Pirkei Avot
Living with Jewish Values and Ethics
A 6-Week Learning Campaign Ahead of Shavuot
Video Lessons From Master Teachers Straight to Your Inbox
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks believed that the primary institution of education in the life of a Jewish child is the family. He wrote that:
“participating in meaningful conversation about Torah with our children and the next generation is a major part of what it is to be a Jew. There is nothing more beautiful or life affirming than learning Torah with your children. Give them the space not only to be your students, but also to be your teachers, and they will grow tall.“
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?
At Tikvah, we educate Jews of all backgrounds to take stock in their own Jewish identity by seriously engaging traditional Jewish wisdom. And while we have done much to date to open the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, to countless students, young and old, through our Kress Project in the Hebrew Bible, this is our first more sustained effort with rabbinic texts. And Avot is the perfect vehicle for this important engagement with the broader body of Jewish teachings that comprise the Oral Torah.
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.
Our study will take place between Passover
and Shavuot
No previous knowledge of the Hebrew Bible or Rabbinic Tradition is necessary
We encourage parents to participate with their middle and high school children
Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger is Head of School at Emet Classical Academy in Manhattan. He is also Founding Executive Director and Dean of the after-school Millstone Scholars Program. Prior to joining Tikvah, Dr. Unger was tenured in the Department of Government and Politics at Wagner College, where he was also Director of Urban Programs and Campus Rabbi. He has held appointments as Senior Research Fellow at the Orthodox Union’s Center for Communal Research and NYU’s Marron Institute of Urban Management. Dr. Unger has published three peer reviewed books on both urban policy and Jewish public theology. He has consulted for the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce Foundation on the structuring of public private partnerships in local economic development, and serves on the Advisory Board of University of Austin’s Center for Education and Public Service.
We believe in the centrality of the Torah to Jewish, American and Western culture; to the Jewish people; to the family; and to the self. Our work with Tikvah is dedicated to bringing the Hebrew Bible and Jewish ethics back to the fore and inspiring young people with the great stories, moral lessons, and foundational debates of Jewish tradition. This is the best strategy for strengthening and sustaining the Jewish people into the future.”
