daf bit: B'rachot 43

[cellio]

Our rabbis taught: six things are unbecoming for a scholar:

• He should not go abroad scented. R. Sheshet says this applies to his clothes but not his body because perfume hides body odor. There is a dispute about whether hair is like the body or like clothing.
• He should not go out at night alone. This is to avoid suspicion. But he can go out if he has an appointment with his teacher because people will know that.
• He should not go abroad in patched sandals. This applies to the upper but not the sole, and applies when he is in public but not when in a home. Also, this applies only in summer; during the rainy season it's ok.
• He should not converse with a woman in the street. R. Chisda says: not even with his female relatives, because people won't necessarily know they're his relatives.
• He should not take a set meal (meaning one where you recline, apparently) with ignorant people. Why? Because he might be drawn into their ways.
• He should not be the last to enter the beit midrash (study hall). The g'mara does not here address the problem that somebody has to be last. Perhaps "scholar" means only one who is accomplished, and there are always students around who have not reached that level? Or perhaps the last two enter together so neither is "the last one". Those are guesses.

Some add that he should not take long strides or carry himself stiffly; the latter is akin to pushing against the heels of the Divine Presence. (43b)

We are not told how a community that doesn't know who his female relatives are would know that he's on his way to study at night.

Comments

[siderea]

We are not told how a community that doesn't know who his female relatives are would know that he's on his way to study at night.

It doesn't say "community". It says "people". The "community" under discussion is not the village, but the community of scholars, or put another way, the men of a community, who know each other through the beit midrash.

Which makes it no different than a job or an SCA practice: you might know who at work is taking a night class, or who in chorus is taking private lessons, because that would come up in the course of discussing your common enterprise, but how many coworkers or co-choristers would you know what their (non-involved in your mutual activity) relatives look like?

He should not be the last to enter the beit midrash (study hall). The g'mara does not here address the problem that somebody has to be last. Perhaps "scholar" means only one who is accomplished, and there are always students around who have not reached that level? Or perhaps the last two enter together so neither is "the last one". Those are guesses.

One of the things I have admired about Jewish principles of conduct is that apparently Jewish scholars are unafraid of asserting impossible standards, with the appreciation of the fact that not all loops need to be terminated, and a standard being attainable is not necessary or even desirable for it to be a good guide for conduct. The fact that somebody will always be stuck being last in no way contradicts the desirability of not being that person, and always striving to never be that person. This is not a rule of the form "just do this, and you'll have done enough". It's a rule of the form, "this is how you should always comport yourself." It is not about a location, it's about a vector.

[cellio]

Well, it says "people" in both places; "community" was my mis-placed word. (I haven't gone looking for nuances in the Aramaic.)

You make a good point that others in the beit midrash are likely to know when he's studying but are unlikely to know who his sister is. (Good analogy with work/choir/etc.) If most of the men of the community are part of the beit-midrash community, as you seem to be suggesting, then that would address the problem nicely. (I read the g'mara as being concerned about "what people will think", but if most of those people have a connection to the beit midrash, that may not be a problem.) I had been assuming that most people weren't part of the beit-midrash community and thus wouldn't be dialed into that, but I honestly don't know. In the time of the g'mara, did most men study formally or only a select few? Further research is needed.

One of the things I have admired about Jewish principles of conduct is that apparently Jewish scholars are unafraid of asserting impossible standards, [...]

I agree that this is admirable, and you are right to point out that this is probably one of those cases. Thank you.