Question: I have two questions regarding Pirkei Avot. First, is there a specific reason that the last chapter is read on the Sabbath before Shavuot, or is this just a quirk of the calendar? Second, in that last chapter, we find a listing of qualities that enable one to acquire Torah knowledge, including anavah, humility, which I find difficult to believe in light of the Gemara in Gittin that chastises one of the scholars for his anavah, saying that it ultimately caused the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash.
Zvi Kirschner
Via Email
Answer: From your question, some readers might mistakenly conclude that Pirkei Avot is studied only between Pesach and Shavuot. Such is not the case. In fact, the study of Pirkei Avot through the summer is specified in halacha (Rema, Orach Chayyim 292:2): “We are accustomed not to organize a study session [on Shabbat afternoon] between Mincha and Ma’ariv, but we do recite Pirkei Avot in the summer [i.e., from the first Sabbath after Pesach up until the Sabbath before Rosh Hashanah] and Shir Hama’alot (a collection of chapters of Tehillim that includes Borechi Nafshi (Psalm 104) and the series of Shir Hama’alot (Psalms 120-134)) in the winter.”
The Magen Avraham (ad loc.), citing the Mordechai, explains our reluctance to organize a study session in the synagogue or beit hamidrash at that time: We fear that the study session will continue until chashecha (dusk) and we will have no opportunity to partake of Seudah Shelishit. (This would seem to contradict those who are of the opinion that in times of need – such as when Erev Pesach falls on Shabbat – the study of Torah may satisfy the Seudah Shelishit requirement.)
The Gaon of Vilna (Biur HaGra) gives us a reason why the Shir Hama’alot are recited in the winter and Pirkei Avot in the summer. As the winter days are shorter and Mincha is closer to nightfall, there is little time for Torah study without pausing for Seudah Shelishit. In the summer months, however, when the days are longer, Pirkei Avot replaces the study of Aggadah.
The Mishnah Berurah in his Sha’ar HaTziyyun commentary (ad loc.) explains it otherwise. As we note from the text of the Rema, the study of Pirkei Avot differs from in-depth study – which we avoid even in the summer months at that time of day because it may interfere with Seudah Shelishit – as it is rather just an utterance, amirah, meaning something we recite as opposed to analyze.
However, in his Mishnah Berurah commentary (ad loc.), the Chafetz Chaim notes that since many people come to shul on Shabbat afternoon and engage in sichah beteilah (idle conversation), it is better to listen to words of mussar which will cause them to refrain from such idle conversation.
Note that when we refer to summer and winter in this discussion, we of course mean the times when the applicable prayers for these seasons are begun. In this sense, the “summer” begins on Pesach, when we start saying “V’ten beracha” and “Morid haTal” (for Nusach Sefarad and all nusachim in Eretz Yisrael), which are our summer prayers for dew. This is also the time when the days are longer. The “winter” begins at the conclusion of Sukkot, when we begin praying for rain – “Mashiv HaRuach” and subsequently “V’ten tal u’matar l’veracha.”
Since there are six Sabbaths between Pesach and Shavuot and six chapters in this tractate, we devote an entire Sabbath to the study of each chapter. After Shavuot, specifically in the month of Elul, there are weeks when we double up and learn two chapters on one Sabbath. We always read the last chapter on the Sabbath before Shavuot, as you note, and the fifth and sixth chapters together on the Sabbath before Rosh Hashanah.
This last chapter is referred to as Kinyan HaTorah (lit., the method of acquiring Torah), as you indicate in your question. It is not part of the original Mishnayot compiled by R. Yehudah HaNasi, but rather a compilation of Tannaitic Beraitot that were added subsequently and appear in the Vilna Shas as a sixth chapter of the tractate. The term Kinyan HaTorah is based on two mishnayot (6:5-6). (In most siddurim, the list of the 48 qualities through which one acquires Torah knowledge is included in Mishna 6:6; however, in the Vilna Shas, it is split into mishnayot 6:5 and 6:6.)
To be continued.