Love work, hate lordship
Chapter 1, Mishnah 10
שְׁמַעְיָה וְאַבְטַלְיוֹן קִבְּלוּ מֵהֶם. שְׁמַעְיָה אוֹמֵר, אֱהֹב אֶת הַמְּלָאכָה, וּשְׂנָא אֶת הָרַבָּנוּת, וְאַל תִּתְוַדַּע לָרָשׁוּת:
Shemaiah and Abtalion received [the oral tradition] from them. Shemaiah used to say: love work, hate acting the superior, and do not attempt to draw near to the ruling authority.
L: Let’s open with a few words from Irving Bunim:
In the three-way struggle between the Pharisees, Sadducees and the house of Herod, the Sanhedrin, the highest religious institution of the Jewish people, often served as a pawn, now controlled by one group, now by another. A sense of disillusionment set in amongst the Rabbis about institutionalized offices of religion with their vested interests in the status quo and their dependence on prevailing political winds. Better to labor by the sweat of your brow than to accept public office: you will stay free of its corruption and compromise. “Love labor,” says Sh’mayah, and “hate lordship.” And if a man should claim that his education and knowledge of the Law make it unseemly for him to engage in menial labor, let him please take note that our tradition extols physical work and considers any gainful honest activity to be preferable to becoming dependent upon the com unity. Neither a man’s knowledge nor his religiosity alone obliges a community to “owe him a living.” Rabbi Yitzhak was a blacksmith, Rabbi Yohanan a shoemaker, and Hillel a wood-chopper. There is nothing shameful or degrading about getting your hands dirty doing valuable physical labor.
This is the day after Election Day. How appropriate to discuss this Mishnah.
In all seriousness, you need government. Whether you are Libertarian or not, you do need some government. The Mishnah implies that everyone admits you need some form of structure around society. Without this structure, you don’t get bridges, roads, or schools built. Governments are necessary and to run governments, you need politicians.
H: Right. Otherwise – without government – there would be anarchy.
L: Yes, that or [without government] nothing would get done. Given this Mishnah, though, can you say anything positive about government?
H: As you said, you can’t have chaos and government helps prevent chaos. But with government, there has to be a compromise. Not too much, and not too little.
L: Though for Sh’mayah there is no moderation. He presents government as black-and-white, and mostly black.
H: Then, I would disagree with him that it’s not all black-and-white.
L: When it comes to not “seeking intimacy with a ruling power,” Bunim continues his black-and-white viewpoint. He writes;
As a general rule, this teaching would urge a rabbi to stay out of the more sordid aspects of politics and not to involve the power and prestige of his politicians in political contests merely for the sake of politics as such. Clearly, however, where principles are involved, we are not prepared to surrender the field to the power-politician.
As a Rabbi, you have a lot of power to influence people. You cannot behave like a party boss, telling your congregants how to vote or for whom to vote.
I am trying to take a step back from this conversation and wonder what do you tell your children or grandchildren about government? Didn’t we both grow up with the notion that the highest aspiration was to become President of the United States. Or, your parents would say to you, “Isn’t it great to become President of the United States? Wouldn’t you want to be President?”
H: No, I told them, I want to be a doctor! [we both erupted into laughter].
L: In all seriousness. You learned about Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy…There was something admirable about them.
H: In that respect you are right. In fact, in the first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon...
L: I recall my father watching Nixon on TV, probably in 1972 or 1973, muttering how he was a crook. [This was a year or two before Watergate broke]. I couldn’t believe my father would say that about a sitting President.
What would you say to your grandson about the Mishnah, especially when Sh’mayah says “love work, but hate those in domineering position? Do not become intimate with the ruling power. Do not nuzzle up to the local power broker. What would you say to your grandson, Howie?
H: I don’t really know. Because a kid that age (4 or 5 years old), they would be feeling the opposite. They generally look up to adults.
L: What if Eli was now a budding teenager? Would you have a different conversation with him?
H: Yes, you would say, respect people who are not power seekers and people who engage in gainful employment.
L: You know, as adults, many of us follow or admire others who receive the most followers in social media, or those who are famous. And the teenager sees his or her Dad as doing some menial labor…not holding some glorious position in society.
H: Yes, in today’s world menial labor may be gainful employment but people may not respect it.
L: By nature, people are drawn to fame or famous people.
H: That’s correct. That’s for sure.
L: This Mishnah predates social media by 1900 years but they got it. The writers understood. They are saying what appears obvious [but may be dismissed]: Love the work!
H: For many of the people who work, who do their jobs, may find the work boring. Forget not being respect by others; they may not respect themselves for the work they do.
L: My father-in-law studied law and received a law degree. He was also became a CPA. Then a family member died and he was called by his aunt to take over the family business. This is not something he ever imagined he would do. He was already – at just 25 years old – a corporate counsel to a major business. He left it to take over this family enterprise.
I’m telling you this because a couple of weeks ago, we were visiting my mother-in-law and spotted on his old desk an award plaque given to him by his employees many years ago. It said, “To commemorate 25 years of dedicated leadership, unrivaled fairness, and unique compassion.”
My father-in-law did hard work in a different way. He didn’t dig ditches but he did help retail stores run better. I was not glamorous work but it was good, solid, honest work.
H: He was a people person.
L: He didn’t seek fame or power. He just wanted to have a good life and enjoy his family. Part of “having a good life,” is to work hard and work smartly. This may be going off track…
Bunim said, don’t become intimate with the ruling power…
H: Don’t lord over other people…and don’t be Baal Gaava [one who seeks fame, seeks favor, in this context].