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כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא, שנאמר ועמך כולם צדיקים, לעולם יירשו ארץ, נצר מטעי מעשה ידי להתפאר
1. Moshe received the Torah from Sinai, and he delivered it to Yehoshua, and Yehoshua to the Elders, and the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets delivered it to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: “Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence to the Torah.”
“Go, and make disciples of all nations…”
Matthew 28:19
2. Shimon ha-Tzaddik was of the remnant of the Great Assembly. He used to say, “On three things the world is stands: The Torah, and on the Service (Avodah), and on the bestowal of kindnesses (gemilut chasadim).”
3. Antigonus of Socho received from Shimon ha-Tzaddik. He used to say, “Do not be like slaves that serve their master in order to receive a reward, but be as slaves that serve their master without expecting a reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.”
“…who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say, when he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down at the table, and will not rather tell him, ‘Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me, while I eat and drink.’ Afterward you shall eat and drink? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not. Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, We are unworthy servants. We have only done our duty.”
Luke 17:6-10
4. Yose ben Yoezer of Tzreidah and Yose ben Yochanan of Yerushalayim received from them. Yose ben Yoezer of Tzreidah said, “Let your house be a meeting place for the sages, and cover yourself in the dust of their feet, and drink their words with thirstiness.”
5. Yose ben Yochanan of Yerushalayim said, “Let your house be wide open, and let the poor be part of your household, and do not prolong conversing with woman.” They said this in regard to his own wife, how much more his neighbor’s wife! Hence the sages have said, “Each time that the man prolongs conversing with a woman he causes evil to himself, and desists from words of Torah, and in the end he inherits Gehinnom.”
6. Yehoshua ben Perachia and Nittai the Arbeli received from them. Yehoshua ben Perachiah said, “Make for yourself a master (rav), and acquire yourself a friend (chaver), and judge every man in the scale of merit (zechut).”
7. Nittai the Arbeli said, “Withdraw from an evil neighbor, and associate not with the wicked, and grow not thoughtless of retribution.”
8. Yehuda ben Tabbai and Shimon ben Shatach received from them. Yehuda ben Tabbai said, “[When judging] do not act as a lawyer, and while the litigants stand before you, let them be in your eyes as guilty, and when dismissed from before you let them be in your eyes as righteous, because that they have received the judgment upon them.”
9. Shimon ben Shatach said, “Make full examination of the witnesses, but be guarded in your words, lest from them they may learn to lie.”
10. Shemayah and Avtalyon received from them. Shemayah said, “Love work, and hate domination, and make not yourself close to the government.”
“…Yeshua summoned them, and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:25-28
11. Avtalyon said, “Sages, be guarded in your words, lest you incur the penalty of exile, and be exiled to the place of evil waters, and the disciples that come after you may drink and die, and the Name of Heaven be profaned.”
“I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”
Matthew 12:36
12. Hillel and Shammai received from them. Hillel said, “Be of the disciples of Aharon, loving peace, and pursuing peace, loving mankind, and bringing them near to the Torah.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of G-d.”
Matthew 5:9
13. He used to say, “A name made great is a name destroyed, he who does not increase, decreases, and he who will not teach deserves slaughter, and he who serves himself with the crown perishes.”
14. He used to say, “If I am not for myself who is for me? and being for my own self what am I? If not now when?”
“…If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Romans 8:31
15. Shammai said, “Make your Torah study an ordinance, say little and do much, and receive every man with a pleasant face.”
16. Rabban Gamliel said, “Make to yourself a master, and be quit of doubt; and tithe not much by estimation.”
“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the Torah of our fathers, being zealous for G-d, even as you all are this day.” – Paul of Tarsus
Acts 22:3
17. Shimon his son said, “All my days I have grown up among the wise, and have not found aught good for a man but silence, not learning but doing is the essential thing, and whoever multiplies words brings on sin.”
“So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of G-d…Don’t deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Word says, but do it!”
Yaakov 1:19-20, 22
18. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said, “On three things the world stands: on Judgment, and on Truth, and on Peace.”
“But now faith, hope, and love remain – these three. The greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13