Introduction
Name
The Tractate Abot (Massechet Abot) is the ninth treatise of The Order or Series on Damages (Seder Nezikin), which is the fourth section of the Mishnah (1). It is commonly known in Hebrew as Pirke Abot, The Chapters of the Fathers, and has also been termed Mishnat ha-Chasidim, Instruction for the Pious, because of the Rabbinic saying, “He who wishes to be pious, let him practise the teachings of Abot” (2). On account of the nature of its contents, it is generally designated in English as the Ethics of the Fathers. Taylor entitles his edition Dibre Aboth ha-Olam, Sayings of the Fathers of the World_, and has as the English title, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers. Gustav Gottheil refers to the Abot as the Sayings of the Pharisaic Fathers (3). Its German title is generally Die Spruche der Vater, and in French it is usually rendered Chapitres or Maximes des Peres.
(1) See infra, [Chapter V], n. 61.
(2) Baba Kamma, 30a. See Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, p. 3. Maimonides refers to this saying in the Foreword of his Eight Chapters; see Gorfinkle, The Eight Chapters, etc., p. 34.
(3) See Sun and Shield, p. 321 et passim. See infra, n. 8, which accounts for the use of “Pharisaic.”
The use of the word Abot (fathers), in the title, is of very ancient date. We can only guess at the reason for its being used, and, consequently, there are various explanations for it. Samuel de Uceda, in his collective commentary, says that as this tractate of the Mishnah contains the advice and good counsel, which, for the most part, come from a father, the Rabbis mentioned in it adopt the role of “fathers,” and are therefore so designated. This explanation does not, however, deter him from advancing another to the effect that this treatise is the basis of all subsequent ethical and moral teachings and doctrines, and the Rabbis are, in consequence, the “fathers” or prototypes of all ethical teachers and moralists (4). Loeb attributes its use to the fact that the Rabbis of Abot are the “fathers” or “ancestors of Rabbinic Judaism” (5). Hoffman states that the word abot means “teachers of tradition” (Traditionslehrer), and points to the expression abot ha-olam (Eduyot, I. 4), which, translated literally, is “fathers of the world,” but is used to designate the most distinguished teachers, which is a true characterization of the Rabbis of Abot (6). Taylor says in regard to the title, “It takes its name from the fact that it consists to a great extent of the maxims of the Jewish Fathers whose names are mentioned in the pages” (7). Hoffmann’s seems the most acceptable explanation.
(4) Midrash Shemuel (ed. Warsaw, 1876), p. 6. The Midrash Shemuel is a collective commentary, first published in Venice in 1579, and which has since passed through six editions. See p. 22, n. 21.
(5) La Chaine, etc., p. 307, n. 1.
(6) See Hoffman, Seder Nesikin, Introd., p. xx, and p. 258, n. 36. In this passage of Eduyot, Hillel and Shammai are referred to as abot ha-olam; in Yerushalmi Shekalim, III, 47b, Rabbi and Ishmael and Rabbi Akiba, and in Yerushalmi Chagigah, II, 77d, all the pairs of Abot I are similarly designated.
(7) Taylor, loc. cit.
Purpose
The original aim of Abot was to show the divine source and authority of the traditional law revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and to demonstrate its continuity from Moses through Joshua, the elders, and the men of the Great Synagogue, down to those Rabbis who lived during the period between 200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. Loeb maintains that Abot was originally a composition of the Pharisaic Rabbis who wished to indicate that the traditions held and expounded by them, and which the Sadducees repudiated, were divine and, in time and sequence, uninterruptedly authoritative (8). This line of continuous tradition is plainly seen in the first two chapters. A second and probably later purpose was to present a body of practical maxims and aphorisms for the daily guidance of the people.
