Mishnah 13 in chapter 1 brings us another saying from Hillel. Until now we have not looked at his biographical background, and now is a fitting time to do so - since this mishnah is unusual in that it was said in Aramaic rather than in Hebrew.
Background: Hillel's Life and His Rise to the Nesius:
Hillel began his path in Bavel, and came up to Eretz Yisrael relatively late in life - at about the age of forty, according to our Sages - hoping to learn from his teachers, Shemayah and Avtalyon. Only a few personal details are known about him. We know that he was desperately poor, as emerges from the famous story that he could not afford even the entrance fee to the beis midrash, and one day was forced to listen through the skylight in the roof, where he nearly froze to death in the snow. It is interesting to note that the Rema writes in two separate places that Hillel was a woodchopper, even though there is no clear source for this in the Gemara, and the source of his words remains a mystery.
After the passing of Shemayah and Avtalyon, Hillel returned to Bavel in order to teach there. In those days Eretz Yisrael lay in ruins: Herod had already become king of the Jews, Israel had been absorbed into the Roman Empire, and Herod ruled with an iron fist. He stripped every Jew of any power, and certainly the Sanhedrin, forty six of whose members he killed on his first day in office. It was impossible to convene the Sanhedrin for regular activity, and in place of a Nasi, three brothers, the Bnei Beseira, took upon themselves the role of spiritual leadership of the Jewish people.
When erev Pesach arrived, falling that year on Shabbos, Hillel returned to bring the korban Pesach. A question arose as to how to handle the korban on that day, and the Bnei Beseira did not know how to answer it, while Hillel had the answers. They recognized his superiority in his mastery of the tradition, and to their everlasting credit they gave up the position of Nasi in his favor - and thus Hillel rose to greatness.
Why Was This Mishnah Said in Aramaic?
Perhaps this was simply the way he spoke.
Perhaps these words were said during his time in Bavel.
And even if they were said in Eretz Yisrael, where he knew how to speak Hebrew fluently: the general population in the land spoke Aramaic (the Sages and Torah scholars spoke Hebrew as well), and Hillel wanted his teaching to be understood by everyone.
Either way, in the mishnah before us Hillel says four things that appear to be connected to one another, and we will examine them one by one. The mishnah opens: "Hu hayah omer" - that is, he would regularly say.
"Negad shema avad shemeih":
The word "negad" in Aramaic means drawing out and spreading, and "shema" means his name. From here come two interpretations: one whose name has spread far and wide, meaning that his fame has gone out in every direction; or one who himself causes his name to spread, meaning self promotion. In both cases - "avad shemeih" - it does not hold up over time, and in the end his name will be lost.
Shemayah, Hillel's teacher, taught to hate positions of authority, and as the Gemara there brings, authority buries those who hold it: power and control over people bury the one who grasps them. This is the very same idea. According to the first interpretation, fame is something fleeting, and in fact even brings about the death of the person himself.
According to the second approach, we are speaking of one who spreads his own name, promotes himself and seeks attention. About such a person our Sages said (Eruvin 13b): "Whoever chases after greatness, greatness flees from him." There is nothing worse than a person who is full of himself and thereby repels everyone around him.
A third and interesting approach reads "Neged" - from the word "kneged" - and understands it as referring to Torah study: one who studies for the sake of the name, for the sake of fame, prominence and receiving honor, will in the end lose his name. Some prefer this interpretation, even though it does not fit the vowelization of the version we have, because Hillel's three other statements are all consistent with this theme - Torah study and the prohibition against making improper use of it.
These words reflect Hillel's own personality. Many stories in the Gemara describe him as exceptionally patient and tolerant, and as humble: even his name is mentioned plainly - Hillel, not Rabbi Hillel. Many stories tell how it was almost impossible to make him angry, no matter how much people insulted and harassed him. The Rambam in the Yad HaChazakah goes in this direction: although a person's way should be to follow the middle path, there are two traits in which it is proper to go to the extreme - humility and being slow to anger, and both of them were embodied in Hillel.
Another point worth noting: the words "avad shmeih" are stated in the past tense, as though he has already lost his name, and that is intriguing. It may mean that the thing is already lost, that is, it is an absolute certainty; and it may simply be a manner of speech, similar to what people say in modern Hebrew, "I have already arrived," when they mean that the person is very close to the place. Either way, it is interesting.
"Udela mosif yasef":
One who does not add - ends up losing out and being forgotten. Here too there are several interpretations. The simple understanding is that the adding refers to Torah study: even one who has already mastered Torah may not stop learning, and he must continue onward, lest he stop and then he or his Torah be lost.
The word "yasef," which is not particularly familiar, has a parallel in the verses. In Megillas Esther it says "ve'zichram lo yasuf mizar'am" (Megillas Esther chapter 8, verse 28) - the memory of the miraculous days of Purim will not be forgotten and will not vanish from their descendants. That is the idea here as well: to be forgotten, whether the person forgets what he learned or whether he himself is forgotten.
There is another interesting approach, according to which the point is not only continuing to learn, but adding to one's learning in proportion to the lengthening of the days. Today, thanks to electric lighting, summer and winter are equal as far as one's schedule is concerned; but for most of human history, and certainly for most of the era of Chazal, the summer days were long and the winter days were short. Many commentators explain that one who does not expand his window of learning time during the summer days pays a price for it, for an opportunity that was given and squandered is bad news.
