בס "ד
Pirkei Avot 1:3
Antigonos of Socho — Serving Without Reward
“Antigonos, 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.”
— Pirkei Avot 1:3
What does this teach us?
Antigonos of Socho received the oral tradition from Shimon HaTzaddik. According to the traditional chronology associated with Shimon HaTzaddik’s encounter with Alexander the Great, this teaching belongs to the early fourth century BCE. [1]
The Mishnah’s central concern is the motivation behind serving G-d.
It does not say that reward does not exist. Nor does it say that a person should be indifferent to the consequences of his actions. Rather, Antigonos asks us to examine something deeper:
What is the reason we serve G-d?
The Mishnah uses the unusual word peras for “reward.” Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura explains that peras refers to a voluntary gift — something that is given, but is not owed as payment. This differs from sachar, which refers to compensation or wages that are due for work performed. [2]
Rambam explains the teaching in a similar direction: one should not serve G-d with the expectation that He will repay one’s service with benefits. Rather, one should serve Him because of who He is and because serving Him is itself the proper response to Him. [3]
Antigonos therefore challenges us to move beyond a relationship with G-d that is based primarily on what we hope to receive from Him.
What Does This Teach Us?
Love and Awe
The Mishnah ends with the words:
“Let the fear of Heaven be upon you.”
This is significant because the teaching has just told us not to serve G-d for the sake of reward.
What, then, should motivate us?
Jewish tradition speaks about two closely related ways of serving G-d: love and awe.
Love draws a person toward G-d. Awe prevents that love from becoming careless or presumptuous.
Bartenura explains that even a person who serves G-d out of love should also serve Him with awe. Love can inspire a person to fulfill what is positive, while awe helps a person remain careful about what is forbidden. In this way, love and awe complete one another. [4]
The distinction is important.
Fear does not have to mean constantly asking:
“What punishment will I receive if I do something wrong?”
There is a deeper possibility: that a person becomes concerned about sin because he does not want to distance himself from G-d.
Esto es yirat chet — fear of sin.
And beyond this lies yirat Hashem as awe: an awareness of the greatness of G-d and of our own smallness before Him.
The Tanach expresses this kind of awe when Jacob awakens from his dream and says:
“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of G-d, and this is the gate of heaven.”
(Genesis 28:17)
We may never experience an encounter like Jacob’s. Yet we can cultivate awe by contemplating creation.
The complexity of a living organism.
The vastness of the universe.
The laws of nature that sustain life.
The development of a human being in the womb.
The more deeply we contemplate these things, the more we can become aware of the wisdom of their Creator.
Rambam describes a similar process in Hiljot Yesodei HaTorá: contemplating G-d’s creations and the wisdom manifested in them can awaken both love and awe — love because we recognize His wisdom, and awe because we recognize how limited we are in comparison with Him. [5]
The Plural: Serving Together
There is another interesting detail in the Mishnah. Antigonos does not say “Do not be like a servant” in the singular, but “Do not be like servants” — al tihyu, in the plural.
Rabbi Moshe Alshich sees significance in this wording and connects it with the importance of serving G-d within a community. [6]
For the Jewish people, communal religious life has a specific halachic structure. A kahal y un minyan are not simply groups of people who happen to gather together. They have particular halachic meanings within the covenantal life of Israel.
A minyan of ten is required for certain parts of Jewish public prayer, including Kaddish, Kedushah, the public Torah reading, and the repetition of the Amidah. The Talmud derives the number ten from the use of the word eidah, “congregation,” in the account of the spies. [7]
For Noahides, this halachic framework is different.
But that does not mean that community itself is unimportant.
The distinction is between halachic community and human community.
A Noahide community can be a place of encouragement, learning, prayer, friendship, and mutual responsibility. Seeing other people strive to do what is right can strengthen our own commitment. Likewise, our own example can strengthen others.
The value of community does not depend on the existence of a Jewish minyan.
