(א) בן זומא אומר:איזהו חכם? הלומד מכל אדם, שנאמר: (תהלים קיט צט): "מכל מלמדי השכלתי כי עדותיך שיחה לי".איזהו גבור? הכובש את יצרו , שנאמר (משלי טז לב): "טוב ארך אפים מגבור ומשל ברוחו מלכד עיר".איזהו עשיר? השמח בחלקו, שנאמר: (תהלים קכח ב): "יגיע כפיך כי תאכל אשריך וטוב לך".אשריך, בעולם הזה .וטוב לך, לעולם הבא.איזהו מכֻבד? המכבד את הבריות, שנאמר: (שמואל א ב ל): "כי מכבדי אכבד ובזי יקלו".
(1) Ben Zoma says: Who is the wise one? He who learns from all men, as it says, "I have acquired understanding from all my teachers" (Psalms 119:99). Who is the mighty one? He who conquers his impulse, as it says, "slowness to anger is better than a mighty person and the ruler of his spirit than the conqueror of a city." (Proverbs 16:32). Who is the rich one? He who is happy with his lot, as it says, "When you eat [from] the work of your hands, you will be happy, and it will be well with you" (Psalms 128:2). "You will be happy" in this world, and "it will be well with you" in the world to come. Who is honored? He who honors the created beings, as it says, "For those who honor Me, I will honor; and those who despise Me will be held in little esteem" (I Samuel 2:30).
(ג) ודע שכל נביא לא יתנבא אלא אחר שיהיו לו המעלות השכליות כלם ורוב מעלות המדות והחזקות שבהן, והוא אמרם אין הנבואה שורה אלא על חכם גבור ועשיר, וחכם הוא הכולל המעלות השכליות בלא ספק, ועשיר הוא ממעלות המדות ר"ל ההסתפקות, מפני שהם קוראים המסתפק עשיר, והוא אמרם בגדר העשיר אי זהו עשיר השמח בחלקו ר"ל שיספיק לו במה שהמציא לו זמנו ולא יכאב במה שלא המציא לו, וכן גבור הוא גם כן ממעלות המדות ר"ל שינהיג כחותיו כפי הדעת (והעצה) כמו שבארנו בפרק החמישי, והוא אמרם אי זהו גבור הכובש את יצרו:
(3) Know, then, that no prophet received the gift of prophecy, unless he possessed all the mental virtues and a great majority of the most important moral ones. So, the Rabbis said, (Nedarim 38a, Shabbat 92a) "Prophecy rests only upon the wise, the brave, and the rich". By the word "wise", they undoubtedly refer to all the mental perfections. By "rich", they designate the moral perfection of contentment, for they call the contented man rich, their definition of the word "rich" being, (Pirkei Avot 4:1) "Who is rich? He who is contented with his lot", that is, one who is satisfied with what fortune brings him, and who does not grieve on account of things which he does not possess. Likewise, "brave" stands for a moral perfection; that is, one who is brave guides his faculties in accordance with intelligence and reason, as we have shown in Chapter 5. The Rabbis say, (Pirkei Avot 4:1) "Who is brave? He who subdues his passions".
(undefined) Nachmanides comments on these matters at length in his commentary on Parshat Balak. This explains the need for the Midrash saying that אברם נקרא אברהם. Isaac was also called אברהם, since Esau, Abraham's grandson and the other half of his קליפה, i.e. all the קליפות extant in the world, are traced to him, as we have explained. We may therefore also regard Isaac as אב המון גוים. That name would not be appropriate for Jacob, however, seeing he was no progenitor of המון גוים, Gentile nations. The reason that neither Abraham nor Jacob were called Isaac is that there would have been no point in it. The reason Jacob had to be called Israel is to teach us that he had a dual task. First he had to remove the influence of evil. We should not think that tricking Esau was unethical; on the contrary, it was part of the process of neutralising spiritually negative influences. Next, as Israel, his task was to help positive spiritual forces to assert themselves, and for him personally to achieve ever closer affinity to G'd. The name Jacob was never discarded, not even after he was given the name Israel. The reason for this is that even the name ישראל contains elements of the name יעקב. We have demonstrated that the עקב part equals the number 172, the number of words in the Ten Commandments, whereas the letter י before is the link to them. We have also pointed out that Jacob's function as יעקב is the principle of היום לעשותם, whereas the function of ישראל is the מחר לקבל שכרם, receiving the reward for the מצות in the Celestial Spheres as alluded to in the name ישראל. The name יעקב contains numerous allusions to a variety of moral imperatives, some of which we have already mentioned. When Isaac said to Jacob, in his blessing: הוה גביר לאחיך, "be your brother's superior" (27,29), this was a command to subjugate the אדומי, the evil urge represented by Esau. Jacob was to do this in his capacity of יעקב. This is analogous to the Mishnah in Avot 4,1 we quoted earlier. This אדמוני will eventually emerge purified and holy, a reference to the David who is also known as אדמוני.
