Pirke Avot

Timeless Wisdom for Modern Life

Authored by William Berkson Ph.D.

Publication Year: 2010

In Pirke Avot: Timeless Wisdom for Modern Life, William Berkson provides a fresh, insightful, and exciting approach to this central and compelling classical Jewish ethical text. He, with the assistance of Menachem Fisch, provides a clear and comprehensible translation of the tractate, and his historical commentary draws insightfully on the sources of Jewish tradition for its explication of its sayings. Most significantly, Berkson brings the ideas found in Avot into conversation with a wide variety of philosophical, psychological, and religious perspectives so that the reader can drink deeply from the wellsprings of wisdom that Avot offers for contemporary persons – Jews and non-Jews alike. This book is a most important contribution to Jewish conversation in our time! "-- Rabbi David Ellenson, President Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religon

Published by: Jewish Publication Society

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"Pirke Avot (peer-kay ah-voht) is an anthology of the sayings of the greatest post-biblical Jewish Sages. It is one of the great wisdom books of world literature, with its only peers being such classics as the Analects of Confucius, from ancient..."

Chapter One

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pp. 9-52

"Moses received Torah from Sinai, And passed it on to Joshua, And Joshua to the elders, And the elders to the prophets, And the prophets passed it on to men of the Great Assembly. (1:1a)"

Chapter Two

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pp. 53-103

"Which is the right path that you should choose for yourself ? One that is admirable in your eyes, And admirable in the eyes of others. (2:1a)"

Chapter Three

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pp. 105-131

"When two people sit together and exchange no words of Torah, this is “a meeting of scoffers.” When two people sit together and exchange words of Torah, the Divine Presence rests between them. (3:3)"

Chapter Four

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pp. 133-160

"Who is wise? The prooftext in the Hebrew is: “From all my teachers have I gained wisdom” (ps 119:99). Hillel exemplified a devotion to learning from every source, even from nature and popular lore:"

Chapter Five

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pp. 161-180

"Ten things were created on the eve of Shabbat at twilight: the mouth of the earth, the mouth of the well, the mouth of the donkey, the rainbow, the manna, the staff, the shamir, the script, the stylus, the tablets. And some say: evil spirits, too, and the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham our father."

Appendices

Avot: Complete Text

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pp. 183-209

Kinyan Torah

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pp. 210-219

Commentary Topics

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pp. 221-225

Subject Index

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pp. 227-228

E-ISBN-13: 9780827611207
Print-ISBN-13: 9780827609174

Publication Year: 2010

Pirke Avot

Front Cover

Half-title

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on the Text

Abbreviations

Introduction