This is one of those quotes I just happen to know. But now I'm thinking I mis-spoke when I say it is not from the Talmud. Since I am not Jewish, I just simply do not know much about the Talmud. I am beginning to realize that it is from the "Talmud" and Hillel is credited with the statement.
Could someone clear this up for me?
Avot 1:
10. Shema'yah and Avtalyon received from them.
Shema'yah says: Love labour, hate power, and do not make yourself known to the authorities.
11. Avtalyon says: Sages, be cautious of what you say. Lest you incur upon yourself a penalty of exile and you are exiled to a place of bad waters, and the students who come after you will drink and die, and the name of Heaven will come to be profaned.
12. Hillel and Shammai received from them.
Hillel says: Be one of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving the creatures and bringing them close to the Torah.
13. He used to say: He who increases his name [=reputation], loses his name
And one who does not add, will perish.
And one who does not learn deserves death.
And one who makes use of the crown will perish.
14. He used to say: If I an not for myself, who will be for me?
And when I am for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when?
15. Shammai says: Make your Torah fixed.
Say little and do much.
And receive every person with a pleasant countenance.
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudM ... mples.html
Hillel would say: If I am not for myself who will be for me? If I'm for myself alone, what am I? If not now, when? Shammai answered: Set time for Torah study. Say little and do much. Receive everyone with grace.
~(Pirkei Avot 1:15).
[Hillel] used to say: If I am not for myself, who is for me?
If I care only for myself, what am I?
If not now, when?
~(M. Avot 1:14)
Shammai said: Make your study of the Torah a fixed habit.
Say little and do much.
And receive everyone with a cheerful countenance.
~(M. Avot 1:15)
http://www.maqom.com/aug15_2000.html
Rabbi Hillel (30 BC-AD 10) was born to a wealthy family in Babylonia, but came to Jerusalem without the financial support of his family and supported himself as a woodcutter. It is said that he lived in such great poverty that he was sometimes unable to pay the admission fee to study Torah, and because of him that fee was abolished. He was known for his kindness, his gentleness, and his concern for humanity. One of his most famous sayings is "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?" The Hillel organization, a network of Jewish college student organizations, is named for him.
http://www.jewfaq.org/frames/sages.htm
http://www.hillel.org/hillel/newhille.n ... enDocument
"If you don't do it, who will? If not now, when?" --- Talmud
Some recall the classic Talmudic saying attributed to Hillel: "If not now, when?"
http://www.upenn.edu/president/rodin/sp ... ate96.html
http://www.jewishealing.com/talmudandi.html
The phrase "If not now, when?" was almost certainly known to him as part of a larger statement in the name of Rabbi Hillel, from the section of the Talmud called Pirkei Avot ["Sayings of the Ancestors"]:
If I am not for myself, who is for me? When I am for myself, what am I? If not now, when? (Pirkei Avot 1:14)
http://www.kolel.org/pages/5761/vzot.html
http://www.dawnschuman.org/online_class ... -13~14.jsp
In Pirkei Avos (Chap. 1, Mishnah 14) there is a statement. If I am not for myself, who is for me? When I am only by myself, what am I? And if not now when? Rabbi Yitchok Meir Alter explains this to mean that every person has his own unique contribution to make to this world. If I won't do mine, who will?
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