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83-768: Avot may refer to: Pirkei Avot , a tractate of the Mishna composed of ethical maxims of the Rabbis of the Mishnaic period Patriarchs (Bible) , Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Avot, Côte-d'Or , a commune in France Neve Avot , a hospital in Israel See also [ edit ] Magen Avot (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

166-595: A "great principle" of the Torah. In Shabbat 31a, Hillel , when challenged by a prospective convert to explain the entire Torah while the latter stood on one foot, answered: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: This is the entire Torah, the rest is the explanation, go now and learn it." (This maxim is not included in Pirkei Avot.) The attribution of Biblical Wisdom books to King Solomon (e.g., Ecclesiastes , Proverbs , Book of Wisdom ) attests also to

249-508: A Greek historian, geographer and philosopher, in his Geographica (c. 24 CE), wrote in detail about Moses, whom he considered to be an Egyptian who deplored the situation in his homeland, and thereby attracted many followers who respected the deity. He writes, for example, that Moses opposed the picturing of the deity in the form of man or animal, and was convinced that the deity was an entity which encompassed everything – land and sea: 35. An Egyptian priest named Moses, who possessed

332-409: A Moses-like figure existed in the 13th century BCE. Rabbinical Judaism calculated a lifespan of Moses corresponding to 1391–1271 BCE; Jerome suggested 1592 BCE, and James Ussher suggested 1571 BCE as his birth year. The Egyptian name "Moses" is mentioned in ancient Egyptian literature . In the writing of Jewish historian Josephus , ancient Egyptian historian Manetho

415-533: A clear image. His primary work, wherein he describes Jewish philosophy , is his Histories ( c.  100 ), where, according to 18th-century translator and Irish dramatist Arthur Murphy , as a result of the Jewish worship of one God, " pagan mythology fell into contempt". Tacitus states that, despite various opinions current in his day regarding the Jews' ethnicity, most of his sources are in agreement that there

498-413: A familiar motif in ancient Near Eastern mythological accounts of the ruler who rises from humble origins. For example, in the account of the origin of Sargon of Akkad (23rd century BCE): My mother, the high priestess, conceived; in secret she bore me She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid She cast me into the river which rose over me. Moses' story, like those of

581-685: A historical Moses-like figure include the princes Ahmose-ankh and Ramose , who were sons of pharaoh Ahmose I , or a figure associated with the family of pharaoh Thutmose III . Israel Knohl has proposed to identify Moses with Irsu , a Shasu who, according to Papyrus Harris I and the Elephantine Stele, took power in Egypt with the support of "Asiatics" (people from the Levant ) after the death of Queen Twosret ; after coming to power, Irsu and his supporters disrupted Egyptian rituals, "treating

664-399: A military expedition to Ethiopia , where he won great victories. After having built the city of Hermopolis , he taught the people the value of the ibis as a protection against the serpents, making the bird the sacred guardian spirit of the city; then he introduced circumcision . After his return to Memphis , Moses taught the people the value of oxen for agriculture, and the consecration of

747-669: A portion of the country called the Lower Egypt , being dissatisfied with the established institutions there, left it and came to Judaea with a large body of people who worshipped the Divinity. He declared and taught that the Egyptians and Africans entertained erroneous sentiments, in representing the Divinity under the likeness of wild beasts and cattle of the field; that the Greeks also were in error in making images of their gods after

830-435: A reference to Cicero , Moses is the only non-Greek writer quoted in the work; contextually he is put on a par with Homer and he is described "with far more admiration than even Greek writers who treated Moses with respect, such as Hecataeus and Strabo ". In Josephus ' (37 – c. 100 CE) Antiquities of the Jews , Moses is mentioned throughout. For example, Book VIII Ch. IV, describes Solomon's Temple , also known as

