What can be, unburdened by what has been; Introduction to Pirkei Avot

Some congregations have a custom to learn Pirkei Avot during the summer days, and therefore we would like to share a thought on the structure of these mishnayot. The first mishna starts by stating that Moshe received the Torah from Mount Sinai and handed it over to Yehoshua. Yehoshua then handed it to the sages of his generation, and so on. Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenurawrote that the mishna means to tell us that, unlike the scholars of other nations who wrote man-made ethics which they themselves came up with, our ethics are all from Hashem, who told everything to Moshe Rabbeinu at Mount Sinai. Therefore, all of Pirkei Avot are the words of the creator, who conveyed them to Moshe.

But if so, a question should be asked: if all the lessons and ethics in those mishnayot are given to Moshe, wouldn't it be more correct, instead of attributing the mishnayot to the sages, to attribute them all to Moshe, meaning that after saying "Moshe received the Torah from Sinai," it could continue with "and Moshe said," and then write the whole Pirkei Avot.

I think the answer is that although all the mishnayot were handed down from Moshe, the reason each mishna is attributed to a different sage is because that sage used to say it over and over again to his generation. The commentators explain that the mishnayot they would say were constantly part of their messages to their students. But why would they repeat these teachings over and over again. It seems the reason was that the lessons they emphasized were the ones that their generation was lacking, and therefore they needed to constantly emphasize them to ensure the people of their generation would improve their way of thinking and acting.

If so, let's try to think about what those sages would emphasize in our generation if they were living with us today. I would think that it might have been the first mishna, which tells us that we should not ignore our past, which is deeply rooted in conservative ethics. Let’s explain:

Some of the most ridiculed and laughable statements repeated in the media are attributed to Vice President Kamala Harris. For example, she once said, "The significance of the passage of time. So, when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires," which left people puzzled by the seemingly incoherent "word salad." Another much more known statement she has repeated about 2,000 times is, "What can be, unburdened by what has been," or “I can imagine what can be, and be unburdened by what has been.” These statements made the American people wonder why she keeps repeating words that no one really understands. Her tendency to use such phrases and her often criticized laugh have led some to view her as unattractive for the highest office. However, the question remains: is she really unaware of what she's talking about, or is she sending a very concerning message about what America and the entire world would look like under her leadership?

It seems like she is trying to promote the progressive ideology, which suggests that the past conservative values holds no significance and should be unburdened by the new ideology of the future agenda. The goals of the strange and "salad" progressives movement which have no order or structure are indeed emphasized by her strange "word salad," which fits this narrative.

This narrative has declared war on all fronts: on the basic concept of two genders, where one may not address a man as a man or a woman as a woman without risking legal action. People can choose to identify themselves from a large variety of genders or even invent new ones. There is also a war on the family structure, where one can have multiple parents from all the above various genders. Additionally, there is a war on the basic idea of a nation, with open borders idealism in America and Europe challenging the concept of a nation as everyone is encouraged to blur the notion of borders and communities.

Accordingly, I think that if the Tannaim were to live in our time and face our challenges, the message that would be chosen from all the many mishnayot in Pirkei Avot would be the very first one. It tells us that we should return to the message of the Creator from the time of creation, given to us at Mount Sinai, which teaches the basics of life in this very confused universe.

This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel