RaYBaSH’s Ponderings of the Perkei Avot
Chapter 2:3
By: Yehudah ben Shomeyr
“Beware of rulers, for they befriend someone only for their own benefit;
they act friendly when it benefits them, but they do not stand by someone in
need.”
FEMA, Social Services, Welfare, Medicare, Insurance companies, Petroleum
and Pharmaceutical industries, former Communism, the former Nazi regime,
Radical Islamic governments …. Need I say more to back up the truth of this
verse? Another verse that goes well with this text is one we covered in chapter
one.
Now maybe one
reason it says:
“…and avoid
intimacy with the government.”
Because the
Sadducees did and it corrupted the Priesthood and Temple
“…and avoid intimacy
with the government.”
Lest you learn
their ways and you become corrupt like them, or they learn your ways and find
ways to trap and control you.
“…and avoid
intimacy with the government.”
Lest they regulate
your faith and church and eventually tell you what to teach or else.
Maybe this is why
Yeshua said:
Mat. 22:21 “…Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and
unto God the things that are God's.”
Mark
12:17 adds, “And they marveled at him.”
So when in
Diaspora, I am for separation of Church and State!
Only in Israel
“Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Judah HaNassi would say: Beautiful is the study of Torah with the way of the world, for the toil of them
both causes sin to be forgotten. Ultimately, all Torah study that is not
accompanied with work is destined to cease and to cause sin.”
Ah, the words of
Rav Sha’ul’s teacher. Let’s see if Rav Sha’ul took his Mentors advice.
ACTS
18:3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for
by their occupation they were tentmakers.
Like a good and
faithful student it seems so, a wise man. Not only was Rav Sha’ul a Rabbi, but
he made tents on the side to supplement his income. This is thought by some to
mean he didn’t make tents to live in, but “tents” to pray in. A tent is a
Hebraic slang term for a Tallit, a Prayer Shawl. So some say he made prayer
shawls and being a well trained, educated Rabbi, he would know all the halacha
(rules) that goes into making a Tallit. He didn’t expect to live off the
people, nor did he expect to make a living on being a Tallit maker alone.
It is rare that a
Rabbi is a full time Rabbi, in that that’s all he does. If so, he is fortunate
but in danger unless he has a tight and full schedule with plenty of
accountability so he has no time or room or privacy enough to fall.
Case in point: How
many Fulltime Christian Preachers have we seen fall in some sexual
scandal? Don’t know about you but I’ve
lost count. We’ve heard that idle hands are the devils workshop, and though it
doesn’t come from canonical Scripture, it is an all but true.
The message is
clear, be so busy with worthwhile things, balanced between secular and sacred
activities so you won’t have time to sin.
Shalom,
-- Yehudah ben
Shomeyr
