asu siyag latorah, הוי מרבה לחקור את העדים, and so on and so forth. We're not in a position to be גוזר סייגים על התורה, we're not in a position to be chokeir es ha-edim. So there's a lot in Perek Alef which is clearly addressed to Sanhedrin, to the chachamim. And the way the Rambam is quoting this here, again in the context especially the way it's sandwiched between the two other ma'amrei chazal, yitachein me'od that the Rambam is intimating that this Mishna was said bimiyuchad to talmid chacham. Don't we all have to have a melacha hamfarneses osanu? So why is this directed bimiyuchad to the talmid chacham? So yitachein as follows: If in the same perek here, just go back please to Hilchos Talmud Torah, Perek Gimmel, Halacha Vav for a minute. Perek Gimmel, Halacha Vav.

מי שנשא לבו לקיים מצוה זו כראוי לה ולהיות מוכתר בכתר של תורה, לא יסיח דעתו לדברים אחרים.

A person has this single-minded intensity. This unilateral focus.

לא יסיח דעתו לדברים אחרים ולא ישים על לבו שיקנה תורה עם העושר והכבוד כאחד. כך היא דרכה של תורה פת במלח תאכל ועל הארץ תישן וחיי צער תחיה ובתורה אתה עמל ולא עליך המלאכה לגמור ולא אתה בן חורין ליבטל ממנה ואם עשית תורה הרבה יש לך שכר הרבה,

v'haschar lifi hatza'ar. There's this single-minded preoccupation. When a person has, again obviously here we're talking about in a very healthy sense, when a person has this kind of focus, this kind of intensity, this kind of single-mindedness, so it clearly, clearly is going to be doche other things. It's going to push other things aside. So for instance, he's not interested in kavod. It doesn't register. He's not interested in osher. He wants the Ribbono Shel Olam to give him enough. He's not interested in osher. It doesn't register. It's not on his radar screen. It's easy, easy to imagine that such a person would not want to work. Such a person, the rest of us don't need to be told ahavas hamelacha. We're not so, so attached to learning and Torah and invested and such big masmidim that we can't hold down a job. We don't need, we don't need that mussar vort. But imagine this person of Halacha Vav. מי שנשא לבו לקיים מצוה זו כראוי לה. The dveikus by Torah that he has. The she'ifa, the hishtokekus for Torah that he has. Any, it's going to push everything aside. But you know what it won't push aside? It won't push aside something else that he also loves. כי עזה כמות אהבה. Ahavah pushes things aside, but it doesn't push aside ahavah. You can have tremendous love for a child, it doesn't push aside your love for the other child. One love is not mevatel another. Oh, says the Mishna talking to this person... If you just tell him to do melacha, it's going to be very hard for him to do. Mamash, it's going to go, everything's going to go against the grain. This is a person who, again, experiences, has cultivated, has developed ahavas Torah in ways that we can't even imagine. How is that not going to? How is he then you're going to come and tap him on the shoulder and say the Rebbe's zolt me'mochel, but it's time to go to work. It's your shift to earn your parnassa. This is such a strong ahavas hamelacha, ahavas hamelacha. That's the pshat which is intimated here in the Rambam. One last comment on a mishna here in Avos.

הלל ושמאי משנה יב. הלל ושמאי קיבל מהם. הלל אומר הוי מתלמידיו של אהרן אוהב שלום ורודף שלום אוהב את הבריות ומקרבן לתורה.

