עֲקַבְיָא בֶן מַהֲלַלְאֵל אוֹמֵר, הִסְתַּכֵּל בִּשְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים וְאִי אַתָּה בָא לִידֵי עֲבֵרָה. דַּע מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ, וּלְאָן אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ, וְלִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עָתִיד לִתֵּן דִּין וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן. מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ, מִטִּפָּה סְרוּחָה, וּלְאָן אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ, לִמְקוֹם עָפָר רִמָּה וְתוֹלֵעָה. וְלִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עָתִיד לִתֵּן דִּין וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן, לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא:
Akavyah ben Mahalalel said, "Reflect on three things and you will not come into the grasp of sin: know where you came from, know where you are going, and [know] in whose presence you will have to make an accounting." Where do you come from? From a disgusting drop. Where are you going? To a place of dust, of worms and of maggots. In whose presence will you have to make an accounting? Before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
(י) רַבִּי דוֹסָא בֶן הַרְכִּינַס אוֹמֵר, שֵׁנָה שֶׁל שַׁחֲרִית, וְיַיִן שֶׁל צָהֳרַיִם, וְשִׂיחַת הַיְלָדִים, וִישִׁיבַת בָּתֵּי כְנֵסִיּוֹת שֶׁל עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ, מוֹצִיאִין אֶת הָאָדָם מִן הָעוֹלָם:
(10b) Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas used to say, "Morning sleep, midday wine, children’s talk and attendance at the meeting places of the ignorant will take a person out of the world."
Pirke Avot: A Modern Commentary on Jewish Ethics, edited and translated by
Leonard Kravitz and Kerry M. Olitzky, New York: UAHC Press, 1993. p. 43
Morning sleep, midday wine, children’s talk and attendance at the meeting places of the ignorant.
Rashi understands the last part of this mishnah to refer to the one who oversleeps the time for the recital of the morning Shema, to one who chances drunkenness by drinking at noon, to one who spends his time listening to idle talk from young people, and to one who spends his time among those who are occupied with vain matters and are thereby ignorant.
הַכֹּל צָפוּי, וְהָרְשׁוּת נְתוּנָה, וּבְטוֹב הָעוֹלָם נִדּוֹן. וְהַכֹּל לְפִי רֹב הַמַּעֲשֶׂה:
Everything is foreseen yet [free] choice is given. By [God's]goodness is the world judged. Yet everything follows the larger portion of [human] actions.
Pirke Avot: A Modern Commentary on Jewish Ethics, edited and translated by
Leonard Kravitz and Kerry M. Olitzky, New York: UAHC Press, 1993. p. 46
All is foreseen. This mishnah is often cited to point to a paradox: God's foreknowledge of events verses human freedom. If God knows about all events, then how can human activity really be free from God's control? Were the individual not free, however, it might be argued that human beings are not responsible for their actions. The rabbis would argue that, since God is perfect, such a paradox can function effectively in the world.
Rashi understands the word tzafui, here translated at "foreseen" to mean "seen," i.e., all human act whether in public or in private are seen by God. Even so, it is up to the individual to do good or bad.
Maimonides points to the importance of the notion that each individual has the ability to choose. Thus nothing and no one, not even God, can impair that choice.
By [God's] goodness the world is judged. The notion of God carries with it the notion of divine goodness. Why else would God be worthy of devotion or emulation? For Rashi, there is a relationship between the acts of human beings and God's goodness. God does not judge human beings according to their deeds, but rather God judges the human species with compassion.
All things follow the larger portion of [human] acts. As human beings we are not required to be perfect. That's why we are so dependent on God's goodness. However, we are required to work in the world so that our good deeds outweigh our sins. The path of repentance is always available to us. Together we must work as partners with God to repair the broken world. In a sense, therefore, the future of the world is in our hands.
Maimonides takes rov hamaaseh, here translated as the "larger portion of [human] acts," to indicate that the inculcation of the moral virtues depends on the repetition of conditioning acts. Only in this manner can the soul be affected.