What it really is about

71.

By Tamar Elad-Applebaum

At the opening of Avot we find an ancient mythic picture of transmission, a portrait of a Jew in one generation or another, being handed a treasure made of words, foundational questions and thoughts, and passing it on across time to generations that he or she will never meet, yet he or she feels close to them and responsible for them.
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This treasure, passed from one generation to another, always comprises two complementary components: a body and its clothing.  The body is the Written Torah—the sacred Scriptures assembled by the ancients.  The clothing is that Oral Torah—the people's responses echoing at the encounter with this Scripture.  In that encounter the voice of every generation weaves itself into the fabric of conversation, that came before it or is yet to come after.  All of those generations are constantly at work deciphering the Holy One's ongoing revelation to humankind.

This first teaching of Pirkel Avot provides us with a mythic picture of continuous transmission and participation .  In this state of soul called Sinai we encounter a spiritual continent in search of meaning, inspiration, and purpose.  This continent, where God and people meet, is called Torah.