In our day this does not apply to us directly, but it has parallels: in America there is Sunday, and in Eretz Yisrael, where there are not really Sundays, there are occasional festive days - such as the second day of Purim and the like - days on which a person effectively has a day off, a sort of public holiday called a mo'ed, and certainly Shabbos. When such opportunities to learn more present themselves, they should be seized and used for more learning, for otherwise the squandered opportunity comes at a price.
There is a further approach based on a different version of the text, that the intent is not loss and forgetting, but rather the expression "ne'esaf" with an alef - like the language of the verse that Aharon the Kohen was gathered to his people when he died. Here too the idea is that in the end he will be gathered in through death.
In any case, the point is clear: just as in business, where one must strive for constant growth, and the moment growth stops the loss of market share begins and the road to bankruptcy opens - so too in spiritual development. A person must keep advancing further and further, and he may not rest on his laurels. The moment he becomes complacent, that is necessarily the beginning of the end and a spiritual drift in the wrong direction.
"Udela yalif ketala chayav":
"Yalif" here means to learn and to study, and the meaning of the statement is: one who does not learn is liable to death. The previous statement spoke of one who has mastered Torah and is required to add to his store of Torah and to keep growing; here the subject is one who did not learn in the first place and squandered the opportunity. Of such a person, Hillel says, in a certain sense he has forfeited his right to be here, for the purpose of a person in this world, and certainly the purpose of a Jew, is to grow in Torah study, in his relationship with the Ribbono shel Olam, in understanding Him and in fulfilling the Torah. One who does not seize the opportunity to grow in this way and to learn more and more - what is he needed here for? A person was brought into this world in order to form a relationship with the Ribbono shel Olam, and if he does not invest in that, there is no point to his being here.
Rabbi Berel Wein makes an important point in his commentary: a large part of assimilation, of intermarriage, and even of antisemitism is a direct result of Jews who do not know their tradition, their way of life, their origin, their Torah and their values. A person who does not learn and becomes ignorant brings upon himself the certainty that his line will end - in the intermarriage of his children and perhaps even his own, in assimilation, and perhaps even in the promotion of antisemitism. This is also why Hillel uses such a sharp expression here: "katla chayav", he is liable to death, he deserves to die.
Obviously this is nothing but an exaggeration, a figure of speech, and no one is proposing to kill a person because he is an ignoramus. The point is to push and awaken a person to make the effort, to learn, and to understand that the consequences of remaining ignorant of Jewish heritage and Torah are the most serious ones. There is no option here to choose not to learn; the stakes are too high. This is the purpose for which a person was placed here, and one who fails to live up to that purpose will one day regret it, says Hillel.
"U'de'ishtamesh be'taga chalaf":
One who makes use of the taga, the crown, meaning the crown of Torah - "chalaf", he will pass away and be gone from the world. The word "taga" is interesting: the Bartenura says it is an Arabic word meaning crown. Indeed, among Yemenite Jews the collection of commentaries on the Chumash is called "the Complete Taj", and the Taj Mahal is well known, which is like the crown of the palace. "Taj" means crown, and from there comes "taga". So this is the crown of Torah, and this is the straightforward understanding: if a person uses the crown of Torah for personal gain, for honor or for money - it will cause his death.
The word "chalaf" means to exchange, like "chalifin", which is a form of barter. The slaughterer's knife is called a "chalaf", because it turns a living cow into a piece of meat - it is the agent of transformation. The idea here is to be exchanged in some way: from one who has a share in the World to Come into one who does not. In other words, the person departs from this world and forfeits the good graces of the place where he was meant to be.
The Rambam derives from here a fairly extreme position: a person may never receive any sort of benefit in this world from his Torah learning - one may not take payment for being a teacher, a rabbi, a communal worker and the like, and that is how he understands our Mishnah. The Rambam himself, to his amazing credit, even though he was a selfless leader of the Jewish people in Egypt for most of his life, and a judge, and the far famed leader of the generation, never took money for anything he did, not a single coin for his services. He was supported by his brother until his mid thirties, and afterwards he became a physician and supported himself.
Most commentators do not learn it this way, nor is that the common practice in the Jewish world. They understand the Mishnah to be saying that learning for the sake of honor and recognition, or in order to make a living, is unacceptable, and that a person must learn lishmah - as we discussed earlier in the tractate - as an expression of his love and his desire to draw close to Hashem. But once a person has become an accomplished Torah scholar, and is able to provide these services and receive payment for them as a teacher and the like, this is permitted and accepted. It is a necessary need, and perhaps a necessary evil, but a necessary feature of our community: that people who are experts in Torah be able to devote themselves to sharing that Torah and wisdom and to helping the community in every way they can, as part of their contribution to the Jewish people.
In summary: In this Mishnah we learned Hillel's four statements, all said in Aramaic and all dealing with Torah study and its proper use: "nagid shema avad shemei" - chasing fame and honor causes a person to lose his name; "ude'lo mosif yasef" - one who does not add to his learning and does not take advantage of the opportunities of time ends up losing and being forgotten; "ude'lo yalif ketala chayav" - one who does not learn at all misses the very purpose of his existence; "ude'ishtamesh be'taga chalaf" - one who uses the crown of Torah for personal gain will ultimately pass away. We also looked at Hillel's biographical background, his humility and patience, and his rise to the position of Nasi.
About Shammai, Hillel's contemporary, we will speak further on.