Chapter 1:
Mishna 4:
- What is so important about making your home into a meeting place for Sages?
- How do you define a Sage? Any Rabbi? A great scholar?
- What should you do if your home is not fit as a meeting place for Sages?
- What does it mean to ‘sit in the dust of their feet’?
- Can being around a Sage really make you a better person? How?
Mishna 5:
- How does this Mishna compare with the previous Mishna?
- What does it mean to make your home wide-open? Why is that so important?
- Why does the Mishna start with opening up your home to everyone and not first with something more specific like opening your home to poor people?
- What is the connection between not speaking excessively with women and practicing hospitality?
- Does this mean that husbands should not talk to their wives?
- What values promote cooperative discussion between a husband and a wife?
- In 2015 where women are educated, accomplished, and capable, how do we find meaning in this Mishna?
Mishna 6:
- Why is it so important to make for yourself a ‘Rabbi’?
- What is the difference between a Rabbi and a Friend? Why must one be ‘made’ and the other ‘acquired’?
- How do you make for yourself a teacher?
- How do you acquire for yourself a friend?
- How many Rabbis or teachers should one ideally have?
- What is the connection between the three ideas of our Mishna?
- Using the Mishna’s advice, how can we make meaningful and impactful relationships in our lives?
Mishna 7:
- What is the connection between this Mishna and the previous Mishna?
- What is the difference between the first two statements of the Mishna, ‘Keep afar from a bad neighbor’ and ‘do not associate with a bad person’?
- How do you define someone as a ‘bad neighbor’?
- If we avoid people who are evil, then how can we serve as a positive influence on them to make the world a better place?