Ike's Commentary on Pirkei Avos, Ch. 5
Mishnah: Exile comes to the world for idol-worship, sexual promiscuity, murder and the failure to leave the land fallow on the sabbatical year.
Commentary: If this is true of an exile b'gashmeus, how much more so an exile b'ruchnius. When one engages in these things, he feels like an exile within himself, empty and clawing for something real. The English word sin comes from an old English archery term, meaning "to miss the mark". When ne shoots for the red inner bullsey, and hits the black outer bullseye, he has performed a sin, so too with the abovementioned transgressions, when one does any of them, he performs a sin, misses the mark; he comes close and hints at truth, but ends up "so close, and yet so far".
Mishnah: There are four types of people: One who says, "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine" is a boor. One who says "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" -- this is a median characteristic; others say that this is the character of a Sodomite. One who says, "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" is a chassid (pious person). And one who says "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine" is wicked.
Commentary: From here we learn the economic preference of the Sages. "What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine" denotes communism, and it is the way of the "boor" or uneducated, inexperienced one, he who "reads but does not understand". "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" denotes undiluted capitalism, or capitalism with too much government regulation, or much legistlatory checks, to make sure "everyone gets his" this is the way of Sodom, and Sodom was destroyed for being unfair and mean-spirited, also untrusting of others. "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" denotes undiluted capitalism, where everyone is free to give of their own free will, and not forced, for we learn that all are sparks of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and though they may fight it, man's neshama compels him to tzedakah even without being forced. "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine" is fascism or authoritarianism, and its wickedness needs to elucidation
Mishnah: There are four types among those who sit before the sages: the sponge, the funnel, the strainer and the sieve. The sponge absorbs all. The funnel takes in at one end and lets it out the other. The strainer rejects the wine and retains the sediment. The sieve rejects the coarse flour and retains the fine flour.
Commentary: But did we not already learn three verses ago the types of student and their classification? The earlier comes to teach us the lot of each's natural characteristics, this comes to tell us how to behave. Now one might think he should be a sponge, absorbing all; but know that though it is true that one should begin as a sponge, he should trive to become the sieve, retaining the good his teacher gives him and rejecting the useless or erroneous, for all teachers have some of that.
Commentary: If this is true of an exile b'gashmeus, how much more so an exile b'ruchnius. When one engages in these things, he feels like an exile within himself, empty and clawing for something real. The English word sin comes from an old English archery term, meaning "to miss the mark". When ne shoots for the red inner bullsey, and hits the black outer bullseye, he has performed a sin, so too with the abovementioned transgressions, when one does any of them, he performs a sin, misses the mark; he comes close and hints at truth, but ends up "so close, and yet so far".
Mishnah: There are four types of people: One who says, "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine" is a boor. One who says "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" -- this is a median characteristic; others say that this is the character of a Sodomite. One who says, "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" is a chassid (pious person). And one who says "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine" is wicked.
Commentary: From here we learn the economic preference of the Sages. "What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine" denotes communism, and it is the way of the "boor" or uneducated, inexperienced one, he who "reads but does not understand". "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" denotes undiluted capitalism, or capitalism with too much government regulation, or much legistlatory checks, to make sure "everyone gets his" this is the way of Sodom, and Sodom was destroyed for being unfair and mean-spirited, also untrusting of others. "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" denotes undiluted capitalism, where everyone is free to give of their own free will, and not forced, for we learn that all are sparks of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and though they may fight it, man's neshama compels him to tzedakah even without being forced. "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine" is fascism or authoritarianism, and its wickedness needs to elucidation
Mishnah: There are four types among those who sit before the sages: the sponge, the funnel, the strainer and the sieve. The sponge absorbs all. The funnel takes in at one end and lets it out the other. The strainer rejects the wine and retains the sediment. The sieve rejects the coarse flour and retains the fine flour.
Commentary: But did we not already learn three verses ago the types of student and their classification? The earlier comes to teach us the lot of each's natural characteristics, this comes to tell us how to behave. Now one might think he should be a sponge, absorbing all; but know that though it is true that one should begin as a sponge, he should trive to become the sieve, retaining the good his teacher gives him and rejecting the useless or erroneous, for all teachers have some of that.