Lifelong Torah Learning

70–220

About This Entry

In what may be a late addition to Pirke Avot, this text presents the stages of life in fourteen items, including educational goals.

[Judah ben Tema] used to say:

At five years of age the study of Scripture;
At ten the study of Mishnah;
At thirteen subject to the commandments;
At fifteen the study of Talmud;
At eighteen the bridal canopy;
At twenty for pursuit [of livelihood];
At thirty the peak of strength;
At forty wisdom;
At fifty able to give counsel;
At sixty old age;
At seventy fullness of years;
At eighty the age of “strength”;
At ninety a bent body;
At one hundred, as good as dead and gone completely out of the world.

Translated by Joshua Kulp.

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Credits

m. Avot 5:21, from Mishnah Yomit, trans. Joshua Kulp, www.sefaria.org. Originally from https://learn.conservativeyeshiva.org. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) License.

Discussion Questions

Why might the rabbis tie each stage of life to a stage of study? Why does scripture precede Mishnah, which precedes Talmud?
How does this vision of learning compare to education today?
Who would be excluded from this age-based educational vision? How might economic realities challenge this idealized framework?

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.