Avos 4:4-5

Avos 4:4

Rabbi Levitas of Yavneh said that we should be very humble because man’s ultimate fate is the worm (i.e., the grave). Rabbi Yochanan ben Broka said that one who desecrates God’s Name privately will be punished for it publicly. This is so regardless of whether one desecrated God’s Name intentionally or unintentionally.

Avos 4:5

Rabbi Yishmael the son of Rabbi Yochanan ben Broka said that one who learns in order to teach is given the ability to learn and to teach but one who learns in order to practice is given the ability to learn, to teach, to observe and to practice. Rabbi Tzadok said that one should not make words of Torah into a crown for one’s own importance, nor into a spade for digging (i.e., to make money). Hillel used to say similarly: One who makes personal use of the crown (of Torah) will perish. From this we see that one who utilizes words of Torah for his own benefit is actually spending his reward from the Next World.