Abstract

The idea of a 'Love that does not depend upon a thing' (Mishnah Avot 5:16), had a foundational impact on Jewish tradition, including various fields such as theology, retribution, and conceptions of proper worship “for its own sake”. However, there are several exegetical reasons to question this particular mishnah. This paper suggests a close reading of Avot 5:16, by examining its coherence with the biblical tradition upon which it draws, and the rabbinic worldview within which it is weaved. This examination of Avot 5:16 finds that its reliance on the biblical description of Amnon’s “love” to Tamar (2 Sam 13:1) is problematic on several levels. The examination of this mishnah’s accordance with early Jewish tradition finds that a lack of “dependence upon a thing” or disinterestedness is in tension with basic currents in the Hebrew Bible. Many post-talmudic readers of Avot 5:16 were probably aware of these tensions, yet remained uncritical of them. This paper sheds new light on this mishnah by comparing it with Platonic love, and more so through the distinction between Eros and Agape, thus proposing that Avot 5:16 had imported (and eventually domesticated) Agape into Jewish tradition. The paper ends by pointing out the scholarly prospects of examining Agape vis-à-vis Jewish Thought.