Studying Pirkei Avos on Summer Shabbosos - The Deep Meaning of the Custom in Light of Chassidus

00:00 It is a Jewish custom to study Pirkei Avos on Shabbos after Pesach. Some study it between Pesach and Shavuos. Generally, there are six weeks, and during those weeks they study one chapter each Shabbos after Minchah, until Shavuos. Others have the custom of continuing until Rosh Hashanah. Throughout the summer Shabbosos, from Pesach to Rosh Hashanah, they study the chapters of Pirkei Avos again and again. What is the reason for this custom? And how exactly do we go about it? How do we study Pirkei Avos? How does it connect to Pesach, to Shavuos, and to summer in general? Let’s try to look a little more deeply at this. What is the right way to study Pirkei Avos, and how is it meant to improve our conduct in everyday life? First, as for the reasons we study Pirkei Avos on these Shabbosos: broadly speaking, we find two main reasons in the sefarim. One is that it prepares us for the giving of the Torah. From Pesach, when we begin counting the Omer, every Jew starts preparing and longing to receive the Torah on Shavuos. So the practice of reciting Pirkei Avos was established as preparation for receiving the Torah. One explanation given in the sefarim relates to the principle that derech eretz precedes Torah. If a person wants to reach the giving of the Torah, he first needs the right character traits and the right conduct. Derech eretz precedes Torah. You have to be a mensch, a person who conducts himself uprightly. Only then can you be a vessel, ready to receive the Torah. So the recitation of Pirkei Avos was established as preparation for receiving the Torah. On the other hand, the sefarim give another explanation. There is a sefer called Midrash Shmuel, with wonderful explanations of Pirkei Avos. It was written by one of the disciples of the Arizal, and it gathers many wonderful interpretations and explanations of Pirkei Avos. He offers another explanation for why we recite Pirkei Avos at this time.

02:33 After Pesach begins the season of summer growth: the trees, nature, and the strengthening of nature in every physical sense. The sun comes out, the trees blossom, and the summer days arrive. Along with them, every person’s natural drives also grow stronger. We see that at this time people focus on the health and care of the body. They travel to various vacation spots and occupy themselves with all sorts of things related to physical health. But we Jews know that everything begins with the soul. The health of the body is connected to the health of the soul. So especially at a time when natural drives grow stronger, studying Pirkei Avos gives a person strength. It teaches him moral conduct, justice, uprightness, and good character traits. It teaches him good conduct and helps him recognize that the health of the soul is primary. When the soul is healthy, the body will naturally be healthy too. We could say that these two explanations correspond to the two customs we mentioned. The custom of reciting Pirkei Avos until Shavuos is mainly connected to preparing for the giving of the Torah. The custom of reciting Pirkei Avos throughout the summer, as the Alter Rebbe also mentions in his siddur—he cites the custom of reciting it until Rosh Hashanah—is connected to the strengthening of nature. That does not happen only at the beginning of spring; it continues throughout the summer, when nature and material concerns grow stronger. A Jew then needs to strengthen himself through studying Pirkei Avos, to learn how to refine the powers of the soul and, through that,

04:55 to overcome the drives of the body as well. A person with a healthy soul in a healthy body. So those are the explanations for studying Pirkei Avos during these weeks. But there is something very interesting here. Studying Pirkei Avos is meant to help a person correct and refine himself, and there is a particular way to study it: how do I draw guidance from Pirkei Avos for my conduct in everyday life? Sometimes we may look at the mishnayos in Pirkei Avos as very lofty teachings—guidance that seemingly applies only to rabbis, judges, leaders, and righteous people. How can I connect to Pirkei Avos? How can any person, any Jew, even the simplest Jew, take Pirkei Avos and use it to improve his conduct? In fact, I’m still one step before that. Sometimes a person says to himself: Can I reach the standard Pirkei Avos asks of me? Especially since the Gemara says, regarding Pirkei Avos, that whoever wants to be a chossid should study Pirkei Avos, because it contains mili dechassidusa—teachings of exceptional piety. In other words, Pirkei Avos was written as guidance for a person who wants to reach the level of a chossid. Of course, when we say “chossid” here, we mean someone whose conduct goes beyond the ordinary. A chossid goes beyond the letter of the law. There is conduct that is necessary and obligatory, and then there is exceptional conduct that goes beyond the letter of the law. That is what the mishnayos in Pirkei Avos address. If we study them properly, we see in every mishnah a message about how to attain that kind of conduct: good character traits and good behavior, but not just basic good behavior. They aim to bring a person to exceptional conduct—to be a chossid and go beyond the letter of the law.

