"What's your favorite book?" a friend once asked, opening a cornucopia of choices. Today it is Pirkei Avot, aka Ethics of the Fathers. It was intended for lawgivers of old, but could have been handed down today, considering all the confusion and legalese it dispels like a bright ray of light for those in search of a guide for the perplexed. Here, for example, is one shining nugget that never fades:
Do not be like those who serve for a reward, but like those who do not expect any compensation but respond at once to the summons of a king, for it is more than honor enough to be asked.
How then prepare yourself for such a call? Get a good teacher, find someone to study with, and greet all men with a cheerful countenance.
Simple enough, but no less imperative. Who respects a sourpuss?
Love creative work, do not seek power over others, and avoid intimacy with the ruling authorities.
Simple advice--but how easily forgotten in the rat race for what the world calls power and prestige. And each time I've forgotten it, I've regretted it.
It was Hillel, the ancient sage, who asked: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And who followed up that question with an imperative: If not now, when?
How avoid the fate of the thoughtless, the ignorant, the conceited? By not being ashamed to show one's ignorance, thoughtlessness, and conceit. And by asking the simplest questions, controlling one's temper rather than releasing it. For in a place where there are no such men, dare to be one.
Patience, patience. As opposed to those who demand of God: Give me patience--right now. Once upon a long time ago, I was walking down a then almost deserted Main Street in Little Rock, when an old crone out of Macbeth came a-muttering some barely distinguishable imprecations. Only when she got nearer could I make out what she was saying: Iggerant! Iggerant! For the peace of the dusty scene had been shattered by some kid endangering himself and any passersby by zooming up the sidewalk on a motorcycle, then skidding to a stop.He was showing out not his daredevil ways, but only his colossal contempt for himself and others.
For the world rests on three things, said Reb Simeon ben Gamaliel--truth, justice and peace. And without those, it comes crashing down on our ears. As is all too clear from the day's not-so-new news. Whether from eastern Europe, where the Bear is on the prowl again, or Communist China, which still breeds trouble all around its unstable borders and those of its neighbors.
Anyone who hesitates to speak such obvious truths should not be bashful about raising direct questions. For the empty-headed cannot be sin-fearing, nor can the ignorant learn, nor the quick-tempered teach; neither will anyone who devotes himself overmuch to trade become wise.
For if the fear of embarrassing oneself stymies simple curiosity, it isn't likely any of us will advance very far. The self-taught, it turns out, may have had the poorest teachers. The thousand-headed Medusa called public opinion turns out to be a fickle creature indeed, first facing one direction and then another till there's no telling which way she'll go next.
Yes, it's a small book, but a great one. It would be a pity if it were overlooked when asked: What's your favorite book?
Paul Greenberg is the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Editorial on 10/16/2016