It's an interesting thing. When Hillel is directing us to, again, cultivate ahavas shalom, ahavas habriyos, when he's telling us that we should be rodef shalom, we should be מקרב את הבריות לתורה, the way he says it is not just emulate the midos of Aharon HaKohein, but הוי מתלמידיו של אהרן. Right? Similarly, you have later in Avos about being mi'talmidav. כל מי שיש בו Perek Hey שלשה דברים הללו מתלמידיו של אברהם אבינו. And conversely שלשה דברים אחרים הן מתלמידיו של בלעם הרשע. So you see something very interesting here. You see, I mean it's been thousands of years since Aharon HaKohein was in olam hazeh. And that gap, that chronological gap between us and Aharon HaKohein does not prevent, not only can a person adopt, cultivate those midos of Aharon HaKohein, he can be מתלמידיו של אהרן הכהן. And v'yitachen that this also translates in halacha as well. You find that when the Rambam quotes the Ri mi'Gash, so he says rabbo'sai. So the Rambam's father was a talmid of the Ri mi'Gash, and the Ri mi'Gash in turn is a talmid of the Rif. So sometimes the Rambam refers to the Ri mi'Gash, sometimes the Ri mi'Gash and the Rif as rabbo'sai. Rabbo'sai? It's not yours, it's not your rebbe, it's your father's rebbe. And the Rif is not, it's your father's rebbe's rebbe. So what do you mean rabbo'sai? No, so you see also, you see that it doesn't need to be personal interaction, it doesn't have to be historical contemporaneity in order for a person to be a talmid. A gavalidike thing. And maybe this is also what underlies a halacha. Right, the Gemara tells us that in the beginning of Eliezer d'Milah, so Rabbi Eliezer thinks that מכשירי מילה דוחה שבת. Rabbi Akiva says no, only אי אפשר לעשות מערב שבת דוחה שבת. But Rabbi Eliezer says no, anything you need to do, no matter how remote a preliminary it is, you can do. So if you need to make the milah instrument on Shabbos, you can start doing that also. Gemara says that we pasken like Rabbi Akiva of course. במקומו של רבי אליעזר though, they followed Rabbi Eliezer and they used to do machshirei milah on Shabbos. And pa'am achas the Roman government made an edict against milah and the only region, the only locale that was excluded from the gezeira was there, מקומו של רבי אליעזר. We hold that even though the איסור דאורייתא בשר בחלב is basar beheima b'chalav, there is an issur derabbanan of basar oaf b'chalav. Rabbi Yose HaGlili disagrees. Again, the braisa also tells us that במקומו של רבי יוסי הגלילי, if you lived in Rebbe Yose HaGlili's town, and they used to eat basar off b'chalav. So what does that mean? It means that a person, even though ordinarily yachid v'rabbim, a person should follow rabbim, even though ordinarily in a d'oraisa, let's say it's not yachid v'rabbim, it's just two chachamim, one's machmir, one's meikel on a d'oraisa, I should follow the machmir. But if one of them is my rebbe, so I follow him—my rebbe who is of stature in kol haTorah kulla—so then I follow the rebbe בין להחמיר בין להקל. I'll follow him l'hachmir in a d'rabbanan, I'll follow him l'hakel in a d'oraisa. The fact that you see from this mishna that a person can be a talmid, and the—and the—again, a historical gap of a hundred years, two hundred years, a thousand years, thousands of years is not relevant, doesn't preclude that. So itachen, that's the pshat. Let's say there's some people whose hanhaga is that they follow the Gra. They follow all piskei halacha of the Vilna Gaon, even on all those occasions when the Vilna Gaon disagreed with the hachraa of the Shulchan Aruch. Most of us, we live by the Shulchan Aruch. There are those who follow the piskei haGra. Why? Itachen that's the pshat, that b'emes the din is, no, you can follow your rebbe בין להחמיר בין להקל. So who alive today is a talmid of the Gra? No, you can be a talmid of the Gra today. You can be a talmid of the Gra today. You can be a talmid of the Rambam today. You can—you can be a talmid. And then mimaila this din that במקומו של רבי אליעזר you'd mechallel Shabbos for a machshir milah would apply. Okay, now there we can't, right? We can be a talmid of the Gra—again, a person has to—that decision and that course of action has to be taken for the right reason, in the right context, for a person who is on the right level, v'chulu. But it can—it can happen. A person can't go back to Tannaim and start paskening differently than Tannaim. A person can't say, 'I'm a talmid of Rebbe Eliezer.' It doesn't—doesn't—doesn't go out quite like that. But all that is reflected in our mishna that it's not only the pshat that a person can emulate the midos of Aharon HaKohen, that he can learn the teachings of Aharon HaKohen. A person can be a talmid, mamash a talmid of Aharon HaKohen. Okay rabbosai, thank you very much.