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{{Italics}}
{{Rabbinical Literature}}
'''Avot of Rabbi Natan''', also known as '''Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (ARN)''' ({{
Despite being one of the [[minor tractate]]s, it more greatly resembles a late [[midrash]]. It may be technically designated as a homiletical exposition of the Mishnaic tractate [[Pirkei Avot]], having for its foundation an older recension of that tractate. It also may be considered as a kind of [[tosefta]] or [[gemarah]] to the Mishna Avot, which does not possess a traditional gemarah.
Touching its original cockus ballista form, its age, and its dependence on earlier or later recensions of the Mishnah, there are many opinions, all of which are discussed in [[S. Schechter]]'s introduction. There are two recensions of this work, one of which is usually printed with the [[Babylonian Talmud]] in the appendix to ''[[Nezikin|Seder Nezikin]]'' [the sixteenth volume], preceding the so-called [[Minor Treatises]], and another, which, until the late 19th century, existed in [[manuscript]] only. In 1887 [[Solomon Schechter]] published the two recensions in parallel columns, contributing to the edition a critical introduction and valuable notes. There were likely other recensions as well, since the medieval rabbis quote from other versions.▼
ARN contains many teachings, proverbs, and incidents that are not found anywhere else in the early [[rabbinical literature]].<ref>{{Harv|Cashdan|1965}}</ref> Other rabbinical sayings appear in a more informal style than what is found in Pirkei Avot.
== Recensions ==
▲Touching its original
In order to distinguish the two recensions, the one printed with the Talmud may be called '''A'''; and the other, '''B'''. The former is divided into forty-one chapters, and the latter into forty-eight. Schechter has proved that recension '''B''' is cited only by Spanish authors. [[Rashi]] knows of recension '''A''' only.
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It is also called [[Tosefta]] to [[Pirkei Avot|Avot]].<ref>see Horowitz, ''Uralte Toseftas,'' 1:6, [[Frankfort-on-the-Main]], 1889; Brüll's ''Jahrbücher,'' 9:139 et seq.</ref> The two recensions of the work in their present shape evidently have different authors, but who they were cannot be ascertained. Probably they belonged to the period of the [[Geonim]], between the 8th and 9th centuries.
== Date ==
Through the majority of the 20th century, it was believed that the ARN dated from the 7th to 9th centuries. However, the work of Saldarini,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saldarini |first=A.J. |title=The Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan (Abot de Rabbi Nathan), Version B: A translation and commentary |date=1975 |publisher=Brill |pages=1–16}}</ref> which proposed a date close to the compilation of the [[Mishnah]] in the third century, opened up a range of proposals for dating the text to earlier periods. Today, it is widely acknowledged that there are difficulties in dating the two versions of the ARN<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Reuling |first=Hanneke |title=After Eden: church fathers and rabbis on Genesis 3:16-21 |date=2006 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-14638-9 |series=Jewish and Christian perspectives series |location=Leiden ; Boston |pages=280–281, esp. n. 7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldin |first=Judah |url=https://www.academia.edu/43907454 |title=Encyclopaedia Judaica |date=1972 |pages=985–986}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kister |first=Menahem |title=Studies in Avot de-Rabbi Nathan: text, redaction and interpretation |date=1998 |pages=217–222}}</ref> and current proposals for the date of the text vary within a range of five centuries, roughly from an earliest possible dating to the third century (B is usually the earlier dated one and some believe it predates the [[Talmud|Babylonian Talmud]]), with the latest possible dating roughly in the eighth century.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fishbane |first1=Simcha |title=Exploring Mishnah's world(s): social scientific approaches |last2=Goldscheider |first2=Calvin |last3=Lightstone |first3=Jack N. |date=2021 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-030-53573-5 |location=Basingstoke |pages=195, n. 27}}</ref>
==Translations==
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*''Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan: Abot De Rabbi Nathan'', Anthony J. Saldarini, Brill Academic, 1975.
*''The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan'', [[Jacob Neusner]], University of South Florida Press, 1986.
*''Avos deRabbi Nassan'', [https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422618752.html Mesorah Publications Limited], 2017.
==Commentaries==
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