Pirkei Avot I: Tosafot Yom Tov Introduction and Chapter 1 Highlights

(1) Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be patient in [the administration of] justice, raise many disciples and make a fence round the Torah.

AND THE PROPHETS TRANSMITTED IT TO THE MEN OF THE GREAT ASSEMBLY. This is to point out that although not all the members of the Great Assembly were prophets, the entire Torah was transmitted to them as it was transmitted to their predecessors. From hereon, however, the generations waned and the entire Torah could not be transmitted to them; rather, each one received as much as he was able. Even so, what Torah he did acquire was part of the tradition, having passed sage from sage and going back to Moses at Sinai.

AND YOU SHOULD TRAIN [lit. stand them up] MANY STUDENTS. They used the word ha`amidu, whose root `amad means “to stand,” because from the time of Moses until the time of Rabban Gamliel the students would stand during their studies (Megillah 21a) [as Rav writes on Sotah 9:16], while the master would sit on a chair—so Midrash Shmuel, in the name of R. Yosef ibn Nahamias. While this is a good derivation of the term ha`amidu, it does not convey the thrust of the mishna, which is not that the students should stand or sit, but that they should study. So why doesn’t the mishna, in accordance with its primary intent, simply use the verb “teach”?
It seems that the mishna uses this verb, ha`amidu, to emphasize that one ought to stand them up on their feet to the point that they don’t falter, i.e. to stand them on their feet in truly understanding Torah. This is called “standing” and “enduring” [kiyum, related to Heb. kam, “arose”], just as the Rabbinic expression says of a lie that it “has no legs on which to stand,” and as the Poet says, “My feet had nearly faltered” (Psalms, 73:2). And it is because the mishna dictated that one train many students that it had to use ha`amidu, to emphasize that although one ought to train many students, their studies should still be such that they should stand upon their own feet and reach truth in their learning. Anything else cannot properly be called ha`amadah, training a student and standing him upon his feet; such students rather “lie in slumber” (Isaiah 56:10), in the sleep of foolishness.
The upshot of all this is that we do not fulfill this dictum unless we teach truth and righteousness and nothing else. Cf. my comments on mishna 6.

(2) Shimon the Righteous was one of the last of the men of the great assembly. He used to say: the world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple service, and the practice of acts of piety.

ON THE TORAH. Rav: had Israel not accepted the Torah, the heavens and the earth would not have been created, as per the verse “If not for my covenant, etc.” (Jeremiah 33:25). Rav was led to this interpretation because he was bothered by the superfluousness of “the sacrificial service, and acts of kindness” in the text, for both of these are commandments, the fulfillment of which is already included in “the Torah”; he therefore understood that the Torah must refer not to the Torah itself but to its acceptance. The verse in Jeremiah is now read as “if not for my covenant which you have accepted, I would not have established the day or the night, nor even the laws of the heavens and the earth.” See the mishna in Nedarim 3:11 for a similar interpretive turn.
The difficulty with this is that the mishna is using the expression “the world stands on three things” to convey the importance of doing those things, and in Rav’s reading “the Torah” refers not to anything that one ought to do but to a historical event, and is out of place here. It seems, therefore, that “the Torah” here refers to the study and learning of Torah as opposed to the act of following its laws. The verse in Jeremiah, then, reads “if not for the study of my covenant by day and night, etc,” as per the verse “You shall study it day and night” (Hosea 1:8).
The words “had Israel not accepted the Torah” do not appear in Rashi’s commentary, which simply reads: On the Torah, as per the verse “If not for my covenant, etc.”.

(3) Antigonus a man of Socho received [the oral tradition] from Shimon the Righteous. He used to say: do not be like servants who serve the master in the expectation of receiving a reward, but be like servants who serve the master without the expectation of receiving a reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.

[maybe add Maharal piece here]

(4) Yose ben Yoezer (a man) of Zeredah and Yose ben Yohanan [a man] of Jerusalem received [the oral tradition] from them [i.e. Shimon the Righteous and Antigonus]. Yose ben Yoezer used to say: let thy house be a house of meeting for the Sages and sit in the very dust of their feet, and drink in their words with thirst.

(5) Yose ben Yochanan (a man) of Jerusalem used to say: Let thy house be wide open, and let the poor be members of thy household. Engage not in too much conversation with women. They said this with regard to one’s own wife, how much more [does the rule apply] with regard to another man’s wife. From here the Sages said: as long as a man engages in too much conversation with women, he causes evil to himself, he neglects the study of the Torah, and in the end he will inherit gehinnom.

(6) Joshua ben Perahiah and Nittai the Arbelite received [the oral tradition] from them. Joshua ben Perahiah used to say: appoint for thyself a teacher, and acquire for thyself a companion and judge all men with the scale weighted in his favor.

(7) Nittai the Arbelite used to say: keep a distance from an evil neighbor, do not become attached to the wicked, and do not abandon faith in [divine] retribution.

