Thousands of years of rabbinic wisdom condensed onto a few short pages. This is the third video in the series going through it line by line. Sign up HERE to never miss an installment. Production notes are below the video.
1:3 Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) from Eitan Levy on Vimeo.
And if you prefer audio-only here is the podcast. The main page for the podcast is HERE.
PRODUCTION NOTES: Text from Sefaria.org
“Antigonos, man of Sokho, received from Shimon the Righteous. He would say, ‘Do not be as servants who are serving the master in order to receive a reward, rather be as servants who are serving the master not in order to receive a reward; and may the fear of Heaven be upon you.'”
Antigonus is a Greek name, shows us we have entered the Greek period.
EITAN NOTE: As opposed to Greek way of seeing gods as functional. Put in a coin, get a result.
RAMBAM: do it in the way of kindness, in the way a father may ask a small child or his wife, etc., to do him a favor and he gives him a few coins. He gets a reward, but he did the act out of love. BUT don’t forget awe/fear entirely, thus the last line, because this is also necessary as the Torah commands it specifically “the lord your G-d you shall ‘fear/hold in awe.'” Out of love we will do what requested, but only awe/fear will prevent us from performing a transgression/sin.