Thoughts On Mussar: Part 3 (Ethics From Sinai)

Mussar predates the mussar movement. Shlomo HaMelech-King Solomon advised that one heed mussar avicha -the mussar of one's father . The book of mishlei is a book of mussar, as are all the books of Shlomo HaMelech. The whole Torah is a book of mussar, but the book of Devarim is most consistently open in its mussar. The words of the rabbis are often words of mussar, no-where moreso than in Pirkei Avot-Ethics of the Fathers.

The tractate of Avot is a great ethical work. Together with the Hagaddah there are more editions of this published than any other Jewish work - not counting the Bible itself. It is traditional to use Avot as a source book for spiritual and religious (they can be different) growth.
I became interested in Avot as a young child. Yisrael Cohen, my youth leader was sitting on my family's green velvet couch reading through Avot in our Birnbaum siddur. When I asked him why he was reading it, he said that he had to memorize the whole thing for a class. He soon admitted that he didn't have to memorize it. As he told me about it I realized that this book was worth knowing by heart.

In high school I became increasingly interested in this work. When my Chumash teacher Rabbi Freundel made us do a term paper on part of Tanach I requested Avot. He explained that Avot is a not in Tanach (the type of mistake that drives me crazy when my students make it today) and recommended that I write on Mishlei - Proverbs, as is similar (the Vilna Gaon's commentary on Avot is a series of sources, showing how every saying of the rabbis parallels a line from Mishlei.

My friend and neighbor Jackie Goldstein was into Pirkei Avot and he read the book Ethics from Sinai by Irving Bunim and recommended it. I went to Gift World in Kew Garden Hills with limited funds and asked about the discounted set in the window. The perky bearded man who's built Gift World into the empire that it is today explained that the spines of the three volumes in the window were faded from the sun, otherwise they were perfect. I bought the three volume set of orange books with beige spines and was on my way.

I read every word of the three large volumes. I still remember various parts and where I first read them. There were pieces I read on the plastic-cloth porch chairs of my house, and parts I read on the Q75 bus to school. I recall reading about why we use Jeopardy as a model stating Ein Keilokeinu - there is no one like our G-d, before asking Mi Ke'Elokeinu-who is like our G-d in our prayers. I was lying comfortably in Grandma and Grandpa's big old bed when I read that.

I remember when a girl named Jenny that I had a crush on saw me with this book and asked to borrow one of the volumes. I was thrilled and tried to engage her in conversations about it until she said that it was just what she needed for the paper she had to research and gave me back my copy with no further questions.

I realized as I enjoyed this work, that it wasn't just Pirkei Avot that was special but it was this particular edition and it's author that I was connecting to. In college when I had to deliver a speech about the person I admired most, I spoke about Irving Bunim - the author of Ethics From Sinai.

Years later Bunim's son would do his father justice in his book; A Fire In His Soul. When I gave my speech Bunim had just passed on. I remember reading a eulogy in a Young Israel newsletter and thinking that they didn't get it. It sounded like they were mourning the loss of a great dinner speaker, and that was all.

Irving Bunim truly got what Torah is. A way of life. He wrote from his heart (actually he spoke, over many years, and Rabbis Charles Wengrov and Shubert Spero adapted his talks for the page) about commitment to G-d and Torah. He develops each mishna with applications that bring it to life and make it ready for immediate practical use.

He was ahead of his time in the way he spoke about psychology, education, and spirituality. He quoted from a plethora of sources. Sadly some of his citings of literature and poetry have been expunged in the newest edition of the book.

Irving Bunim was not a rabbi. He was a businessman and a philanthropist. And he was learned. He was wise in mind and heart. He deeply affected my life. I am glad that I have that old orange copy to read and reread, please G-d, for many years to come.

Here is one example of his writing:

"In feelings for our fellow man in general, enduring unselfish love is also sorely needed. A great Hassidic rabbi once remarked, "If we will not love people whom we see, how can we love a Creator who is invisible?" To quote again from the Midrash, 'And you shall love the Lord your G-d : be you beloved among people, keeping far from transgression and from theft of Jew, Gentile, or any man in the market-place...Not for this was the Torah given [that you should commit transgression] but that his great name be sanctified. '

A love of our Creator worthy the name requires that we have at least this minimal regard for His human creations - to be loved by them in turn - not to violate another's rights through theft, lies, or murder.

But the late R. Abraham Isaac Kook, chief rabbi of Israel (when it was yet Palestine) went further: The second Holy Temple was destroyed, says the Talmud, because of sin'at chinam - baseless hatred, without cause or reason. The time has come, said Rabbi Kook, to atone for sin'at chinam by developing ahavat chinam, love for people without cause or reason. No special motive should be needed, even as you need none to love yourself. "

[Ethics From Sinai, Volume III, pg. 183. On the statement: "If any love depends on a specific matter, once the matter is no more, the love is no more; but if it is not dependent on any specific matter, it will never become nought." ]