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Sages Online

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We all want to live better lives, don’t we? We all feel that we could use more meaning in our lives; that we could accomplish more, that we have a potential we aren’t reaching. Even if we are happy with our lives (and we see around us so many people who are not), all of us would want to get the means to be even more so. What will help us do that? In today’s world, some seek it through making more money, some seek it through achieving fame, some seek it through new and more dynamic technologies, some seek it through extreme sports, and some seek it through hedonistic pleasures. Some more idealistic people seek it through political activism or helping others. What very few people do any more is seek it through the wisdom of the “ancients”. The philosophy major in university is considered a nerd, and the religious scholar is considered to be bound up in irrelevant study. Just like people today are seeking the newest app and iPhone, anyone today who looks for wisdom (and there aren’t that many) is likely to seek it in new and untested philosophies, hoping they will come upon the right path by accident. This perception is unfortunate, because the real source of a path to growth in the modern world is the Torah, G-d’s “instructions for living” that were given to the Jewish people more than 3 000 years ago at Mount Sinai. And the greatest interpreters of that wisdom are the Sages of the Jewish people, whose wisdom was collected in the Talmud. And the most complete compilation of the wisdom that people need to deal with the challenges of today’s world is Pirkei Avos. The modern world started 2 500 years ago (as will be explained in the first chapter, ‘What is Pirkei Avos?’). Our Sages had to grapple with the problem of how to survive with meaning in a world where the greatest challenge to Judaism was the atheism and related philosophies introduced by the Greek conquest of the land of Israel. The natural consequence of those philosophies was hedonism – because if G-d is not relevant, and there is no eternity, the only intellectually consistent option is to live a life of transitory pleasure by means of every type of entertainment. They, and the Sages who came after them, used their deep knowledge of Torah to set out the principles for living that would be needed to fight for truth and meaning in such a world (and it is the same world and the same challenges today). It is the goal of this book to explain some of those principles, as stated by the Sages in Pirkei Avos’ first chapter. In it are time-tested tools for living that are as important and useful today as they were more than 2 000 years ago. For observant Jews, who already share the respect for Pirkei Avos that all religious Jews have, I hope some of the explanations given here, and the relevant examples used from the world today, will give you new insights that will help you to develop Torah further. For the Jewish teacher or any Jew involved in outreach to secular Jews, I hope these interpretations can help you to show your students that the wisdom of the Sages will do more for them than the exciting but empty attractions of today’s confused and destructive world. For the non-observant Jew, or non-Jew, who lacks familiarity with our Sages and with Pirkei Avos, I hope I have made the explanations of the wisdom of the Sages clear enough and interesting enough that you can see the deep wisdom in their words, even though their words were aimed at an audience much more familiar with Torah.

Author:Rabbi Chaim Willis
Publication Status:NEW!!!!!!!
Type:Softcover
Condition Rating:New

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