Translation:Mishnah/Seder Nezikin/Tractate Avot/Chapter 1/5

Hebrew Text

יוסי בן יוחנן איש ירושלים אומר:

יהי ביתך פתוח לרווחה, ויהיו עניים בני ביתך.

ואל תרבה שיחה עם האישה —

באשתו אמרו, קל וחומר באשת חברו;

מכאן, אמרו חכמים:

כל המרבה שיחה עם האישה —

גורם רעה לעצמו, ובטיל מדברי תורה,

וסופו יירש גיהינם.

English Translation

Yosei ben Yochanan of Yerushalayim says:

Let your house be open wide, and let the poor be members of your household.

And do not increase conversation with a woman.

They said [this] regarding his wife, all the more so with the wife of his friend;

From here, the sages said:

Anyone who increases conversation with the woman —

He causes evil to himself, and neglects the words of Torah,

And in his end he inherits Gehenna.

Explanation

increase conversation: i.e. idly chitchat.

regarding the wife of his friend: If one should not waste his or her time on idle chitchat with his or her spouse, he or she ought all the more to not waste time with the spouse of his or her friends.