Pirke Avot: The Sayings Of The Jewish Fathers Part 1

Pirke Avot.

by Traditional Text.

PREFACE

Notwithstanding the fact that there are many editions of the _Sayings of the Jewish Fathers_, and that it has been translated innumerable times in all modern tongues, no apology need be given for the appearance of this little volume in the series of _Jewish Cla.s.sics_.

The _Pirke Abot_ is indeed a cla.s.sical bit of that ancient Jewish cla.s.sic, the _Mishnah_.

The translation in this edition is based largely upon that of Taylor, in his _Sayings of the Jewish Fathers_, and upon the excellent version of Singer, in his _Authorized Daily Prayer Book_.

This edition is intended mainly for popular reading, but it has been thought wise to amplify the notes, especially with bibliographical references, so that it may serve the purpose of a teacher's handbook, and also be useful as a text-book for the higher grades of religious schools and for study circles. The references are to books that are generally accessible, and, wherever possible, to books in English.

The notes are by no means intended to be exhaustive, but rather to be suggestive.

It is the humble hope of the editor that this little book may be the means of further popularizing the practical and, at the same time, high-minded wisdom of the "Fathers"; that it may serve as an incentive to a more detailed study of their philosophy of life, and that its appearance may help us to lead in a revival of that most ancient and praiseworthy custom of reading the _Pirke Abot_ in the house of worship on the Sabbath, during the summer months. Let him into whose hands these sayings fall "meditate upon them day and night," for "he who would be saintly must fulfil the dicta of the Fathers."

JOSEPH I GORFINKLE.

Mt. Vernon, N. Y.

February, 1913.

INTRODUCTION

NAME

_The Tractate Abot_ (_Ma.s.sechet Abot_) is the ninth treatise of _The Order_ or _Series on Damages_ (_Seder Nezikin_), which is the fourth section of the _Mishnah_ (1). It is commonly known in Hebrew as _Pirke Abot_, _The Chapters of the Fathers_, and has also been termed _Mishnat ha-Chasidim_, _Instruction for the Pious_, because of the Rabbinic saying, "He who wishes to be pious, let him practise the teachings of _Abot_" (2). On account of the nature of its contents, it is generally designated in English as the _Ethics of the Fathers_.

Taylor ent.i.tles his edition _Dibre Aboth ha-Olam_, Sayings of the Fathers of the World_, and has as the English t.i.tle, _Sayings of the Jewish Fathers_. Gustav Gottheil refers to the _Abot_ as the _Sayings of the Pharisaic Fathers_ (3). Its German t.i.tle is generally _Die Spruche der Vater_, and in French it is usually rendered _Chapitres_ or _Maximes des Peres_.

(1) See _infra_, [Chapter V], n. 61.

(2) _Baba Kamma_, 30a. See Taylor, _Sayings of the Jewish Fathers_, p. 3. Maimonides refers to this saying in the _Foreword_ of his _Eight Chapters_; see Gorfinkle, _The Eight Chapters_, etc., p. 34.

(3) See _Sun and Shield_, p. 321 _et pa.s.sim_. See _infra_, n.

8, which accounts for the use of "_Pharisaic_."

The use of the word _Abot_ (fathers), in the t.i.tle, is of very ancient date. We can only guess at the reason for its being used, and, consequently, there are various explanations for it. Samuel de Uceda, in his collective commentary, says that as this tractate of the _Mishnah_ contains the advice and good counsel, which, for the most part, come from a father, the Rabbis mentioned in it adopt the role of "fathers," and are therefore so designated. This explanation does not, however, deter him from advancing another to the effect that this treatise is the basis of all subsequent ethical and moral teachings and doctrines, and the Rabbis are, in consequence, the "fathers" or prototypes of all ethical teachers and moralists (4). Loeb attributes its use to the fact that the Rabbis of _Abot_ are the "fathers" or "ancestors of Rabbinic Judaism" (5). Hoffman states that the word _abot_ means "teachers of tradition" (_Traditionslehrer_), and points to the expression _abot ha-olam_ (_Eduyot_, I. 4), which, translated literally, is "fathers of the world," but is used to designate the most distinguished teachers, which is a true characterization of the Rabbis of _Abot_ (6). Taylor says in regard to the t.i.tle, "It takes its name from the fact that it consists to a great extent of the maxims of the Jewish Fathers whose names are mentioned in the pages"

(7). Hoffmann's seems the most acceptable explanation.

(4) _Midrash Shemuel_ (ed. Warsaw, 1876), p. 6. The _Midrash Shemuel_ is a collective commentary, first published in Venice in 1579, and which has since pa.s.sed through six editions. See p. 22, n. 21.

(5) _La Chaine_, etc., p. 307, n. 1.

(6) See Hoffman, _Seder Nesikin, Introd._, p. xx, and p. 258, n. 36. In this pa.s.sage of _Eduyot_, Hillel and Shammai are referred to as _abot ha-olam_; in _Yerushalmi Shekalim_, III, 47b, Rabbi and Ishmael and Rabbi Akiba, and in _Yerushalmi Chagigah_, II, 77d, all the pairs of _Abot_ I are similarly designated.

