ETHICS OF THE FATHERS 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 Pesaḥ and Shavuot. It is our custom, however, to study Avot from Pesaḥ 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.

CHAPTER I I:I. 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.

1:8 Do not act as an advocate: A judge must maintain strict neutrality. While the case is being heard, the judge must exercise proper skepticism. Once the verdict has been delivered and accepted, there must be no ill-will on either side.

1:13 A name made great: Those who take pride in fame will eventually lose it. He who does not study: life is learning, and learning is life. He who makes worldly use of the crown: Torah scholarship must never be used for personal advantage. It is for us to honor the Torah, and not use the Torah to honor ourselves.

1:14 If I am not for myself: A succinct summary of Judaism’s philosophy of personal responsibility combined with social responsibility. If not now: a moment of opportunity, unseized, may never come again.

1:16 Get yourself a teacher: As with Yehoshua ben Peraḥya’s teaching (above, 1:6), the emphasis is on the choice of one particular teacher as primary mentor and role model. Scholarship depends on discipleship. Avoid doubt: keep away from situations in which you are called on to make a decision when the facts are unclear.

Rabbi Ḥananya ben Akashya: This paragraph is not part of the Pirkei Avot but a liturgical addition. According to Maimonides, its implication is that “It is a fundamental principle of Jewish faith that if a person fulfills even one of the 613 mitzvot fully and properly, without ulterior motive but simply for its own sake and out of love, he merits a share in the World to Come. Therefore Rabbi Ḥananya teaches that there are so many mitzvot that it is impossible that a person should not have fulfilled at least one in the course of a lifetime, and thereby merits eternal life” (commentary on the Mishna Makkot 3:17). The statement of Rabbi Ḥananya thus complements the teaching recited at the beginning, that “All Israel have a share in the World to Come.”