STUDY SKILLS
Reading a source
Whose words are you reading? Separate the text, its translation, a commentary, and your own question.
Follow one line
Here, the Mishnah is our base text. Follow the opening instruction of Avot 1:7 through four parts of study.
1. The source text
הרחק משכן רע
These are words from Nittai the Arbelite’s teaching in the Mishnah.
2. A translation
Keep far from a bad neighbor.
A translation renders the text in another language. Its wording reflects the translator’s choices.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
3. A commentary
Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura explains that distance helps us avoid learning a neighbor’s bad conduct. This paraphrase gives one part of his explanation: a reason for the instruction.
4. Your question
“What might I learn from the people I spend time with?” This is a question we bring to the teaching. Tie your question to particular words, then explore it with a teacher or study partner.
A commentary can also be translated. Look for the attribution, then name the voice: “The Mishnah says…” “Bartenura explains…” “I wonder…”
Name the voice
Choose source text, translation, commentary, or learner’s question. Then open each example to check.
1. “Establish a teacher for yourself.”
Translation. This is our English rendering of עשה לך רב in Avot 1:6.
2. “How could a teacher help me study this passage?”
Learner’s question. It grows from the instruction to establish a teacher. It invites an answer; it is not a line quoted from the Mishnah.
3. הרחק משכן רע
Source text. These Hebrew words are the opening instruction of Avot 1:7, shown above.
4. Bartenura explains that distance helps us avoid learning bad conduct.
Commentary. This summarizes Bartenura’s explanation of Avot 1:7. Naming him distinguishes his explanation from the Mishnah’s wording.
Keep the reference close
Avot 1:7 identifies tractate Avot, chapter 1, mishnah 7. A commentary reference also names the commentator, so you can return to the explanation.
Hebrew: Mechon Mamre, Avot 1:6–7. Commentary: Bartenura on Avot 1:7, first comment.
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