913-661: A result, the Egyptian Pharaoh worried that they might ally themselves with Egypt 's enemies. Moses' Hebrew mother, Jochebed , secretly hid him when Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed in order to reduce the population of the Israelites. Through Pharaoh's daughter , the child was adopted as a foundling from the Nile and grew up with the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave-master who

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996-461: A rod, in remembrance of that used for Moses' miracles. He describes Moses as 80 years old, "tall and ruddy, with long white hair, and dignified". Some historians, however, point out the " apologetic nature of much of Artapanus' work", with his addition of extra-biblical details, such as his references to Jethro: the non-Jewish Jethro expresses admiration for Moses' gallantry in helping his daughters, and chooses to adopt Moses as his son. Strabo ,

1079-464: A short segment on Avot, and over 400 published references on Avot in general or individual mishnayot. The Russian-American poet and translator Yehoash published his Yiddish translation of Pirkei Avot in 1912 under the title Di Lehren fun di Foters . This translation was subsequently included in a trilingual (Hebrew-Yiddish-English) edition that was published in 1921. A Chinese translation of Pirkei Avot by Prof. Ping Zhang from Tel Aviv University

1162-467: Is associated with narratives of an exodus and a conquest, and several motifs in stories about him are shared with the Exodus tale and that regarding Israel's war with Moab ( 2 Kings 3 ). Moab rebels against oppression, like Moses, leads his people out of Israel, as Moses does from Egypt, and his first-born son is slaughtered at the wall of Kir-hareseth as the firstborn of Israel are condemned to slaughter in

1245-544: Is no textual indication that this daughter of Pharaoh is the same one who named Moses. Ibn Ezra gave two possibilities for the name of Moses: he believed that it was either a translation of the Egyptian name instead of a transliteration or that the Pharaoh's daughter was able to speak Hebrew. Kenneth Kitchen argues that the Hebrew etymology is most likely correct, as the sounds in the Hebrew m-š-h do not correspond to

1328-555: Is quoted writing of a treasonous ancient Egyptian priest, Osarseph , who renamed himself Moses and led a successful coup against the presiding pharaoh , subsequently ruling Egypt for years until the pharaoh regained power and expelled Osarseph and his supporters. Moses has often been portrayed in Christian art and literature, for instance in Michelangelo's Moses and in works at a number of US government buildings. In

1411-625: Is the high honour in which it holds the peoples of the East in general and some specific groups among these peoples." In addition to the Judeo-Roman or Judeo-Hellenic historians Artapanus , Eupolemus , Josephus , and Philo , a few non-Jewish historians including Hecataeus of Abdera (quoted by Diodorus Siculus ), Alexander Polyhistor , Manetho , Apion , Chaeremon of Alexandria , Tacitus and Porphyry also make reference to him. The extent to which any of these accounts rely on earlier sources

1494-483: Is unknown, but it is commonly assigned to the late 1st century C.E. The writer quotes Genesis in a "style which presents the nature of the deity in a manner suitable to his pure and great being", but he does not mention Moses by name, calling him 'no chance person' ( οὐχ ὁ τυχὼν ἀνήρ ) but "the Lawgiver" ( θεσμοθέτης , thesmothete ) of the Jews, a term that puts him on a par with Lycurgus and Minos . Aside from

1577-635: Is unknown. Moses also appears in other religious texts such as the Mishnah (c. 200 CE) and the Midrash (200–1200 CE). The figure of Osarseph in Hellenistic historiography is a renegade Egyptian priest who leads an army of lepers against the pharaoh and is finally expelled from Egypt, changing his name to Moses. The earliest existing reference to Moses in Greek literature occurs in

1660-654: The Book of Deuteronomy another. Moses has traditionally been regarded as the author of those four books and the Book of Genesis , which together comprise the Torah , the first section of the Hebrew Bible . Scholars hold different opinions on the historicity of Moses. For instance, according to William G. Dever , the modern scholarly consensus is that the biblical person of Moses is largely mythical while also holding that "a Moses-like figure may have existed somewhere in

