{"id": "card_n_7ebc4edb4ae4", "kind": "note", "title": "Pirkei Avot §avot_03_02: Rabbi Hanina, the vice-high priest said: pray for the welfare of the governme...", "body": "Rabbi Hanina, the vice-high priest said: pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every man would swallow his neighbor alive. R. Hananiah ben Teradion said: if two sit together and there are no words of Torah [spoken] between them, then this is a session of scorners, as it is said: “nor sat he in the seat of the scornful…[rather, the teaching of the Lord is his delight]” (Psalms 1:1); but if two sit together and there are words of Torah [spoken] between them, then the Shekhinah abides among them, as it is said: “then they that feared the Lord spoke one with another; and the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name” (Malachi 3:16). Now I have no [scriptural proof for the presence of the Shekhinah] except [among] two, how [do we know] that even one who sits and studies Torah the Holy One, blessed be He, fixes his reward? As it is said: “though he sit alone and [meditate] in stillness, yet he takes [a reward] unto himself” (Lamentations 3:28).", "source": {"label": "Pirkei Avot — Ethics of the Fathers (Mishnah, c. AD 200)", "url": "/canon.html?ref=pirkei_avot_avot_03_02", "ref": "avot_03_02", "authority_tier": "external_aligned"}, "shelf": "classics", "box": "pirkei_avot", "bands": ["pirkei_avot", "ethics_of_the_fathers", "jewish_wisdom"], "connections": [{"to_card_id": "card_n_c321ae4d34be", "relationship": "cites", "via_connection_card_id": "card_c_4643713534d6"}, {"to_card_id": "card_n_6bde9b1164eb", "relationship": "cites", "via_connection_card_id": "card_c_7b3ff502d685"}, {"to_card_id": "card_n_cff8cca96453", "relationship": "cites", "via_connection_card_id": "card_c_8c4374279584"}], "author": "engine", "created_at": "2026-05-19T13:20:58.795562+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-19T19:57:55.319385+00:00", "visibility": "public", "lifecycle_stage": "public", "volatility": "permanent", "metrics": {"paperclips_count": 0, "helpful_count": 0, "not_helpful_count": 0, "cite_count": 10, "walks_through_count": 0, "flagged_count": 0}, "source_hash": "c5070e585d32c3719342918fe64de4d765c571e3f33773c0a717e9aaf288ae35", "witnesses": [{"class": "manuscript_tradition", "label": "Kaufmann Codex (Budapest, 11-13th cent) — earliest complete Mishnah", "ref": "Kaufmann"}, {"class": "manuscript_tradition", "label": "Parma Codex de Rossi 138 (Italy, 13th cent)", "ref": "Parma-138"}, {"class": "critical_edition", "label": "Charles Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (1877/1897)", "url": "https://archive.org/details/sayingsjewishfa00goog", "ref": "Taylor-1877"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "Goldin, The Living Talmud (1957)", "ref": "Goldin-1957"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "Sefaria — Pirkei Avot", "url": "https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot", "ref": "Sefaria-PA"}], "witness_status": "passed", "witness_status_reason": "5 witnesses across 4 independence classes: ['critical_edition', 'manuscript_tradition', 'republication', 'translation']", "surface": "secular"}