Ethics of the Fathers

Pirkei Avot - Perek Alef

פרקי אבות – פרק א

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פרקי אבות

ETHICS OF THE FATHERS

One of the following chapters is read each Shabbat after Pesah until the Shabbat before Rosh HaShana. On the last three Shabbatot before Rosh HaShana, two chapters are read.

Sanhedrin 90aIs. 60

Hebrew

כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשׁ לָהֶם חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר:
וְעַמֵּךְ כֻּלָּם צַדִּיקִים, לְעוֹלָם יִירְשׁוּ אָרֶץ
נֵצֶר מַטָּעַי, מַעֲשֵׂה יָדַי לְהִתְפָּאֵר:

Sephardi

Kol Yisrael yesh lahem chelek la'olam haba. Shene'emar:
Ve'amech kulam tzadikim, le'olam yirshu aretz
Netzer matta'ai, ma'aseh yadai lehitpa'er:

English

All Israel have a share in the World to Come, as it is said: “Your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever; they are a shoot of My own planting, a work of My own hands, that I may be glorified.”

פרק ראשון

CHAPTER I

Hebrew

מֹשֶׁה קִבֵּל תּוֹרָה מִסִּינַי וּמְסָרָהּ לִיהוֹשֻׁעַ, וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ לִזְקֵנִים, וּזְקֵנִים לִנְבִיאִים,
וּנְבִיאִים מְסָרוּהָ לְאַנְשֵׁי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הֵם אָמְרוּ שְׁלֹשָׁה דְבָרִים: הֱווּ
מְתוּנִים בַּדִּין, וְהַעֲמִידוּ תַלְמִידִים הַרְבֵּה, וַעֲשׂוּ סְיָג לַתּוֹרָה.

Sephardi

Moshe kibbel Torah miSinai umesarah liYehoshua, viYehoshua lizkenim, uzkenim linevi'im,
Unevi'im mesaruhah le'anshei Chneset hagedolah. Heim amru sheloshah devarim: Hevu
Metunim baddin, veha'amidu talmidim harbeh, va'asu seyag laTorah.

English

Moses received the Torah at Sinai and handed it on to Yehoshua; Yehoshua to the elders; the elders to the prophets; and the prophets handed it on to the men of the Great Assembly. They (the men of the Great Assembly) said three things: Be careful in judgment; raise up many disciples; and make a fence for the Torah.

Hebrew

שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר: עַל שְׁלֹשָׁה
דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד, עַל הַתּוֹרָה, וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה, וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים.

Sephardi

Shimon hatzaddik hayah mishiyarei Chneset hagedolah. Hu hayah omer: Al sheloshah
Devarim ha'olam omed, al haTorah, ve'al ha'avodah, ve'al gemilut chasadim.

English

Shimon the Just was one of the last survivors of the Great Assembly. He used to say: On three things the world stands: on the Torah, on divine worship, and on acts of loving-kindness.

Commentary

Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot) is the name given to the tractate of the Mishna that gathers together many of the ethical teachings of the sages. The word Avot may mean “fundamental principles,” however it is more likely to mean “the fathers” of the oral tradition, the teachers of the Mishna and their predecessors. To the five chapters of the Mishna was added a sixth, not itself part of the Mishna but a later addition, similar in style and content. The need for such an addition arose in circles where the custom was to study one chapter each week during the six Shabbatot between Pesah and Shavuot. It is our custom, however, to study Avot from Pesah until the Shabbat before Rosh HaShana.

The tractate begins by tracing the unbroken continuity of the Oral Law from Moses to the sages. Interestingly, the sages traced their provenance to the prophets rather than the priests, who go unmentioned in the chain of succession.

The tractate ranges widely over matters of belief and conduct, but its primary concern is to set out values and virtues of a life dedicated to the study and practice of Torah. Its style is aphoristic; its statements brief, epigrammatic, and at times even cryptic. The first two chapters are organized chronologically; chapters three and four are collections of sayings; chapter five records teachings whose common feature is that they are associated with numerical lists; and the sixth is a hymn of praise to the life of Torah and the virtues it requires.

No finer account exists of the way of life epitomized by the sages, which was quiet, scholarly, profoundly driven by a sense of justice and integrity, skeptical of politics and politicians, and dedicated to the life of the mind and to the spiritual drama of study as the highest connection between the mind of man and the will of God.

1:1. The elders: Leaders of the people in the days of the Judges (see Judges 2:7). Men of the Great Assembly: a council of the sages convened by Ezra or shortly thereafter, during the Second Temple period. Make a fence: Rabbinic enactments designed to safeguard Torah observance.