Apikurios.com

Here's a portion of a shiur from Bet Midrash Virtuali an on-line mishnah course. It presents the etymology of Apikorus, a person who knows Jewish principles and practices but shamefully flouts them. (Although temperamentally suited, I am not knowledgeable enough to qualify). If, like me, you'd like to become less of an Am Ha-Aretz (ignoramus) you can subsribe to the e-lesson at Virtual Bet Midrash [admin@bmv.org.il]. The current lessons are on ethics and all prior lessons are archived.

TRACTATE AVOT, CHAPTER TWO, MISHNAH ELEVEN (recap):

They [each] used to say three things. Rabbi Eli'ezer says: Let your colleague's honour be as dear to you as your own and do not give way to anger easily; repent one day before you die; warm yourself at the fire of the sages but be wary not to be burned by their embers: for their bite is the bite of a fox, their sting is the sting of a scorpion, their hiss is the hiss of a serpent - and their every word burning coals.


EXPLANATIONS (continued):

5:The second (or third) teaching of Rabbi Eli'ezer taught in our mishnah concerns repentance. Rather succinctly he tells us to "repent one day before you die". Clearly this means that we should repent of our sins daily, since no one knows the day of his death in advance. This is made clear when in the Gemara [Shabbat 153b] Rabbi Eli'ezer is questioned by his students about this teaching of his:

It is taught elsewhere [in Avot 2:11, as we know] that rabbi Eli'ezer says: "Repent one day before you die". His students questioned Rabbi Eli'ezer: "Does anyone know on what day he will die?" He responded: "Then he should certainly repent today lest he die tomorrow. Thus one will be in constant repentance."

6:Clearly this line of thought is the exact antithesis of the teaching of the Athenian philosopher Epicurus, who lived some 350 years before Rabbi Eli'ezer. Those who followed his philosophy are called Epicureans. Epicurus' disciples were enamoured with his doctrine and presented him with a garden at Athens. At the garden Epicurus began a school - almost a community of sorts - with men and women meeting as equals in discourse. After his death, Epicurus left his home and garden to be used as a headquarters for the Epicureans. They believed you were here today and gone tomorrow, so why not enjoy life while you can? "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, we die." For them, the hedonistic idea of seeking pleasure was the main purpose in life. They did not deny the existence of any gods, but maintained they were totally indifferent to the affairs of men who were left to find pleasure as they could. The result of this is to have no fear of God and consequently they were given over to gross sensualism. It was this indifference to any kind of religious responsibility that eventually gave rise to the use by the sages of the epithet Apikoros (Epicurean) to anyone who scoffed at or rejected the idea of man's ethical responsibility.