Sometimes we simply need other people to help us remain faithful.
A Noahide Perspective
How should a Noahide understand Antigonos’ teaching?
The first thing is to recognize that the Seven Noahide Laws are not merely a collection of sensible rules for making society function.
Rambam writes that the Noahide commandments were transmitted through Moses and that a Noahide who accepts and observes them because G-d commanded them through Moses is among the Jasidei Umot HaOlam, the righteous among the nations, and has a share in the World to Come. [8]
This is important for the question of motivation.
There is a difference between:
“I do this because it makes sense to me.”
and:
“I do this because G-d has commanded it.”
The first may be morally valuable. But the second is a fundamentally religious act.
This brings us directly back to Antigonos.
A Noahide should not serve G-d merely as a transaction:
“If I do what G-d wants, what will I receive in return?”
The Seven Laws are commandments because they express G-d’s will.
At the same time, this does not mean that hope for reward is inherently wrong. Rambam himself teaches that the righteous among the nations who observe the commandments because G-d commanded them have a share in the World to Come. [8]
The point is therefore not to deny reward.
The point is to put service before reward.
We do not obey G-d in order to get something from Him.
We obey because He is G-d.
Love for G-d
This also helps us understand the question of love.
The commandment “And you shall love the L-rd your G-d” in Deuteronomy 6:5 is counted by Rambam among the commandments given to Israel. It is therefore important not to present ahavat Hashem as one of the Seven Noahide Laws. [9]
Yet this does not mean that a Noahide should avoid loving G-d.
A person can love G-d without turning that love into a claim that he possesses the specific commandment given to Israel.
For a Noahide, love of G-d can therefore be understood as a beautiful aspiration: a response that grows from gratitude, contemplation, recognition of creation, and awareness of G-d’s greatness.
It is precisely here that Antigonos’ teaching becomes meaningful.
If we serve only because we are promised something in return, our service remains transactional.
If we serve because we recognize G-d and want to do His will, something deeper has begun to develop.
Fear of G-d
The same distinction applies to fear.
Sanhedrin 56b contains a tradition that derives the fear of G-d for the descendants of Noah from the words “My fear shall be upon you.” The passage connects this with the Noahide commandments in its discussion of the verse “And G-d commanded the man.” [10]
This should not be reduced to a simple fear of punishment.
There is a difference between:
fear of what will happen to me,
y
awe of the One before whom I stand.
The first asks about consequences.
The second changes the way we see ourselves.
A Noahide can therefore cultivate yirat shamayim by becoming increasingly aware that every moral choice takes place before G-d.
When no one else is watching, G-d is still watching.
When no one else rewards us, the act can still be worthwhile.
And when we do what is right simply because it is G-d’s will, we begin to understand what Antigonos means by serving without expectation of reward.
Community, but Not Kahal
The fact that Noahides do not participate in a Jewish minyan does not mean that Noahides should live isolated spiritual lives.
A Noahide can join or create a study group.
A community can meet to learn Tanach.
People can encourage one another in observing the Seven Laws.
Friends can pray privately, express gratitude to G-d, and support one another in difficult situations.
The community may not be a kahal in the technical halachic sense, but it can still be profoundly valuable.
The question is not:
“Do we have a minyan?”
The question is:
“Are we helping one another serve G-d faithfully?”
That is a question every Noahide community can answer.
From Sinai to Everyday Life
What does Antigonos’ teaching mean for the life of a Noahide today?
It can become very practical.
1. Celebrate the privilege of serving G-d today
It is easy to think about the future:
“What will I receive because I did this?”
Try asking a different question at the end of the day:
“What am I grateful for today — and for the fact that I was given the opportunity to serve G-d?”
This shifts the focus from reward to gratitude.
Instead of asking what we earned, we ask what we were privileged to give.
2. Do something good that nobody sees
Once this week, do something good that no one else will notice.
No announcement.
No praise.