(8) La Chaine, etc. The Sadducees belonged to the priestly and aristocratic families. They made light of the oral traditions, did not believe in the future life, and were indifferent to the independence of the Jewish nation. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were constituted largely from the common people; they were believers in, and strict observers of, the traditional laws, and were ardent nationalists. The bitter attack of Jesus on them, which has resulted in making the word “Pharisee” synonymous with “hypocrite” and “self-righteous person,” was, to say the least, unjust, as Herford has so lucidly pointed out in his sympathetic study of the Pharisees. Herford, though not a Jew, has taken up the cudgels most ably in defence of this sect, with remarkable insight into the life and literature of the ancient Jews. He demonstrates conclusively that though there were hypocrites among the Pharisees, as among all classes and creeds, yet the average Pharisee was a man of the most elevated religious ideals, who misunderstood Jesus, but who, in turn was misunderstood by him. Huxley, in his Evolution of Theology, says, “of all the strange ironies in history, perhaps the strangest is that ‘Pharisee’ is current as a term of reproach among the theological descendants of that sect of Nazarenes who, without the martyr spirit of those primitive Puritans, would never have come into existence.” Such great teachers and men of sterling quality and golden utterance as Antigonus of Soko (I, 3), Hillel (I, 12-14; II, 5-8), Jochanan ben Zakkai (II, 9-19), Gamaliel, whose pupil was Paul, the apostle (I, 16), and Judah, the Prince (II, 1), whose sayings grace the pages of Abot, were, as Loeb points out, of the Pharisaic school or party. There is naturally a large literature on the Pharisees. Herford’s Pharisaism deserves careful perusal. See, also, Josephus (ed. Whiston-Margoliouth), Antiq., XIII, 10.6, XVIII, 1, 2-4; Schurer, History of the Jews, etc., II, ii, p. 14 et seq.; Jewish Encyclopedia and literature mentioned there; Geiger, Judaism and Its History, p. 102 et seq., and Friedlander, G., The Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount, p. 34 et seq.
Description
The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers is the oldest collection of ethical dicta of the Rabbis of the Mishnah (9). It is a Rabbinic anthology. It has been happily styled “a compendium of practical ethics” (10), and, as Mielziner has said, “these Rabbinical sentences, if properly arranged, present an almost complete code of human duties” (11). The Abot is, then, a sort of moral code.
(9) There was another, and apparently older, recension of Pirke Abot on which is based the Abot de-Rabbi Natan, an hagadic or homiletical exposition of Abot. Two recensions of Abot de-Rabbi Natan exist, and have been edited by Schechter. On this work, see Hoffman, Die erste Mischna, p. 26 et seq., Mielziner, article Abot de-Rabbi Natan, in Jewish Encyclopedia, Strack, Einleitung, p. 69 _et seq., and Pollak, Rabbi Nathans System, etc., Introduction, pp. 7-9. An English translation is found in Rodkinson’s edition of the Talmud, vol. V, p. 1 et seq.
(10) Taylor, loc. cit. Lazarus, Ethics of Judaism, II. 113, calls it “a compendium of ethics.”
(11) In Jewish Encyclopedia, art. Abot.
D. Chapter III: the maxims of seventeen Tannaim (authorities mentioned in the Mishnah) to the time of and including Rabbi Akiba. These are not arranged in strictly chronological order.
E. Chapter IV: The sayings of twenty-five Tannaim after the time of Rabbi Akiba, who were contemporaries of Rabbi Meir and of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi. These are not chronologically arranged.
F. (1) Chapter V, 1-18: Anonymous sayings forming a series of groups of ten, seven, and four things, dealing with the creation of the world, with miracles, and with the varieties of men and minds.
(2) Chapter V, 19-22: Anonymous sayings touching upon the varieties of motives and contrasting the good and evil dispositions.
(3) Chapter V, 23: Sayings of Judah ben Tema.
(4) Chapter V, 24: The ages of man.
(5) Chapter V, 25, 26: The sayings of Ben Bag Bag and of Ben He
He.
G. Chapter VI: The acquisition of the Torah; praise of the Torah.
Language
The language of Abot is easy Mishnaic Hebrew, with portions of four verses (I, 13; II, 7; V, 25, and V, 26) in Aramaic, which is closely related to Hebrew. It is worthy of note that these Aramaic portions originated with the school of Hillel (12).
