R. ḤANINA B. DOSA SAID: HE WHOSE FEAR OF SIN COMES BEFORE HIS WISDOM, HIS WISDOM SHALL ENDURE; [BUT HE WHOSE WISDOM COMES BEFORE HIS FEAR OF SIN, HIS WISDOM SHALL NOT ENDURE,] as it is stated, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.¹ HE USED TO SAY: HE WHOSE DEEDS EXCEED [HIS WISDOM, HIS WISDOM SHALL ENDURE; BUT HE WHOSE WISDOM EXCEEDS HIS DEEDS, HIS WISDOM SHALL NOT ENDURE,] as it is stated, We will do and obey.² Rabban Joḥanan b. Zakkai was asked, ‘How would you describe the man who is both learned and sin-fearing?’ He replied, ‘He is a craftsman who has the tools of his craft in his hand’. ‘And the man who is learned but not sin-fearing?’ He replied, ‘He is a craftsman who has not the tools of his craft in his hand’. ‘And the man who is sin-fearing but not learned?’ He replied, ‘He is no craftsman though he has the craftsman’s tools in his hand’. R. ELEAZAR B. AZARIAH SAID: WHERE THERE IS NO TORAH THERE ARE NO MANNERS,³ 2 with variants and in the reverse order. etc. He used to say: A man who has good deeds to his credit and has learnt much Torah, to what is he like? To a tree planted by the waters, whose branches are few but whose roots are many, so that even if the four winds of the world come and blow against it they cannot move it from its place; as it is stated, For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,⁴ etc. But he who has no good deeds to his credit and yet has learnt much Torah, to what is he like? To a tree planted in the desert, whose branches are many but whose roots are few, so that when the wind blows against it, it uproots and overturns it; as it is stated, For he shall be like a tamarisk in the desert,⁵ 6. etc. Rabban Gamaliel said: Provide yourself with a teacher and get a companion:⁶ a teacher for wisdom and a companion for study. Remove yourself from all doubt, and do not make a habit [26b] of tithing by guesswork.⁷ 16 (Sonc. ed., p. 9).

footnotes: ¹ Ps. 111, 10. ² Ex. 24, 7. Credit was ascribed to Israel that, at the time of the Revelation at mount Sinai, they declared their readiness ‘to do’ even before they had heard the commandments; cf. Shab. 88a (Sonc. ed., p. 418). ³ Quoted from Aboth 3:21 (Sonc. ed., III, 17, p. 40). The next saying is from ibid. ⁴ Jer. 17, 8. ⁵ ibid. ⁶ This is a maxim of Joshua b. Peraḥiah in Aboth 1:6 (Sonc. ed., p. 5). ⁷ cf. ibid.

Simeon his son said: All my days I have grown up among the wise and have found nothing better for a man than silence.⁸ 17 (Sonc. ed., p. 9). If silence is good for the wise, how much more so for fools!

footnotes: ⁸ From ibid.

Wisdom does not produce words, nor do words produce wisdom; [the chief thing] is doing.⁹ He who multiplies words brings about sin, as it is stated, *In the multitude of words there wanteth not transgression;*¹⁰ and it further states, Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise.¹¹ XVII, 28.

footnotes: ⁹ A comment on the maxim in Aboth 1:17 (Sonc. ed., p. 9): ‘Study is not the chief thing but deed’. ¹⁰ Prov. 10, 19. ¹¹ ibid.