Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This episode is the next stage of my personal journey to discover the soul of Pirkei Avot. It is a search for what lies at the heart of the human being, and what Pirkei Avot empowers us to become.
In the previous episode, I shared a discovery that had taken me years to reach. I thought I had finally discovered the central idea of Pirkei Avot. I assumed, at that point, that the journey was almost over. Then I realized that sometimes a breakthrough is not the end of a journey, but the beginning of one.
In pursuit of a deeper understanding, I opened the Rambam - Maimonides - who wrote an eight-chapter introduction to Pirkei Avot. An introduction that is longer than the book itself. If anyone could confirm what I had found and show me what it meant, it was this great sage.
Instead, the mystery deepened.
KEY QUESTIONS:
· If you stripped away everything you do - every obligation, every role, every action - what would be left? What are you, underneath all of that?
· The Rambam says we have free choice not just over our actions but over our character and intellect. What does it actually mean to choose who you are?
· What is the difference between a person who does good things and a person who has become good?
· If the core of who we are is our character and understanding, why does so much of Jewish life feel focused on what we do?
· What would it mean to take your inner life as seriously as your obligations?
This episode is the next stage of my personal journey to discover the soul of Pirkei Avot. It is a search for what lies at the heart of the human being, and what Pirkei Avot empowers us to become.
In the previous episode, I shared a discovery that had taken me years to reach. I thought I had finally discovered the central idea of Pirkei Avot. I assumed, at that point, that the journey was almost over. Then I realized that sometimes a breakthrough is not the end of a journey, but the beginning of one.
In pursuit of a deeper understanding, I opened the Rambam - Maimonides - who wrote an eight-chapter introduction to Pirkei Avot. An introduction that is longer than the book itself. If anyone could confirm what I had found and show me what it meant, it was this great sage.
Instead, the mystery deepened.
KEY QUESTIONS:
· If you stripped away everything you do - every obligation, every role, every action - what would be left? What are you, underneath all of that?
· The Rambam says we have free choice not just over our actions but over our character and intellect. What does it actually mean to choose who you are?
· What is the difference between a person who does good things and a person who has become good?
· If the core of who we are is our character and understanding, why does so much of Jewish life feel focused on what we do?
· What would it mean to take your inner life as seriously as your obligations?
