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?

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