Pirkei Avot §avot_04_20: Elisha ben Abuyah said: He who learns when a child, to what is he compared?
Source: Pirkei Avot — Ethics of the Fathers (Mishnah, c. AD 200) (avot_04_20) · external_aligned
Elisha ben Abuyah said: He who learns when a child, to what is he compared? To ink written upon a new writing sheet. And he who learns when an old man, to what is he compared? To ink written on a rubbed writing sheet. Rabbi Yose ben Judah a man of Kfar Ha-babli said: He who learns from the young, to what is he compared? To one who eats unripe grapes, and drinks wine from his vat; And he who learns from the old, to what is he compared? To one who eats ripe grapes, and drinks old wine. Rabbi said: don’t look at the container but at that which is in it: there is a new container full of old wine, and an old [container] in which there is not even new [wine].
Witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15)
- manuscript_tradition: Kaufmann Codex (Budapest, 11-13th cent) — earliest complete Mishnah
- manuscript_tradition: Parma Codex de Rossi 138 (Italy, 13th cent)
- critical_edition: Charles Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (1877/1897)
- translation: Goldin, The Living Talmud (1957)
- republication: Sefaria — Pirkei Avot