In this lesson we will learn the ninth mishnah in the sixth chapter of Maseches Avos - a mishnah more famous than those that came before it, in which Rabbi Yosi ben Kisma relates an incident that happened to him, telling it in the first person.
The story Rabbi Yosi ben Kisma tells:
Once he was walking along the road and met a certain man. That man greeted him, and he returned the greeting. The man said to him: "Rebbi, mei'eizeh makom atah?" - "Rabbi, what place are you from?" He answered him: "Me'ir gedolah shel chachamim v'shel sofrim ani" - "I am from a great city of sages and scribes." The man said to him: "Rebbi, retzoncha shetadur imanu bimkomeinu, va'ani etein lecha elef alafim dinrei zahav va'avanim tovos u'margaliyos" - "Rabbi, would you be willing to live with us in our place? I will give you a thousand thousand gold dinars and precious stones and pearls."
Rabbi Yosi ben Kisma answered him: "Beni, im atah nosein li kol kesef v'zahav va'avanim tovos u'margaliyos shebaolam, eini dar ela bimkom Torah" - "My son, even if you were to give me all the silver and gold and precious stones and pearls in the world, I would live only in a place of Torah" - for this is the essential point.
A person's end is to die, and he passes through this world only once. At the moment of death nothing accompanies him: not the money, not the precious stones and not the pearls. The only thing that accompanies a person to the World to Come is his Torah and his good deeds. If so, why would he choose to live in a place that does not help him achieve this? He wants to live specifically in the place that will help him most to accumulate Torah and good deeds.
The verse from Mishlei:
The mishnah brings a verse from Mishlei, which has three parts:
"B'hishalechcha tancheh osach" - when you walk.
"B'shochbecha tishmor alecha" - when you lie down.
"Vahakitzosa hi tesichecha" - when you rise.
And this is how the verse is expounded:
"B'hishalechcha tancheh osach" - in this world. The Torah is what guides a person, and through it he travels his path.
"B'shochbecha tishmor alecha" - at the time when he lies in the grave. The Torah protects him from the suffering that comes during the year following death.
"Vahakitzosa hi tesichecha" - at the resurrection of the dead, in the World to Come. Then it is the Torah that will speak on his behalf, and he is the one who will converse in it.
And so it says in Sefer Tehillim, in which everything is said. David, king of Israel, who wrote Sefer Tehillim, said: "Tov li Toras picha me'alfei zahav vachasef" - the Torah of the mouth of the Holy One, blessed is He, is better for me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
The mishnah brings yet another verse, from Sefer Chaggai: "Li hakesef v'li hazahav ne'um Hashem Tzevakos" - "Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold, says Hashem, Master of Legions." The Holy One, blessed is He, says: all the silver and gold are Mine anyway.
Herein lies a second reason for Rabbi Yosi ben Kisma's refusal to go with that man: if the Holy One, Blessed is He, wishes to give him wealth, He can give it to him in any way at all, and any good that can be accomplished with money the Holy One, Blessed is He, can accomplish as well. Why, then, should a person sacrifice everything in order to become wealthy - even for some hidden purpose, and even for a good purpose? That is not reason enough, and therefore he was not tempted to accept the offer.
In summary: In this Mishnah we learned that a place is not measured by its wealth but by its being a place of Torah, for nothing accompanies a person except his Torah and his good deeds. We examined the exposition of the verse in Mishlei in its three parts - guidance in this world, protection in the grave, and advocacy in the World to Come; the words of King David in Tehillim, who prefers the Torah of Hashem's mouth over thousands in gold and silver; and the verse in Chaggai, which teaches that all wealth is in any case in the hand of the Holy One, Blessed is He.