PIRKE ABOTH, lit. Chapters of the Fathers, a collection of proverbs arranged chronologically and giving a eaten of Jewish scholars. The treatise belongs to the IVth Order (Neziqin) of the Mishnah and deals with the history of tra dition. This, the so-called Oral Law (Torah she-be-`al Peh, Deut. iv. 14 : v. 22-33, especially 31; and other passages) supplemented the Written Law (Torah she-be-khethabh). The Oral Law in Aboth is traced back from Moses, through Joshua, the elders and Prophets, to the Men of the Great Synagogue, a body the existence of which is now merely doubted but which was formerly denied categorically. Through Simon the Just (either Simeon grandson of Jaddua, High priest, 310-291 B.C., or his grandson, 219-199) and Antigonus of Socho, both survivors of the Great Synagogue, tradition is carried on by five pairs of teachers (Zii goth, to Hillal and Shammai (3o B.c.). Henceforward the sayings of their disciples and successors are given until ch. iv., which concludes with El'azarhaq-Qappar (end of 2nd cent. A.D.). Chapters iii. and iv. are not strictly chronological. Chapters v. and vi. are of later date. Chapter v. combines historical, legendary and didactic elements, miracles are explained and a series of things, sayings and qualities are grouped numerically, e.g., ten
Ma'amaroth or Logoi are said to have created the world ; vi. is called the "chapter of the acquisition of the Law" and was prob ably added for liturgical purposes. Aboth is written in simple Hebrew. The aphorisms are of great intrinsic beauty and are of extreme historical importance not only for Judaism but for the environment of nascent Christianity. The chapters are read, on different occasions, in most Jewish rites.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Pirke Aboth may be studied in English in Singer's Authorized Daily Prayer Book pp. 584 sqq. I. Abrahams Notes (pp. clxxvi. of the annotated edition should be consulted). The reader is also referred (a) to the Jew. Enc. s.v. Abot. (b) Abot in Encyclopaedia Judaica vol. I. Berlin (1928). (c) R. Travers Herford's two editions (I) in R. H. Charles Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, vol. II. ( i913) and (2) publ. by Jewish Inst. of Religion Press (1925), on which see S. B. Maximon's article on pp. 325 sqq. of Jewish Studies in Memory of Israel Abrahams (1927). The older editions of C. Taylor and H. Strack are still of great value.