07:22 Then the question arises: I know myself, and I know how far I am from all of this. I am very far from being a chossid or demanding of myself that I go beyond the letter of the law, when I am still far from fulfilling the letter of the law. If only I could keep the law and the halachah! And now someone comes and tells me to go beyond the letter of the law. So how can I really take the guidance of Pirkei Avos and let it give me a path in life during this period of preparation for the giving of the Torah, or during this season when nature grows stronger and we want to learn to master our natural drives—so that our summer will truly be healthy, in both body and soul? Here we come to something very interesting: the first mishnah we customarily recite each week before beginning Pirkei Avos. When the Sages established the recitation of Pirkei Avos, the custom came to include a mishnah that we always recite before starting the chapter, as well as a mishnah we recite when we finish it. At the beginning of Pirkei Avos each week, we recite: “All Israel have a share in the World to Come, as it is said: ‘And Your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever. They are the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, in which to take pride.’” We always recite this mishnah before beginning the chapter. It is not a mishnah from Pirkei Avos. It is from Tractate Sanhedrin, chapter Cheilek, the tenth chapter, and yet we customarily recite it before Pirkei Avos. Why? The sefarim say that the reason is to begin with something beautiful that speaks of the virtues of the Jewish people. But what does this mishnah have to do with the content of Pirkei Avos? As we said, Pirkei Avos is meant to teach a person about conduct, about the good character traits he needs to internalize, about justice and uprightness—and, as we said, about being a chossid. Why this introduction

09:44 Why did they specifically choose the mishnah “All Israel have a share”? What does this mishnah tell us? Well, it speaks about the praise of the Jewish people and their great reward. So commentators explain that it comes to tell us: if you make the effort and do everything the mishnah tells you to do, you will merit the great reward of the World to Come. But it is hard to say that this is the only reason. We are talking here about someone who wants to refine his character traits, improve his conduct, and reach the level of a chossid who goes beyond the letter of the law. Surely that person does not serve Hashem in order to receive a reward. He does not serve Hashem just because he will receive the World to Come for it. After all, as we all know, the mishnah itself, right afterward, in the opening mishnayos of Pirkei Avos, tells us, “Do not be like servants who serve their master in order to receive a reward.” A person should not serve Hashem for the sake of a reward. Yet suddenly, we begin the mishnayos of Pirkei Avos with “All Israel have a share in the World to Come,” telling us how great the reward is. Is that how you want to persuade someone? That is the mishnah we say before Pirkei Avos. Then there is the mishnah we say after Pirkei Avos. Every week, when we finish the chapter, we conclude with: “Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says: Hakadosh Boruch Hu wished to bring merit to Israel; therefore, He gave them an abundance of Torah and mitzvos, as it is said, ‘Hashem desired, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify the Torah and make it glorious.’” Here too, the question arises: this mishnah is not from Pirkei Avos. It appears at the end of Maseches Makkos, and nevertheless, we customarily say it every time we finish a chapter. The reason for this is also given in the sefarim: the Sages chose it in order to conclude—

