Solving the Mystery, Part 3 | Avot with the Chief

The theory was beautiful. The Maharal, the Vilna Gaon, the Rambam, all pointing to the same conclusion: that Pirkei Avot is the third pillar of Torah, the book of who you become. But where was that picture actually visible in the text?

In Part 3 of his series, the Chief opens his notebook, and lays out all 126 mishnayos of Avot. He counts. He categorises. And slowly, what had been there all along starts to come into focus.

Two themes dominate. And under both, a deeper claim about how we come to see the world.

Drawing on the Maharal, the Vilna Gaon, the Rambam, and Avot d'Rabbi Natan's surprising claim, this is the moment in the journey when the pieces finally begin to fit together.

Key Questions

• What changes when the way you see the world changes?

• What had been hiding in plain sight in Avot for 2000 years?

• Why is Avot the only tractate of the Mishnah structured chronologically rather than thematically?

• If Torah learning is one of the 613 commandments, why does it appear so heavily in a book that isn't about commandments?