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Poster Commentary

"It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either."Rabbi Tarfon, Pirke Avot 2:21

Poster design:Bob Gill

Commentary

by Irving Greenberg

The Jewish religion teaches that this world, God’s creation, is intended to be perfect. What would the perfect world look like? It would be full of life—especially its highest form, human life—and built to sustain justice, equality and peace.

But the present state of the world is so far from perfect. How can we possibly achieve tikkun olam, a repaired world? To get there, we will have to overcome the enemies of life: poverty, hunger, oppression, discrimination, war and sickness.

The Jewish answer is covenant, a loving partnership between God and humanity. We commit our lives to improving the world. We will work steadfastly, faithfully, advancing step by step, until we attain a state of total perfection.

This incremental approach means that the goal cannot be reached in one generation. Therefore, Judaism requires a partnership between the generations. Each generation will improve the world as far as it can. Then it must educate its children and pass on the mission to the next generation, until the goal is reached.

Rabbi Tarfon teaches: Do not be arrogant; do not think that you alone can finish the job. Trust in your children and generations yet unborn to take up the task. Know that you are part of the living chain of people who have dreamed, worked for a better world and carried on this mission for four thousand years in an unbroken covenant.

Conversation Guide

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

According to the commentary, this famous adage in Pirke Avot encourages us to join the chain of the covenantal legacy and contribute our share toward perfecting the world. Rabbi Tarfon tells us that, while no single person or generation is responsible to perfect the world, each person or generation is obliged to do its part.

Why do you think Rabbi Tarfon teaches that no one person is responsible for finishing “the work of perfecting the world”? If we “are not free to desist,” what are we actually required to do in and for this world?

What life lessons can be learned from Rabbi Tarfon’s outlook?

What role do you play in the multigenerational task of “finishing the work”? Give an example of how you are involved in helping to change or improve the world.

How does this quotation compare with the Talmudic statement by Choni about intergenerational planting: “I found a fruitful world, because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise I am planting for my children”? What is similar and what is different in these messages?

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Each image calls out to us to examine it, to note our thoughts and feelings, and relate these impressions to the quotation. Often clues in the artwork suggest meaning and invite interpretation.

Illustrator and designer Bob Gill depicts Rabbi Tarfon’s teaching with a compelling and thought-provoking image.

How does the image present the quotation? Was this how you interpreted the quotation without the image?

Why do you think the artist chose to illustrate the world in this way? Does the form remind you of familiar games or toys?

Why do you think Gill made the structure look as if it may topple, instead of resting on a firm foundation?

What do you think the hand represents? Why do you think it is important to show a hand adding the next piece? Is this the final piece of the structure?

Please use this guide creatively in your programs. We’d also love to see what you’re doing and share it with others, so please post on our website using the Share button in The Exchange.

Credits

Harold Grinspoon Foundation, West Springfield, MA

Author

Rabbi Tarfon, Pirke Avot 2:21

1st–2nd centuries CE

Lived in Palestine

Scholar of Mishnah period

About

Rabbi Tarfon was a Tanna, a scholar of the period of the Mishnah, and a contemporary of Rabbi Akiba. He is described in the Talmud as a man of considerable wealth and priestly descent.

Various Talmudic passages document his differences of opinion with Rabbi Akiva (Rabbi Tarfon generally followed the strict rulings of the School of Shammai), yet, at the same time, establish his profound admiration for Akiba.

Citing Rabbi Tarfon as an exemplar of the principle “Honor your father and mother,” the Talmud relates the following: When Rabbi Tarfon’s mother lost her shoe and began to look for it, Rabbi Tarfon bent down and placed his hands under her foot so she wouldn’t touch the ground barefoot.

Links

An introduction to Pirke Avot

Credits

Image Credit: Edition of Pirke Avot, Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Artist

Bob Gill

New York

Graphic designer

Illustrator

About

Bob Gill is a designer, illustrator, writer, filmmaker and teacher. He was the Gill in Fletcher/Forbes/Gill, which eventually became the international design studio Pentagram.

