In this chapter we begin the third chapter of Maseches Avos, and in its first Mishnah we meet Akavya ben Mahalalel. Akavya lived in the generation of Shemayah and Avtalyon, so we are departing here somewhat from the chronological order: in the first chapter we reached the era of the Zugos - Shemayah and Avtalyon, Hillel, and after him Hillel's direct descendants; in the second chapter we went back to Hillel's most important student, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, and to his students, who are the second generation of Tannaim; and now we return and go back up to the era of the Zugos.
It is worth noticing that the title 'Rabbi' is not attached to Akavya's name. In a certain sense he was greater than that, in the manner of the generations that preceded the Tannaim, and even among them he stood out in particular. The Mishnah in Maseches Eduyos (chapter 5, Mishnah 6) - and these words are brought in the Gemara as well - states "that the Azarah was never locked before any man of Israel" who was as great "in wisdom and in fear of sin as Akavya ben Mahalalel." The gates of the Beis HaMikdash would be closed upon the groups at the time of the offering of the Korban Pesach, when all of Israel was inside and all the great men of the generation with them - and they were never locked upon a man greater in wisdom or in fear of sin than Akavya ben Mahalalel. From here we see that he was among the very greatest, and therefore his words are brought here.
This Mishnah is familiar to many, and especially to those who live in Eretz Yisrael, since it is customary to recite it twice at a burial in Eretz Yisrael, as part of the procession accompanying the deceased.
"Akavya ben Mahalalel omer: Histakel bishloshah devarim, ve'i attah ba lidei aveirah. Da me'ayin basa, ule'an attah holech, velifnei mi attah asid liten din vecheshbon. Me'ayin basa - mitipah seruchah; ule'an attah holech - limkom afar rimah vetole'ah; velifnei mi attah asid liten din vecheshbon - lifnei Melech Malchei HaMelachim HaKadosh Baruch Hu" - Akavya ben Mahalalel says: Reflect upon three things, and you will not come into the hands of sin. Know from where you came, and where you are going, and before Whom you are destined to give a judgment and an accounting. From where you came - from a putrid drop; and where you are going - to a place of dust, maggots and worms; and before Whom you are destined to give a judgment and an accounting - before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
Why does the Mishnah repeat the three things?
At the outset the Mishnah says "Reflect upon three things," and afterwards it details them and repeats them a second time. A beautiful explanation is brought in Irving Bunim's work on Pirkei Avos: the repetition stems from the fact that the Mishnah is addressing two different parts of a person. The second address, the clear and obvious one, is directed to the body, and says to it: do not let your heart grow haughty and do not fall into the jaws of sin, for your beginning is lowly, your end is lowly, and in the end you stand in judgment. But the first time, the Mishnah is speaking to the soul, to the higher part of a person, and it does not focus on man's lowliness but precisely on his greatness.
"Da me'ayin basa" - know from where you came: the soul comes as a portion of God from above, a part of the Holy One, blessed be He, endowed with the power of choice, and it is the purpose of creation.
"Ule'an attah holech" - and where you are going: to a world in which a person has the ability to bring about change, to be a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in creating the world and perfecting it, and to cultivate a permanent and eternal relationship with Him as nothing else can.
"Velifnei mi attah asid liten din vecheshbon" - and before Whom you are destined to give a judgment and an accounting: ultimately in the World to Come, the world of truth, where a person will return and connect to the Holy One, blessed be He, stand in judgment and merit that eternal relationship.
This is an uplifting and moving perspective. But if it is not enough, and if contemplating man's greatness does not stop him from sinning, the Mishnah turns a second time - this time to the body.
Precision in the language of the Mishnah:
"Histakel bishloshah devarim, ve'i attah ba lidei aveirah" - reflect upon three things, and you will not come into the hands of sin. It does not say that he will not arrive at sin, but that he will not come into the "hands" of sin. What are the hands of sin? These are the root causes that bring a person to sin. The Mishnah is therefore giving a recipe for not falling into the grip of three areas in which a person gets caught in the trap of sin.
"Da" - know. Why did the Mishnah use the language of knowing? Because where a person came from and where he is going are physical matters that can be seen with the eyes, but the final judgment and accounting is never visible to the eye, since its place is in the World to Come, and therefore it must be known with the mind's eye alone.
"Me'ayin basa" - from where you came. This is an unusual word, parallel to "ule'an attah holech" - from where and to where. Rav Bulman notes that "me'ayin" is written full, with an extra yud, while "le'an" is written deficient, and perhaps there is a hint in this - like the well known idea that a newborn's hands are closed and a dead man's hands are open. When a person comes into the world everything revolves around him and around taking, and at the end he is not for himself at all, but gives, for he cannot take anything with him. So too here: when you came into this world you were full - full of yourself, full of aspirations, full of possibilities and potential; but at the end, after you seized the opportunity and lived up to your potential, you leave this world without taking anything with you. You have nothing but what you sent ahead of you - the charity and the good deeds.