11:40 with words of Aggadah, to end with something that speaks in praise of Torah and mitzvos, and of the Jewish people who received Torah and mitzvos. So when we finish, we want to conclude with an Aggadic teaching, something that draws the heart and speaks in praise of the Jewish people who received Torah and mitzvos, and we say this mishnah. Here too, we need to understand what is special about this mishnah in relation to the content of Pirkei Avos: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu wished to bring merit to Israel; therefore, He gave them an abundance of Torah and mitzvos.” So today we will talk about these two mishnayos. I think that if we understand their depth—what they are saying, and the deeper meaning of these two mishnayos chosen to open and close each chapter—we will gain a deeper appreciation of saying Pirkei Avos, a deeper understanding of its purpose. It will also give us the strength, the energy, and the desire to take in and internalize the teachings and guidance our Sages gave us in Pirkei Avos. So let’s begin. We’ll start with the first mishnah: “All Israel have a share in the World to Come.” What are we talking about here? The World to Come. Now, as is well known, there is a disagreement about this, going back to the great Rishonim. It is known as the disagreement between the Rambam and the Ramban. The Rambam, Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon, says that the World to Come refers to Gan Eden. He holds that the ultimate reward is in Gan Eden. As is well known, the Rambam wrote about this in Hilchos Teshuvah and in several other places in his works. He explains at length that the eternal reward we hope for is Gan Eden, the world of souls. That will be the ultimate reward—after Moshiach comes, after the resurrection of the dead, and after everything else, there will ultimately be the world of souls, and that is the World to Come. The Ramban, Rabbeinu Moshe ben Nachman, disagrees with him. He writes at length and explains that this is not the ultimate recompense. The ultimate reward, the true reward, is the resurrection of the dead. Accordingly, when we say, “All Israel—

14:00 have a share in the World to Come,” we mean the world of resurrection. According to the Ramban, the World to Come means the resurrection of the dead, and this is clear from the continuation of the mishnah itself. If we look at the mishnah in Maseches Sanhedrin, we see that it says there, “All Israel have a share in the World to Come,” and then lists those who have no share in the World to Come. Among them is someone who denies the resurrection of the dead. So the implication is—as the Gemara says explicitly—that because he denied the resurrection of the dead, he will have no share in the resurrection of the dead. From this, it is plain that the World to Come being discussed here refers to the world of resurrection, the resurrection of the dead. According to the Ramban—and this is also the ruling of all the Kabbalists and the teaching of Chassidus—the ultimate reward, the greatest recompense we look forward to, is specifically the world of resurrection: souls in bodies, down here in this physical world. So much so that, as the maamarim of Chassidus explain, even the holy Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, who have already been in Gan Eden for more than three thousand years, and Moshe and Aharon and all the supremely holy people who have been in Gan Eden for thousands of years, await and long for the moment when the resurrection of the dead will come. Then their souls will be clothed in bodies in this physical world, and here will be the ultimate reward. How can we understand this? How can the ultimate reward be specifically in a body, a physical body? Of course, this is not the place to go into the full depth of the subject, but it tells us something very, very profound about a Jew’s body. It tells us something remarkable: specifically here, in this physical world and in the physical body of a Jew, lies the greatest depth, the deepest connection between a Jew and Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Alter Rebbe discusses this at length in Tanya, and it is explained at length in the maamarim of Chassidus throughout the generations. The foundation is the well-known teaching of the Midrash: “Hakadosh Boruch—

16:04 Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms.” In other words, this lower world, this physical world, specifically down here, is the object of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s deepest desire. He chose this world as the place where He wants His dwelling to be. What does “His dwelling” mean? When you say “dwelling,” you mean a place where a person is present with his whole self. A dwelling. In his own home, a person feels at home; he is there as he is. He does not need to hide, get dressed, or do anything else. He can simply be himself. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants a dwelling here, in this lower world. In the days of Moshiach and the resurrection of the dead, the ultimate purpose of creation will be revealed: this physical world will be the place where Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, in His very essence, will be revealed down here, in the physical world and in the body of a Jew. As the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya, it is specifically the Jew’s body that Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose. Every morning we say, “And You chose us from every people and tongue.” On Yom Tov we say, “You chose us from among all the nations.” The Alter Rebbe says in Tanya: choice—we say Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose. The word “choice” applies when one chooses between two things that are alike, two things that appear equal. When things are not alike, the word “choice” does not apply. When we say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose, this cannot refer to the soul. The soul is a part of G-d above. A Jew’s soul is something unique that only a Jew has. “The second soul of a Jew is truly a part of G-d above.” So choice does not apply to the soul. A choice between what and what? Between the soul of a Jew and the soul of a non-Jew? A non-Jew does not have a G-dly soul, so there is no choice to speak of. Choice is between two things that are alike. The Alter Rebbe says: if so—

