Part 1 (1/2)
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 wors.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+eld_, 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.