1743-649: The Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea , after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai , where Moses received the Ten Commandments . After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died on Mount Nebo at the age of 120, within sight of the Promised Land . The majority of scholars see the biblical Moses as a legendary figure, while retaining the possibility that Moses or

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1826-783: The Gospels , such as the parallel descriptions of "where two or three are gathered" used in the Gospel of Matthew for Jesus, and in Avot 3:2 for the Shekhinah . Hebrew full text Translations Transliterations Commentary Moses In Abrahamic religions , Moses was a prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the Exodus . He is considered the most important prophet in Judaism and Samaritanism , and one of

1909-578: The Great Assembly , i.e., the early generations of Sages (Avot 1:1). It contains sayings attributed to sages from Simon the Just (200 BCE) to shortly after Judah haNasi (200 CE), redactor of the Mishnah. These aphorisms concern proper ethical and social conduct, as well as the importance of Torah study . The first two chapters proceed in a general chronological order, with the second focusing on

1992-452: The Jewish religion or took a tip from Jochebed (Moses' mother). The Egyptian princess who named Moses is not named in the book of Exodus. However, she was known to Josephus as Thermutis (identified as Tharmuth), and some within Jewish tradition have tried to identify her with a "daughter of Pharaoh" in 1 Chronicles 4:17 named Bithiah , but others note that this is unlikely since there

2075-498: The Omer period, this chapter being seen well-suited to Shabbat Shavuot , when the giving of the Torah is celebrated. (See below.) The term Pirkei Avot refers to the composite six-chapter work ( Avot plus Kinyan Torah ). Modern scholars suggest that Avot 5:21 ("He would say: A five-year-old proceeds to Bible [study], a ten-year-old to mishna [study]...") was not authored by Rabbi Yehudah ben Teimah (the author of 5:20, and seemingly

2158-531: The Patriarchs of the Bible. Rather, in the Mishnah , the word avot generally refers to fundamentals or principal categories. (Thus, the principal categories of creative work forbidden on Shabbat are called avot melacha , and the principal categories of ritual impurity are referred to as avot tum'ah .) Using this meaning, Pirkei Avot would translate to "Chapters of Fundamental Principles". Additionally,

2241-669: The Red Sea Crossing as a sign of his power to Israel and the nations. After defeating the Amalekites in Rephidim , Moses led the Israelites to Mount Sinai , where he was given the Ten Commandments from God, written on stone tablets . However, since Moses remained a long time on the mountain, some of the people feared that he might be dead, so they made a statue of a golden calf and worshipped it , thus disobeying and angering God and Moses. Moses, out of anger, broke

2324-473: The 4th century BCE, long after he is believed to have lived. No contemporary Egyptian sources mention Moses, or the events of Exodus–Deuteronomy, nor has any archaeological evidence been discovered in Egypt or the Sinai wilderness to support the story in which he is the central figure. David Adams Leeming states that Moses is a mythic hero and the central figure in Hebrew mythology. The Oxford Companion to

2407-599: The Bible states that the historicity of Moses is the most reasonable (albeit not unbiased) assumption to be made about him as his absence would leave a vacuum that cannot be explained away. Oxford Biblical Studies states that although few modern scholars are willing to support the traditional view that Moses himself wrote the five books of the Torah , there are certainly those who regard the leadership of Moses as too firmly based in Israel's corporate memory to be dismissed as pious fiction . The story of Moses' discovery follows

2490-481: The Biblical story may reflect an attempt to cancel out traces of Moses' Egyptian origins . The Egyptian character of his name was recognized as such by ancient Jewish writers like Philo and Josephus . Philo linked Moses' name ( Ancient Greek : Μωϋσῆς , romanized :  Mōysēs , lit.   'Mōusês') to the Egyptian ( Coptic ) word for 'water' ( môu , μῶυ ), in reference to his finding in

