zea` iwxt from the Sayings of the Fathers
Pirke Avot , literally, chapters of the fathers, is a tractate of the Mishnah which contains ethical teachings and aphorisms of the rabbis. These were the spiritual ‘fathers’of the Jewish people, which is one explanation for the title of the tractate. It was highly regarded in the rabbinic period: ‘One who wishes to be pious, a chasid , should fulfil the words of Pirke Avot ’ ( Baba Kama 30a). Since the period of the Gaonim (ninth century) it has been a custom to read Pirke Avot on Saturday afternoons, in particular on the six Shabbatot between Pesach and Shavuot . The introduction traces the chain of tradition whereby the Torah given to Moses at Sinai was handed down to successive generations. In particular it emphasises the line through the prophets to the ‘men of the Great Assembly’, viewed by the rabbis as the source of their own authority. A recurrent theme throughout is the centrality of the study of Torah as the key to a good and successful life. We have selected those sayings that have the most immediate impact, and also omitted the many Biblical proof texts that are quoted to support particular opinions, as these can be found in the many full editions of Pirke Avot .
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