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A New Israeli Commentary on Pirkei Avot
A New Israeli Commentary on Pirkei Avot — CC0 English partial community translation
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Reading language: eng · Original language (catalog): English
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A New Israeli Commentary on Pirkei Avot, Introduction 2
This tractate is called by the name, Tractate Avot (Fathers) or Pirkei Avot (The Chapters of the Fathers). It is already mentioned by this name in the Babylonian Talmud, which says (in Aramaic), "Anyone who wants to be pious should observe... the words of [Tractate] Avot" (Bava Kamma 30a). The commentaries are divided about the understanding of this name. Some say that the Fathers being spoken about here are the spiritual fathers of Judaism; meaning those Sages and men of understanding who laid its foundations in the post-Biblical period, starting from the Men of the First Assembly (see about them at the beginning of the Tractate) and ending with the last of the Tannaim (early teachers), that designed the Mishnah in the form we have in front of us. According to another opinion, the "Fathers," spoken about here are the foundational principles of the life of the religious-ethical spirit, general principles in the light of which it is recommended that one walk. But perhaps it is possible to combine the two understandings and say that Tractate Avot includes the foundations of a proper life, according to how the founders of post-Biblical Jewish society put them together.
A New Israeli Commentary on Pirkei Avot, Introduction 3
It must be admitted that Tractate Avot did not make a big impression on the literature of the Sages, may their memory be blessed (Chazal), in the Talmud and Midrash that would be created over the first six hundred years of the Common Era. It also did not even earn systematic treatment in either Talmud, unlike most other tractates in the Mishnah. Nevertheless, a great change in this matter occurred in the days of the Geonim in eighth- or ninth-century Babylonia, when they followed the practice of publicly reading Tractate Avot year after year, according to many different customs. Some read it - and even read it until the present day - one chapter at a time on the Shabbats between Pesach and Rosh Hashanah. And there were others that sufficed with its public reading on the six Shabbats between Pesach and Shavuot, as a preparation for the holiday of the giving of the Torah. (Pirkei Avot probably received its name from the custom of dividing it into chapters for the sake of its [public] reading.) There is room to suppose that this custom was born from the dispute that existed between the Jewish leaders of the time and the Karaites, who conceded to the holiness of the written Torah but nevertheless refused to take on the yoke of the oral Torah upon themselves. In response, the practice was established to read - particularly in preparation for the holiday of the giving of the written Torah - the tractate that emphasizes the importance of the oral Torah, its students, its designers and its unbroken chain of transmission from one generation to another. In any event, from that time onwards, Tractate Avot took up a place of honor in the world of Judaism: It appears in almost every prayer book printed throughout the Jewish world. Hundreds of commentaries on it have been written, both in the East and West. From the Middle Ages, and especially in the Modern Period, Tractate Avot has also been translated into many languages. It has been - and is - used as a basis for branches of research in linguistics, Jewish history, biographical studies of the Sages mentioned in the tractate, theology, philosophy, and especially ethics. Many of its sayings have made their way into belle lettres and even into common speech, such that they have become an ironclad possession. They are widely used by many Hebrew speakers, sometimes without knowing that they are quoting from Tractate Avot.
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Recorded completeness: PARTIAL: 18 supplied nonempty English section(s); full-work translation unavailable in this exact export. Chapter navigation lists only sections actually supplied.. Available reading sections are listed below.
Available body coverage · eng
4 chapter/reading unit(s) · 18 nonempty passage record(s).
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- Chapter 1 · 14 passage record(s)
- Chapter 5 · 1 passage record(s)
- Chapter 6 · 1 passage record(s)
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