Pirke Avot: The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.3

Word count: 158K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Pirke Avot: The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers by Joseph I. GorfinkleAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: BM: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Judaism, Release Date: Jul 1, 2005

Editor's review

Pirke Avot is a widely circulated collection of short maxims in the Jewish ethical and wisdom tradition, usually regarded as a standalone selection of the ethical teachings in the Talmud. Compiled and translated by Joseph I. Gorfinkle, this book presents in English maxims by rabbis through the ages on self-cultivation, reverence, humility, guarded speech, learning and how to treat others. The text is brief, with chapters often developing through contrast and progression, reading like a handbook of maxims on everyday conduct. Its value lies not in systematic argument but in condensing ethical instruction into memorable sentences, suitable both for close reading line by line and for repeated review at fixed times. For Chinese readers who want to understand the Jewish ethical tradition without going directly into massive classics, this is a low-threshold introduction. Note that this is an English translation, and the exegetical context behind the maxims requires some background knowledge to fully appreciate; readers should adopt an attitude of slow chewing and chapter-by-chapter comparison.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Jewish ethics and wisdom literature who are willing to read an English translation
General readers who want to use short maxims for daily self-cultivation reading
Students in religious studies or comparative literature who need to know the text of Pirke Avot
Readers who like slow chapter-by-chapter reading and making excerpts and reflective notes

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting systematic theology or historical textual criticism
Readers who read only Chinese and do not want to engage with an English translation
Readers who want to finish in one sitting and seek plot and story

Reading tips

Read chapter by chapter, line by line; pause after each chapter and pick one or two sentences to compare with your own situation.
Keep a notebook, recording the original maxims and your understanding, for comparison when rereading later.
Skip unfamiliar rabbinic names or allusions at first, and look up background material after finishing the book.
Read one chapter a week at a fixed time, treating it as a short text for long-term review rather than a book to finish at once.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is the relationship between this book and the Talmud?

Pirke Avot is usually regarded as a standalone selection of the ethical teachings in the Talmud, often circulated as a separate booklet. It gathers maxims of rabbis through the ages but is not the whole Talmud, and readers should not take it as a complete substitute for the Talmud.

Can I understand it without a Jewish background?

You can grasp the general meaning, but some maxims depend on scriptural allusions and rabbinic tradition. Read through once first, then revisit with the help of an introduction or related background material, and understanding will deepen gradually.

Is this book suitable for daily reading?

Very suitable. The book consists of short maxims that can be assigned by chapter, reading a few lines a day with some reflection. It is more a text for repeated self-cultivation than a book to finish at once.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.