Talmud for Pirkei Avot 1:1

משֶׁה קִבֵּל תּוֹרָה מִסִּינַי, וּמְסָרָהּ לִיהוֹשֻׁעַ, וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ לִזְקֵנִים, וּזְקֵנִים לִנְבִיאִים, וּנְבִיאִים מְסָרוּהָ לְאַנְשֵׁי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הֵם אָמְרוּ שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים, הֱווּ מְתוּנִים בַּדִּין, וְהַעֲמִידוּ תַלְמִידִים הַרְבֵּה, וַעֲשׂוּ סְיָג לַתּוֹרָה:

Moses received Torah from Sinai. [I say that because this tractate is not founded on any explanation of a mitzvah of the mitzvoth of the Torah as are the other tractates of the Mishnah, but is entirely mussar and middoth, and the sages of the gentiles have also written books from the musings of their heart on the ways of mussar — how a man should deport himself with his neighbor — therefore, the tanna begins this tractate: "Moses received Torah from Sinai," to teach us that the middoth and mussar in this tractate were not conjured up by the sages of the Mishnah, but these, too, were stated on Sinai, (i.e., by Him who revealed Himself on Sinai)]. And He gave it to Joshua; and Joshua, to the elders, [who lived on after Joshua, until the advent of the first prophets, Eli the high-priest and Shmuel Haramati]; and the elders, to the prophets; and the prophets gave it to the men of the great assembly (anshei knesseth hagedolah). [They were 120 elders: Zerubaval, Seraya, Re'elayah, Mordecai-Bilshan, who lived in the days of Ezra, when they went up from the exile to the second Temple, among them, Chaggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and Nechemiah ben Chachalyah and their colleagues. They were called "the men of the great assembly" for having restored the "Crown" to its pristine (greatness). For Moses said (Deuteronomy 10:17): "The great, mighty, awesome, G-d." Jeremiah and Daniel came and (Daniel) did not say "great," and (Jeremiah) did not say "awesome," and they (the men of the great assembly) restored them ("great and awesome") as at first," saying "this (as stated there [Yoma 69b]) is precisely His greatness"; "this is precisely His awesomeness"; "for if not so (i.e., if He were not great and awesome), how could one nation endure against seventy nations (intent upon annihilating it, etc.)!"] They were wont to say three things. [They said many things; but they were wont to say these three things to uphold the integrity of Torah]: Be patient ("metunim") in judgment [i.e., if something comes before you for judgment, do not say: "Such a case has come before me two or three times before," but be patient; that is, "wait" ('mamtinim') before you rule upon it.] And set up many disciples, [(as opposed to the view of R. Gamliel, who says (Berachoth 28a): "Let no disciple whose inside is not like his outside enter the house of study.") We are hereby taught that Torah is taught to every man, and there is no need to "search him out," so long as he is not known to be a man of ill conduct and of ill repute. Or, we are (hereby) being taught that if one set up disciples in his youth, he should continue doing so in his old age, as it is written (Koheleth 11:6): "In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening let your hand not rest."] And make a fence for the Torah, [so that you not come to violate the issur of the Torah itself (e.g., the secondary class [shniyoth] of forbidden relations) and shvuth (rabbinically interdicted occupation) on Sabbath, as it is written (Leviticus 18:30): "And you shall keep My charge" — Make a "keeping" for My charge.]

Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin

⁹⁷The following is a series of homilies on Eccl. 12:11, without direct connection with the theme of the Chapter; cf Note 96. Parallels are found in Pesiqta rabbati 3 (ed. Ish-Shalom 7b–8a); Midrash Qohelet 12:11–12; Lev. rabba 129(6), Num. rabba 13:11–13).The words of the Sages are like goads; Rebbi Huna said, like a pearl. There, they call a pearl dirah⁹⁸In Babylonia one uses the Arabic דּוּרָּה. Read דורה with G.. Another explanation, like goads, like a girl’s ball. Just as this ball is caught from hand to hand but in the end will come to rest in one hand, so “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly⁹⁹Mishnah Avot 1:1..” Another explanation, like goads. It has three names, mardea`, da̅r^eva̅n, malmad. Mardea`, because it teaches knowledge to the cow¹⁰⁰It already is noted in the Pesiqta that מרדע is a Mishnaic, not a biblical word.. Da̅r^eva̅n, because it plants understanding in the cow. Malmad, because it teaches the cow to plough, to keep its owners alive. Rebbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said, if a person makes a goad for his cow, certainly [he has to make one] for his bad inclinations which will remove him from this world and the World to Come.

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Avot D'Rabbi Natan

[And raise up many students.] For the House of Shammai, say: One should teach only a person who is wise, humble, of good pedigree, and rich. But the House of Hillel say: Teach everyone, for there were many sinners in Israel, and they were brought close to Torah study, and they came out righteous, kind, and proper.

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Jerusalem Talmud Peah

MISHNAH: He who sows one species on his field gives one peah even though he works⁸²Literally: He makes two threshing floors. Not only the act of threshing is involved, but also the collection of threshed grain into orderly heaps. The best translation is: processing (grain on the stalk into a commercial commodity.) at two different threshing floors. If he sows two species, he gives two peot even though he threshes them together⁸³And puts them together in the same heap.. He who sows two different kinds of wheat on his field gives one peah if he processes them together⁸⁴That means that he treats them as one kind of wheat., two peot if he threshes them separately.
It happened that Rebbi Simeon from Miẓpah⁹³A Mishnah collector in the times of Rabban Gamliel I; one of a very small number of scholars who lived during Second Temple times who is always mentioned with the title “Rebbi.” {It is possible that before the destruction of the Temple, “Rebbi” did not designate a rabbi but a collector of legal statements.} Miẓpah probably is today’s Nebi Samwil, N. W. of Jerusalem. sowed before Rabban Gamliel; they ascended to the stone hall⁹⁴The hall on the Temple Mount whose walls were formed by hewn stone and in which the high court held its sessions. and asked. Naḥum the scribe⁹⁵Cf. Latin libellaris, “of books.” He was the clerk of Rabban Gamliel I’s court. said: I have the tradition from Rebbi Miasha, who received it from my father, who received it from the pairs⁹⁶The pairs of authorities, chiefs and deputy chiefs of the high court in Jerusalem, who are mentioned in the first chapter of Pirqe Avot., who received if from the prophets⁹⁷Ḥaggai, Zachariah, Malachi, who by tradition are counted as members of the “Great Assembly.”, a practice going back to Moses on Sinai, that he who sows two different kinds of wheat on his field gives one peah if he stores them together, two peot if he stores them separately.

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