The Tale of Ben Sira (Prose Version)

The Tale of Ben Sira (Toledot Ben Sira), a product of Abbasid Baghdad, is a Hebrew satirical narrative that survives in four different versions, in more than fifty manuscripts. This work tells the story of the life of Ben Sira, including his birth and early life, his battles with his teachers, and his confrontation with the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. The story mocks prominent biblical characters and even God, apparently intending to satirize ideas that others held sacred. For that reason, Maimonides and others vehemently criticized this work, but some pious Jews attempted to read mystical meaning into some of its elements.