(8) Judah ben Tabbai and Shimon ben Shetach received [the oral tradition] from them. Judah ben Tabbai said: do not [as a judge] play the part of an advocate; and when the litigants are standing before you, look upon them as if they were [both] guilty; and when they leave your presence, look upon them as if they were [both] innocent, when they have accepted the judgement.

YOU SHOULD IMAGINE THEM TO BE WICKED. But do not imagine the two of them to be righteous people, because then you will not thoroughly examine their claims and will charitably interpret everything they say without investigating the case in depth. When one imagines them both to be wicked, one thoroughly examines each one’s claims and considers possible avenues of deception, thereby getting to the truth of the matter.
Another possible interpretation. One of the parties has certainly acted unlawfully, and the Talmud considers the other party similarly implicated, as per the passage discussing oaths in court (Shavuot 39a): those standing there then say to one another, “Step away from the tents of these evil men!” (Numbers 16:26), and there also (ibid. 39b): “The oath of G-d will be taken between them” (Exodus 20:10), this teaches that the oath falls on both of them, i.e., even the party in the right, all because he is involved in a case with the criminal party. They are thus both called “wicked.” When they accept the court’s ruling, however, they are both called “righteous,” because accepting a ruling after their quarrel with one another is an act of righteousness on their part—Maharal in Derech Chaim.

(9) Shimon ben Shetach used to say: be thorough in the interrogation of witnesses, and be careful with your words, lest from them they learn to lie.

(10) Shemaiah and Abtalion received [the oral tradition] from them. Shemaiah used to say: love work, hate acting the superior, and do not attempt to draw near to the ruling authority.

SHEMAYA AND AVTALION. Rav writes that they were converts. So also Rambam in the introduction to his Mishneh Torah. Both make it sound like Shemaya and Avtalion were themselves converts, and this cannot be, as they were the nasi and av beit din, as Rav writes on mishna 4; a convert cannot adjudicate capital cases, as Rav writes in Sanhedrin 4:2, and certainly cannot be an av beit din, per the mishna in Horayot 1:4.
Maharal writes in Derech Chaim: It is said that Shemaya and Avtalion were descended from converts, and this can be proven from the Talmud in Gittin 57b and Yoma 71b. But they themselves cannot have been converts, for then how could they have been appointed nasi and av beit din? Rather, they descended from converts, but their mothers were certainly Jewish and they were therefore legitimate candidates for nasi and av beit din. But there are those who say that they themselves were converts, which is completely mistaken.

(11) Abtalion used to say: Sages be careful with your words, lest you incur the penalty of exile, and be carried off to a place of evil waters, and the disciples who follow you drink and die, and thus the name of heaven becomes profaned.

SAGES, BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR WORDS. The mishna does not restrict its warning to the sages because other people are not included in it, but because if one of the sages says something ambiguous, those who listen will draw erronous conclusions, whereas nobody listens to the words of a commoner; the mishna therefore emphasizes the sages—Midrash Shmuel in the name of R. Yosef ibn Shoshan the Pious.

(12) Hillel and Shammai received [the oral tradition] from them. Hillel used to say: be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving mankind and drawing them close to the Torah.

(13) He [also] used to say: one who makes his name great causes his name to be destroyed; one who does not add [to his knowledge] causes [it] to cease; one who does not study [the Torah] deserves death; one who makes [unworthy] use of the crown [of learning] shall pass away.

(14) He [also] used to say: If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self [only], what am I? And if not now, when?

(15) Shammai used to say: make your [study of the] Torah a fixed practice; speak little, but do much; and receive all men with a pleasant countenance.

(16) Rabban Gamaliel used to say: appoint for thyself a teacher, avoid doubt, and do not make a habit of tithing by guesswork

(17) Shimon, his son, used to say: all my days I grew up among the sages, and I have found nothing better for a person than silence. Study is not the most important thing, but actions; whoever indulges in too many words brings about sin.

(18) Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel used to say: on three things does the world stand: On justice, on truth and on peace, as it is said: “execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates” (Zechariah 8:16).

THE WORLD STANDS. Rav: human civilization continues to exist. With this Rav anticipates the question one might raise from mishna 2, which mentions three other things upon which the world stands. Now although Rav there says that the three things in mishna 2 are the ones for whose sake the world was created, and one might attempt to distinguish between the things necessary for creation to have occurred, and the things that keep the world in existence after the fact, the distinction is illusory. For whatever is important enough for the world to have been created ex nihilo is a fortiori important enough for its continued existence. Rav therefore writes on our mishna that these things are necessary for maintaining civilization, not the continued existence of the world. Torah, the sacrificial worship, and acts of kindness can be done by small numbers of people even in the absence of a proper civilization due to a lack of law, truth, and peace. For the remaining few precious to G-d are sufficient for the three pillars mentioned by Shimon the Righteous in mishna 2. You should not find this strange, as the Talmud says (Berachot 17b): the world was only created for Chanina my son, and (Berachot 6a): the world was only created to keep this one company, in expounding the verse “for this is the entirety of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). See my commentary to the end of the mishna in Sotah 3:4.