Pirke Avot: The Sayings Of The Jewish Fathers Part 13

9. R. Jose, the son of Kisma (41), said, "I was once walking by the way, when a man met me and saluted me, and I returned the salutation.

He said to me, 'Rabbi, from what place art thou?' I said to him, 'I come from a great city of sages and scribes.' He said to me, 'If thou art willing to dwell with us in our place, I will give thee a thousand thousand golden dinars and precious stones and pearls.' I said to him, 'Wert thou to give me all the silver and gold and precious stones and pearls in the world, I would not dwell anywhere but in a home of the _Torah';_ and thus it is written in the book of Psalms by the hands of David, King of Israel, 'The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver' (42); and not only so, but in the hour of man's departure neither silver nor gold nor precious stones nor pearls accompany him, but only _Torah_ and good works, as it is said, 'When thou walkest it shall lead thee; when thou liest down it shall watch over thee; and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee' (43); 'when thou walkest it shall lead thee'--in this world; and 'when thou awakest it shall talk with thee'--in the world to come. And it says, 'The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts'" (44).

(41) He lived about 120 C.E.

(42) Ps. XCIX, 72.

(43) Prov. VI, 22.

(44) Hag. II, 8.

10. Five possessions the Holy One, blessed be He, made especially His own in His world, and these are they, the _Torah_, heaven and earth, Abraham, Israel, and the house of the sanctuary. Whence know we this of the _Torah?_ Because it is written, "The Lord possessed me as the beginning of his way, before his works, from of old" (45). Whence of heaven and earth? Because it is written, "Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto me? and what manner of place for my rest?"

(46); and it says, "How manifold are thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy possessions" (47).

Whence of Abraham? Because it is written, "And he blessed him, and said, 'Blessed be Abram of the Most High G.o.d, possessor of heaven and earth" (48). Whence of Israel? Because it is written, "Till thy people pa.s.s over, O Lord, till the people pa.s.s over which thou hast acquired" (49); and it says, "As for the saints that are in the earth, they are the n.o.ble ones in whom is all my delight" (50). Whence of the house of the sanctuary? Because it is written, "The place, O Lord, which thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have prepared" (51); and it says, "And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain which his right hand had acquired" (52). 11. Whatsoever the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world He created but for His glory, as it is said, "Everything that is called by my name, it is for my glory I have created it, I have formed it, yea, I have made it" (53); and it says, "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever" (54).

(45) Prov. VIII, 22.

(46) Isa. LXVI, 1.

(47) Ps. CIV, 24.

(48) Gen. XIV, 16.

(49) Ex. XV, 16.

(50) Ps. XVI, 3.

(51) Ex. XV, 17.

(52) Ps. LXXVIII, 54.

(53) Isa. XLIII, 7.

(54) Ex. XV, 18.

Rabbi Chanania, the son of Akas.h.i.+a, said, "The Holy One, blessed be He, was pleased to make Israel worthy; wherefore He gave them a copious _Torah_ and many commandments, as it is said, 'It pleased the Lord, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the _Torah_ and make it honorable'".

_____________________ TRANSCRIPTION NOTES

For any accent marks noted in the following, a.s.sume that the same accent appears with all subsequent occurrances of the word.

INTRODUCTION

_Die Spruche der Vater_ umlaut over the u and the a

_Maximes des Peres_ grave over the last e

role circ.u.mflex over the o

footnote 9 _Jewish Encyclopedia_: in the source, the word Jewish was not italicized

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[s]

the doc.u.ment contained a special character known as "section sign", resembling two lower-case s's one above the other.

Spruchen umlaut over tue u in

Vater umlaut over the a

Beitragen umlaut over the a

Spruche umlaut over the a

Tubingen umlaut over the u

ubertragen umlaut over the u

uberzetzt umlaut over the u

erklart umlaut over the a

Maimonide umlaut over the i (in this French t.i.tle)

Introduction a la ...

umlaut over the first a

Peres grave accent over the first e

Furth umlaut over the u

umber umlaut over the u

fur Geschichte umlaut over the u

Brull umlaut over the u

ursprunglicher umlaut over the second u

Jahrbucher fur Jud umlauts over all three u's

Friedlander, M.

umlaut over the a. Same in Chapter I, notes 4, 10, 11, 13, 18 etc. There is no umlaut in the next entry, "Friedlander, G."