Your Father’s Mussar?

שְׁמַע בְּנִי מוּסַר אָבִיךָ וְאַל תִּטֹּשׁ תּוֹרַת אִמֶּךָ

Listen, my son, to the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the Torah of your mother. – Proverbs 1:8

Last time, we spoke about the importance of parsha review over the summer months, as many of us worked the summer months in high school and college and never had the opportunity to learn the end of Bemidbar and most of Devarim as well as we learned about Noach, Avraham, Yoseif and Moshe.

But you know what else is popular to study over the summer? Pirkei Avos.

Avos is a unique tractate of Mishna dealing with ethics. The name of the tractate means “Fathers” (probably) and, in English, it is commonly referred to as “Ethics of the Fathers” (hence the name of this blog post). And, as usual, OU Torah is here to help you get your Avos on!

First off, we have Rabbi Yosef Grossman, who delivered in-depth, and very insightful, shiurim on Avos as part of the OU’s Mishna Yomit program. If you haven’t heard these before – or even if you have – you should check them out. They’re very enlightening.

We are also pleased to announce a new series, Ethics from Eden on Pirkei Avos, from Rabbi Y. Dov Krakowski. Only a few entries in this series have been posted to date but check back every week or so for new insights into themes from Avos.

To get you started on your Avos journey, I have dug into the archives and pulled up two articles I have written on the tractate. The Mystery of Avos 6:12 (and Other Secrets Revealed) explains some of the unique aspects of the work. The Wizard of Avos looks at The Wizard of Oz through the lens of Pirkei Avos because… well, because I do stuff like that.

So check out Pirkei Avos on OU Torah. Even if you’ve already studied Avos, you’re sure to find much that is new. As the sage Ben Bag-Bag said, “turn it over and turn it over again because everything is in it” (Avos 5:22).