(12) On the language of the Mishnah, see Mielziner, Introduction to the Talmud, pp. 15-16, and Lauterbach in Jewish Encyclopedia, vol II, p. 614. On the use of Aramaic in the Mishnah, see Schurer, History, I, ii, p. 8 et seq., and Bacher, in Jewish Encyclopedia, art. Aramaic Language Among the Jews. Several centuries before the common era, Aramaic was the vernacular of the Jews. Hebrew, however, remained in use as the sacred language ([lashon ha-kodesh]), it being the language of the learned, and was employed for literary, liturgical, and legal purposes. This accounts for the Mishnah being written almost entirely in Hebrew, though Aramaic was spoken on the streets. It is related of Judah ha-Nasi that he disliked the Aramaic jargon to such an extent that he forbade its use in his home, where even the servants spoke Hebrew with elegance (Rosh ha-Shanah, 26b). When scholars used Aramaic in his presence, he chided them for not speaking in Hebrew or in Greek (Baba Kamma, 82b).
Development of Abot (13)
(13) On the subject-matter of this section, consult Hoffmann, Die erste Mischna, pp. 26-37; idem, Mischnaiot Seder Nesikin, Introd., pp. XX-XXI; Brull, Enstehung und ursprunglicher Inhalt des Traktates Abot; Loeb, La Chaine, etc.; Ginzburg, Spruche der Vater, erstes Capitel historisch beleuchtet (Liepzig, 1889); Strack, Die Spruche der Vater, Introd., pp. 7-8; idem, Einleitung, p. 52, and Rawicz, Commentar des Maimonides, p. 105, n. 3.
It is apparent from the literary construction of Abot that it has been edited several times, and that, in its earliest form, the Abot collection was much smaller than we have it to-day. Originally, probably shortly after the time of Hillel, it may have been merely a sort of appendix to the Tractate Sanhedrin, with typical sayings of each of the heads of the Sanhedrin. These dicta are contained in what is designated as section A. Later, presumably by Rabbi Akiba, there were added to this original kernel of Abot the sayings of Rabbi Jochanan ben Zakkai and his most illustrious pupils, which comprise section C. This resulted in the grouping together of the sayings of ten generations of traditional authorities, as follows: (1) the men of the Great Synagogue, (2) Simon, the Just, (3) Antigonus of Soko, (4) Jose ben Joezer and Jose ben Jochanan, (5) Joshua ben Perachiah and Nittai, the Arbelite, (6) Judah ben Tabbai and Simeon ben Shatach, (7) Shemaiah and Abtalion, (8) Hillel and Shammai, (9) Jochanan ben Zakkai, and (10) the latter’s disciples. By association of idea with this number ten, there were added to this collection numerical sayings of ten, and, then, others of seven and four, found in chapter V, 1-9 and 10-13.
Into this enlarged kernel of pithy sayings of the oldest authorities, which may be characterized as the Abot of Rabbi Akiba, later Tannaim—Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, and others—interpolated additional sayings of the afore-mentioned Rabbis, and also typical utterances of their disciples, and of other well-known teachers. This accounts for the presence in Abot of the body of maxims of the six generations of the school of Hillel, designated above as section B 1, and which was very properly introduce after the aphorisms of Hillel and of his contemporary, Shammai. The thread of tradition being interrupted by this interpolation, it was again taken up by the introduction of another body of Hillel’s sayings (B 2), thus providing for a natural transition from Hillel to Jochanan ben Zakkai. Proof of the fact that section B is an addition is that in the Abot de-Rabbi Natan—which, as has been said above, is based on an older version of Abot (14)—the sayings of Jochanan ben Zakkai follow immediately upon those of Shammai. The sayings of Judah ha-Nasi, the redactor of the Mishnah, and of Rabbi Gamaliel, his son, were undoubtedly added after the time of Judah.
(14) See supra, p. 13, n. 9.