18:00 The choice concerns the body. The physical body of a Jew resembles the physical body of a non-Jew, and it is about this that we say, “And You chose us.” At the giving of the Torah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose the bodies of the Jewish people, and that is why He gave this body the entire Torah and its mitzvos. And we see that the Torah and mitzvos deal with the body. Most mitzvos involve the body. You cannot perform a mitzvah without a physical body. You need hands to put on tefillin, to give tzedakah. You need legs to go and do a mitzvah. Every action has to be performed through the physical body. As the Rebbe Rashab once said: How precious is the body of a Jew, for whose sake the entire Torah and all its mitzvos were given! And the Alter Rebbe once said: We cannot grasp how precious a Jew’s body is to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That will be revealed in the world of resurrection, at the resurrection of the dead. According to this, we can understand the deeper meaning of this mishnah. As an introduction to Pirkei Avos, it is wonderful. When a person comes to study Pirkei Avos, he is told: What is the point? What is Pirkei Avos about? Correcting our behavior. A person looks at himself and knows that all his improper behavior, all his bad character traits and harmful tendencies, stem from the body. I have a physical, material body, and because of its desires I am drawn to all kinds of things that are unhealthy for both body and soul. That is where all my bad traits come from—jealousy, hatred, anger, desires, and so on. So the question is: How can I correct myself? I have a material body, a coarse body. How can I correct myself? That is why we begin by saying, “All Israel have a share in the World to Come.” After all, you are

20:10 a Jew. “All Israel”—there are no conditions attached to that. When it comes to Gan Eden, there are conditions. Not everyone merits it; special merits are needed, and even then there are many, many levels and degrees. Gan Eden is not so simple. But regarding the World to Come, the world of resurrection, the mishnah tells us: All Israel. Every Jew has a body, and it is impossible for a Jew to go through life without performing mitzvos that involve the body. This is the connection with the final mishnah; here the two mishnayos come together. We tell a Jew: You have a body, don’t you? On the contrary, that very body of yours will merit to rise at the resurrection of the dead. Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose that body. That is what the verse quoted here tells us: “And Your people are all righteous; they will inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, in which I take pride.” We tell a Jew: Do you know what your body is? It is “the branch of My planting,” “the work of My hands.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu created your body and takes pride in it. He says: I chose this body at the giving of the Torah, and for the sake of this body I gave the entire Torah and all its mitzvos. So surely you can work with your body and correct it. That is the introduction to Pirkei Avos. Now that you know you have such a special body, such a holy body, one that will rise at the resurrection of the dead, you know that you can certainly correct it and work with it. You can bring merit to your body, refine your soul, and be ready to receive the Torah. That is the strength given to a Jew when he stops to think and says to himself: What kind of body do I have? A body that will rise at the resurrection of the dead, where it will receive that great reward—the revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu specifically within this body. So surely

22:23 this body can be corrected. That is the introduction to Pirkei Avos. And how do we conclude? With “Hakadosh Boruch Hu wished to bring merit to Israel; therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance.” What does that mean, and how does it follow from what we said earlier? As we said, refining the body requires Torah and mitzvos. Every mitzvah brings refinement to a person’s body—every act, every word, every thought, every good thing a Jew does. There is a simple question here, when you say the words, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu wished to bring merit to Israel; therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to bring us merit, so He gave us a great many Torah obligations and mitzvos. Some people ask: Because He wanted to bring us merit, He gave us so many Torah obligations and mitzvos? Isn’t that the opposite of what you would expect? He should have given us a good life, made life easier for us. Because He loves us, He gives us so many Torah obligations and mitzvos? What does this mishnah mean? One explanation, cited in the name of the Rambam, is that “Hakadosh Boruch Hu wished to bring merit to Israel; therefore He gave them an abundance.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to give every Jew an opportunity to connect with Him. He wanted every Jew to have the ability to form a bond with Him. As we said, “And Your people are all righteous.” How can you say, “And Your people are all righteous,” when we know that many Jews are far from righteous? What does it mean? This is the answer: “Therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave us so many opportunities to connect with Him. The Torah and mitzvos encompass every part of a person’s life: mitzvos between a person and Hashem, mitzvos between one person and another, positive mitzvos and prohibitions. And there are mitzvos