(א) בן זומא לפי שלא האריך ימים ולא נסמך שיקרא רבי, היו קורין אותו על שם אביו. וכן בן עזאי. ושניהם שמם שמעון:
(ב) איזהו חכם הכי קאמר, איזהו חכם שראוי שיתהלל בחכמתו :
(ג) הלומד מכל אדם ואע''פ שהוא קטן ממנו. שכיון שאינו חס על כבודו ולומד מן הקטנים, ניכרים הדברים שחכמתו הוא לשם שמים ולא להתיהר ולהתפאר בה:
(ד) שנאמר מכל מלמדי השכלתי וסיפא דקרא כי עדותיך שיחה לי, כלומר הייתי לומד תורה מכל מלמדי ואפילו מן הקטנים ממני ולא הייתי חושש לכבודי, כי עדותיך שיחה לי, שכל כוונתי היתה לשמים בלבד . וכן איזהו גבור, שראוי שיתהלל בגבורתו, הכובש את יצרו:
(ה) שנאמר טוב ארך אפים מגבור הכי הוי פירושא דקרא, טוב ארך אפים הבא מצד הגבורה של כבוש היצר , לא מצד רכות הטבע. וכן מושל ברוחו כשבא מלוכד עיר, מן המלך שלאחר שכבש את העיר ובאו לידו האנשים המורדים בו, מושל ברוחו ואינו הורגן:
(ו) איזהו עשיר הראוי לו להתהלל בעשרו. השמח בחלקו:
(ז) איזהו מכובד לפי ששלשה דברים טובים הללו שנזכרו לעיל, שהם החכמה והגבורה והעושר, הזוכה בהם הוא נכבד מעצמו בעיני אלהים ואדם, ואף אם הבריות לא יכבדוהו בעבורם, לכך חיבר התנא לזה ואמר מי שיש בו המדות הללו והוא נכבד בעצמו, מה יעשה ויהיה מכובד מאחרים, יכבד את הבריות:
(ח) כי מכבדי אכבד והדברים ק''ו, ומה הקב''ה שהוא מלך הכבוד וכל מה שברא בעולמו לא ברא אלא לכבודו, מכבד את מכבדיו, ק''ו לבשר ודם:
(ט) ובוזי יקלו למדנו ענותנותו של הקב''ה. לא אמר ובוזי אקלל, אלא יקלו מעצמם. ובכבוד הצדיקים הקפיד יותר, שנאמר (בראשית י''ב) ומקללך אאור:
(1) Ben Zoma: Since he did not have length of days and was not ordained to be called, 'Rabbi,' they would call him according to his father's name. And so [too] Ben Azzai. And both of their names were Shimon.
(2) "Who is the wise one": This is what it is saying: Who is wise, who is fitting to be lauded by his wisdom?
(3) "He who learns from all men": And even though [that person that he learns from] is lesser than he. As since he is not concerned about his honor and learns from the lesser ones, [it shows] that his wisdom is for the sake of Heaven and not to boast and revel in.
(4) "as it says, 'I have acquired understanding from all my teachers'": And the end of the verse is, "since your testimonies are my conversation" - which means to say, "I would learn Torah from all my teachers, and even from those that are lesser than I, and I would not be concerned about my honor; as all of my intentions were for Heaven alone." And so [too], "who is the mighty one," [means] who is fitting to be lauded by his might? "He who conquers his impulse."
(5) "as it says, 'slowness to anger is better than a mighty person' (but it can also be read as, 'good is slowness to anger from might')": Thus is the explanation of the verse: Good is slowness to anger that comes from the angle of the might [involved in] conquering the impulse, and not from the angle of [having] a soft nature." And so [too, the rest of the verse, "and one who governs his passion than the conqueror of a city" which can also be read as, "and one who governs his passion from the conqueror of a city," is to be understood as "good] is the conquering of the spirit when it comes from the conqueror of a city; [meaning] from a king, when after he conquers a city and the people rebelling against him come to his hand, he governs his passions and does not kill them."
(6) "Who is the rich one": who is fitting to be lauded by his wisdom? "He who is happy with his lot."
(7) "Who is honored": Because [of the fact] that one who merits to have these three things that are mentioned above - which are wisdom, might and riches - is automatically honored in the eyes of God and man, even if the [people] do not [fully] honor him on their account; hence the teacher appended [the following] to this and said, "Someone who has these traits and is honored automatically, what can he do to be [properly] honored by others? He should honor others."
(8) "'For, those who honor Me, I will honor'": And the matter is an a fortiori argument (kal ve'chomer): Just like the Holy One, blessed be He - who is the King of honor and everything that He created in His world, He created for His honor - honors those who honor Him; all the more so should flesh and blood [do so].
(9) "'and those who despise Me will be held in little esteem'": We learn [from here] the humility of the Holy One, blessed be He: He did not say, "and those who despise Me I will curse," but rather "will be held in little esteem" - automatically. And with the honor of the righteous ones He was more exacting, as it says (Genesis 12), "and those that curse you, I will malign."