Introduction This mishnah contains a beautiful story of Rabbi Yose ben Kisma and his desire to live in a city where other sages live.
Rabbi Yose ben Kisma said: Once I was walking by the way when a man met me, and greeted me and I greeted him. He said to me, “Rabbi, where are you from?” I said to him, “I am from a great city of sages and scribes”. He said to me, “Rabbi, would you consider living with us in our place? I would give you a thousand thousand denarii of gold, and precious stones and pearls.” I said to him: “My son, even if you were to give me all the silver and gold, precious stones and pearls that are in the world, I would not dwell anywhere except in a place of Torah; for when a man passes away there accompany him neither gold nor silver, nor precious stones nor pearls, but Torah and good deeds alone, as it is said, “When you walk it will lead you. When you lie down it will watch over you; and when you are awake it will talk with you” (Proverbs 6:22). “When you walk it will lead you” in this world. “When you lie down it will watch over you” in the grave; “And when you are awake it will talk with you” in the world to come. And thus it is written in the book of Psalms by David, king of Israel, “I prefer the teaching You proclaimed to thousands of pieces of gold and silver” (Psalms 119:71), And it says: “Mine is the silver, and mine the gold, says the Lord of Hosts” (Haggai 2:8). The teaching in this mishnah is similar to the words of Rabbi Nehorai in chapter four, mishnah fourteen, “go as a [voluntary] exile to a place of Torah and say not that it will come after you” Rabbi Nehorai teaches that one should leave a city where one cannot learn Torah to go to a place where one can learn Torah. In our mishnah we see a reverse move: Rabbi Yose ben Kisma will not leave his city which is full of sages, even to go to a place where they will give him all of the money in the world. The wealth of Torah accompanies not only in this world, but to the grave and onwards to the world to come. Note how opposite this idea is from the ancient practice of burying a person with some of his material possessions, which were to go on with him to the world to come. In Judaism what accompanies a person to the world to come are not his material possessions but his spiritual accomplishments: learning Torah and performing good deeds. This is what God truly cares about. Rabbi Yose uses several texts to prove that true wealth belongs to God and is given through His Torah. The wealth of money and jewels cannot tempt Rabbi Yose to leave a life of Torah.