Pirkei Avot Commentaries
Avot d'Rabbi Natan*
The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan
c. 650 – c. 950
A companion volume and elaboration on Pirkei Avot, "The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan" expands the brief mishnayot with folklore, historical traditions, parables, and ethical teachings.
Rashi*
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki
1040 – 1105
The celebrated commentary of Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki), renowned for its concise, clear explanations that open the plain meaning of the text.
Rambam
Rabbi Moses ben Maimon
1138 – 1204
A philosophical and systematic commentary originally written in Judeo-Arabic.
Rabbeinu Yonah
Rabbi Yonah ben Abraham of Gerona
c. 1180 – 1263
An ethical-homiletical reading by a leading medieval moralist (author of Sha'arei Teshuvah, "Gates of Repentance").
Magen Avot
Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Duran
1361 – 1444
A 15th-century philosophical and halakhic commentary by the Tashbetz (Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Duran).
Bartenura
Rabbi Obadiah of Bertinoro
c. 1445 – c. 1515
The classic, standard commentary printed in virtually every edition of the Mishnah.
Derekh Chayyim
Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel
1512 – 1609
A profound, original philosophical commentary by the Maharal of Prague.
Pirkei Moshe
Rabbi Moshe Almosnino
c. 1515 – 1580
A 16th-century Sephardic commentary that blends straightforward explanation with ethical and philosophical reflection.
Midrash Shmuel
Rabbi Shmuel Yaffe Ashkenazi
1525 – 1595
A homiletical, aggadic commentary that expands each mishnah with midrashic sources, parables, and ethical teachings.
Tosafot Yom Tov
Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller
1579 – 1654
Modeled on the analytical style of the Tosafot on the Talmud.
Hon Ashir
Rabbi Immanuel Chai Ricchi
1688 – 1743
A kabbalistic commentary on Pirkei Avot, interspersed with poems, composed in Safed by the Italian-born kabbalist and poet Rabbi Immanuel Chai Ricchi.
Lechem Shamayim
Rabbi Yaakov Emden
1697 – 1776
A sharp, text-critical commentary that defends the precise wording of the Mishnah, explaining suspected corruptions and weighing variant readings.
Gra
Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman
1720 – 1797
Extremely brief and dense, unpacked only with effort.
Tiferet Yisrael
Rabbi Yisrael Lipschitz
1782 – 1860
A two-part commentary — "Yachin" for concise explanation and "Boaz" for aggadic and ethical expansion, including celebrated biographical sketches of the Tannaim.
Avigdor Shinan
Prof. Avigdor Shinan
1946 – present
A New Israeli Commentary on Pirkei Avot — a contemporary, accessible work by Prof.
Kulp
Rabbi Dr. Joshua Kulp
1970 – present
A contemporary, accessible English explanation of the Mishnah by Rabbi Dr.