RaYBaSH’s Ponderings of the Perkei Avot
Chapter 4:27
By Yehudah ben Shomeyr
“Said Rabbi Meir: Look not at the vessel, but at what it contains.
There are new vessels that are filled with old wine, and old vessels
that do not even contain new wine.”
Just as the old adage goes, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Let us Remember our Messiah’s teaching on this matter:
Matt. 9:14-17 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we
and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto
them, Can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom
is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from
them, and then shall they fast. No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old
garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the
rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the
bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they
put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.
On another level, a young Rabbi can be filled with old wine, wine
that is rich and good to drink. In other words a young Rabbi can be
filled with meaty knowledge of the Torah and it is good to sit under him.
Just the same just because a Rabbi is old doesn’t mean he is wise, he
may be spent and has wine at all to give.
1Tim. 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers,
in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Shalom,
-- Yehudah ben
Shomeyr
