Introduction Up until this point the statements in Avoth have been organized mostly according to chronological order, with a few minor excursions that also serve the overall order. From this point and onwards the statements are not in chronological order. The general order of the remainder of the tractate is more difficult to discern. The reason that Rabbi Tarfon’s statement is brought here is its similarity to the statement of Rabbi Elazar in the previous mishnah. Both compare the Torah to “labor” and both talk about the reward for performing this labor. Rabbi Tarfon was also a student of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai, but younger than the others. He was one of the leading sages in Yavneh, after the destruction of the Temple.
Rabbi Tarfon said: the day is short, and the work is plentiful, and the laborers are indolent, and the reward is great, and the master of the house is insistent. Rabbi Tarfon compares the study of Torah to pressing matters of work. There is never enough time, because our lives are so short. There is so much Torah to be learned and relearned that a person could never truly learn it all in his lifetime. The laborers are indolent and put off the study of Torah and instead engage themselves in other matters. The reward for the study of Torah is great, and the master is pressing his workers to work harder, as it says in Joshua 1:8, “and you shall meditate upon it night and day”. Rabbenu Jonah makes an interesting parable. He teaches that when Moses went up to Sinai he did not sleep at all. Compare this to a king who said to his servant: “Count gold pieces from now until tomorrow, and whatever you count off will be yours.” How can such a person sleep? Why the time he spent in sleep he would be losing a fortune! So said Moses, “If I go to sleep, how many precious words of Torah I would lose!”