The fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot begins with statements from Rabbi Akiva’s ill-fated friends, Ben Azai and Ben Zoma. The Maharal, in his commentary Derech Chaim, points out that the editor of Pirkei Avot saw fit to group members of the same generation together and that the statements of these two tanaim seem to complement one another here. (It is interesting to note that the third companion – Elisha ben Abuye, better known as Acher – appears later in this chapter and is not grouped with them in this mishna.) The Maharal explains that Ben Zoma’s characterizations of how an individual might attain laudable qualities are all philosophical in nature, while Ben Azai, on whose statements we will focus here, brings the practical instructions necessary to succeed in such spiritual endeavors.
Ben Azai teaches that it’s best not to consider which mitzvot are greater or lesser in value to the one who performs them because from beginning to do mitzvot one will add on more mitzvot, but if he does an aveira, then G-d forbid he may begin traveling down the other path. In this first mishna, Ben Azai says don’t try to judge between mitzvot, and in the following mishna he says don’t be quick to judge your fellow either. This theme will continue through the next few mishnayot as they are expounded by other masters of the Oral Torah.
The Maharal elaborates on the relative value of mitzvot in the 61st chapter of Tiferet Yisrael that we have been studying during these weeks leading up to Shavuot and the giving of the Torah. The topic of this chapter is the rewards earned from the performance of mitzvot, and towards the end of the chapter he refers to the formulation of Ben Azai from the aforementioned mishna in Pirkei Avot. He acknowledges that there are different rewards gained from the performance of different mitzvot, but these might vary between individuals and situations. For example, we learned previously in Pirkei Avot that the reward is consistent with the degree of difficulty. Thus, one mitzvah might seem very simple to many people but its performance by a given individual is nothing less than an act of heroism and the reward is appropriate to this.
In a broad sense, the Maharal explains, the mitzvot were given to improve us – individually and collectively. They are a means for us to elevate ourselves and to draw nearer to our Creator and to achieving the purpose for which we were created. In this context he cites the verse in Mishlei (30:5), “All of the utterances of G-d are refined.” Most English translations of this pasuk render the Hebrew word tzerufa as “pure.” However, the Maharal in his remarks draws special attention to the specific formulation of tzeruf as smelting, creating a pure alloy. The mitzvot, the Maharal explains, are catalysts in a process of refining human beings so that they become purer in manifesting the Divine will and purpose embedded in their existence.
For this same reason, Ben Azai also taught that the reward of a mitzvah is another mitzvah. Although most of us who are reading this are probably righteous servants of Hashem who long for opportunities to do more mitzvot, on the surface this seems like an odd sort of reward. There are many people out there who expect to receive boons and prizes in exchange for doing the right thing and who fear punishment should they do the wrong thing. It’s difficult to understand the incentive in Ben Azai’s offer of more mitzvot as a reward for a mitzvah. However, the Maharal explains, the mitzvot are refining us – our character, our essence. By means of the mitzvot we become spiritual beings and transcend the trials and the suffering of this world, and so too, we prepare ourselves to receive the immeasurable joy of experiencing the full magnitude of Hashem’s kindness. The more we refine our minds and our souls by means of the mitzvot, the more sensitive we become to the goodness in store for the righteous, and the more we can enjoy the rewards Hashem has reserved for us.
For this reason, the Torah never (with two exceptions) discloses the reward for performing a given mitzvah. All of the mitzvot are their own reward, and each mitzvah we perform builds that edifice for our own experience so that we can come closer to achieving our ideal state of being. It is impossible to separate any one mitzvah out of the corpus of all the mitzvot, so we don’t calculate the individual value of each mitzvah or its associated reward. The reward for each mitzvah is indeed another mitzvah, but in truth it is the totality of all the mitzvot, and this is the greatest reward we can conceive of in this world.
