Volume 1

The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor.

Date:
1901-1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    130/752 (page 82)
    Abraham THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 82 to become truly pious and virtuous, let him study and practise the teachings of Abot ” (B. K. 30«)- The higli estimation in which this little treatise is held in Judaism is evident from the fact that it was em- bodied in the old prayer-book as a part of the liturgy for the Saturday afternoon service during the sum- mer months. In that prayer-book, the five chapters of Abot are increased by a sixth chapter containing rablfinical sentences collected in a Baraita (extra- neous ]\Iishnah), called “ Kinyan Torah” (Acquisition of the Law). Through this iiturgical use the treatise Abot became the most popular of all rabbinical wri- tings, and in this way its ethical contents exercised the most beneficial influence on the Jewish masses. There is no Gemara on Abot, as the nature of the contents of this treatise admitted of no discussions; but see Abot de-Rabbi Nathan. Bibliooraphy : (1) Editions: Tbe treatise A?)ot is printed in all editions of the Talmud and in those of the Mishnali, as well as in numerous separate editions. An edition of the He- brew text, accompanied with useful literary notes in German, was publi.shed by Prof. Hermann L. Strack, Leipsic, 1882. (2) Commentaries: Besides the general commentaries on all parts of the Mishnah there are numerous Hebrew commen- taries exclusively on Pirl{e Ahot. A collective commentary under the titleof Midrash Shemuel was published by Samuel da Uceda (Venice, 1.579), and has since passed through seven editions. Valuable comments on the first three chapters of Ahot are published in Ahraham Geiger’s Nachuelassene Sehriften, iv. 281-344. The value of Ahot from a historical point of view was investigated by Z. Frankel, in his article Ueher den Lai>- idarstyl der Talmudisehen Hist07'ik,m yionatsschrift, 1852, pp. 203 et seq., 403 et seq. (3) Translations: Latin translations of Ahot were pub- lished, one by Sebastian Munster, the celebrated disciple of Reuchlin, Basel, sine anno, and one by Paulus Fagius, Isny, 1541. It has since been translated into almost all modern languages. As to English translations, special mention may be made, on account of its valuable notes, of Charles Taylor’s Sayinqs of the Jewish Fathers, 2d ed., Cambridge, 1899. For a full list of translations see Bischoff, Ki'itische Ge- schichte der Talmud-Uehersctzungen, § 56. (4) Homiletical tVorks on Ahot in modem languages: Lazarus Adler, Sprilchc der VUter, Fiirth, 1851; W. Aloys Meisel, Homilien iXher die Sprllche der VUter, Stettin, 18.55; Alexander Kohut, The Ethics of the Fathers, translated from the German by Max Cohen, New York, 1885. M. M. ABOT DE-RABBI NATHAN (]rO n ni3N): A work wliicli in the form uow extant contains a mix- ture of Mishnah and Midrash, and may be designated as a homiletical exposition of the Mishnaic treatise Pirke Abot, having for its foundation an older re- cension of the treatise. Touching its original form, its age, and its dependence on earlier or later recen- sions of the Mishnah, there are many opinions, all of which are ably discussed in Schechter’s introduc- tion. There are two recensions of this work, one of which is usually printed with the Babylonian Tal- mud in the appendix to the ninth volume, contain- ing also the so-called Minor Treatises, and another which, until recently, existed in manuscript only. In 1887 Solomon Schechter published the two recen- sions in parallel columns, contributing to the edition a critical introduction and valuable notes. In order to distinguish the two recensions, the one which is printed with the Talmud may be called A- and the other, B. The former is divided into forty-one chap- ters, and the latter into forty-eight. Schechter has proved that recension B is cited only by Spanish authors. Rashi knows of recension A only. In contents the two recensions differ from each other considerably, although the method is the same in both. The separate sentences of the Mishnah Abot are generally taken as texts, which are either briefly explained—the ethical lessons contained therein being supported by reference to Biblical passages — or fullj'^ illustrated by narratives and leg- ends. Sometimes long digressions are made by in- troducing subjects which are connected only loosely with the text. This method may be illustrated by the following example: Commenting on the sentence of Simon the Just, in Pirke Abot, i. 2, which desig- nates charity as one of the three pillars on which the world rests, the Abot de-Rabbi Nathan (recen- sion A) reads as follows: “ How [does the world rest] on charity ? Behold, the prophet CHosea, vi. 6) said in the name of the Lord, ‘ I desired charity [mercy], and not sacriflee. ’ The world was created only by charity [mercy], as is said (Ps. Ixxxix. 