ב"ה

Insights

Essays and insights on the second chapter of Pirkei Avot -- Ethics of the Fathers.

Potential Energy
Potential is only worth something when it is acted upon.
A Path and a Choice
Ethics 2:1
Follow your bliss? If it’s going to make other people like you, that’s the thing to do? Not the sort of advice you’d expect from a Talmudic sage . . .
The Levites
Ethics 2:2
Heaven or earth? The kollel or the kibbutz? We Jews have been debating the issue for as long as we have been a people
Your Fellow’s Place
Ethics 2:4
“Do not judge your fellow until you have reached his place.” But since a person can never really be in his fellow's place, why doesn't the Mishnah simply say, “don't judge your fellow”?
The Case of the Floating Skull
Ethics 2:6
Moses, Pharaoh, Hillel, Maimonides and the Lubavitcher Rebbe on cosmic justice, the temporality of evil, the significance of chance encounters and the redeemability of the malevolent spirit.
The Stuff We Are Made Of
Ethics 2:7
People are busy rifling through the—dare I say it—junk. I must run. Run before I become entangled in that huge mess of possessions, aptly called “gar(b)age sale.”
A Look Into G-d’s Largest Storehouse
Prayer is not a “spare wheel” that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a “steering wheel” that directs the right path throughout.
Ethics of the Fathers is a tractate of the Mishna that details the Torah's views on ethics and interpersonal relationships. Enjoy insights, audio classes and stories on these fascinating topics.
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