2573-432: The Egyptian history of Hecataeus of Abdera (4th century BCE). All that remains of his description of Moses are two references made by Diodorus Siculus, wherein, writes historian Arthur Droge, he "describes Moses as a wise and courageous leader who left Egypt and colonized Judaea ". Among the many accomplishments described by Hecataeus, Moses had founded cities, established a temple and religious cult, and issued laws: After

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2656-454: The Exile (i.e., in the first half of the 6th century BCE), testifies to tension between the people of Judah and the returning post-Exilic Jews (the " gôlâ "), stating that God is the father of Israel and that Israel's history begins with the Exodus and not with Abraham . The conclusion to be inferred from this and similar evidence (e.g., the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah ) is that

2739-689: The Exodus story, in what Calvinist theologian Peter Leithart described as "an infernal Passover that delivers Mesha while wrath burns against his enemies". An Egyptian version of the tale that crosses over with the Moses story is found in Manetho who, according to the summary in Josephus , wrote that a certain Osarseph , a Heliopolitan priest, became overseer of a band of lepers , when Amenophis , following indications by Amenhotep, son of Hapu , had all

2822-495: The Mishnaic tractate containing numerous additional ethical teachings and legends. The number of medieval and modern commentaries on the Tractate of Avot is large, and probably not known accurately. Among the best-known commentaries are the following: A comprehensive bibliography of Hebrew commentaries on Pirke Avot has been published, including over 1500 detailed entries. The appendix lists over 500 additional books that contain

2905-507: The Nile and the biblical folk etymology . Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews , claims that the second element, -esês , meant 'those who are saved'. The problem of how an Egyptian princess (who, according to the Biblical account found in the book of Exodus , gave him the name "Moses") could have known Hebrew puzzled medieval Jewish commentators like Abraham ibn Ezra and Hezekiah ben Manoah . Hezekiah suggested she either converted to

2988-454: The age of one hundred and twenty: So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. (Deuteronomy 34:5–6, Amplified Bible ) Moses is honoured among Jews today as the "lawgiver of Israel", and he delivers several sets of laws in

3071-485: The banks of the Jordan River , in sight of the land, Moses assembled the tribes . After recalling their wanderings, he delivered God's laws by which they must live in the land, sang a song of praise and pronounced a blessing on the people, and passed his authority to Joshua , under whom they would possess the land. Moses then went up Mount Nebo , looked over the Promised Land spread out before him, and died, at

3154-647: The central importance that Jews of this period placed on transmitting the ethical way of life. The Mishnaic tractate Avot consists of five chapters. It begins with an order of transmission of the Oral Tradition; Moses receives the Torah at Mount Sinai and then transmits it through various generations (including Joshua , the Elders, and the Neviim , but notably not the Kohanim ), whence it finally arrives at

3237-421: The clear and straightforward mishnaic prose. In addition, the anomalous character of Avot is heightened by the biblical influences on its linguistic expressions, grammatical forms, and vocabulary." From at least the time of Saadia Gaon (10th century), it has been customary to study one chapter a week on each Shabbat between Passover and Shavuot ; today, the tractate is generally studied on each Shabbat of

3320-629: The course of the four books. The first is the Covenant Code , the terms of the covenant which God offers to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Embedded in the covenant are the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments , Exodus 20:1–17), and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22–23:19). The entire Book of Leviticus constitutes a second body of law, the Book of Numbers begins with yet another set, and

3403-464: The decisive role he played in Israelite religion, and a third that argues there are elements of both history and legend from which "these issues are hotly debated unresolved matters among scholars". According to Brian Britt, there is divide amongst scholars when discussing matters on Moses that threatens gridlock. According to the official Torah commentary for Conservative Judaism, it is irrelevant if

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3486-693: The end of the Exodus journey had become the enemies of the Israelites due to their notorious role in enticing the Israelites to sin against God . Moses was twice given notice that he would die before entry to the Promised Land: in Numbers 27:13, once he had seen the Promised Land from a viewpoint on Mount Abarim , and again in Numbers 31:1 once battle with the Midianites had been won. On

