R. Mordechai ben Hillel was a prominent scholar who lived in Nuremberg, Germany. He authored a famous halachic compendium known as Mordechai, included in all standard printings of the Talmud. R. Mordechai, his wife, and five children were killed in the notorious Rindfleisch massacres (see entry for 7 Iyar), on 22 Menachem Av, 5058 (1298).
During the summer months, from the Shabbat after Passover until the Shabbat before Rosh Hashahah, we study a weekly chapter of the Talmud's Ethics of the Fathers ("Avot") each Shabbat afternoon; this week we study Chapter Four.
A mentor, our sages tell us, must be like an angel. That’s a problem.
Having never seen an angel, you will always be in doubt: Perhaps the mentor you have chosen is not like an angel. How can you ever rely on your mentor while so unsure of his or her qualifications?
So we will clarify: The mentor must be a human angel.
An angel, because just as an angel has no body, no hatred, no jealousy, and is not in competition with you, so the mentor must remain objective and uninfluenced by any personal benefit from the advice.
And yet a human being: With compassion, with a conscience, and with a passion for kind deeds.