pirkei avos: growing new life from the compost of tradition

My notes on the opening of Pirkei Avos.

משֶׁה קִבֵּל תּוֹרָה מִסִּינַי, וּמְסָרָהּ לִיהוֹשֻׁעַ, וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ לִזְקֵנִים, וּזְקֵנִים לִנְבִיאִים, וּנְבִיאִים מְסָרוּהָ לְאַנְשֵׁי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה

Inside translation: Moses received teaching from-Sinai, and-gave to-Joshua, and-Joshua to-elders, and-elders to-those-who-burst-forth, and those-who-burst-forth gave to-beings-of assembly the-great.

Question 1: What does it mean to transmit teaching?

Answer 1: The root מסר is a secondary root of אסר which is a secondary root of סור. The root אסר means to bind/obligate and even to chain/imprison. The root סור means to turn, and with a mem suffix, to turn away or to degenerate. Acquiring knowledge always brings with it obligations (indeed, קבל, to receive, also means to accept an obligation.) In turn, transmission of this knowledge also transmits the underlying obligation (what must you do with this knowledge/teaching.) This is the shade of meaning we gain from אסר. But importantly, any communication or transmission also has some loss or degeneration involved (see סור). So the giving/transmission here is both teaching and obligation, and in each link of this chain there is some turning-away or loss from the original experience.

Question 2: the verb מסר appears explicitly in the transmission from Moses to Joshua, is implicit in the Joshua->elders and elders->prophets transmissions, and then appears explicitly again in prophets->assembly. Why?

Answer 2: We already discussed the shades of obligation and loss underlying this idea of transmission. The word does not appear explicitly in the second two transmissions to indicate that there is no alteration to this process at those stages: the tradition is decomposing continuously. It appears again after the prophets to teach us that the prophets (which comes from to be burst forth), like Moses, injected new teaching into this stream of generational transmission. Indeed, what Moses first received (תורה) comes from the root ירי: to shoot forth. The word prophets (נביאים) comes from נבי: to burst forth. Moses received something which shot forth, and then transmitted it. Then, the prophets were burst forth, and renewed the life of this transmission.

Without this, you might be led to think that all teaching degenerates continuously over time. But this is of course not the case: while the student does not receive perfectly the information transmitted from the teacher, the student can add new insight. The student can grow something new. The prophets — those who were burst forth — renewed our tradition and began a new cycle of transmission. From the compost of broken-down tradition, they grew beautiful new plants of teaching and communal obligation. I firmly believe that this is what we all are called to do as Jews: we are obligated to grow new life from the rich soil of the tradition we are gifted.

Question 3: What is כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה — the last link in this chain (at least for now, we’ll learn more transmissions later)

Answer 3: There is a historical answer to this, which is of course very good and interesting to learn about, but that’s not what I’m really interested in here. If you look up כְנֶסֶת you’ll find gathering/assembly/congregation, and it comes from כנס: to gather or to receive. It can also mean to marry, interestingly. I think this indicates something important: this is not just any gathering, it is a gathering of people who are bound together by something deeper (and in a way that requires their consent/participation.) Then, we are told that this gather is הַגְּדוֹלָה, from the root גדל: to be high/to grow/to be large. Something I always like is that גדל can also mean to braid hair (from the idea of piling up hair!) So what is the role of this assembly? It is to be הַגְּדוֹלָה — raised up (or raisers up), braided (or braiders?). Historically this was a specific assembly of men. But if we take this out of context, we can ask who holds the teaching and obligation passed down through this chain now? And the answer, I believe, is still כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה: communally-bound gatherings of people who, in the braiding-together of their communal bonds, are raised-up and made stronger like braided hair.

Out-there Interpretive translation: Moses accepted the obligation of a teaching from Sinai, and gave this teaching and its obligations to Joshua, but imperfectly, and Joshua in turn gave it to the elders, who gave it to those who were burst forth. Those who were burst forth renewed this decomposed teaching with fresh life and turned it over, imperfectly, to the people of the communal in-gathering.

Root and notes	Dictionary reference	Word
To receive/accept, to take an obligation upon oneself, to contract/agree. [to seize, to join, meet, correspond.]	J1308	קִבֵּל
Teaching, law, esp The Law of Moses. Root ירי p. 596: to permeate, to penetrate, to shoot forth. Afel to teach	J1657	תּוֹרָה
from + Sinai	J983	מִ+סִּינַי
root מסר meaning to hand over, deliver, transmit. This is a secondary root of אסר, page 98, to chain/imprison, to bind or obligate, to bind by spell, to tie up. This in turn is a secondary root of סור (p969), to go around, to turn. With a mem prefix, to turn away, to degenerate.	J810	וּ+מְסָרָהּ
to be old, thin, feeble. As a noun, old man or elder/scholar, beard or hair-covered spot.	J409	לִ+זְקֵנִ+ים
נבי is “to burst forth, blew” and “to prophesy” in the nifal form which matches our case. Nifal is usually passive, so to be burst forth, to prophesy is having something act on you. Lower down on the page, direct translation “prophet”	J868	לִ+נְבִיאִ+ים
אנוש is man/being, this is plural and construct form: men of the	J82	לְ+אַנְשֵׁי
כנס is to gather, receive. This is nominalized, so e.g. gathering. (Can also mean “to marry” or “to enter”.) Outside, assembly/community/congregation. The shade of meaning of “to marry” gives a sense to me of a gathering that involves communal obligation.	J650	כְנֶסֶת
greatness, distinction, dignity. Root גדל (J212) is to be high, to grow, be large. I always love the connotation J213 of plaiting hair (from “piling up” hair, growing higher)	J211	הַ+גְּדוֹלָה