Pirke Avot: The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers

1. Moses received the Torah (4) from Sinai (5), and handed it down to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders (6), and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets delivered it to the men of the Great Synagogue (7). They said three things, "Be deliberate in judgment; raise up many disciples; and make a fence about the Torah" (8).

(4) The word Torah is usually translated by "law," but it means rather "teaching," "instruction" of any kind, or "doctrine." This term is generally used to designate the Five Books of Moses or the Pentateuch, called the "written law" ([torah shebichtav]), but it is also employed as a designation of the whole of the Old Testament. Besides the "written law," according to tradition, there was also communicated to Moses, on Mt. Sinai, the "oral law" ([torah she'b'al peh]), supplementing the former and other laws and maxims, and explaining it. This "oral law" was handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation, but subsequently, after the destruction of the second Temple, it was committed to writing, and constitutes the Mishnah, the Talmud, and the Midrashim. The "oral law" develops, illuminates, and comments upon the "written law." Here, Torah means the "oral law," which Moses communicated to Joshua, Joshua, in turn, to the elders, and so on. See Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, p. 105 et seq., and 134-135; Friedlander, The Jewish Religion, p. 136 et seq.; Jewish Encyclopedia, arts. Law and Oral Law; Schechter, Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology, Chapter VIII; Strack, Einleitung, pp. 9-10, and Herford, Pharisaism, chapter on "the Theory of Torah," p. 57 et seq.

(7) The Great Synagogue, whose establishment, after the return from Babylonian captivity, tradition attributes to Ezra the Scribe, consisted of 120 men, who comprised the highest judicial tribunal, and who occupied a position in the early days of the Temple similar to that of the later Sanhedrin. The historical foundation of this tradition is Nehemiah VIII-X, in which is recounted the solemn acceptance of the Law by a great assembly of the people. The men of the Great Synagogue appear here in Abot as the depositaries of the tradition of the Torah, coming in the chain between the last prophets and the earliest scribes. From this chapter and other Rabbinical sources, we gather that the men of the Great Synagogue constituted a sort of college of teachers, one of the last survivors being Simon, the Just (Chapter I, 2). Their work was to interpret, teach, and develop the Torah, and to them were ascribed all kinds of legal enactments. They instituted the Shemoneh Esrah (the Eighteen Benedictions) and other prayers, and cast the entire ritual into definite shape. They admitted Proverbs, the Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes into the Old Testament canon. A number of modern scholars, notably Kuenen, are of the opinion that this body never existed in the form represented by Jewish tradition (see Schurer, History, I, ii, pp. 354-355). On the controversy regarding the existence of the Great Synagogue see Schechter, Studies, II, 105-106. Consult Taylor, ibid., pp. 110-111; Graetz, History of the Jews, vol. I, p. 381, 394, vol. II, p. 19.

(8) Take measures to prevent the breaking of any of the divine precepts. Thereby, certain things which are in themselves lawful are prohibited in order to enforce the observance of things the doing of which is unlawful. Compare Leviticus XVIII, 30, "make a mishmeret to my mishmeret" (Yabamot, 21a), and Abot, III, 17, "the Massorah is a fence to the Torah."

(9) Simon, the Just, son of Onias, was high-priest about 300 B.C.E. See Josephus, Antiquities, XII, ii, 5. Consult Sammter, Mischnaioth Ordnung Zeraim (Berlin, 1887), Introduction, pp. 10-22; Meilziner, Introduction to the Talmud, pp. 22-39; the Jewish Encyclopedia, and Strack, Einleitung, p. 82 et seq., for the lives of the authorities mentioned in Abot and for bibliographies.

(10) Cf. Nedarim, 32b, "Great is the Torah, for if it did not exist, the heaven and the earth would have no permanence." Abodah is the service and sacrifice of the Temple which was then standing. After the destruction of the Temple, this word was used to designate the service of prayer. It is used in one of the benedictions after the reading of the Haftarah: al ha-torah we-al ha-abodah, "for the law and for the divine service," see Prayer-book, ed. Singer, p. 149. See Friedlander, ibid., p. 413 et seq.

(11) [g'milut chasadim] "benevolence," "the doing of kindnesses," consists of practical deeds of personal service, as visiting the sick, burying the dead, comforting mourners, peacemaking, etc. It is greater than [tzedakah] "charity" in its narrower sense, as benevolence may be shown to the rich as well as to the poor. See Friedlander, ibid., pp. 301-305. On this verse, see Herford, ibid., p. 22 et seq.

3. Antigonus of Soko (12) received (the tradition) from Simon, the Just. He used to say, "Be not like hirelings who work for their master for the sake of receiving recompense; but be like servants who minister to their master without any thought of receiving a reward; and let the fear of Heaven (13) be upon you."