24:27 involving the inanimate, plants, animals, and people, and mitzvos of kindness. There are so many different kinds of mitzvos that it is impossible for a Jew to go through life without observing Torah and mitzvos in some way. Even a Jew who is very distant, G-d forbid, who does not study Torah or observe mitzvos as a matter of daily practice—it is impossible for a day to pass without his doing some mitzvah. He bought something, or helped someone, said a kind word to someone, helped someone cross the st— There are so many forms and opportunities, things we do that are actually mitzvos. So “Hakadosh Boruch Hu wished to bring merit to Israel.” He wanted all of us to reach the resurrection of the dead, and for that we need Torah and mitzvos. So He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance. That is an explanation cited in the name of the Rambam. But there is also a deeper point here in connection with Pirkei Avos, as we said. What is the point here? What is the lesson? What is the mishnah telling us in connection with Pirkei Avos? There is a tremendous message here. The mishnah says, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu wished to bring merit.” The word “bring merit” also suggests refinement: to refine Israel, so that a Jew can refine himself, become more refined—meaning more gentle, more pure. This refers to the body: refining the body, purifying the body, correcting the body, so that we become more refined, cleaner, gentler people. “Therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance.” In other words, there are so many kinds of mitzvos and so many different parts of the Torah so that every person can find the particular point he needs to correct. Every person has that point, that thing he is, he is, he is working on

26:27 himself. Some people are more inclined toward giving; others are more inclined toward influencing others; still others are more inclined to work on themselves. Every person has their own qualities of soul, their own character. Some are more inclined toward kindness, others toward discipline. There are all kinds of people, and each one finds in Torah and mitzvos the particular aspect that speaks to them, through which they can improve themselves. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to give the Jewish people the opportunity to become refined. That is why He gave us so many kinds of mitzvos and so many parts of the Torah: so that everyone can find their place in Torah and mitzvos and refine themselves according to their own unique qualities. So the first mishnah of Pirkei Avos and the last mishnah of Pirkei Avos give us the foundation, the deeper understanding of the message when we come to study Pirkei Avos. After Pesach, we are born anew. Pesach is the festival when the Jewish people begin again. We left Egypt, were born anew, received freedom, and were born as a nation of free people. Now the days of Sefiras HaOmer begin, the days when a Jew prepares to receive the Torah. In a broader sense, we are entering spring and summer, times when we encounter nature as it grows stronger. So you need to know what the goal is, what the purpose is. Mishnah after mishnah in Pirkei Avos gives a Jew the ability to improve their behavior and refine their body, so that my body becomes more refined and more sensitive, to prepare

28:33 myself to receive the Torah and to know how to live in this world—not to detach myself from the world, but on the contrary, to bring the power of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to bring the Torah, into the reality of nature and creation, and to refine nature. Precisely through this, we attain health of the soul, which also gives us physical health. That way, we can be sure of a healthy, happy summer, healthy in body and healthy in soul. This is how a Jew prepares to receive the Torah. And may we soon merit to see the fulfillment of what the mishnah says: “All Israel have a share in the World to Come,” in the most tangible way. We are all waiting for it, especially during these days, when we are in a time of Geulah, a time of freedom, the days of Pesach. This is also a time when every Jew prepares for the complete Geulah, which includes the days of the resurrection of the dead. Then we will see how “All Israel have a share in the World to Come” is fulfilled. The entire Jewish people will rise to life, and we will merit all the wondrous revelations of that time: the wondrous revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu down here in this physical world, together with the secrets of the Torah that will be revealed from the mouth of Moshiach, and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.”