Pirke Avot: The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers

23. Judah, the son of Tema, said, "Be bold as a leopard, swift as an eagle, fleet as a hart, and strong as a lion, to do the will of thy Father who is in Heaven" (59). 24. He used to say (60), "At five years (the age is reached for the study of the) Scripture, at ten for (the study of) the Mishnah (61), at thirteen for (the fulfilment of) the commandments (62), at fifteen for (the study of) the Talmud (63), at eighteen for marriage, at twenty for seeking (a livelihood) (64), at thirty for (entering into one's full) strength, at forty for understanding, at fifty for counsel, at sixty (a man attains) old age, at seventy the hoary head, at eighty (the gift of special) strength (65), at ninety, (he bends beneath) the weight of years, at a hundred he is as if he were already dead and had passed away from the world."

(59) Cf. "Our Father which is in Heaven" of the "Lord's Prayer" (Matt. VI, 9). The conception of God as a "Father" goes back to earliest times. See Gen. XLIX, 19, 20; Ex. IV, 22; Deut. XXXII, 6; II Sam. V, 44; Ps. LXXXIX, 27, 28; Isa. LXIII, 16, LXIV, 8, and Mal. II, 10. Deut. XXXII, 6, reads, "Is He not thy Father?" and Isa. LXIII, 18, "Doubtless Thou art our Father." In the Mishnah we find, "Who purifies you? Your Father which is in Heaven" (Yoma VII, 8); "On whom have we to lean? On our Father which is in Heaven" (Sotah, IX, 15), and similar passages. The Rabbis constantly referred to God as "Father" (see Schechter, Aspects, pp. 46, 49, 50-51). They took issue, of course, with the New Testament conception of God, in not admitting and in denouncing the idea of a mediator. To them all mankind were the sons of God. That the Rabbis borrowed this God-idea and the expression "Our Father which is in Heaven" from Christianity is untenable, for, as Herford (Pharisaism, 120 et seq.) points out, such borrowing would have been abhorrent to them. This expression was undoubtedly current long before and during the time of Jesus, and it represented a conception of the divine acceptable to both the Rabbis and Jesus. The Rabbis had no quarrel with Christianity on this score, but did not admit the "sonship" of God in the Christian sense. The expressions "Our Father" and "Our Father which is in Heaven" are found frequently in the Jewish Prayer-book. On this subject, consult Taylor, Sayings, pp. 124, 176, and G. Friedlander, The Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount, chapter X.

For a comparison of other parts of Abot with the New Testament see Feibig, Pirque 'aboth, especially the Nachwort, pp. 42-43, and G. Friedlander, ibid., passim. It seems that originally Abot ended here, as in the Machzor Vitry. The verses which follow were added from other sources. See Bacher, Agada der Tanaiten, I, 378; Taylor, ibid., p. 95, n. 46, p. 96, n. 47; Hoffmann, Die erste Mischna, p. 30; idem, Abot, p. 358, notes 106 and 108; and Strack, Spruche, p. 46, notes t and u.

(60) Taylor makes this verse an addendum to chapter V, and calls it "The Ages of Man." Cf. Shakespeare's "Seven Ages of Man." See in the Jewish Encyclopedia, art. Ages of Man in Jewish Literature, The Seven, and Schechter, Studies, I, pp. 299-300.

(61) The Mishnah is the oral or unwritten law based on the written law contained in the Pentateuch (see chapter I, n. 1). The Mishnah, par excellence, is the codification made by Judah ha-Nasi (see chapter II, n. 1). It is divided into six orders or sections known as sedarim. They are

(6) Tohorot, "purifications," dealing with the clean and the unclean. Each order is subdivided into treatises (massektot), there being in all 63 such subdivisions. The Mishnah is known as the shas ([shin''samech]), which word is formed from the first letters of the words shishah sedarim (six orders). The Talmud is also similarly termed. For a discussion of the name, origin, contents, compilation, etc., of the Mishnah, see Mielziner, Introduction to the Talmud, p. 4 et seq.; art. Mishnah, in the Jewish Encyclopedia and the authorities cited there; Strack, Einleitung, p. 2, 15 et seq., 22 et seq., and Geiger, Judaism and its History, p. 239 et seq.

(62) At thirteen, the Jewish boy becomes bar mitzwah, i.e., "a son of commandment." The rites and ceremonies connected with the bar mitzwah of to-day cannot "be clearly traced earlier than the fourteenth century" (Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, p. 32). See Schurer, History, II, ii, p. 53 and n. 38; Schechter, Studies, I, p. 306 et seq., and art. Bar Mitzwah, in Jewish Encyclopedia.

(63) Lit., "teaching," "learning," "study." Here, it signifies study for the purpose of elucidating the Mishnah. Some texts read, "for the study of the Gemara." The Gemara (from the Aramaic, meaning "learning," "completion") is a collection of explanations and discussions on the Mishnah. The word Talmud was afterwards applied to the Mishnah plus the Gemara. There is a translation of the Talmud in English by Rodkinson, but it is free and incomplete in parts. See Meilziner, Introduction to the Talmud; Bacher, art. Talmud, in Jewish Encyclopedia; idem, art. Gemara, in the Hebrew Union College Annual (Cincinnati, 1904); E. Deutsch, What is the Talmud?; Darmsteter, The Talmud; Strack, Einleitung in den Talmud, pp. 4-5, 6 et seq., 99 et seq., 113 et seq., 132 et seq.; Schechter, On the Study of the Talmud in Studies, II, p. 102 et seq.; Herford, Pharisaism, pp. 53-54.

(64) Lit., "at twenty, to pursue." This has been variously interpreted as follows: (1) for seeking a livelihood (Bartenora, Hoffmann, Strack, Singer); (2) for the pursuit of military service (cf. Num. I, 3, and Deut. XXIV, 5; Machzor Vitri, p. 551. Shakespeare's "Then a soldier"); (3) the age "to pursue him for his deeds," for the celestial bet din (tribunal) does not punish at an age less than twenty (Bartenora's second explanation; cf. Rashi on Num. XVI, 27); (4) for the pursuit of ideals (Taylor); (5) to pursue the commandments (Siddur Korban Minchah).

(67) The last two verses are ascribed by Abot de-Rabbi Natan to Hillel (chapter XII, ed. Schechter, p. 55). Ben Bag Bag and Ben He He were probably proselytes and disciples of Hillel. See Bacher, ibid., pp. 10-12, Taylor and Hoffmann, ad loc., and Jewish Encyclopedia, art. Ben Bag Bag.

Rabbi Chanania, the son of Akashia, said, "The Holy One, blessed be He, was pleased to make Israel worthy; wherefore He gave them a copious Torah and many commandments, as it is said, 'It pleased the Lord, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the Torah and make it honorable'".