(12) According to Abot de-Rabbi Natan, Chapter V, ed. Schechter, p. 26, Antigonus had two disciples, Zadok and Boethos, from whom arose the Sadducees and the heretical sect of Boethusians, from their misinterpretation of this verse, both denying the doctrines of immortality of the soul and resurrection. Se Kohut, The Ethics of the Fathers, p. 43; Schurer, History, II, ii. p. 29 et seq.; Geiger, Judaism and Its History, p. 99 et seq.; and Jewish Encyclopedia, arts. Boethusians and Sadducees.

(13) "The fear of Heaven" does not mean dread of punishment, but rather awe at the greatness and might of God, and is identical with love and service (see Deuteronomy, VI, 13 and X, 12). It is produced by following out the practices ordained in the Torah (Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, ed. Friedlander, p. 392). Consult Friedlander, Jewish Religion, pp. 273-274, the Jewish Encyclopedia, art. Fear of God, and Schechter, Aspects, p. 72.

4. Jose, the son of Joezer, of Zeredah, and Jose, the son of Jochanan (14), of Jerusalem received (the tradition) from them (15). Jose, the son of Joezer, of Zeredah said, "Let thy house be a meeting-place for the wise; cover thyself with the dust of their feet (16), and drink in their words with thirst."

(14) In Chagigah, II, 2, we are told that when two leading teachers are named in the Mishnah as having received the Torah, they constitute a "pair" ([zug]), the first being the president([nasi]), and the second the vice-president ([av beit din]) of the Sanhedrin. There were five pairs of such teachers, flourishing between 170 and 30 B.C.E., the first being Jose b. Joezer and Jose b. Jochanan, and the last being Hillel and Shammai. See Frankel, Monatschrift, 1852, pp. 405-421, Mielziner, Introduction, pp. 22-23, and Strack, Spruche, p. 13.

5. Jose, the son of Jochanan, of Jerusalem said, "Let thy house be open wide; let the poor be members of thy household, and engage not in much gossip with woman." This applies to one's own wife; how much more (17), then, to the wife of one's neighbor? Hence the sages say, "Whoso engages in much gossip with woman brings evil upon himself, neglects the study of the Torah, and will in the end inherit gehinnom" (18).

(18) [gey-hinim (gimil-yud hey-nun-yud-mem(sofit))], [gei ben-hinim], a glen south of Jerusalem where Moloch was worshipped, whence a place where the wicked were punished in the hereafter; "hell, being the opposite of 'the Garden of Eden,'" "paradise." Cf. chapter V, 22 and 23. See Friedlander, Jewish Religion, p. 223.

6. Joshua, the son of Perachyah, and Nittai, the Arbelite, received (the tradition) from them. Joshua, the son of Perachyah, said, "Provide thyself with a teacher, and possess thyself of a companion (19); and judge every man in the scale of merit."

8. Judah, the son of Tabbi, and Simeon, the son of Shatach (22), received (the tradition) from them. Judah, the son of Tabbi, said, "(In the judge's office) act not the counsel's part (23); while the litigants are standing before thee, let them be regarded by thee as guilty, but when they are departed from thy presence, regard them as innocent, the verdict having been acquiesced in by them."

(28) Scholars must be careful in their teachings, lest their disciples misinterpret their words, and thus adopt false doctrines, as was the case with the disciples of Antigonus of Soko (Supra, n. 12). "Evil waters" may stand for evil doctrines or evil people. When a teacher went into banishment, he was usually followed by his disciples. Departure from the law is equivalent to death.

12. Hillel and Shammai (29) received (the tradition) from them. Hillel said, "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace (30), loving mankind and drawing them night to the Torah" (31). 13. He used to say, "A name made great is a name destroyed (32); he who does not increase (his knowledge) decreases (it); and he who does not study deserves to die; and he who makes a worldly use of the crown (of the Torah) shall waste away." 14. He used to say, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I care for myself only, what am I? (33). And if not now, when?"

(29) Hillel and Shammai, the most renowned of the "pairs" ([zugot]), lived about 100 years before the destruction of the Temple. Each was the founder of a school, Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai, being generally opposed to one another in the interpretation of the Torah. Hillel was the embodiment of humility, gentleness, and kindness; Shammai was irritable, and lacked gentleness and patience. The former's most celebrated saying is, "What is hateful to thee do not do unto thy fellow man; this is the whole Torah, the rest is mere commentary." See Bacher, Agada der Tanaiten; Schurer, History, I, ii, p. 359 et seq.; Myers, story of the Jewish People, I, p. 136 et seq.; geiger, Judaism and its History, p. 113 et seq.