Chapter 1, Mishna 4
Pirkei Avot is a book of the Mishna that condenses thousands of years of rabbinic wisdom into a few pages. This is the 4th in a series bringing you that depth in concise, meaningful, bite size videos. Production notes are below the video.
Production Notes
Yose ben Yoezer, man of Tsreida, and Yose ben Yochanan, man of Jerusalem, received from them. Yose ben Yoezer says, “May your house be a meeting house for Sages, become dirty in the dust of their feet and drink their words thirstily.”
Bartenura: In the pairs mentioned the first is the ‘nassi’ and the second ‘rosh beit hadin’.
Bartenura: Your house should be welcoming and always available if sages should want a place to meet. Allegorically: ” To one who entered a perfumer’s shop; though he did not purchase anything, in any case he soaked up a good scent and brought it out with him. ”
RAMBAM: “such that if a man says to his fellow, “Where can I meet with you, where can I confer with you,” he will him, “In the house of x.”
EITAN NOTE: Friendly environment for Torah. Not a ‘hostile environment.’
Bartenura: “drink their words thirstily” like a person who is parched, not like a person who is satiated and can just choke it down.