3), ‘Mercy shall be built up forever ’ (or, as the rabbis translate this passage, ‘The world is built on mercy’). Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, accompanied by R. Joshua, once passed Jerusalem [after its fall]. While looking upon the city and the ruins of the Temple, R. Joshua exclaimed, ‘ Wo unto us, that the holy place is destroyed which atoned for our sins! ’ R. Johanan replied, ‘ My son, do not grieve on this account, for we have another atonement for our sins: it is charity, as is said, I desired charity, and not sacri- llce” (ch. iv.). The chapters of the two recensions of Abot de- Rabbi Nathan correspond with those of the Mish- nah Abot as follows; Chaps, i. to xi. of recension A and chaps, i. to xxiii. of recension 5 correspond with chap. i. 1-11 in Pirke Abot; chaps, xii. to xix. of A and chaps, xxiv. to xxix. of B correspond with chap, i. 12-18 and the whole of chap. ii. in Pirke Abot; chaps. XX. to XXX. of A and chaps, xxx. to xxxv. of B correspond with chaps, iii. and iv. in Pirke Abot; chaps, xxxi. to xli. of A and chaps, xxxvi. to xlviii. of B correspond with chap. v. in Pirke Abot. Rabbi Nathan, whose name appears in the title of the work under treatment, can not possibly have been its only author, since he flourished about the mid- dle of the second century, or a generation prior to the author of the Mishnah. Besides, several authorities are quoted who flourished a long time after R. Na- than; for instance. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi. The designation “ De-Rabbi Nathan ” may perhaps be ex- plained by the circumstance that R. Nathan is one of the first authorities mentioned in the opening chapter of the work. Perhaps the school of the tan- naite R. Nathan originated the work. It is also called Tosefta to Abot (see Horowitz, Uralte Tosef- tas,”i. 6, Frankfort-on-the-Main,1889;Bruirs“ Jahr- bilcher,” ix. 139 et seq.). The two recensions of the work in their present shape evidently have different authors; but who they were can not be ascertained. Probably they belonged to the period of the Geonim, between the eighth and ninth centuries. Bibliography : Zunz, O. F., 1st ed., pp. 108 et seq.; S. Taus- sig, Neweh Shalom, Munich, 1872, in which pamphlet a part of Ahot de-Rahhi Nathan, recension B, was for the first time published, according to a manuscript of the Munich Library; S. Schechter, Ahot de-Rahhi Nathan, Vienna, 1887; Monatsschrift, 1887, pp. 374-3^; Steinschneider, Hehr. Bihl. xil. 75 et seq. A Latin translation of Ahot de-Rahhi Nathan was published by Franz Tayler, London, 1654: Tractatus de Patrihus Rabhi Nathan Auctore, in Linguam Latinam Tianslatus. An English version is given by M. L. Rodkinson in his translation of the Babylonian Talmud, 1.9, New 5’ork, 1900. Schecliter gives the commentaries to Abot de-Rahhi Nathan in his edition, xxvli. et seq. Emendations were maiie by Benjamin Motal in his collectanea, called Tummat Ye- sharim, Venice, 1622. Commentaries have been written by Eliezer Llpman of Zamosc, Zolkiev, 1723; by Elijah ben Abra- ham, and notes by Elijah Wilna, Wilna, 1833; by Ahraham Witmand, Ahahai Hesed, Amsterdam, 1777; by Joshua Falk, Binyan Yehoshu'a, Dyhernfurth, 1788. Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2034; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 654. M. M. ABRABALIA,* JOSEPH and MOSES: Span- ish statesmen who flourished in Aragon in the latter * Kaufmann thinks it possible that this name is derived from Ibn Albalia; Steinschneider, however, thinks that it is not an Arabic name {Jew. Quart. Rev. x. 130). Don Samuel Abrabalia was a member of a deputation sent in 1418 to Pope Martin V. (Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, 3d ed., jip. 60,128). A Solomon Ab- rabalia is mentioned as a printer living in Salonica in the year 1-520 (Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 9076). G.