PIT - Pirkei Avot (1:1-4)

The Mishnah or the Mishna (/ˈmɪʃnə/; Hebrew: מִשְׁנָה‎, "study by repetition", from the verb shanah שנה‎, or "to study and review", also "secondary")^[1] is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah. It is also the first major work of rabbinic literature.^[2][3] The Mishnah was written by Judah ha-Nasi at the beginning of the 3rd century CE^[4] in a time when the persecution of the Jews and the passage of time raised the possibility that the details of the oral traditions of from the Second Temple period (536 BCE – 70 CE) would be forgotten. Most of the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew, but some parts are in Aramaic.
The Mishnah consists of six orders (sedarim, singular seder סדר), each containing 7–12 tractates (masechtot, singular masechet מסכת; lit. "web"), 63 in total, and further subdivided into chapters and paragraphs. The word Mishnah can also indicate a single paragraph of the work, i.e. the smallest unit of structure in the Mishnah. For this reason the whole work is sometimes referred to in the plural form, Mishnayot.

Kaufmann Manuscript (10th or 11th Century, CE)

Moses ben Maimon^{[note 1]} (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (/maɪˈmɒnɪdiːz/ my-MON-i-deez)^{[note 2]} and also referred to by the acronym Rambam (Hebrew: רמב״ם‎),^{[note 3]} was a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician, serving as the personal physician of Saladin.^{[8][9][10][11][12]} Born in Córdoba, Almoravid Empire (present-day Spain) on Passover eve, 1138 (or 1135),^{[13][14][15][16][17]} he worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt. He died in Egypt on 12 December 1204, whence his body was taken to the lower Galilee and buried in Tiberias.^[18][19]
During his lifetime, most Jews greeted Maimonides' writings on Jewish law and ethics with acclaim and gratitude, even as far away as Iraq and Yemen. Yet, while Maimonides rose to become the revered head of the Jewish community in Egypt, his writings also had vociferous critics, particularly in Spain. Nonetheless, he was posthumously acknowledged as one of the foremost rabbinic decisors and philosophers in Jewish history, and his copious work comprises a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship. His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah still carries significant canonical authority as a codification of Halacha. He is sometimes known as "ha'Nesher ha'Gadol" (The Great Eagle)^[20] in recognition of his outstanding status as a bona fide exponent of the Oral Torah.
Aside from being revered by Jewish historians, Maimonides also figures very prominently in the history of Islamic and Arab sciences and he is mentioned extensively in studies. Influenced by Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and his contemporary Ibn Rushd, he became a prominent philosopher and polymath in both the Jewish and Islamic worlds. On his tomb is inscribed "From Moses to Moses there was none like Moses".^[21]

Ovadiah ben Abraham of Bertinoro (Hebrew: ר׳ עוֹבַדְיָה בֵּן אַבְרָהָם מִבַּרְטֵנוּרָא‎; c. 1445 – c. 1515), commonly known as "The Bartenura", was a 15th-century Italian rabbi best known for his popular commentary on the Mishnah. In his later years, he rejuvenated the Jewish community of Jerusalem and became recognised as the spiritual leader of the Jews of his generation.^[1]