'ABOTH (Pirqē 'Abāth, “chapters of the Fathers”). — Treatise IX of the IVth Order of the MišMISŇAH (v.), not followed by the commentary or gēmarā. It has no logical relation to the treatises among which it is inserted, but contains moral sayings, proverbs, and family counsels on the lips of the “Fathers” (v. AB), that is, of the principal teachers who elaborated the legal material of the Mišnah (1st–11th centuries).
The customary title is sometimes modified to Messêheth 'A. (Text of the Fathers) or Mihnâh hasidim (Teaching of the Pious). To the five original chapters, a sixth was later added: the “Chapter of Rabbi Meir,” also called “The Acquisition of the Law.”
The first two chapters, besides their practical purpose of moral instruction, aim to show that the oral tradition contained in the Mihnâh goes back, through an unbroken succession of authorities, to the primitive revelation made by God to Moses: “Moses received the Law on Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, the Prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue. They said three things: be circumspect in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a hedge around the Law” (Aboth, I, 1). Beginning with Simeon the Just, “one of the last survivors of the Great Synagogue,” the heads of the schools are enumerated from this period (4th–3rd centuries B.C.), each being assigned a saying. Many other names of celebrated teachers appear in the remaining chapters, according to an unclear principle of arrangement.
Besides inculcating veneration for the Torâh, these maxims concern methods of teaching, the conduct of teachers, and the duties of disciples and teachers toward the people; many, dealing with moral duties, justice, and love of neighbor, are of lofty ethical content. For this reason the Pirgê 'A. have remained highly honored in Judaism. It is the part of the Mihnâh that most interests the masses, and it was translated into Latin several times as early as the 16th century and into many modern languages.
'A. de-Rabbi-Nathân is a treatise similar in content, so called because the first saying reported is that of the tannaitic Rabbi Nathan.