Pirkei Avot: Living with Jewish Values and Ethics
With Mrs. Rachel Besser, Dr. Mijal Bitton, Rabbi Shmuel Braun, Dr. Erica Brown, Eric Cohen, Rabbi Mark Gottlieb, Talia Harcsztark, Dara Horn, Dr. Doran 'Dodie' Katz, Rabbi Hershel Lutch, Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter, Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger
Where can modern Jews, both young and old and across the spectrum of observance, turn for guidance on timely and timeless questions, on the most urgent and most perennial issues?
For nearly two millennia, Jews from all around the world have dedicated the six Sabbaths between Passover and Shavuot to the regular study of Pirkei Avot, the Ethics (or Chapters) of the Fathers. Pirkei Avot—or Avot, for short—is a section of the Mishna, the first formal codification of the Jewish Oral Law, which portrays the moral-ethical universe of Judaism in all its fullness. These teachings, culled from the sayings of almost sixty sages, stretching over some five centuries, are the building blocks of a Jewish life well-lived. In short, Avot is the foundational text for any authentic transmission of Jewish values and virtues.