3569-402: The establishment of settled life in Egypt in early times, which took place, according to the mythical account, in the period of the gods and heroes, the first ... to persuade the multitudes to use written laws was Mneves, a man not only great of soul but also in his life the most public-spirited of all lawgivers whose names are recorded. Droge also points out that this statement by Hecataeus

3652-421: The figure of Moses and the story of the Exodus must have been preeminent among the people of Judah at the time of the Exile and after, serving to support their claims to the land in opposition to those of the returning exiles. A theory developed by Cornelis Tiele in 1872, which has proved influential, argued that Yahweh was a Midianite god, introduced to the Israelites by Moses, whose father-in-law Jethro

3735-533: The first stage, including Moses and his direct heirs; to the final stage where "the Temple of Jerusalem continued to be surrounded by an aura of sanctity". Strabo's "positive and unequivocal appreciation of Moses' personality is among the most sympathetic in all ancient literature." His portrayal of Moses is said to be similar to the writing of Hecataeus who "described Moses as a man who excelled in wisdom and courage". Egyptologist Jan Assmann concludes that Strabo

3818-511: The five, originally independent, themes of that work. Manfred Görg  [ de ] and Rolf Krauss  [ de ] , the latter in a somewhat sensationalist manner, have suggested that the Moses story is a distortion or transmogrification of the historical pharaoh Amenmose ( c.  1200 BCE ), who was dismissed from office and whose name was later simplified to msy (Mose). Aidan Dodson regards this hypothesis as "intriguing, but beyond proof". Rudolf Smend argues that

3901-572: The format of moral aphorisms attributed to specific rabbis. In liturgical use, and in most printed editions of Avot , a sixth chapter, Kinyan Torah ("Acquisition of Torah") is added; this is in fact the eighth (in the Vilna edition) chapter of tractate Kallah , one of the minor tractates . It is added because its content and style are somewhat similar to that of the original tractate Avot (although it focuses on Torah study more than ethics), and to allow for one chapter to be recited on each Shabbat of

3984-481: The gods like the people" and halting offerings to the Egyptian deities. They were eventually defeated and expelled by the new Pharaoh Setnakhte and, while fleeing, they abandoned large quantities of gold and silver they had stolen from the temples. Non-biblical writings about Jews, with references to the role of Moses, first appear at the beginning of the Hellenistic period , from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE. Shmuel notes that "a characteristic of this literature

4067-400: The god’s name omitted. The suffix mose appears in Egyptian pharaohs’ names like Thutmose ('born of Thoth ') and Ramose ('born of Ra '). One of the Egyptian names of Ramesses was Ra-mesesu mari-Amon , meaning “born of Ra, beloved of Amon” (he was also called Usermaatre Setepenre , meaning “Keeper of light and harmony, strong in light, elect of Re”). Linguist Abraham Yahuda , based on

4150-610: The guidance of the first being, by whose aid they should get out of their present plight. In this version, Moses and the Jews wander through the desert for only six days, capturing the Holy Land on the seventh. The Septuagint , the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, impressed the pagan author of the famous classical book of literary criticism, On the Sublime , traditionally attributed to Longinus . The date of composition

4233-431: The historical Moses existed, calling him "the folkloristic, national hero". Jan Assmann argues that it cannot be known if Moses ever lived because there are no traces of him outside tradition. Though the names of Moses and others in the biblical narratives are Egyptian and contain genuine Egyptian elements, no extrabiblical sources point clearly to Moses. No references to Moses appear in any Egyptian sources prior to

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4316-424: The human form. For God [said he] may be this one thing which encompasses us all, land and sea, which we call heaven, or the universe, or the nature of things.... 36. By such doctrine Moses persuaded a large body of right-minded persons to accompany him to the place where Jerusalem now stands. In Strabo's writings of the history of Judaism as he understood it, he describes various stages in its development: from