Chapter III contains the sayings of authorities who were the predecessors of Judah, the first two having lived before the destruction of the second Temple. Chapter IV is made up of the dicta of a number of Rabbis who were contemporaries of Judah. These two chapters were, no doubt, inserted by Judah, the redactor of the Mishnah as we virtually have it to-day. Evidence that Chapter IV is an addition to the original Abot is that it has a number of aphorisms which are repetitions of some found in Chapters I and II. The greater part of Chapter V, as stated above, was a portion of the Abot of Rabbi Akiba.
Chapter VI, which is known as The Chapter on the Acquisition of Torah (Perek Kinyan Torah), as The External Teaching of the Abot (Baraita de-Abot) (15), as The Chapter of Rabbi Meir (Perek Rabbi Meir) (16), and as the External Teaching of Rabbi Meir (Baraita de-Rabbi Meir), is a supplement of the treatise Abot, as is claimed for it by its superscription, “the sages taught in the language of the Mishnah,” a formula generally used in the Talmud to introduce a Baraita. One of the authorities mentioned in it is Joshua ben Levi, a Palestinian amora (an authority of the Gemara) who lived during the third century. This demonstrates the comparatively late date of the final redaction of this chapter. By the middle of the ninth century it formed a part of the treatise Abot. It was added to the prayer-book to be read on the sixth Sabbath of the period between Passover and the Festival of Weeks (Shebuot) (17).
(15) A Baraita contains traditions and opinions of authorities of the Mishnah which are not embodied in the Mishnah or Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi. See Mielziner, Introduction to the Talmud, pp. 20-21, Strack, Einleitung in den Talmud, p. 3, and the Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. A gemara (Talmudical commentary) to the Baraita de-Abot was published from a MS. by Coronel in Chamishah Kuntresin (Vienna, 1864). This baraita is found also in the seventeenth chapter of Tanna de-Be Eliyahu Sutta, but with different textual readings. See Ginzberg, in the Jewish Encyclopedia, II, pp. 516-517.
(16) Known thus because Rabbi Meir’s name is found in the first verse.
(17) See next section. The sixth chapter is found in some editions of the Mishnah.
Abot in the Liturgy (18)
(18) On the subject-matter of this section, see the citation from the Sar Shalom Gaon, in the Siddur of R. Amram, 30a; Midrash Shemual, pp. 3-4; Zunz, Die Ritus, pp. 85-86; Strack, Die Spruche der Vater, p. 5, and Siddur, ed. Baer, p. 271, note. Other portions of the Mishnah and also of the Talmud that are included in the liturgy are, in the morning service, Zebachim V (Siddur, ed. Singer, p. 11); in the evening service for the Sabbath, Sabbat, II (pp. 120-122), and, from the Talmud, end of Berachot (p. 122); in the additional service for Sabbath and festivals, from the Talmud Keritot, 6a, from the Mishnah, end of Tamid, and from the Talmud, end of Berachot (pp. 167-168).
As Taylor has said, “Its simplicity and intrinsic excellence have secured for Abot a widespread and lasting popularity, and have led to its being excerpted from the Talmud and used liturgically in the Synagogue, at certain seasons, from an early period” (19). Thus, the Abot is found not only in all editions of the Mishnah and the Talmud, but also in the prayer-books of the Ashkenazic rite (20). The practice of reading a chapter from Abot, on Saturday, after the afternoon prayer (Minchah), originated as early as Gaonic times (seventh to eleventh centuries). During the middle of the ninth century, Abot and its Baraita were thus liturgically used. In Spanish communities it was recited in the morning of the Sabbath, and not in the afternoon. By the eleventh century, this custom was universally a part of the synagogal service.
(19) Taylor, loc. cit.
(20) German and Polish.
