The Puzzle of Rabbinic Identification at the End of Chapter Five in the Ladino Translations of Pirke Avot
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46661/meldar.7420Keywords:
Pirke Avot, Ladino translations, Rabbis' names, paragraph order, identityAbstract
Pirke Avot known as the “Ethics of the Fathers”, a Mishnaic compendium of rabbinic sayings, is comprised of six chapters, which Sephardic Jews read one chapter a week with the Ladino translation on the Sabbaths between Pesaḥ (Passover) and Shavu'ot (Pentecost). The end of chapter five and chapter six were appended to this Mishna after 200 CE. The final paragraphs of chapter five list either three or four sages by their names, while one is referred to by hu haya omer (‘he used to say’), translated as él era dizién. Because the order of the paragraphs varies in different Ladino editions, the identity of the Rabbi is unclear. The translation of Vienna 1857 adds to the confusion because the Hebrew text represents one order and the translation another. The article presents the paragraphs and the orders in which they occur in the various Ladino editions and concludes with the possible identity of the unnamed rabbi.
Downloads
References
Albeck, Hanoch. (1959). Shisha Sidre Mishna: Seder Neziqin. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv: Bialik and Dvir [in Hebrew].
Cohen, Dov. (2021). Thesaurus of the Ladino Book 1490-1960: An Annotated Bibliography. Jerusalem: The Ben-Zvi Institute and Misgav Yerushalayim [in Hebrew].
Davis, Avrohom. (1979). Pirkei Avos: The Wisdom of the Fathers. New York: Simcha-Graphic Associated.
Gutwirth, Eliezer. (1989). A Medieval Spanish Translation of Avot: Geniza Fragments. Annali, 49(3), 289-300.
Lazar, Moshe (ed.). (1993). Sēfer Tešuāh: A Ladino Compendium of Jewish Law and Ethics. Culver City: Labyrinthos.
Lazar, Moshe (ed.). (1995). Libro de Oracyones: Ferrara Ladino Siddur. Lancaster, CA.: Labyrinthos.
Márquez Villanueva, Francisco. (2006). Sobre el concepto de judaizante. In De la España judeoconversa. Doce estudios (pp. 95-114). Barcelona: Bellaterra.
Sáinz de la Maza, Carlos. (2013). Abot de los conversos hacia 1450. eHumanista / Conversos, 1, 86-104.
Schwarzwald (Rodrigue), Ora. 1989. The Ladino Translations of Pirke Aboth (Eda VeLashon 13). Jerusalem: Magnes [in Hebrew].
Schwarzwald (Rodrigue), Ora. 1999. Hierarchy among the Hebrew Elements in Ladino Translations as Determined by Geographical, Textual and Religious Factors. In Shelomo Morag, Moshe Bar-Asher & Maria Mayer-Modena (eds.), Vena Hebraica in Judaeorum Linguis (Studi Camito Semitici, 5) (pp. 183-202). Milano: Universitá degli Studi di Milano.
Schwarzwald (Rodrigue), Ora & Cohen, Dov. (2020). El descubrimiento de la primera traducción impresa en ladino de Pirqué Abot (Salónica, hacia 1570). Sefarad, 80(1), 117-136. https://doi.org/10.3989/sefarad.020-004
Sharvit, Shimon. (2004). Language and Style of Tractate Avoth through the Ages. Beer Sheva: Ben Gurion University [in Hebrew].
Sharvit, Shimon. (2006). Tractate Avoth through the Ages. Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute [in Hebrew]
Shinan, Avigdor. 2009. Pirke Avot: A New Israeli Commentary. Jerusalem: Miskal [in Hebrew].
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Meldar: International Journal of Sephardic Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Your manuscript will be published under under a Creative Commons Licence 4.0 (CC BY-NC): Attributed-NonCommercial, as follows:
- The authorship and original source of its publication (magazine, editorial and URL of the work) are cited.
- Not used for commercial purposes.
- The existence and specifications of this use license are mentioned.