4399-412: The journey, God tried to kill Moses for failing to circumcise his son, but Zipporah saved his life . Moses returned to carry out God's command, but God caused the Pharaoh to refuse, and only after God had subjected Egypt to ten plagues did Pharaoh relent. Moses led the Israelites to the border of Egypt, but their God hardened the Pharaoh's heart once more, so that he could destroy Pharaoh and his army at

4482-575: The land. Later on, Korah was punished for leading a revolt against Moses. When the forty years had passed, Moses led the Israelites east around the Dead Sea to the territories of Edom and Moab . There they escaped the temptation of idolatry, conquered the lands of Og and Sihon in Transjordan , received God's blessing through Balaam the prophet, and massacred the Midianites , who by

4565-452: The land. The spies returned with samples of the land's fertility but warned that its inhabitants were giants . The people were afraid and wanted to return to Egypt, and some rebelled against Moses and against God. Moses told the Israelites that they were not worthy to inherit the land, and would wander the wilderness for forty years until the generation who had refused to enter Canaan had died, so that it would be their children who would possess

4648-592: The lepers in Egypt quarantined in order to cleanse the land so that he might see the gods. The lepers are bundled into Avaris , the former capital of the Hyksos , where Osarseph prescribes for them everything forbidden in Egypt, while proscribing everything permitted in Egypt. They invite the Hyksos to reinvade Egypt, rule with them for 13 years – Osarseph then assumes the name Moses – and are then driven out. Other Egyptian figures which have been postulated as candidates for

4731-574: The majority of Mishnaic tractates, Avot has no corresponding gemara . Some have said this is because the concepts in it can never be dealt with completely, being the "fifth part of the Shulchan Aruch " (being intrinsically " derekh eretz ": wise practices). Although Avot does not have an accompanying gemara, one of the minor tractates of the Talmud, the Avot of Rabbi Natan , is an expansion of

4814-472: The medieval and Renaissance period, he is frequently shown as having small horns , as the result of a mistranslation in the Latin Vulgate bible, which nevertheless at times could reflect Christian ambivalence or have overtly antisemitic connotations. The Egyptian root msy ('child of') or mose has been considered as a possible etymology, arguably an abbreviation of a theophoric name with

4897-683: The most important prophets in Christianity , Islam , the Baháʼí Faith , and other Abrahamic religions . According to both the Bible and the Quran , God dictated the Mosaic Law to Moses, which he wrote down in the five books of the Torah . According to the Book of Exodus , Moses was born in a time when his people, the Israelites, an enslaved minority, were increasing in population and, as

4980-430: The other patriarchs , most likely had a substantial oral prehistory (he is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Isaiah ). The earliest mention of him is vague, in the Book of Hosea and his name is apparently ancient, as the tradition found in Exodus gives it a folk etymology. Nevertheless, the Torah was completed by combining older traditional texts with newly-written ones. Isaiah , written during

5063-464: The possibility that the title was intentionally worded to support multiple renderings—both "fathers" and "fundamental principles"—cannot be ruled out. The recognition of ethical maxims as 'Fundamental Principles' may derive from the high regard in which the Torah , Mishnah , and Talmud hold such wisdom. "Love your neighbor as yourself," states the Bible ( Leviticus 19:18 ), an injunction that Rabbi Akiva in Genesis Rabbah 24:7 famously calls

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5146-403: The priesthood under the sons of Moses' brother Aaron , and destroyed those Israelites who fell away from his worship. In his final act at Sinai, God gave Moses instructions for the Tabernacle , the mobile shrine by which he would travel with Israel to the Promised Land. From Sinai, Moses led the Israelites to the Desert of Paran on the border of Canaan. From there he sent twelve spies into

