Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers)

The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, translated by Joseph I. Gorfinkle. 6 chapters.

Pick a chapter.

An Ancient Reference Book, not part of the Bible. Pirkei Avot is a short book of the Mishnah, the written collection of Jewish teaching that was first handed down by word of mouth. The sayings are shown as Gorfinkle translated them in his second edition of 1913. His introduction and notes are not shown. It is free to use.

Part I

What it is

What the book holds, who said it, and how it is used. From Gorfinkle’s introduction (1913) and the book itself.

Its name. Pirke Abot, Gorfinkle writes, means “The Chapters of the Fathers.” In English it is also called the Ethics of the Fathers.
A book of sayings. Gorfinkle calls it “the oldest collection of ethical dicta of the Rabbis of the Mishnah.” Each saying is short, and most begin with the name of the teacher who said it.
Who said them. Teachers from the men of the Great Synagogue down to the rabbis who lived, in Gorfinkle’s words, “between 200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.”
Why it was gathered. Gorfinkle gives two aims: to show the teaching handed down from Moses at Sinai, teacher to teacher, and “to present a body of practical maxims and aphorisms for the daily guidance of the people.”
Its language. Mishnaic Hebrew, with four sayings in Aramaic (1:13, 2:7, 5:25 and 5:26), as Gorfinkle notes.
How it is read. The book opens with this line: “One of the following chapters is read on each Sabbath from the Sabbath after Passover until the Sabbath before New Year.”

Part II

Where it meets the Bible

Places where the sayings touch the people and words of Scripture.

It begins with Moses. The first saying reads: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai, and handed it down to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets delivered it to the men of the Great Synagogue” (1:1).
It quotes Scripture. Many sayings end with a verse of the Hebrew Scriptures, brought in with the words “as it is said.” Those words come 36 times in this translation.
Gamaliel. A saying of Rabban Gamaliel is at 1:16. Gorfinkle’s introduction names this Gamaliel as the teacher of Paul. The New Testament names “a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law” (Acts 5:34), and Paul says he was brought up “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3, ASV).
Not part of the Bible. Pirkei Avot belongs to the Mishnah. Gorfinkle places it as the ninth tractate (book) of the “Order or Series on Damages,” the fourth section of the Mishnah.

Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers)

What it is

Where it meets the Bible

The six chapters