No recognition.
Just do it.
A small act performed without expectation of appreciation can teach the heart something that intellectual study alone cannot: that doing good does not require an audience.
3. Seek community, even though you do not form a kahal
Find other Noahides who are sincerely trying to live according to G-d’s will.
Study together.
Encourage one another.
Share what you are learning.
If no community exists, consider starting one.
We do not need a Jewish minyan in order to benefit from friendship and mutual encouragement.
Serving G-d may be personal, but we do not have to walk the path alone.
4. Build a small moment of awe into your day
Take a few minutes each day to contemplate creation.
Look at the sky.
Walk through nature.
Think about the human body.
Consider the enormous complexity of life.
Then pause and reflect:
“How great is the Creator who made all this?”
Awe does not always require a dramatic spiritual experience.
It can begin with attention.
5. Let fear of sin become stronger than fear of punishment
When faced with a moral decision, try asking:
“Does this bring me closer to G-d or further from Him?”
This question changes the motivation.
Fear of punishment asks:
“What will happen to me?”
Fear of sin asks:
“What kind of relationship with G-d am I building through this choice?”
The second question can remain meaningful even when no one else is watching.
6. Let love motivate you
Love does not need to be reduced to an obligation.
A Noahide can spend time in gratitude.
He can read Tanach.
He can contemplate creation.
He can speak to G-d in prayer.
He can thank G-d for the life he has been given.
And he can do these things because he wants to draw closer to his Creator.
This is one of the beautiful possibilities contained within Antigonos’ teaching.
The highest motivation is not:
“What will I get?”
but:
“How can I serve?”
Angelique Sijbolts
Con agradecimiento al rabino Tani Burton por los comentarios.
Notas al pie
1. Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 69a. The chronology connecting Shimon HaTzaddik with Alexander the Great is part of the traditional rabbinic chronology.
2. Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura, commentary to Pirkei Avot 1:3. Bartenura explains peras as a voluntary gift rather than obligatory compensation.
3. Rambam, Commentary on Pirkei Avot 1:3. Rambam explains Antigonos’ teaching as serving G-d without making the expectation of benefit the reason for one’s service.
4. Bartenura, commentary to Pirkei Avot 1:3. See also the broader rabbinic teaching concerning serving G-d from love and from awe.
5. Rambam, Mishné Torá, Hiljot Yesodei HaTorá 2:2. Rambam describes contemplation of creation as leading toward love, praise, and awe of G-d.
6. Rabbi Moshe Alshich, commentary to Avot, cited in the original article (Feldheim edition, p. 27). The interpretation connects the plural wording of the Mishnah with communal service.
7. Numbers 14:27; Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 21b. The derivation of ten from eidah is part of the Talmudic discussion concerning communal prayer.
8. Rambam, Mishné Torá, Hilchot Melachim uMilchamot 8:11. Rambam states that a Noahide who accepts and fulfills the Seven Commandments because the Holy One commanded them through Moses is among the righteous of the nations and has a share in the World to Come.
9. Deuteronomy 6:5; Rambam, Séfer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandment 3. The commandment to love G-d is counted among the commandments given to Israel. Rambam’s enumeration of the Noahide commandments appears in Hiljot Melajim 9:1.
10. Babylonian Talmud, Sanedrín 56b. The sugya discusses the Noahide commandments derived from Genesis 2:16–17 and includes the interpretation that “My fear shall be upon you.” This should be understood in the context of the Talmudic discussion rather than presented without qualification as a separately enumerated eighth Noahide law.
Copyright, todos los derechos reservados. Si le ha gustado este artículo, le animamos a seguir difundiéndolo.
Nuestros blogs pueden contener textos/citas/referencias/enlaces que incluyan material protegido por derechos de autor de Mechon-Mamre.org, Aish.com, Sefaria.org, Jabad.orgy/o AskNoah.orgque utilizamos de acuerdo con sus políticas.