Originally, Abot was probably read only from Passover to Shebuot; and, since this period has generally six Sabbaths, and there are only five chapters of Abot, the chapter Kinyan Torah was appointed to be read on the sixth Sabbath. Later, the period of the year in which Abot was read varied in different communities. In Germany, there were kehillot in which it was recited during the winter as well as during the summer. In some communities it was read from Passover to the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), in others from the Sabbath of Parashah Yitro (Ex. XVIII, 1-XX, 26) to the Sabbath of Parashah Masse’e (Num. XXXIII, 1-XXXVI, 13), that is, from the Sabbath on which is read an account of the giving of the Law until the Sabbath preceding the beginning of the reading of the “repetition of the Law,” i.e., Deuteronomy. In many orthodox congregations to-day this practice is still adhered to, and Abot is read on Sabbath afternoons during the summer, or from the Sabbath after Passover to the Sabbath before the New Year (Rosh ha-Shanah).
A number of reasons have been suggested for the custom of reading the Abot in the synagogue, the most likely being that it was introduced to occupy the minds of worshippers during the long wait, on a summer’s day, between the afternoon and evening services. Whatever the reason for this custom may have been is immaterial and unimportant; but what is of importance is that, by this excellent practice, a whole body of moral dicta—each one summing up with remarkable conciseness a life’s experience and philosophy, each one breathing the spirit of piety, saintliness, justice, and love for humanity—has sunk deeply into the innermost heart and consciousness of the Jewish people, exerting such an influence that the principles set forth in the Abot have been eternally wrought into the moral fibre of the descendants of the Rabbis. To the lips of the Jew, these maxims spring spontaneously; to those who know them they are a safe and secure guide through life; they are not only heard in the synagogue, but are quoted and applied at home and abroad. Such are the fruits of a benign custom, which Israel will do well to prize and preserve.
Bibliography
Because of its great popularity, the Pirke Abot has appeared in many editions. There is no Gemara (Talmudic commentary) on the Abot, which undoubtedly accounts for the numerous commentaries on it (21). Because of the attractiveness of its contents, and since it forms a part of the ritual, it has been translated many times into many tongues (22), and a great deal has been written on it. The following bibliography will be helpful to the general reader and to the student who wish to get a more detailed and intimate knowledge of the Abot than can be imparted in this work.
(21) There are more than thirty-five. The best known is that of Maimonides (1135-1204), which was written originally in Arabic, as part of his commentary on the Mishnah. A commentary has been attributed to Rashi. Other commentaries are by (1) Rabbi Jacob ben Shimshon, found in the Machzor Vitry (see Taylor, Introd., p. 5; Appendix, p. 23; (2) Rabbi Israel of Toledo, in Arabic (twelfth to thirteenth century; see Taylor, Introd., p. 5, Appendix, p. 46 _et seq.__; (3) Simon Duran (1361-1444), Magen Abot; first edition, Livorno, 1763; ed. Jellinek, Leipzig, 1855; (4) Bertinora (died 1510), in his popular commentary on the Mishnah; (5) Isaac ben Judah Abrabanel, Nachalot Abot; ed. Constantinople, 1505; (6) Samuel de Uceda, Midrash Shemual; venice, 1579, 1585, 1597, 1600, Cracow, 1594, Frankfurt a. M., 1713, Warsaw, 1876; (7) Yom Tob Lippman Heller (1579-1654), in Tosefot Yom Tob, on the Mishnah; (8) elijah, Gaon of Wilna (1720-1797), in Siddur Tefillat Yacob, Berlin, 1864; and (9) S. Baer, in Siddur Abodat Yisroel, Rodelheim, 1868. There is also acommentary, by Naphtali Herts Wessely, known as Yayin Lebanon, Berlin, 1774-1775, which has been translated into English, in the Hebrew Review (edited by Morris J. Raphall, London, 1835-1837), Vol. I, p. 177, p. 193, and further.
(22) Mischoff, in his Kritische Geschichte der Talmud-Uebersetzungen aller Zeigen und Zungen (Frankfurt a. M., 1899), [s] 56, has a list of 62 translations and of 15 partial translations. Others have appeared since this list was made. For English translation, consult this list.
