"neither are you free to desist from it"

[jazzfish]

Today's linguistic rabbit hole:You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

This is for some unknown reason stuck in my mind as It is not given to you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it. My memory attributes this phrasing to the blog Making Light, which would put it sometime in the 2000s, but I have no idea as to a possible context and anyway memory is like a whatchamacallit.

The use of 'not obligated' vs 'not given to you' is significant, to me anyway. One says "it's okay if you don't succeed, but you still have to try," the other says "you will not succeed, and you still have to try." I'm bad at hearing "it's okay if you don't succeed," all too often it's had an unspoken "but we'll think less of you" attached to it. Being explicitly told "this is not gonna work out, and that's not the point" makes it possible for me to try.

---

Based on some digging, the source for 'not given' is Max Brod, a German-speaking Czech mostly known for being Kafka's literary executor (and publishing his stuff after Kafka's death despite being told to burn it). Brod, in the English translation of Paganism - Christianity - Judaism: A Confession Of Faith, writes What a dreadful seriousness in the statement by Rabbi Tarphon: "It is not given to you to complete the work, yet you must not shirk your duty." So this is coming from first-century Hebrew into 1960s English via 1920s German, and the second half has stylistic oddities not found in either version I'm familiar with.

So it is, in all likelihood, a mistranslation. I prefer to believe that it's deliberate and Brod liked the implications of his/my version better, though.

It is not given to you to complete the work,

but neither are you free to desist from it.

Thanks to Sarah for a discussion of some nuances.

Comments

[naraht]

I strongly suspect that "not given" is a mistranslation, as Judaism in general wants to believe that tikkun olam is possible. But I can see why you might find it speaking to you more.

You might find the Sefaria translation interesting - actually the whole of Pirkei Avot is an interesting read, come to that: https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16?lang=bi

[sartorias]

Interesting to think about. Also interesting to contemplate translation . . .

[jadelennox]

It's funny also because we've turned it into a statement about the world and justice, but it's explicitly about studying torah. "Literary criticism, it's a never ending task!"

I mean I totally use it as a statement for activism myself and I am totally an epikoros, which is more or less who is being scolded in the conversation. But it's funny.