He was elected into the New York Art Directors’ Club Hall of Fame, and London Designers and Art Directors (D&AD) presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

He’s written a number of books about design and illustration. His latest, Bob Gill, So Far, was published in 2011.

He’s now working independently and teaching in New York.

Links

Art Directors Club

Interview: Design in the 1960s and Beatlemania

Quote

"It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either."Rabbi Tarfon, Pirke Avot 2:21

Context

Rabbi Tarfon says: The day is short, the task is abundant, the workers are lazy, the wage is great, and the Master of the house is insistent. He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: You are not required to complete the task, yet you are not free to withdraw from it. If you have studied much Torah, they give you great reward; and know that your Employer can be relied upon to pay you the wage of your labor, but be aware that the reward of the righteous will be given in the World to Come.

Source

Source of quote: Wein, B. (Editor) (2003) Pirkei Avos; The Birnbaum Edition. Brooklyn: Shaar Press.

Hebrew

"לא עליך המלאכה לגמור, ולא אתה בן חורין להבטל ממנה."

-רבי טרפון, פרקי אבות ב', כ"א

R.O. Blechman	Ivan Chermayeff	Seymour Chwast	Tom Geismar	Bob Gill	Milton Glaser
Carin Goldberg	Mervyn Kurlansky	Art Paul	Alan Peckolick	Michael Peters	Dan Reisinger
Paula Scher	Daniel Bennett Schwartz	Arnold Schwartzman	Henry Steiner	George Tscherny	Yarom Vardimon

Baal Shem Tov	Ben-Zoma, Pirke Avot 4:1	Louis Brandeis	Martin Buber	Benjamin Cardozo	Adapted from Deuteronomy 20:19
Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:10	Blu Greenberg	Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel	Rabbi Hillel (Pirke Avot 1:14)	Maimonides	Benjamin Mandelstamm
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk	Rabbi Nachman of Breslau	Adapted from Song of Songs 8:6	Susan Sontag	Talmud, Taanit 23A	Rabbi Tarfon, Pirke Avot 2:21

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware."	"A community is too heavy to carry alone."	"From every human being there rises a light."
"The heroic hours of life do not announce their presence by drum and trumpet."	"A human being is like a letter of the alphabet: to produce a word, it must combine with another."	"I found a fruitful world, because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise I am planting for my children."
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?"	"If you believe breaking is possible, believe fixing is possible."	"It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either."
"Love is stronger than death."	"Man's life depends on the trees of the field."	"A miracle cannot prove what is impossible. It only confirms what is possible."
"Most of the things worth doing in the world were declared impossible before they were done."	"Once I had tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge, there was no going back. "	"Silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech."
"There is nothing more whole than a broken heart."	"When I marched in Selma, I felt my legs were praying."	"Who is wise? One who learns from all people. Who is honored? One who honors everyone."

R.O. Blechman	Ivan Chermayeff	Seymour Chwast
Tom Geismar	Bob Gill	Milton Glaser
Carin Goldberg	Mervyn Kurlansky	Art Paul
Alan Peckolick	Michael Peters	Dan Reisinger
Paula Scher	Daniel Bennett Schwartz	Arnold Schwartzman
Henry Steiner	George Tscherny	Yarom Vardimon

Baal Shem Tov	Ben-Zoma, Pirke Avot 4:1	Louis Brandeis
Martin Buber	Benjamin Cardozo	Adapted from Deuteronomy 20:19
Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:10	Blu Greenberg	Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Rabbi Hillel (Pirke Avot 1:14)	Maimonides	Benjamin Mandelstamm
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk	Rabbi Nachman of Breslau	Adapted from Song of Songs 8:6
Susan Sontag	Talmud, Taanit 23A	Rabbi Tarfon, Pirke Avot 2:21

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