Editions (23), Commentaries, and Translations
(23) A list of editions, mostly earlier than those mentioned here, and of the Abot in Mishnah editions may be found in Steinschneider, Catalogue Librorum Hebraeorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana (Berlin, 1852-1860), No. 1433-1519, 1982-2034; M. Roest, Catalog der Hebraica und Judaica (Amsterdam, 1875), pp. 818-821, 824-828; and Strack, Spruche, pp. 8-9.
1. Joshua ben Mordecai Falk ha-Kohen, Abne Yehoshua al Pirke Abot (New York, 1860). Text and commentary (24).
(24) Falk has been called the “father of American Hebrew literature.”
2. Abraham Geiger, Pirke Aboth, in Nachgelassene Schriften (Berlin, 1877), vol. IV, pp. 281-344. A commentary on Chaps. I-III. Scholarly and valuable.
3. Solomon Schechter, Abot de-Rabbi Natan (Vienna, 1877). Contains two versions, A and B, with an introduction and notes in Hebrew. A scholarly and valuable work.
4. Joseph Jabetz, Pirke Abot, with a commentary (Warsaw, 1880).
5. Charles Taylor, (1) Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, Comprising Pirqe Aboth and Perek R. Meir in Hebrew and English, with Notes and Excurses. Second edition (Cambridge, 1897). (2) An Appendix of the Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, Containing a Catalogue of Manuscripts and Notes on the Text of Aboth (Cambridge, 1900). These works are very comprehensive and full of valuable material.
6. A. Berliner, Commentar zu den Spruchen der Vater, aus Machzor Vitry, mit Beitragen (Frankfurt a. M., 1897).
7. David Hoffmann, Masseket Abot, in Mischnaiot Seder Nesikin (Berlin, 1899), pp. 327-367. Fully annotated, with a translation in German, and constant reference to Rabbinical sources. Excellent.
8. Hermann L. Strack, Die Spruche der Vater, ein ethischer Mischna-Traktat_, third edition (Leipzig, 1901). An excellent text with notes. Very valuable.
9. Lazarus Goldschmidt, in Talmud Babli, Der Babylonische Talmud (Berline, 1903), vol. VII, p. 1151 et seq. Based on oldest texts of Abot. Textual variants and German translation with notes. Very valuable.
10. Simeon Singer, Perke Abot, Ethics of the Fathers, in The Authorized Daily Prayer Book. Eighth edition (London, 5668-1908), pp. 184-209. Hebrew text, with an excellent English translation, and a few notes.
11. Kaim Pollak, Rabbi Nathans System der Ethik un Moral (Budapest, 1905). A translation in German, with notes, of Abot de Rabbi Natan (Schechter’s version A).
12. Paul Fiebig, Pirque ‘aboth, Der Mischnahtraktat Spruche der Vater (Tubingen, 1906). German translation and notes, with especial reference to the New Testament. The Nachwort, pp. 42-43, consists of a comparison of Abot with the New Testament, pointing out the likenesses and differences.
13. Josef ibn Nachmia’s, Perush Pirke Abot, Commentar zu den Pirke Abot... nach der Parmaer Hadschrift De Rossi Nr. 1402... mit Anmerkungen von M. L. Bamberger (Berlin, 1907).
14. M. Rawicz, Der Commentar der Maimonides zu den Spruchen der Vater, zum ersten Male ins Deutsch ubertragen (Offenberg [Baden], 1910). Contains “The Eight Chapters” (25).
(25) The Eight Chapters is the introduction of Maimonides to his commentary on Abot. Its Hebrew name is Shemonah Perakim. It is a remarkable instance of the harmonious welding of the ethical principles contained in Abot with mediaeval Aristotelian philosophy.
15. Sefer Musar, Kommentar zum Mischnatraktat Aboth von R. Joseph ben Jehudah. Zum ersten Male herausgegeben von Dr. Wilhelm Bacher. In the Schriften des Vereins Makize Nirdamim. 3. Folge, Nr. 6 (Berlin, 1910).