5229-412: The pronunciation of Egyptian msy in the relevant time period. The Israelites had settled in the Land of Goshen in the time of Joseph and Jacob , but a new Pharaoh arose who oppressed the children of Israel. At this time Moses was born to his father Amram , son (or descendant) of Kehath the Levite , who entered Egypt with Jacob's household; his mother was Jochebed (also Yocheved), who

5312-424: The referent of "He would say" in 5:21) but rather by Shmuel ha-Katan , and was not part of the Mishna tractate of Avot, but rather added later to Pirkei Avot. In Machzor Vitry , for example, this passage is printed after the words "Tractate Avot has ended". "The structure of the tractate differs greatly from the thematic structure of the other tractates and Avot sayings employ a highly stylized language instead of

5395-498: The same by Moses gave rise to the cult of Apis . Finally, after having escaped another plot by killing the assailant sent by the king, Moses fled to Arabia , where he married the daughter of Raguel [Jethro], the ruler of the district. Artapanus goes on to relate how Moses returns to Egypt with Aaron, and is imprisoned, but miraculously escapes through the name of YHWH in order to lead the Exodus. This account further testifies that all Egyptian temples of Isis thereafter contained

5478-415: The saying, "The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to bestow merit upon Israel; therefore he gave them Torah and mitzvot in abundance" ( Makkoth 3:16). The tractate includes several of the most frequently-quoted rabbinic sayings on a variety of topics, including: Mishnaic tractates, composed in Mishnaic Hebrew , are usually accompanied by commentaries in Aramaic known as gemara ("the teaching"). Unlike

5561-402: The southern Transjordan in the mid-late 13th century B.C." and that "archeology can do nothing" to prove or confirm either way. Some scholars, such as Konrad Schmid and Jens Schröter, consider Moses a historical figure. According to Solomon Nigosian, there are actually three prevailing views among biblical scholars: one is that Moses is not a historical figure, another view strives to anchor

5644-485: The spelling given in the Tanakh , argues that it combines "water" or "seed" and "pond, expanse of water," thus yielding the sense of "child of the Nile " ( mw - š ). The biblical account of Moses' birth provides him with a folk etymology to explain the ostensible meaning of his name. He is said to have received it from the Pharaoh's daughter : "he became her son. She named him Moses [ מֹשֶׁה , Mōše ], saying, 'I drew him out [ מְשִׁיתִֽהוּ , mǝšīṯīhū ] of

5727-403: The students of Yochanan Ben Zakkai . Chapters Three and Four are thematic and contain various attributed sayings in no explicit order. Chapter Five departs from the organization and content of the preceding four in that it consists mostly of anonymous sayings structured around numerical lists, several of which have no direct connection with ethics. The last four paragraphs of this chapter return to

5810-462: The summer, from Passover to Rosh Hashanah , the entire cycle repeating a few times with doubling of chapters at the end if there are not a perfect multiple of six weeks. The tractate is therefore included in many prayer books , following Shabbat afternoon prayers. In the course of such study, it is common to preface each chapter with the Mishnaic saying, "All Israel has a share in the world to come" ( Sanhedrin 10:1), and to conclude each chapter with

5893-425: The tablets, and later ordered the elimination of those who had worshiped the golden statue, which was melted down and fed to the idolaters . God again wrote the ten commandments on a new set of tablets. Later at Mount Sinai , Moses and the elders entered into a covenant, by which Israel would become the people of YHWH, obeying his laws, and YHWH would be their god. Moses delivered the laws of God to Israel, instituted

5976-440: The title Avot . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Avot&oldid=898807209 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Pirkei Avot In

6059-575: The title Pirkei Avot , the word "pirkei" is Hebrew for "chapters of". The word avot means "fathers", and thus Pirkei Avot is often rendered in English as "Chapters of the Fathers", or (more loosely) "Ethics of the Fathers." This translation engenders an appealing and not entirely mistaken image of "patriarchal teachings". However, the term 'avot' is not usually used as an honorary designation for 'rabbis' or 'sages'; in rabbinical usage, it refers to