(7) Taylor, _loc. cit._

PURPOSE

The original aim of _Abot_ was to show the divine source and authority of the traditional law revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and to demonstrate its continuity from Moses through Joshua, the elders, and the men of the Great Synagogue, down to those Rabbis who lived during the period between 200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. Loeb maintains that _Abot_ was originally a composition of the Pharisaic Rabbis who wished to indicate that the traditions held and expounded by them, and which the Sadducees repudiated, were divine and, in time and sequence, uninterruptedly authoritative (8). This line of continuous tradition is plainly seen in the first two chapters. A second and probably later purpose was to present a body of practical maxims and aphorisms for the daily guidance of the people.

(8) _La Chaine_, etc. The Sadducees belonged to the priestly and aristocratic families. They made light of the oral traditions, did not believe in the future life, and were indifferent to the independence of the Jewish nation. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were const.i.tuted largely from the common people; they were believers in, and strict observers of, the traditional laws, and were ardent nationalists. The bitter attack of Jesus on them, which has resulted in making the word "Pharisee" synonymous with "hypocrite" and "self-righteous person," was, to say the least, unjust, as Herford has so lucidly pointed out in his sympathetic study of the Pharisees. Herford, though not a Jew, has taken up the cudgels most ably in defence of this sect, with remarkable insight into the life and literature of the ancient Jews. He demonstrates conclusively that though there were hypocrites among the Pharisees, as among all cla.s.ses and creeds, yet the average Pharisee was a man of the most elevated religious ideals, who misunderstood Jesus, but who, in turn was misunderstood by him. Huxley, in his _Evolution of Theology_, says, "of all the strange ironies in history, perhaps the strangest is that 'Pharisee' is current as a term of reproach among the theological descendants of that sect of Nazarenes who, without the martyr spirit of those primitive Puritans, would never have come into existence."

Such great teachers and men of sterling quality and golden utterance as Antigonus of Soko (I, 3), Hillel (I, 12-14; II, 5-8), Jochanan ben Zakkai (II, 9-19), Gamaliel, whose pupil was Paul, the apostle (I, 16), and Judah, the Prince (II, 1), whose sayings grace the pages of _Abot_, were, as Loeb points out, of the Pharisaic school or party. There is naturally a large literature on the Pharisees. Herford's _Pharisaism_ deserves careful perusal. See, also, Josephus (ed.

Whiston-Margoliouth), _Antiq._, XIII, 10.6, XVIII, 1, 2-4; Schurer, _History of the Jews_, etc., II, ii, p. 14 _et seq._; _Jewish Encyclopedia_ and literature mentioned there; Geiger, _Judaism and Its History_, p. 102 _et seq._, and Friedlander, G., _The Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount_, p. 34 _et seq._

DESCRIPTION

The _Sayings of the Jewish Fathers_ is the oldest collection of ethical dicta of the Rabbis of the _Mishnah_ (9). It is a Rabbinic anthology. It has been happily styled "a compendium of practical ethics" (10), and, as Mielziner has said, "these Rabbinical sentences, if properly arranged, present an almost complete code of human duties"

(11). The _Abot_ is, then, a sort of moral code.

(9) There was another, and apparently older, recension of _Pirke Abot_ on which is based the _Abot de-Rabbi Natan_, an _hagadic_ or homiletical exposition of _Abot_. Two recensions of _Abot de-Rabbi Natan_ exist, and have been edited by Schechter. On this work, see Hoffman, _Die erste Mischna_, p.

26 _et seq._, Mielziner, article _Abot de-Rabbi Natan_, in _Jewish Encyclopedia_, Strack, _Einleitung_, p. 69 _et seq., and Pollak, _Rabbi Nathans System_, etc., _Introduction_, pp.

7-9. An English translation is found in Rodkinson's edition of the _Talmud_, vol. V, p. 1 _et seq._

(10) Taylor, _loc. cit._ Lazarus, _Ethics of Judaism_, II.

113, calls it "a compendium of ethics."

(11) In _Jewish Encyclopedia_, art. _Abot_.

CONTENTS

Even a superficial reading of _Abot_ will bring home to one the fact that it is made up of various strata. In fact, it falls naturally into the following strands or divisions:

A. Chapter I, 1-15: Chronologically arranged sayings of the oldest authorities, from the men of the Great Synagogue to Hillel and Shammai.

B. (1) Chapters I, 16-II, 4: Sayings of the men of the school of Hillel to Rabban Gamaliel (about 230 C.E.), the son of Judah ha-Nasi

(2) Chapter II, 5-8: Additional sayings of Hillel.

C. (1) Chapter II, 9-19: The sayings of Jochanan ben Zakkai, the pupil of Hillel, and of his disciples.

(2) Chapter II, 20-21: The sayings of Rabbi Tarfon, a younger contemporary of Jochanan ben Zakkai.

D. Chapter III: the maxims of seventeen _Tannaim_ (authorities mentioned in the _Mishnah_) to the time of and including Rabbi Akiba. These are not arranged in strictly chronological order.

E. Chapter IV: The sayings of twenty-five _Tannaim_ after the time of Rabbi Akiba, who were contemporaries of Rabbi Meir and of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi. These are not chronologically arranged.