16. M. Lehmann, Pirke Aboth, Spruche der Vater uberzetzt und erklart (Frankfurt a. M., 1909).
17. Jehudah Leb Gordon, Perki Abot, in Siddur Bet Yehudah (New York, 5672, 1911-12), pp. 106-165. Prayer-book according to the Ashkenazic rite, with Yiddish translation and notes. Contains biographical sketches of all the authorities mentioned in Abot.
18. Jules Wolff, Les Huit Chapitres de Maimonide, ou Introduction a la Mischna d’Aboth, Maximes des Peres (de la Synagogue). Traduits de l’Arabe (Lausanne, Paris, 1912).
19. Joseph I. Gorfinkle, The Eight Chapters of Maimonides on Ethics, Edited, Annotated, and Translated with an Introduction (New York, 1912). Columbia University Oriental Studies, vol. VII (26).
(26) A list of MSS., editions, translations, and commentaries of the Eight Chapters, some including Abot, is found on pp.27-33 of this work.
Homiletical Works
1. Lazarus Adler, Spruche der Vater (Furth, 1851).
2. W. Aloys Meisel, Homilien uber die Spruche der Vater (1885).
3. Alexander Kohut, The Ethics of the Fathers (New York, 1885). Translated from the German by Max Cohen.
General Works
Abelson, J. The Immanence of God in Rabbinical Literature (London, 1912).
Bacher, Wilhelm, (1) Die Agada der Tanaiten, I, II, (Strassburg, 1884, 1890). (2) Zwei alte Abotkommentare, in Monatschrift fur Geschichte und Wiss. d. Judenthums, 1095, pp. 637-666; 1906, pp. 248-248.
Brull, Enstehung und ursprunglicher Inhalt des Traktates Abot, in Jahrbucher fur Jud. Geschichte und Lit., VII (1885).
Danziger, Jewish Forerunners of Christianity (New York, 1903).
Dukes, Rabbinische Blumenlese (Leipzig, 1844), pp. 67-84.
Friedlander, M. The Jewish Religion (London, 1902).
Friedlander, G., The Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount (London, 1911).
Geiger, Judaism and its History (New York, 1911).
Graetz, History of the Jews.
Herford, Pharasaism (London, 1912).
Hoffmann, Die erste Mischna und die Contraversen der Tannaim (Berlin, 1882).
Isaacs, Stories from the Rabbis (New York, 1893).
Jewish Encyclopedia.
Josephus, Antiquities.
Jung, Kritik der samtlichen Bucher Aboth in der althebraischen Literatur (Leipzig, 1888).
Lazarus, The Ethics of Judaism (Philadelphia, 1900).
Loeb, (1) La Chaine de la Tradition dans le premier Chapitre des Pirke Abot, in Bibliotheque de l’ecole des hautes Etudes, Sciences religeuses, vol. I, pp. 307-322 (Paris, 1889). (2) Notes sur le chapitre Ier des Perke Abot, in Revue des Etudes Juives, Vol. XIX (1889), pp. 188-201.
Mielziner, (1) Introduction to the Talmud, second edition (New York,
1903).
(2) Articles Abot and Abot de-R. Natan, in Jewish
Encyclopedia.
Myers, The Story of the Jewish People, I (New York and London, 1909).
Schechter, Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology (New York, 1909).
Schurer, Some Aspects of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus
Christ (27) (New York, 1891), I, i, p. 124; I, ii, p. 353 et seq.;
III, ii, p. 30 et seq.
(27) Contains very full bibliographies and has other excellent characteristics, but it is a work that must be used with caution. Its chief fault, according to Schechter, is that it is one of a class of works in which “no attempt is made... to gain acquaintance with the inner life of the Jewish nation” (Studies, II, pp. 119-120).
Strack, Einleitung in den Talmud, fourth edition (Leipzig, 1908).
Zunz, (1) Die Gottesdienstlichen Vortrage der Juden (Berlin, 1832), p. 101 et seq. (2) Die Ritus des Synagogalen Gottesdienstes (Berlin, 1859).