"Ule'an attah holech" - and where you are going. This is present tense: where you are going right now. Why? Because this is an important thought that many try to avoid: every minute that passes brings a person one minute closer to the ground. From the moment we were born we are "going," drawing closer to the grave. True, someone who tells his friend "I am dying" does not usually earn much appreciation, but the feeling is correct: we are all going and drawing closer, and it is worth focusing on this a bit, since this is what will drive a person to use the time available to him - for he was given only one opportunity.
"Liten" - to give. The language of giving sounds like something done willingly, whereas judgment is taken from us whether we want it or not. Tosafos explains here that since a person makes his choices in this world, and those very choices become on their own the basis of his judgment and accounting, it turns out that the entire trial is based on his choices down here - and it is as though the person volunteered and brought this judgment upon himself, for it is nothing other than what he himself did.
"Din vecheshbon":
This too is an interesting expression. "Din" is judgment, and "cheshbon" is a calculation. What, then, are its two components?
The straightforward understanding, as Tosafos explains it: a person stands in judgment, an accounting is made of his deeds, and every single act is weighed - that is the accounting.
The Vilna Gaon offers an important and very true idea: the judgment is for what a person actually did, for the deeds of the past, while the accounting is for what he did not do and could have done - the potential that was lost. Not only is he called to account for the sin he committed, but a reckoning is made of all the good things he could have done at that very moment had he not wasted his time on that sin.
A third explanation, also interesting and true: the judgment is for the act itself, and the accounting is the calculation of the consequences of the act. When a person performs a mitzvah here below, not only the good deed itself stands to his credit, but also its results: he may influence others to do good things as well, and inspire in them an inspiration that lasts days, weeks, and even generations. Whatever share his deeds had in producing those results and consequences is credited to him or charged against him - and that is the accounting.
The three things one must look at:
"mi'tipah seruchah" - from a putrid drop. This refers to the drop of semen. The Bartenura points out that, technically speaking, the drop from which a person was formed did not become putrid, since it was fertilized, but in general this is the accepted way of referring to it, as a repulsive drop.
"li'mkom afar rimah v'tolei'ah" - to a place of dust, maggots and worms. Afar is earth; rimah refers to the tiny maggots that hatch from the eggs of flies and the like; and tolei'ah refers to actual worms, such as earthworms. In other words: a person's end is very limited and unpleasant, and that is where the body goes in any case.
"lifnei Melech malchei ha'melachim ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu" - before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed is He. It does not simply say "before Hashem"; rather, an expanded expression is used with all of its elements, in order to emphasize the gravity of the matter. Thinking about before Whom one stands in judgment is meant to remind a person to treat his life seriously, and so the seriousness itself is stressed here.
The words of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai in the Gemara:
That very same expression, and the entire idea of our Mishnah, is expressed in the Gemara in Maseches Berachos (28b): when Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai - the founder of Yavneh, who, as it were, saved Judaism after the Destruction - fell ill, his students came in to visit him. When he saw them, he began to weep. His students said to him: "Lamp of Israel, right-hand pillar, mighty hammer, why are you weeping?"
He said to them: "If I were being led before a king of flesh and blood - who is here today and in the grave tomorrow; whose anger, if he is angry with me, is not an eternal anger; whose imprisonment, if he imprisons me, is not an eternal imprisonment; whose sentence of death, if he puts me to death, is not an eternal death; and whom I can appease with words and bribe with money - even so, I would weep. And now that I am being led before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed is He, who lives and endures forever and for all eternity, whose anger, if He is angry with me, is an eternal anger, and whom I cannot appease with words nor bribe with money - shall I not weep?"
These are the very same words our Mishnah uses, and this is the feeling that lies at its foundation: the weight of the One before Whom we stand in judgment and accounting. There is no way to escape it; this is a fixed and eternal judgment, carrying the highest possible stakes in all of existence, and it therefore has the power to move a person to keep away from sin.
In summary: the Mishnah lists three areas from which a person falls into the clutches of sin, and against each one it places in his hand a tool of looking:
Arrogance and haughtiness: a person who thinks too highly of himself does not do the right thing, because he is too preoccupied with himself. Against this he must look at the fact that he came from a putrid drop, and that his beginning was utterly lowly.
Desire and love of money: the craving for this world and its affairs. Against this he must think about his end - which is near, and toward which he is heading - and about the fact that he cannot take anything with him, and before he knows it he will find himself in the ground.
The urge to cut corners: to do the wrong thing and not to invest in the right thing. Against this, let him know that he is destined to give a judgment and an accounting for every single detail of his life - his choices and decisions will be examined and reviewed, as will their results, and even the results of those results, and even the potential lost in the things he did not do and could have done: everything enters the accounting.
If a person gives his attention to these three things, he will be saved from falling into the clutches of sin.