"The Moral Maxims of the Sages of Israel" is a study of the moral
maxims of the sages of Israel, who thrived from 300 B.C.E. to 200
C.E., that are contained in the work known as Pirkei Avot, probably
the oldest anthology of its kind in literary history. Although the
work has been translated from the original Hebrew numerous times,
much of it remains inaccessible because of the epigrammatic rather
than discursive style of the original, which employs idiomatic
expressions, unusual turns of phrase, grammatically awkward
constructions, euphemisms, and plays on words that confound even
those who are able to read it in the original language.
An ancient work like Pirkei Avot can be read from a variety of
perspectives. It may be read it from the standpoint of what it says
that resonates with the contemporary concerns of the reader or
commentator, often attaching meaning to a maxim that its author
could not reasonably be expected to have intended. It may also be
read from the perspective of attempting to understand what the
redactor of the work had in mind when making his editorial
decisions about what to include or exclude, and why he made such
choices from the large volume of materials available to him.
Finally, the work can be read as representing the concerns of the
individual authors in the context of the times in which they
lived.
In essence, then, one must choose between reading meaning into
the text and reading meaning out of it. The approach in this book
is to do the latter, that is, to understand the maxims and
teachings of the sages that appear in Pirkei Avot primarily from
the standpoint of the originators, and secondarily from the
standpoint of the redactor, some of whose own thoughts are included
in the work. In so doing, it will suggest, wherever possible and
plausible, the unstated problems and questions to which the sages'
teachings and assertions probably were deemed appropriate
responses.
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