Community and careful judgment

Belong without assuming you know

How can we take responsibility without becoming certain that our own judgment is always right? The previous readings joined Torah learning, work and service, then warned about the interests behind powerful people’s welcome. This passage turns toward our own desires, our place among others and the limits of what we know.

Avot is a tractate, a named collection within the Mishnah, preserving teachings of our sages. Avot 2:4 means chapter 2, mishnah 4. This lesson follows the common numbering: it includes a teaching of Rabban Gamliel and then sayings introduced with “Hillel says.” The Hebrew edition linked below divides these into 2:4 and 2:5. The speakers’ names and opening words help us find the same text across editions.

Whose will comes first?

“He used to say” continues Rabban Gamliel’s teaching. Hashem, “the Name,” is our customary way to refer to God; “his will” here means God’s will.

The repeated word is ratzon, will or desire. First comes “make”: bring energy to what Hashem desires. Then comes “set aside”: a competing desire must yield. These are related but distinct movements. Willing service involves both wanting the good and relinquishing something that gets in its way.

Read the promised response together with that starting point. The passage begins by reshaping our desire around God’s will; it does not begin by making our preferences the measure of God’s service. Its language of divine response encourages trust, rather than supplying a way to control other people.

Read Hillel’s five cautions

Tzibbur means community or public. Hillel begins with belonging, then questions self-confidence, judgment of another, speech and postponement. Our shared life needs more than attendance: how we evaluate and address one another also matters. That connection is our reading of the arrangement, not an extra sentence in the Mishnah.

“Until the day of your death” makes the horizon lifelong. Good habits require continued attention; achievement does not put us beyond failure. “Until you reach that person’s place” then checks how quickly we pronounce on someone else. We can observe what happened without pretending to know every pressure under which it happened.

Make the difficult clause intelligible

What could “cannot be heard but will ultimately be heard” mean? A literal rendering preserves the puzzle. Rambam, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, is a later interpreter of the Mishnah. In his commentary, he explains this as a warning against words whose plain sense seems unreasonable and whose meaning becomes clear only through a strained, elaborate explanation. In this reading, the speaker should make the meaning accessible rather than leave the listener to rescue it later.

That is a named explanation of the source, not a replacement Hebrew text. It gives us a concrete reading task: ask what listeners can reasonably understand now. A teacher who says, “You will work out what I meant eventually,” has shifted the burden of clarity onto the learner.

Work through a shared responsibility

Worked example. In an invented study group, Leah misses her turn to prepare the reading. Daniel says, “She clearly does not care; I would never do that.” Begin with the evidence: the preparation was missed. His explanation of her motive and prediction about himself go beyond that evidence. Hillel’s cautions about judging and self-confidence address those two leaps separately. Daniel could ask what happened and arrange the next reading without deciding Leah’s character.

Now change the case. The group’s organizer gives newcomers an unexplained abbreviation and says they will understand eventually. Use Rambam’s reading to propose a repair. Then consider a member who continually postpones study until all responsibilities vanish. Hillel’s “perhaps” identifies an uncertain future, not a guaranteed future opportunity.

Return tomorrow

At your next session, recall the two speakers and three different objects of attention: God’s will, your own confidence and your companion’s circumstances. Reconstruct Hillel’s five cautions before looking. Then explain the difficult speech clause twice: first with the Mishnah’s words, then with Rambam’s explanation.

Read in context

• Hebrew Avot: chapter 2, items 4–5, corresponding together to common Avot 2:4.
• Avot 2:4 with Rambam’s commentary: see his explanation of the speech clause.

Continue with Learning that becomes action to bring these responsibilities into the learning room.