Pirkei Avot, a tractate of the Mishnah, is a sort of greatest hits of Judaism, a book of (mostly) pithy sayings by great rabbinical commentators. It is there, for example, that you will find Rabbi Hillel's oft-quoted "If I am not for me, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" – that last bit appropriated by Primo Levi for the title of a novel.
Most of the rabbis quoted have a few sayings in there. But there is one – Ben Bag Bag – who, apart from having a weird name, said something that has always intrigued me:
[In Aramaic] Turn it over and over because everything is in it
And reflect upon it and grow old and worn in it and do not leave it,
[In Hebrew] for you have no better lot than that.
It is followed by a saying by one Ben Hê Hê that closes the tractate.
Referring to the Torah, Ben Bag Bag's saying serves as an encouragement for those of us with no, little, or lukewarm faith to remain engaged with seemingly ancient texts. However, the man himself is a bit of an enigma. Though he is referred to briefly elsewhere in the Talmud, this is his only appearance in Pirkei Avot.
He is said to have lived in the First Century. According to one source:
Ben Bag Bag's full name was Rabbi Yochanan Bag Bag. Both he and Ben Heh Heh were descendants of converts; their names were disguised to protect them from informers who would have turned them over to the Romans. Some explain that Bag Bag is an acronym for "ben ger, ben giyoret -"the son of male and female converts." It is also explained that Heh Heh refers to the first "converts," Abraham and Sarah, to each of whose names G-d added the letter Heh - Abram became Abraham, and Sarai became Sarah.
Here is a song about Ben Bag Bag.
