It is part of the Mishnah, the first text of the Jewish oral law.
Like the rest of the Mishnah, Pirkei Avot consists primarily of short statements most often attributed to rabbis who lived around the beginning of the Common Era. But there, the resemblance ends. Whereas the bulk of the Mishnah concerns itself with case law, Pirkei Avot presents us with a series of ethical principles articulated by the rabbis whose legal opinions appear elsewhere in the Mishnah. Pirkei Avot thus serves as an introduction to the overall worldviews of these rabbis, whom we would otherwise know only through their legal rulings.
The worldview espoused by the rabbis quoted here emphasizes learning, service of God, discipleship, ethical behavior, humility, and fair judgment. Within the first four chapters of this work, these teachings follow a standard form. A rabbi is introduced, often, but not always, as a disciple or son of the preceding rabbi, and the text then offers one or more teachings by this rabbi.
Chapter five consists almost entirely of anonymous statements of numerical lists. These lists all consist of ten, seven, or four items, these numbers being standard mnemonic devices in rabbinic discourse. The contrast between the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot and the first four chapters suggests that this fifth chapter may have been a later, though still early, addition to the work.
Because it starts with a description of how each rabbi learnt the Torah, starting with Moses on Mount Sinai, and tells us a little bit about the teachings of each rabbi, Pirkei Avot makes an essential statement about the nature of Torah and interpretation: Even though each generation interprets and applies the Torah according to the needs of the time, these interpretations have the authority of laws given by God at Mount Sinai.
adapted from Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Fathers by Rabbi Jill Jacobs, accessed 1/10/2017 https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/pirkei-avot-ethics-of-our-fathers/
(כא) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, בֶּן חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים לַמִּקְרָא, בֶּן עֶשֶׂר לַמִּשְׁנָה, בֶּן שְׁלשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה לַמִּצְוֹת, בֶּן חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה לַתַּלְמוּד, בֶּן שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה לַחֻפָּה, בֶּן עֶשְׂרִים לִרְדֹּף, בֶּן שְׁלשִׁים לַכֹּחַ, בֶּן אַרְבָּעִים לַבִּינָה, בֶּן חֲמִשִּׁים לָעֵצָה, בֶּן שִׁשִּׁים לַזִּקְנָה, בֶּן שִׁבְעִים לַשֵּׂיבָה, בֶּן שְׁמֹנִים לַגְּבוּרָה, בֶּן תִּשְׁעִים לָשׁוּחַ, בֶּן מֵאָה כְּאִלּוּ מֵת וְעָבַר וּבָטֵל מִן הָעוֹלָם:
(21) He [Yehudah ben Teima] used to say: Five years [is the age] for [the study of] Scripture, Ten for Mishnah, Thirteen for observing commandments, Fifteen for the study of Talmud, Eighteen is the age for marriage, Twenty [is the age] for pursuit, Thirty [is the age] for [full] strength, Forty [is the age] for understanding, Fifty [is the age] for [giving] counsel, Sixty [is the age] for mature age, Seventy [is the age] for a hoary head, Eighty [is the age] for [superadded] strength, Ninety [is the age] for [a] bending [stature], One hundred, is [the age at which one is] as if dead, passed away, and ceased from the world.
hoary = grey or white haired
Do you agree that this is how life goes?
Why do you think the author used these specific ages?
Which age do you agree with the most? Which age do you disagree with the most? Why?
Do you think that your studying for a Bnei Mitzvah ceremony fits into this text? Does it apply to how we learn today? Why, or why not?
(1) What were Akiva's beginnings?
(2) It is said: Up to the age of forty, he had not yet studied a thing. One time, while standing by the mouth of a well in Lydda, he inquired, "Who hollowed out this stone?" and was told, "Akiva, haven't you read that 'water wears away stone' (Job 14:19)? - it was water falling upon it constantly, day after day."
(3) At that, Rabbi Akiva asked himself: Is my mind harder than this stone? I will go and study at least one section of Torah. He went directly to a schoolhouse, and he and his son began reading from a child's tablet. Rabbi Akiva took hold of one end of the tablet, and his son of the other end. The teacher wrote down alef and bet for him, and he learned them; alef to tav, and he learned them; the book of Leviticus, and he learned it. He went on studying until he learned the whole Torah.
(4) Then he went and sat before Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua. "My masters," he said, "reveal the sense of Mishnah to me."
(5) When they told him one halakhah, he went off to reason with himself. This alef, he wondered, what was it written for? That bet - what was it written for? This teaching - what was it uttered for? He kept coming back, kept inquiring of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua, until he reduced his teachers to silence.
Why do you think I included this source?
What does it show us about learning in Judaism?
Finally, summarise what you have learnt in this session, please.
1. Write a letter to yourself at one of the ages in the first text. If you have been that age, tell yourself what happens next. If you have not yet got to that age, write a letter to remind yourself what you would like to have achieved.
2. Draw a comic strip that shows your life at all of the ages in the text.
3. Create a piece of artwork showing yourself at one of the ages in the text.
4. Write a story or a poem inspired by your own life at the ages in the text.