Mishnah 8 - Chapter 2 - Pirkei Avot

Rabban yochanan ben zakka kibbel mehillel umishamma. Hu hayah omer. Im lamadta torah harbeh, al tachazik tovah le'atzmach, ki lechach notzareta. Chamishah talmidim hayu lo lerabban yochanan ben zakka, ve'ellu hen. Rabbi eli'ezer ben hurkenos, verabbi yehoshua ben chananyah, verabbi yosei hakkohen, verabbi shim'on ben netan'el, verabbi el'azar ben arach. Hu hayah moneh shevachan. Rabbi eli'ezer ben hurkenos, bor sud she'eino me'abbed tippah. Rabbi yehoshua ben chananyah, ashrei yoladto. Rabbi yosei hakkohen, chasid. Rabbi shim'on ben netan'el, yerei chet. Verabbi el'azar ben arach, ma'yan hammitgabber. Hu hayah omer. Im yihyu chol chachmei yisra'el bechaf mozenayim, ve'eli'ezer ben hurkenos bechaf sheniyah, machria et kullam. Abba sha'ul omer mishemo. Im yihyu chol chachmei yisra'el bechaf mozenayim verabbi eli'ezer ben hurkenos af immahem, verabbi el'azar ben arach bechaf sheniyah, machria et kullam.

Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai received [the oral tradition] from Hillel and Shammai.He used to say: if you have learned much torah, do not claim credit for yourself, because for such a purpose were you created. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai had five disciples and they were these: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah, Rabbi Yose, the priest, Rabbi Shimon ben Nethaneel and Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach. He [Rabbi Johanan] used to list their outstanding virtues: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus is a plastered cistern which loses not a drop; Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah happy is the woman that gave birth to him; Rabbi Yose, the priest, is a pious man; Rabbi Simeon ben Nethaneel is one that fears sin, And Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach is like a spring that [ever] gathers force. He [Rabbi Yohanan] used to say: if all the sages of Israel were on one scale of the balance and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus on the other scale, he would outweigh them all. Abba Shaul said in his name: if all the sages of Israel were on one scale of the balance, and Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus also with them, and Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach on the other scale, he would outweigh them all.

R. Yochanan ben Zakkai received it from Hillel and from Shammai. He was wont to say: If you have learned much Torah, do not take credit for it, [to say: "I have learned much Torah." For you were created for this. (It is because he left neither Scripture, Mishnah, halachah, and aggadah which he did not learn, that he said this.)] R. Yochanan ben Zakkai had five disciples: R. Eliezer ben Hurkanos, R. Yehoshua ben Chananiah, R. Yossi Hakohen, R. Shimon ben Nethanel, and R. Elazar ben Arach. He was wont to cite their (respective) distinctions: R. Eliezer ben Hurkanos — a lime-coated pit, that does not lose a drop. [So, he too does not lose one item of his learning]. R. Yehoshua — [He was so replete in good middoth that all said about him: "Happy is she who bore him!" (Others say: They said this because it was she who caused him to be a sage. She would make the rounds of all the houses of study in her city and say to them (the disciples): "Please, pray for this fetus in my stomach, that he be a sage!" And from the day that he was born, she did not remove his crib from the house of study, so that only words of Torah enter his ears.] R. Yossi — chasid, [acting above and beyond the letter of the law.] R. Shimon ben Nethanel — a fearer of sin, [stringent with himself and forbidding to himself permitted things out of fear that he might come to sin. For if not so, what is special about this? Even an ignoramus can be a fearer of sin.] R. Elazar ben Arach — a resurgent well, [of broad heart, "welling up" dialectic and conjecture of his own.] He (R. Yochanan ben Zakkai) was wont to say: If all the sages of Israel were in one balance of the scale and Eliezer ben Hurkanos in the other, he would outweigh them all. Abba Shaul says in his (R. Yochanan b. Zakkai's) name: If all the sages of Israel were in one balance of the scale and R. Eliezer ben Hurkanos also with them, and R. Elazar (ben Arach) in the other, he would outweigh them all. [I have found it written that Abba Shaul does not disagree with the first tanna and that both things were said by R. Yochanan ben Zakkai and both are true. In comprehensive knowledge and memory, R. Eliezer (ben Hurkanos) outweighed them all, and in sharpness and dialectic R. Elazar ben Arach outweighed them all.]