Dani's (attempt to be) Daily Pirkei Avot

Hi everyone- my goal is to bli neder write a short thought on a different mishna of Pirkei Avot daily, starting today, but before I begin I would just like to thank Mrs. Elsant from MMY who taught me Parshanut in Mesechet Avot this year and gave me a deep appreciation for all the values expressed by the Tanaim with the commentaries of various Rishonim as well. Enjoy!

א,א משה קיבל תורה מסיניי, ומסרה ליהושוע, ויהושוע לזקנים, וזקנים לנביאים, ונביאים מסרוה לאנשי כנסת הגדולה. והן אמרו שלושה דברים: היו מתונים בדין, והעמידו

תלמידים הרבה, ועשו סייג לתורה

What's the significance of Har Sinai?

The Ruach Chaim explains that Har Sinai was a humble mountain and Moshe was humble as well. The only way to acquire Torah is to be humble and this is a very important middah to work on. Sefer Orchot Tzadikim speaks about gaiva (haughtiness) in the beginning of the sefer , in the section titled "Sha'ar Hagaiva", saying haughtiness needs to be removed from a person before working on other middot. In "Sha'ar Ha'anava"(the chapter which talks about humility) it says that humility is the root of Avodat Hashem. We need to emulate Har Sinai and work on our anava (humility).

The R"av (Rav Ovadiyah Bartenura) says Pirkei Avot is the proper etiquette that Chazal teach us from Sinai, not just from their personal opinion of what being proper is all about. There is no ethic outside of Torah.