{"id": "card_n_545c586d5e16", "kind": "note", "title": "Pirkei Avot §avot_04_20: Elisha ben Abuyah said: He who learns when a child, to what is he compared?", "body": "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].", "source": {"label": "Pirkei Avot — Ethics of the Fathers (Mishnah, c. AD 200)", "url": "/canon.html?ref=pirkei_avot_avot_04_20", "ref": "avot_04_20", "authority_tier": "external_aligned"}, "shelf": "classics", "box": "pirkei_avot", "bands": ["pirkei_avot", "ethics_of_the_fathers", "jewish_wisdom"], "connections": [{"to_card_id": "card_n_56fba228f5c8", "relationship": "same_section", "origin": "nesting_2026_06_12"}, {"to_card_id": "card_n_517b1d2bd49c", "relationship": "same_section", "origin": "nesting_2026_06_12"}], "author": "engine", "created_at": "2026-05-19T13:20:58.828458+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-19T19:57:55.392074+00:00", "visibility": "public", "lifecycle_stage": "public", "volatility": "permanent", "metrics": {"paperclips_count": 0, "helpful_count": 0, "not_helpful_count": 0, "cite_count": 4, "walks_through_count": 0, "flagged_count": 0}, "source_hash": "e0308b6564a7e1346cbb51ebf1040d66cb03480e684ca98b68d0bcac2af6e30d", "witnesses": [{"class": "manuscript_tradition", "label": "Kaufmann Codex (Budapest, 11-13th cent) — earliest complete Mishnah", "ref": "Kaufmann"}, {"class": "manuscript_tradition", "label": "Parma Codex de Rossi 138 (Italy, 13th cent)", "ref": "Parma-138"}, {"class": "critical_edition", "label": "Charles Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (1877/1897)", "url": "https://archive.org/details/sayingsjewishfa00goog", "ref": "Taylor-1877"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "Goldin, The Living Talmud (1957)", "ref": "Goldin-1957"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "Sefaria — Pirkei Avot", "url": "https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot", "ref": "Sefaria-PA"}], "witness_status": "passed", "witness_status_reason": "5 witnesses across 4 independence classes: ['critical_edition', 'manuscript_tradition', 'republication', 'translation']", "surface": "secular"}