Rabbinic Ethics and Morality

The classic collection of rabbinic ethical teachings is Pirke Avot (lit., “chapters of the fathers”), the mishnaic tractate also known simply as Avot (lit., Fathers). The chapters are generally arranged according to the names of the rabbis to whom they are attributed. The exception is chapter 5 (the so-called numerical sayings), which is ordered according to the number mentioned at the beginning of each teaching (e.g., “With ten utterances the world was created”; “Seven kinds of punishment came into the world”). The first lengthy section of the work comprises a “chain of tradition,” recounting the line of transmission of the Torah that begins with the revelation at Sinai and ends with the sages Hillel and Shammai, who lived around the turn of the era (m. Avot 1:1–15). (See also “Mishnah Avot” in The Rabbinic Legacy.)