Stages of Development

He used to say: At five years of age the study of Scripture; At ten the study of Mishnah; At thirteen subject to the commandments; At fifteen the study of Talmud; At eighteen the bridal canopy; At twenty for pursuit [of livelihood]; At thirty the peak of strength; At forty wisdom; At fifty able to give counsel; At sixty old age; At seventy fullness of years; At eighty the age of “strength”; At ninety a bent body; At one hundred, as if he is dead and gone completely out of the world.

This Mishna delineates fourteen stages of life from five to one hundred, with reflections on cognitive, social, and spiritual development. To help analyze the Mishna, we are going to divide it into three broader stages: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. We will also use modern developmental psychological theories to help elucidate the content. Although these conceptions are culturally and historically influenced, there are likely some universal and timeless aspects to human development.  Minimally, we are using the psychological constructs as heuristic tools to better understand the Mishna.

CHILDHOOD

Jean Piaget was a pioneer in researching childhood cognitive development. He distinguished between several different stages. The ones relevant for this Mishna include the preoperational stage (2-7 years old), concrete operational stage (7-11 years old), and formal operational stage (12 years and older).

The main focus of this Mishna concerning the childhood years relates to learning Torah. Studying scripture begins at five, Mishna at ten, Talmud at fifteen. Before five, Rashi notes it is developmentally inappropriate to subject a child to intense study.  It weakens him physically and perhaps psychologically. This conception would loosely fit within Piaget’s preoperational stage, where children can think symbolically but don’t yet have strong reading or textual skills. They are also egocentric in their thinking, demonstrating difficulty seeing the world through another’s perspective.  

Beginning to study Scripture at five aligns with Piaget’s concrete operational stage where children become less self-focused and begin to think more logically and concretely. After mastering Scripture, they begin Mishna at age 10. This is approximately when Piaget’s formal operational stage begins, which continues to develop throughout adolescence. During this stage, children begin using symbols to study abstract concepts. They can think systematically, generate theories, and consider alternative possibilities. By fifteen, they would have the necessary content knowledge and cognitive capacity to analyze Scripture and Mishna more abstractly and analytically, as the study of Talmud necessitates.

Scripture, Mishna, and Talmud are each given five years for study, even though, as Rabbi Samuel de Uceda notes, Talmud has more content than Mishna, and Mishna more material than Scripture. This is because the child’s mind becomes more efficient over time. Using Piaget’s language, the earlier learning of Scripture and then Mishna creates mental schemas, which allows new information to be assimilated or accommodated more quickly, speeding up the rate of learning.

ADOLESENCE

The Mishna is not just concerned with academic tasks, but also relates to what Erik Erikson termed psycho-social development. Erikson devised an eight-stage model from infancy through old age. Each stage involves a conflict that is either resolved positively, leading to a psychological strength or virtue, or failed, potentially influencing later stages negatively as well. The stages most relevant for our Mishna are Stage 5 - Identity vs. Confusion (adolescence);  Stage 6 - Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adult);  Stage 7 - Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle age); and Stage 8 - Integrity vs. Despair (old age).

At thirteen a male adolescent becomes officially religiously responsible for his actions. Despite the full-flung obligation, thirteen-year-olds are not fully developed physically, socially, emotionally, cognitively, or morally. In Erikson’s psychosocial stage, this is when adolescents explore and develop their identity. How is one to understand the full demands of the commandments within these limitations of development?

The Mishna itself may implicitly address this issue on two levels. First, the obligation to get married is listed at eighteen. From a strict legal perspective, this commandment, like any other, is required to be fulfilled at thirteen. The fact that the age listed is eighteen acknowledges that a thirteen year old is not developmentally ready for all aspects of adulthood.

Second, at twenty, a person is said to “lirdof.” This word is vague, and commentaries provide various explanations. Rashi connects the idea to a midrashic notion that even though ritual obligations and legal responsibility officially begin at thirteen, from a divine perspective, a person is not fully culpable for his or her sins until the age of twenty. This Midrash may be a slight nod to the challenges of this liminal stage where adolescents are forming their identity and continuing to mature. There is a careful dialectic. On the one hand, we have high expectations. They are fully responsible and accountable. Yet, there is also empathy and compassion. While the Halakha places high demands, the Aggadah provides consolation.

ADULTHOOD

In a second possibility, Rashi suggests that lirdof indicates that at twenty a person is obligated to pursue a livelihood. Rabbi Joseph Al-Ashkar elaborates on this idea and assumes that at twenty, parents should take a step back and let the young adult take responsibility to shape his own life. This young adult in our Mishna is now married and working, overlapping with Erikson’s sixth stage of Intimacy vs. Isolation. The young adult needs to take the personal identity he began to develop in the previous stages and integrate it healthily into meaningful relationships with others.

Erikson’s next stage, Generativity vs. Stagnation, focuses on work productivity and contribution. Succeeding at this stage would require making positive contributions to the world. The Mishna’s next three stages, thirty for strength, forty for wisdom, and fifty for council, can be seen through this prism as well. At thirty, the height of physical and mental stamina, we should make sure to use our energies in meaningful spiritual and social pursuits. At forty, after years of learning and experience, we have more mental capacity that allows for a deeper understanding of the world, people, Torah, and God. At fifty, wisdom continues to foment through learning and experience, allowing us to contribute wise counsel and life advice to others.

The next five stages of the Mishna, from sixty to hundred, fall within Erikson’s final stage of Integrity vs. Despair. At this time, our bodies and minds begin to slow down, and it is time to begin processing and reviewing our lives. If we look back with “a sense of coherence and wholeness” this leads to feelings of integrity. Reflecting on life negatively, with regrets for mistakes and time wasted, leads to despair.

According to Rabbeinu Yonah in his “Gates of Repentance,” these later stages should motivate repentance. Even one who looks back at life and feels regret and despair has the capacity to improve with whatever time he has left. For each of these last stages of the Mishna (old age at sixty, fullness of years at seventy, strength at eighty, bent body at ninety, as if he is dead at hundred), commentaries emphasize the decline of the body and the necessity to invest into the spirit. The imperative is to focus less on the mundane, and more on prayer and learning Torah.

Rhetorically, the quick tenor of this Mishna allows us to reflect on the fleetingness of life. Within thirty seconds of reading the Mishna, we have completely encapsulated the trajectory of our entire life span. The sages did not whitewash our vulnerability and our mortality. Rabbi Samuel de Uceda suggests that the true purpose of this Mishna is to motivate us to take advantage of each stage to its fullest. While it is true that repentance is always possible, the true flourishing life is one where we accomplish the cognitive, social, and spiritual tasks of each stage, truly experiencing a life well-lived.