6142-463: The two details about Moses that were most likely to be historical are his name, of Egyptian origin, and his marriage to a Midianite woman, details which seem unlikely to have been invented by the Israelites; in Smend's view, all other details given in the biblical narrative are too mythically charged to be seen as accurate data. The name King Mesha of Moab has been linked to that of Moses. Mesha also

6225-515: The water'." This explanation links it to the Semitic root משׁה , m-š-h , meaning "to draw out". The eleventh-century Tosafist Isaac b. Asher haLevi noted that the princess names him the active participle 'drawer-out' ( מֹשֶׁה , mōše ), not the passive participle 'drawn-out' ( נִמְשֶׁה , nīmše ), in effect prophesying that Moses would draw others out (of Egypt); this has been accepted by some scholars. The Hebrew etymology in

6308-558: Was a Midianite priest. It was to such a Moses that Yahweh reveals his real name, hidden from the Patriarchs who knew him only as El Shaddai . Against this view is the modern consensus that most of the Israelites were native to Palestine . Martin Noth argued that the Pentateuch uses the figure of Moses, originally linked to legends of a Transjordan conquest, as a narrative bracket or late redactional device to weld together four of

6391-507: Was an Exodus from Egypt. By his account, the Pharaoh Bocchoris , suffering from a plague , banished the Jews in response to an oracle of the god Zeus - Amun . A motley crowd was thus collected and abandoned in the desert. While all the other outcasts lay idly lamenting, one of them, named Moses, advised them not to look for help to gods or men, since both had deserted them, but to trust rather in themselves, and accept as divine

6474-632: Was beating a Hebrew, Moses fled across the Red Sea to Midian , where he encountered the Angel of the Lord , speaking to him from within a burning bush on Mount Horeb . God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak eloquently, so God allowed Aaron , his elder brother, to become his spokesperson. After the Ten Plagues , Moses led

6557-435: Was beating a Hebrew. Moses, in order to escape Pharaoh's death penalty , fled to Midian (a desert country south of Judah), where he married Zipporah . There, on Mount Horeb , God appeared to Moses as a burning bush , revealed to Moses his name YHWH (probably pronounced Yahweh ) and commanded him to return to Egypt and bring his chosen people (Israel) out of bondage and into the Promised Land ( Canaan ). During

6640-484: Was kin to Kehath. Moses had one older (by seven years) sister, Miriam , and one older (by three years) brother, Aaron . Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born would be drowned in the river Nile , but Moses' mother placed him in an ark and concealed the ark in the bulrushes by the riverbank, where the baby was discovered and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter , and raised as an Egyptian. One day, after Moses had reached adulthood, he killed an Egyptian who

6723-651: Was published in 1996 by CASS Press, together with footnotes and an introduction of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz . The first edition, of 1500 copies, sold out immediately. A revised version of Zhang's translation, with some influence from the Chinese Catholic Bible, was published in 2001 under the title "猶太聖傳·民刑卷·先賢篇" ('Jewish sacred teachings, records, and ethics articles'). It is available online. Scholars have noted similar themes and language shared between Pirkei Avot and earlier Jewish traditions found in

6806-549: Was similar to statements made subsequently by Eupolemus. The Jewish historian Artapanus of Alexandria (2nd century BCE) portrayed Moses as a cultural hero, alien to the Pharaonic court. According to theologian John Barclay, the Moses of Artapanus "clearly bears the destiny of the Jews, and in his personal, cultural and military splendor, brings credit to the whole Jewish people". Jealousy of Moses' excellent qualities induced Chenephres to send him with unskilled troops on

6889-414: Was the historian "who came closest to a construction of Moses' religion as monotheistic and as a pronounced counter-religion." It recognized "only one divine being whom no image can represent ... [and] the only way to approach this god is to live in virtue and in justice." The Roman historian Tacitus (c. 56–120 CE) refers to Moses by noting that the Jewish religion was monotheistic and without

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