In this program, I explore the first Mishnah of Pirke Avot (The Sayings of the Fathers).

We place Pirke Avot in its ethical category of mussar. I explain that one chapter of Pirke Avot is read each Shabbat from Pesach until Rosh HaShanah.

Pirke Avot 1:1

“Moshe received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it Yehoshua. Yehoshua transmitted it to the Zekanim (Elders), the Zekanim to the Neviim (Prophets), and the Neviim transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly.

They [the Men of the Great Assembly] said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise many students, and make a protective fence for the Torah.”

(1:1a): The Hebrew begins: “They said three things…” In the first saying, metunim, “deliberate,” also means slow, calm, and careful. The second saying is literally “raise up many students.”.

In this program, I have related the three maximums of the “Men of the Great Assembly” with the teachings, character and life of Yeshua. I will use this passage in the next couple of programs as means for modeling Yeshua’s mission and life.

I focus on Yeshua and his deliberate judgments and choosing and developing talmidim.

I begin discussing the idea of talmid and talmidim.

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